The war was finally over. The second prince was very busy. As the king of the Andinac Kingdom, he had a lot of things to deal with. First, he had to make arrangements for Grand Duke Handa, Grand Duke Forendor, and Grand Duke Sabaji. After some discussion, the two provinces in the southwest became the new territories of Grand Duke Handa and Grand Duke Sabaji, while Yungshandla Province, which was adjacent to Delemke Province, became the family territory of Grand Duke Forendor.
The two provinces in the southwest were officially known as West Deliga and South Deliga. Before the establishment of the Chrison Empire, they were called the Deliga region. Later, Chrison I divided them into two provinces. West Deliga was also known as the Northwest Province. Both provinces were adjacent to Campona Province, which was forcibly occupied by the Ford Commercial Alliance. In some official documents of the Chrison Empire, the two provinces were collectively known as the two provinces in the southwest. Now, they were known as the two provinces in the southwest.
When the second prince was defeated and his capital was missing, Queen Kerry, who usurped the throne, ceded the two provinces to the Commercial Alliance. The Commercial Alliance did not directly annex the two provinces. Instead, it established the United Duchy of Bullitt as a buffer between the Commercial Alliance and the Andinac Kingdom. However, after the second prince regained the throne with the help of the Norton Family, the Flying Tiger Legion destroyed the United Duchy of Bullitt, returning the two provinces to the Kingdom.
After the second prince regained the throne, the two provinces in the southwest had been the garrison of the White Lion Legion. At the same time, it was also the frontline to prevent the Commercial Alliance from attacking the Andinac Kingdom. However, the two provinces were the hardest hit during the empire's civil war. Less than ten percent of the population survived, and the people's livelihood was in ruins. Although the second prince worked hard to restore the people's livelihood and develop the economy, the second prince's attack on the Kingdom of Redelis and Queen Kerry's ceding of the two provinces had exhausted the last bit of vitality of the two provinces. Even though the two provinces were plains, they were desolate and sparsely populated.
The second prince arranged the two provinces as the new family territories of Grand Duke Handa and Grand Duke Sabaji. He intended to get rid of the two burdens. He wanted the Handa and Sabaji families to become the southwestern barrier of the kingdom, and he also wanted them to restore the economy and land development of the two provinces. This was also the reason why he allowed each family to bring a corps with them to the new territory. With these 45,000 soldiers and their families, the two provinces in the southwest would no longer lack manpower. At the end of the day, manpower was the most important resource.
As for the Grand Duke of Vorendor, he became the new Grand Duke of Yung-Shandla Province. Although Yungesandra was small and barren, it was a strategic location. From the North to the Imperial Capital, the route would be through the provinces of Delemsk, Yungshandla, Verbhasya, and the central province where the Imperial Capital was located. The second prince had conferred the province of Yungesandra to the Grand Duke of Vorendor as a new family territory. Thinking about it in a negative way, it was tantamount to erecting a door on the main road leading to the capital of the four families in the north.
What did this guy mean? Are they already on guard against us? Lollister rubbed his chin in thought. After learning about the second prince's arrangement for the new family territories of the three Grand Dukes, Lollister could not help but admire the second prince's ability to be a king. No wonder he allowed the three surrendered Grand Dukes to each have a family armed corps to bring to the new territory. Not only did it allow the three Grand Dukes to take away the loyal soldiers of the original family territories, but it also stabilized the hearts of the people in these provinces. At the same time, it allowed the three Grand Dukes to become his new defensive barrier.
If that Grand Duke Falkel had not gone into exile, Lollister believed that the second prince would have arranged for him to be stationed in Limad Province, which was adjacent to the southern province. This was equivalent to closing the two doors of the four families in the north to the outside world. Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. Grand Duke Falkel refused to surrender to the second prince and escaped to the Commerce Alliance. In the future, there was no telling if the Commerce Alliance would use Grand Duke Falkel's name to cause trouble for the second prince.
Everyone was busy. The second prince was busy taking over the new territories, arranging the defense, checking the warehouses, calming the hearts of the people, and carrying out production. He was so busy all day that not even a shadow could be seen. On the other hand, the three Grand Dukes were busy reorganizing the armed corps under their command, gathering the families of the soldiers, and gathering carriages and horses in preparation for the journey to the new family territories. Grand Duke Fisablon was entrusted with the heavy responsibility of reorganizing the troops that had been cut down by the three central Grand Dukes and handed them over to the White Lion Legion's Commander, Knight Leapired. He was to replenish the strong ones into the White Lion Legion and reorganize the other two garrison legions.
