Power Restructure

Ki spent her remaining time meeting with better known merchants and families related to the Capital of the Northern Lands gaining more contacts and routes for trade while other events took place where she could not see.

At the heart of the Capital at Imperial Palace was where the Emperor was busy admonishing and handing out punishments to those connected with the traitors who participated in such a scheme.

Their fates were sealed once they or those of their family had chosen to betray their own people and caused further instability within the internal affairs of the Capital.

The final judgement was that all families related to the traitors would be stripped of all their wealth and belonging along with their family names.

No matter what kind of history their family had or what achievements their ancestors had gained in the past could not save them.

Anyone with strong warriors who had practiced some form of Qi Method, they would have their Dantain shattered like all the others in order to prevent them from having any hope of escaping their fate.

One further punishment was that they would be able to live on as prisoners who would become forced to fight in future wars no matter how good or bad their martial arts were.

The men were worse off since they would be fighting on the front lines of any future battles they would be sent to.

If they were lucky then it was possible for them to have some hope to regain a fraction of their past family honour and atone for their sins.

If they died then at least they would be able to provide other warriors of the Northern Lands behind them an opportunity to live through difficult battles they would have struggled in.

For most warriors of the Northern Lands, it was a mercy to be granted such a punishment since it granted them a way to die in battle honourably.

For those who had gone soft through living off of their families past achievements, it would be a way for them to have one final chance to prove if they were truly worthy of their families name.

Most lineages that had strong bloodlines and talent were highly sought after to strengthen the power of the many families so the women that were not sent to the battlefield along with the men, children and elderly would be taken in by other families.

With their lost status and lack of a family name, they were demoted to the lowest ranks and each family who took one in was responsible for them.

Their fate was to help produce strong heirs and their freedom was greatly restricted to the point that the family in charge of them had to make reports on their status and actions at all times.

Others would be assigned to make visits to those families to check the authenticity of the reports just in case anyone tried to ever let someone go free or tried to cover up their mistakes of failing to stop their escape.

It was not impossible for males to receive the same treatment but they could be considered as being a greater risk to have around.

If there was ever someone taken in by a family then they would need to be kept in chains most of the time and more ruthless methods would have to be used in order to weaken their chances of becoming violent.

Those of any men and women that could have potential to rebel and could harm their owners would most likely have their limbs or other body parts messed up enough to prevent such a situation from happening.

Females not selected for such a process were sent off to the battlefield along with the others so it was usually better for them to already be a more well known warrior or to come from a family of strong warriors.

Any wealth, jewels or anything else owned was confiscated and would primarily be taken up by the Northern Royal family.

Portions of it would be distributed towards loyal or contributing families allowing the Royal family to consolidate its power.

Other lesser families or those who would prove themselves in the future would be among those that could potentially be granted noble ranks or be promoted to a higher rank from the already confiscated ranks that were still left empty.

A major power shift was beginning to take place within the capital which had been attributed to the Crown Prince's active role in the events that took place.

The Frost family played a very big role in the following events that were and would take place so that the Crown Prince could rightfully make steps towards solidifying his position towards his eventual ascension to the throne.

Meanwhile somewhere in the palace, there was one of the more decorated rooms where a young man was dressed.

Upon hearing about everything that was taking place, he looked greatly angered and threw his metal goblet to the ground. "Get out!"

He resembled the Crown Prince in some ways but was younger and had more of a temper.

If Ki had a chance to see his display then she would be able to briefly remember her minor encounter with him.

She had briefly met him once upon entering the capital and caught a minor glimpse of him as he passed by in his carriage in a hurry.

His outburst caused those serving him and giving him the news to hurry out leaving him alone with his anger towards the major loss he had suffered.

Among the many families that had been supporting him, there was very few left among them after what had taken place.

Any hopes he had towards beating his brother had been crushed while he had been given orders from the Emperor to be on house arrest for the time being.

His royal lineage was the only thing keeping him safe from being punished along with many others.

His movements were already suspicious enough to warrant investigation into his involvement but the Royal family wished to not have their image destroyed by such a thing so he was not allowed out of the royal palace and other matters related to his involvement were not to be talked about.