Arrod's attempt to bind the nobles with money, relying solely on so-called rituals and personal honors to maintain loyalty is not reliable, and even the feudal system is no longer in Arod's consideration of giving land to the nobility in exchange for loyalty, and the land will always be granted one day, when the nobles who are considered to be the basis of the monarch's rule will become a threat, and of course, in addition to the way of maintaining the rule by blood, dividing their relatives and heirs throughout the land to defend against foreign enemies, After all, the representative one is the Zhou of the Celestial Empire, and these have all produced huge drawbacks in the end, and chaos and strife will not be soft because the other party is their blood relatives and friends.

"The only way to strengthen and expand my power is through a centralized bureaucracy." In fact, the wars and wars in Europa in later generations were instigated by a group of ambitious nobles, and the kings and monarchs were elevated by the aristocratic group, and the nobles who used a large amount of land and property as their backing could even manipulate the king's inheritance, which could only be compared with the churches that also had a large amount of land and influence.

"What did you say, Lord Earl?" Brother Elvet raised his head and asked, at this time he was handing over to Arold a table of the number of nobles, commoners and peasants in the entire county of Mecklenburg, this kind of statistics in the form of tables was also taught to him by Arold from memory, of course, even if it is only the number of counties, it is an extremely complicated and complicated matter, so now it is only a part of the statistics.

"Nope. Nothing, the matter of counting the population and the land and supplies of Mecklenburg must be hurried, and I will transfer three members of the standing squire regiment to your use. Arold picked up a piece of parchment, on which were densely written the number jù, Arold felt that he should set up a statistical agency when the time was ripe, a ruler should know how much money he had, tabular statistics were originally a scientific product of Europa's modern times, and the famous strategist Bonaparte was a good hand at using this scientific tool, which could make him know his losses in the war at a glance, and then make strategic decisions based on this.

"It's great." Brother Elvet's face changed slightly. However, he gladly accepted Arrod's staffing. According to the custom of other courts, the court minister could have hired his own servants who would help him with his complicated affairs, but Arold forbade Brother Elvet to do so, fearing that his internal court intelligence could be used by hired spies. Now it is equipped with a regiment of attendants directly under Arrod's own body. This inevitably worries Brother Elvet a little, and Arold no longer trusts him. Arold was surprised to see Brother Elvet's expression change, but since Brother Elvet agreed with him, he didn't delve further.

"Brother Elvet, my courtier, after the autumn harvest I will begin training the cavalry troops. Therefore, it requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and not a single drop of Mecklenburg's strength can be wasted, and only you can help me in this matter. Arold said to Brother Elvet that the so-called palace minister was actually the earl's butler, who was in charge of Arold's family property, and that the training of cavalry troops must have a pasture for raising horses, a blacksmith shop equipped with iron, and a variety of forage oats for feeding horses, and that the soldiers also needed food, clothing, shelter and transportation, all of which needed to be properly arranged.

"I can do all this, but I don't have any experienced horse breeders, and the Slavs of Mecklenburg raise horses like donkeys." Brother Elvet was not as optimistic as Arrod, and when Arold told him that he had promised Prince Otto to train a good cavalry force, Brother Elvet almost dislocated his mouth.

"My Lordship, I may ask, how many cavalry is Prince Otto ready for you to train?" Brother Elvet couldn't help but ask when he heard this.

"His Royal Highness Prince Otto didn't say it, but I think we should have at least a cavalry force of a hundred men." Arold replied to him.

"This shouldn't be a problem, we already have a cavalry unit, Ted, their javelin cavalry, and the knights of the Brothers of St. Jom should be enough." Brother Elvet was relieved a little, and serving the royal family was usually a thankless task.

"No, this is a heavy cavalry unit, and it must be equipped with shields, sharp carbines, fine chain mail, and swords." Arold told Brother Elvet that this was entirely a heavy cavalry equipment, but that it was usually only available to nobles, and that Arold's idea was to support a hundred-strong heavy cavalry force on his own, which would cost a huge amount of money.

"Heavy cavalry, oh God, my Lord Earl, you will become a poor nobleman." Brother Elvet's shoulders trembled, he felt that Arold was a complete loser, and that the wealth that Mecklenburg had accumulated with great difficulty would be ruined, so he tried to stop Arold from making the decision of a loser.

