Suhlen's gaze landed on a figure in the corner of the hall. That person nodded slightly at Suhlen. He was Suhlen's appointed guardian of the Embroidered Uniform Guards. After being strengthened by the system, the Embroidered Uniform Guards' ability to do things far surpassed their counterparts in the Ming Dynasty.
There were many other places that had spies planted in the nobles' houses and even the merchants' houses in San Filto City. Their identities were all different, ranging from butlers, coachmen, guards, attendants, maids, and so on.
Ever since he ascended the throne, Suhlen had been suppressing these nobles step by step. Although it seemed that the thorns had been removed by Suhlen and the rest were honest, he didn't think that these nobles would know their place. There was a saying that blocking someone's money was akin to killing their parents. Suhlen's actions weren't just a matter of money. Even his power had been suppressed by more than half.
These nobles were only forced by Suhlen's ferocious might to appear honest and harmless. In reality, as long as Suhlen showed his weak side, these nobles would immediately turn into tigers that ate people without spitting out the bones. Suhlen was very clear about these people's ruthlessness, so he had never relaxed his surveillance of these people.
Although he was not familiar with political struggles, he had watched many TV dramas in his previous life. There were many precedents to learn from. The most famous example was Emperor Chong Zhen. He was fooled by others and directly abolished the Imperial Bodyguards. He cut off his own eyes and ears. In the end, he could only hang himself on a mountain.
During this period of time, the Embroidered Uniform Guards had gathered and summarized a large amount of information. Suhlen discovered that the reason why the southern rebels had the courage to attack Suhlen was because the northern nobles had made a private deal with the southern nobles.
Their goal was simple. They wanted to transfer all the elite troops near San Filto City to fight a decisive battle with the southern rebels. Then, the nobles who had been accumulating their strength would stab them in the back.
Although it was very risky, there wouldn't be a chance if they didn't act now. As Suhlen attacked the nobles, won over the commoners, distributed farmland, and unified the tax system, the lives of the commoners at the bottom became better and better. As time passed, the commoners who benefited would support Suhlen even more. It would be more difficult to overthrow him. Moreover, this was done under the premise of harming their interests. Suhlen was surprised that these nobles could endure for so long before they took revenge.
These nobles had long lost the elegance of their ancestors. For such a big matter like this, keeping it a secret was the most important thing. But what about them? These nobles only secretly held a meeting to discuss and used the nobles' ball as a cover. They thought that they had avoided Suhlen's eyes and ears. However, they didn't know that all of this had already fallen into the eyes of the Embroidered Uniform Guards who were paying attention to these people.
There was no doubt that the matters these people discussed that day would be organized into a book and sent to Suhlen's study at night. As for the southern nobles, the Embroidered Uniform Guards didn't have enough manpower and couldn't collect too much confidential information.
Suhlen had been looking for opportunities to weaken the strength of these nobles, but he didn't have a good excuse. Now that these nobles finally took the initiative to jump out, he didn't extinguish these things before it happened. Instead, he pushed the boat with the current to help them.
As the lead actor and director of this scene, Suhlen was very willing to cooperate, but his appearance fee was a little expensive.
After hearing that Suhlen had decided to lead the army personally, many nobles in the hall were surprised. Their original intention was to eliminate Suhlen's army, but they didn't expect Suhlen to go personally this time. Since this was the case, it was a good opportunity to deal with them together. As for the losses, in their eyes, it was only the southern nobles.
The army recruited in San Filto City was taken away by Suhlen, and the soldiers he brought from North Town City were also taken away. Only a mere six thousand people were left to guard the city. The entire city's defense became empty. Of course, when Suhlen made the decision, there were officials who objected, saying that it would cause the city to be empty and that more nobles should be gathered to form an army.
However, this suggestion was directly rejected by him. If San Filto City wasn't empty, how could those people cause trouble and bury them all? The stage was already set up, and now all that was left was for the supporting characters to start the show.
There were many things that needed to be done before the army went to war. When they were in North Town City, the number of soldiers was small, and a few hundred people could be sent out quickly. Now, there were a total of twenty-five thousand soldiers in San Filto City. In addition, the number of civilians wasn't any less than the regular army. The daily consumption of fifty thousand soldiers was a huge number.
By the time they officially set out, it was already a month later. The fifty thousand soldiers majestically charged towards the south of the Kingdom of Florence.
The army went all the way south. About half a month later, Suhlen entered the territory of the southern nobles. That was when the war officially began.
"Your Majesty!"
