Unknown Knight

After the inventory and search, the soldiers found more than 3,000 gold coins, more than 8,000 silver coins, more than 20,000 copper coins, and a large number of gold and silver rings and buckles from the captives and their luggage.

Aix could not keep all the money for himself. After all, the Bedouin warriors led by Chief Magid also made great efforts in the pursuit. Aix gave them the seized gold and silver jewelry and three thousand silver coins, as well as one hundred tents, three hundred rolls of felt, smoked fish, beer, wine, olive oil and other supplies, as well as cattle for plowing and horses urgently needed by the army. In addition, all the seized camels, sheep and other livestock were given to them.

These simple Bedouins had never seen so many good things before. Each of them got almost the equivalent of their three-year harvest. They were all overjoyed and patted their chests to express their loyalty to the Prophet Aix, saying that they could call for help in the future. Then, led by Chief Majid, they returned happily.

The next day, Aix led the leaders to hold a grand funeral for the sacrificed soldiers. In order to distinguish them from ordinary people, the territory specially marked out a piece of land on the sunny side of a mound as the territory martyrs' cemetery.

Under the chairmanship of the high priest Velen, the entire funeral was solemn and grand. Except for those who were on necessary duty, everyone in the territory came to the funeral.

Respecting the dead is not only a virtue, but also a positive energy that is necessary for the healthy inheritance of society, especially for those who sacrificed their lives for the people and the country. This respect is not only for the victims, but also for the entire society and even for everyone.

The martyrs who sacrificed their lives risked their lives just to make their homes prosperous and the people behind them live happily. Everyone who lives a happy life because of them should respect them. This is also a respect for their own happy life. Anyone who does not respect the martyrs is like a lucky thief, shamelessly parasitizing under the wings of others. Your life is without dignity and shameless to yourself and others.

It is through this grand form that Aix makes this recognition deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, allowing every citizen to realize that his happy life is hard-earned, and that his life is not just about himself, but has more meaning.

People who came to attend the funeral consciously wore plain white robes. They held in their hands the cactus flowers they collected, or a local auspicious knot woven with wormwood, and reed pieces engraved with blessings. They then placed these items, which had no value but carried meaning and blessings, in front of the tomb of each martyr.

After a solemn funeral, there seemed to be an unknown thing maintaining, integrating and sprouting among the people of the territory who had different skin colors, languages ​​and living habits.

In the afternoon, Aix led the leaders to visit the families of the martyrs for condolences. Pensions and supplies were distributed to every family of the martyrs. Aix also promised on the spot that every martyr's family would be exempted from grain taxes for 20 years.

After a series of measures, Aix could finally breathe a sigh of relief. According to the feedback from Bolcha, the people in the territory did not have any negative emotions because of the war, nor did they have any complaints against the leaders and the Supreme Church. Instead, the neighbors were more harmonious and had more trust in the territory and the Supreme Church.

This eased Axe's depressed mood a little. It seems that the formation of a group does not only rely on organization, publicity, education and training, but more importantly, it depends on everyone going through some ups and downs together.

After dealing with the adverse effects of this war, the next thing Aix had to do was to find a way to deal with another hidden danger after this war - the more than 700 prisoners. These people were all young and strong, and it would be a shame for Tian and Aix to kill them all, but it was impossible to let them go. If they left them behind, it would be a big mistake if they didn't handle so many of them well.

Through the information obtained after interrogation, Aix learned that about 400 of these people were purely hired soldiers. Most of them were selected from poor settlements around Berbera, and some were even born as slave gladiators. They did not have deep feelings for Berbera, and joined their army purely for gold coins or to gain freedom. They were considered the bottom of the class among these captives.

The remaining people, more than 200 of them, were free people from Berbera. Although they were not very loyal to the lord of Humamu and joined the army for gold coins, they still cared about their hometown of Berbera because their homes were still in Berbera and they had relatives and friends there. These people were classified by Aix as middle-level personnel among the captives.

