Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

In the spring of 1445, with the official departure of the Midland army led by Count Milo, Binsey and the entire West Balden area became the territory actually ruled by John. John sent Charles and Hank to lead troops to attack other castles that had not surrendered, and by the way, he also cleaned up the bandits and civilian resistance organizations.

Civilian resistance organizations are generally assembled forces composed of local landlords, gentry and deserters, with a number ranging from dozens to hundreds. They are dissatisfied with being deprived of their previous power to abuse their power, and with the support of external forces, they rise up against Midland's rule, but with little success. The worst result is that they gather together to attack a village, and then are beaten back by John's armed peasants. Basically, John has released 200 peasants in each village. The first thing these peasants do when they come here is to use the building materials that have been transported here to build their own houses, and then start to build wooden walls, watchtowers, etc., and even organize patrols spontaneously at night.

But even though John tried so hard to eradicate them, the rebels were still rampant. They kept growing again and again, faster than leeks. John didn't know why. The system showed that it was very stable, so how could there be an outbreak of rebels? During a sneak attack on the lair of a large rebel army, he found several documents of enthronement of the third prince of Balden in a box. Then he realized that Yoda had sent troops to infiltrate here.

John immediately felt uneasy. If there were such a large number of Yoda troops in West Balden, there must be even more Yoda troops hidden in East Balden. Thinking of this, he immediately wrote a letter to Count Milo to explain the current situation, while recruiting more farmers to build a fortress at the river.

After considering that there might be more pro-Yoda armed forces hiding in the West Balden area, John decided that he could not wait any longer and had to strike hard. He had to bring out the newly trained sergeant brigade to let the West Balden rebels know what the Midland Iron Fist was.

So John ordered the baggage train consisting of 2000 soldiers and 500 farmers stationed in the eastern forest to set out collectively and station directly in the most chaotic southern area of ​​West Balden, where there is the only channel connecting with the Yoda Empire.

In addition to being much better equipped with weapons than conscripts, the sergeants recruited by John were all equipped with full body armor and various sophisticated weapons, and had stricter discipline. Each battalion had a total of 200 sergeants, each equipped with a commander, deputy, flag bearer, and bugler, enabling the army to fully respond to emergencies on the battlefield.

John saw that everything was almost arranged and wanted to go out for some fresh air, so he put on his armor, rode his horse and went out for a walk with a team of cavalry.

Even though Binsey had just experienced a brutal siege, it was still a city of tens of thousands of people. After the war, the people came out of the shadow of war in a short time. They packed up the bodies of their relatives and neighbors and buried them in the cemetery outside the city. Then they began to build houses spontaneously. The local church also began to distribute relief food to appease the people. Except for the various dents on the city walls that showed that there had been a brutal siege before, everything else in the city was basically the same as before.

People on the streets are still in a hurry as before. In order to make a living, even if they know that they have become subjects of Midlan, or rather, conquered civilians, they still have to go to work at the risk of being killed or robbed by the Midlan army. Perhaps the only consolation for the people is that since some people died during the siege, many positions are now vacant, and they might be recruited or even have their wages raised. This would definitely not have been the case in the past, after all, there were a lot of people before, and if you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will do it.

John walked out of the inner city gate and headed towards the outer city, wanting to see what life was like for the common people. As a result, when the common people saw the Midlanders coming out of the castle, they hurried home. Some small vendors could only lower their heads and not look at them because their goods were still in their possession. This was because many people had been robbed by Midland's regular army or mercenaries before. In their opinion, Midland's army was even worse than Balden's army. Balden's army was just collecting some protection fees. The Midland army defeated the Balden army and then entered the city to rob. In their opinion, it was just a big devil killing a little devil, and then continuing to massacre mortals.

When John saw this scene, he realized that Midlan was not popular here. If someone really wanted to incite a rebellion, it would likely lead to a large-scale rebellion of thousands of people, which would be very detrimental to his rule here.

