Chapter 317: Viscount Edith

"I didn't expect Winston Province to become even more desolate and desolate than the Northlands, and it seems that you two are very dedicated to the plundering here. "www.biquge.infoLotlister, riding on his horse, turned to Barons Philim and Baron Saheen, who were following behind.

Baron Philim shook his head: "It wasn't us who did it, we haven't done anything to Winston since you brought us back from occupying the royal city that time." Maybe you don't believe it, but in fact, most of the additional people in our two territories came by themselves, and the nobles of Winston Province made a pot of porridge by themselves, and it was a mess, and we were too lazy to intervene, and in order to survive, most of the civilians in Winston Province ran to the Northland for refuge, and we didn't need to take any manpower at all. ”

Baron Saheen nodded, signaling that Baron Philim was telling the truth.

This was on the way to the royal city of Windbri in the Iberian kingdom to participate in the knights' jousting tournament, and looking around, Lorist remembered a poem from his previous life: White bones are exposed and wild, and there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles.

More than a decade ago, before the outbreak of the Empire's Civil War, Winston was the fourth largest province in the former Cresson Empire with a population of more than 600,000. Once the largest livestock trading market in the former empire, merchants from the Northland, Eastern Wilderness, Makinohara, Southern and Central Provinces gathered here, bringing in a variety of daily necessities and goods, and bringing back countless cattle and sheep to create the prosperous city of Windbri.

I remember that there was a saying that it was much richer to be a baron in Winston than to be an Archduke of the Northlands. It's a source of pride for Winstons and a mockery of the Northlanders. After all, the Northlands were the largest province of the former empire, and the most inhospitable and impoverished province.

Feng Shui takes turns, and in just over a decade, Winston Province has become even more desolate than the Northlands used to be. This is due to the second prince's desperate search for wealth and military supplies and repeated defeats, as well as Lorlist's responsibility for deliberately draining Winston Province so that it cannot pose a threat to the Northlands. And now the queen who is in charge of the royal city of Windbury does not have the prestige and ability to mediate the conflicts between the nobles of the realm, and the constant war in Winston Province is also one of the reasons.

However, in the past two months, Winston Province has become very calm, and there are no more territorial wars among the nobles. The reason is that the Grand Duke of Fisabrun returned to the royal city of Windbury with two field ranger regiments, and with this famous former imperial military god here, any arrogant territorial nobles have to weigh whether their family's strength can withstand the thunderous blow of the Grand Duke of Fisabrun, and all the nobles have learned how to play the role of Anfen.

Anyway, the purpose of the Grand Duke of Fisabrun coming to the royal city this time was very simple, that is, to hold a grand knight tournament and select an excellent knight as a husband for Princess Celivia, who had reached the age of twenty-five. As long as everyone survives these few months and allows the Grand Duke of Fisabrun to successfully end this knightly tournament, then when he leaves, Winston Province will become a competition place for the nobles of the realm. Besides, everyone has been fighting for so long, so it's just a good time to take this opportunity to take a break and prepare for the next attack. Of course, there were also many confident noble knights who believed in their prowess and were ready to show off their skills at this conference.

Long cavalry marched on the dilapidated national road. Lorist brought a guard battalion of 3,000 men this time, and El, who was promoted to the rank of Golden Knight, returned to the position of commander of the guard battalion, and Pat, who had been seriously wounded on the island of Hilowas, was recruited back to the guard battalion as deputy commander and captain after recovering from his injury in the Guards Legion for more than a year. Speaking of which, Pat was also considered a blessing due to injury, and successfully hugged the beauty during the recuperation period, and married the beautiful Martha of the White Bird Restaurant after recovering from the injury, but at that time Lorist was still in the Hanea Bada Islands, and when he came back, he gave a generous gift to celebrate his childhood rival and playmate Pat got married.

The Earl of Kenmax brought a thousand guards, while Baron Philim and Baron Shaheen each brought five hundred men. Because of Lorlist's request, the three allies brought all cavalry units, which was for safety and in case of accidents. A day away from them, there was also a steel-armored lancer regiment and two chariot steel crossbow battalions of the Flying Tiger Legion led by Tiger Ross. In the event of a critical situation, more than 20,000 people will rush to meet them.

"It's too desolate, we've been walking for three days, and we haven't even had a decent castle along the way, and where are the lords dead?" said Joske, who had to follow Lorist to the knights' conference again.

Baron Saheen laughed "flutteringly".

"What are you laughing at? Henneid...... "Josk was a little angry, he and Baron Shaheen were old rivals, when the Grand Duke of the Northland sent the Golden Knight Cervani and Henned, who was not yet Baron Shahin, to attack the Norton family territory, although the two had never fought each other, but Henneid had known each other since he was captured by Lorlist, and they had a good relationship, and they were usually not formal.

