When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1209 Governance of the Royal Court

Sunlight shone through the blood-red mist onto the city walls, as if painting them with a layer of red paint.

Standing atop the wall, Serfaye, who had come all the way from the Zealand Islands, gazed with satisfaction at the neatly arranged tin cans below.

They are generally over three meters tall, with their muscles and armor fused together as if they were born with it.

They looked like ogres, but they didn't have the bloated physique of ogres.

"Tsk tsk, every knight's ultimate dream is to become a great knight." Leaning against the city wall, Serfaye laughed with a hint of sarcasm. "Now they've achieved their dream."

A young vampire murmured, "What a pity for those ogre brothers."

"What are you saying?!" Akadera immediately shouted. "To dedicate themselves to His Highness the High Priest is their honor, their duty!"

“Hey, don’t say that. They are meritorious ogres.” Serfaye, in his red robe, left the wall.

Governor Akadera immediately changed his expression to respectful: "You're right."

"How's the situation in the city lately? Are the immigrant vampires adapting well?"

"Thank you for your help, I'm adapting very well," Akadera complimented, following behind Serfaye. "It's all thanks to your governance."

When it comes to the governance of Serfaye, Akadera's century-long rule is undeniably marked by its experience and skill.

This Serfaye was probably a scholar, and he had never fought in a war or served as a governor.

It's as if you're born with the knowledge; you can do it right away.

What vampires covet most is the Empire's skilled workers and bureaucratic system.

The former can provide production processes that zombies and skeletons cannot achieve, while the latter can provide efficient management and extraction capabilities.

As for the large granaries in the countryside, sorry, for Wang Ting, those are not large granaries.

Instead, it was a large ranch, a pasture for grazing humans.

Within the royal court, there exist a large number of these savage pseudo-humans, who are used for herding and providing blood food for vampires.

Therefore, Serfaye's approach was to appease the large urban areas and hereditary the artisans and bureaucrats.

As for small towns, the industries are concentrated and merged into large cities for easier management, while the rest are leveled to become rural areas.

As for the surplus population, including vagrants, beggars, laborers, and low-level farmers, they were sent back to the countryside to be enslaved.

In this way, the royal court can obtain the empire's abundant artisan resources to provide military support without incurring too much cost in maintaining its rule.

As for the rural areas, Lemingston was absolutely right; it was indeed a tax farming system.

Lords no longer need to bear any feudal obligations; they only need to pay money and blood tax (population).

All directly governed human lords must undergo conversion, adopt a vampire surname, and be adopted by a vampire clan.

In rural areas, all church-run schools and similar institutions were shut down.

Those farmers who were able to write were all conscripted as blood tax.

Serfaye even invented an election system that allowed farmers to fight each other, with a blood tax system where some were drawn by lot and others were elected.

Similar to the ostracism method, each household reported its population at the end of the year, and any surplus people were sent to be destroyed as food by drawing lots.

If they were outsiders, how would they know whether their self-reported information was accurate or not?

Only the farmers themselves know.

The annual blood tax is a fixed amount, and if someone conceals it, it means that others will have to bear their share.

If you conceal the truth about your child, then my child might die.

Then you might as well let your child die.

Whenever he thinks about it, Akadera can't help but give a thumbs up and say "amazing wisdom!"
As expected of the great moon, moon goddess, high priest king, and emperor of ten thousand blood—Sefaye, he easily thought of things they couldn't even imagine!

However, aside from this, the vampires completely relinquished the lord's power.

As long as the blood tax and money tax are paid in full within the territory, the human lord has full authority over matters concerning humans.

In other words, while there used to be a check and balance between the church and the king, human lords can now arbitrarily issue laws such as the right of the first night, a step backward in history.

In addition, Serfaye ordered a survey and redistribution of the land.

This was because there were too many lords, and according to Serfaye's calculations, a number of them needed to be destroyed.

After the land was divided, a large number of high-ranking vampires were also assigned to various places and stationed in rural areas.

