"Great Lord, the establishment of our new crusader is basically ready."

Hudson stood behind the large desk, holding his helmet in one arm, shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly, "But we have not had time to make our new uniforms and armor, as well as new uniforms and flags, which mark our identity." It's an impossible task to do it all in just a few weeks. ”

"Oh, then wait, we have time." Lockhead didn't lift his head to meet Hudson, his pen in his hand quickly drawing on the parchment, "We can wait, Colonel Hudson." ”

"The time for the formation of the new army was set by the Grand Attorney, Lady Whitemayne, and the Great Sage, Lady Demitea, both of them. If you want to change it....."

Hudson looked at Locke hesitantly, the gray-bearded old general was obviously worried. Hearing Hudson say this, Locke subconsciously raised his head, he put down the sketchpen in his hand and rubbed his wrist.

"Already set a time? That's a real hurry. ”

Locke got up from his chair with thick red wool pads, and walked back and forth in the open space in front of his desk.

"Isn't it possible to change?" Locke looked up at Hudson with a wry smile and said, "This date is set by two ladies and the astrologer of the former court, and it will be difficult to change it." ”

"I would have liked to have given our soldiers an extra set of armaments...," Locke muttered to himself, walking back and forth in front of Hudson with his head bowed.

The old general resumed his silence as he watched as Locke waited for his next words.

"If it really doesn't work, we can put away the original armor of our soldiers and paint it red with red fuel. Of course, this is only a last resort. I'll have someone tell Shiloh and Berg to mobilize all the men they can to craft new banners and robes in the Silver Pines Forest, and all the other markers. If it still doesn't work...."

Locke stopped, and he hesitated.

After going back and forth a few times around the room, he looked up at Hudson and said, "Go to Quipel, the speaker of the Council of Nobles, and say that I will take over the management of all the towns in my domain, and let him leave all the managers in charge of the towns." ”

"When you're done managing all the towns, I'll have Berg come here and unite the people of all the towns in the realm and gather their strength to prepare everything we need."

Hudson hesitated for a moment, and finally he looked up and said, "I don't know if you have any kind of agreement with the Council of Nobles, High Lord, but ....."

"Nothing but, Colonel Hudson." Locke smiled and waved his hand to directly plan Hudson's concerns, he leaned back on his desk and looked at the old general in front of him and said, "They won't stop any of our actions on this land, because they need us." In the same way, I have other ways to get them to support us, and they don't have a choice! ”

"Alright then, High Lord." Hudson nodded, and he gave Locke a military salute and said, "Then I'll go and prepare." ”

"Wait! Colonel Hudson. ”

The old soldier stopped, and he turned to wait for another command from Locke. It's just that Locke kept looking at himself with a smile, which surprised him very much.

Just as Hudson wondered if there was something on his face, Locke turned his head slightly, and he took the top copy from the desk behind him, on a stack of parchment rolls, and handed it to Hudson.

"Open it up, General!"

Locke's sudden change of title made Hudson's heart beat suddenly. The hand he had stretched out to pick up the parchment roll shook unconsciously!

Tearing open the seal covering the Great Lord's exclusive seal, Hudson trembled his hands and slowly unfolded the parchment. After looking closely, the folds on Hudson's face quickly turned oily!

It was a letter of appointment appointing the first general of Drum Hudson's new crusade. Since the new crusaders had not yet been formed, many of the places on this mandate were empty. However, at the end of the letter of commission, Locke, the supreme commander of their crusaders, had already signed his name, and the following time was not filled in. Again, a new Crusader's seal is missing.

But what is certain is that if this mandate is not announced on the day the new crusaders are formed, it is estimated that it will be published in the following days!

Hudson fell silent, looked at it carefully, and slowly closed the parchment roll in his hand. While carefully rolling the parchment in his hand, he stared at the movements in his hand with his eyes, and it was not until the parchment was rolled up that he raised his head and looked at Locke in silence.

"If the royal family were still around, you would be an earl, right? Maybe they can guard one of our border provinces in Lordaeron. ”

Locke was still smiling at him, and although Hudson was silent, Locke might be able to understand his mood at the moment.

It is very difficult for a soldier to be promoted from a colonel to a general. I don't know how many officers will be stuck in the colonel for the rest of their lives. It takes countless big and small merits to make it, and it is necessary to defeat many competitors in order to stand out from them and become a general.

The benefits of being a general are undoubtedly enormous. In times of peace, he is first granted a title that corresponds to his status. Most of these titles are viscounts, and sometimes they will be an earl, but they will not exceed them. Of course, as military nobles, they can't have much territory, more often than just a manor. Because they are significantly different from the nobility of the noble council.

Military aristocracy, who prospered and died because of the military. Whenever the kingdom expanded, or there was an invasion by a foreign enemy, or there was an internal rebellion, there was always a large number of officers who were promoted in titles and ranks.

