The recruitment of mercenaries under the auspices of Osborne's steward was in full swing, and William was accompanied by Count Rodrigo to tour the Duchy of Brittany, which William had inherited from his cousin, Duke Arlen III.

Although William used some radical measures to suppress the local nobility during the conquest of Brittany, Brittany broke out in a large-scale rebellion in the process of conquest, and the number of nobles involved was as high as hundreds, including five counts, more than a dozen barons, and many more knightly nobles.

This counterinsurgency war lasted almost two years, it began with the rebellion of the Duchy of Brittany, went through the war between William and King Henry I of France, and finally these nobles also attracted the allied forces of Ireland and Wales.

However, the two-year war took a heavy toll on the principality, with the exception of the counties of Rennes and Nantes, the capitals of William, many other territories, such as Domenia, Brorink, León and Koneff, were severely damaged by the war, countless civilians were displaced, and countless serfs fled their estates.

It was not William's army that inflicted the most serious damage on the Bretons, who insisted on strict military discipline and the prohibition of disorderly raids, so that even in the event of raids and plunder, the Bretons were able to secure basic life and subsistence under the control of William's noble officers.

But the rebellious nobles and the Welsh and Irish coalition troops they brought in did not have such good military discipline, and their army was still the old-style aristocratic levy army, without a unified belonging, even if there were nobles who wanted to restrain themselves, their noble knights did not dare.

Usually when they pass by a place, they will plunder the nearby towns, villages, and manors, take away the last sack of grain from the residents' homes, all the cattle and livestock in the prelude, and other acts of forcible and slaughter are everywhere, and no one will stop them, even the local rebellious nobles and knights are also one of the participants.

When William finally settled down, all he got was a mess of ruins and starvation.

As a last resort, William gave most of the estates of the four counties of Domonia, Brorink, Koneff, and Leon to Rodrigo, Hubert, Adolf, and Richard, retaining only the less damaged estates, the medium-sized towns, and the ports and bays around the coast.

However, among the fiefdoms, with the exception of Count Rodrigo, who had completely tilted his business to Brittany, the Counts of Hubert, Count Adolph, and Count Richard regarded their respective estates in Evre, Rouen, and Mortan as more important than here, since those areas were carefully managed by William, and their richness was not comparable to that of this war-torn region.

In order to restore production and order in Brittany, William devoted a lot of effort and energy, and ordered the lords here to vigorously rescue the victims, shelter the escaped serfs, and eliminate robbers and bandits.

At the same time, William also vigorously opened salt works, developed fishing, mining and logging, and vigorously cultivated land in order to absorb a large number of people and provide them with a place to live.

It took more than a year to govern the central and western regions of the Duchy of Brittany to heal the wounds of war, and the towns began to have some prosperity.

This time, Count Rodrigo accompanied William on a tour of the Duchy of Brittany, in order to test the results of William's painstaking management of Brittany for more than a year.

"Lord Rodrigo, this trip has been generally good, there are no displaced refugees in the whole Duchy of Brittany, everyone is doing their job, and many towns have returned to prosperity, it seems that I have chosen you to preside over Brittany for me, and I want to reward you well." William and Count Rodrigo rode side by side, looking at the farmers and stacks of haystacks around them, and their faces couldn't help but show a look of satisfaction, looking at Rodrigo and praising them.

"Your Highness William, this is not my own work, Count Hubert, Count Adolf, Count Richard, and other adults have put a great deal of effort into it.

The Duchy of Brittany was rebuilt thanks to everyone's efforts. "Count Rodrigo has no pride at all, and is still very humble.

"I've heard that you often talk about commanding a pure cavalry unit, right?" William asked coldly.

"It is true that my knights and cavalry in Normandy are scattered among the various armies, and so far there is no professional cavalry unit to undertake the task of cavalry duel.

Even the newly reformed knights can't take on this important task, they are still too short to be established, whether it is training, organization or equipment, the total number of knights who have joined the knights is less than 4,000 so far, most of them are still my Normandy knights, and the shortage is very large. Count Rodrigo did not shy away from speaking his mind.

"Indeed, except for you, no one else under my command has the ability to bring out a real 'Iron Cavalry', but we can't be in a hurry, the situation around Normandy has not stabilized yet, and when the situation calms down, I will send people to form a large-scale cavalry force for you, which is called 'Iron Cavalry'." William gladly agreed, promised.

With William's permission and promise, a smile bloomed on Count Rodrigo's face, he still liked to lead the cavalry as before, rather than doing the boring work of garrisoning the territory.

"Lord Rodrigo, our destination this time is the town of Guélande, a place rich in the best salt in all of Europe, can you tell me about it?" William appeased Count Rodrigo and began to inquire about the situation of the Brittany salt industry, which he was most concerned about.

The town of Guérande, located in the Countate of Nantes of the Duchy of Brittany in northwestern France, is close to the mouth of the Loire River, and is connected to the capital of the Countate of Nantes in the Loire, and is the northernmost sea salt field in Europe, with a history of salt production for more than 2,000 years.

Most of the refined salt produced in the Duchy of Brittany comes from the coastal regions near the south, and the region of Guélande is one of the most prominent, and the salt produced there is praised as the 'flower of Guélande salt'.

The 'Flower of Salt of Guélande' and the traditional Balsamic vinegar of Modena, the Perón oyster, the Chicken Bressy, the Iberian raw ham, the Roquefort Blue Mold cheese, the Alba white truffle and the Périgord black truffle are the eight most prestigious ingredients that are the legendary ingredients of the European continent, which have been refined for hundreds or even thousands of years in a very unique natural environment.