Chapter 301

Chapter 301.

In late July, the second phase of the War of the Northwest Gulf Troglodytes came to an end, along the western front, the overt situation returned to the way it was when the war first broke out, the major transportation hub of Fort Biddle was still occupied by the Kent family, but the pressure from the other two battlefields made the Duke’s army that had just recaptured Fort Biddle not dare to continue its attack. In the other two battlefields, one of the Emden with the help of the fortified defense of Bailan Castle let Alda’s army can’t do anything for the time being, but in the other battlefield – the upper reaches of Wiese River area, the situation for the Duke’s side is very bad, the Duke’s direct territory of the northern part of the region is almost completely lost, Alda’s army stationed in the border of direct territories! If not for the fact that they had just gone through a big battle and needed to recuperate, they would have gone straight to the city of Sente.

The Duke’s army commanded by Fergus and Emerson tried to drive the Alda army back to the river many times, but all of them failed. After the failure of head-on confrontation, they finally found one of the weaknesses of Alda’s army – the lack of cavalry this kind of high mobility troop types.

So they sent out light cavalry units to attack the rear of Alda’s army, destroying supply depots, killing newly-established magistrates, and intercepting small groups of troops, making Alda’s army tired of dealing with them.

Trying to raise a cavalry quickly was impossible, and the allies were unable to provide effective support in this area due to the threat on the western front, so they could only utilize Alda’s strong infantry advantage.

The issuance of war bonds relieved the immediate needs of Lakewood, and a new enlistment program was launched, with one enlistment notice sent to each household.

In order to increase the enthusiasm of young men to join the army, and also to pave the way for the full abolition of serfdom in the future, Paul intended to promulgate a decree: soldiers from serf families could become free men after completing their service in the Alda army. However, this was not successful due to the discouragement of the Council of State, who gave the reason that this policy might deprive the landowners of a large amount of labor at no cost to them, and would surely create obstacles in the process of conscription.

Paul helpless, well, have to find another opportunity, first focus on the immediate war.

Four provisional infantry battalions were formed and concentrated in the vicinity of Lakewood Township to train night and day, due to production problems, only half of them received muskets, the other half could only use spears and bows and arrows.

But even under these circumstances, the staff did not relax its standards of training in formation and formation and its strict requirements for housekeeping. The senior staff did not expect to train every soldier to be as elite as possible, they only needed to be able to understand the commands to advance, retreat, turn left, turn right, etc., as well as not to retreat on their own without an order.

Discipline, that was the first element of Arda’s army.

In these days, except for a few small-scale tests, both sides did not make any big moves, and the shelling of Fort Byram by the 1st and 3rd battalions also stopped.

To Paul’s surprise, Maltz-Kent sent an emissary to the allied forces to make a request for peace talks, he expects to return to the posture before the beginning of the war – in the opinion of the new duke, he did not put forward the conditions of claims, cession of land and so on is already a great concession, full of sincerity.

The reaction of the allied camps was mixed, with the Malcolm and Johnston families ambiguous and seemingly moved, but the Parker family firmly opposed to peace talks.

The Graiman and Garnard families, on the other hand, proposed that Maltz-Kent would have to recognize their occupation of northern Emden if the war was to end. As for the Carter Family territory occupied in Operation Overlord, forget it, it would be an enclave if they wanted to come.

The result, of course, was categorically rejected by the Sentry City side. Joking aside, Emden was the Duke’s old home, how could it be casually ceded to others, not even an inch.

Thus, the two families, Gleiman and Garnard, also joined the ranks of those who opposed the truce. Just issued a large number of bonds, if nothing is obtained, then it is not a debt for nothing. So the peace talks naturally fell through.

In the allied camp, the most adamant opponent of the truce was Count Parker, which made Paul wonder if the necessity of defeating Maltz, the usurper, was simply out of adherence to aristocratic tradition and honor.
He privately asked Old Ford, the chief administrator of the Council of State, for advice.

“Wow, that’s not surprising, the Parkers and the Kents have been at odds for a long time.”

Chief Steward Ford twirled his white beard and told Paul about the feud between the two families.

“The Parker family, like the Graiman family, are direct bannermen of the Crown-the so-called direct bannermen are the group of lords that the Rodney family personally subdivided around the time they obtained the crown-while the Ferdinand family and a bunch of their subordinate vassals, were the native lords of the Northwest Bay. Not just the Northwest Bay, there were many such lords in other parts of the kingdom, and their titles came from a variety of origins, some even passed down from the time of the Gubela Empire. During that tumultuous era when the dynasty was first established, they either cooperated with the Rodney family out of interest, or were forced into allegiance by the Rodney family’s conquest.”

“House Parker was the first direct bannermen to be partitioned by the Crown into the Northwest Bay, and this family represents His Majesty’s authority in the land. The Ferdinand family was also nominally a bannerman of the Crown, and when the Duke of the Northwest was at odds with the King, it was not good for him to say anything for himself publicly out of a duty of loyalty, and it was time for someone else’s mouth to speak for him and call on a group of vassals, and the Kent family, which had been separated from the Ferdinand family, took on that role.”

“So, the Parker family, representing the Crown, and the Kent family, representing the interests of the local lords, were in constant disagreement, and there have been many clashes over the generations, with each having the lives of members of the other family on their hands. However, due to the secret support of Ferdinand, the largest family in the Northwest Bay, the Kent family has always steadily suppressed the Parker family.”

So it’s a family feud ah, Paul pondered, so he is also considered to be the royal family’s [direct line].

He also asked, “The Kent family is not afraid of being punished by the royal family?”

Chief Ford shook his head and said, “Theoretically, His Majesty the King is the co-owner of all of Aldo, and everyone in the realm is his subject, but in practice, there is an unwritten rule – my vassal’s vassal is not my vassal. While the King can certainly use his co-ownership authority to force the Duke of the Northwest to punish his vassals or simply take matters into his own hands, such rule-breaking tactics can be used sparingly, unless the Kent family publicly humiliates the royal family or starts a rebellion.”

Paul naively chanted, “Isn’t my vassal’s vassal my vassal?”

Old Ford nodded, “Yes, the last time Giles Kent brought his troops south to join Her Highness Catherine’s counter-insurgency army, it was also under the banner of a bannerman under the Northwest Duke.”

After listening to Old Ford’s introduction, Paul secretly made up his mind that this messy feudal system must not exist in his own territory.

(End of chapter)