Capítulo 128: End Of The Beginning (1)
The southwestern tip of the former Bridget territory, this is the location of Berthaquin.
At the top is a mountain range, below is the ocean. It was a natural fortress for sure.
Most of Berthaquin territory is mountainous.
If I exclude the mountains, the usable land is about half that of Aquitania.
Considering that the mountains can be used for slash-and-burn farming, there's some room to spare.
The territories I've decided to start with are Berthaquin, the neighbouring territory of Raihein, and Brinhild, which used to be Bridget's territory.
Aside from the population, there is a lack of people who can rule properly.
It takes a lot of people to maintain a single city.
Leaving it to just anyone would have negative consequences, as security and people's spirit would decline.
That's why I gave up on the eastern side of Bridget's royal capital, which was occupied by Lunan's troops, for now.
I'm going to start building it up from here and later occupy the eastern side as well.
"As you said, immediately after the second invasion of Visigoth, most of the troops in the southeast of Bridget retreated to Lunan. I obeyed orders and stayed behind to secure Brinhild!" <Count Fihatri>
Of the troops led by Fihatri, 20,000 had retreated to Lunan.
Perhaps they joined Ronen who fled to the southern part of Lunan.
Well, I've left another spark over there.
If that spark was useless, I could use other methods, but I was going to watch the heat of the spark for now.
Duke Ronen was the real enemy who had caused her father's death.
With Hayna's intellect she would not have spent effort on the dying Lunan, but would have tried to take revenge on Duke Ronen.
"What about the population of southeast Bridget?" <Julius>
"There is some difficulty because they are essentially Bridget citizens...We've tried to encourage them to move to the west, where we are, but we've failed to win them over." <Count Fihatri>
"Well, that can't be helped. Don't keep anyone from leaving your territory, even in Raihein and Brinhild. Forcing them to do so at a time like this will have a fatal effect on public sentiment." <Julius>
"Yes, my lord!" <Count Fihatri>
I can't help but think that the people of Bridget perceive me as just another enemy but if I govern them well my influence will increase.
First of all, I have to concentrate my power as much as possible.
There was a lot of work to be done, but the first thing I did was to inspect each of the roads leading from Brinhild, the old royal capital of Bridget, to the eastern part of Bridget.
To the north is a mountain range and to the south is the coast, in other words, it's blocked.
The east is the one to watch out for. The road to the east was open, but there was a small cluster of mountains on that side as well.
I went to inspect the mountainous area because it had a barrier to stop enemies from entering Brinhild, the royal capital of Bridget.
"Sir, it looks like it's this way." <Count Fihatri>
The first barrier that Fihatri took me to.
______________________________________
[Brin Hill barrier]
[Durability 50]
______________________________________
It was worse than I thought.
"There are a few guards down there, but they don't seem to be in good condition. It's a long stretch of country to the east, and the mountainous terrain blocks most of the enemy, so they may have been caught off guard." <Count Fihatri>
In the end, it was necessary to repair the damage at a cost.
Although I had brought in all the gold that was in the basement of Aquitania, and the portion i'd initially taken from Bridget's treasury there was a limit.
As the population grows, relying only on that gold will be a problem later on.
For now, I have no choice but to enforce a policy of tax exemption, a policy that will cost me a fortune.
"Supply as much food as you can and gather as many men as you can using the food stored in Bridget's royal palace. We'll need to build an extension." <Julius>
"Very well, my lord!" <Count Fihatri>
I can't leave my flank unprotected.
There is no force that can invade this region immediately, but I must be prepared.
I plan to promote trade in the future, so I'll have to make money that way.
What's important is the barrier that will protect me.
That was the first priority, and then I started to allocate the population.
If we were to establish a kingdom while declaring the revival of the ancient Roman Empire, the first step would be to use my current territory and the royal capital would be Brinhild.
It's not bad. It's a place with a reasonably good royal castle.
______________________________________
[Aquitania Domain]
[Total population 2,050,000]
______________________________________
Since I have not yet proclaimed a new country, the total population of the three regions labeled as Aquitania territory in the system is 2,050,000.
