When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1226 The Transformation of Xianshidian

On February 19, after confirming that Dolce and others had retreated to Piana Castle, the central army officially entered Fishing City.

At this moment, Jeanne had to admire the gentleman's keen sense of smell.

They arrived but did not attack, in order to wait for the wind-up cannons to be brought over from the rear.

Most of the empire's walls today were built according to the standards of the era of cold weapons; simply put, they are high and thin.

For cold weapons, this is an insurmountable barrier.

For a clockwork cannon, height means lever arm and leverage, while thinness means brittleness and wobbling.

In particular, Fishing City deliberately built its city walls to be extremely high (25 meters) in order to defend against enemy siege towers.

Based on Jeanne's experiments at those border fortresses, three days would be sufficient to breach the walls of Fishing City.

The vampires of Piana Castle won't be able to provide support in time before the city falls.

But to everyone's surprise, this gentleman actually left a day early, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Honestly, why didn't you do this sooner?

As Jeanne walked through the gates of the fishing town in the sunlight, she even felt a sense of unreality.

Although her goal was blitzkrieg, it was only blitzkrieg as perceived by people of that era.

The initial goal was to take over Fishing City by March 7th, but it's only February 19th.

Fishing City was taken down in just 12 days? Without even a ripple?

As you cross the gates of Fishing City, you'll find the city's local elites already kneeling by the roadside, holding high the Holy Alliance flag.

Jeanne ignored it and instead sent soldiers directly to key locations within the city.

In the end, it was Chief Priest Martin who made the contact with the locals, while Jeanne led her troops to the heart of Fishing City—Gwentzkin Palace.

Upon arrival, many of the Holy Alliance recruits stared in disbelief at the sprawling palace complex.

The magnificent El Pillar, the clear fountain, the lush green lawns and gardens, and the charming and beautiful maids.

Not to mention the psychedelic feeling of entering the Golden Palace and Gallery.

What's laid on the ground and inlaid in the dome is genuine gold and jewels.

Although many were temporarily pried off and taken away, many others could not be taken and were left to the Holy Alliance army.

"Such a city, yet it has hundreds of thousands of gold pounds..." Jeanne couldn't help but exclaim as she received the ledger from the accountant.

“Yes, that’s the wealth accumulated over so many generations,” Martin remarked.

“How many generations of civilians have been drained of their blood?” Jeanne curled her lip, looked at the soldiers with their mouths agape and eyes wide open, and frowned. “Except for the military police, no troops are allowed to enter this area.”

"Yes."

Have all the local armed forces in the vicinity been disarmed?

"All have been lifted." A signed action report was handed over.

"Have the key locations been brought under control?"

"It's under control." Another signed action report was handed over.

"Alright, call all the battle group leaders to assemble at the city hall."

Having captured Fishing City, the de facto strategic objective has been achieved.

The reason is simple: Xianshidian has a total of eight counties, three of which were previously taken by the Holy Alliance, leaving five counties.

Of these five counties, if the Dawn Federation can capture the neighboring Sennor County and Huaihua County, as well as Sapphire County where Fishing City is located, then the Dawn Federation will be connected with the Holy Alliance.

The remaining two counties had no natural barriers and led directly to Heshangyu.

Along the Naoan River from west to east, the area encompassing Fengchedi, Heshangyu, Limingdao, and a small part of Xianshidian forms a vast plain.

The remaining six counties of Xianshidian at least have some mining hills.

In Horn's view, the area at the foot of Dragonsleep Mountain, which includes Fairy Stone Valley, Thousand River Valley, and Shattered Stone Plain (and also Thorn Garden), is a rare and crucial strategic area, offering both offensive and defensive advantages.

Therefore, the primary task now is not to pursue the Duoshi, but to deal with the counterattack of local forces and consolidate our rule.

Since the city hall was sealing and organizing documents, Jeanne simply held a meeting in the courtyard with the commander, staff officers, and priests.

The background shows clerks and stenographers coming and going, while high-ranking officers and monks of the Holy Alliance sit in a circle around a large table.

"The first step is to wipe out the remaining local forces..."

"Keep grain prices stable in all areas, guard against riots by displaced people, and shoot them if necessary..."

“Recruit a group of defenders from the local Holy Path Brotherhood…”

"Then there's the issue of maintaining stability in various places. You're all seasoned veterans, so I don't need to elaborate, right?" Jeanne finally stopped speaking after a long explanation.