As for Duke Gammus, he was busy doing business with the three central dukes. Although each of the three central dukes had paid 1.5 million gold fords as tribute to the second prince, it was only half of what they had in their hands. Duke Kemus had his eyes on this wealth and used his silver tongue to persuade the three Grand Dukes to purchase everything they needed from the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce. Whether it was armaments or production, as well as food and daily necessities, the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce had everything. Dear, we'll even provide direct transportation …
Count Filim and Count Shahin were busy searching for the second prince's whereabouts, asking for rewards for their troops. After this battle, the two Earls had automatically been promoted to the rank of Duke. This was a promise made by the second prince before the expedition to the four central duchies. However, Duke Filim and Duke Shahin were not looking for the second prince for the title of Duke. Duke Filim wanted 30,000 young men to develop the southern province, while Duke Shahin wanted the second prince to give him a province with a lot of resources as his family's territory.
It was just that the second prince's whereabouts had become elusive, and no one could find him. Loriste suddenly found himself the most idle one. Apart from the first few days when the three Grand Dukes invited him to a banquet and thanked him for speaking up for not continuing the attack, the rest of the time was listening to Duke Filim and Duke Shahin's endless complaints about not being able to find the second prince.
Loriste comforted the two of them that there was no need to look for him. It was impossible for the second prince to hide from them. Now that his whereabouts were uncertain, he must have gone to inspect these newly acquired provinces and would naturally return after a while. Although that was what he said, Loriste also became a little impatient. He could just take the Flying Tiger Legion and the two squads of guards back to the Northern Lands. It didn't matter even if he didn't get the second prince's signature for three years of tax exemption. He didn't care whether he had the paper or not. If the second prince refused to acknowledge the debt, he would be very happy. He really wanted to see if the second prince would summon an army to suppress a rebel like him who refused to pay taxes …
Thinking about the child who was just born half a year ago and Princess Silvia, Loriste had a feeling that he couldn't wait to fly back to the Northern Lands. But the second prince just had to go inspect some territory at this time, leaving a large group of people to wait in Hans City for his return. How outrageous! Thus, the impatient Loriste simply brought his family's armed forces across the Nibaraku River and returned to the Demonlands. Since he had nothing to do, he might as well hunt a few more times to earn some extra income.
Seeing that August was about to pass, Loriste finally received a messenger's order in the Demonlands. The second prince wanted him to return as soon as possible and not wander around the Demonlands. Thus, Loriste leisurely brought the Flying Tiger Legion and the two squads of guards back to Hans City, the capital of the Delamar province. When he arrived, he found that the three central dukes had already set off with their family's armed forces, the families of the soldiers, and some citizens who were willing to follow the three dukes to migrate to the new territory.
Duke Kempis had long since obtained the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's two-year tax exemption certificate from the second prince and left. The Snow Salt Merchant Guild had taken care of the logistics and supplies needed by the three central dukes along the way, so he had to immediately allocate and transport the various supplies. In the letter he left for Loriste, he announced that this was a big deal, estimated to be worth close to a million gold coins. If the three dukes were satisfied, and the production materials needed for the development of the three new territories would be provided, this business would become a large one that could be carried out in the long run …
Duke Fisablun also left with the Third Frontier Ranger Legion and the reserve legion, as well as the rewards given to him by the second prince. He did not meet up with Loriste. The only ones left in Hans City were Duke Phelim and Duke Şahin, as well as their armed forces. In addition, there were two newly reorganized garrison legions. As for the White Lion Legion that had been reorganized and replenished, they had received orders from the second prince to set off for the Marjik province half a month ago. They had been deployed by the second prince to the border of the Andvov province to prevent the invasion of the Trade Federation.
Duke Phelim and Duke Şahin, who came to welcome Loriste, had ugly and indignant expressions on their faces. Loriste was puzzled and asked them what was wrong. Duke Phelim handed Duke Kempis' letter to Loriste and spat hatefully before telling him the whole story. He had been tricked. The thirty thousand young adults that had been promised to the second prince had been changed to thirty thousand. Among them, there were less than seven thousand young adults, and the rest were the families of the young adults.
Duke Phelim complained that for the same reward, the fifty thousand young adults that Duke Fisablun had received were all young adults. Together with their families, a total of one hundred and seventy thousand people were moved to the territory of the Fisablun Family. However, when he complained to the second prince, he was suppressed by the second prince. The second prince said that Grand Duke Fisablon was expanding the territory for the kingdom, so he had to increase the population of his territory to prevent it from becoming a pasture for the Grass Barbarian tribe again. The southern province was located in the hinterland of the kingdom, and there were no external threats. After twenty or thirty years, the population would naturally increase …
In addition, the Second Prince also compared him with Grand Duke Fisablun. The second prince said that the reserve legion of the Fisablun Family had suffered heavy casualties in the war against the four central duchies, sacrificing nearly ten thousand cavalrymen. But your Pegasus Legion, other than being used as scouts for reconnaissance and vigilance, suffered extremely few casualties. So the reward given to you is different from that of Duke Fisablun. This is also a compensation for their great contribution to the kingdom.
