To be honest, County Wicklow is a really good place to be, with a mild and humid climate. Even if there is a risk of rain during the autumn harvest of agriculture, it can be used to graze sheep, which is absolutely very suitable. Because the island of Ireland is warm in winter and cool in summer, the temperature rarely falls below freezing in winter, and there is no situation of freezing livestock to death in winter.

Moreover, it just so happened that Marin had now discovered the East Fri Raw Sheep, the milk bully in Mianyang. As long as this milk-producing sheep is promoted locally, the locals will not be short of food.

Not only that, the excellent local animal husbandry conditions can also raise cattle and horses on a large scale, providing cattle and war horses for the Beihai Kingdom. Adler may not be interested in raising cattle or something, but raising horses is definitely Adler's hobby.

Despite being a viscount, Adler still insists on brushing his own horses every day and cultivating feelings with war horses. Now, Adler's stables are home to more than a dozen top-notch horses. It seems that cultivating excellent war horses has become Adler's habit.

So, when Marin approached Adler to talk, Adler was very interested......

"What? Give me Wicklow County? No, no, no......" Adler hurriedly waved his hand. In his opinion, being able to mix a viscount and have so many fiefs can be regarded as a big advantage. After all, he also knew that the Hoffman family's territory was all won by Marin. Without Marin, he would have become an official knight of the country of Marqueb at most, how could he be as rich as he is now?

Marin smiled and explained:

"Adler, there's a reason I want to give you Wicklow County......"

Then he recounted the fact that the elder Hoffmann had named his son "Nafurg", and then explained:

"I'm not worried that you have other ideas, but I'm worried that others have ideas. If they had encouraged your son to reclaim the position of Earl of East Friesland, Muti might have turned against Caesar in the future. So, I'm giving you Wicklow County to keep everyone's mouths shut and to avoid future conflicts between Caesar and Mutty, do you understand? ”

"I won't let Muti have thoughts that he shouldn't have, don't worry, if he dares to think cranky, I won't have to do it myself, I'll beat him to death myself!" Adler patted his chest and reassured. Anyway, he said he wouldn't want Wicklow County.

Marin was very satisfied with Adler's attitude. Moreover, from the other party's eyes, he saw sincerity. However, this matter still has to be resolved. So, Marin said sincerely:

"Adler, I've never worried about you. But I'm afraid my enemies will make a fuss about it! ”

"What do you mean?" Adler was somewhat confused.

Marin told him that he feared that a hostile foreign power would instigate Muti and Caesar to fight for succession as France did with England. Then, he gave Adler, a scumbag, a science popularization of hundreds of years of grievances between Britain and France......

"So complicated?" Adler, whose muscles had grown into his brain, had a headache when he heard it. He never imagined that there would be so much trouble between the monarchs.

Marin nodded and said:

"So, I gave you Wicklow County just to prevent foreign hostile forces from doing things. If you don't accept it, they'll have an excuse to wreak havoc! And wouldn't it be nice for your son Muti to inherit County Wicklow and become the ruler of the region? ”

Adler waved his hand again and again:

"I don't care what is dominant or not. Moreover, I was quite scared when I heard you say that just now, the monarch's affairs are too complicated, I can't handle it, and I don't have so many eyes...... I'm a person who likes to fight. By the way, Marin, I have a son now, can you take me with you next time you fight? I charge with cavalry! Adler's eyes lit up.

Marin smiled, took out the map and showed it to Adler, and then said:

"Let me tell you, County Wicklow is a great place to graze, and the climate is mild all year round, which is perfect for keeping horses. You can build huge horse farms there and train war horses. And, once you're the master of County Wicklow, you'll have the right to build your own cavalry troops! ”

"What? Build cavalry units on your own? Don't need your consent? Adler immediately stood up in surprise.

Everything is good under Marin, he doesn't have to worry about food and clothing, and his status is noble. But there is one thing that is not good, that is, it does not give military power. Because he only had the power to garrison Oldenburg, Adler could only garrison the city of Oldenburg with a group of militia of the second-line troops.

However, Adler's true ideal was to become a cavalry commander!

Adler had coveted the lancers of Marin's First Legion for a long time, and repeatedly asked to be the commander of this cavalry team, but Marin refused. At that time, Marin's reason for refusing was that you don't have a son, so you can't send him to death...... After all, cavalry is a branch of the army with high casualties. If you are not careful, you will be either killed or injured like the scene of a car accident......

The infantry has been stabbed, but as long as it is not fatal, it can recover with treatment. And the cavalry, even if they win the battle, has the possibility of falling off their horses and becoming crippled. You may even be trampled to death by friendly horses.

However, the cavalry is handsome, and the status is high. Adler was never afraid of casualties, and his ideal was to become the leader of a cavalry army, commanding thousands of cavalry to charge into battle. As for the tens of thousands of cavalry, he didn't dare to think about it. After all, poverty limits his imagination...... Moreover, even Marin doesn't have 10,000 cavalry in his hands now......

County Wicklow is not a small but quite large population, estimated at more than 20,000 people, mostly indigenous to Ireland. It originally belonged to the Macmarrow dynasty, a native Irish power, but it had already been saved by Edward with the help of Marin, and used it as a springboard to go north to capture Dublin. Later, in return, County Wicklow was rewarded by Edward to Marin.

