Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 129 Winter Dawn Territory

In less than half a day, the swift bird swept across the cold sky and landed steadily on Louis's shoulder with the reply.

He took down the letter, raising an eyebrow slightly, clearly not expecting such a swift response.

The reply was short, and the Duke of Edmund made no mention of McKinney's death, as if the life and death of a minor lord of such a rank were of no importance and not worth his time.

The letter's main point is in the last paragraph.

McKinney has no direct bloodline to inherit the estate, which will be temporarily managed by Louis, with further arrangements to be announced later.

After reading the letter, Louis smiled slightly; just as he had guessed.

In Edmund's eyes, McKinney was nothing more than an insignificant pawn; his death was nothing to worry about, and he couldn't be bothered to ask any further questions.

As a result, he naturally gained an extra piece of territory.

There probably won't be any follow-up arrangements. As long as he governs it, it will be considered his territory by default.

This outcome—being spared punishment and even benefiting from it—is exactly what he wanted.

A new problem then arose: what to do with the free people and slaves who were starving and on the verge of death?
Louis stood in the center of the dilapidated square, his cold gaze sweeping over the crowd huddled on the ground, barely alive.

The best approach is to wait for them to die out slowly and then introduce new residents; this is the most resource-efficient method.

Of course, this answer never came to his mind.

After all, he wasn't a fool like McKinney who treated people like livestock; he was the rising sun of the North.

Louis immediately raised his hand and ordered, "Distribute the food."

The knights obeyed the order and dragged out the pile of grain that McKinney had forcibly seized.

The bag was torn open, and coarse grains, smoked fish, and cured meat rolled all over the ground. Soon, a large pot was set up to boil water and cook porridge.

The porridge even had tiny bits of meat floating in it, and its aroma wafted through the cold wind, making the crowd's eyes glaze over.

At first, people just watched with trembling eyes, their eyes filled with fear and doubt. Although they were swallowing hard, no one dared to step forward.

"Is this...a trap? Impossible...how could such a good thing fall into our laps?"

"Are you trying to trick us into gathering here so you can kill us all?"

"No...don't go there...this isn't real..."

But when they actually saw the food being served bowl by bowl, the emaciated, disheveled men, women, and children all stared wide-eyed, uttering hoarse sounds as if they were seeing a hallucination:
"Is this a dream? Really... someone gave us food?!"

"Can I really eat this? I'm not kidding."

"Oh my god... there's meat in the porridge... it's meat! I haven't touched meat in three years..."

"Look! It's true! It's true! Someone's eating it!"

The knights distributing the rations announced loudly, "Listen up! This is a gift from your new lord, the great Lord Louis!"
From this day forward, you are under the jurisdiction of the Red Tide Territory, and Lord Louis is your true master!

At that moment, all the doubts and hesitations were shattered by that one sentence.

"He...he's the new lord? He gave us such good things?"

"Do people like us really deserve to live?"

"He is not human; he is a messenger of God, a savior sent by the Dragon Ancestor!"

When the steaming hot porridge was finally served, those who had been numb for so long finally broke down.

The cold wind was still howling, and the ice and snow were relentlessly pounding against the dilapidated eaves. The frigid air seemed capable of cutting through one's skin.

Those free men and slaves should have been huddled in a corner shivering, but at this moment no one cared about the cold.

They were wrapped in tattered sacks, moldy blankets, or even just a few scraps of cloth they had picked up, and they didn't even have shoes on their feet.

Barefoot on the icy mud, shivering, they still rushed out like madmen.

"There's food...there's food!"

"Really, it's true!"

Hunger conquered everything, and even the biting wind that made their bodies shiver could not stop them from getting closer.

A mother, trembling, held her child and drank the first sip. Tears mixed with the soup and flowed down her face. Her cheeks were red from the cold, and the tears froze into ice marks as soon as they fell.

Some children sipped the water slowly, as if savoring the most precious holy water in the world, but stopped halfway through and handed the rest to their younger brother lying next to them.

An old man knelt on the cold stone ground, trembling uncontrollably. He ate with trembling hands, muttering to himself, "May the Dragon Ancestor protect... Lord Louis... live a long and prosperous life..."

A little girl clutched her bowl, crying and laughing at the same time. Rice grains were stuck to the corners of her mouth, and her cheeks were red from the cold, but she couldn't bear to put the bowl down.

Their exhaled breath rose in waves, and the aroma of hot porridge mingled with their heavy breathing, filling the square and creating a heartwarming scene.

This was the first time they truly felt "human warmth" amidst death and cold.

The entire square seemed as if a crack had been torn open from a frozen hell.

