Chapter 603 - 367: Zog’s Unrefusable Conditions (Part 2)

Chapter 603: Chapter 367: Zog’s Unrefusable Conditions (Part 2)

According to after-action reports, nearly a hundred of the defending soldiers had either blended in with the civilian population or slipped away during the surrender. The Northern Domain’s forces were simply too shorthanded to watch everyone in a population several times their own size. Besides, the battle was still raging that night and the situation was chaotic, so for only that many to escape was entirely acceptable.

"Once those men become bandits, they’ll just avoid our regular army and prey on civilians. If we want to clean them up... well, it might not be that difficult, but the trouble? It would be an absolutely unacceptable amount of trouble. It’s time-consuming, exhausting, and expensive. And believe me, it’s definitely more expensive than you’re imagining right now."

Counter-insurgency was quite different from conventional warfare.

In terms of both difficulty and intensity, conventional warfare was far greater than any counter-insurgency campaign.

But a counter-insurgency campaign was like a mosquito hiding in your bedroom. Just as you’re about to fall asleep, it flies out to buzz in your ear, ruining your night’s rest.

When you finally resolve to crawl out from under the covers and turn on the light, your eyes squinting against the sudden glare, ready to fight the mosquito to the death, you find it’s nowhere to be seen.

After repeating this process several times, you finally swat the mosquito against the wall and go back to sleep, content. But when you wake up in the morning and find two new bites, you realize there was more than one mosquito in the room.

That was counter-insurgency. Pure, unadulterated torment.

Figxin now understood the difficulty. "So our best option is to negotiate with them and have them ’voluntarily’ give up most of their privileges. We also need to publicize these negotiations as major news, so that everyone knows. The headline should read, ’Northern Nobility Gladly Embraces the New Era’."

"You’ve grown," Zog said, gratified.

’Gladly’ and ’embraces’—her choice of words already had a touch of Zog’s own flair.

"Then what do we leave for them?" Figxin asked. Her original intention had been to leave the nobles with nothing at all.

"The core areas of their fiefs—the land their castles or manors are built on. It’s their ancestral home, more or less. Then, their titles. Plenty of nobles consider those things more important than their own lives," Zog said, counting on his claws.

"We’re still letting them keep their titles?"

"Yes, but in the future, we’ll turn these titles into honorary ones. We’ll bestow them upon people who have made significant contributions, like brilliant scientists and artists. People like Yuno."

Figxin nodded. As the Chief Fellow of the Deep Research Institute, Yuno was certainly more of a "Sir" than those good-for-nothing nobles who just sat around.

"Those who receive these honorary titles will get a stipend, but the title won’t be hereditary."

"And what about the original nobles?"

"They’ll get a stipend too. Think of it as ’bribe’ money to keep them from getting desperate and causing trouble. However, their stipends won’t be hereditary either. Only the title itself can be passed down. Furthermore, if their heirs want to inherit the family fortune, they’ll have to pay a noble inheritance tax. For now, this tax will only apply to the nobility."

"So if their descendants are incompetent, the family’s accumulated wealth will be bled away, generation by generation. That’s so devious, Zog!" Figxin praised with genuine admiration.

Zog rolled his eyes. "I prefer to call it ’shrewd’."

"Okay, is that all?"

"That’s it. Comparatively, the harder task will be arranging work for the scholars, soldiers, Mages, Alchemists, and numerous servants who were previously loyal to those nobles. Once the nobles lose their privileges, they certainly won’t be able to support so many people. But we can’t just let them all become unemployed, so the municipal departments have a heavy responsibility."

"They’ll handle it."

Thanks to the universal education implemented in the Northern Domain and Deepwater City, their literacy rates were far ahead of other regions. They were now exporting civil servants in droves to these new territories.

However, because Deepwater City was a land of opportunity, most fully educated people were reluctant to become civil servants, seeing it as a career with a low ceiling.

To them, this ’low ceiling’ was a huge drawback. Almost anything else offered more opportunities than a government position.

As a result, while getting an administrative position in the North wasn’t exactly a freebie, it wasn’t far from it. A post with ten applicants was considered a popular, highly competitive role.

It might sound a bit unreliable, but at least there was an examination. The Administrative Officers selected this way were far more capable than those produced by the Kingdom’s old system of appointments, recommendations, and patronage.

Figxin was very proud of this.

"So, can we go negotiate with the nobles now?"

"Yes. Oh, but I need to make a few preparations first," Zog said mysteriously.

...

「A few days later.」

Because the Lord’s Mansion in Delong Castle was still being rebuilt, they had rented a local wealthy merchant’s residence to serve as a temporary office.

Merchants were much easier to deal with than nobles. As long as the price was right, they saw no problem with having their homes temporarily occupied; in fact, their only fear was that Figxin *wouldn’t* rent from them.

In a temporary conference room converted from a dining hall, dozens of Northern nobles of greater and lesser rank sat around two long tables.

No name cards had been placed on the tables, but that didn’t stop them from automatically arranging themselves by rank.

Although they managed to maintain composed expressions, the frequent dabbing of their brows with handkerchiefs betrayed their nervousness.

None of them knew what to expect, but they still had to put on a brave face. Nobles who knew each other began to whisper.

"What terms do you think she’ll propose?"

"Whatever she proposes, we can’t agree to it easily. Otherwise, what would be the point of negotiating? Look sharp, don’t lose your dignity!"

"That’s the spirit..."

Just then, a guard stood before the conference room and announced in a loud voice, "Announcing the Legion Commander of the Northern Legion, Figxin Sutton!"