"No, no." "Alright, then investigate first, and then submit the report to Pastor Martin..."

The Holy Alliance already has a set of procedures for handling issues in new areas.

These methods were all tested in the New Five Counties and the Dawn Federation, and the results were outstanding.

In short, with the development of the past decade, while Fran and Norn are doing well, Leia has become an important area for the spread of the Holy Path.

To many nobles, it was simply a windmill field and a valley of a thousand rivers, two sources of the holy plague.

The Holy Alliance's methods for dealing with new areas are all based on the foundation of the Holy Way believers.

Simply put, it means using the support of the masses to carry out social reform.

The first step was to abolish the old feudal administrative structure and establish a centralized bureaucratic system.

For example, what Jeanne is doing now is appointing a large number of willing high-ranking French military officers or priests as county governors, and promoting local Christian believers or close associates of the Holy Alliance to bureaucratic positions.

At the same time, this group will also promote their associates and followers of the Holy Way.

Horn jokingly referred to this process as "even chickens and dogs ascending to heaven."

In fact, he had repeatedly announced that "even chickens and dogs ascended to heaven" was a temporary state under military control.

Once things return to normal, like the five new counties, all personnel will still have to undergo review, recommendation, and assessment.

The key to whether he can remain in office lies in the next step of the policy – ​​land reform and judicial reform.

Land reform, under the supervision of the military, was the abolition of feudal land ownership.

They usually started with the church, breaking up monasteries and churches, returning land, and demanding that farmers own their land.

The system of public register farmers and armed farmers will be abolished, and large amounts of land will be allocated to ordinary farmers and organized into hundred-household districts.

As for the church's assets, natural resources it occupies, and surplus real estate, they will be auctioned off, with priority given to those holding Holy Alliance/local residency, Holy Way faith, and Holy Alliance bonds.

Generally speaking, this is when the middle class of Saint Union who hold bonds get rich.

Just look at the prominent Christian entrepreneurs like Grossian, Palak, and the Gulga brothers.

Their first pot of gold and their first business were all acquired with the help of the Holy Alliance army, who purchased them for free.

Many self-cultivating farmers, as propertied classes, earned their first pot of gold from land allocated to nobles by the Holy Alliance.

As the saying goes, the first pot of gold in capital accumulation is always bloody. The common people have shed too much blood, so let the bishops and nobles suffer instead.

Why does the Holy Alliance have such high basic war support?

The key point is this: similar to economic reforms and technological breakthroughs, war is also a hot topic.

If land reform was intended to realize the Confederate creed of freedom and labor, then...

Judicial reform, therefore, focuses on realizing the Confederate principles of equality and civilization.

For example, the inheritance law reform, which dealt the greatest blow to the nobility, abolished the primogeniture system and implemented an equal division of inheritance among all children.

For example, abolishing aristocratic courts and having nobles and commoners tried and judged together.

For example, abolishing unreasonable feudal privileges and removing guild monopolies and franchises.

However, in Horn's view, these two reforms are only the tip of the iceberg.

There are aristocrats in real estate and oligarchs in assets. The reason for not taking action against them at present is simply because it is necessary to cultivate local loyalists first.

Basically, once these two reforms are completed, the number of people in the area whose interests are aligned with the new policies of the Holy Alliance will increase significantly.

Once their local power has grown, they can implement a second reform and send all these nobles and oligarchs to the guillotine.

Of course, during this period, there will definitely be constant struggles.

However, in this state, Xianshidian certainly cannot be incorporated into the core territory of the Holy Alliance.

In addition, Xianshidian is too far from the Holy Mechanism Court, so let's just establish a new federation locally.

However, the name "Immortal Stone" is too presumptuous, and the cardinals of the Holy Mechanism Court dislike it.

Therefore, they simply changed the immortal stone to a gemstone.

In this way, the Holy Alliance will have another member country—the New Gem Holy Path Federation.

Looking at it now, it's clear that wherever the Holy Alliance's banner is raised, the feudal system collapses.

A new nation will rise from the ruins of the church and the corpses of nobles.

"What about the remaining enemies in Piana Castle? We can't just leave them there forever, can we?" the high priest of the Faith Chapter asked, raising his hand.

“How about this,” Jeanne thought for a moment, “we’re going to be stationed in Fishing City anyway, Michelle, you pretend to give chase.”

If they don't run, blast open the city walls with cannons and drive them out of Piana Castle completely.

(End of this chapter)