Chapter 393 Swain's Promise
Under Swain's tough attitude, the new Noxian Empire finally passed its first month smoothly.
One month later, Immortal Bastion.
This used to be the emperor's council chamber, but now it has been converted into the office of the Trifarix Council, the highest authority in the empire.
Unlike the Trifali Council of Three in the "original world line", the Trifali Council established by Svein at this time is closer to the Merchant Republic Council of Piltover.
Swain is the Speaker and Darius is the Vice Speaker.
Representatives of reformist generals such as Leicester occupied several seats in Parliament.
Amistan represented the surrendered old aristocratic families and took a seat.
At first glance, it seems that Swain has taken a big step, changing the feudal empire into an aristocratic republic.
But in reality, the power structure of Noxus has not changed that much.
After all, Swain's personal prestige is unmatched, and his control over the army is extremely solid - at least, for now.
Therefore, his power as the commander-in-chief is almost unlimited.
Everyone can see that the Trifarix Council is more like the "Emperor's Cabinet" led by Commander Swain than a parliament.
Lester and the others were actually his subordinates who obeyed him. And Amistan was more of a mascot who was inserted to represent the interests of the local lords in order to appease people and stabilize the situation.
The only people who really have a say in the entire council, besides Swain, is Darius, who holds control of the Northern Legion.
Therefore, outsiders jokingly say that the current Noxian Empire is actually "two emperors ruling together."
Swain is the emperor and Darius is the vice-emperor.
The two "emperors" had similar interests and cooperated sincerely, so they always lived in peace.
But after only one month, this originally stable and solid situation has undergone very subtle changes...
"General Darius—"
While Commander Swain had not yet arrived at the venue, Lester, Amystan and others took Darius to secretly hold a meeting.
They made no secret of their worries and anxieties, and petitioned Darius collectively: "Now that the power of the Wind Leader is growing day by day, the officials and generals of the empire are all uneasy and worried about the future fate of Noxus day and night."
"And General Darius, you are the only one who can have an equal dialogue with Commander Swain and persuade him to change his mind."
"Please help us convey to the commander-in-chief the soldiers' urgent concern for the country at the next regular meeting. At least, ask him to reveal some details about the plan to deal with the future threat of the Wind Leader."
"This will calm people's restless hearts and relieve everyone's growing worries!"
"This..." Darius hesitated after hearing this, but he agreed with it in his heart.
He knew what Lester and others were worried about.
A year ago, the Leaders Association was just the ravings of a madman written by a Zaun apprentice in a 5-square-meter rental house.
But half a year ago, the Guild of Leaders was already a powerful local force that dominated Zaun, dominated Piltover, and posed a slight threat to the Noxian Empire.
At that time, the empire was mired in the quagmire of war, and was intimidated by the power of the goddess Janna who came to the world in the Twin Cities, so it was unable to make up its mind to take action.
And then, only half a year later... the Windleader became a behemoth that united Demacia and Ionia and could defeat the Empire on the front battlefield.
"The Black Roses who were in power before were insidious and short-sighted . They were all greedy for self-preservation and unwilling to fight hard. They allowed the power of the leader to grow wildly like weeds, so that they were defeated by the leader in one battle and then backfired."
"Are we going to make the same mistake a second time?" Lester pleaded earnestly to Darius.
"Yes!" Amystan was more direct and frank: "General Darius, do you know what the Leader has been doing in the past month since he defeated the Empire in Baruo?"
"They are dividing the land in the province of Barou - taking the land from its original owners and giving it to weaklings who have no use for anything!"
This action really scared the military nobles of Noxus.
At first, when the leaders liquidated the Ziben family in Shuangcheng, they could accept it because they were not the Ziben family.
Later, the Leader cleared out the pirates in Bilgewater, and they could accept it because they were not pirates.
Now the Leader has begun to carry out land reform in Ionia... These new military elites of Noxus can no longer tolerate this.
The most important resource of Noxus is land, and land has always belonged to the strong and the nobles.
The dream of every reformist soldier who follows Swain is to eradicate the aristocratic families who are bringing harm to the country and the people, and then... replace them.
Now that they have finally succeeded in their uprising, they are about to obtain a large piece of land and become great nobles...
So, you, the leader, are going to carry out land reform? This is simply the Noxian version of ritual and music collapse!
This is intolerable!
"Hmm..." Darius had no interest in the land.
To him, who came from a poor family, the land reform carried out by the leader even had some merits - after all, you have to give the poor some minimum living security so that they can continue to provide new soldiers for the empire in a stable manner!
But Darius knew that people like him who showed a little concern for the lower classes were extremely rare in the entire imperial military.
The rare collective statement by Lester , Amystan and others also made him smell a hint of danger.
