King
Chapter 531 - 531 102 Mortal Enemy_1

531: Chapter 102, Mortal Enemy_1 531: Chapter 102, Mortal Enemy_1 Time alone was destined to be short.

There were still plenty of matters left in the army that needed Hudson’s arrangement.

After bidding farewell to his fiancée, Hudson’s actions to split the prisoners of war became increasingly swift.

Not only did he take away his own share, but he also quickly distributed the shares that the nobles under him should have received.

Even his friends and family, the major nobles in the kingdom, and the local snakes that had provided help to the army, all got their shares.

This decisive action of cutting through the mess angered Earl Laurent to the point of turning pale, but Hudson didn’t care at all.

The king himself must abide by the rules of the political game, let alone a mere special envoy.

Since there were favors to be gained, how could Hudson give them to others?

He didn’t touch the share assigned by the king.

It seemed like he was the “model of a loyal minister”, with not a hint of overstepping.

The division of the six hundred thousand domestically captured prisoners of war was now empty, and it was no longer necessary to keep a proper account of the prisoners of war who were still being captured.

According to the “nine-one” principle, prisoners of war who had crossed national boundaries to quell rebellions were recorded as one-tenth of the total, and that was the worst tenth.

As for the other 90%, Hudson still did not monopolize it, but divided it according to old rules.

It’s just that the number on the books is “a little bit” less.

The camp of the Southeastern Army quickly became lively; judging from the various cries for sale, these sellers were not qualified slave traders.

The kingdom was lacking in manpower, but it didn’t mean that all noble territories were lacking in manpower.

The noble territories of the Southeastern Army were all in the south, except for a few unlucky ones who were affected by the chaos, most of the noble territories did not suffer large population losses.

For a noble lord, excess population was also a burden.

It was only natural to trade them.

However, judging from the situation at the scene, it seemed not so optimistic, with a pathetic transaction rate.

Everything was a problem of price.

Hudson also sent people around the market and found that the selling price of prisoners of war generally exceeded twice the normal slave price.

Daring to quote such a high price, the seller was obviously not intending to sell.

Presumably, each of them was considering the issue of land grant, hoping for good luck to obtain a large territory and need a large amount of manpower to develop.

Selling them now was the remaining reason telling them that the kingdom did not suffer a large loss this time and not so many population gaps appeared.

Keeping a large number of prisoners of war would only waste their precious food.

Even if they could get the grant, it was most likely the northern border that everyone shunned.

Many people were unsure whether they wanted this broken isolated territory or not.

On the one hand, they despised the dangerous northern border, on the other hand, they still held a trace of fantasy, just in case the Human Alliance really annihilated the orcs.

Under the influence of this complex mindset, the price of prisoners of war was quickly pushed to the sky.

Big spenders are ultimately a minority.

After this war, most of the nobles in the kingdom are not rich and cannot afford this sky-high price.

Disposing of one’s own wealth is the freedom of all nobles.

How much others love to sell is not something Hudson can interfere with.

As the biggest winner of this war, Hudson received a total of eighty-thousand prisoners of war.

With the twenty-thousand he had previously obscured, the Mountain Domain’s population increased by one hundred thousand.

A doubling population increase was also a significant pressure for the territory.

The employment problem was easy to solve, as they could be directly sent to reclaim land.

The biggest problem was the food.

If it weren’t for the money in Hudson’s pocket, he really couldn’t afford that many people.

Facing prices for food that are three times the pre-war prices, is not something that ordinary people can afford.

Despite the large amount of population currently held by the nobles, they will definitely flow to the market in the future.

Theoretically speaking, the nobles of the Southeastern Army all made a fortune in the Duchy of Moxi.

However, most of them only had a stack of war bonds.

Except for Hudson the commander-in-chief, there were hardly any nobles in the army who held large amounts of cash.

It is true that the bonds have high interest.

However, they can only be formally redeemed when they reach the settlement period.

Even if the interest is settled once a year, they still have to wait until the time comes before they can cash them in the Duchy of Moxi.

Using war bonds as gold coins requires someone dare to accept them.

War bonds may not be registered, but not anyone can hold them in their hands for redemption.

Hudson was looking for left-over receivers.

Let alone turning it into cash for these naive and ignorant young nobles.

“Send the order down and let the people below deal with their prisoners of war as soon as possible.

The army will go north in twenty days.”

This timing was already the limit that Hudson could delay.

If he delayed too much, it would be hard to explain to the king.

To deal with so many prisoners of war in such a short time was also a test for these young nobles.

This round of competition was about the network of relationships.

If you have a strong background, you just need to send people to escort the prisoners of war, and the logistics and supply nobles along the way will provide it.

If your network of relationships can’t keep up, then it’s awkward.

You not only need to send more soldiers to escort, but also face the extortion of snakes along the way.

No need to deliberately make things difficult, just raising the price of the supplies a bit is enough to make them bleed hugely.

Without a doubt, the most unlucky ones must be the nobles of the North in the army.

Other nobles can find a few relatives and friends as they climb up the relationship.

If they declare their family, most likely they will find a bunch of enemies.

