Chapter 404: abjection
After five or six days of discussions, the logistical problems of the Thracian army were finally resolved.
More than a hundred Thracian nobles each claimed a part of the expenses, and jointly shouldered the logistical work of the Thracian army. They would provide men, food and other supplies to ensure the supply of the Thracian army.
After completing this work, the Thracian army set off again and advanced towards the hinterland of the Molai Commercial Federation.
Few nobles dared to resist them along the way. Most nobles either surrendered before, or opened the door and surrendered when the army arrived. Only a few of the noble ones closed the city gate or stuck to the castle, wanting to. Fight to the death with them.
But the courage of these nobles was not rewarded. In the face of them who wanted to fight, Duke Alanz simply ignored them. She issued an order that any nobles who dared to resist Thrace would surrender. The nobles of Reis can attack him, and after destroying them, they can get 60% of their family property and territory.
With the transmission of this order, many nobles who frowned at the previous discussion and expressed their shallowness and difficulty in providing enough manpower and money jumped out one after another, and the troops who did not know where they came from, surrounded them in all directions. The city of nobles who refuse to surrender is like a group of sharks smelling blood.
For this kind of thing, Duke Alanz just smiled and didn't care much.
If you want others to do things, you have to give them benefits. If you ask for them blindly, there will be problems sooner or later.
The speed of the Thracian army's southward advance was not fast, and it was about twenty or thirty miles a day. However, as it moved southward step by step, a large area of the Molai Federation quickly fell. In many places, the Thracians As long as a few people are sent with a flag, the local ruler can be forced to lower the Molai flag and replace it with the Thracian flag.
This kind of momentum is really like the top of Mount Tai, which makes the entire Molai Federation tremble.
The atmosphere in Molai Port was getting more and more tense day by day, and the businessmen were anxious. Everyone was discussing the situation of the war and the way out. Many people have even lost their appetite. Walking down the street, it seems that even the number of fat people has decreased.
In a manor on the western outskirts of Port Morlaix, Duke Norma was lying on the bed, looking gloomily at the sky outside the window.
He has fallen ill shortly after escaping to Port Molai with the wealth of the Norma family.
Although the wealth of the Norma family has shrunk greatly, he has deep roots after all, and he is one of the only five dukes in the federation. But after the clergy came to diagnose and treat him, they shook their heads one after another, saying that they could do nothing about his condition.
"The Duke's body is fairly healthy, but his problem lies in his heart," said a well-connected archbishop. "His heart is very painful, and this pain has turned into an external disease. For such a disease, whether magic or magic Medicine is of no use, just hope that he will cheer himself up."
But can the Duke cheer up?
Looking at his gloomy face, no one was sure.
In order to make him happy, the family and servants thought of many ways, food, beauty, poetry, acrobatics... They tried their best to find things that could make him happy, but they were all useless.
Everyone knew why he was unhappy, but they couldn't solve that crucial issue.
The Thracians had completely occupied Norma, and the Duke of Alanz announced several counts of the Duke of Norma, and then divided the land and territorial people that originally belonged to the Norma family to his subordinates.
Unless the Molai Federation can miraculously turn from defeat like last time, the Norma family with a long history is a desolate aristocrat who has no territory and can only rely on a few caravans to make a living.
In the Commonwealth, the status of merchants was no lower than that of nobles. But if there is only a caravan, it is not qualified to be considered a great noble!
And even the largest businessman in the Federation, his status is only equivalent to that of a marquis. If you want to maintain the status of the duke, you must have enough territory!
But... where should the Norma family go to find territory?
Taking into account the factors of war, they can only seek territory south of the iron chain fortress. But they are smart and others are not stupid. Since soon after the first Norma campaign, the price of land south of the Iron Chain has been rising. Especially when the gold coin defense line fell, a large number of nobles in the north frantically bought land in the south, and they were even willing to exchange twice the amount of land.
By now, the land south of the iron lock fortress has almost been divided up. Not to mention the fertile lands that can be cultivated, even the relatively barren ones that can only grow trees already have owners—and their owners are still very determined, and they will never give them up.
If you want to buy more land now, you can only buy those areas where even trees are not good. That kind of land is meaningless at all, and no one will want to go there to be a lord.
If the Norma family is still as strong as in the past, it is not that they cannot use coercive means to seize the territories of other nobles. But the current Norma family has long lost its former power, not to mention the rank of a relatively powerful earl, even a viscount or even a baron, dare to shake the head of the Norma family messenger and say "not for sale".
Not to sell, each of them refused to sell even a little bit of land.
As for the other dukes in the federation, they are willing to provide a little bit of land, all of which can be added up... they can probably make up four or five counties.
That's it, no more.
Duke Norma had argued with them several times over this, but to no avail.
When the noise got louder, some people said, "When you monopolized the North-South trade by relying on the Norma region, you weren't polite to us at that time."
Since returning that day, Duke Norma has fallen ill.
He knew that his illness... I'm afraid it won't get better.
Looking at the sky outside the window, it was blue, but his mood was gloomy.
The future of the Norma family... what should we do? Does this great family with a glorious history really want to fall into the dust in his hands and become one of those unremarkable counts?
He coughed violently twice, feeling a terrible pain in his chest.
At this moment, an official in charge of collecting intelligence ran in with a pale face: "Sir, there are rumors about us outside..."
"What rumor?" Duke Norma asked with a sigh.
"It's about...Yunero."
"Yunero?" Duke Norma was stunned for a moment and asked, "What does it have to do with him?"
"The rumor says that you once promised him some benefits, saying that as long as he successfully presided over the guerrilla warfare, you would promote him to be an earl or even a marquis. As a result, he found a master to fight back, and you deliberately killed him in order to evade your promise. …”
Duke Norma's eyes widened, only to feel a heat rushing up from his heart. He was about to say something, but when he opened his mouth, what came out was not words, but scarlet.