Baron Saheen pointed to Lorist's back: "This is your lord's idea, you can understand if you ask Baron Philim." Back then, Locke asked our two families to raid and plunder Winston Province, just to make the people miserable here, especially this national highway leading to the royal city of Windbury, which we swept back and forth several times. Where did you say those lords went, they were hanged by us a long time ago. Therefore, for the lords of other countries, it symbolizes the wealth of the territory close to the national highway, which in the Iberian kingdom means doom and death. ”

Josk stopped talking, and Lorist's move was clearly an alternative kind of fortified wilderness, which made it more difficult and troublesome for the Iberian Kingdom to send troops to the Northlands. Although the nobility of the royal city of Windbri is not a weapon, but behind the Iberian kingdom stands the Fisabrun family, and it is necessary for Lorist to be so wary a few years ago.

Baron Saheen comforted, "Don't worry, Joe, tomorrow we will arrive at the town of Walker, which is the domain of Viscount Edith, and his castle is also there. The last time we sent an army to the royal city, this Viscount Edith knew each other very well, and paid a large ransom and grain to keep his territory from being harmed, because he had a good reputation, so we let him go. In the past two years, I heard that his territory has developed well, and he is a rare good lord in Winston Province, but he has not had a good relationship with the queen, so he has gathered some territorial nobles to protect himself, which is a bit of strength.

Tomorrow when we arrive at Walkertown, we will have a hearty drink, all to blame Locke, and we are not allowed to drink alcohol on the march. Don't say it's you, even I can't stand it, my mouth is so light in the past three days, biting jerky and nibbling bread every day, keeping vigilant or something...... We're going to a knight tournament, why do we have to look like we're fighting!"

Baron Saheen complained that Josk was not happy: "What do you say, Henned, my lord is also for your own good." This time, the four of us from the Northland went to participate in this knight tournament together, and the adults had to be so careful so as not to make any mistakes. Otherwise, the adults will take me and El with you, so many people have been arranged to protect you, and you still don't appreciate it......"

Baron Shaheen was angry: "You, just now I was kind enough to comfort you, and now you blame me in turn, it was you who provoked the topic first......"

When he arrived at the town of Walker at noon on the second day, the messenger who had gone to the royal city of Windbrie also rushed back, and brought with him a noble messenger sent by the Archduke of Fisabrun, the Earl of Richard.

Earl Richard warmly expressed to Lorist and the others the Archduke of Fisabrun the welcome of the four nobles of the Northland to the Knight Tournament, and conveyed a proposal on behalf of the Archduke of Fishabrun that shocked Lorlist: in view of the lack of troops, the Archduke of Fairebrun was willing to entrust the south gate of the Windbrin King City to the care of the four nobles of the Northland, and they would send troops to defend the south gate of the royal city during the conference.

Lorist finally let go of his mind at this time, this proposal of the Grand Duke of Fisabrun is obviously to let down the guard of the four nobles of the Northland, which shows that the Grand Duke of Fisabrun is really in order to hold this knight tournament, and does not have any conspiracy, and can hand over the south gate of the royal city is also to show his integrity and keep a way out for the four nobles of the Northland.

On behalf of the four nobles of the Northlands, the Earl of Kenmäth thanked Count Richard for the news and praised the Grand Duke of Fisabrun for his upright demeanor and admiration for the Fisabrun family. The two of them just stood outside Walker Town and talked nonsense for a long time, no way, this is the diplomatic etiquette of the nobles, even if you are impatient, you have to show a smile to show your demeanor and politeness.

The negotiation ended with Count Kenmeth accepting the offer of the Archduke Fisabrun, and he and Count Richard shook hands very closely, like two brothers who had been reunited after a long absence.

The landlord, Viscount Edith, who had been waiting for most of the day, came up at the right time, first greeted the arrival of Lorist and the others, then greeted Earl Richard, and then invited everyone to his castle to attend the welcome banquet he had given to the nobles who had gone to the royal city to participate in the knightly tournament.

The town of Walker is very prosperous, and the estimated number of residents is also twenty or thirty thousand. To Lorlist's surprise, the streets here are lined with brightly lit shops with signs and banners soliciting customers.

Perhaps seeing Lorist's doubts, Viscount Edith, who was accompanying him, said that since the second prince established the city of Windbri, the capital of the Iberian Kingdom, first, the outbreak of the imperial civil war, the severance of trade routes, and the second is that the second prince disliked the stench of the cattle and sheep livestock market, and the livestock market in Windbri City was originally closed by the second prince's order. In those war-torn years, no one did any more livestock business, which was also a helpless thing.

In the past few years, without the fate of the second prince, coupled with the stability of the surrounding situation, even if the nobles of the territory of Winston Province have fought blood, caravans from the four central principalities still come to purchase livestock from time to time, but it has become impossible to reopen the livestock market in Windbury King City. Because when you enter and leave the city gate, you have to be extorted by the tax officials sent by the queen who asks for money, and no one can stand it. Viscount Edith was keenly aware of this opportunity, so he opened a livestock trading market in his own territory, Walker Town, and indeed made his own territory prosperous.

