A Grand Finale
"Sir Sonny ..." A cold glint flashed in Karl's eyes, and he said no more.
He immediately selected his ten most elite cavalrymen, all veterans who had survived countless battles and crawled out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood in Carnford. They were absolutely loyal to Karl, and each one was alert, brave, and skilled in horsemanship and archery.
Without waiting for the transport team or gathering more men, he set off on ten fast horses like arrows released from a bow, disappearing into Blackwater River Mine distance amidst the complex gazes of Tommy and the others.
Over the next two days, the southern part of Fran City was like a lake tossed with a boulder, with ripples spreading rapidly.
Karl led these mere ten riders, moving swiftly and decisively.
They first raided Sir Sonny's Blackwater River Mine. The mine guards were adept at bullying the miners, but they had never seen such a well-coordinated and menacing regular cavalry.
Upon contact, most of them were terrified and knelt down to surrender.
A few of Sonny's die-hards attempted to rebel from the work shed, but were killed on the spot by a single charge led by Karl himself.
When Karl ordered his men to open the shabby, filthy miners' shacks and the fences where the slaves were imprisoned, the sight before him chilled him to the bone: the miners, ragged, emaciated, and wounded, mostly had numb and desperate eyes, like walking corpses.
Instead of giving a long speech, Karl had his men search the mine manager's office and find the money boxes that hadn't yet been moved. Right there in the open area of the mine, based on Tommy's rough estimate, he distributed the back wages, sometimes even doubling them, directly to each miner.
The heavy coins falling into their palms were like a bolt from the blue for these people who had almost forgotten what "reward" meant.
Immediately afterwards, Karl announced the abolition of all unreasonable debt and slave contracts, granting them freedom and offering them the same choice as the villagers of Jialan Village: to go to Carnford, where they could cultivate land and have food to eat.
From shock to ecstasy, the transformation happened in an instant. The miners, who had been owed wages for years, raised their arms and shouted, deciding without hesitation to follow this "god of wealth" and "liberator" who had fallen from the sky.
Those miners who were originally in despair now regarded Karl as a god, kowtowing to him repeatedly. They joined the northward journey almost without hesitation, and the manpower, ore, and tools stored in the mines naturally became Karl's spoils of war.
After a successful first battle, Karl continued his relentless pursuit.
Using clues and directions provided by the miners, he repeated the same tactic, raiding two villages directly under Sir Sonny's control, as well as two other neighboring minor noble territories that were equally notorious for exploiting serfs.
Wherever they went, they took control of the situation, launched accusations, held public trials, executed or expelled the ringleaders, confiscated property, announced liberation, explained policies, and organized migration.
Their efficiency and decisiveness were so great that the remaining local forces had no time to react.
Sir Sonny and several other nobles whose interests had been harmed were certainly not going to let the matter rest. After the initial shock and panic, anger and the instinct to protect their own privileges drove them to unite.
A conceited and valiant knight gathered more than thirty well-equipped servants and guards, attempting to ambush and intercept Karl on his way to his next target village, intending to teach him a "lesson."
However, they severely underestimated Karl's vigilance and the fighting prowess of his cavalry.
The encounter between the two sides was hardly a battle. Karl did not even use any flanking tactics. Upon discovering the roadblocks and hostility ahead, he personally led ten cavalrymen, formed a simple wedge formation, and launched a merciless charge!
Iron hooves thundered, arrows flew like lightning! These elite soldiers, who had fought a bloody battle beneath the Carnford City, dealt with a ragtag group of servants as easily as tigers among sheep.
In a single encounter, the charging force tore the hastily assembled defensive line to shreds, resulting in heavy casualties among the servants, with the remainder scattering and fleeing in all directions.
The knight who tried to show his bravery was captured alive by the cavalry after less than three rounds of fighting.
This battle was small in scale, but its impact was far-reaching.
It proved in the bloodiest and most direct way that the pitiful armed forces of the local nobles were utterly vulnerable in the face of Karl's squad.
The idea of armed confrontation was completely dispelled by this one-sided massacre.
They couldn't win in a fight; as for reasoning, Karl held the moral high ground, wielding the "Royal Decree," and disdained any legal debate with them.
In desperation, Sir Sonny and the others could only place their last hope in a higher authority, Earl Rochefort, Governor of the Northern Territory.
Letters accusing Karl of indiscriminately killing nobles, inciting the common people, plundering private property, and violating the laws of the kingdom flooded into Fran City.
The Count's initial reaction was an intriguing silence, as if he were condoning the spread of the storm.
When the "fire of judgment" intensified and threatened to truly shake the foundations of rule in the south, considerations from higher levels and the need to maintain overall stability in the Northern Territory finally led the Count to make a decision.
A few days later, as Karl was counting another batch of voluntary migrants and seized supplies, and planning his next target, the Count's messenger arrived with a clear and unquestionable order.
The core of the order is simple: the farce must end. Immediately cease all "inspections" and "trials," lead your men, along with the refugees you have gathered, back to Carnford. The most important thing now is to prepare for the wedding with Princess Louise quickly and properly.
The clear instructions from the highest protector were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the ever-burning wildfire in Karl's heart and defining the boundaries of this operation.
Karl knew the importance of knowing when to stop and understood that he couldn't truly challenge the Count's bottom line.
Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately ordered the entire army to turn back, no longer looking towards the untouched, perhaps equally unjust, lands to the south. Instead, they joined Tommy and others, along with the vast migrating caravans that had gathered along the way, and embarked on their journey back to Carnford.
The "Trial of Karl," which lasted for half a month, shook the southern part of Fran City, and was written with both bloodshed and hope, has come to an end.
It left behind widespread controversy, fear and hatred among the nobility, and the influx of thousands of people and considerable resources to Carnford. More importantly, it left behind a complex and dangerous name deeply imprinted on the hearts of the commoners and rulers of the Northern Territory.