Chapter 66: Unconscious Slaves of a Lost Country

  By dawn, the inventory of Zygmunt's estate was complete. The Zygmunts owned four towns and 27 villages, with an untold number of serfs, annual income exceeding 2 million zlotys, equivalent to over 300,000 imperial aurei, and more than 200,000 zlotys in gold hidden within the castle walls.

  Nobles like the Zygmunts were not uncommon in Poland. It is worth knowing that Western European countries and Rome bought a lot of grain from Poland to meet the needs of their growing population and social development. Polish nobles made huge profits from foreign trade. Having tasted the sweetness, Polish nobles constantly took away peasants' land to produce more grain. In the fertile regions of Ukraine and Belarus, many great nobles who relied on the king's rewards established small independent kingdoms on this land. Before Russia invaded Poland, the most famous Polish nobleman, Ostrogski, owned 100 cities and 1,300 villages in this region, with an annual income exceeding that of the Polish royal family, reaching 12 million zlotys, which was equivalent to more than 5 million imperial aurei at the time.

  After dawn, the troops that had gone out to clear the Zygmont's house returned, all formations were intact, and the spoils of war were rich. Almost all of the Zygmunt family members who did not have time to escape were captured during the raid.

  However, the Zygmont family is a big clan in this area after all. Considering that there may be some fish that slipped through the net and come back to stir up trouble, and the imperial army cannot stay here for a long time, we invited the local religious leader, um, the Orthodox one. The head of the Catholic Church was on Zygmont's side, he has already been killed.

  As a deal, we gave several villages' farmland to the church and let them appease the big and small earthworms nearby.

  Zhimis Zhiya led the troops out again on the second afternoon, leaving me and my cavalry regiment, as well as an infantry regiment and an artillery company to preside over the pacification of this place.

  I spent the day marshaling the young and able-bodied serfs, while the priests rounded up the local village elders to show them the pitiful state of the Zygmont household, so that even the most arrogant among them would learn what it means for even the greatest among them to collide with the Roman Empire.

  The Zsigmond family's land was allocated to these border guards, but they only had the right of use. The output of the farmland belonged to them, but the territory belonged to Rome. Those several road parties, as a punishment for being allies with the Zsigmond family, were each fined one hundred aurei and sent thirty cavalrymen and direct male relatives to fight in the war, while their act of betrayal on the battlefield was rewarded. Each family allocated five hundred serfs from the Zsigmond family to them.

  Originally, Uncle Zimisqia wanted to assign some women and children as burdens to these families, but seeing those people gathering together crying and reluctant to part with the scene, I softened my heart and said a few words. Uncle Zimisqia gave me face and changed his mind. Those several families suddenly got 500 serfs but no land, which in fact was also selling off these serfs. And each family sent out more than 30 cavalrymen, equivalent to emptying out most of their strength.

  But simply removing the personnel of the Sigismund's family is not enough to guarantee that there will be no trouble. Unlike the nobles of the Sigismund's family who were tamed, those local snakes who were originally suppressed by the Sigismund's family are now flying high and mighty, and the priests are even more so. It can be inferred that these people have been oppressed by the Sigismund's family for a long time, and their attitude towards the fallen nobles of the Sigismund's family is extremely arrogant.

  It's bound to happen sooner or later, so let those people also take out some of their family members and male heirs to keep them evenly matched.

  But like this, you have twenty men, I have thirty men, he has ten men, and I've got a cavalry troop of over four hundred men.

  A cavalry of over 400 people, with a variety of weapons and colorful clothing.

  Combat power?

  It can be seen from the cavalry of Zygmont's family that they are at a loss, the leader is killed, and they do not know what to do, wanting to escape but not escaping, wanting to fight but not fighting, staring blankly with their eyes wide open, running in circles, and being confused about what to do.

  But these people turned out to be unexpectedly useful, they drove the peasants like sheep and more than two thousand peasants were delivered from Zygmont's estate to the Bug River crossing in front of Ulyanovka. With the bridge built by Uncle Zhmizhnya earlier, we could easily cross the Bug River, but since it was getting late when we arrived, we decided to stay overnight on the other side of the river.

  Ulyanovka, a large plain city downstream of the Dnieper River. In the imperial city meeting where they actively asked to join, this is the marginal area.

