Chapter 491: Weapons for Population
After making a decision in his mind, Richard immediately returned to his homeland with Queen Sofia.
Although Richard was open-minded and would not pursue Martin for his advice, Sofia secretly hated him. If it were not for Richard's strong opposition, she would have been ready to attack Martin.
Although Sofia's family, the queen, was not as powerful as the family of the court lady Wendy, and her influence in the army was insufficient. But Sofia herself was a legendary magician, and the power of the Stob family in the magician class was relatively strong.
When the Harland Mage Association was established, it was still an apprentice system, and the magicians mainly relied on Sofia and Wendy to teach in person. Because of this historical origin, the two had a great influence on the early apprentices.
Now most of these early apprentices are already the backbone of the Mage Association. After nearly thirty years of accumulation, Sofia has promoted many talents from the Mage Association and trained many students. Margaret and Philip have always been protected by many magicians.
Although Undine also joined the Mage Association later, her influence among mages is far from enough compared to Sofia.
Sofia's brother Rogge has also served as the head of the civil service for nearly 20 years. Although the civil service of the Harland Kingdom is not as high-ranking as the military generals, the power they hold is not small at all. If the Stopat family takes action against Martin, there will naturally be countless ways to make the Martin family extremely uncomfortable.
But in this way, the queen's side will inevitably have an internal struggle with the conservatives in the army.
Now it is still Richard who is in charge and can suppress the internal struggles between the major forces.
Once Richard has an accident, the internal contradictions may not be suppressed.
When the contradiction breaks out, there will inevitably be a brutal bloody conflict. The situation will stabilize only after the conflict breaks out and the final winner is determined. This is also the inevitable path for almost all kingdoms.
Even the blood of the gods, the creator of the country, became a demigod, and he came step by step like this, unable to stop his children and grandchildren from fighting internally.
Richard is very open-minded about this. In his mind, he will suppress it as long as he can. If he can't suppress it, he will just let it go. However, with Richard's own prestige, he can easily suppress it within one or two hundred years.
As for the future, he probably won't even recognize all of his descendants, so of course there won't be any deep feelings. It all depends on their own abilities and luck. If those who are not capable enough lose their power, Richard will not intervene.
After returning to his homeland, Richard constantly summoned important officials from both the military and political sides to discuss countermeasures, and soon reached a consensus, and then wrote letters to consult Soros and Sylph in the Red Moon plane.
After the top leaders reached a consensus and made a decision, Richard appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Stevens Hogan as a full-power envoy to handle the affairs of the Kingdom of Delong.
Of course, Martin is still the one who actually holds the decision-making power in the front. After all, Martin still has to make the final decision to mobilize the resources of the Rex Province.
Martin's power and status in the Kingdom of Harland are far greater than Stevens. Instead of using Martin, Stevens is used just to control the size and provoke conflicts. Richard's own prestige is enough and he doesn't need to use such tactics.
After Stevens arrived at the Rex Province with some of his entourage, he immediately contacted the four dukes on the border and took the initiative to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Delong.
At this moment, it has been about three months since the outbreak of the civil war in the Kingdom of Delong.
Although King Anton's army is strong, it has been opposed by the vast majority of nobles in the country, and it is impossible to quell the rebellion in three months.
After all, the rebellious nobles have a strong foundation in the local area. Even a small baron has built a solid castle and stored a large amount of weapons and food in the castle. The private army under his command is not a weak brigade, but an independent warlord.
According to the historical tradition of the Dawn Plane, it often takes a long time to quell the rebellion of local nobles.
King Anton's army was beaten to a bloody pulp under the Lion Mountain Castle. Even King Anton personally went out to fight and climbed the top of the Lion Mountain City, but was repelled by the defenders.
Lion Mountain is just an earldom. The rebellious nobles are supported by three dukedoms, Marcel, Peron, and Ram. If they want to defeat the domestic noble forces without external intervention, it will take at least several years.
After all, in terms of strength, the power comparison between the two sides is evenly matched. If it weren't for the loss of the two dukes Isaac and Hubble's territory, the power of the hereditary nobles might be even stronger.
Among the six dukes of the Kingdom of Delong, only the Duke of Sis, who has been married to the royal family for generations, expressed support for the reform. The remaining five dukes have raised the banner of rebellion and will never give up until the new law is abolished.
