Unknown Knight

After dealing with Katia and the remnants of the Dark Cult who secretly supported her, Aix regained control of the entire territory.

After sorting out the backlog of documents, Aix realized how difficult the current environment in the territory was. Not only was there a pack of wolves surrounding him, but people's livelihood was also in decline. Although the lives of the people in the territory could still be maintained, they were becoming increasingly difficult.

The reason lies with him. During the two years he was gone, the territory lost its backbone. Hostile forces in Vigia were eyeing this fat piece of meat with questionable legitimacy, and under the leadership of King Yarogerk, they adopted a strategy of blockade and siege on the territory.

Later on, even the Lord of Tihar, Iden, the Khergit Khanate's Saiga Khan and his group of Khergit noyans, and the nobles led by King Harlaus of the Swadia Kingdom all joined in.

Their specific approach was to set up checkpoints on the trade routes of their fiefdoms and impose heavy taxes on caravans from the territories, which greatly reduced the profit margins of the territory's products. In addition, when the territory's caravans passed through their jurisdiction, they were often robbed by bandits, forcing the territories to spend a lot of money to increase the guards of the caravans, which invisibly increased huge expenses.

However, the territory later adopted a response strategy. The original purpose of establishing the five major mercenary groups was not only to secretly expand the territory's military strength, but another major purpose was to trade goods with foreign countries in the name of these private mercenary groups in order to reduce the taxation of these hostile forces against the territory.

But later on, these hostile forces seemed to have noticed something, and when they set up checkpoints to collect taxes, they not only targeted the caravans in the territory, but also imposed heavy taxes on anyone selling specialty products produced in the territory.

These tax measures against the territory had a great impact on the territory's economy, causing the income and living standards of the people in the territory to drop significantly. Later, members of the Dark Cult who infiltrated the territory even used this to incite people and caused considerable unrest in some areas.

Fortunately, the territory's ruling foundation is relatively solid, and various people-friendly policies have long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, allowing the territory to quickly quell the unrest.

However, once people fall into hardship, they tend to seek spiritual comfort, and the Dark Cult took advantage of this and swooped in. Although the riots have subsided, the territory cannot meet the spiritual needs of the people in a short period of time.

At this time, a legendary figure who once pushed Aix to be a god appeared. He was the first-class carpenter Huban. At the critical moment, he once again stepped onto the stage of history.

Huban is now the owner of a carpentry workshop. He has become a wealthy man by selling furniture and is very famous in his territory and even in the entire Kingdom of Vigia.

He is a loyal fan of X, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a fanatic believer of X. He also knows that the life he has today is largely due to the favor of X, so when the Dark God Cult began to spread privately, he was the first to stand up and oppose it. He used the financial resources in his hands to spread the legend that X is a god, and preached that the people of the territory should believe in X as a god, rather than the Dark God Cult, the enemy of the territory.

Soon a group of people gathered around him. When the territory began to purge the Dark Cult, Bandak also discovered what he had done. The knights of the territory even held a special meeting to discuss the matter.

After some discussion, everyone reached a consensus that the high ground of thought also needs to be occupied, otherwise if you don't occupy it, someone else will. Since Hu Ban's starting point is good, it is better to support him.

This was later proved to be a correct decision. After receiving support, the belief in Aix spread rapidly in the territory, and even showed a tendency to spread to the surrounding areas. After the people in the territory were satisfied with their faith, nothing dangerous happened to the territory. Instead, they felt a stronger sense of belonging to the territory, and riots rarely occurred again.

Under the deliberate guidance and propaganda of Huban and the territory's high-ranking officials, the people in the territory also understood that although their lives now were a little more difficult than when Aix was here, they were definitely better than when they were not citizens of Aix. As a result, they became more law-abiding, and the various policies promulgated by the territory were well implemented. As a result, the overall social atmosphere improved a lot.

With the example of Fort Standing, Axe also understood the role of religion in today's society. In this era where the people are generally illiterate and science and technology are extremely underdeveloped, talking to everyone about democracy and the rule of law is like lecturing on scriptures to a child. It is useless. It is better to use religious ideas which are more effective and faster.

To this end, Aix specially summoned Huban, recognized and encouraged what he did, and promoted him to the core of the territory. Under the management and guidance of James, the high priest, he incorporated the believers led by him. From then on, this territory religion that believed in Aix as God was transformed into a branch of the Supreme God religion that spanned continents and quickly spread throughout the territory.

With the return of Aix, all affairs of the territory soon became like a hundred rivers flowing into one. With goals and momentum, the economy began to accelerate and became more and more prosperous.

After the internal situation was sorted out, Aix began to focus on solving the external dilemma. Except for his allies through marriage, Wocheze and Aichmore, other formerly friendly forces, such as Lord Rodla of Kulau, King Ragnar of Sagos, Marquis Claes of Dehrim, Lord Maliga of Rivacheze, etc., have become neutral forces. Some have even turned their guns around and become hostile forces to the territory.

For example, Lord Rodela and Lord Maliga, both from the Kingdom of Vigia, either under coercion or with ulterior motives to take advantage of the opportunity, all participated in the military operation led by King Yarogerk to attack the city of Kudan, set up checkpoints in their territories, and imposed heavy taxes on goods from the Territory of Aix.

Especially Rodella, who used to call Aix a brother. Now he has set up a water fort in his Kulau City and levied heavy taxes on ships traveling to and from the territory, leaving the territory's most profitable water trade with little profit margin. It's chilling to think about it.

What the territory needs most now is to break the blockade of hostile forces, especially the cities of Wocheze and Aichemor, which are the gateways to the marriage. These two cities are located in the east and west directions of Kudan City respectively. Once the trade routes in these two directions are opened, it will be equivalent to opening a gap in both land and water routes, and the dilemma of the territory will be solved.

In particular, the water trade route leading to Wocheze City, once an outlet to the sea is opened, the goods in the territory can be transported through Wocheze and sold to more places.

However, there are too many hostile forces in this direction, such as the cities of Kulau, Thraceburg, Ismorola Castle along the river, etc. Although they all belong to the Kingdom of Vigia in name, they treat the caravan of Aix County like a hostile force. Once they force their way through, a war may break out, which will make the nobles in Vigia reject him even more and even unite to attack him.

On the other hand, the city of Aichemor in the east is separated from the city of Kudan by only the Sajic Fort. As long as this fortress is captured, there will be no other obstacles between the territory and the city of Aichemor in Tujunayan, allowing the two places to be more closely connected and achieve the effect of mutual watchfulness.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Vaegir already had conflicts with the Khergit Khanate. The two countries were hostile to each other and had been in constant dispute. Once Aix and the Khergit Khanate went to war, it would at least gain the favor and support of the nobles in Vaegir.