The existing population of Aquitania was 300,000, it's a lot for a single territory, but that's because I've implemented an aggressive influx policy.
Besides, the existing population of Brinhild, Raihein, and Berthaquin is about 500,000.
This was a small number considering that Brinhild was the royal capital of the country, and the population of the rest of the country had left due to the war I had started last time, as a result of the reinforcing Lunan army running rampant.
The rest were refugees from the Lunan region who had followed me.
As for the most important public sentiment, the existing population of about 500,000 people in Bridget had a bad number of [43], while the people I had emigrated from the Aquitania territory beforehand, that is, the people who had come to trust only me, had a high number of [92].
In addition, the refugees who had come with me after I had defeated the great army of Visigoth after the war had begun also had a reasonably stable public sentiment of [85].
The total combined of these was 65, which is not a very good number.
I have to wait for Bridget's citizens' public sentiment to rise slowly.
The allocation was 950,000 for Brinhild, 700,000 for Raihein, and 350,000 for Berthaquin. It was done in accordance with the size of each region but the problem here was the lords of each region.
I was troubled by the lack of personnel.
-Current Vassal List -
______________________________________
[Haddin Merja: 60 Power Level, 57 Intelligence, 70 Command]
[Bente: 49 Power Level, 38 Intelligence, 82 Command]
[Zeff: 95(+2) Power Level, 41 Intelligence, 54 Command]
[Yusen: 83 Power Level, 69 Intelligence, 91(+2) Command]
[Givens: 70 Power Level, 34 Intelligence, 77 Command]
[Mirine: 5 Power Level, 78 Intelligence, 22 Command]
[Yuri Roserun: 91(+3) Power Level, 57 Intelligence, 96(+2) Command]
[Elheat Demasin: 96 Power Level, 70 Intelligence, 97 Command]
[Fihatri Lecter: 81 Power Level, 85 Intelligence, 89 Command]
[Ganid Voltaire: 30 Power Level, 60 Intelligence, 61 Command]
[Leman Berta: 80 Power Level, 50 Intelligence, 78 Command]
______________________________________
Elheat has not completely become my vassal but he was still helping me.
So I was in no hurry.
I was going to wait until he brought up the subject on his own.
I'm sure he has his own problems.
The good news is that Elheat's vassals are now completely anti-Ronen.
They know the false image of the country of Lunan better than anyone else, so they will probably be able to persuade Elheat.
Count Voltaire, on the other hand, stayed where he was.
He seemed to have no intention of leaving.
When he sees me, he flatters me.
Elheat's vassals, Voltaire's vassals and none of the Lunan lords and vassals who chose to accompany me had any special abilities.
Elheat's vassals are specialized in warfare, so if Elheat became my vassal completely, they would be specialized in that field joining my army or recruit training programs.
If I were to embark on a war of conquest, I would have to call them back to work with me anyway, but for now, I had to manage each region.
For this reason, I chose Yusen, who had already confronted the praetorian guards in Berthaquin and obtained valuable information, to be in charge of Berthaquin, and Haddin to be in charge of Raihein.
They are the people I trust the most.
Count Fihatri was superior in some areas in terms of ability, but he had already done quite a lot of the work.
_____________________________________
[Lord of Berthaquin]
[Yusen]
[Berthaquin's people's spirit has increased by 5.]
_____________________________________
As soon as I appointed Yusen as the lord of Berthaquin, a surprising change appeared.
Was it the result of Yusen's high command ability?
Or was it a result of Yusen's already successful activities in Berthaquin and his desire for stability?
Haddin's first assignment in Raihein had been uneventful.
***
I visited Raihein.
The purpose of my visit was to stabilize public sentiment by announcing a tax policy prior to the development of agricultural land and the encouragement of fishing, using the same method we'd used in Aquitania [Crop Rotation].
Raihein was larger than Berthaquin in terms of airable land.
Of course, in terms of importance, Berthaquin was by far the most important because of its iron production.
