After the meeting concluded, Vig assigned a new task to the Crown Prince: inspect the six newly established royal counties in Britannia.
Having been cooped up in Londinium for two and a half years, the Crown Prince eagerly accepted.
After spending some time at home playing with his newborn son, he packed his belongings and set off northward with an escort of Imperial Guards.
Before long, he returned to Luton, a town he had not visited in quite some time.
Its overall layout had changed little. A faint aroma of alcohol lingered in the air, as though a large celebration had recently taken place.
"What happened here?" the Crown Prince asked after entering the administrative office and finding the town reeve working through account books.
"Your Highness?" The reeve looked up in surprise. "Nothing major. Veterans of the expeditionary army have been returning home one after another. Some of them have been spending their fortunes freely, inviting relatives and neighbors to feast and drink. It's been going on for quite a while."
During their conversation, the Crown Prince learned how the town had fared during the war.
Luton and its dependent villages had a total population of nine thousand.
Altogether, three hundred and ten men had been mobilized, all assigned to field units.
After numerous campaigns:
Sixty had died in battle or from disease.
Twenty had been permanently disabled.
Fifteen lucky men had been elevated to knighthood, rising into the noble class.
Once the celebrations ended, these newly created knights began recruiting young men from their home villages to accompany them to the continent.
They promised land and tax exemptions.
According to recommendations from the War Ministry, every knight was expected to recruit at least five able-bodied young men.
These followers would help maintain order on their new estates and prevent Frankish peasants from rebelling.
"The knights have been leaving one after another," the reeve lamented. "Including their families, around two hundred eighty people have moved away. Add the dead and the sick, and Luton has lost three hundred forty residents, most of them prime laborers. The next few years' performance assessments probably won't look very good."
While the reeve continued grumbling, the Crown Prince examined the reports and records spread across the desk.
Luton's situation was fairly average.
Its recruits had been assigned to the Third Field Division, which had avoided the hardest fighting.
Its casualty rate and rate of noble promotions both fell near the middle of the overall range.
The heaviest losses, by contrast, had been suffered by the First Field Division.
During the Battle of Rick Plain, one infantry battalion had been caught by a cavalry charge and suffered casualties exceeding ninety percent.
That battalion had been recruited entirely from a town in Nottinghamshire, leaving local morale devastated.
On the other hand, the First Field Division's promotion rate was unmatched.
Its veterans had produced:
Three counts
Forty-three barons
More than five hundred knightsAfter lunch, the Crown Prince wandered through the town.
The post office was quiet.
The temple operated normally.
The hospital was overflowing with work.
At the edge of town, a newly built primary school had appeared.
The school employed only two full-time teachers, leaving them overwhelmed with responsibilities.
Temple shamans occasionally came to help.
This was common throughout the empire.
The Emperor himself was a diligent man and had little tolerance for idleness.
As a result, shamans often held multiple positions.
In addition to their temple duties, they frequently assisted hospitals and schools and occasionally attended circuit courts as observers during legal proceedings.
According to cabinet plans, town schools were currently being expanded only in Londinium County and Tyne County.
After the war debts were paid off, Paris County would be next.
Londinium, Tyne, and Paris held special status and therefore received the highest priority.
For the empire's other thirty-plus royal counties, the goal was to establish one public academy in each county, combining primary and secondary education.
The cabinet also intended to build academies in every county governed by a count within Britannia, creating a sufficiently literate population.
After completing his inspection of the town, the Crown Prince rode out into the countryside.
Because of labor shortages, winter wheat was growing poorly.
Some fields had not been cultivated at all and were instead being used as pasture for sheep.
As the party passed a stream, an old fisherman caught his attention.
"Lawrence?"
"Your Highness, you still remember me?" The old man rose with the aid of a cane.
His left leg was crippled, and a scar ran across his face.
Before the prince could ask, Lawrence explained:
"Last winter, during operations in Bavaria, our unit was ambushed. I wasn't careful enough and ended up taking five arrows. After spending some time in a field hospital, I was fortunate enough to survive."
Lawrence had never performed any especially heroic deeds.
However, he had followed Vig for twenty-five years.
Thanks to that seniority, he had been elevated to the rank of baron and granted a large estate in the Champagne region.
Unfortunately, his health had deteriorated badly.
He no longer wished to travel.
Instead, he had sent his eldest son to govern the estate while he remained in Luton to enjoy retirement.
As evening approached, the baron invited the Crown Prince to dine with his family.
Throughout most of the meal, the prince remained quiet, listening carefully to Lawrence's stories and experiences.
Previously, he had viewed the war from a strategic perspective, seeing only reports, summaries, and statistics.
Now, hearing the perspective of a grassroots officer, he gained a much deeper appreciation for the hardship and brutality of war.
"So much manpower. So many horses."
The Crown Prince sighed.
"The Franks truly deserved their reputation as the hegemon of Europe. Fortunately, Father commanded well. If the war had dragged on indefinitely, sooner or later the Franks would have exhausted us."
After spending the night at the manor, the Crown Prince resumed his journey northward to inspect the newly acquired royal counties.
Traveling along broad, well-maintained roads, his party headed toward Liverpool.
While passing through Manchuni, he noticed more than two hundred commoners gathered on a grassy field beside a temple.
A temporary court appeared to be in session.
At the center of the field stood an oak table.
A judge and a temple shaman sat behind it.
Before them stood two farmers arguing over a vegetable plot measuring less than one-tenth of an acre.
The judge listened patiently, occasionally tapping his fingers against the tabletop.
He wore a fine wool coat, with clean linen cuffs protruding from the sleeves.
The spectators whispered among themselves.
The prince could hear yawns, mothers soothing children, and the distant cries of a cuckoo.
The key piece of evidence was a worm-eaten parchment covered in crooked lines.
The judge spread it across the table and held down the curling edges with a small stone.
The farmers craned their necks to look.
The crowd's murmuring steadily grew louder.
Before long, the judge delivered his verdict.
The temple shaman prepared three copies of the ruling.
One was posted on the temple's notice board.
One was archived at the count's residence.
The third was sent to Londinium for permanent storage.
"It seems Father's reforms are working."
The Crown Prince fell into thought.
Under the old dynasty, great nobles possessed complete judicial authority within their territories.
Ragnar and his queens had been too occupied with pleasure to concern themselves with such matters.
After the civil war, however, the Tynefort family became the new royal house.
Vig issued the Kingdom Code, declaring that ultimate sovereignty and supreme judicial authority belonged to the Crown.
Subsequent reforms steadily weakened the judicial powers of the great nobles.
By now, they could only adjudicate matters involving:
Land ownership disputes
Debts
Property conflicts
Inheritance issues
Theft
Minor assaults and similar petty crimes
According to information available to the Crown Prince, the nobles' judicial authority within Britannia would be reduced even further once the new Imperial Code was completed.
Cases involving:
Property disputes worth more than £5
Serious crimes such as murder or banditry
Land disputes involving more than thirty acres
would all be transferred to the Royal Circuit Courts.
As for the noble territories on the continent, the cabinet lacked the administrative capacity to interfere.
For a very long time, their judicial powers would remain largely untouched.
Even if chaos erupted somewhere in Frankish lands, it would not easily cross the English Channel and threaten Londinium itself.
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