Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 715 The State Apparatus
"Your Majesty, according to reports from our intelligence agents stationed in Eisengard, the Kingdom of the Flying Cavalry has been plunged into severe turmoil after nearly half a year of raids and harassment by the Lizardmen..."

Compared to the relatively compact central kingdom of Saint Valen, Eisengard, located in the northeastern part of the southern continent, can be considered a true superpower. Its territory is several times larger than that of the other central kingdoms, and its population is a terrifying three million. Apart from the northern desert adjacent to the Divine Ridge Mountains, most of its population is concentrated in the vast plains of the southeast, living peacefully and happily on the fertile land.

However, the fierce attacks from the north and the continuous raids and massacres not only turned the capital Ironhill into ruins, but also captured Steelrock, the second wealthy city in the central part of the kingdom, and drove a large number of refugees south, causing nearly 600,000 casualties.

A loss of nearly one-fifth of the population would be considered an unprecedented and devastating blow in any of the southern kingdoms.

Even the demons, who waged war against humans year after year, never caused such a terrifying situation in human kingdoms when they crossed the Evil Moon Mountains to invade the southern region.

This led to a continuous southward migration of war refugees within the Eisengarde region in a short period of time. One group crossed the border mountains and entered the rugged and complex southern coastal hills directly from Thorn City in the east, frequently clashing with the burrowing dwarves who had long inhabited the area.

The other group was blocked by the border troops of Saint Valen around Langya Ridge, and migrated sporadically around the main border passes towards Daus, which is further away.

However, the wizarding kingdom of Daus, which has always had a close relationship with Saint Valentine, also resisted the entry of these war refugees... On the one hand, they despised their status as church believers, and on the other hand, Daus itself was a small country that could not accommodate such a large influx of refugees. In a short period of time, several border towns experienced small-scale riots and famines, and it even developed to the point that they had to ask Saint Valentine for help and dispatch border troops to assist in suppressing the riots.

Harvey and his government had long been experienced in receiving these refugees from foreign lands... Back in the early days of the Frontier Territory, they started by taking in and rescuing large numbers of refugees from the wastelands. Later, during the period of rapid expansion of their power, they took advantage of the outbreak of the plague in the old capital, Golden Radiance City, to absorb a large number of newborns from the southern border of the kingdom.

Unlike the political turmoil and population migration that broke out within its own country, Eisengard was already occupied by a foreign invasion. Not only did it lose its ruler by blood and law, but many of its feudal lords, in order to protect themselves, abandoned their fiefdoms and led their trusted troops to scatter like birds and beasts, fleeing to neighboring countries for refuge.

Currently, the entire Kingdom of Piaoqi is in a state of complete disintegration, and there is not even a single person who can take over the royal banner and lead the people of the whole country to resist the invasion of foreign tribes.

Therefore, instead of sending troops to assist them in launching a protracted counter-offensive to completely drive the rampaging Lizardmen back north of the Divine Ridge Mountains, and then installing a puppet ruler who is completely subservient to Harvey to govern the vast and wealthy neighboring country... it would be better to simply open the gates and directly accept the influx of refugees.

Since last autumn's harvest, the Ministry of Agriculture's nationwide rollout of mechanized planting, along with the production of the Fengshou No. 1 grain variety, which has increased several times over compared to previous years, has enabled the kingdom to produce enough food to feed millions of people. After the embargo was issued, the warehouses built in various administrative capitals were piled up with staple grains such as wheat and soybeans. Local officials were worried that with another bumper harvest season approaching, the old grain reserves would need to make room for the new harvest.

Therefore, whether dealing with the forced migration policy within the kingdom or opening the borders to accept foreign refugees, the most basic guarantees for Saint Valentine and the Northern United Kingdom are already in place; the only question is how to implement them. "Accepting refugees requires the assistance of border troops, and these refugees need to be dispersed by family unit. Some will be relocated to the capital to fill the factories with the most urgently needed labor force, while others need to be carefully dispersed throughout the kingdom's southern border regions. It is crucial to prevent them from concentrating too much, so as not to cause administrative problems in those areas."

Reiner perked up and quickly stood up, saying, "The Ministry of State already has a detailed plan for this matter, Your Majesty need not worry."

Harvey nodded, then asked, "Did you send officials from the population department to the Langya Ridge border area in advance to investigate the number of refugees stranded in the mountains? What is the initial estimate of how many people we can accommodate?"

The Prime Minister glanced at the Minister of Population Management, who was called out. The minister immediately stood up and cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, although we cannot conduct an in-depth investigation, judging from the soaring food prices in the Eisengard border area and the occasional outbreaks of famine and unrest, the number of refugees gathered there is probably no less than 100,000."

"So many?" Harvey was somewhat surprised.

Logically speaking, the long border of such a vast kingdom is not completely closed off by iron walls. Refugees heading south could leave from any area. Even if neighboring countries were unwilling to accept these people, they could break up into smaller groups and directly enter the surrounding mountainous areas to escape the war. They would not have to stay in the Langya Ridge area and suffer.

Asdaren gave a wry smile and slowly explained, "The problem naturally lies with the neighboring countries. Not only Daus... the other principalities, large and small, that are close to Essengarde all know that Saint Valen has a bad relationship with it and is at war with it. They are worried that rashly accepting refugees will anger us and bring unnecessary trouble. In the end, they all deployed heavy troops to blockade the border areas and kept a large number of refugees out."

In other words, they were afraid that opening the borders and allowing migrants to flood in would offend Saint Valen, who was more powerful and whose national strength was already subtly ranking first in the southern border.

Harvey was at a loss for words. “We really can’t handle such a large number of refugees in a short time. We’ve notified our diplomatic departments to inform our neighboring countries that, in times of need, we should follow the tradition of mutual assistance among nations and temporarily take in and help these poor compatriots. We’ve also told them that if our rescue capacity is limited, they can settle the refugees and then transfer them to our country in batches. We will send special personnel to receive them and provide them with appropriate compensation. We will not let them suffer any losses in this matter.”

In a sense, this is no different from disguised human trafficking; it is also a blatant act of plundering labor resources... Harvey just doesn't care about that; he is always focused on the outcome.

(End of this chapter)