Duke Phelim could only blame his bad luck. It was another matter for Duke Şahin. The second prince gave him two choices. One was to choose one of the two provinces, Limad or Meishan, as his family's territory. The second was to wait for the kingdom to recover several provinces that had been forcibly occupied by the commercial alliance, and then grant the Podohorg province, where the capital of Fedeliga was located, to Duke Şahin as his family's territory.
Duke Şahin did not want either of the two choices. Limad province was a specialty of stone and wood. The gold spar, black spar, and red maple produced there had always been high-end materials in the building materials market. But in the chaos of war, no one had the time to deal with these things. Meishan Province was also considered a province with large mineral resources, but it was more about quantity than quality. For example, it had two silver mines and one copper mine, which were both small veins. After 20 to 30 years of mining, they would be gone. The other three iron mines were of poor quality and were classified as inferior mines.
Duke Şahin didn't want to choose between Riemad and Meishan. The most important reason was that these two provinces had been ravaged by the allied forces of the territorial nobles at the beginning of the war. There were few people left in these two provinces. Of course, the alliance of the four northern families, led by Laurist, had also gained some benefits. But he did not expect that the second prince would give one of these two provinces to Duke Şahin as his family's territory. This was like a slap in the face to Buckingham.
Whether it was Meishan or Limad province, no matter which province Duke Şahin got as his family's territory, he would have to spend a lot of money to recruit refugees for development and construction. It would take at least twenty or thirty years to recover. The second choice made by the second prince made Duke Şahin even angrier. Podohorg province was now the territory of Visia Chamber of Commerce, one of the seven giants of the commercial alliance. It was true that Podohorg province, where the capital of Fedeliga was located, was indeed a province with large mineral resources of the former Crisen Empire. But the problem was, when would the second prince be able to recover it?
Duke Şahin's first worry was that it would take a long time. He was afraid that he would not see the day when Podohorg province became his family's territory. Secondly, he was worried that once he agreed to make Podohorg his family's territory, the second prince would probably tie the Şahin Family to his chariot in the name of recovering the lost land. He might even sow discord between the Şahin Family and the other three families in the alliance of the four northern families …
Although Duke Shahin appeared to be a brave man among the four families in the North, he was greedy and brainless, and his family background was the most ordinary. But he wasn't stupid. He knew what the Shahin Family relied on. Without the support of the Laurist Family, Kenneth Family, and Duke Filim Family, he would be nothing. He might even be drowned in this chaotic world without being able to cause a ripple.
Instead of relying on the second prince, he might as well stay by Laurist's side. After all, Laurist was more benevolent and kept his word. At least, Laurist would not forget him when he ate meat. Unlike the second prince, those who followed him would be lucky to have a few mouthfuls of soup, let alone meat and bones. The second prince would treat you as a guest of honor when he needed you, but he would not even look at you when he did not need you. Duke Şahin knew this very well.
Therefore, Duke Şahin rejected the second prince's proposal and asked for the former Focker Principality's Crimea province as his family's territory. Crimea was also a province with large mineral resources. It was rich in rock salt, gold, copper, white lead, black iron, and more than a dozen other minerals. Every year, it would add more than a million Gold Fords to the former Focker Principality's pocket. Duke Şahin had his eyes on this province for a long time.
The second prince rejected Duke Şahin's request without hesitation. He thought that Duke Şahin was not qualified to make such a request. Whether it was his contributions to the kingdom or his achievements in battle, it was not enough for him to make Crimea the Şahin Family's territory. During the era of the Crisen Empire, Crimea was a province with large mineral resources and had always been under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family. During the empire's civil war, the royal family had no choice but to entrust it to Grand Duke Focker. As a result, it was annexed by the Focker Family and became a province of the Focker Principality.
The second prince coldly told Duke Şahin that if he could not choose between Meishan and Rimard, and refused to accept the promise that he would make Podor province the Şahin Family's territory in the future, then he would have to apologize. He would think that Duke Şahin had automatically given up on the reward for the war against the four central duchies. As for Crimea, he should stop dreaming about it.
Duke Şahin left angrily.
"Henned, so you've worked for nothing this time?" Loriste asked.
Duke Şahin shrugged and made a very angry expression. "Should be. I can only blame it on my bad luck. I will never trust him again."
Loriste patted him on the shoulder. "Just bear with it for now. You did not lose anything this time, and you also made a lot of money when you cleaned up the nobles in the Fulondor Principality. The only pity is that we did not discuss the specific conditions with him before we sent out the troops. Forget it, I'll go see him first and see what he has to say. "
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