Walking out of the portal, the four of them instantly crossed a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers and were teleported into a barren mountain range.

If you just walk, you may not be able to walk this far in a few years, and even if you ride a flying beast, it will take several months to reach it. Even if Huo'er is unparalleled in the world, spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, it will take at least more than a month, and the Carmen family may send strong people to chase and intercept at any time, and the danger is still unknown.

The wild and fierce mountain wind blew on his face and body, and he couldn't help but feel cold in his heart.

Lin Yang took out the panoramic map of the Faeron Continent and carefully compared the surrounding terrain, and after a moment, he couldn't help frowning.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked.

"I've been pitted." Lin Yang said rather depressedly: "No wonder that kid will give us a discount, this is not a place of turmoil and strife at all." ”

"Where is that?" Lily said in surprise.

"This ......" looked at the map again, and Lin Yang said, "This is the eastern edge of the Land of Turmoil and Strife, and it is also the western edge of the Holy Federation, and we are sandwiched between them at the moment. ”

"Shall we go east or west now?" This is Huo'er's main concern at the moment.

"Let's go east first, there is also a large no-man's land on the federal border, and we may be able to find a suitable place." As he spoke, Lin Yang strode forward.

A few people went all the way to the east, the terrain gradually flattened, and when the sun was about to set, a small stone village appeared in front of them.

Xiaoshi Village is not large, with only a few dozen families, some farmland is cultivated around, and some cattle and sheep are raised, and the villagers are all dark-skinned, skinny, and blind.

A small river sphems out of the woods in the distance, passing the edge of the small rock village, where the water is crystal clear and a few wild children are frolicking and playing on the riverbank.

There is a small hill in the north of the stone village, and on the top of the hill sits a medieval castle, the castle is completely dark, like an ancient giant beast crawling on the top of the mountain, but at this moment the castle has long been dilapidated, overgrown with weeds, full of cobwebs, it seems that no one has lived in it for a long time.

Lin Yang and the four of them walked into Xiaoshi Village, and the surrounding villagers cast vigilant glances, some of them were timid, and even hid directly in the house, closed the door, and secretly watched through the crack in the door.

A stable appeared in front of him, a strong man with a beard was tidying up the stables and feeding grass to a few horses, Lin Yang stepped forward and asked with a smile: "This uncle, the surrounding villagers seem to be afraid of us, and the castle on the hill in the north seems to have been abandoned for a long time, what's going on?" ”

The bearded man was muscular and dark-skinned, glanced at Lin Yang, then looked at the three girls, and said, "You can't be a spy sent by the horse bandits, right?" ”

"Horse bandits?" Lin Yang was stunned for a moment and asked, "What horse bandit?" ”

"Looks like you're an outsider." Sighing, the bearded man said, "You better go quickly, you can't stay in this place for a long time, otherwise you will be careful to take your life." ”

"What the hell is going on?" Lin Yang continued to ask.

The bearded man sighed again, and finally told the situation in Xiaoshi Village as it was.

Located on the western frontier of the Holy Federation, this place is the most inhospitable area.

The villagers of Xiaoshi Village have lived here for generations, making a living from farming and animal husbandry.

Originally, this place was the domain of a middle-aged knight, and the castle on the hill to the north also belonged to that knight. A few years ago, a group of horse bandits came to the mountains in the west, fierce and abnormal, about 100 people, the leader of the horse bandits was named Seth, a ruthless man who killed people without blinking, and there was also a sage totem on his body. One night, the horse bandits entered Xiaoshi Village, looted all the supplies, and ransacked the knight's castle, killing the middle-aged knight.

The entire title system, arranged from largest to smallest, is divided into nine titles: king, duke, marquis, earl, lord, viscount, baron, lord, and knight.

The size of a royal county is equivalent to a large country, and each of the sixteen noble families is a king. The dukedom is also equivalent to a small state.

According to the federal law, the upper limit of the number of troops that a knight can lead is only ten, and if it is in fertile land, the size of the territory is only about ten acres. Because this area is deserted, this middle-aged knight's knightly territory is so large.

No matter how big the territory is, a dozen or so followers can't compete with the hundreds of horse bandits, and it is reasonable that they will be wiped out in the end.

Later, every once in a while, the horse bandits would run out of the mountains and sack the small mountain village, and after a few years, the small mountain village was plagued by horse bandits, and even basic food had become a problem, not to mention others.

The villagers also thought about resisting, but how could the hoe be victorious against the sword?

