Chapter 68: Audience
Three days have passed since the coronation ceremony. The capital was still sealed off, but it was impossible to completely stop people from going in and out of the capital, so of course it was impossible to stop the information about the purge and arrest from getting out. The population of the capital was too large to stop this.
I needed information now instead of using spies. I instructed the spies to investigate the movements of the lords whose heads of families were not present as well as the movements of Raul and Aquicurl.
At the earliest, information about the coronation ceremony would have already reached Lord Raul’s fief and Lord Aquicurl’s fief. They are expected to raise their army immediately.
Also, Count Chamneaux requested that I disclose information about the purge the day after the coronation ceremony. As I’ve stated before, this wasn’t information that could be hidden anyway, and gave them permission for him to share this information if it could be used in a meaningful way.
Count Chamneaux received my permission and informed the commander of the Chancellor and Regent faction units who had joined the campaign against Lord Warung about the purge that took place at the coronation ceremony. He also added false information: ‘a lot of the aristocrats fled, and it is suspected that they have fled to your units’, and ‘these aristocrats may attack the Emperor’s private army and Lord Warung who has just returned’.
Many of the aristocrats’ army commanders were vassals… so they were almost at the lowest stratum among aristocrats. They couldn’t digest this information and decided to return to their own fiefs for the time being. It was normal for them to decide not to stay in the vicinity of the capital which was filled with enemies.
Count Chameanux effectively neutralised the aristocrats’ forces. I appreciated that he didn’t disarm them but let them flee instead. It wasn’t good to have ‘enemy soldiers’ in the vicinity of the capital and we could exhaust our precious military force if they resist our attempts to disarm them.
They were untrustworthy mercenaries, but they are valuable assets right now.
The last thing I want right now is for them to try and rescue the aristocrats that we have captured. It was better for them to return to their fiefs rather than have them act rashly in the capital. Capturing the head of the family was the same as sealing off the army under their command.