It was practically the most important region because it could stimulate the mining industry, our future industrial heartland.
However, in terms of agriculture and fishing, Raihein was bigger than Berthaquin.
_____________________________________
[Raihein]
[Population: 725,031]
[People's Spirit: 74]
_____________________________________
The lower public sentiment of the existing citizens and the migrants combined and became [74].
The migrants had heard about the general tax policy, but the indigenous people of Raihein had not so I set out on my own.
The earlier I started, the more effective I could be in explaining things to them.
"Many new people are moving in, and that will upset the people. But..." <Julius>
I went around to every village to make that speech.
The effect of the tax policy is huge, of course.
One year of tax exemption is not a small price to pay.
This is true even today, and even more so in this age when the tax rates are much higher.
The tax policy also succeeded in reducing the dissatisfaction of the existing indigenous population, and public sentiment soared to [85].
In the end only Brinhild was left.
_____________________________________
[Brinhild]
[Population: 924,501]
[People's Spirit: 54]
_____________________________________
It didn't help that the lowest level of public sentiment was mostly the existing population.
What they worried about more than anything else was that they were taking the place of the migrants.
Even in Raihein, the uncultivated land that is offered to the migrants.
In general, the population of this period was small compared to the size of the country.
Think of it as only 920,000 people in a place the size of Tokyo.
Anyway, I started my speech in Brinhild as well.
The idea was not to disadvantage the existing residents of the area in any way, but rather to accommodate them with a one-year tax exemption.
Since I intend to enforce the draft in the future, I have to do as much good as I can now to raise public sentiment.
"...That's why I'm going to implement a tax policy so that the migrant population and the existing indigenous population can be well integrated!" <Julius>
Naturally, no one complained about the tax exemption.
_____________________________________
[People's spirits have been raised from 54 to 76.]
[People's spirits increased from 76 to 91 due to additional effects.]
_____________________________________
But unusually in Brinhild, public sentiment rose even higher.
It was a phenomenon that had not occurred in Raihein.
I stared at the system, wondering what it was.
There was no way an added effect could be created without a reason.
Capítulo 129: End Of The Beginning (2)
"What's wrong?" <Yuri>
Yuri tilted her head, looking at me with an innocent face.
Lately, she's been showing me all kinds of expressions, I guess she was serious when she said she was done being the princess, gone are the days of having the stoic face plastered on.
"You're staring at me so hard, I think you're going to break your eyeballs." <Yuri>
"No, I'm just wondering about something." <Julius>
When I think of what makes Raihein different from Brinhild, one thing comes to mind, the presence of Yuri but 97 commanding power alone should not have this effect.
Yuri's commanding power has increased along with her high attractiveness, and I think it is the result of her attractiveness that brings about this kind of public sentiment effect.
If I were to put a numerical value on Yuri's attractiveness, it would probably be close to 100.
So the mere fact that she was around me raised the public sentiment by 15.
It had a tremendous added effect.
So, what if I took Yuri to Raihein and gave another speech?
It was well worth the challenge.
These thoughts were dashed later on when I found that the populace was excited more in Brinhild as rumours had begun spreading from the Praetorian's accompanying us about her being my Wife, which drew the people focus more towards us as a pair than individuals.
My wife huh?
***
- - Givens POV - -
"Oh, wow! So this is Berthaquin's royal castle!" <Givens>
Givens cheered at the sight of Berthaquin castle.
"This place is ours now? Well, I've risen to the occasion! After all, it's important to know who to connect with. If I hadn't met His Excellency back then and had stayed with another unit, I might have already died in the battle with Visigoth." <Givens>
Givens muttered to himself as he stroked his head.
Of course, the biggest reason for Givens' rise was his abilities.
There was a great possibility that Julius would not have been able to coordinate properly in the battle at Linon Castle without Givens and Yusen.
Anyway, the important thing is to go to the Praetorian's headquarters right now and bring Leman Berta.
His Excellency wants to see him.
Yes, I understand.
The Praetorians, due to the nature of their territory surrounded by mountains, were largely on the defensive.
