Chapter 342: A Rather Unfavorable Demographic Situation

Although the White Flower Society had many members, once their leader Marcelo was captured, the rest were nothing but a rabble; they could neither form an organized resistance nor find a place to escape, so they could only hide in dilapidated houses and pray to muddle through.

Very quickly, this group, which offered almost no resistance, was rounded up and controlled by the knights.

With so many people, it was impossible for Luoning to take them all back to Jinyu City; for one, the ships couldn't hold them, and for another, there was no need.

Furthermore, these people would become his subjects in the future after remaining on Jiliu Island, serving him.

Therefore, he stood on a high slope and loudly proclaimed his purpose for coming to Jiliu Island, while also stating that this operation would only apprehend Marcelo and his accomplices; as long as the others obeyed orders and completed the tasks assigned by Wali Knight in a law-abiding manner, they would continue to live on this land without any danger.

After this round of announcements, the tense atmosphere was somewhat eased. Luoning took the opportunity to briefly inspect these people, and he discovered some rather unfavorable phenomena.

Among these people were many who were disabled, as well as some who were mentally impaired.

For instance, some had poor eyesight, some walked like cripples, some had the bodies of people in their tens despite being in their teens, and others were in their twenties but possessed the intelligence of a five or six-year-old.

According to what Wali said, many of them were born that way.

It was already quite remarkable that this group could survive, understand human speech, and do some work; many others died just days after being born.

This was the punishment sent down by the Seven Gods for the sins committed by their ancestors.

Regarding this, Luoning had his own conjectures.

The White Flower Society lacked a normal social order, and their reproduction was bound to be more chaotic than the outside world.

Even among nobles, close-kin marriage could produce congenitally deformed offspring, let alone in a social relationship as chaotic as the White Flower Society.

He feared that after taking over Jiliu Island, he would need to establish a set of standards for marriage; one could not just pull any woman or man together to form a pair, as it was necessary to avoid close-kin marriage as much as possible to prevent the birth of congenitally deformed children.

While the group was controlling the personnel, the search work was also proceeding simultaneously.

Soon, the pier that Luoning had discovered in advance was uncovered.

Looking at the scene before him, Wali was furious.

He was responsible for supervising the entire Jiliu Island, and it was one thing that the people on the island were becoming increasingly uncontrollable, but he had not expected the other party to have privately built a pier to communicate with the outside world.

Looking at the timber stockpiled around, he knew that Marcelo was smuggling with outsiders.

If the higher-ups were to hold someone accountable for this matter, he would inevitably be held responsible.

"These damn criminals!"

Wali cursed in a low voice; in front of Luoning and the members of the Royal Griffin Knights, he had no possibility of escaping this blame, nor did he have enough face to make these nobles conceal this information for him.

"Lord Count, what do you intend to do next?"

Luoning pondered for Along time and said, "This pier is clearly used by the White Flower Society for smuggling. Next, please preside over the interrogation of Marcelo and the others; try your best to figure out exactly who they are cooperating with to smuggle timber, how long this cooperation has lasted, how much timber has been shipped, and so on."

Wali's thoughts were pulled back by Luoning's words, and he hurriedly responded, "Rest assured, I will definitely interrogate them until I get results."

"Remember not to harm their lives."

Luoning instructed, "Whether to kill them or not is a matter for His Majesty the King; our task is to send them to Jinyu City alive."

To prevent the other party from acting rashly, he arranged for Tangmu and a knight under Mixi to assist from the side.

Fortunately, the mouths of this group were not as tight as imagined.

Especially Clifford, who had been defeated by Luoning; Wali only intimidated him for a simple afternoon, and the other party honestly confessed everything.

According to Clifford's description, he came from the largest pirate group in the Screaming Sea, the "Blood Sail," and he was the third leader of the group.

In order to help Marcelo resist Wali, and also to take the White Flower Society for himself to seek greater wealth, Clifford had resided on Jiliu Island.

He had originally thought that such a remote area would not attract the attention of big figures, at least not so quickly.

Clifford never expected that the people from above would arrive so quickly and so violently, without giving him even a bit of buffer time.

"Luoning, do you believe what Clifford confessed?" Mixi asked.

As the leader of the royal squad, Mixi to some extent represented His Majesty the King.

Upon returning to Jinyu City, she would also report what she had seen and heard along the way to Bruno.

Regarding her inquiry, Luoning pondered, nodded, but then shook his head.

"I acknowledge his background; the Blood Sail pirate group is indeed capable of doing such things. However, I remain skeptical about whether there are other forces involved behind this matter besides the Blood Sail pirate group."

During the search in the afternoon, Luoning found many well-crafted logging tools, such as machetes, axes, and so on.

This indicated that Clifford and the others wanted to do something big on Jiliu Island and already had stable sales channels.

It seemed unlikely that such a complete process, from logging to loading, transportation, and then sales, could exist without cooperation.

Who would the object of this cooperation be?

Luoning naturally thought of the nobles on both sides of the Screaming Sea, among whom the most prominent was the Fleming Family, where the Count of the Screaming Sea resided.

However, these were just his guesses, and there was no actual evidence to point it out; he would not say it to Mixi, as it would be troublesome if other nobles accused him of framing or slandering them.

Luoning was just a bit worried; now that he had cut off the financial path of the Blood Sail pirate group, he did not know if they would want to retaliate and invade this place after he took over Jiliu Island in the future.

An island isolated overseas was not as safe as the Wubei Territory.

If not handled well, a single heavy blow would cause him to suffer huge losses.

Before the Wubei Territory had sufficient maritime power, perhaps shelving disputes and seeking win-win cooperation would be an option?

Luoning's group rested for a night in the stronghold of the White Flower Society.

Early the next morning, Wali Knight left behind a few knights and a group of infantry to continue managing the place, while the rest returned to the Jiliu Island port with Luoning, escorting Marcelo and Clifford.

Now, the only restless force left on Jiliu Island was the Laen Society.

Since the White Flower Society had been easily dealt with, the weaker Laen Society would be even simpler.

On the third morning, Luoning led the team to set off again.

Information communication on Jiliu Island was clearly very poor; when the large group arrived outside the territory of the Laen Society, their leader, Laen Knight, was just startled awake from his sleep, and only then did he know that the leader of the White Flower Society had already been captured.

Under these circumstances, he raised his hands in surrender without putting up any resistance at all. The group basically controlled the place quickly without having experienced any slaughter.

Thus, the two rebel forces on Jiliu Island were suppressed without causing any waves; next, Luoning only needed to escort Marcelo and his group to Niujiao Bay, and this trip to farm merit would be considered a complete success.

In the quiet evening, Luoning stood by the room's window, looking down at the port of Niujiao Bay.

Knock, knock, knock~

The door was knocked, and Kalada walked in.

"My lord, we have brought the person you wanted to see."

"Bring him in."

Tangmu and Dawei, one on the left and one on the right, escorted a bald man in shackles into the study. (End of this chapter)