"Your Highness, the spoils from the conquest of Fedeliga's capital are all recorded here." Malek placed a leather folder on the table.
This was the city lord's residence in the inner city of Fedeliga's capital. After conquering the capital, it had naturally become Lollister's residence and command center. However, because the chairman of the Visia Merchant Group and the higher-ups had set fire to it before retreating, the originally luxurious city lord's residence had been mostly destroyed. Only a third of the buildings had been salvaged.
Lollister was currently standing in front of the window. This rather tidy side palace had been turned into his study, and was also the office where he would summon his subordinates to discuss matters. In front of the side palace hall, there were several large pits dug out of the ruins that had been burned into ruins. Many guards were searching for valuables in the large pits and on top of the ruins with small shovels. The rubble and rubbish that they had filtered were piled up into several small mounds beside the large pits.
Lollister looked up at the overcast sky and sighed. He turned to Malek and said, "It's already the 33rd of February. The rainy season will be here in two days. Judging by the weather, it might rain tomorrow. Have the refugees and captives been settled? They'll have to stay indoors for the next month. It'll be tough … "
Malek replied expressionlessly, "Your Highness, please don't worry. All the captives have been gathered at the barracks in the western district. Lord Bodefinger will be in charge of them. Lord Joest will be in charge of the city's defenses, and the refugees have been arranged to live in the eastern district. They're emotionally stable, and are willing to serve our family's armed forces. During the rainy season, Lord Dorles will be in charge of their supplies and order. "
"Then have the arrangements been made for our family's armed forces?" Lollister asked again.
"It's done. Lord Ross has arranged for the Flying Tiger Army to be stationed in the southern district, and the Monolith Army to be stationed in the northern district. They've already built temporary barracks. There won't be any problems getting through the rainy season, "Malek said.
"You've done well. Very meticulous," Lollister praised. Laurist praised. He walked to the table and picked up the leather folder. Flipping through it, he was a little surprised. "Hmm? We've only seized four million gold coins this time? "
"Yes, Your Highness." Malek said, "I found all of these in the vault. I asked the people in charge of the vault, and they said that this was the reserve fund of the Visia Merchant Group. Most of it was used to pay the salaries and benefits of the soldiers in the merchant group's armed forces and the various departments under the merchant group. The rest was used in case of a shortage of funds.
The total value of all the resources we seized this time is equivalent to nearly ten million gold coins. But unfortunately, most of the warehouses were set on fire when the higher-ups of Visia Chamber of Commerce fled. Our soldiers didn't manage to salvage much food and military supplies. Most of the warehouses were stocked with all kinds of expensive alloys that are useless to us in our current situation. "
That was to be expected. Visia Chamber of Commerce was the largest manufacturer of weapons and armaments in the Trade Federation. It had its own mining, refining, and forging system. Naturally, a lot of expensive alloy materials were stored in the warehouse for future use during the production and experiments. However, these materials were all useless to the Norton family. Not only did they have to travel thousands of miles to transport them back, just the weight and quantity alone would cost a lot of money to transport them back.
To the Norton family, these expensive alloy materials were of little value. It would be a pity to throw them away. After all, they were worth a few million gold coins. But it was useless to ship them back, and they would have to spend money on transportation. After all, the Norton family had a refining and forging department. The standard equipment produced by the family was not inferior to the weapons and armor produced by Visia Chamber of Commerce, and might even be superior.
Laurist really wanted to find someone to sell the alloy materials from Felix and King City to him, but the problem was that it was difficult to find someone suitable to take over the alloy materials worth millions. The second prince was a good candidate, but he didn't have that much money, and he was thick-skinned. Laurist was sure that if he wanted to transfer the alloy materials to the second prince, he would get an IOU instead of gold coins.
Pointing at the stacks of documents and information in the corner of the study, Laurist smiled bitterly. "I've looked through all the documents that weren't destroyed by the fire over the past twenty days, but I couldn't find any information on the ratio of the alloy materials. I suspect they've all been destroyed. I don't know if Reidi and Aire managed to find any clues about the ratio technician among the captives. I really want to know what material is used to make the large metal gate in the north gate … "
"I'm sorry, Your Highness. I have no right to ask about this. I'm not sure if Reidi and Aire have made any progress." Malek's face was still expressionless.