If they were active, it would be much harder for any troops to come over the mountains.
So Julius was going to expand their area of activity to include all the mountain ranges of the new territory while taking in new recruits to bolster their numbers and form a mountaineering brigade for home defense.
"What are you going to do, captain... er Lord?" <Soldier>
"I need to concentrate on developing the agricultural land in the area, and I've been ordered to encourage the fishermen to develop the harbour into a working port. We also need to increase the number of small fishing boats as well." <Givens>
As a result of Yusen's efforts the population of Berthaquin was 350,000 and the public sentiment remained at 90.
The first priority was to truly kickstart the new countries economy.
Starting with getting us to be self sufficient as far as food is concerned, the new population would mean the existing fields wont be enough.
Thanks to the iron present we can use it to create plows, and heavy plow, horse collars and the like to massively expand our farming land, mixed with crop rotation to better suit the land and allow for multiple harvest per year, expanding the port and fishing operations would add ample additional protein that could be collected year round as well.
***
- - Julius POV - -
"Miri." <Julius>
"Yes, my lord!"
Miri and Zeff's house is one of the largest mansions in Brinhild located near the castle.
"Why did you bring him here? Zeff, I called Miri here... you don't trust me? You can't follow her around without doing your job!" <Julius>
"Yes, I know. I told him to stay home..." <Miri>
Miri replied as she held Zeff's hand.
"I'm not following you. I just had some business to attend to at the palace." <Zeff>
"I didn't invite you." <Julius>
"What? You didn't invite me?" <Zeff>
What kind of nonsense is this guy spouting?
"See? You weren't called! I told you I was the only one who got called! Get away from me!" <Miri>
At any rate, please let go of your tightly clasped hands before you start arguing.
No, wait a minute, this is a deliberate attempt to show how lovey-dovey you are, right?
Well, it can't be helped.
I understand the importance of these peaceful moments, especially since I'm often out of the house with Zeff.
In fact, it was times like this that I wanted to encourage him to stay with Miri.
That's why I didn't give Zeff another job.
No, in the first place, Zeff would never be entrusted with anything other than fighting.
"It's okay. You can stay. Since you're already here." <Julius>
The reason I called Miri was to try and get her to do a job.
She had always had an excellent brain, but as a result of her diligent study, her intellect had increased considerably.
Since I've taken the trouble to have her study and increase her intelligence, of course I should entrust her with work.
Brinhild's current agriculture value was 46, which was quite far behind.
It was probably due to the fact that the king of Bridget was almost completely indifferent to the people.
First of all, the agricultural values of Brinhild, Raihein, and Berthaquin needed to be increased.
It would be a great loss if they could only produce 46 crops in an area that should be producing 100.
______________________________________
[Brinhild]
[People's Spirit: 91]
[Agriculture: 46]
[Fishing: 52]
[Forestry: 45]
______________________________________
The figures were not good for any of these despite the fact that it is a fairly large area.
By the end of the tax exemption policy in a year's time, these numbers should reach a maximum value that will allow me to finance the country efficiently.
So let's start with agriculture.
The fishing and forestry industries needed the right people who knew the field.
"There are many books on agriculture. You have experience in farming, don't you, Miri? You must know more about agriculture than the noblemen or the military. Can you meet with the peasants, listen to their opinions, and use the books on agriculture in the palace as a reference to formulate a plan for improving agriculture, beyond what we'd already been doing back in Aquitania?" <Julius>
"Me? I can do such an important job...?" <Miri>
Miri's eyes widened in surprise and she looked at Zeff and then at me.
"Yuri, how about you help Miri with that job for now, you have a knack for the people, and having you there to protect Miri in case will put Zeff heart at east?" <Julius>
With her, there will be some positive effects, after all, Yuri's attractiveness is like a scam that will have a positive effect on internal affairs, alongside the misunderstanding that she is my wife, to have the queen be so involved with the commoners will greatly boost their efforts.
Of course, I don't have overly high hopes for her.