Then there are the so-called vested interests. These people are either nobles in Berbera, members of the Humamu city lord's family, or people who have been promoted to officers due to their outstanding abilities. These people are basically officers and have small properties in Berbera. It is impossible for them to defect easily. They are considered high-level enemies.

After analyzing the composition of these people, Aix, after discussing with the leaders, developed a management strategy for the captives, namely, winning over the lower levels, trying to discipline the middle levels, and suppressing and alienating the upper levels.

There were four barbicans in Standstill Castle. Aix locked all the captives in the smallest of the four barbicans and let them build two low walls with earth to divide the barbican into three parts. He then locked up the prisoners in the bottom, middle and upper levels respectively.

This separate detention is not just a simple separate detention, there are huge differences between them.

First of all, in terms of food, although the food for the lower-level personnel was not very good, they were full with coarse grain cakes. In order to prevent them from choking, the territory also prepared delicious mixed fish soup for them. Although there were no whole mixed fish in the soup, and at most only seaweed and kelp floating in it could be seen, it was delicious and fresh, with the right amount of saltiness. Generally speaking, it was not much different from the original meals of these lower-level mercenary soldiers.

The middle-level employees are only given one multi-grain pancake. It doesn’t matter if you are not full, just have two bran pancakes and you will be full. As for the mixed fish soup, it’s good enough if it has salty soup with kelp. You are prisoners, not on vacation.

As for the senior staff, they are entitled to two specially supplied bran cakes. The multi-grain cakes are for the lower class. You are all people of noble status, and only specially supplied food is in line with your status. The soup you drink is pure natural, unprocessed purified water. The water resource is precious here, and being able to have enough water to fill your stomach is the greatest mercy.

After the separation of food and special supplies, there is also a big difference in daily work. The wages of these low-level mercenary soldiers in Berbera are not high, and they can only barely make ends meet. Fortunately, they have more spare time and also work part-time in other jobs in Berbera, so they can barely live well.

Now that they were captured, Aix did not arrange them to do heavy work. Instead, he assigned them familiar work in the workshop based on their personal skills, and the supervision was not very strict. To be honest, in this environment, even if they were allowed to escape, it would be difficult for them to escape back to Berbera alive without external help. Besides, the patrol soldiers in the territory were not vegetarians.

Working with them are the residents of the territory. Aix intends to let them interact with the residents so that they can understand the comfort and abundance of local life through this contact.

When these low-level mercenary soldiers learned through contact that ordinary people in the territory only needed to work eight hours a day to earn the salary of two wages they worked hard for in Berbera.

Moreover, they can buy a comfortable and cool place to live at a very cheap price. Local prices are also ridiculously cheap, water is free, food is at least one-third cheaper than in Berbera, and daily consumables are even more than half cheaper than in Berbera. The balance in their hearts will shift unknowingly.

As for those middle-level captives, the territory would not pamper them. There were many tasks that needed to be done in the territory, such as expanding the city walls and trenches outside the city, reclaiming wasteland, digging new underground water channels, transporting ore, etc., and they could always be assigned suitable positions, which made these people who originally lived a relatively comfortable life complain and suffer terribly.

But they are still lucky. Those high-level captives are worse off than them. They either rely on the protection of their ancestors or have extraordinary personal abilities, which are far superior to ordinary people. They are appreciated by the lord of Humamu City, stand out from the crowd, mingle with the upper class in Berbera City, and become vested interests.

As for these vested interests, Aix's strategy was to suppress them. They had to do all the hard work, and the most important thing was that they were not even fed enough, which made them miserable. Especially the relatives of the lord of Humamu and the nobles in Berbera. They had never suffered such a crime before. They found the guards several times and told them that they wanted to see Aix, saying that they had money and could redeem themselves. However, they were beaten with whips in return.