"Oh, I forgot. I shouldn't have asked you about this. Forget it, Malek. There were too many unexpected events during this siege, and our original plans were unable to be realized. However, we've taken over Felix and destroyed the Visia Chamber of Commerce. We've accomplished two of our goals. Now that the rainy season is here, you'll be in charge of the distribution of resources and management! "Laurist patted Malek's shoulder.
Malek stood at attention. "Rest assured, Your Highness. I'll do my best to complete my duties. However, the biggest problem now is the rations. I've already sent people to calculate. The rations that our family's armed forces and those that we've rescued from the burning warehouses should be enough to last us through the rainy season if we reduce the amount of supplies. However, after the rainy season, we'll be facing a shortage of rations. "
"As long as we can last through the rainy season." Laurist nodded. "After the rainy season, it'll be time to harvest the winter wheat. The large wheat fields outside the city should be able to provide us with rations for a period of time. When the weather clears up, Ferocious Tiger Ross will lead the Flying Tiger Army to wipe out all the nobles in the Porto Org province who have been conferred titles by the Visia Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, Bofinger will lead the Monolith Army to attack Cambona province, and we'll be able to fight the enemy with rations.
When the weather clears up, the logistics team from the Andvorf province will escort large amounts of supplies here. At the same time, Josk's hunting squad will arrive here, and they'll be escorting over a hundred thousand immigrants to the north. Once the population of Felix is reduced by a hundred thousand, the pressure on rations will lessen. By then, the harvested winter wheat will be enough for our armed forces to use for a few months. "
What Laurist hated the most was that when the higher-ups of the Visia Chamber of Commerce abandoned the city and fled, they'd set fire to the trade district and storage warehouses in the south of the city. Just as the envoy had said, once the city fell, they'd burn it down and not leave the city intact for the Norton family. Since the higher-ups of the Visia Chamber of Commerce had kept their word, Laurist wasn't willing to go back on his word. After capturing the high-ranking members of the Visia Chamber of Commerce who had escaped, regardless of the Visia Chamber of Commerce's position and influence in the Commerce Alliance, they insisted on killing all of the high-ranking members of the Visia Chamber of Commerce and their relatives, causing the Visia Chamber of Commerce to be removed from the list.
When the rations warehouse caught fire, Laurist immediately gave up on the chase and led his guards to put out the fire. Even after two days and three nights of hard work, they had only managed to save a third of the rations. After Felix City was conquered, there were almost two hundred and eighty thousand people in the city. The supply of rations was indeed starting to get tight. So in the next ten days, the Norton Family's armed forces kept the captives in various parts of the city in search of food hidden under the ruins.
After Malek left, Reidi and Aire arrived. After the newly formed miners' garrison army from the Visia Chamber of Commerce laid down their weapons and surrendered, Laurist gave the task of screening the technicians and talents among the captives to Reidi and Aire. From their expressions, it was obvious that they'd completed this task well.
"Your Highness, this is the list of names that we've screened. There's a total of 178 people. Most of them are technicians, and some are technical managers. Their families were fortunate enough to not die in battle. We believe that after we move them to the north, they'll be able to smoothly integrate into our family's territory, "Aire reported.
"Your Highness, we've also found the material refiner who forged the metal door. His name is Motilla, 47 years old, single. According to those who know him, he's a technical madman who's obsessed with material refinement and synthesis. "Reidi told Laurist another piece of good news.
"Oh, how did you find him?" Laurist was delighted.
"This, he ran out himself." Reidi laughed, "When we were interrogating the captives in the camp, this Motilla suddenly rushed over and hugged a guard, not letting go. He muttered something, and we were all shocked. At first, we thought he had been attacked, and he was almost cut down. But later, we found out that he was hugging the guard for the steel armor he was wearing. When he saw our armor, his eyes lit up. We thought he was crazy, but when we asked the people around him, we found out that he's really a technical madman. He forgets everything when he sees a material he's interested in. We heard that the two big iron gates at the north gate were also made with the materials he provided, so we brought him back directly. Your Highness, do you want to see him? "
"What is he doing now?" Laurist's curiosity was piqued.
"He refused to let go of our armor. After we brought him back, we threw him a spare steel gauntlet. Now he's in a room studying that gauntlet. He doesn't even care about food, and only asks for a pen and paper. It seems like he's trying to deduce the ratio of steel used in the gauntlet …" Reidi guessed after some thought.
"Then forget it. Let him study the steel gauntlet. Once the rainy season is over, send him to our family's iron refining base and hand him over to Master Sid. Tell him that this person is a valuable talent and cannot be neglected, "Laurist said.
