Sights on the Journey Home
As Victor led his team south along the canal by boat, Victor noticed something.
The situation on the mainland of the Raine Kingdom has changed slightly compared to a few years ago. Previously, he had not paid attention to the scenery along the way because he was escorting Duke Barick back to the Royal Capital.
Now that he had more time and his schedule was less rushed, Victor began to observe more carefully. His biggest impression was that the quality of life for slaves throughout the Raine Kingdom seemed to have dropped another notch.
He remembered that when he first came to the mainland of the Raine Kingdom a few years ago, he didn't know much about the slaves of the minor and middle nobles. But the slaves of the major nobles, or the government slaves of the kingdom, actually had a decent quality of life. At least they could wear clothes that covered their whole bodies, and they could eat their fill on weekdays. At most, their work was a bit heavy, but their mental state was also good.
But this time he discovered something different: the lives of these slaves were clearly much more difficult than before.
The slaves of the great nobles, in particular, looked rather miserable. They were not only poorly clothed but also poorly fed. They were thin and weak, with cloudy eyes, and looked like they wouldn't last more than a few years.
At first, Victor was a little confused, but he soon learned that it was because the kingdom had launched several wars in recent years.
From the beginning of the East Sea Alliance to the current Central City-State Alliance, a large number of slaves were sent to the mainland of Ryan during and after the war.
As a result, the slave market in the kingdom's homeland underwent significant changes, with the price of ordinary able-bodied laborers being halved.
Originally, the nobles valued their slaves, but as the price of slaves dropped, they could buy more slaves for less money and stopped treasuring them.
Since new slaves could be bought after they died, the treatment of these slaves plummeted.
Victor was speechless; he hadn't expected the war to cause such a huge change.
Moreover, the fluctuations in slave prices have far-reaching effects on the Raine Kingdom, especially with the influx of war slaves, particularly skilled slaves such as various artisans.
This impacted the original inhabitants of the kingdom, as many of their jobs were taken over by these slaves.
Fortunately, the impact in this regard is not too great. After all, the kingdom is quite large, especially with its vast system of self-sufficient farmers. This means that the impact of slaves on the kingdom's economy is not particularly significant, but this is not a good thing in the long run.
This has led to an increase in idle people in towns and cities throughout the kingdom, causing a series of security problems.
In order to resolve the issue of the southward invasion of the Central City-State Alliance, the kingdom forcibly conscripted these people to participate in the war as the kingdom's Second-Line Legions.
However, these Second-Line Legions did not perform well. They were very vulnerable when faced with the counterattack from the Central City-State Alliance, wasting a lot of military funds.
Victor felt that the kingdom was not in a good state. Balek I just ascended the throne and was facing a very serious situation. He could only hope that things would gradually return to normal over time. Otherwise, internal strife in the kingdom would not be good for the Vela Nobles.
Just as Victor arrived outside Beckman City, he encountered the Marquis Guilford had come to greet him.
More than three years have passed since our last meeting, and the Marquis Guilford remains unchanged, with little alteration.
However, he was much more enthusiastic when he saw Victor than before, which was normal, since the Golden Sunflower Family and the Marquis Guilford had a very deep cooperation, and the Marquis Guilford had made a lot of money from the cooperation.
Not to mention that the Marquis Guilford has already made a considerable fortune just from his entrepot trade with Vela.
In recent years, Victor has learned that the Marquis Guilford's family has grown considerably in power, and is now a top-tier force in the entire Eastern Coastal Province.
Previously, as governor, he needed the support of the Kingdom Navy to suppress the other powerful nobles in the Eastern Coastal Province, but now he can do it on his own.
It was clear that the Marquis Guilford knew who had brought all this, and he went to great lengths to welcome Victor, even bringing in the navy band to make it a grand affair.
Such enthusiasm was somewhat irritating to Victor, but since the Marquis Guilford valued him so much, he could only accept it.
Fortunately, the Marquis Guilford knew that Victor had been traveling a long way, so he did not keep Victor outside the city for too long. After a brief ceremony, he immediately led Victor and his troops into the city.
Victor initially wanted his troops to be stationed outside the city, but the Marquis Guilford said that positions had already been arranged for Victor's Two Rivers Legion inside the city, so Victor did not refuse.
