Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 708 - 096 Targets and Undercurrents (Fifth Update - Request for Monthly Pass)

After conquering Frandy and the other Three Great Dukedoms, the Blue Dragon Kingdom expanded its own territory and population by more than three times. Before digesting these gains,

the Blue Dragon Kingdom's military has no immediate plans to dispatch forces again to attack other countries.

Unlike those feudal countries still in the Middle World, where occupying enemy land means simply appointing a new batch of nobles for management,

these knights similar to my nobles are not my knights.

While noble lords help the monarch guard the vast territory, they also govern with an extremely inefficient method like individual small independent kingdoms, which the Blue Dragon Kingdom cannot accept.

Within the Blue Dragon Kingdom, undergoing a Magic Industrial Revolution, the management style of these old nobles, hindering industrialization, is bound to be relegated to the dustbin of outdated ideas in history.

Under Dragon's Nest government rule, from the vast city populace to remote mountain villages, the political organization must extend to every place in the Blue Dragon Kingdom, incorporating every citizen into the administrative management of the Blue Dragon Kingdom Government.

This modern concept of government management facilitates uniting the populace throughout the kingdom, gathering and unleashing formidable power.

Against such a backdrop,

the Blue Dragon Kingdom's main focus in recent times is still on absorbing rule over the original Three Great Dukedoms, rectifying local affairs, and fully controlling the lands and populace of the former Three Great Dukedoms.

However,

to transform the populace of the vast territories of the former Three Great Dukedoms, even though they have been vanquished, achieving this goal is not that simple.

Despite sweeping away most of the old major noble families and lord forces before attacking the Royal City,

and a large number of militias and logistical grassroots officials subsequently entered, establishing simple administrative centers, preliminary pacification, and stabilization of key regions.

A preliminary regime has been established.

However,

completely digesting all the territories and populations of the original Three Great Dukedoms still presents many difficulties.

Initially, when Dragon's Nest army swept north against old noble forces of the duchies, it was impossible to go through each village area, wiping out all distributed noble lord castles and liberating all the oppressed peasants and farmers.

This is an utterly unattainable task,

using Dragon's Nest army to extinguish the small nobles and small lords scattered within the territories is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, wasting a significant amount of military manpower resources and severely slowing the Dragon's Nest army's pace.

In the process of blitz warfare, this is practically unallowable.

Dragon's Nest army's sweep mainly targets those major noble families gathered in key cities or large lord forces on strategic passages; other areas are only cleaned up incidentally.

From beginning to end, Dragon's Nest army targets those old-style armies or warlord nobles in organized configurations.

Not those small nobles and small lords scattered throughout the countryside.

Primarily, after the key leaders are purged, these numerous small noble knights and such rulers of the old world in the rural areas pose little threat.

In other words,

during the Dragon's Nest army's northern campaign, extinguishing the organized forces of the Frandi Duchy and besieging the Royal City, a multitude of small nobles and lords still remain on the vast territorial land.

Currently, the Three Great Dukedoms, including Frandy, have been vanquished,

so to truly control all territories and the populace within these areas, these widely dispersed grassroots small nobles and lords naturally need to be systematically cleared.

This is a war that is no easier than the destruction of the Three Great Dukedoms.

When facing organized major noble warlord and large lord forces, since their primary power is concentrated, Dragon's Nest army can easily crush them.

But confronting the broadly dispersed grassroots small nobles and lords, military operations are not that easy.

Faced with this vast grassroots of old-style nobles, it feels somewhat immersed in an "ocean of people's warfare."

This is no surprise,

after all, for the broad base-layer peasants and commoners, the atop small nobles and lords are their true rulers, like mountain kings ruling for many years, having certain command capabilities over their subjects and possessing their own governance methods.

By means such as distortion and vilification, rallying the populace within the territories to resist Blue Dragon Kingdom's rule is not impossible.

Despite the fall of the original Three Great Dukedoms, the occupied areas are still in rampant conflict.

Previously,

the Blue Dragon Kingdom militias and grassroots government personnel maintained the stability of major cities and surrounding villages, leveraging wartime systems to significantly boost morale.

But given that the territory of the Three Great Dukedoms is a vast region both in number and land, maintaining stability during war primarily relies on proximity to cities.

As for those extensive, more remote, farming regions, they are still under the rule of old-style small nobles and lords.

Conflict is widespread,

In such circumstances, the complete digestion of these extensive lands by the Blue Dragon Kingdom still requires a considerable effort. Essentially, in the foreseeable future, the major actions of the Blue Dragon Kingdom focus on reforming and digesting the newly annexed governance areas.

However,

The primary focus of the Blue Dragon Kingdom is constrained, but it does not mean other actions cannot be carried out.

Currently, Austin's Clan forces have formed a mature regime. While there are professionals handling occupation area digestion, further actions are not put aside.

For instance, engaging in covert public opinion warfare with the other Southern Five Duchies.

Through the operation of dispatched agents and spies, employing local inconspicuous, somewhat down-and-out Minstrels, providing part of the manuscripts specially written by the Blue Dragon Kingdom's cultural warfare department, leveraging the background of Dragon's Nest army's Blitz to crush the Three Great Dukedoms stirring tremendous reaction within neighboring duchies, embedding these propaganda department-edited soft articles to continue publicity within enemy territories.

Military operations may have ended, but the war on the hidden front is ongoing and fervent.

Just like Dragon's Nest army undertook many preparatory undertakings in secret for public opinion guidance, espionage, intelligence gathering before mobilizing from Border Great Wall.

Only this time, the target shifted from the original Three Countries of Frandy to all surrounding countries.

Amidst such turbulence,

The rulers of surrounding countries likely may not pay much attention to their people's inclinations.

...

ps:

The fifth update is complete, continuing daily at ten thousand tomorrow.