They would often bring a few guards, thirty to fifty low-level vampires, along with three to five hundred skeleton soldiers, enough to suppress a peasant uprising.

What if it's a noble uprising, like that of extraordinary knights?

There are even more powerful armies. According to the plan Serfaye gave him, garrisons and military camps should be set up in each city.

This is a vampire settlement where streets and houses are perpetually shrouded in curtains to block out the sunlight. The buildings are divided into two levels, above and below ground, and smoke is now used to further obscure the sun.

These are salaried vampire regulars, and they are accompanied by a large number of high-ranking vampire generals.

According to Akadera, many high-ranking vampires have been building and renovating castles in various places, engaging in large-scale construction projects.

These are policies that have already been implemented in the Frontier Knights Territory and have proven to work well.

In Leia Windmill Land, there were simply too many people left, so a large number of them had to be destroyed.

Putting aside everything else, this caused the Northern Route Army to harbor a great deal of resentment.

Damn it, our Northern Route Army is fighting a tough battle in the north and we're starving, and there's some human riding on their heads and not letting us eat or drink.

Your central army had it good; you didn't fight any tough battles, but you certainly enjoyed a feast of flesh and blood.

However, this has nothing to do with Akadera.

Standing atop the city wall, Akadera peered into the city.

With the opening of the Blood Mist Workshop, billowing gray smoke and blood mist billowed from the chimneys.

It enveloped the sky, permeated the streets, and the world gradually sank into a comfortable darkness for the vampires.

It has to be said that everything changed after Serfaye came along.

Even if we killed those princes, we wouldn't have enough source blood.

He originally despised Serfaye's behavior, but inexplicably, she created the pseudo-source blood invention.

It cannot be passed down through generations, and its production is very limited, yet it can be created using only the blood of demons and the blood of extraordinary humans.

It can directly turn humans into vampires, but of course, the kind of vampires that cannot reproduce.

But this is enough.

Originally, there wasn't enough source blood, so even if they conquered human cities, they couldn't truly occupy them. Indiscriminate killing only led to constant uprisings.

But now?

News from the Northern Army indicates that their rule over Norn is extremely secure.

Not only does it not need central government support, it can also support the central army.

Serfaye is the woman who can be the mother of all vampires!

Akadera silently recited it from the bottom of his heart, and although it was somewhat exaggerated, it was indeed the truth.

Many vampires have indeed found a sense of motherhood in Serfaye.

"Didn't you say you were going to throw a banquet and invite those local human elites?"

“Yes.” Akadera nodded quickly and leaned closer. “They will all make a statement at the banquet, either becoming vampires or being executed.”

"Are there any people worth paying attention to?"

"Yes, Lemingston. He was originally a priest of the Holy Path and the religious leader of Dam City. His position is similar to that of Juano of Thousand Rivers Valley."

"He also colluded with Juano," Serfaye sneered. "How has he performed? Can you guarantee he'll be willing to convert?"

“Of course, he was so frightened by the massacre of the city that day that he fell ill. I sent someone to check on him, and he was indeed sick, but when he heard that I had invited him, he immediately came despite his illness.” Akadera couldn’t help but laugh.

Serfaye chuckled easily, "You understand the principle of spending a fortune to buy a horse's bones. Since he's so sensible, let's give him the mayoralty of the dam city."

Akadera was jealous: "Your one sentence is worth ten thousand of his sentences, saving you thirty years of hard work."

Upon hearing this, Serfaye remained silent and continued walking forward.

This is just one part of a grand goal.

Ultimately, all vampires will merge into one, returning to their original embrace and enjoying eternal peace.

Although Lilith didn't know what the merging of the true souls would bring.

But the sheer power of that force, that yearning from the depths of her soul, was something she couldn't suppress.

Just like Myrcella, didn't this hypocrite also commit many sins for this?

I will attend this dinner.

"That's their honor."

(End of this chapter)