When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 716 - 674: Slaves Are the Cornerstone of Black Snake Bay’s Economy

After listening to Havier's account, Horn looked at this kind old man with a bit of disbelief, a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, how are you also a slave owner?

But thinking carefully, these Black Snake Bay Secret Faction Wizards were never good people anyway, having low moral standards was normal.

However, the issue of slavery was indeed something Horn needed to consider seriously.

In the traditional narrative of the Empire, races like dwarves, beastmen, and the El people who could intermarry and reproduce with humans were often called the Faithful Races, the favorites of the Holy Father, the spirits of all things.

While vampires, ogres, centaurs, and snake-men who could not intermarry were called Heretical Races, or the aberrations that Havier spoke of, unworthy creations of the devil Miseria.

If the Thousand River Valley people were the faithful heretics, then the Black Snake Bay people were the faithful pagans, while the snake-men were the lowest of the low in the hierarchy, the heretical aberrant pagans.

Under such a cultural backdrop, many places in the Empire had alien slaves.

For example, in the northern part of Leia, there were centaur herding slaves, dwarven forging slaves commonly found in Norn, as well as snake-men serfs frequently seen in the Clove Corridor and Griffin Horn Frontier.

Of course, at the current moral and civilizational level of this world, everyone enslaving each other is quite normal.

There were human slaves in the Blood and Flesh Royal Court, centaurs also had human slaves, and even humans enslaved other humans, not considered strange.

However, after Holy Axis adopted the principle of freedom and equality, it inevitably proposed religious tolerance, thus adopting a universal empire coloring.

Whether or not to accept alien beings as citizens was also an important matter, and the narrative of Holy Axis on this topic was quite vague and tough, so it had to be set aside for now.

From the Thousand River Valley's own trend of freeing slaves, Horn thought he couldn't leave an excuse for the nobles, and in the end, he declined Havier's proposal: "Sorry, I can't agree."

Currently, in a wartime state, these snake-men prisoners of war simply consuming grain is wasteful, so they might as well repair the roads in the rear, and then be sent away when the war is over.

"Those snake-men who have eaten human flesh can be selected as slaves." Horn recalled the large pot at the center of the village, "You can take them, no charge."

Seeming to catch Horn's thoughts, Havier smiled kindly, slowly explaining: "Your Highness, I understand, you think I am cruel, but you know too little about Black Snake Bay, this is already the optimal solution.

Black Snake Bay is vast and sparsely populated, with a harsh environment and is blocked by the church, yet we need manpower to plant grain and sustain life.

Besides the local natives, if we don't rely on slaves, no one could work for us, as a system like that of a manor is too costly for us.

We've tried before, but no one is willing to live in this green prison, all farmers are always thinking of escaping, so we have to brand them and shackle them - but how is that any different from slavery?

You may think the Black Snake Bay people are hypocritical, extolling equality yet still insisting on holding slaves?"

At this, Havier chuckled helplessly: "Your Highness, people have to eat, and what's more, the church often comes to cleanse us, we also have to survive.

For human slaves like beastmen and forest barbarians, we would have obligations, but are these snake-men even considered humans?"

Horn frowned, looking at those submissive and "well-behaved" snake-men on the ground: "They have their own language, are they not intelligent beings capable of communication?"

"Your Highness, I am a magizoologist, no one understands more about the world's species than I do, looking like a human doesn't mean they are human.

Ape-like creatures look more like humans, but are they humans? Whales and dolphins also have their own languages and clans, but do they count as intelligent beings?"

Havier pointed with his cane at the snake-men on the ground: "These snake-men are no different from livestock, would you remember how many steaks you've eaten?"

At this moment, Horn's expression finally turned serious: "In the Empire, along the coast, are there not so many bankrupt and wandering farmers who would rather starve than come here to be self-sufficient farmers?"

"Ha, who would come? Not afraid of not going to the Celestial Kingdom? Not afraid of being tortured by the Secret Faction? Even if willing, who would pay for this travel cost?" Havier shook his head, "Your Highness, I see your efforts in unifying Black Snake Bay, and I support it, but slavery is the economic foundation of Black Snake Bay, it cannot be disturbed."