It's just that Marin has been busy with the war in Europe and England, and he really doesn't have time to manage Wicklowshire. Thus, in Wicklow County, Marin actually only stationed an infantry force of a thousand men in Wicklow City. However, these infantry can only control the city of Wicklow and the area around the city, and no matter how far away, they can't control it at all.

When Edward was stationed in Dublin, he was able to manage these areas, after all, he had an army of tens of thousands, including many cavalry. When Cutie Dewah returned to England, the management of this side was abandoned. The 1,000 infantry of Wicklow City were not cavalry, and they could not manage it far away.

Marin actually had plans to send cavalry to take over the entire area, but now he happened to encounter Adler. As a result, Marin simply decided to let Adler run the affairs of Wicklow County.

"Adler, I intend to appoint you as Earl of Wicklow in the Grand Duchy of the North Sea, to permanently take charge of the military and political power of Wicklow County, and to restore the Hoffman family's rule over Wicklow County by force. Of course, the county of Wicklow needs to help in my time of need, how about it? ”

Adler scratched his head and said:

"It's okay for me to control the military of Wicklow County, and it's even more okay to restore my family's rule over Wicklow County by force! However, I am really not good at governing a country......"

It's not that Adler is modest, it's that he's really not in administration. In the Earl of Oldenburg, it is usually Heider, the court minister, who is responsible for the administrative affairs of the Oldenburg Earl. Adler, on the other hand, stayed in the barracks all day with the militia that had been brought from East Friesian Lamber. Even Liv used to live, and he lived in a villa next to the barracks.

Marin saw that Adler had no ambitions, so he was relieved:

"It's okay, I can choose a palace minister for you to go over and help you deal with government affairs. However, the salary and fiefdom are borne by yourself. Also, you can recruit 50 knights yourself as your vassals. Then, you take them, gather more cavalry, and go and conquer the whole of Wicklow County......"

"Can I recruit 50 knightly vassals?" Adler directly grew his mouth. This was something he couldn't have imagined before. Don't look at Marin to promote him to a viscount, but that is a viscount who is subordinate to Marin, and he is not qualified to recruit vassals. Because, in the Grand Duchy of Beihai, only Marin has the qualifications to be canonized as a vassal. And having a vassal is also an important symbol of the prince's independence and autonomy.

Adler doesn't care about having autonomy or anything, but it's a lot of fun to think about having 50 knights under his command as vassals......

Being able to lead troops to fight made Adler very happy. Although the opponent is only a few Irish native forces, it is better than nesting in Oldenburg. Moreover, Marin allowed him to have a quota of 50 knightly vassals, which made him even more excited. Adler himself was a knight and had a strong sense of identity with knights. Thinking that I will have 50 knights as my junior brothers, don't be too happy and crooked......

Looking at Adler, whose face was excited, Marin reminded:

"Don't give too many knightly fiefs, according to English standards, 600 acres of territory for each knight is enough. Also, don't give all the good land, it's normal to mix a little mountain land into it. Otherwise, you won't have a place for yourself. ”

The reason why the princes of many old vassal states are poor is that there are too many nobles who have been divided into feudal feuds for generations. The land has been divided, and how much is left of you? Those who rely on the ground to eat will naturally be poor. The same is true of the Ming Dynasty, each generation of emperors gives birth to so many princes, they must be divided into princes, and the prince's sons must be divided into county kings, and there are Zhenguo generals or something...... Then, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the clan nobility became a heavy burden on the imperial court......

50 knights, each fiefdom of 600 acres, a total of 30,000 acres, equivalent to 121.4 square kilometers, is not much. According to the French method of dividing 1,500 acres per family, it would be 2.5 times larger, or 303.5 square kilometers. But Wicklow County is only 2,000 square kilometers, and nearly half of it is mountainous, so if you divide so much land, you won't have much left.

"What about the Baron? It seems that there are barons in all countries......" Adler asked.

"According to Charlemagne's early standards, the baron gave a maximum of 3,000 acres of fiefdom (which was doubled or even more in the later period), mixed with some mountain land! Moreover, the number should not be too large, it is better to control it to two or three. Moreover, it must be a reward for the accumulation of combat merits. In addition, leave a court baronial title without a fief and give it to the palace minister. ”

The court title is actually an honorific title, and there is no actual fief (favored ones may also be granted land). This title is generally reserved for important civil officials and favored ministers, after all, in this era of strict hierarchy, there is no title, and it is not loud to put P. If the palace minister doesn't give a baronial title or something, it is estimated that the people below will not be able to control it...... Therefore, the court title is a noble title for the monarch in order to elevate the status of important ministers, but he does not want to give the fiefdom. But in hierarchical Europe, it still works. In later Europe, this kind of fictitious title without fiefdom became the mainstream, and it was used exclusively to reward those meritorious commoners or low-ranking nobles. It can not only fool people, but also save money. After all, the scale of the army in later generations was too large, with hundreds of thousands of troops at every turn, and the number of middle and high-level officers was staggering. If they were all given fiefs, they would not be able to afford to sell the king......

Adler rubbed his dazed head and said listlessly:

"It's too complicated, you can arrange these for me, I just want to take the knight to charge!"

"No problem, wrap it up on me!"

……