"I see...... Lin Yang nodded and asked, "Didn't the federal government send new knights down to clean up these horse bandits?" ”

"Hey, don't mention it." The bearded man sighed helplessly: "Originally, this middle-aged knight was canonized by an old lord in this area, and the territory was also rewarded by that old lord, I don't know how many benefits Lu Dao secretly gave to that old lord." In the past few years, it has not been that no one has visited the old lord to get this knightly domain. However, because he knew that this place was plagued by horse bandits all the year round, the old lord's conditions were very harsh, not only asking for money, but also expelling these horse bandits from the city, so most people knew the difficulty and retreated. It's not that there are no brave people who have come over the years, and in the end they were either killed by horse bandits or scared away......"

The title system of the Holy Federation is somewhat special.

Regarding the division of titles and territories, it is not controlled by the royal family, but layer by layer. For example, the Sixteen Lords could canonize anyone to any title under the Lordship and cede the territory to the Emperor if they wished. The lord, on the other hand, can cede a certain amount of territory within his own territory and canonize knights, which is equivalent to buying and selling officials in disguise.

To put it bluntly, the sixteen powerful families occupy the sixteen vast areas of the entire Holy Federation, and all the titles are sealed by the sixteen powerful families layer by layer, and these sixteen intricate forces are also secretly engaged in endless games.

Once someone within the scope of their territory is canonized to a lower rank, the canonized person must obey the vast majority of the orders of the canonized, and if a war breaks out, they must also support unconditionally as soon as possible.

Of course, there are cases of rebellion, most of the time they are destroyed, and once they manage to escape from the Arcane, they will become independent knights.

This system has both advantages and disadvantages, the more subordinate knights canonized, the more their territory is planned out, and the higher the possibility of rebellion. Of course, the biggest advantage of selling officials is obvious, you can get the most money in the shortest possible time, and carry out territorial planning, territorial development, army building, and so on.

"I see." Nodding, Lin Yang said with a straight face: "Uncle, where is that old lord?" ”

"A few dozen miles to the east, there is a place called Ximu Town, where the old lord lives. With Ximu Town as the center, the surrounding area of hundreds of kilometers is the territory of that lord. The bearded man asked, "Young man, what do you want to do?" ”

Lin Yang smiled, didn't answer, and continued to ask, "Do you sell this horse?" ”

"If the price is right, you can consider it." The bearded man said: "These are the last four horses, just the four of you have one horse per person, and the cost of raising it until now is about one hundred gold coins per horse." ”

"I'll give you a thousand gold coins." Turning around, Lin Yang smiled at the three girls and said, "Give the money quickly." ”

The three of ......them had big heads for a while, and they gritted their teeth one by one.

"No, I can't take that much." Looking at the bag full of gold coins handed over, the bearded man shook his head and said, "Only five hundred is enough." ”

"You're welcome, we may need your help in the future." Shaking hands with the other party in a friendly manner, Lin Yang turned over and said with a smile: "Uncle, I haven't asked your name yet, my name is Lin Yang." ”

"Barton." The bearded man smiled kindly, and watched the four of them ride their horses and sail all the way to the east.

The villagers who were watching from a distance gathered around.

"Village chief, who are the four of them?"

"It can't be a spy sent by the horse bandits, right?"

"What are they going to do when they bought your horse and gave you so much money?"

"I don't know what to do." Barton was still looking at the distant backs of the four people, and said slowly: "But I feel that these four people should not be simple, maybe...... Our small stone village is going to change because of these four young people. ”

Suddenly, one of the villagers stumbled back from outside, opened his throat, and shouted, "Horse! Bandits! Again! Come! Finish! ”

Everyone looked back, the sun was already in the west, the sky was about to darken, the stars were twinkling in the sky, and on the distant hillside, the wind was whining, and slowly appeared a fierce figure riding a horse and holding a sword.

"Quick! All hide in the cellar! Barton shouted, "No, run out of the village!" Don't stay! ”

……

Distance.

"I can take you to fly, why do you want to buy their horses?" Huo'er said a little unhappily: "I also paid for it!" ”

"To strengthen people's hearts." The horse galloped all the way, Lin Yang said with a smile.

"Do you have a fancy for this knight?" Anna chuckled and said sweetly.

"Well, this will be the first cornerstone for me to embark on the dimensional war, this knighthood, I must take it from the old lord!" Lin Yang said with a firm expression.

"Judging by what Barton just said, the old lord seems to be very greedy, and if he wants him to give you this territory, I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money......," Lily said.

"It's okay, it's all mine anyway." Lin Yang smiled evilly.

The three girls couldn't help but laugh, they heard something about it, it turned out that Lin Yang didn't have any good ideas at the beginning, and when the knight's territory was consolidated in the future, I am afraid that the first one to clean up will be this old lord.