On his return to Denmark the king proceeded with as much zeal as before in the reforms he had meditated. Rigour was required, and he employed it; but it converted into enemies all whose evil deeds he chastised. This was the most formidable of the obstacles which impeded his career of improvement. A whole generation of anarchy had rendered the nobles impatient of all restraint; they sighed for their former impunity; and they hated a ruler who in the administration of the laws made no distinction between them and the meanest artisan. To humble this tyrant as they considered him, they renewed their alliance with the counts of Holstein; but it led to nothing at this time: these nobles had yet no need to renew the war with the king. Four years afterwards, however (in 1357), they joined the Jutland nobility, and the king, who marched to repel them, was defeated. But the check was of short duration; for in a few weeks he was the victor in his turn—Adolf, one of the counts, being left dead on the field. This was a useful victory: it enabled Valdemar to seize the other half of Fionia without payment of the mortgage. The following year he subdued Langeland, Alfen, Femeren. The second of them, which belonged to the duke of Sleswic he subsequently restored, security being given that the inhabitants would remain neutral in the contest between him and the house of Holstein. With that house, however, peace was soon made; but these alternations of war and peace are perpetual at this period. [Sidenote: 1357 to 1360.]