This was the tallest and most majestic building in the Hamidas capital. It was also the center of power in the former Haneabada Kingdom. Luther III summoned his nobles and ministers to handle the kingdom's administrative affairs. There were thirty-six huge pillars, all made of lapis lazuli. There were exquisite patterns and patterns carved on them, most of which were based on myths and legends passed down among the people. This was the famous Hebitla Palace of the Haneabada Kingdom, also known as the Thirty-Six Pillar Palace.
At this moment, the main hall of the Thirty-Six Pillar Palace was bustling with people. The atmosphere was joyous because Laurist was going to hold a grand celebration banquet here to celebrate the Norton Family's victory in destroying the Haneabada Kingdom. They had fulfilled the promise that those who offended the Norton Family would be punished no matter how far away they were.
"The first cup of wine is a toast to those who fought bravely in this war of annihilation, to avenge the shame of their families, and to liberate the slaves!" Laurist solemnly poured the full cup of wine onto the ground.
In the main hall, nearly a hundred family knights in bright armor and more than ten officials in luxurious robes also spilled wine on the ground.
"The second cup of wine is to those slaves who have suffered in the Haneabada Islands for the past hundred years. They have been oppressed, exploited, and enslaved. It was they who used their own hands to develop this desolate island into the paradise it is today. Do you see this majestic Thirty-Six Pillar Palace? But who would have thought that the bones of slaves were buried under the base of it! They have lost their freedom here, and their lives are not even comparable to a beast. In the eyes of those demonic slave masters, they are just a herd of two-legged sheep waiting to be slaughtered …
But now we are here. We, the Norton Family, have armed ourselves to destroy this evil kingdom! They have finally regained their freedom and the dignity of humans. But we have come too late. More slaves have fallen in this overseas territory. Let us pay tribute to these slaves who have suffered and been buried in foreign lands. This second cup of wine is dedicated to them … "
Laurist spilled wine on the ground again. It couldn't be helped. Even if his real purpose was to rob the wealth accumulated by the Haneabada Kingdom for nearly a hundred years, on the surface, he still had to dress up as an angel who rescued the slaves from suffering. This was political correctness.
As for the freed slaves who were unwilling to join the harvesting and farming teams of the Norton Family, they stayed in the camps around the capital and ate two bowls of thin oatmeal a day. Leurist did not care. After all, he had already given the slaves their freedom. They could go wherever they wanted. As long as they did not interfere with the Norton Family's collection and plunder, they could do whatever they wanted …
But now, all the assets of the former kingdom on the Haneabada Archipelago belonged to the Norton family. Even a grain of wheat was the sacred and inviolable property of the Norton family, let alone a ship that could send people home from the archipelago. Without Lollister's warrant, no one was allowed to board the ship.
There was once a slave who stayed in the camp and enjoyed the taste of freedom. When he was hungry, he took his farming tools and wanted to harvest some wheat in the fields. In the end, he was stopped by the patrolling Norton Family soldiers as soon as he left the camp. This was because, apart from these freed slaves, almost everything on the archipelago belonged to the Norton Family and Lollister …
The slaves were not convinced. They argued for a while, saying that they were the ones who planted the wheat, so why couldn't they eat it? Then, they were invited to the Norton Family's military camp. First, they were allowed to pay homage to the bodies of nearly a thousand Norton Family soldiers who had sacrificed themselves for the liberation of the slaves. Then, they were given 20 lashes each. This made them understand why they could not eat the wheat they planted, and why everything on the island belonged to the Norton Family except for the slaves. However, after being whipped, these slaves did not have to go hungry. The Norton Family soldiers were very humane and let them fill up their stomachs. The next day, they were forced to join the harvesting team to harvest the wheat.
Just like what Fatty Shi had told the soldiers, it was the Norton Family soldiers who sacrificed themselves to destroy the Haneabada Kingdom and liberate these slaves. Therefore, everything on the archipelago belongs to the Norton Family. Without us, these slaves would still be slaves. Their lives would still be in the hands of their slave owners. Now that they are free, and this freedom was given to them by the Norton Family, they no longer have the right to ask us to feed them and enjoy the fruits of the Norton Family's labor.
All the Norton Family soldiers thought that Fatty Shi's words were very reasonable. Furthermore, the Norton Family did not leave these freed slaves alone. As long as these slaves were willing to work with their hands, not only would they be fed and clothed, but they would also be rewarded with money. This was a huge difference from when they were slaves who did not have the protection of their lives. Therefore, the Norton Family soldiers were very angry with the slaves who were unwilling to work. They thought that they were ungrateful and shameless, so they were very rude to them.
"The third glass of wine is for the gladiators who fell before dawn." Laurist nodded to the dozens of slave gladiators led by the Great Swordsman Seuss. "Without their bloody battle, the Norton Family would not have been able to capture this majestic capital with such light casualties. It was they who used their blood and lives to delay the enemy's final crazy counterattack in the capital. They defended the arena and waited for the arrival of the Norton Family's armed forces. Let us use this glass of wine to pay tribute to their bravery and sacrifice … "
After three glasses of wine, the hall returned to its lively and joyous atmosphere. Everyone raised their glasses to celebrate. Hickford found many young and beautiful female slaves and many skilled slaves to present dazzling dances and wonderful acrobatic magic shows to the new conquerors of the Haneabada Archipelago. Cheers and applause rang out.