The struggle between the two sides was extremely cruel. Three months after the outbreak of the civil war, King Anton had broken through 17 castles and executed 17 hereditary nobles who rebelled.
Until they were blocked by the Lion Mountain Castle.
The Sierra Leone Castle is in a dangerous position. The Sierra Leone Earl Family has ruled this area for about a thousand years.
For more than a thousand years, the Lion Mountain Family has continuously raised the city walls, and now the city walls are as high as 26 meters. It was difficult for low-level professionals to climb up easily. Even if the army under King Anton was brave and good at fighting, they could not take the Lion Mountain Fortress in a short time.
King Anton tried many ways, but could not shake this strong city. He had to besiege Lion Mountain, hoping to exhaust the food in the castle and force the defenders to surrender.
It was under this situation that Stevens rushed to the border of the Kingdom of Delong.
In fact, after the two countries went to war, Martin entrusted Odaye to lead the caravan of Rex Province to rush to the border four dukes to negotiate the purchase of serfs.
In just three months, Harland paid a lot of materials and exchanged 300,000 serfs from the four dukes of Allen, Klein, Vicia and Guevara.
The four dukes of the border of the Kingdom of Delong were originally the four marquises of the eastern part of the Kingdom of Grant. These four families have been married to the Grant royal family for generations. They are not only local nobles, but also have great influence in the central government. In fact, they are part of the central ruling class. From their heart, they don’t want the Kingdom of Harland to eat too many people.
But the reality is not subject to their will.
First of all, the Kingdom of Harland is now their neighbor. Whether it is Allen, Guevara, Klein or Vicia, they are very afraid of Richard, the tiger.
If you anger the tiger, it will eat people. Once the thirty-year peace contract is over, if you offend the Kingdom of Harland too much, it will give Richard an excuse. After the war breaks out, the four dukes know that they are definitely not opponents.
If you are not careful, you will become a noble who loses his land. So even if they were worried, they didn't dare to refuse the caravan from the Kingdom of Harland to buy serfs without sufficient reasons.
Secondly, because of the outbreak of war in the Kingdom of Delong, a huge refugee wave formed in the border area. Even if the local nobles tried their best to stop it, they couldn't stop it at all. In just three months, about one million people poured into the border four dukes. Except for a few nobles who fled, all of this population was reduced to slaves by the four dukes.
With the increase of one million people, the supply of food was not sufficient. In order to avoid a possible food crisis, the four dukes needed to sell some slaves in exchange for supplies.
Moreover, in order to exchange people, the Harland Territory would also sell alchemical bombs, magic hot air balloons and other scarce supplies.
The transaction of population for weapons is also beneficial to the four dukes.
Because of the above reasons, this transaction was successfully completed, and the participants almost achieved a win-win situation. Even the businessmen such as the handling staff Odaye also got a lot of benefits.
After Stevens arrived at the border of the Kingdom of Delong, he immediately visited powerful nobles such as Marcel, Peron, and Ram in person.
Although the rebel alliance of the Kingdom of Delong is led by five dukes, the Isaac and Huber families have lost their territories, and most of their backbones have died. Although they have not been demoted for many years, they are only left with empty titles. The reason why they can still maintain a false title is that they rely on the support of their in-laws from past generations. The actual power they control is not as good as the four hereditary earls.
Among the rebels, the ones who really speak the truth are still Marcel, Peron, and Ram.
After the Kingdom of Harland sent out special envoys, although Marcel, Peron, Ram and other nobles were entangled in their hearts and did not like foreign forces to intervene. However, in order to win and survive, they still respectfully received the special envoys of the Kingdom of Harland, and there was no difference on the surface.
Most politicians have deep mansions and it is impossible for people to see through them easily.
Stevens visited in person and soon became a guest of the three dukes and started trade negotiations.
The main topic is population in exchange for materials. Whether it is food and cloth that have been severely reduced due to war damage, or weapons, armor, or even alchemical bombs, magic hot air balloons and magic crystal cannons are all on the list of items for sale drawn up by Richard.
The transportation of materials to the border area only adds about 40% to the price. If the three dukes transport them themselves, the Kingdom of Harland can sell them at the original price.
