Unknown Knight

Chapter 401: Mixed Government

After dealing with Eden, Bandak led people to conduct a political review in the city, and arrested more than a dozen of Eden's confidants who were in hiding. Together with those who had been taken out of the city with Eden, there were more than 30 people in total.

These people were Iden's confidants, and they had basically participated in the conspiracy against Aix and Iaya, so they went into hiding when Eden's power collapsed. However, in order to maintain stability, Aix never lifted the blockade of Tiha City. They were trapped in the city and could not escape, and were eventually captured one by one.

As for these people, Aix was not going to kill innocent people anymore, although it would not be unfair even if they were all killed. After Bandak's investigation and evidence collection, Aix only publicly tried and beheaded a dozen of the most heinous people. The rest were charged with various crimes and sent to the mine in Tangquan Fortress, which was probably their final destination.

Among these people, the one whom Aix hated the most was the slave trader Ramon. Early in the morning, Aix had the intelligence personnel in the city secretly monitor his every move. After the army entered the city, Bandak immediately sent people to capture him from his hiding place.

Aix did not publicly execute this man whom he deeply hated, as his status did not make him worthy of such a punishment. Instead, he and Cress, who came with the army, subjected him to the most severe torture. After learning that Cress's sister had been sold to the city of Paravon by this demon, Cress stabbed the bastard with a dagger again and again, torturing him to death.

Thinking about the suffering her sister had endured over the years and the fact that she was still unknown whether she was alive or dead, Mrs. Cress felt very bad. After comforting her, Axe sent a team of capable men, who were in disguise, to protect her and go to Paraven to find her biological sister.

As for Ramon's slave trade group, they were naturally uprooted by Aix. Every one of these people was a heinous criminal who deserved to die. But Aix couldn't just kill them so easily, that would be too easy for them.

Finally, all the members of the slave trading group and their families were loaded into slave cages and sent to the mine in Tangquan Fortress. Aix gave a death order that they would work until death in the dark mine. During this period, they would continue to experience the taste of slave life and would never have any chance to gain freedom.

After dealing with the matter in Tiha City, Aix immediately divided his troops into three groups, each with 1,500 men, and sent them to Cherbek Fort, Jerborg Fort, and Reporet Fort respectively. These three forts were the fiefs of Eden's confidants and must be eradicated. Aix could also take the opportunity to bring these places under his control.

It took only half a month for the three armies to conquer these places. Aix took the opportunity to redistribute these places. The female Viscount Mathilde, who had made great contributions in this battle, was granted the title of Helusburg. His eldest brother-in-law Borba, the original lord of Helusburg, was transferred to Tiha City and became a city lord. The Jerborg Castle was given to the female Viscount Nia who had just been promoted to Viscount. His father-in-law Iaia also obtained the territory of Cherbek Castle.

They are all Nords, so it is appropriate for them to manage the territories of the Nords. This will not cause too much resentment among the local forces and lead to unnecessary trouble.

After these places were pacified, together with the gains in the city of Tiha, Aix also obtained a large amount of wealth. The Nords were indeed a seafaring nation that was good at business. They collected nearly 12,000 gold coins, more than 50,000 silver coins, and more than 300,000 copper coins. The rest, such as gold and silver jewelry, rare jewels, supplies and utensils, were so numerous that it was difficult to count them at the moment.

This is only the superficial wealth. These places originally belonged to Eden and his cronies' fields, manors, mines, workshops, shops and other industries, but now they all belong to Aix. Except for some rewards for meritorious soldiers, nearly half of these industries have fallen into Aix's hands. These are all living wealth that keeps making money.

Except for Fort Repolet, which originally belonged to the Kingdom of Swadia, the rest of the newly occupied territories belonged to the Kingdom of Nord. In order to save face for King Ragnar in Sargoth City, Aix decided not to incorporate these places into the Kingdom of Vaegir for the time being, but they still belonged to the Kingdom of Nord in name.

As for whether King Ragnar was reluctant or not, Aix didn't care about him. There was no way he would hand over the territory conquered by the warriors. Now two of the three cities in the Nordic Kingdom were under his control. Not directly overthrowing his title of king was already a consideration for their past friendship and the greatest face for him.

This is also why Aix appointed Mathilde, Nia and others as lords of these territories. They are all Nords. In the eyes of ordinary Nords, these places still belong to the Nordic kingdom. They will not have any resistance or loss of land and country, which will also facilitate the stability of these territories and future rule.

Aix did not even implement the Queen's New Deal in these new territories like the Kingdom of Vigia, but continued the previous political system, namely the tribal alliance system centered on the Yar leader.

Under this system, every Nord is a member of his own tribe and is protected by the chief of the Jarl. They all have their own land and property, and even slaves. They do not need to pay taxes, but only obey the orders of the tribal Jarl when guarding their homes and fighting foreign wars.

The tribal yar leaders owned the most and most fertile land, and had a large number of slaves and dependent serfs under their command. Depending on the amount of financial resources, they also maintained an indefinite number of personal guards.

Aix could not follow the example of the Kingdom of Vigia and let these Nordyar release their slaves now. He only wanted to turn the serfs in the territories under his control into free people. As for the others, he could only wait for opportunities in the future. For the time being, he could only implement this mixed political system in these new territories.

Fortunately, these territories are vast and sparsely populated, and years of war have caused people in these territories to flee. The conflict between people and land will not appear for a while, and Aix does not need the tithe, which is not much to begin with, so just make do with it for the time being.

It took Aix nearly a month to sort out the affairs of Tiha City. Now he finally had time to deal with a personal grudge of his, a hurdle that he had been unable to overcome all these years.

Prior to this, except for some soldiers left behind to guard the two of the three routes, the rest had already returned to the Kingdom of Vigia. Only the route attacking Fort Ripolet was still in the state of assembly, and they were waiting for Aix's arrival.

As early as the beginning of the attack on Tihab, Aix sent a team of fifty elite cavalrymen to Fort Talpolia to closely monitor all movements in the fort.

According to the information fed back by this team of cavalry, Airenyar, who occupied this place, had been staying in the castle all the time and showed no signs of escaping. He just kept building the city walls, as if he was ready to defend to the end.