Today was a celebration. The Norton Family's soldiers in the barracks were rewarded handsomely. Every soldier who participated in the battle received ten gold fords as a reward, and the wounded received double the reward. They also enjoyed a sumptuous banquet. Those slaves who were willing to work for the Norton Family received a large glass of ale and a large piece of smoked jerky. As for the slaves who stayed in the camp around the capital, they also received a so-called sandwich with two pieces of black bread and a piece of jerky as a gift …
The next day, Laurist once again summoned the important family knights and civil officials for a meeting. This meeting was to decide on the final disposition of the Haneabada Archipelago.
No one had any objections to making the Haneabada Archipelago an overseas territory of the Norton Family. No one had any other thoughts about Laurist's arrangements for the more than 400,000 slaves on the archipelago. However, there were different opinions on how to deal with the Hamidas capital.
Hickford and a few other civil officials thought that the capital should be preserved. Such a majestic castle was a rare architectural miracle. Although it was built on the bones of countless slaves, it was still a great building that could be passed down to future generations. It should be properly preserved.
On the other hand, Master Swordsman Theseus and the two Golden Gladiators, Jades and Mason, who were attending the Norton Family meeting for the first time, unanimously requested to destroy the King's City, especially the Gladiator Arena. The Gladiator Arena was the biggest pain in their hearts. Many of the slave gladiators and their friends had fallen in the Gladiator Arena. Only by completely destroying the Gladiator Arena would they be able to alleviate the pain in their hearts …
Boffinger thought that destroying the capital would make it easier to win over the hearts of the slaves. When he was in charge of building ten guard camps with slaves, he learned that all the slaves deeply hated the Hamidas capital. They thought it was a den of demons, a hell where demons resided. If the capital was destroyed, then the slaves would be overjoyed and even more obedient to the family's orders.
Malek, on the other hand, thought that since they had to dig three feet into the ground to find the buried treasures of the great slave masters, destroying the capital would be more beneficial to the search. At least they wouldn't have to worry about damaging the integrity of the entire building …
Fatty Shi looked at the problem from another angle. He thought that destroying the capital would be more beneficial to the Norton Family's rule over the Haneabada Archipelago. First of all, the Haneabada Archipelago was located far away. Maintaining a majestic and huge castle here would be a great burden to the family. Moreover, the family could not turn their focus to the archipelago, so there was no need to keep the capital.
Take Hebitla's Palace for example, which was one of the Thirty-six Pillar Palaces. The annual cost of maintaining such a palace was no less than two or three hundred Gold Fords. Compared to the huge amount of loot, this was indeed a small amount. However, the maintenance cost of the entire King's City added up to one or two thousand Gold Fords. After ten or a hundred years, it would be a huge sum of money. Spending these Gold Fords on the maintenance of King's City was like throwing them into water.
Secondly, the Haneabada Archipelago was too far away from the family's territory. With such a capital, it would be easy for the military commander to develop unnecessary ambitions. In order to prevent this from happening, destroying the capital would be more in line with the family's rule over the archipelago. Even if there was a rebellion, the family's armed forces would not have to pay a huge price to quell it.
Lastly, according to Laurist's arrangements for the freed slaves, almost a hundred thousand slaves would be left on the plains of the capital to settle down and build their homes. However, the family's armed forces would at most have a battalion of about three thousand people. This amount of people was almost useless against the defense of the huge capital, so they had to reduce the area of defense. In the future, the capital would only be used for two purposes. One was to be a market for foreign goods, and the other was to be a warehouse for food supplies.
Fatty Shi's three reasons became the final decision to destroy the King's City. Laurist immediately decided that other than keeping the trade district in the eastern part of the city for future reconstruction, they would destroy the other districts of the King's City. However, this would have to be done after Malek led the excavation team to thoroughly search the noble district and the royal court district and excavate the buried treasures before destroying and burning them down.
Laurist thought for a while and said that he would try to leave half of the thirty-six pillars and the audience seats in the arena. This would also let future generations know that there were once two great buildings built by slaves. The rest would be up to them.
After deciding the fate of the Hamidas capital, Laurist announced that the first governor of the Haneabada Archipelago would be Hickard. His term of office would be five years. His main task in these five years was to distribute land and build houses for the hundreds of thousands of slaves who had settled down on the archipelago. He wanted them to settle down on the archipelago and become citizens of the Norton Family's overseas territory with peace of mind.
Golden Knight Josk and Yuri would lead the light cavalry to sweep through all the royal estates on the plains of the capital again. They would hunt down all the citizens of the Haneabada Kingdom that had escaped, not letting a single one escape. They would also transport all the valuables in the royal estates to the capital.
Golden Knight Malek would be in charge of searching for the valuables buried in the capital and transporting all the supplies in the western district. Other than leaving behind some food reserves, the rest of the supplies would be transported to Port Nubit, waiting to be shipped back to Cilovas Island.