Looking at the back of this human supremacist Old Wizard leaving, Horn felt a moment of daze.

These Secret Faction members who flew the banner of equality widely utilized the most unequal system of slavery as their means of production.

It was clear, in the eyes of Havier and those Secret Faction members, humans were more equal than snake-men. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

According to the intelligence from both the Cheka and Horn himself, quite a few behaviors of the Black Snake Bay Secret Faction were quite anthropomorphic.

Slavery was widespread in Black Snake Bay, with many plantations of the Wizard Clan and alchemy workshops of the Secret Faction filled with numerous wild man slaves.

Unlike the Public Register Farmers, who were half-serfs, these slaves were true slaves that could be beaten, slaughtered, and sold at will.

Not only was there a problem of slavery, but many Secret Faction members were also involved in various criminal activities like human trafficking, terrorist attacks, operating gambling houses, and raising magical creatures.

From the investigations of the Cheka and Saint Father Order Monks, some Secret Faction members were forced into it, while others were even proud of it.

This sharply contrasted the stable production environment needed by the Holy Axis.

Looking at those Divine Punishment Army soldiers prying open the snake-men's mouths to inspect their teeth, Horn's eyes involuntarily squinted.

If the Thousand River Valley people lacked "self-awareness" and a "spirit of resistance," then the Black Snake Bay people were too much abundant in "self-awareness" and "spirit of resistance."

This mentality even gave birth to a kind of proto-anarchist thought, which is why Horn had no choice but to compromise and establish a federal government.

Before solving the previous problem, the slavery problem of Black Snake Bay itself emerged again.

As Havier said, slavery was indeed the economic cornerstone of Black Snake Bay, something Horn couldn't move for the time being.

But at least, he must eradicate those customs and Secret Faction members affecting the production and economic environment within the Black Snake Bay Federation.

Before that, Horn's most important task was still to completely expel the Church Army in the Southern County to prevent the valuable sweet branches and spice producing areas from falling into the hands of the Clove Corridor nobles.

After pondering for a moment, Horn waved to call Mormon over: "How's the experimental test of the concentrated artillery tactic this time?"

"From the current situation, the result is excellent." Mormon seemed to look at his children as he gazed at the glossy eagle falcon guns under the sunlight, "If it's a wooden fort of a small stronghold, I believe three rounds of bombardment are enough to penetrate the walls.

It's not that the walls are too thick, but the concentration of the artillery hit area is not enough, if unlucky, four, five, maybe even seven or eight rounds might be needed.

After the bombardment, suppress the enemy archers through Holy Gunmen and Eagle Falcon Guns, our infantry can quickly approach the fort and break through the wall, this battle took only 3 hours, with merely seven or eight of our people slightly injured."

"Good." Horn nodded with satisfaction, "After returning, compile these data and field reports, and submit them to the Secretariat."

This tactic of concentrating all 24 eagle falcon guns of the battle group to bombard when attacking small settlements was one of the new tactics Horn intended to experiment with.

Otherwise, causing some casualties every time attacking such a small stronghold was simply unnecessary.

In this Black Snake Bay campaign, Horn adopted a new system of tactics, which essentially was the integration of artillery and infantry.

This was an extension of the combined arms warfare of the Thousand River Valley, also a rehearsal for the future invasion of Leia Kingdom.

Originally, it was supposed to be accompanied by cavalry units, but the terrain of Black Snake Bay was truly unsuitable for large-scale cavalry deployments, so it was temporarily abandoned.

After capturing this village community outside the city, merely dispatching infantry to clean up the nearby small strongholds almost secured the northern and eastern sides of Avis Temple.

However, before that, the mechanics of the hydraulic winding machines must be confirmed, or else even with four sand carving guns delivered from the rear, continuous bombardment wouldn't be possible.

"Leonardo, how's the irrigation vehicle situation?" asked Horn while looking at Leonardo who was jogging over.

The mechanical engineer, whose hairline is like the horizon, was panting heavily: "I've checked it, the damage degree is quite severe, time is tight, but your advance to capture the village just compensates for this part, we should be able to complete the modification before dinner."

"Good." Horn gazed towards the direction of Avis Temple beyond his sight, "Tomorrow we'll officially begin the siege."