Chapter 310

The meeting to distribute the fruits of victory lasted for two weeks.

After this war of usurpers, the ruling order of the Northwest Bay, which was originally centered on Ferdinand-Kent, was broken. Alda of the Graman family, Bayerdin of the Garnard family, Larnaca of the Parker family, Portree of the Heller family, and Stanlo of the Malken family, these five powerful earldoms became the new center of gravity of the Northwest Bay.

Especially Alda, it was like a salted fish turning over. People who were well-informed knew that Alda's contribution accounted for more than half of the coalition's victory over Maltz Kent. As for the other lords, they seemed to play a role in restraining Jaais.

Therefore, Paul Graman's words were the most important at this meeting, not to mention that the Alda army was training outside every day, firing guns on the 1st, 3rd and 5th, and firing cannons on the 2nd, 4th and 6th, and it never stopped.

The first topic was the ownership of the duke's position. According to customary law, it was natural for Henry Ferdinand, the younger brother of the old Ferdinand, to inherit the title. However, someone jumped out to oppose it. Molly Malken gathered a group of nobles and pushed a cousin of the old duke to succeed the title. After Maltz usurped the throne, this cousin also ran away and walked around in various territories, winning a lot of support for the coalition.

Unfortunately, the younger brother of the duke's cousin was thrown into prison by Paul because he was a guest of Maltz during the war.

"Two brothers, one on each side, there is suspicion of speculation!" Others, led by Parker and Paul, firmly opposed it.

The matter of the succession of the duke's title took three days, and in the end, those who supported Henry's faction prevailed. So, after a simple ceremony, Henry Ferdinand officially became the new Duke of the Northwest.

After resolving the issue of the dukedom, Alda and Bairdin jointly made demands on the Kent family's territory, Emden. They did not want to obtain the title of Earl of Emden, but that there would no longer be any Earl of Emden, and that the land under the title would be placed under the management of the Alda Council of State.

As for the various vassal territories of Emden, their lords could retain their territories after paying a sum of compensation, but the internal affairs and foreign affairs of the territories would be subject to the [guidance] of the Council of State to a certain extent. In fact, this is a disguised vassalage, but unfortunately the Graman family does not have the power to confer vassals.

In addition,

Alda's demands were supported by some people and opposed by some people.

Those who supported it felt the rise of this new and powerful force and wanted to hold on to it tightly. Moreover, Emden was already occupied by the Alda army, and Paul's demands had already become a fait accompli. Now they just wanted a name.

Those who oppose want to curb the continued strength of Alda. Emden and its affiliated territories are the best land in the northwest bay after the dukedom. Graman's strength will be doubled after obtaining this land.

Finally, Paul made a concession. He promised to share half of the Kent family's wealth and the compensation of various vassal lords in Emden with everyone.

This concession won him most of the support. For those less determined opponents, Emden occupied by Alda's army would definitely not be their share. It would be great to get substantial benefits such as money.

Then Paul had no other requests. This was the result of repeated discussions with everyone in the Administrative Council. Emden (including its affiliated territories) has a larger area and population than Alda and Bayerdin combined. With the current ability of the Administrative Council, it is enough for the Administrative Council to digest for a period of time.

Moreover, if too many demands are made, it is easy to be isolated by other lords. The substantial benefits obtained by Alda are already the greatest among the winners. As the culprit of the war, the Kent family was deprived of their titles and territories, which was understandable. However, it was different for the other lords who supported Maltz in the war. They stood on Maltz's side either because they fulfilled their alliance obligations as allies or fulfilled their loyalty obligations as vassals.

Due to the various rules and regulations of the aristocracy in this era, the punishment for these losers would not be too ruthless. The titles would generally be retained and the territories would not be completely taken away. However, it was absolutely inevitable that the victor would ask for a huge compensation.

The content of the next meeting mainly revolved around the two aspects of compensation and ceding land. After obtaining the entire Earldom of Emden and half of the treasury of the Ferdinand family that Henry secretly promised, Paul had no desires and sat quietly in his seat watching the quarrels between the parties. In the victor's camp, he had a good relationship with the Parker family and the Heller family, and spoke up for the two families at the right time.

Henry Ferdinand, the Duke of Northwest, was very grateful to him. Although he was very sad to give up half of the wealth of the treasury, Paul supported him to obtain the title and kept many intangible wealth for him, such as the people's hearts.

After the Alda army entered the dukedom, it can be said that they did not commit any crimes along the way, did not carry out a single massacre, did not carry out a single robbery, and paid according to the market price when supplying food and other daily necessities.

After occupying the city of Sent, many ruffians and underworld forces wanted to take advantage of what they thought was the "period of chaos" to stir up trouble. It was the Alda army that took the initiative to undertake the task of restoring and maintaining order.

This army quickly stabilized the city with swift and resolute means. The method they used was extremely shocking - the criminals were tied in front of the muzzle of the cannon, and after a bang, half of their bodies disappeared.

From then on, a famous term that made people shudder appeared in the history of punishment - cannon execution.

The Arda army would organize a large number of people to watch each execution, and announce the crime, evidence and punishment results in public, which was called [public trial].

Although the execution process was extremely challenging, the onlookers applauded when they saw these bastards who committed many crimes die so miserably, and also shocked those sneaky guys in the dark.

This is really a unique army. The performance of the Arda army refreshed Henry's cognition.

No mistake, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!

As for the armies of other lords, they were more in line with Henry's old impression of the army. Since they marched eastward from Bidoburg, they had been robbing and extorting the people or surrendering hostile lords along the way.

After entering the dukedom, if they wanted to do something according to the convention, Henry Ferdinand, who had not yet become a duke or even if he became a duke but had not yet sat firmly in the position, would definitely not be able to stop them. This was the power of the victor.

It was precisely because the Arda army took on the task of maintaining order that these guys, who were called the army but were actually bandits, did not dare to act recklessly.

The title of Earl Graman gradually spread among the people of Manda, the Duke's territory.

Such a good army was invited by Lord Henry Ferdinand, so Henry's reputation also rose in the hearts of the people, which undoubtedly increased the legitimacy of his succession to the Duke's throne.