Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 401 New Order

Duke Ralph's mansion was much more luxurious and spacious than Harvey's lord's castle. This could be seen from the furnishings in the Duke's private study and living room. The oak carved bookcases occupied two full walls, and the corners of all the wooden furniture were carefully inlaid with gold-plated edges. The place was filled with a variety of books, and the collection was even comparable to the wizard tower of a research-based spellcaster.

Perhaps because he was really frightened by the assassination, all the outward-facing windows in the Duke's mansion were nailed shut with wooden seals and covered with thick velvet curtains from the inside. Natural light during the day could not penetrate the room at all, and the huge castle seemed to be shrouded in a gloomy and dark feeling.

Harvey didn't like this kind of environment very much. For him, a small study with large floor-to-ceiling windows, plenty of light and always warm as spring by the heater was more to his liking.

Suddenly, the guards' whispered questions were heard outside the room, followed by a light knock on the door.

"Come in!" Harvey put down the book he was casually reading, looked up and found that it was the army commander Pierce who pushed the door open.

"Sir, the interrogation of the noble captives has been completed." Pierce bowed slightly and placed a stack of white paper in front of Harvey.

"Is this the complete list? Are these the only nobles left in Duke Ralph's fiefdom?" Harvey picked up the list and looked through it carefully, then asked with some confusion.

"Yes," Pierce replied affirmatively. "The Ralph family has always been cautious in enfeoffing its vassal nobles. There are a total of 136 minor nobles and knights under our jurisdiction. Excluding those diehards who died in our military operations, there are seventy who voluntarily surrendered or were captured due to ignorance. The majority are knights, landowners, and impoverished minor nobles from far away places in Fengyuan City."

Harvey nodded and turned to the first page of the list. He found that the first few rows were actually the direct descendants of Duke Ralph's family - in addition to the fifth Duchess, there were also the Duke's three young children... When Duke Ralph ran away, he only took his eldest son and two direct nephews with him, and abandoned the rest of the family.

In addition, the only Ralph family member with the highest status who was captured alive in the entire Fengyuan City was the Duke's younger brother, Baron Simone. According to the blood warriors responsible for capturing them, the Baron led his family members out of the city through a secret passage, carrying several boxes of gold. As soon as he emerged, he was caught by the Northern Army Special Forces team who had been waiting at the exit of the secret passage. He was very tough and drew his sword, intending to break through at all costs, but then he had his leg broken by a bullet.

Harvey quickly read through the entire list, tapped the table with satisfaction, and said, "Well done. What's the feedback from the people in the city?"

Pierce looked a little strange, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "Sir, although we have done our best to express our stance to the people and encourage them to report the crimes of these nobles,...for the locals, civilians accusing nobles is truly unheard of. They have never even dared to think about it."

Harvey had anticipated this. No matter how fierce the attacks and invasions between the nobles were, for the ordinary working people, it was nothing more than a new lord who continued to exploit and oppress them. If they angered the nobles and were beaten and killed at will, it would only be their bad luck. If they could no longer bear it and rebelled, they would only end up being hanged or hung at the city gate for public display.

The people, who are firmly tied to the land, can only focus on the harvest in front of them. It is already very difficult to survive without going hungry.

"Since the people are afraid to report the nobles' crimes, let them confess on their own initiative..." Harvey looked up at Pierce and said calmly, "You're very good at interrogation anyway. I believe you'll make a fair ruling soon."

Pierce immediately understood his hint, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, saluted, and hurried away.

In fact, guilt or innocence is just a pretext. For these "exploiters" who have been sucking blood from the people for generations, Harvey feels that there will definitely be some who slip through the net if he shoots every other person. It is impossible for them to be wrongly accused.

...Not long after Pierce left, secret police 088, who was in charge of intelligence work in Fengyuan City, came to ask to see Harvey.

"My Lord, what do you plan to do with these captured nobles?"

"What?" Harvey raised his eyebrows and asked curiously, "Is there anyone in there that you bribed or bribed?"

088 nodded, bowed, and slowly explained, "Baron Frosthawk's second son, Sir Ross, has always been our target for winning over and inciting rebellion."

Harvey couldn't help but laugh. "That stubborn Baron Frosthawk? I heard that when they captured the Fengyuanling Mountain Fort, he was so defeated that he even considered committing suicide to avoid being captured and humiliated. In the end, he was knocked unconscious on the spot by his son and his personal guards and dragged here to surrender, right?"

He flipped through the list of nobles on the table in front of him and found the page with the Frost Eagle family, checked it, then picked up his pen and crossed out the young man named Ross.

"You've been in Fengyuan City for less than half a year, and you've actually managed to incite a noble to rebel. It seems Asdaren's training of you has been very effective."

088 said modestly, "Thank you for the compliment, sir. The main reason is that this young man has a kind heart, which is rare... He adheres to the chivalrous creed, but acts without being rigid. Furthermore, his birth is not noble, his mother was a common maid, and he has always sympathized with ordinary people."

Harvey nodded and ordered, "Then wait a while. Bring him to see me after the public trial of the nobles is over."

He stood up and walked to the bookshelf, casually pulling out a biography of the Ralph family and flipping through it. "In addition, have your people quickly announce to the public in the city that, no later than a week from now, I will publicly try all nobles at the Clock Tower Square in the inner city. Serious offenders will be publicly sentenced to death by hanging, and accomplices will be sent to the northern border for imprisonment or forced labor..."

"Just... execute them directly?" 088 looked a little surprised. "I'm wondering... if the news of the mass execution of nobles spreads to other parts of the country, will it cause..."

As expected of a guy like Asdalen who came from an ancient wizard family, the intelligence personnel he personally trained were so independent of class sentiments that they were more concerned with political influence and weighing gains and losses... Harvey shook his head with a smile, realizing that the subordinates he had trained were better at political struggles than himself.

He sighed, looked at the young man of similar age standing before him, and gently instructed, "This is an inevitable result... In the future, under my rule, there will be no more hereditary aristocrats with real power. Those titles will eventually become empty titles that represent only personal and family honor. After the people have tasted the sweetness of not being arbitrarily oppressed, they will spontaneously become our greatest supporters."

As for those hereditary nobles - after losing their fiefdoms and power under Harvey's military oppression, if they want to save their lives and continue to live a comfortable life, they must bow down to him and follow the laws and policies he promulgated, so that they can fight for reasonable and legal interests for the continuation of their families.

Of course, Harvey will also provide them with a strong military force as their backing. Once they have tasted the sweetness of "magic technology is the primary productive force", they probably won't want to return to the current ignorant and decadent situation - after all, most of the fiefdoms of the lower-level nobles are not rich, and when they encounter poor management, they are even in danger of bankruptcy. And this group of people is the largest in the aristocratic class.

I believe they will soon realize that by clinging to Harvey's thigh, they can easily live a comfortable life that they could never have imagined before.

(End of this chapter)