However, it was not without expectations that Miri's intelligence would be able to create some kind of policy or creation of new farming techniques.
It was no wonder that she was the most intelligent of my retainers after Count Fihatri.
"Fine. I'm always in favour of helping the people." <Yuri>
Yuri nodded quickly.
"With the princess?" <Miri>
Then Miri jumped up, even more surprised.
Yuri stared at her suspiciously, and Miri freaked out.
"That...why...someone like me?" <Miri>
"Not a princess any longer, so not a problem...?" <Yuri>
"Miri, be confident. And that's an order." <Julius>
It was something I should definitely try to make her do in order to give her confidence.
***
The people's spirit, agriculture, and development are all underway.
But the most important thing was the army.
Without an army, I can't do anything.
[Aquitania Domain Army]
Since I didn't proclaim the founding of the country, the Lunan army I brought with me and the existing army I raised in Aquitania were unified in the system under the name Aquitania domain Army.
There were a total of 72,000 of them.
The existing Aquitania Territorial Army was 32,000 strong, and naturally, morale was sky-high.
Their training level was also quite high.
To be honest, I had no problem just maintaining the status quo.
The morale of the Lunan army led by Count Fihatri was a whopping 98.
In fact, they were almost evenly matched with the Aquitania Territorial Army, which had tasted victory.
"Fihatri, this unit you had with you. You have no experience in major battles, so why do I sense that morale is so high?" <Julius>
The training level was 72, but morale was 98.
I couldn't figure out why.
"These are the soldiers who have been following you since Roserun." <Fihatri>
That's true, but is that the only reason morale has been so high for so long?
"They are very happy to be His Excellency's soldiers again. They are less likely to die fighting alongside His Excellency than fighting for the pretender King of Lunan. I'd say that's the opinion of most of them." <Fihatri>
That's true, but harsh words against your former lord.
"Of course, the biggest reason is something else: the strength of the troops that have crossed the mountains in your service. The fact that you kept your promise to them made them realize that you are not like the other lords. Some of the soldiers cried all night because they were so happy to send the money to their parents and families." <Fihatri>
In fact, it was deliberate, but it worked out the way it was supposed to, thanks to Fihatri's good communication.
"Julius, are you there?" <Elheat>
As I began to think seriously about raising an army and my plans for it, Elheat came from behind Fihatri.
"Sir, what's wrong?" <Julius>
It's about time we sorted out the designations.
How many of us are lords here?
The founding proclamation will have to wait.
Rather than declaring, "I'm going to be king!" it gives me more legitimacy to have people around me proclaim it themselves.
Of course, the title of Aquitanian descendant does give me a legitimate claim to the throne.
For now, let's wait and see what happens.
"I have a suggestion. Are you willing to train spear cavalry? If you're willing, I'm ready to devote my life to their training and management!" <Elheat>
"Lancers?" <Julius>
"That's right. I've suggested it many times in Lunan, but it was always rejected because we didn't have enough iron and no budget could be given." <Elheat>
The King of Lunan would never allow it.
The existence of such a troop was rare, and expensive.
There are many reasons for this.
First and foremost, it's hard to train them.
However, it was a fact that if I succeeded in training a large number of them, they would become a formidable force.
Come to think of it, Elheat is a master of the spear.
As the name "Demon Spear" suggests, this is a person who has accumulated his current power level through spear techniques.
On the battlefield, distance is absolute, the longer the weapon, the more overwhelming the advantage.
If an ordinary soldier swung a spear on his horse like a warlord on the battlefield, ordinary infantrymen could not even approach him and would fall.
If there was a suitable person who could teach and train that spear technique, and if there was enough iron to make the weapon, then of course I should nurture them.
"Sir, I'll take care of that. I will do my best to help. By all means, please!" <Elheat>
"Yes! I can't give you all my cavalry for such a role but we can begin with a single legion of 5,000 so half the existing number will be converted to Lancers while the rest will become multiclass fighters, training to shoot bows from horseback and sword for up close." <Julius>
Elheat couldn't hide his excitement and was delighted like a child at my words.
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