The warmth, the tears, the trembling gratitude—all intertwined to create a scene that was almost sacred.

When Louis passed through the crowd again, the situation had completely spiraled out of control.

Those people were initially sobbing and trembling with gratitude, but when their eyes caught sight of that young figure, they seemed to be struck by lightning, frozen for a moment, and then their cries burst forth like a flood breaking through a dam.

"Lord Louis...!"

"My savior!"

One by one, people knelt down on the ground. At first, it was just a few scattered people, but in an instant, the entire sea of ​​people lay prostrate on the ground at the same time, their foreheads hitting the cold stone slabs heavily with a dull "thump, thump, thump".

"He saved us! He kept us alive!" "Great lord, please accept our loyalty... even if it costs us our lives!"

They disregarded their dignity, the mud and pebbles on their knees, and even when their wounds were reopened, they continued to kneel and worship again and again.

It's like a believer seeing a deity descended from heaven, wanting only to get closer, even if only a little.

"Thank you, thank you so much... Lord Louis..."

They were crying, shouting, and trembling; the scene was almost suffocating.

Standing next to Louis, Will was so moved by the scene that his eyes welled up with tears and his whole body trembled.

He straightened his chest, but his voice was incredibly firm: "This is the man I follow, Lord Louis!"

These people are so agitated because they have never been treated as "human beings".

During the years of McKinney family rule, they were merely tools, livestock, and living corpses whose lives were worse than death.

Even the most basic necessities of food and clothing are a luxury.

No one has ever said even a casual word of comfort.

They live only to make others' lives better, and no one will remember their names when they die.

These people have long since given up on seeking salvation; they have long since learned to close their eyes, grit their teeth, and live one day at a time.

Just when they thought everything would continue as usual, the young lord arrived.

He ordered the distribution of grain, the cooking of porridge, the dispatch of knights to maintain order, and even ordered people to carry the weak elderly and children out of the house one by one and bring them hot food.

The porridge actually contained meat and oil, and was steaming hot. It was pure, without any added water or ash, making it a truly life-saving food.

This is not a perfunctory act of charity; it is a kindness they could never have dreamed of.

They certainly knew that Louis didn't have to do that.

He was the new lord, and he had every reason to continue treating them as a "mess."

Let them die like McKinney did, and then clear out a "clean" patch of land.

But the great Lord Louis did not.

He chose to save them, even though they were as dirty as mud, as thin as withered branches, and had almost forgotten the thought of "living".

That's why they kneel and cry out like that.

It's not because of who Louis is, nor because they blindly worship anyone.

It's because they finally believe that someone cares about their lives.

They wept bitterly for their loved ones who had fallen yesterday, their bodies left unclaimed.

They kowtowed because they wanted this belated bowl of hot porridge.

They cried out so that even if tomorrow is bitter, they might finally see a glimmer of light.

At that moment, they finally remembered that they were originally "human beings," not just tools of labor.

Of course, it wasn't just about distributing food; Louis ordered a thorough census of the population to be conducted first.

Half a day later, the knight in charge of the matter brought a somber figure.

"Throughout the entire territory... there are only 132 people left who can still move."

Louis stood in the cold wind, gazing at the countless corpses on this lifeless land.

This number is something I can imagine. After all, winter has been here for a while now. Even if this place hasn't been harassed by the Snow Oath People, most of the people must have died under that incompetent ruler's rule.

“We can’t leave them here,” he said in a low voice.

Building from scratch?
It's no longer possible.

McKinney's territory was already in ruins, and now, in the dead of winter, rebuilding from scratch would only drag everyone down.

Louis quickly ordered: "Immigrants will be sent in batches to Deer Territory, Ice Ridge Territory, Snowfield Territory, and Fir Territory."

Those were four new camps established by Red Tide in recent years. Although order had just been established and resources were scarce, as long as he allocated more food, there shouldn't be any major problems.

As for the Red Tide Territory, he did not include these people in his plans.

That is the true core of the red tide. Once any unstable factors are mixed in, even just a little infectious disease, it could lead to irreversible consequences.

Thus began a massive winter migration.

Initially, some people worried about being ostracized.

But on their very first day of arrival, someone took their bags from their shoulders and offered them hot porridge and clean bedding.

The people of the Red Tide region have long been accustomed to mutual assistance.

Because they too had been rescued by Louis during their recent tragic lives.

Therefore, we need to have enough empathy to accept new residents.

This is faith in Louis, not blind worship, but sharing a light in the snow to help others.

Louis gave this wasteland a new name: Winter's Dawn Territory.

"It symbolizes the first ray of dawn at the end of winter," he said.

(End of this chapter)