The Lord Of Blood Hill

Chapter 611: Listening Wind Guard

Kleios is the mute ranger Henwell brought back from the Western Regions.After years of Henwell pouring resources into him, he has advanced to Grand Knight rank and become a Shadowless Guard.

Now he heads a secret guard force Henwell has formed. Code-named the Listening Wind Guard, it does more than protect Henwell's family.

When needed, it also carries out Henwell's highest-classified missions.

Assassination, investigation, surveillance, infiltration, secret arrests...

At first, Henwell believes that the Military Intelligence Office is enough. There is no need to create a privileged secret intelligence agency like an imperial secret police.

But as time passes, Henwell gradually realizes that he cannot put too much faith in systems.

Nor can he underestimate human greed.

Of course, Peace Haven's high officials are still loyal to Henwell.

But they are all human beings, and they all have interests of their own.

If no one keeps an eye on them, they can easily do things that affect Henwell's overall plans.

Granted, sometimes their intentions are good. They may even be doing dirty work for him and taking the blame on his behalf.

But for someone in power, behavior like Chick's act first and report afterward decision cannot be accepted.

If it is not brought under control, worse situations will appear in the future.

Henwell does not want to punish a trusted subordinate for the greater good after the damage is done, so he has to arrange things ahead of time.

Otherwise, no matter how much he regrets it later, he will not be able to undo the bitter result of his own mercy.

Right now, the Listening Wind Guard is still only a hidden execution agency under Henwell.

Only a few people have noticed traces that this organization might exist.

Henwell does not want to chill the hearts of the old subordinates who have followed him all this way. On the surface, at least, things still have to look proper.

Some officials have already begun to grow corrupt, but Henwell is not afraid of them being greedy.

He can accept mediocre but clean officials. They can be examples.

Talented and clean officials receive great rewards from Henwell, and he wants more people to learn from them.

Even talented corrupt officials are not killed lightly by Henwell.

What truly angers Henwell is the kind of trash that is both stupid and greedy, accomplishes nothing, and constantly ruins his affairs.

Most of these fools are dragged out by Henwell and killed as a warning.

But there are also some people who cannot be handled publicly, either because of old ties or because what they have done is too shameful. If their crimes are exposed, Peace Haven, and even Henwell himself, will lose face.

At times like that, the Listening Wind Guard steps in.

Kleios, the mute ranger, leads the Listening Wind Guard and uses all kinds of methods to make useless corrupt officials disappear quite naturally.

The heads of the Military Intelligence Office and the Constabulary both faintly sense that something is off with some cases.

But once they follow the traces and find that the clues connect to Blood Hill Manor, they immediately stop investigating.

After combining that with later findings about the evil deeds committed by those dead officials, they realize that Henwell ordered the action.

They also realize that Henwell has an even more hidden armed force in his hands, one dedicated to carrying out his orders to remove harmful elements.

In addition, Peace Haven now effectively has three factions.

The gladiator faction, the local faction, and the neutral faction.

These three factions compete with one another over certain powers.

For now, it can only be called competition. More than anything, it is a healthy contest against one another.

But Henwell knows that as time passes, the older generation will gradually climb to higher positions, while the younger generation below them will not have enough experience.

Competition can easily turn into conflict, and then into outright factional hostility.

The older generation can suppress the people below them, but all kinds of accidental, irritating incidents can also let the collective attitude below influence decisions above.

This is not a result Henwell wants to see, so he needs to know how far the two sides' fighting has gone.

More importantly, before certain signs harmful to unity can grow, he has to personally intervene.

Competition without rupture is an important premise of political struggle. Otherwise, Peace Haven's interests will be damaged.

Whether for his mission, his own foundation, or his family, Henwell will not allow that situation to appear.

When necessary, Henwell will also have to harden his heart and kill some former subordinates.

They have all fought their way to this point together. Henwell does not want to be like ancient emperors, killing meritorious officials after their great undertaking is complete.

When he read history books in his previous life, he always felt that emperors were vicious, heartless, and extremely stupid.

They killed so many meritorious and talented founding retainers, shaking the country along with them and damaging the nation's foundation.

But now that Henwell sits in this position himself, he understands the helplessness of those emperors.

Take Peace Haven, for example. Any legion commander, any head of any administrative department, would be a top talent if placed in another country.

While such talents follow him, they have no complaints.

But after his son inherits the royal authority, can that son really make these brilliant, accomplished retainers submit?

Even if they submit to his son, will the sons of these past companions be willing to submit?

Will they think that their own fathers made it possible for his son to sit on the throne?

In addition, a country needs fresh blood. New talents have to keep rising up.

The sons of these meritorious officials will have more resources, more connections, and more opportunities.

Gradually, they will form a vast and stable class that monopolizes the country's path of advancement.

In the East, this would be called hereditary aristocratic clans.

In the West, this is called nobility.

Henwell does not want a Brahmin caste to appear inside his own faction, and he certainly does not want people to feel that fighting their way into Peace Haven is easier than earning their way into Peace Haven.

Blocking the path upward is a huge hidden danger for any kind of regime.

So Henwell must avoid this situation, but as time passes, this situation is bound to appear.

There are only two ways to solve this problem.

First, as the first leader, Henwell's will is something no one dares defy.

After all, he himself is Peace Haven's pillar and core. He is the meaning behind Peace Haven's existence.

He has to thank this strange world for its extraordinary power. Henwell can live for a long time.

Only his sons may have a rough time in the future. If nothing unexpected happens, they may have to remain crown princes for one or two hundred years.

The second way to solve the problem of development space between old and new classes is expansion.

More land, more population, and more resources.

Only then can more things be allocated to more talents.

And the more wonderful part is that this is Henwell's mission.

Henwell has to unify the six countries.

In fact, Henwell truly has a world map.

So as long as Henwell remains in power, expansion will not stop.

Until productivity is enough to satisfy everyone's basic needs. By then, Henwell feels that his mission may also be complete.

Before that, Henwell must firmly control Peace Haven's situation.

If he starts small and Peace Haven does not go out of control, then his future empire will most likely not develop into anything too terrible.

After arranging oversight of the Military Intelligence Office, Henwell begins paying attention to the convoy's return.

The convoy has already set out, and the return journey is much faster.

First, there is not as much cargo. Second, the roads were already repaired on the way there, so the return route is familiar and naturally faster.

In addition, without Clifford's four legions and the ten thousand-plus people left in Saltwater Town, the convoy has lost more than half its burden.

The trip there took more than three months. The return trip should take a little over one month at most.