Chapter 401 - 252: The Realm Divided in Three (3)

He had brainwashed and hypnotized the Knights and troop-commanding nobles throughout the army. In a sense, he had already gained de facto control of the military.

This was because he held sway over two critical areas. Grasping these two key points was enough to control the army.

The first was inconspicuous but extremely important: the army’s provisions.

Other than Fang Zhen, few people could afford the heavy financial burden of over ten thousand full-time soldiers.

In fact, both Balenzuo and Tarrenno before him had struggled greatly to support them.

But they had no choice.

If they didn’t maintain an army of this size, they would easily be devoured by their rivals. That was why both Dukes had lived such strained, difficult lives.

Now that Fang Zhen had unified these two Duchies, he didn’t actually need to maintain so many soldiers.

Moreover, after the past few days of observation, he had learned that some lands in this world had been abandoned due to war or other reasons, with not enough people to cultivate them.

Actually, all this land could be productive.

Fang Zhen planned to return to his own world for a while to sort through historical materials and find some experts to help him strategize.

He felt he could adapt Chancellor Cao’s *tuntian* system to the current situation, having the soldiers fight during war and farm during peace. This would not only drastically reduce expenses but also help maintain order throughout the territory.

Fang Zhen’s meeting ended, and his subordinates left to attend to their respective duties.

But after this meeting, Mansa, Viscount Keton, Tahar, and the others all saw a hopeful future for themselves in Fang Zhen. They were brimming with motivation, a stark contrast to how they had been when they were simply carrying out orders.

Fang Zhen’s team was gradually taking formal shape.

Fang Zhen paid special attention to Viscount Keton.

Actually, aside from the territories of some nobles under Count Quentin, the lands closest to Viscount Keton’s Territory were two bordering Viscount’s Domains in the former Balenzuo Territory.

However, of those two nobles, one Viscount had died amidst the chaos of war, leaving his domain a lordless territory.

Fang Zhen had a private chat with Keton.

He felt that Viscount Keton was a talented man.

Viscount Keton possessed a high degree of political acumen, governed his territory in an orderly fashion, and was quite capable.

What was most rare was that Keton was a noble who could see the big picture. He had his own perspective on the entire situation in Zambein, unlike other short-sighted nobles who could only stare at their own small patch of land.

In short, most of the other military nobles under Fang Zhen’s command could only serve as Vanguard Officers or the like. Only Keton had the talent of a true general, capable of commanding an army.

Therefore, Fang Zhen planned to give Keton significant responsibilities.

This Viscount could at least shoulder more important responsibilities on Fang Zhen’s behalf when he was away, serving as a deputy to Mansa or Maso.

This arrangement wasn’t because he thought Mansa and Maso had greater military talent. The main reason was that this setup would minimize the risk of a general’s betrayal.

Mansa had no reason to side with Keton. Furthermore, Fang Zhen controlled the military provisions, so he wasn’t afraid even if Keton had ambitions. Not to mention, the man had also been implanted with a hypnotic mental command by Fang Zhen and would most likely remain loyal.

And after a secret discussion, Viscount Keton also felt he could formally swear fealty to his new Lord, Fang Zhen.

This was because Fang Zhen had promised Keton another Viscount’s Domain—specifically, the one from the Balenzuo Duchy whose previous Viscount had died.

This way, Keton could connect the two Viscount’s Domains into one contiguous territory, bringing both under his rule.

This satisfied Keton’s ambition and appetite. After their conversation, Fang Zhen discovered that Keton’s ambition wasn’t actually that great. He just wanted to expand his territory, with the ultimate dream of his family becoming a new comital house after two or three generations of effort.

From the perspective of this world’s conservative nobles, this aspiration was quite ambitious, but to Fang Zhen, it seemed rather ordinary. ’Not a big deal.’

Fang Zhen didn’t formally grant the new Viscount’s Domain to Keton, but rather dangled it as a prize.

Whether Keton could claim this prize depended on his own efforts.

To put it bluntly, it all depended on whether Keton could meet the KPIs Fang Zhen set for him.

As for Keton’s original Lord, Count Quentin, Fang Zhen had plenty of ways to deal with Quentin and bring Keton over. It just wasn’t necessary to resort to those measures yet.

Over the next two days, the nobles located closer to Viscount Keton’s Territory began to cooperate with Fang Zhen on his Golden Mountain and Silver Sea plan.

As for the other nobles who had been violently hypnotized and brainwashed by Fang Zhen, although they had now calmed down, the mental command had been branded into their subconscious. As long as their vital interests weren’t at stake, it would be difficult for them to harbor any thoughts of resistance against Fang Zhen.

Moreover, their interests were now tied to Fang Zhen’s.

During the presentation two days ago, while emotionally agitated during the hypnosis session, Count Quentin had used his own experience as a testament, showing the other nobles the profits he had made from trading with Fang Zhen.

At that time, Fang Zhen had also displayed a mountain of stacked silver ingots.

The sight of more than two hundred silver bars stacked together created a powerful visual impact, deeply impressing the nobles.

This kind of pure-profit business, even with a margin of just a few percentage points, was enough to tempt many of the nobles.

Some of the more proactive nobles had already made arrangements to trade their Gold Ropes for silver ingots.

Fang Zhen was very diligent about this matter. Whether it was maintaining his army or pursuing other ventures, he needed a large amount of capital back in his own world. His previous acquisitions of silver ingots and various other supplies had been a huge expense.