At the beginning, the more ruthless and capable ones among them were even holding back, thinking of finding the right opportunity to suddenly attack and hurt people, and then leave happily. However, after going hungry for two meals and working hard for two days under the sun, they didn't get any opportunity and they lost their temper. Resistance requires strength, and they were all wise people. They knew their current situation, so they became much more obedient.

But after all, they were used to being domineering in Berbera City. How could they tolerate those inferior people in their eyes living a better life than them? Look, they are even drinking the meat soup, saying that it is a reward from the lord for their good performance. Isn't it infuriating?

Especially those who were born well and thought they were born noble and superior to others, the unfair treatment made them feel aggrieved and angry, and they naturally wanted to find someone to vent their anger on, so they habitually took the lower-level prisoners who they used to bully as their punching bags. Not only did they secretly climb over the one-meter-high isolation wall during their rest times to beat, scold and humiliate the lower-level prisoners at will, they also ordered them to use the coarse flour cakes in their food and the occasional good flour cakes to offer to their filial piety.

These low-level captives were used to being bullied, and when they saw them coming in groups, all of them looking ferocious, they remembered the scenes on the streets of Berbera. They habitually did not dare to resist. Otherwise, if they returned to Berbera one day, what would happen to them?

After just a few days, these low-level prisoners could no longer endure it. Although they ate well, the food they were given was rationed. They had to work hard every day, and yet they had to offer their food to those playboys. They also had to endure their beatings, scoldings and bullying, and they gradually became angry.

In fact, the leaders of the territory are well aware of all this. Such regulations and treatment were deliberately formulated by Aix and his men in order to achieve their ulterior motives.

It’s just that Aix overestimated the resistance consciousness of the oppressed people. For several days, the kind of confrontational situation that is as tense as fire and water did not occur, which is really worrying.

These dudes are smart, too, for all they want is to vent their anger and have a full meal. They usually don't provoke those who are powerful and pretentious, and only bully the weak who dare not resist.

As a result, more than a week later, this unfair oppression had become institutionalized and industrialized. The weak people who were bullied actually worked out a rotation system, whereby a small number of people were rotated every day to be beaten, scolded and humiliated by those playboys, while the rest only had to hand over food. This system was soon recognized by all the lower-level captives. Even those who had refused to hand over food at the beginning succumbed to the evil forces in the city and contributed a small part of their food. It was really outrageous.

In the darkness, standing in the watchtower, Aix was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, looking at the bizarre scene in the city wall below. After pondering for a long time, he had to decide to add fuel to the fire.

The next day, the lower-level captives who worked with the locals would hear the locals boasting complacently during their breaks and chats, bragging about the benefits of joining the Church of the Supreme God. One point they repeatedly promoted was that any believer who joined the Church of the Supreme God could seek help from the Church of the Supreme God when they were bullied. The Church had a righteous law enforcement team that would be happy to redress the grievances of the believers.

A low-level captive who was beaten badly yesterday, with bruises all over his face, rubbed the lump on his thigh and asked the proud believer of the territory anxiously:

"Brother, is the Supreme God Church really as good as you say? Can it really uphold justice for people?"

"What do you mean by saying that? I'm telling you, my brother, our Divine Religion is not free. Not only do we not collect any religious taxes, we even worry about whether you have a wife or not. We are not afraid of you making fun of us. Don't look at me like this. Before I joined the Divine Religion, I never thought that I could get married in this life. May the Supreme God bless me! May the prophet bless me! I have only been in the Divine Religion for more than two months, and now I have two wives, one big and one small."

This old man from the territory who had been a senior preacher, finished his arrogant words, then pinched the chin of the questioner, looked around at his purple face, and said with a tut-tut sound:

"Tsk tsk, you got beaten. The bastards only bully you poor people who haven't converted to the religion. Next time they dare to beat you, you should shout loudly to the city wall: 'Most High God, have mercy! The pagans are beating people!' See if that bitch dares to touch you again."