Viscount Edith said with a wry smile that although the current livestock trading market is not large and the turnover is not high, the most scarce materials in the market at present are all kinds of furs and animal tendons, which are all high-priced military materials, so there are so many shops on this street that process and sell these goods.

Due to the vision of Viscount Edith, the town of Walker has prospered and developed, but it has also attracted greedy eyes, so he has several territorial wars with several lords, and has no choice but to ally with several lords who have also benefited from the town of Walker to protect himself. The same is true of the Queen's poor relationship, as the Queen sent her tax officer to demand a business tax rate of 70% of the turnover of all commercial transactions, which was sternly rejected by Viscount Edith.

Lorist was surprised and said, "The queen is simply crazy to ask for money, and such a request can be made......"

"yes. Viscount Edith was a little distressed: "Although the territory has been developed, the commercial prosperity has also made me a little rich, but in order to protect myself, I have to invest all this money in the defense of the territory." Basically, this money is just in his own hands, and he has to spend a lot of energy training the territory garrison, renovating the defense of his castle and the walls of Walker Town, and he is so busy that he can't even sleep peacefully, I really don't understand why I spend so much effort to develop the territory......"

Lorist can only sympathize with Viscount Edith's complaints, if it was peacetime, Viscount Edith would definitely be able to make a difference, he had a good business vision, he was also very kind to the people, and he had an excellent reputation among the nobles of Winston Province. It's just that he is now in troubled times, and the better his family territory develops, the more vicious wolves it will attract, forcing him to invest all his wealth to form a territorial garrison to protect himself.

Walker Town was originally only a hundred meters away from Viscount Edith's family castle, but due to the rapid development of too many civilians who came to settle in recent years, it had to be expanded, and now Walker Town has been connected with the castle, and two walls have been built in the middle of the open space, and there are four stone round arrow towers like pillboxes. Whether Walker Town or the castle is under attack, the Territory Garrison is ready to help.

Viscount Edith's family castle also has a history of nearly 100 years, according to the Viscount, when his grandfather was awarded the title of Viscount for military exploits and became the nobleman of the province of Winston, he took root here, this castle was built by his grandfather, and the spacious hall still hangs portraits of his grandfather and his father.

Viscount Edith laughed at himself by saying that his grandfather and his father were both famous Golden Knights, and that his father was a very famous man in Winston. Later, he was also killed in battle during the last conquest of the former Crisson Empire against the Fort Business Alliance, more than thirty years ago, when the viscount was only sixteen years old when he inherited the title. However, his own qualifications are mediocre, and he is only a silver two-star until now, so he doesn't have to think about being promoted to the gold rank in this life.

In the halls of the castle, Lorist saw what Viscount Edith described as a portrait of his grandfather, the white-bearded old man, and his father's portrait of him wearing knight's armor. At the door of the hall, Viscountess Edith greeted Lorist and the others with two sons and a daughter, as well as three nobles.

Lorist and the others saluted the viscountess and gave them the gifts they had carried. Since the destruction of the kingdom of Haneyabada, Lorist has had many precious gifts in his hands. Sure enough, the sapphire-encrusted white gold necklace was amazed by the nobles present, although the sapphire and white gold were precious, but the nobles were more knowledgeable, and they were amazed by the craftsmanship of the craftsmen who made this jewelry. Because they didn't know that in the kingdom of Haneyabada, slave craftsmen who were not skilled in their crafts could not survive.

After the Viscountess thanked him, Viscount Edith introduced Lorist to his two sons and his seven-year-old daughter. His two sons, the eldest of whom is twenty-four years old, are already a brave three-star knight with silver, and the younger is twenty-one, a one-star knight with silver. The Viscount now has his hopes of becoming a Golden Knight on his two sons.

The three nobles were allies and neighbors of Viscount Edith, Barony Claus was a pasture, Baron Wede was a farm, and Viscount Schindler was a pasture, and they formed an effective complementary relationship with the livestock market in Walker Town, and became allies with the same interests.

At the welcome banquet, Viscount Edith asked Lorist to allow the four nobles to follow him to the royal city of Windbrie to participate in the knights' jousting tournament. The main thing is that their relationship with the queen is really bad. Although they hoped to bring their children and nephews to see it, they were afraid that the trip would be dangerous due to their friendship with the queen, so they could not make a decision. If you can follow Lorist and his party, at least you don't have to worry about their safety, and you can withdraw to the family territory from the South Gate controlled by Lorliste in any case.

Lorist pondered for a moment and agreed to Viscount Edith's request, and the feast lasted until the evening.

...... (To be continued.) )