Chapter 1: You deserve it

After the canonization was over, Mei Fei did not make any further stops, returned to the residence early, closed the door and quietly walked into the bedroom alone.

Mayfield suppressed the turmoil in her mind, walked to the desk in the side room, sat down, and glanced at the metal mirror beside her, the person in the mirror had black hair, and her delicate features and angularity were completely different from his father's. These traits are inherited from his mother. The expression on his face in the mirror was unexpectedly calm, but his eyebrows were slightly furrowed and seemed to be lost in thought.

Mayfei already knew about the fiefdom. It was a small border town in the southeast of the empire called Bishui City, which was separated from the territory of the Northern Marshal by most of the empire.

It can be said that if there is no unexpected situation, Mei Fei probably will not expect to go back in this life.

In terms of the quality of the territory, Bishui City and the surrounding villages are definitely not small. Moreover, these territories are by no means barren, and as long as the peasants do not delay sowing, the local crops will not only be self-sufficient, but also surplus.

In addition, the trade groups of neighboring states in the southeastern part of the empire often pass through here, which will bring a lot of income to the territory. Therefore, as long as the territory is successfully accepted and governed, Mayfei, as the local lord, will soon be able to collect a large amount of trade and land taxes.

Such an environment is very favorable to the sparsely populated, resource-scarce, and uncivilized barren lands of the northwest of the empire. If that's all there is to it, then Mayfield has picked up a big bargain.

However, the truth is not so simple, and the city of clear water is definitely a dangerous place.

Although it was once nominally a dependency of His Majesty, it was far from the center of the empire and from the people's sight. Moreover, the road in the past was complicated, thieves were entrenched, and there were many lords' territories in between, which made Bishui City an enclave out of control, and the royal family could only sigh that it was beyond the reach of the whip and had no intention of developing Bishui City at all.

Just from the imperial capital to Bishui City, the dangers and obstacles along the way are also headaches.

The area around Bishui City, which is located in the border area, is also not peaceful, and small troops from neighboring countries cross the border to set up cards to harass them. The surrounding villages also have to face the surrounding rebels and bandits from time to time to plunder. The swamps and forests under the northern mountains are home to many monsters, often invading villages and causing trouble. What's more, these monsters once crossed the northern border fortress in the year of the Red Moon and directly attacked Bishui City.

In addition, there are many wild elves, half-elves and some half-orc tribes gathered in the upper reaches of the territory. Some of them are the natives who have been here since the last era, and are instinctively hostile to outsiders and humans. Conflicts with local lords have been going on intermittently for hundreds of years.

Therefore, a few years ago, small-scale wars often occurred in this place, and the defense situation of the territory was definitely not optimistic. The royal family has invested a lot of soldiers stationed in order to keep the surroundings of Clear Water City safe every year.

But this has greatly increased the military expenditure of this territory, and it would be enough if these expenditures could be exchanged for sufficient returns. But I heard that at the beginning of this year, His Majesty's Minister of Finance also scolded the garrison here, saying that they were all wolves that could not be fed. There is no other reason, since this territory has been in the hands of the royal family. Not only did he fail to collect a few taxes financially, but he needed the Empire's assistance all year round to barely survive. The best year is just to make the gap between income and expenditure close to equal.

If it weren't for that, such a fat territory wouldn't have easily fallen into the hands of Mei Fei. If he fails to deal with these issues properly, he is afraid that even his own territorial ownership will be threatened.

Based on the difficulties she was about to face, Mayfield began to think about it.

He didn't have to worry about the security problems along the way from the imperial capital to Bishui City. He had at least one guard knight under him, and although it was not comparable to the large lords with thousands of garrisons, it was more than enough to deal with some bandits.

But after these guards arrived in Bishui City, would they be enough to take over Bishui City? It was definitely not enough, he needed to invest a lot of money to build a garrison, otherwise he would not be able to stabilize his power in Bishui City at all, let alone develop there.

You have to find a way to get a lot of money first. A financial expenditure sufficient to ensure the stable operation of the territory, this is a matter of survival, and there is no mistake in this worry.

In previous wars, he was not on the front line. Therefore, even if the war is won, Mayfield will not have much to share. Fortunately, when he was in the north, he had already transferred some of his assets to others, after all, he had a vague premonition that he would not be able to go back at the beginning. But even so, Mei Fei doesn't have enough money on hand now.

Two thousand one hundred gold orders, plus five thousand silver coins, this is already all the property of Mayfei. If this money is in the hands of ordinary people, it may already be considered a huge wealth. But once he has an army in hand, he is afraid that he will have to run out of money in a few months.

