Chapter 1289 - 1209: Governance of the Royal Court
The sunlight pierced through the blood-colored fog, shining on the city walls as if painting them with a layer of red lacquer.
Standing on the wall, Serafe, who had rushed from the Xilan Islands, looked down at the neatly arrayed iron-clad soldiers with satisfaction.
They were generally more than three meters tall, with muscles and armor seemingly fused together, as if they were born that way.
Though they resembled ogres, they didn’t have the ogres’ bloated physiques.
"Tsk tsk, every knight’s ultimate dream is to become a Great Knight." Leaning against the wall, Serafe smiled sardonically, "Now they have achieved their dreams."
A young vampire murmured, "What a pity for those ogre brothers."
"What are you saying?!" Arkadura immediately scolded, "Sacrificing for His Majesty the High Priest is their honor, it is as it should be!"
"Hey, don’t say that, they are meritorious ogres." Serafe, clad in a red robe, moved away from the parapet.
Governor Arkadura immediately changed his demeanor to respectful: "You are right."
"How are things in the city recently? Are the immigrant vampires adapting?"
"You’ve been thoughtful, they are adapting well." Walking behind Serafe, Arkadura flattered, "It’s all thanks to your governance."
Speaking of Serafe’s governance, even after governing for a hundred years, Arkadura had to acknowledge his experience.
This Serafe was supposedly a scholar and had neither fought in wars nor served as a governor.
Yet, it was as if he possessed innate knowledge, able to perform effortlessly.
For vampires, what they envied most were the empire’s artisans and bureaucratic groups.
The former provided artisanal production that zombies and skeletons couldn’t achieve, while the latter offered efficient management and extraction abilities.
As for the large granaries in the countryside, apologies, to the Royal Court, those aren’t granaries.
They are large pastures, pasturing humans for vampires’ blood meals.
Thus, Serafe’s approach was to appease in the large cities, enacting hereditary titles for artisans and bureaucrats.
In small towns, industries were conglomerated into large cities for easier management, with the rest flattened into rural areas.
The excess population, such as vagrants, beggars, laborers, and lower-class Public Register Farmers, were sent back to the countryside to become slaves.
This way, the Royal Court could acquire the empire’s abundant artisan resources for military support, without bearing substantial governance costs.
As for rural areas, Lemmings’ suspicion was indeed correct, it was the tax-farming lord system.
Lords no longer needed to bear any feudal obligations, paying money and blood taxes (population) sufficed.
All directly governed human lords had to undergo conversion, adopting vampire surnames and being adopted by a vampire clan.
In rural areas, church schools and the like that were originally operated by the church were all abolished.
Farmers who could read and write were all turned into blood taxes.
Serafe even invented a farmer-against-farmer election system, with part being drawn by lots for blood taxes, and part being elected.
Much like ostracism, every family’s year-end self-reported population, with surplus population drawn by lots to be destroyed as blood meals.
If they are outsiders, how would they know whether the self-reports are accurate or not.
Only the farmers themselves knew.
The blood tax was fixed each year, so if someone under-reported, it meant others would bear their share.
If you under-report your child, mine might have to die instead.
In that case, may as well let your child die.
Every time he thought about it, Arkadura couldn’t help but raise a thumb and say "marvellous wisdom"!
Truly worthy of the great moon, Moon God, High Priest King, His Majesty of Ten Thousand Blood—Serafe, effortlessly thinking of things they couldn’t!
Beyond this, vampires have completely unleashed the power of the lords.
As long as the blood and money taxes are fully paid for their territories, human lords have full authority over human matters.
In other words, while previously, there was balance between the church and the King, now human lords can freely introduce archaic rights such as the droit du seigneur.
Furthermore, Serafe ordered the survey and re-distribution of land.
The reason being there were too many lords, and according to Serafe’s calculations, a batch needed to be dealt with.
After dividing the land, many high-ranking vampires would be assigned all over, stationed in rural areas.
They often had a few squads, thirty to fifty low-ranking vampires, and with three to five hundred skeleton soldiers, it was enough to suppress peasant rebellions.
And if there was a noble rebellion by an Extraordinary Knight, for instance?
There were even more powerful armies.
According to Serafe’s plan, curtain cities and military camps must be installed in various cities.
That is vampire settlements, with streets and houses blocked from sunlight by curtains year-round, having above and underground levels, and starting to use smoke to block sunlight.
These are vampire standing armies drawing salaries, also paired with many high-ranking vampire generals.
As Arkadura understood, numerous high-ranking vampires were already building or renovating castles, engaging in large-scale construction.
These were policies already implemented in the Border Knights’ fief, which proved effective.
But here in Leia’s Windmill Land, the excessive population had to be massively destroyed.
This led to a lot of grievances from the Northern Army.
Damn you, while our Northern Army was fighting hard, starving in the north, we had human rulers causing restrictions on our food and drink.
While your Central Army enjoyed a feast without arduous battles.
However, that wasn’t Arkadura’s business.
Standing atop the wall, Arkadura gazed into the city.
With the opening of the blood mist workshops, thick grey smoke and blood mist spewed from the chimneys.
Covering the skies and spreading through the streets, the world gradually sank into a darkness that comforted the vampires.
It must be said, everything changed with Serafe.
Even if they killed those Princes, the source blood was still insufficient.
Initially, he despised Serafe’s behavior, yet inexplicably, she invented pseudo-source blood.
It couldn’t be inherited, and there wasn’t much of it, but it only required monster blood and blood from extraordinary humans to manufacture.
It could directly transform humans into vampires, albeit not ones that could reproduce future vampires.
But that was enough.
Without enough source blood, capturing human cities couldn’t lead to true occupation, and rampant slaughter only resulted in constant uprisings.
But now?
News from the Northern Army indicated their rule over Norn was exceptionally stable.
Not only did they not need support from the center, but they could supply blood to the Central Army.
Serafe, the woman capable of becoming the mother of all vampires!
Arkadura silently chanted from his heart, though somewhat exaggerated, it was indeed the reality.
Many vampires truly found a motherly feeling in Serafe.
"Weren’t you planning to hold a banquet earlier? Inviting those local human elites?"
"Yes." Arkadura eagerly nodded and moved closer, "At the banquet, they will express their stance, either transforming into vampires or facing direct execution."
"Any noteworthy individuals?"
"Yes, Lemmings. He used to be a Priest of the Holy Sect, the religious leader of Dam City, akin to Juanuo of Thousand River Valley."
"He’s no Juanuo." Serafe sneered, "How is he performing? Can you ensure he is willing to transform?"
"Of course, when he came, he got so scared from the city massacre that he fell ill. I sent someone to check, and he was genuinely sick, but hearing of my invitation, he came despite his illness." Arkadura couldn’t hold back his laughter.
Serafe joined in a light-hearted laughter, "You understand the value of a thousand gold for a horse’s bones. Given his rationality, make him the mayor of Dam City."
Arkadura was envious: "Your words mean more than if he spoke ten thousand, saving him thirty years of effort."
Hearing this, Serafe said nothing and merely continued onward.
It was merely a part of a magnificent plan.
Ultimately, all vampires would merge as one, returning to the original embrace, enjoying eternal peace.
Even Lilith didn’t know what true soul unification would bring.
Yet, the immense power, the yearning from the soul, it was something she couldn’t suppress.
Just like Miseria, she, the hypocrite, also committed many sins for this.
"I will attend this banquet."
"What an honor for them."