The culprits were the five families of the North.

Those who followed these five families were also accomplices.

From this point of view, it was undoubtedly a wise choice for West to decisively flee after the decision was determined on that day.

It’s all right to suffer and struggle, how else would these people understand the significance of clinging to Master Hudson’s coattails?

…

In the Orc Empire, the headlong marching Northern Expedition Army eventually collided with the retreating Orc Army.

The two armies confronted each other directly on the boundless prairie.

Neither side dared to launch an attack hastily, as if it were a contest of presence before a duel of the strongmen.

Marshal Campbell’s face didn’t look good, the enemy arrived too quickly, and this place wasn’t suitable for setting up camp.

Encountering the enemy on the vast prairie, whether to continue advancing or to strategically retreat, neither was a good choice.

They were just a day’s march away from reaching the battlefield he had prearranged.

Unfortunately, the orc cavalry came too fast and blocked the path of the Northern Expedition Army in advance.

Lead the army to charge seemed to be a good choice, yet, in actuality, it wasn’t feasible.

Infantry couldn’t catch up with the cavalry; it takes cavalry to challenge cavalry.

Although it seemed that there was little difference in the number of cavalry on both sides, the human cavalry was inherently less physically capable.

Even if he had more than a dozen knight corps at his disposal, he couldn’t reverse the gap in strength between the two sides’ cavalry.

If they couldn’t win, naturally, they couldn’t launch an attack.

“Marshal, are we just going to outlast the enemy like this?”

Earl Piers asked with reluctance.

If they were to drag on here with the orcs, other nobles might remain stable, but he couldn’t.

Sending Hudson back home to lay low seemed very successful at first, but now it seemed like a mistake.

If Hudson had continued to serve as the coalition commander in the Duchy of Moxi, he could urge the other side to send troops immediately, but now, he had no hope of doing so.

The Moxi people also had their interests to pursue.

Sending troops for support was already a favor, expecting them to act quickly was asking too much.

He initiated the matter and naturally had to bear the responsibility.

The scornful eyes of his political opponents put immense pressure on Earl Piers.

If they easily won this battle, all would fade with the wind; if they dragged everyone and suffered heavy losses, he would become the target of everyone’s anger.

Even though all the major nobles approved before taking action, he still had to bear the responsibility.

“Earl, calm down first.

Do you think we have a better choice than outlasting the enemy here?”

Marshal Campbell spoke unhappily.

In this scenario, meets with the enemy, whoever in his position would not have a better choice.

In essence, what is competing now is pure strength, any strategy or tactic is built under the condition that the opponent makes a mistake.

Now it was just that the enemy’s main force was still on the way, and the orc cavalry simply arrived first to block their path.

Even his many strategies had no room to unfold.

After being scolded, Earl Piers soon calmed down.

It was uncertain what would happen if they held their ground, but certainly, there would be heavy losses if they launched an active attack.

The Kingdom of Alpha’s roots were all here, and if they were to be defeated, all would be lost.

This kind of risk was not something everyone could bear.

Perhaps feeling that his tone was too harsh and somehow dampening the morale, Marshal Campbell soon added, “Rest assured, Earl Piers.

The kingdom has already taken action.

The original Expeditionary Army to support the Duchy of Moxi has been reorganized as the Southeastern Army and will be heading for the front soon.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has also reached an agreement with the Moxi people.

Now it’s their time to repay the favor.

The alliance’s reinforcements will take a few days to rest and then come to support us.

When the two forces converge, the prospects of attack and defense will reverse.

We just need to wait now; within at most two months, it will be our turn to counterattack.”

With these words of reassurance, the high-ranking officials of the nearby Northern Expedition Army looked much better.

Only the face of Earl Piers became even more somber.

Just as somber as he was, Duke Pias.

A mishap at the time had allowed Koslow’s clan to become a force to be reckoned with.

If they were only mingling in small and medium noble circles, Duke Pias wouldn’t care.

There were many such mediocre enemies in the Rocknard Clan, far too many to get rid of.

But once they crossed the threshold into the major nobles, it’s a different story.

Such an enemy might deal a fatal blow at a critical moment.

Compared to the potential conflicts of interest between the Koslow and Dalton clans, the true sworn enemy of the latter is the Rocknard Clan.

They didn’t take direct action because they didn’t find an opportunity for a fatal blow.

To sever the rise of the Koslow clan, he was willing to reconcile with the Dalton clan, with whom he had a conflict.

Unfortunately, Earl Piers is not a fuel-efficient lamp.

Even if he suppressed the Koslow clan, he still stayed on the political means and did not bump directly like a fool.

Without bloodshed, the contradiction between the two families still lingers in potential conflicts of interest and hasn’t escalated to the point of irreconcilable blood feud.

Once Hudson gets a high position in the army, the Rocknard family’s situation is far more dangerous than the Dalton family’s.

No matter how they wrangle, within the rules of the game, people can’t directly start a clan extermination war.

Most of the measures taken were indirect killings.

The Dalton clan in the southeast of the kingdom hardly needs to worry about foreign enemies; the Rocknard clan in the Northland is different, the orcs are the best tools.