Next, the first thing he considered was to seek funding, after all, he had just been canonized and had been given a fief. It was not uncommon for nobles and large chambers of commerce to borrow money from each other, and it was nothing out of the ordinary. But soon he put down this idea for the time being, because he hadn't really taken over the territory yet, and at this time, he was willing to invest not much in his subordinate territory, so it was not too late to talk about it when he got a foothold and started operating the territory.

Mayfi turned to other approaches. Soon, he set his sights on one person. This man was also his father, His Excellency Marshal North.

According to his understanding of this father, even if it was a compromise with the old duke, His Excellency Marshal North would not be able to unconditionally agree to abolish the heir. Mayfield was sure that His Excellency Marshal North would be able to buy him a good price. Moreover, the salt mining workshop in his hand, which could not be resold as private property, would most likely fall into his father's pocket, which was a large fortune.

Mei Fei cleared his mind and wrote a letter for the guards to send to his father, Marshal North.

By the time he had done this, it was already getting dark, and the servant had brought him dinner.

————————————————————————————

The next morning, before Mei Fei came out, the servant had already come in early to report the news.

In the hall, Ma Xian, who was waiting for Mayfei, did not say a word to the two boxes that were tightly chained, which had been brought to the mansion early in the morning, and he wanted to know what was inside, but the owner did not come, so he could only wait on the sidelines.

When he saw Mei Fei come out, Matthew immediately greeted him: "Young Master Mei Fei." These two boxes were delivered here in the morning. A letter was also delivered. ”

Mayfield waved his hand for Matthew to come one by one, he took the letter and looked at it, and when he saw the distinctive purple ink mark on the seal, he put it away with a move in his heart. Then he turned to the two boxes: "Who sent these?"

Matthew pointed to one of the boxes again: "This is just sent by the marshal, and he asked the servant to say that you deserve it." ”

Mayfield stared at the box for a moment, then beckoned to Matthew, "Then you can open him and take a look." ”

Matthew nodded, carefully removed the chain, and then leaned down and slowly opened the box. Then the golden sheen refracted from the chest, and the shiny metallic sheen dazzled Matthew's eyes.

Mayfield followed Matthew's line of sight, and the layers of gold coins in the box were piled up to the top edge of the lid and were almost overflowing.

Matthew was stunned, his eyes full of consternation, he had indeed never seen so much money. When he was still a mercenary, he only needed one or two here to get them around, and ten to sell them their lives. And there are at least a few thousand coins in this box, which is a huge fortune.

But soon Matthew recovered, and then reached in and picked it up, but he didn't find anything: "Young Master Mei Fei, there are only these golden orders in the box." ”

Mei Fei was not surprised by this, with Marshal Bei's attitude of wanting to calm down the turmoil as soon as possible at this time, most likely he would not be too concerned with him in terms of money. It's just that I didn't expect him, the Marshal of the North, to give such a pleasure. This made Mayfield smile intriguingly, his father probably just didn't want to do anything with him at this time.

"The other one, who sent it? Mayfield turned her gaze to the other box, a little puzzled.

"This box was delivered early in the morning, and the coachman only said that it was for you. Matthew shook his head in confusion and looked at Mayfed: "I didn't leave a name, but when I asked the coachman, he said you should know." ”

Mayfield nodded, and he quickly had a name in his mind.

"Open it too. ”

Matthew moved a lot faster this time, and then a stack of glittering gold coins came into his eyes. Compared to the previous box full of golden orders, this unknown gift is even more incredible, and the layers of golden orders have been scattered from the box to the ground. But with the previous foreshadowing, Matthew behaved much more calmly, and he hesitated for a while: "Young Master, what is this?"

Mei Fei didn't answer Matthew's question, he looked at the box and thought for a moment, then picked up a golden order from the ground and squeezed it. Not surprisingly, this money is enough to support him for a while, but if you want to seek development for your territory, I am afraid that it is not enough.

"Let's count how many gold orders there are here. ”

Matthew nodded happily at his master's command. For Matthew, the errand of counting money, even if he knows that it is not his own, can make him addicted to it and make a casual conversation when drinking.

"When the count was complete, I went to prepare a few wagons and loaded them. Also, tell the attendants to pack up their things immediately. Mayfield put the golden order back in her hand and walked inside as she spoke.

This made Matthew subconsciously stop his movements, and then raised his head to look at Mei Fei with a puzzled face: "Young Master, are you planning to leave here today?"

Mayfield paused as she walked to the door, then suddenly turned back and smiled at the confused old mercenary.

Doesn't that mean let him go quickly?

"If you don't leave after receiving their money, you don't know the rules. ”