Just because of these royal rewards, all the armies of the kingdom will do their best for it! All the soldiers are eager to achieve great merit in battle, so as to be recognized by the kingdom and obtain a certain title, which has also become the only magic weapon for the royal family to consolidate their imperial power.

However, the difference between a military aristocracy and a hereditary aristocracy is still significant. First of all, they are not hereditary, and the royal family will not allow the army to be in the hands of a large noble family. This is the source of instability in the kingdom and will be feared by other nobles. The reason is simple, once a certain great nobleman who has mastered the army has bad intentions and wants to replace the royal family. Or if you are dissatisfied with a nobleman, send your own soldiers, and touch his territory, these are all possible.

Therefore, the general military aristocracy can often only prosper for one generation, and at most two generations will not work, which is also a sinister intention of the royal family. The army is always in the hands of the royal family.

Of course, this is not to say that the military aristocracy has no future. Whenever there is a big war in the kingdom, this is an opportunity for military aristocracy. If you have made great achievements in the war, such as capturing the opponent's commander, defeating the attack of a powerful enemy, etc., you may be promoted to a knighthood and become a hereditary nobleman!

And once the military aristocracy has come to this point, then the treatment they can enjoy will be very different! It can be said that this is what they really become the upper nobles of this kingdom!!

When the title of military nobility reaches the level of duke and hereditary, it is generally sent by the royal family to the border of the country, or to a remote province. There, the families of the nobles would begin to spread out there, and the surrounding land would become the domain of the ducal family for thousands of miles.

By that time, the military aristocracy could be said to have entered a new field! He could live like a king there!

They can appoint a number of local administrators within their own territory to administer a vast territory. Such as collecting taxes, clearing wasteland, mining and developing territories, and so on. And the king of the kingdom will not dictate anything about the realm to which the noble lord belongs.

At the same time, the lords were allowed to live a life of luxury, such as changing to a bed-warming maid every day, and eating different foods delivered from various towns in the territory every day. It's okay to hunt, flirt with the beautiful women in the territory, change your taste from time to time or something.

That looks pretty good, right?

However, as the sole leader of the military power who guards the frontier, they don't just enjoy it.

As the lords of their own land, their main task is to ensure the safety of the kingdom territory they are guarding. In fact, the royal family is also willing to hand over the unstable frontiers to the powerful lords, so that the royal family can set their sights on where they need to pay attention. Of course, this is also an effective means of ensuring that the kingdom can continue to expand its territory.

The divided lords also did not want the kingdom's armies to enter their domains. There are many reasons, most of which are due to the issue of interests.

The lords who have been divided out need a large number of soldiers to defend their territory, but the kingdom will not send a single soldier in this regard. On the contrary, the people of the royal family will keep a close eye on the big lords who have been sealed out. When the land of the kingdom they are defending is occupied by foreign invasions, the royal family will first draw troops from other lords to support the invaded liege's territory. When the war is over, the lord of the land will retain a title, but all of his realms and all privileges on them will be stripped of them.

Once a noble lord is reduced to such a state, then his political career in this kingdom is essentially over.

Therefore, in the defense of the territory, the lords had to recruit their own soldiers and provide them with food, weapons, armaments and all other fighting equipment. They need to be trained so that they don't fall out of the way when they get on the defensive line.

This is undoubtedly a huge expense.

Of course, that's not all. The lords of the fiefdoms, the families of the soldiers, and their retainers all need to be supported by their domains.

After these calculations, then the development of trade in the territory becomes inevitable. Therefore, the great lords are also revitalizing the economy of the entire territory! But if you do this, you can't exploit your people too harshly.

In this world, it is only natural for the aristocracy to collect taxes from their subjects. Some nobles would be kind to their subjects. And some nobles exploited their own people to death! For example, for each additional window installed, you have to pay an extra lighting tax, and you have to pay a lighting tax for lighting candles at night.....

Such exploitation is common. But if this continues, how can the people have money? If a caravan comes here again, and after paying taxes to the nobles here, it doesn't sell anything......

The results are clear.

If the people don't have any money, what are the merchants doing here? Who do they sell their goods to? Will the merchants come back next time? Without merchants, the lords would have a lot less tax revenue from trade! Know that trade taxes are the backbone of everything they support in their territory, and other taxes are just supplements.

Therefore, it is very necessary to treat the people well. The lords had money and purchasing power, so caravans would come here to peddle goods. In this cycle, the local nobles draw money, and the commoners buy what they want, so they work harder to earn money. And the caravan also made money by selling their goods, and they will come here next time with more goods. In the long run, trade in this territory will gradually develop.

In fact, most of the surviving lords of Lordaeron run their territories in this way. Lordaeron's long history has taught all nobles how to treat their people.

Otherwise, those illustrious noble lords who disappeared from history will be their fate.

Military aristocracy......

Am I not a prime example?

Looking at Hudson in front of him, Locke couldn't help but think in his heart. If the royal family is still around? So I'll be a Grand Duke, right?