But this situation will not change in a day or two. If we want to achieve better stability, we still need to recruit more farmers into the system, integrate them into it, monitor them, and find the troublemakers among them.

John did not go out of the city gate directly, but came to the local church. It was not the time for worship but there were still many people queuing there. They were probably those who had lost their loved ones waiting there for the pastor to hold a funeral. Almost everyone had tears in their eyes, and they looked at John and the others with fear, sadness and anger. John ignored him and found the local priest.

Bishop Binsey was the leader of the clergy in the entire West Balden area and was in charge of the appointment and dismissal of clergy in the West Balden area. Above him was Archbishop Balden. When John saw him, he was presiding over a funeral in the church, anointing the deceased, reading the eulogy and then closing the coffin. John was not in a hurry but found a place to sit in the church and asked the clergy to wait until the bishop finished his work before telling him that the governor was coming.

So when the bishop finished his work and was about to ask for water, a clergyman beside him immediately told him that Governor John had arrived. The bishop was so scared that he stopped drinking the water and hurried to find John. He also walked more skillfully than before. It was truly a medical miracle.

John's conversation with the bishop took place in a small house behind the church. The house was too dark so candles were lit.

"So why don't you open the window?" John was puzzled. If the window was opened, there would be light and ventilation. This small room was so stuffy.

"Don't you have something private to tell me?" The bishop was also very confused. According to normal logic, if the ruler of a region spoke to him by name, wouldn't it mean that he had some shameful matters to resolve?

"It's nothing important," John said to the bishop, who was relieved immediately after hearing this, but he was about to take his breath away when he heard the second half:

"No more tithes can be collected here from now on."

The bishop suddenly became anxious and thought, "If you don't let me collect taxes, how can I have such a good life every day and have money to recruit believers and increase my influence?"

"Um... Governor John, the French King's Office specially allows us to collect the tithe, and our income also comes from the tithe. If you don't let us collect this tax, it will hinder our spread of the God of Light." The bishop did not dare to lose his temper directly. He had also heard about some of John's deeds. If he was unhappy and chopped him to pieces, he would be finished.

"Tithe is allowed but not mandatory, right? If the information I got is correct, the tithe of Balden is not given to the French King's Office, right? And even if there is no tithe, I looked at the land planning. One-third of the arable land in Binsey and even the entire West Balden area is under the name of the church. There are only 500 priests in the entire West Balden area. It should be enough for development to collect taxes directly from tenants. Why should the local people be charged such high taxes?" John retorted directly. Although this old guy looks kind, he is actually a bad guy. He even has the nerve to say that the tithe can only maintain the normal operation of the church. He had already asked someone about it. Since this old Den took over the position of Bishop of West Balden, the church's land has directly increased from the original one-tenth to one-third. At the same time, the cathedral in Binsey has been expanded three times by him.

"Well... that would be better to let God know that my faith in God is always firm..." The bishop still wanted to struggle at this time, but John asked him a very direct question: "Then I want to ask you, which is more important, the kingdom of heaven on earth or the kingdom of God in heaven?"

The bishop answered without thinking: "Of course the Kingdom of God in heaven is more important. I have dedicated my entire life to God, which is enough to prove my firm belief in God."

"Okay then," John said.

"I originally wanted to recommend you to become the next Archbishop of Balden. Unfortunately, I am moved by your firm belief in God and your indifference to fame and fortune. I can only reluctantly recommend Bishop East Balden as the new Archbishop of Balden."

Hearing this, the bishop's breath stopped, and he was stunned for a long time before he said: "Do you really have a way to make me the new Archbishop of Balden?"

John said without thinking: "This Archbishop Balden is already very old and ill. He will soon pass away. Don't you know this?"

The bishop certainly knew about this. In his opinion, John was familiar with the religious circles in Balden. It seemed that he could really help him become the archbishop. When he thought that he was almost 70 years old, if he didn't get promoted, he would have no chance at all, so he said:

"Governor, I feel that the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is equally important, and the Lamb of the Lord also needs to be protected..."