"Claude, I have one more thing to discuss with you when I come to Purple Sun City this time. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 "King Landry of Gilgias got up from his chair and walked over to Meng Fan, who was standing in the room.

"Claude, I have decided to promote you to Marquis. Standing in front of Meng Fan, Landry spoke, "Hou..." Meng Fan's eyes widened suddenly.

The nobility in the nine human kingdoms of the Qinglan Continent is divided into five ranks (dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons), and in the Gilgia Kingdom, only the royal family of Pars can be given the title of duke, and the marquis is the title second only to the duke.

There are a total of nine marquis in the Kingdom of Gilgias, and these nine marquis are all great lords who dominate one side, such as Lewin Nolan, the lord of Ziyang City, the old man who is now the king of Gilgias, is one of the nine marquises.

Meng Fan was made an earl by King Landry Pars of Gilgia four years ago and became the lord of Blackstone, and now His Majesty the King wants to promote himself to the rank of Marquis.

"Your Majesty, the minister's talent is shallow, and his ability is extremely limited, and the minister is afraid of the matter of the Jin Jue..." "Claude, if your talent is shallow, how many of them are knowledgeable in this Gilgidian kingdom?" King Landry, who was standing in front of him, shook his head.

"Your abilities are good enough, Claude, you don't have to be overly humble in front of me, this is not like the bearing of a lord who has successfully controlled the three cities in the northeastern part of the Kingdom of Gilgias in just a few years. King Landry Pars's gaze was fixed on him, and sweat broke out in Meng Fan's palms.

"Your Majesty. Meng Fan wanted to speak, but was stopped by Landry stretching out his hand, "Claude, you don't need to explain to me, for someone like you with wisdom and talent, I should have seen that the territory of Black Rock City could not support you. The red-haired man in front of him smiled slightly.

"Claude, what means did you use to control Coldwater City, Giant Wood City, I won't care about you, at least from now on, Coldwater City, Giant Wood City, Blackstone City, these three cities have become more prosperous under your management..."

King Landry's words made Meng Fan's heart heavy, Landry Pars was far away in the royal capital Cangyun City, but he was very well informed about the news of Black Rock City, Meng Fan didn't know how much the king knew.

Fortunately, Giant Wood City is okay, Meng Fan just played some small tricks to control the young lord Mitre, but on the other side of Cold Water City... Meng Fan and several nobles of Cold Water City assassinated the former lord Kalia.

"Claude, you have taken control of the three cities of Blackstone City, Giant Wood City, and Coldwater City, and combined the territorial armies of these three cities into one army, I appreciate your approach of combining armies, the territorial armies of these three cities are too scattered, and lack unified command, if they can be combined into one army, then the combat effectiveness will definitely be improved. Landry continued.

"Your Majesty, the minister should die, the minister interfered in the affairs of other territories without authorization, but did not report to His Majesty..." Meng Fan knelt on his knees and asked the king for his guilt in a panic.

"Get up, Claude. Landry leaned over and helped Meng Fan, who was kneeling on the ground, and looked at the black-haired man in front of him, "Didn't I just say that? Landry Pars, King of Gilgias, said in a serious tone.

"Your Majesty..." Meng Fan didn't know what to say for a while. "There are more than 200,000 people in the three cities of Black Rock City, Cold Water City, and Giant Wood City, and the three territories are not far from Ziyang City, Claude, with your current wealth and strength, it is a matter of course that you will be promoted to Marquis... Landry patted Meng Fan on the shoulder and smiled.

The king didn't care about his behavior of secretly expanding his territory, but wanted to promote himself to marquis, Meng Fan was always a little uneasy in his heart, "Lord Claude, being promoted to a marquis is Your Majesty's affirmation of your ability and strength, this is a gratifying and congratulatory good thing, Lord Claude, you shouldn't refuse." Levin Nolan, the Lord of Purple Sun City, also laughed on the side.

Looking at the king and the Marquis of Levin in front of him, Meng Fan did not agree to come down but did not shirk either.

"The promotion to Marquis is not unconditional. King Landry Pars walked back to the chair behind his desk and sat down, "Claude, I have decided to transfer the 50,000 royal troops stationed in Ziyang City into your territory, and they will be stationed near Black Rock City..."

Two hours later, in the Castle Peak Hall, the lords of Black Rock City, Meng Fan, Tiberius, Mar Saha, and Meng Fan's eldest brother Bogula sat in a room on the second floor of the hall.

"So, His Majesty wants to recognize your control over the three cities in the northeastern part of the Kingdom of Gilgias and the title of Marquis in exchange for the power to garrison your lord. After listening to Meng Fan's story, Tiberius was the first to speak.

"Did you agree, Lord Claude?" asked the dark mage Marzahar, "hehe, do I dare not agree? I suspect that His Majesty even knows about our deal with the dwarves. Meng Fan said in a self-deprecating tone.

Today in the Lord's Mansion of Ziyang City, King Landry Pars mentioned that the music boxes produced in the Mengfan domain were not made by many craftsmen in the Kingdom of Gilgias.

Although Landry didn't break it, Meng Fan felt that the king must have something to know about what he had done in the territory, and the transaction with the dwarves was carried out secretly, but he still couldn't hide it from the king's eyes.

After listening to Meng Fan's words, Tiberius and Mar Sahar both showed complicated expressions, "It's not necessarily a bad thing for the king to station his army in the territory of Black Rock City, if the Bretan army attacks from the northeast of the Gilgidian Kingdom, these 50,000 royal troops can help us defend against the enemy." Meng Fan's eldest brother Bogula said.

King Landry Pars is preparing to send 50,000 royal troops stationed in Ziyang City to Meng Fan's territory, and these 50,000 royal troops have always been tasked with defending the northeastern part of the kingdom.

"No, eldest brother, His Majesty is not so kind. A trace of warm anger flashed in Meng Fan's eyes, "Your Majesty Landry transferred the 50,000 royal troops who were supposed to be stationed in Ziyang City to my territory, and His Majesty Landry also made a request to me, Your Majesty asked me to provide half of the military salary for this army every year. ”

Fifty thousand troops cost 500,000 gold coins a year, and Meng Fan, as the lord of Black Rock City, is equivalent to taking out 250,000 gold coins every year to support this royal army in the territory.

"How can His Majesty let you come and pay the royal army? Shouldn't the royal family pay the royal army themselves? Bogura said in surprise.

The lord of the kingdom of Kyrgias pays the king 20% of the territorial tax every year, in addition to these 20% taxes, the lord no longer has any monetary debt to the king, if the king wants to station troops in the lord's territory, then the salary of these royal armies should be paid by the king, and the lord has no obligation to raise salaries for the royal army.

For example, this 50,000-horse royal army has been stationed in the territory of Lewin Nolan, the lord of Ziyang City, but Lewin has never provided military pay to this royal army, and Lewin himself has a territorial army of 30,000 people to feed, how can he have extra money to help the king support the army?