Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 55 Truth and Cleansing

Chapter 55: Chapter 55 Truth and Cleansing

The telegram sent back from Perfikot to Langton immediately stirred up a huge commotion.

The Imperial Guard Knights disobeyed orders, even though Perfikot was merely a special envoy with full authority, this was still unprecedented.

With such an incident, the Blackwood family was naturally implicated. Not only was Viscount Blackwood suspended and investigated, but Beckett and Theodore, who were escorted back by a frigate, were also imprisoned, awaiting further investigation.

As for the three Imperial Guard Knights who returned with them, they were personally taken away by the Grand Commander of the Imperial Guard Knights. The egregious nature of this matter had already seriously affected the very existence of the Imperial Guard Knights, thus the Knight Order must find out what was going on immediately.

As investigations unfolded from all sides, the situation soon became clear, yet the truth lurking behind it made many people restless in their seats.

For the Empire, it’s quite understandable and acceptable that people might form factions within the military.

After all, military reforms had only recently been completed, and the older generals came from the old era, carrying with them certain traditional methods and habits, which everyone tacitly accepted.

However, it is clear that the tacit acceptance of certain implicit rules or old traditions does not imply defiance of orders and imperial authority.

On the contrary, the reason behind accepting some implicit rules or old traditions is merely because imperial authority itself is part of those old traditions, and maintaining some past traditions can better uphold the stability of imperial power.

At least those old generals and their followers had benefited from this; they were even more determined to uphold imperial authority.

In contrast, the emerging Reform Faction was more inclined to gain more power from the Royal Family, allowing the Empire to enter a parliamentary era like France, where representatives elected by public opinion would govern the country, rather than being governed by the royal family and nobility who came to power through bloodlines.

The Blackwood family was originally a major supporter of the Conservative Faction, like the old Baron Brandelis, coming from a knight family. They earned their nobility through meritorious service in wars and were also representatives of the military supporting the Royal Family and upholding traditions.

However, after the death of the old Viscount Blackwood and since the current Viscount Blackwood fell out with Perfikot’s father, the family quickly shifted to the Reform Faction, gaining a lot of benefits during military reforms.

It is for this reason that the Blackwood family held significant influence in the military, extending their reach even into the Imperial Guard Knight Order.

Originally, it wasn’t that easy for the Knight Order to be influenced. Although Beckett had joined the Imperial Guard Knight Order, he found it difficult to spread his influence.

After all, the entry requirements for the Knight Order were high knights, with age restrictions, meaning that all who joined were exceptional talents that could be called geniuses.

These individuals usually came from well-off families and were hard to recruit outright. Even if convinced temporarily, they would focus more on the exchange of interests rather than simply being loyal to someone.

Thus, although the Blackwood family kept trying, they could not successfully infiltrate the Imperial Guard Knight Order.

However, when a high knight trained by the Blackwood family successfully joined the Imperial Guard Knight Order and became Beckett’s attendant, the Blake Clan realized something.

There was no need to recruit talents already in the Imperial Guard Knight Order; they only needed to send the talents they had already recruited into the Knight Order.

After all, merely recruiting a high knight or a talent with the potential to become one was much easier for the Blackwood family.

By this method, the Blackwood family successfully nurtured several high knights and sent them into the Imperial Guard Knight Order.

Besides Beckett’s Fourth Banner Brigade, two more Imperial Guard Knights from the Sixth Banner Brigade also fell under the influence of the Blackwood family.

Though the Imperial Guard Knights themselves didn’t come with any special perks, they didn’t have a large military waiting for orders, nor welfare brought by positions, quite the opposite, they could live quite frugally.

But the role of the Imperial Guard Knights was to protect the Royal Family, allowing them close contact with the royal members, and this alone gave them an extraordinary position and influence.

Viscount Blackwood had his brother join the Imperial Guard Knights, hoping that this identity would deepen the Blackwood family’s ties with the Royal Family, thereby enhancing the family’s status and influence.

However, as the Reform Faction’s power gradually grew, especially after France’s revolution successfully overthrew the monarchy, the Blackwood family’s ideas also began to change.

The Reform Faction seemed to want to infiltrate the Imperial Guard Knight Order through the Blackwood family so that they wouldn’t have to fight this formidable Knight Order when launching a revolution like in France.

Or, during a revolution like in France, they could use some maneuvers to dispatch the Knight Order away from Langton, reducing obstacles.

The truth of the matter shocked the Royal Family and caused an uproar in the Noble Council.

Although it was well-known that the state needed reforms, and the Noble Council had been advancing some reform processes, enacting many decrees, and even conceding some power to the Reform Faction over the past years, it was evident that the Noble Council had never intended to overthrow the Royal Family’s rule like in France.

Undoubtedly, from the Noble Council’s perspective, the Reform Faction had gone too far this time.

They had even exceeded the tolerable limits of the Noble Council.

Thus, under the presiding of Duke of Gloucester, a purge against the Reform Faction was initiated.

With authorization from the Royal Family, a large number of Reform Faction members were imprisoned. According to the findings, most of those involved in the attempt to overthrow the Royal Family were immediately executed, while those uninvolved could not escape exile or other sanctions either.

For a time, in Langton City, everyone was on edge, with a pervasive atmosphere of fear and anxiety.

However, what’s surprising is that those Reform Faction members sentenced to exile were not directly sent away; instead, they were all interned in a prisoner-of-war camp established by Perfikot’s men in the suburbs, seemingly intending to send them to the New Continent.

Meanwhile, some nobles who previously held sinecures were also implicated.

Everyone knew they had nothing to do with the Reform Faction. After all, if the Reform Faction were to recruit, they would recruit those with power and influence, not these freeloaders.

But this time, it seemed as if the Royal Family was using the opportunity to purge the nobles, as many freeloading nobles were cleared out.

However, they weren’t as fortunate as being thrown into the prisoner-of-war camp; they were loaded directly onto transport ships for exile to the Empire’s colonies worldwide.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Eldest Princess Annie urgently dispatched a team of knights to Perfikot’s side. This time, to avoid suspicion, she did not mobilize the Imperial Guard Knights but instead deployed personnel from another Knight Order under her own banner.