  Application to join the imperial Polish city's core region is the Dnieper River and the coastal area near the Black Sea, where local control of the port, and because of long-term trade with the empire, handicrafts are developed, shipbuilding and fishing industries are booming, it is a very rich area. Without careful calculation, as long as people have a brain to think about such an area, I think that in one year, it can provide income for the imperial treasury of no less than 40 million imperial aureus. Taxation is secondary, the land in that region is extremely fertile, if it can be well managed, the empire will have another major grain-producing area.

  The province was a cornucopia of commerce, producing an abundance of grain and controlling the outlet to the sea. Under Roman control, it brought countless benefits. The lands further north, as far as Ulyanovsk, could still provide food for the empire, but the lands beyond that were only a tasteless and regrettable territory that couldn't be allowed to fall into Russian hands, yet we didn't have much interest in them either. It seemed there was only one way to deal with that land.

  ………….

  Wa?eczko was already waiting in Ulianovka. With him were thousands of Polish nobles and their cavalry, at least three thousand people. This number made my mood just a little darker.

  Very few?

  The closest to Ulyanovka, the Bratskoye Cossack Regiment sent 1,500 cavalrymen to express their loyalty to the Empire. The neighboring Bashtanka Cossack Regiment sent 1,300 people, Kirovograd sent 400 people, and Gurovka sent more than 300 people, with more gathering afterwards. Uman, Vatutino, these provinces closer to Kiev also sent people as thugs to demonstrate their loyalty, but most of the large troops stayed in their own provinces, only sending a few dozen people to show their attitude. However, according to them, once the Imperial Army arrives in the north, local nobles will provide another 1,000 cavalrymen.

  Just these local cavalry were more numerous than the imperial cavalry. Uncle Zimiszia only called on each family to send twenty or thirty people, but if they really came to help, it would be good, but their purpose was not so simple.

  Hand over the peasant slaves to Valens, let him dig in before the winter soil freezes. I was told that Uncle Zimiszia used the Upper Roman Sole Grease three days ago. The eggs, a must-have for the forced march, were knocked into the boots, and the whole army marched towards Kiev. His order to me is to wait here for the follow-up of the 10th Spartan Legion and the 5th Rheinsteiner Legion.

  One evening in Ulyanovka, after settling the people who had come with me into a temporary lodging, I went to Valentin's temporary lodging.

  Let Assassin guard the door, I walked in and closed the door. I asked: "Your dad did this for a reason, didn't he? Did he tell you?"

  "We've been sold out." Valens' face was filled with worry.

  I was stunned for a moment, and it wasn't until a while later that I came back to myself: "Huh?"

  Valens exclaimed in indignation: "Those Polish remnants have betrayed us! The closer the nobles are to the Russian side, the less they want to join the Empire!"

  "What about that petition?"

  "That petition to return to the Empire had a lot of forged signatures on it!"

  I understand everything now, I was just saying that the Polish nobility, who have always been full of discord, would not be so united. Logically speaking, the empire does not allow for the legal existence of serfs, and the economic system is incompatible with Poland's current framework. Those landowners should be more inclined towards Russia, but it turns out that those non-unified people are no longer part of the system.

  "How did you find out?"

  The day I rushed to Ulyanovka, many Polish nobles gathered here with their troops. Later, when asked, they were preparing for a rebellion! What rebellion! In fact, some remnants of Poland did not sign the petition! Those damned Poles have been hiding this from beginning to end!" Valens slammed his fist on the table.

  "So you're angry?" I'm getting more and more disgusted with those Polish turtles, they didn't go early or late, but just when we arrived to quell the rebellion, this is really a clever calculation.

  "That's not all, those damned Polish nobles actually gathered together according to their origins and formed alliances to advance and retreat together! They obeyed the Empire's orders in appearance but disobeyed them in reality! The more people there were, the less they took the Empire seriously. It was like collecting grain and gathering laborers to build strongholds. When I first arrived here, they had completed a third of it, but now it's still less than 70%!"

  I couldn't help but smile: "You really are a simple and lovely soldier."

  Valens inexplicably raised his head: "You can still laugh?"

  "This is what I call the demeanor of a great general."

  Valens was choked to death by his words.

  "Alright, then you think my father and them won't know?" I asked solemnly.

  "What does this have to do with us stepping into Western Line and being disgusted by those Polish nobles?" Valens said gloomily.

  "My father, in his haste to outmaneuver the Russians, left our reserves and supplies unprepared, and your plan relies too heavily on the support of local nobles, which gave those Polish aristocrats a chance to drive up their prices."

  "Are you saying we're asking for trouble!"

  "The first thing to be solved is the Russians."