In addition to population, the Kingdom of Harland will also accept heavy metals such as bronze, silver, and gold. As for the currency of the Kingdom of Delong, because it is not circulated in the Kingdom of Harland, it can only be sold at a discount after deducting the fire consumption.
Of course, the Kingdom of Harland likes magic crystals the most. If you pay with magic crystals, you will get a small discount.
The three dukes, Marcel, Peron, and Ram, have fought with the Harland family and the Grant Kingdom for many years. They are very clear about the power of alchemical bombs and have also seen the power of magic hot air balloons. Of course, what impressed them most was the magic crystal cannon. With the magic crystal cannon in hand, the solid city fortress immediately became a chicken and a dog.
Seeing that Harland was willing to sell even the trump card on the battlefield, the three dukes' eyes immediately turned red. They expressed their willingness to exchange the serfs in the territory for food, cloth, weapons, and armor. As for alchemical bombs, magic hot air balloons, and magic crystal cannons, the more the better, to ensure that enough serfs were captured for the Kingdom of Harland.
According to the price list drawn up by Stevens, an alchemical bomb costs fifteen gold coins, which is equivalent to three serfs.
A set of magic hot air balloons costs seven thousand gold coins, and one thousand four hundred people need to be paid.
Of course, after purchasing the magic hot air balloon, you still need to undergo training before you can use it. The training fee is not expensive. The Kingdom of Harland will teach you everything, and you only need to add another five hundred people.
The most expensive is the magic crystal cannon. The price of a magic crystal cannon is twenty-four thousand gold coins, and you need to sell four thousand eight hundred slaves. Of course, using the magic crystal cannon also requires training, and the training fee is two thousand gold coins, which is equivalent to adding another four hundred people.
At the same time, a magic crystal cannon will come with thirty alchemical shells, which can only support a fierce battle. It costs 120 gold coins to buy one cannonball, and 100 shells require the payment of 2,400 people.
Super magic weapons are so expensive, ordinary materials are much cheaper. A set of steel armor only needs ten gold coins, and a set of leather armor is only about two gold coins. A spear costs one silver coin, a steel knife costs forty copper coins, an iron-inlaid heavy shield is only about two silver coins, a meal of food is only three silver coins, a roll of linen is two silver coins, and a roll of cotton cloth is three silver coins, which is only about 30 to 40 percent higher than the market price before the war broke out.
In order to raise enough funds, the three dukes began to collect and capture people in large quantities. They even sent Warcraft cavalry to attack the empty rear of the royal territory. The goal of the battle was to capture serfs.
For a time, the front line became extremely chaotic. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Stevens, while negotiating with the nobles of the Kingdom of Delong, used the relationship of the caravan to place some intelligence personnel in the Kingdom of Delong.
The intelligence force of the Kingdom of Harland in the Kingdom of Delong is also very strong. More than 20% of the population in the country comes from the Kingdom of Delong, such as Jennings, Sura, Odaye, etc., whose hometowns are all in the Kingdom of Delong.
Because of the exact same eating habits and cultural customs, Richard could easily select intelligence personnel and infiltrate countries such as Delong, East Coast, Grant, and Stannic.
With strong mobility, coupled with the outbreak of the civil war in the Kingdom of Delong, the intelligence department even infiltrated the hands of hereditary nobles. Many hereditary nobles of the Kingdom of Delong have secretly expressed their attitudes and are willing to serve the Kingdom of Harland.
Less than half a year after Stevens entered the Kingdom of Delong, he had sold 60,000 alchemical bombs, 120 sets of magic hot air balloons, 18 magic crystal cannons, 40,000 sets of leather armor, 20,000 sets of steel armor, and some scattered supplies, in exchange for 600,000 slaves for Harland, plus the 300,000 people exchanged with the four border dukes earlier. Less than a year after the war began, the Kingdom of Harland had eaten a large piece of fat from the Kingdom of Delong, increasing its population by more than 900,000.
Due to the civil war in the Kingdom of Delong, it was not only the Harland Kingdom that ate meat, but also the four border dukes, the southern royal direct territory of the Grant Kingdom, and the Maya Kingdom.
According to the rough estimate of the intelligence department, in the nine months since the outbreak of the war, the Kingdom of Delong has lost about four million people, equivalent to about 15% of the total population.
Only a small part of the four million people lost died in the war massacre, and most of them became war refugees, fled the border and fell into the hands of neighboring countries.