Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 556 The Fate of the North

Hughes emerged from the office, looking somewhat weary. He nodded to the banshee guarding the door and walked outside.

He was exhausted that day, constantly switching between different bodies, sometimes awake and sometimes unconscious, communicating with banshees or Gwen through various links, and even managing to steal a moment to meet with a group of buried members of the Silent Sanctuary.
Unfortunately, he was still faced with all sorts of miscellaneous tasks. Alexei came to him with a whole stack of documents, asking for his opinion.

"The White Disaster has stopped moving. What should we do?"

"Keep the fortress garrisoned, and send a train to keep an eye on the White Disaster nearby and report back as needed."

"What about Grand Duke Alvarez? They surrendered outright, didn't cause any trouble, and even helped us a little."

Hughes rubbed his temples: "First, seize his property, leaving only the portion for his daily use. Then, write a report on his specific circumstances and submit it to the court so Chloe can work overtime to study it."

"Some of the scouts who went out to investigate have returned. The white scourge has swept through some villages and towns. Since the white scourge mainly moves along the railway line, its flank advance is not fast, so there have been basically no casualties. However, many houses have been destroyed, creating a large number of new refugees."

"Ask these refugees' wishes. Those who are willing to leave will be sent to Blood Harbor; those who are unwilling will be resettled in nearby towns. Set up some resettlement points first, at least to prevent people from freezing to death." Hughes paused after speaking, then added:

"Let the resistance forces assist with this part; they are familiar with the situation in the North."

Alexei flipped through the documents in his hand and pulled out a few more.

"besides?"

"Not many left, not many left. By the way, what about the Dragon Fang Duke? He led a lot of his men to attack the resistance army, but he also left behind a lot of noble lords."

"Land repossession, people sent to court." Hughes sneered.

"Bazaar's territory."

"Land reclamation, people sent to stars. I mean, as for people, we'll deal with them once we find them, there's no rush. By the way, we'll handle Octavia's territory in the same way. Now that we're here, the North shouldn't have any more nobles."

"Besides the nobles, there are also bandits and various gangs. Deal with them all as well. The Northern Territory is in dire need of reconstruction, and there are plenty of jobs available. Those who are willing to work honestly can be spared this time. Perhaps they were forced into it by circumstances before, but they are unrepentant."

Hughes pointed to the bolt-action rifles carried by the friars not far away.

"If they don't understand reasoning, then try physics."

"Won't this destabilize the situation?"

"There is only one thing that can destabilize the situation in the North, and that is our expeditionary force. Our position was earned with guns and cannons, so how could it be unstable? If they have any complaints, let them talk to Gatling."

"Yes, my lord. As for the Burialers of the Silent Sanctuary, the Banshee's medical team suggests that they be transferred later. What do you think?"

Are their injuries serious?

"It's not serious for a superhuman, but the fact that he can't wake up suggests some kind of soul injury."

"This..." Hughes hesitated, a rare occurrence for him. Seeing Alexei's puzzled expression, he offered an explanation:
“The medical conditions in Castel are indeed much better. With Richard there, healing their soul wounds shouldn’t be a problem.” “But I’m worried that after they wake up, they might go back to Castel after a short while!” Hughes said with great distress.

Alexei's expression also turned strange upon hearing this.

Castells syndrome has indeed shown a serious tendency recently; it is said that many of the resistance fighters who went to the island have been hospitalized.
Now, at the pier on the island, besides the customs, there are hospital wards, making it convenient for people who fall ill on the ship to be hospitalized directly for treatment.

"Alright, let's send them over first. Leaving them near the white mist might be more dangerous. As long as we keep an eye on them and explain things to them properly, they should be able to accept it gradually, right?"

Hughes hesitated for a moment, but still signed the document.

Going insane in the future is a matter for the future. Besides, even if they do go insane, they're not beyond saving. It'll just mean a longer hospital stay. Moreover, they are priests from the Silent Church, one of the four major churches in the world. They've received professional training and should be able to handle it.

Alexei took the document, opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed what he wanted to say.

"Anything else?"

Alexei closed the document and set it aside. He looked solemnly at his lord:

"And then there's the question of how we deal with the North—a vast territory that accounts for nearly a third of the Empire, and now it's in our hands."

Hughes stopped in his tracks.

"Do you have any suggestions, Alexei?"

“If we follow tradition, you should enfeoff some vassals and select some confidants as lords in various regions to take over the northern border. You can also use this influence to ask the empire for a letter of investiture, and they will definitely give it to you. You only need to nominally submit to the empire to become a powerful duke who actually controls the entire northern border of the empire and half of the southeastern Tiss, and stand on equal footing with the empire.”

"What if it's not so 'traditional'?"

"You can also follow the path of the Empress, establish a civil service system, replace feudal nobles with professional bureaucrats, all bureaucrats are accountable to you, centralize power in Castel, and use war as a lubricant between different classes, use military merit to quell all dissenting voices, just like when the empire was at its most powerful, cultivate the land with scimitars and war, and become the next emperor on the Iron Throne."

"Oh, that sounds really good, my friend, but if you don't give me some serious advice soon, I'm going to kick your ass with my boots."

Hughes grinned. If he had been born the noble Hughes, he might have actually been tempted by those two suggestions.

But this body is just a shell; death cannot threaten him, power cannot tempt him, and difficulties cannot hinder him. He can even climb over the high walls built by this idealistic world time and time again with his will.

He is not afraid of failure; he can fail again and again, but he always has the confidence to walk his own path.

"Then there is still a path to Castel. We will build schools, factories, and produce ironclad warships and airships from the North. We will pile up munitions, fill the wasteland with production capacity, and turn the North into the next Castel. We will turn every place into Castel, so that the enemy will go crazy when they see us and can only stay in the hospital ward and wail. We will crush their pathetic and insignificant everything with technology that they can never understand and creations that they dare not even describe!"

"My lord, please make your decision. Your will is the fate of the four northern territories."

(End of this chapter)