"You don't have to worry about experienced horse breeders, well, I guess the Borg family will send someone here today." Of course, Arold would not forget the family that was good at horse herding, so he sent someone to discuss with them about raising horses, and promised to set aside a good pasture for them, and let them send people who were good at raising horses to help the Mecklenburgers breed excellent war horses, but breeding war horses is not something that can be completed in a short time, and Arold also needs to buy thirty war horses from the Borg family, which are prepared for training cavalry.

The atmosphere in Mason has been a little unusual recently, Duke Abel seems to be calm after returning to Mason Castle, defeating the Viking invasion of Northern Europe, gaining the favor of the royal family and making his prestige soar, even the envoy of the Duchy of Bavaria came to visit, I don't know what happened in the castle, Duke Abel suddenly became enthusiastic about the envoy of the Duchy of Bavaria, people can often see the young Duke Abel riding a horse and the Bavarian envoy side by side out of the castle, Take the hounds and servants with them to hunt in the forest.

"This is the fourth time in a week." At the tower window of Mason Castle, Baron Wendell, who wore the gold ornament of the palace minister on his chest, said with a frown.

"Father, don't worry, it's just hunting." Sir Eve, the brother of Baron Wendell's son Arold, said disapprovingly, hunting was originally a sport of the nobles, and hunting with Bavarian envoys was also an activity to enhance friendship, after all, Bavaria was a major duchy that constituted the entire East Francian Kingdom, and the Duke of Bavaria was much older than the Duke of Ebel, and his influence was something that even the royal family could not ignore.

"There's nothing about hunting, it's just that we haven't figured out the Bavarians' intentions so far, and that's what worries me the most." Baron Wendell became Mason's palace minister, and Baron Wendell's greatest achievement was to drain the water of a swamp wetland in Mason's territory, so that the originally unusable swamp wetland became arable land, and Mason's economy gradually became prosperous.

"I think we should worry a little more about Count Lauzitz, who has written to us to send a secret search for a knight who was a former Count of Plaun." Yves said to his father.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Baron Wendell, who had been following Mason's internal affairs, did not know what was happening in Schleisug, and Duke Abel rarely mentioned it after returning to the realm, so he only knew that another victory had been won.

"Arold suspects that the knight killed Colonel Johnberg, and that Count Lausitz had nothing to do with it." Yves said to his father, and footsteps sounded in the cloister of the castle, and the father and son immediately stopped talking and looked out the window, the news spread very quickly in the court, and how many rumors would fly out of the whispers between the nobles and the servants.

"Well, Count Lauzitz has been very quiet lately, and I will send someone to keep an eye on him, and I just hope that nothing bad will happen again." Baron Wendell was not accustomed to dealing with these court intrigues, but he had to do his best for the glory of the family, and when he looked out the window at the sky, the thick clouds began to weigh low, making people feel depressed.

"Lord Duke, it looks like it's about to rain." In the dense forest outside Mason Castle, the Duke of Abel was still hunting with his servants and hounds, and they were lucky enough to catch a hare, and the servants immediately tied the hare, and the Saxon messenger looked up at the sky and said to Duke Abel.

"Don't worry, I'll have the servants pitch their tents in the forest." Duke Abel said to the Duke of Saxony's emissary.

"Then I can rest assured, the Duke is so heroic and extraordinary, every time he hunts, he does not return empty-handed, it is really remarkable, and he is worthy of being a nobleman on whom His Majesty the King depends." The envoy of the Duke of Saxony laughed and said that the envoy of the Duke of Saxony was a baron, but it was said that he was also a nobleman in the central position in the duke's court.

"Thank you for your kind words, Lord Baron." Duke Abel smiled slightly, he held the bow and played the strings to make a sound like music, and the face of the handsome duke was very elegant.

"During my time in the Duchy of Mason, I have seen the aristocratic temperament of the Duke, rest assured, as soon as I return to the Duchy of Saxony, I will propose to my sovereign that one of his daughters will be married to you, the Duke, so that the two great duchies will become married." The envoy of the Duke of Saxony touched the beard on his lips and assured the Duke of Abel that the envoy had come to propose marriage to the Duke of Abel. (To be continued......)

PS: I wish you all a happy new year and a prosperous Year of the Goat