Besides the Marquis Guilford, the Noble Army of the Kingdom Navy stationed here also came to greet Victor. However, this time it was not the Marquis Lawloren as before, since the Marquis was old and had retired.
The current head of the navy here is Marquis Diamand, who is also considered a rising star within the navy. He is a good friend of Marquis Edmund's father, and Marquis Diamand is also very friendly to Victor.
The Marquis Guilford hosted a small welcome banquet for Victor.
The banquet was mainly attended by nobles from Beckman City and Noble Army from the navy, along with nobles from the Two Rivers Legion. Although there were only a few dozen people, it was still very elaborate.
Victor particularly enjoyed the dishes at the banquet; many of them were modified versions of dishes from the Two Rivers County.
During the collaboration between the Golden Sunflower Family and the Marquis Guilford, the specialties of the Two Rivers County also spread to Beckman City, giving Beckman City's cuisine more variety. In addition, the seafood unique to Beckman City, produced in the Tears of God Inland Sea, made Victor very happy.
The Marquis Guilford and the Marquis Diamand were naturally very pleased with Victor's performance.
The nobles of Beckman City, as well as the nobles on the naval side, have arguably the deepest cooperation with the Vela Nobles.
The Vela Nobles traded goods and supplies with the Raine Kingdom, and the navy could not avoid this. The three parties cooperated to establish many merchant guilds, mainly engaged in maritime trade, and all of them made a lot of money.
Meanwhile, the nobles and navy of the Eastern Coastal Province were also making waves within the kingdom by leveraging some of the agency rights for Vela's goods.
Now that a new Duke has been promoted in the Vela Nobles, the Vela Nobles's strength has increased slightly, which is both a good thing and a bad thing for their partners.
The good news is that the partner's improved capabilities will greatly benefit future business activities.
The downside is that Vela's strength has increased, while the nobles and navy of the Eastern Coastal Province have become the weaker party compared to Vela. They are also worried that Vela might adjust the benefits of cooperation, which is why Marquis Guilford and his group are being so attentive today.
However, judging from Duke Victor's demeanor, there shouldn't be any major problems with the cooperation continuing.
As they expected, Victor understood the meaning of the Marquis Guilford and the Marquis Diamand, and immediately expressed at the banquet that the cooperation with the two families was very pleasant. He and Alex did not want to change the current way of cooperation and hoped that the three families could continue to work together.
Since Victor said so, it meant that Duke Alex also agreed to the matter, which reassured both the Marquis of Guildford and the Marquis Diamand.
Trade with Vela is their biggest source of income, and if possible, they would agree to even if Vela increased their share of the profits or made more demanding requests.
But now that the Duke Golden Sunflower has stated that he will cooperate in the same way as before, they have been reassured.
The Marquis Guilford immediately invited Victor to stay in Beckman City for a few more days so that they could treat him well.
But Victor politely declined all his offers. He was now eager to return home, having been away for more than half a year, and he missed his family terribly.
After Victor arrived in Beckman City, which was also the starting point of the transoceanic telegraph line between the Kingdom and the Vela Region, Victor could send telegrams directly to the Two Rivers County from here, just as he could from Golden Tree City.
From the telegram, Victor learned that the Two Rivers Legion's troops, which had returned earlier, had successfully landed on the mainland of Vela and were currently advancing towards Two Rivers County.
Everything within the Lianghe District was very stable, and the northern expansion plan was progressing very smoothly.
In addition, the immigration work in the territory of the Eastern Sea Province has also gone very smoothly. So far, more than 200,000 people have been immigrated. A large number of immigrants from the original East Sea Alliance have been moved to the Northlands, and the population of the Northlands has been moved to the Eastern Sea Province, which has strengthened the control over the new territory.
Victor stayed in Beckman City for two days before setting sail back on a fleet prepared by the navy.
The Kingdom Navy attached great importance to this, dispatching its newest ships built in recent years, including Steam Paddle Steamer built in technical cooperation with Two Rivers County.
The addition of these new ships has made transportation between the Kingdom and Vela much more convenient. What used to be a six-day voyage now only takes three days, eliminating the need for stopovers at transit bases for resupply and water replenishment, which significantly reduces costs.