Golden Knight Roth would lead half of the Norton Family's main armed force to stay in the capital to help Malek transport the valuables and supplies. The other half would be in charge of driving the slaves around the capital to Port Nubit. Only the slaves who were going to settle down there would be left on the plains of the capital. The rest were not allowed to stay. The Norton Family promised the slaves that those who wanted to return home would board the ships that were specially used to transport them to the Galinthia Continent at Port Nubit. They would transport them for free and guarantee their safety along the way.
In the end, Laurist assigned the two Gold Gladiators, Jades and Mason, to Bofinger as his assistants. They had three tasks. The first was to help Bofinger build another ten guard camps. The sixteen Silver Gladiators and more than four hundred Bronze and Iron Gladiators who were willing to join the Norton Family would be included in these camps. The second mission was to escort the nearly one hundred thousand Haneabada citizens captured by King City to Nubit Port and reunite with the more than twenty thousand captives from Nubit Port. The third task was to clean up the battlefield and supervise the soldiers of the newly formed guard camps to cut off the heads of the enemies on the battlefield and preserve them before transporting them to Port Nubit. As for the corpses, they would burn them all.
Perhaps Laurist's order to cut off the heads of the enemies was a little strange. Fatty Shi asked Laurist what he was going to do with the hundred thousand captives from the Haneabada Kingdom.
Laurist remained silent for a long time with a gloomy expression. Finally, he said softly, "Behead them all …"
Everyone present was shocked. Hickard and Fatty Shi's expressions changed. They jumped up and said, "Sir, you can't! That's more than a hundred thousand people … "
"They're not humans. They're just beasts in human skin!" Laurist slammed the table and stood up. "They've never treated the slaves as humans. They're the demons of this evil kingdom. Even the commoners have the blood, tears, and souls of the slaves on their hands. I once swore that if one of the captured soldiers dies, I will bury one hundred citizens of the Haneabada Kingdom with him. Now, these one hundred thousand people are still not enough to pay tribute to those brave soldiers and knights who died in the arena! This is my final decision. I'll bear the consequences! "
Laurist left after he finished speaking.
On the 24th of October 1773, the head of the Norton Family, Count Norton Laurist, ordered the beheading of the Norton Family to behead nearly a hundred thousand citizens of the Haneabada Kingdom on the beach on the outskirts of the port of Nubitt. He used 176,243 heads to build a pyramid of heads that was 33 meters tall, and called it the 'Capital View'.
At the time of the beheading, Lord Hickard, who was then the governor of the Haneabada Archipelago, knelt in front of Laurist's tent and begged for seven hours. Finally, he obtained Laurist's agreement to save twelve thousand young women from their blades. They were then sent to be the wives of the freed slaves left in the Haneabada Archipelago. At this point, the Haneabada Kingdom was annihilated, becoming extinct.
It wasn't until the third or fourth month of the 1774 year of the Galinthea Calendar that the rescued slaves who had returned from the Haneabada Archipelago set foot on the Galinthea Continent did the news of the Norton Family's destruction of the Haneabada Kingdom spread. The story of Laurist using 170,000 heads to build the Capital View spread to every country on the continent. In a short period of time, the Norton Family's fierce reputation as the Roaring Bear of the North even became the main method for housewives to frighten disobedient children.
In the fifth month of the 1774 year of the Galinthea Calendar, the news of the Haneabada Kingdom's destruction finally reached another archipelago kingdom — the Shaisya Kingdom. This archipelago kingdom was famous for producing spices, and its queen was the only cousin of the former King of the Haneabada Kingdom, Luther III. When she heard that the Haneabada Kingdom had been destroyed, she cried so much that she fainted on the spot. Her son, the current little king, immediately ordered his royal uncle to lead an expedition to the Haneabada Archipelago to avenge his mother.
The Shaisya Kingdom's so-called expedition army had a total of 18,000 people. When they arrived at Nubitt port on more than 40 ships, it was already late June. It was noon, and the tall pyramid of heads could be seen from afar. At that time, there was only a garrison of the Norton Family at Nubitt port with 3,000 people. The fortifications of the city walls were not yet complete, and the garrison knights and family soldiers were prepared to fight to the death and perish together.
But to everyone's surprise, the fleet of the Shaisya Kingdom only circled around the pyramid of human heads once before turning around and setting sail for the sea, never to return. It was as if they had only come to visit the pyramid of human heads, and not a single person disembarked or disembarked.
In the eighth month, Sunbarwood's fleet brought along six sailing cannons to patrol the Haneabada Archipelago. They were furious when they heard of this, and launched an expedition to the Shaisya Kingdom. But they didn't expect that the Shaisya Kingdom would raise a white flag after just one round of cannons. Only after asking later did they find out that everyone was frightened by the pyramid of heads at Nubitt port. No one was willing to erect another pyramid in the Shaisya Kingdom, and it was better to surrender as soon as possible.
The Shaisya Kingdom thus became the first kingdom in Galinthea's history to pledge allegiance to the Norton Family. It was the first kingdom in Galinthea's history to submit to the Norton Family.
This was no joke.
… …
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