He had reminded Swain a month ago that the thing he had always been worried about might... have been brewing slowly in the dark.
This contradiction must be resolved as soon as possible.
"I will help you express your opinions to Commander Swain." So Darius agreed to the request of Lester and others.
As soon as he finished speaking, a clear and powerful sound of footsteps came from the corridor outside the palace.
Swain is here.
"Hmm..." Lester and the others, like the students who were studying late at night and heard the footsteps of their head teacher, restrained their expressions, stopped talking, and quietly returned to their seats.
Finally, Swain walked into the meeting.
"Captain Swain!" Everyone nodded in respect, without the excitement they had shown when they had privately expressed their wish to Darius.
"Everyone, please take a seat." Swain seemed completely unaware of their private collusion.
He calmly sat down at the main seat in the meeting room, and then went straight to the point of the meeting: "Everyone, let's first briefly report on the recent work progress."
"Yes!" Lester and others nodded.
By the way, after coming to power, Swain was not in a hurry to make any drastic reforms.
Because he is too familiar with Noxus.
Swain knew very well that with Noxus's current corrupt bureaucracy, it was simply incapable of implementing any reforms.
For example, if he wants to reduce taxes and lower the burden on the people——
The local bureaucrats, nobles, and powerful landlords would simply maintain high taxes on their lower levels and pay even less taxes to their superiors.
In the end, tax cuts turned into tax cuts for the rich, which not only failed to benefit the common people, but also indirectly emptied the national treasury.
And if he wants to raise taxes on the rich to fill the treasury and make things easier -
The local bureaucrats, nobles, and powerful landlords would then come up with ten thousand ways to squeeze the taxes they need to pay back, many times over, from the common people and tenant farmers who depend on them.
So the tax increase turned into a tax increase on the poor, which not only failed to benefit the common people, but also forced them into a dead end.
…
This is just a simple example.
In short, Swain has realized that he is far from being able to save the people of this country.
The rotten nature of Noxus hadn't changed. The more he did now, the more mistakes he could make.
Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. Moreover, Noxus is such a large and seriously ill country.
As a pragmatist with many years of experience in reform and governance, Swain is well aware that he cannot be blinded by ideals and act recklessly once he takes over power.
Therefore, in the first month of his new post, he only did three things:
First, follow the will of the people and stop the fighting and withdraw the troops:
Under Swain's command, Noxus began to withdraw its troops from the four fronts of southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest, allowing the exhausted Noxians to finally have a chance to catch their breath.
Second, it is to stabilize the internal situation:
After Darkwill's fall, there were still many old noble families in the empire who were unwilling to lose the high positions they had originally occupied.
Many of them are warlords and princes who own territories and fiefdoms in the local area, and the power they hold should not be underestimated.
So theoretically speaking, this is the most difficult thing to do.
But surprisingly:
"In the past month, we have encountered only a few minor rebellions. Most of the local princes and chapter leaders have expressed their loyalty to you, Lord Commander Swain."
"And those high-ranking officials of Darkwill, no, the Black Rose faction, who used to hold the power of the empire—"
This group of people is the most powerful and the most incompatible with Swain.
Swain came here to overthrow them. In theory, they should be radical elements against Swain's regime.
"But among these people, only a small number chose armed resistance. Many nobles did not even put up any resistance and simply accepted our rule."
"Maybe it's because of that woman..." Lester mentioned Leblanc's name carefully.
As the true master of Noxus, Leblanc has always been secretly controlling the imperial nobles.
It’s even possible that some of the imperial nobles were simply Loveland’s clones.
"She is still looking forward to cooperating with you, teacher, and of course she is unwilling to waste her energy on internal friction with us."
"So, we were able to take over power from the old nobles so smoothly, perhaps because Leblanc was secretly controlling those nobles and cooperating with us to stabilize the internal situation."
"Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why those old nobles behaved as docilely as house dogs in front of us."
Because of the deadly threat posed by the Leader, Lester carefully but eagerly pointed out the kindness shown by LeBlanc and spoke well of this former mortal enemy.
"Yeah." Swain just nodded without commenting and didn't make any statement.
His attention seemed to be entirely focused on those tedious state affairs: "Go on, Lester."
Next up is the third thing Swain has done in this month.
The first two things are to cease fire and withdraw troops, and to stabilize the internal situation.
This means that the empire no longer transfers conflicts outward.
But contradictions will not disappear out of thin air.
The most intuitive point is that there is no money in Noxus’ treasury.
So, to whom should the conflict be transferred and from whom should the money be obtained?
Of course, it was the second thing Swain did, which was to deal with those old aristocratic nobles who were liquidated by him in the process of internal stabilization.
So, the third thing he did was something that everyone liked to see - confiscating property.