"Yes, Your Highness."
… …
The mountain path was stained with blood. Corpses were strewn all over the place. Their bodies were either pierced by arrows or had large chunks of broken bones. Those were wounds caused by heavy objects.
"Your Highness, we really can't attack. The mountain path is too slippery during the melting snow season. The enemy has a high vantage point and has a well-protected castle. We've already lost three hundred-men squads, but we haven't even touched the edge of the castle … …" Lipred stood in front of the second prince dejectedly. As the second prince's most trusted Gold Knight and the Andinac Kingdom's most elite force, the commander of the Blizzard Assault Team, he was ashamed to have led three thousand men to attack a small castle with less than a thousand men.
The second prince's face was also ashen as he stared at the small castle at the edge of the cliff at the end of the mountain path. He was also extremely depressed. After launching the winter raid on the northwest region in December last year, news of victory had spread like wildfire, and they were invincible. First, they took care of the garrison army deployed by the bullshit Archduke Zturam in the border fortress and wiped out the army of more than twenty-eight thousand men, which was a good start for the raid.
Then, the second prince led the Blizzard Assault Team to sweep through more than half of the northwest region. They eliminated more than thirty nobles conferred by the Trade Federation, while the Blizzard Assault Team under his command lost less than a thousand men. It was also at this time that the enemy finally discovered the second prince's raid. Alarm bells rang, beacons were lit, and smoke was everywhere.
At that time, the second prince thought that the enemy's momentum was gone and that there was no other way but to surrender. The second prince was very pleased and decided to capture Archduke Zturam and torture him before executing him.
Back then, Zturam was still an Earl of the Reidlis Kingdom, and his territory was in the Andwolf province. Because of his opposition to surrendering to the Second Prince, he gathered nearly ten thousand people to fight against the Kingdom's army to suppress the rebellion. He set up a plot to lure the army into a trap, and a flood destroyed the Second Prince's army of seventy thousand.
The second prince hated this Grand Duke Zthuram to the bone. When he was defeated and returned to King's City, Zthuram defected to the Commerce Alliance and was conferred the title of Grand Duke. He also cut off the province of Hengstmos from the newly ascended Queen Kerry and established the Duchy of Zthuram with the northwest region as a buffer state between the Commerce Alliance and the Andinac Kingdom.
Later, with the help of the Norton Family's armed forces, the second prince overthrew the usurping Queen Kerry and re-ascended the throne. He then ordered the Norton Family's armed forces to recover the Houtmos province. Archduke Zturam was very tactful and withdrew his troops to the northwest region, allowing the Norton Family to win without a fight and recapture the Houtmos province for the Andenac Kingdom.
In the next few years, Archduke Zturam stayed in the northwest region and did not make any provocative moves against the Andenac Kingdom. His garrison also stayed ten miles away from the border to avoid conflict with the Royal Guards who guarded the border of the Houtmos province.
However, no matter how harmless Archduke Zturam appeared, he was still a thorn in the second prince's heart. He would not feel comfortable if he did not remove it. This time, the second prince had chosen to launch a surprise attack in winter to catch Grand Duke Zthuram unprepared. With the help of the harsh winter, he would have nowhere to escape and become the second prince's defeated opponent, allowing the second prince to take his revenge …
However, the second prince did not expect Archduke Zturam to set up such a perfect alarm system in the northwest region. As soon as he received the alarm, he was ready for a decisive battle in his castle. The second prince besieged Archduke Zturam's castle until the middle of February. With the help of the belated catapults, the second prince broke through the castle. Unfortunately, Archduke Zturam ran away again. It was snowing in February, and the second prince's Blizzard Raid Team could not use skis. As a result, Archduke Zturam escaped to this small castle on the edge of the cliff with more than three hundred cavalrymen.
The mountain road was rugged and slippery. The attacking soldiers would fall if they were not careful. They attacked several times but were repelled by the castle guards with crossbows and rolling stones. They suffered heavy casualties.
"If the catapults can rush over, we can definitely take down this small castle with the cover of the shield carriages!" Lippred said unwillingly.
The second prince shook his head. "The road is muddy and difficult to walk on. The rainy season is coming soon, so the catapults can't rush over immediately. Don't worry, he can't escape. We will withdraw our troops first and choose to set up camp on high ground nearby. We will attack after the rainy season. At that time, this traitor will still fall into our hands … "
"Yes, Your Majesty," Lippred said.
…
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