Kent stepped forward and saluted, "These southern rebels have no intention of fighting a decisive battle with us. They have only been strengthening the defense and clearing the land. They seem to be luring us to go deeper!"
At this time, Suhlen naturally wouldn't hide anything from his subordinates. He nodded and said, "I know, these people are indeed luring us to go deeper!"
"But what they didn't expect was that they weren't luring a fat sheep, but a giant dragon!"
"Your Majesty, if we continue to go deeper, the supplies of these fifty thousand soldiers won't be able to keep up." Kent said helplessly, "Those rebels are strengthening the defense and clearing the land. We can't even gather a single grain of food in the south. The food in the cities that they abandoned has also been transported away. How about we …"
Suhlen understood what he meant. He wanted to directly rob the civilians in the cities. The civilians still had some food in their hands, but if he did that, even if he defeated the southern rebels in the end, he would only get a thousand miles of barren land.
So, he spent so much effort just to get a piece of land that was already in ruins? Su Lun didn't want a Kingdom of Florence that was in ruins. What he wanted was the rich south.
Suhlen said with a serious expression, "Don't rob! You don't have to worry about the supplies. Someone will send them over soon! "
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Seeing Suhlen's serious expression, Kent immediately stood up straight and said.
Suhlen nodded with satisfaction, "Do you think the southern rebels can hold on like this? Hehe, strengthening the defense and clearing the land is easy to say. How much damage will this cause? Do you think the rebels can hold on? "
Looking at the other generals in the tent, Suhlen smiled and explained, "The southern provinces have developed a lot of commerce. Most of the time, they rely on trade. If we start a war with such great fanfare, do you think the merchant caravans will still dare to do business? In addition to strengthening the defense and clearing the land, food, bridges, wells, and even the forests near the cities will be destroyed. The villages will have to migrate. This kind of destruction is enough to make them feel the pain. "
For those greedy nobles, short-term losses were acceptable, but that was for the sake of the rich profits later. However, once the capital invested was too much, these short-sighted nobles wouldn't accept it. So, the southern rebels wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
The generals around him immediately looked at him with admiration and flattery. Those nobles who sided with Suhlen even shamelessly started to flatter him.
"Your Majesty is wise and powerful, unparalleled in the world. You can destroy a mere rebellion with a flick of your finger!"
"Your Majesty is indeed Your Majesty. You can't be compared to us mortals. You can see through the real situation of those rebels with just one look!"
Suhlen shook his head, "This is just my more detailed observation. It's no big deal!" Although he said so, it felt good to be flattered.
So, it was easy to become arrogant after being a king for a long time. Only a good man like Suhlen who could see his own heart clearly could remain unmoved.
.....
The southern rebels lured Suhlen deeper into the south. Suhlen pretended not to notice anything and was very cooperative. He even deliberately sent a portion of his soldiers to take over the cities and deliberately weakened their strength. When they were two thousand miles away from San Filto City, the people in the capital finally couldn't take it anymore and started to take action.
After a supply team transporting provisions entered the southern territory, they were attacked by the southern rebel cavalry. The supply team belonged to the nobles. As a result, they naturally scattered and took away what they could and burned what they couldn't.
The news of the supply team being destroyed was naturally sent back immediately. Then, the capital had to organize a new batch of supplies to send over. However, at this time, a batch of supplies had just been sent over and the new supplies were still being prepared. They couldn't be sent out in a short period of time.
A series of problems arose from the recruitment of civilian workers, the mobilization of vehicles, the collection of provisions, and so on. The nobles who stayed behind began to shirk their responsibilities and find all kinds of reasons to stall for time. Although Phyllis had been dealing with government affairs for a period of time, she still had a headache facing the alliance of these old foxes. If there was enough time, she could deal with them one by one. However, the situation was urgent and there was no time for her to deal with them.
As the minister who stayed behind to assist Phyllis, Rex immediately noticed that there wasn't much going on. As an old fox who had been an official for 30 years, he was naturally familiar with such tricks. In the past, there would only be one or two problems at most. How could there be problems at every step?
"Your Majesty, the nobles have teamed up!" Rex immediately reported to Phyllis.
"Your Majesty is now on an expedition. If there is a problem with the logistics, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
Phyllis frowned. "Sir Rex, do you have any good ideas?"
"There is a way, but time is too tight. It is very likely that we won't be able to make it in time …"
"Let's not worry about that for now. Quickly solve it …"
At this moment, a guard hurried over and said, "Your Majesty, the Brocade Guards request an audience."
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