"Teacher, look, this is the list of property we confiscated from the 36 great nobles in the capital and put into the national treasury."
"The territories and fiefdoms they occupy in the local area, as well as their various industrial investments, have not yet been confiscated and counted."
As he spoke, Lester presented Swain with a thick list of reports.
Most people don't have the patience to read through such a thick document.
However……
Swain actually took the document that was thick enough to be used as a shield from Lester on the spot, and then the red-eyed crow standing on his shoulder, with its evil eyes suddenly lit up, performed a set of "quantum wave speed reading".
"This..." Lester suddenly became a little nervous.
But after quickly flipping through the report, Swain showed him a very satisfied look: "Well done, Lester."
"Teacher, you are too kind." Lester breathed a sigh of relief.
Then Swain said, "You only lost 30% of the property this time, leaving 70% for the Empire. That's good."
Lester: “…”
The congressmen present all broke out in cold sweats, and the atmosphere became extremely subtle and tense.
"You, how could you..." How did he know it so clearly!
How did he figure out the disproportion from that carefully edited list of property?
Could it be that... the war masons sent by Swain have already quietly lurked around them?
“You think—” At this time, Swain pointed to the crow on his shoulder: “Why is it called the Demon of Secrets?”
“……” There was another terrible silence.
In the shadows surrounding the palace, countless pairs of red eyes quietly opened.
They were all crows, the embodiment of hidden demons. And until these crows showed up on their own initiative, no one present could detect their existence.
Then the air became more solemn.
"Everyone, don't be nervous." At this time, Swain said sincerely: "I don't mean to pursue you."
He was really happy.
In the old Noxus, if he did not personally supervise the confiscation of property, the imperial officials in charge of the confiscation would be lucky if they could leave 10% of the property for the national treasury.
And now, after going through so many layers of losses, Leicester and others were able to leave a full 70% of their property to the government.
This shows that he, the great commander of Noxus, still has enough ruling power. At least for now, no one under his command dares to treat him as a fool.
“I will not pursue the matter for what you took this time. But this will not happen again.” Swain calmly let the matter go.
However, the real problem is yet to come. Swain didn't need to say this, Lester and others also secretly realized it:
Under the watchful eyes of the secret demon, can they... still have any secrets?
"Teacher Swain." Lester quickly stood up and took the initiative to admit his mistake to Swain.
"I heard everything you just said to General Darius." Swain replied, "And... Leblanc has been trying to win you over, hasn't she?"
"..." No one dared to respond.
Only Darius hesitated and said to Swain in a deep voice: "Commander-in-Chief Swain, this is not their fault."
"The Wind Leader is a major threat to the Empire. Even if you don't want to be his enemy now, you should reveal your plan to everyone so that everyone can have a clear idea of what's going on."
"Yes!" Amystan summoned up her courage and advised Swain: "It is not us who are attacking the Wind Leader now, but the Wind Leader is invading us."
"Do you know? Because of the infiltration and propaganda of the Leaders, more and more middle- and lower-level officers and soldiers have believed their confusing theories. There are even many senior generals and nobles from aristocratic families who, like the Midalda family, are secretly communicating with the Leaders in preparation for a rainy day!"
"If this continues, the Noxus Empire will be peacefully transformed by the Leader!"
Amystan said it with deep feeling.
"..." Swain was not in a hurry at all.
If he is not anxious, the generals present will be very anxious.
Finally, when everyone was anxious for a "Second Reform", Swain said in a calm tone:
"Wait a little longer."
"This..." When everyone saw his calm expression as if he had mastered everything, they felt inexplicably relieved.
Yes, Swain is a wise general. He would never do anything stupid.
Maybe... waiting is part of his plan?
"How long will it take?" someone couldn't help asking.
"One month." Finally, Swain gave the exact time.
"A month later..." Lester asked carefully: "What will happen?"
Swain smiled but said nothing.
In fact, he didn't know what would happen in a month. Anyway, Levi needed him to help delay time.
"General Swain..." At this time, Darius reminded again: "Is the date you gave accurate?"
Giving a specific date will draw a clear psychological bottom line for everyone.
If the time comes and the decisive battle that Swain promised does not happen... then there will be big chaos.
“Of course I am sure.” Swain still didn't care.
After all, what he was waiting for was that "big mess".
The more chaotic the situation becomes, the more people will come out, and the cleaner the empire will be in one go.
“Okay then.” Seeing Swain so confident, everyone finally felt relieved.
"Oh, right..." Swain looked at Darius again:
"General Darius, I need you to do something for me."
"What?" Darius looked at it seriously.
Swain said meaningfully: "I have received intelligence that a rebellion is about to take place in Besilico."
"That's your hometown—"
"I think you should go there."
