Chapter 337: Surrender

Of the four major families in the Northland, the Norton family is respected in terms of strength, followed by the Kenmax family, the Philim family is third, and the Shaheen family is the last. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 However, compared to the family background and heritage, the Norton family is known as the Roaring Bear in the former Crisson Empire, the Philim family is second, and the Pegasus family is also a loud signboard. Next is the Shaheen family, although it is a vassal family of the Grand Duke of the Northland, a small baron, but after all, it has also experienced the inheritance of the third generation for nearly a hundred years.

Only the Kenmath family is still unstable, from a commercial family to a member of the territorial aristocracy, without decades of accumulation and generations of inheritance, it is difficult to get the true recognition of the aristocratic circle. As Count Kenmath said, the reason why he was so excited about the promise of His Second Highness was that there were two points, one was that the time for the Kenmath family to become a territorial nobleman was too short, and they had no background, and it was useless to have money. The second is that the name is not right, he bought the title from the second prince, who was a rebel of the empire and has died, and the Iberian kingdom he established is now crumbling, clearly a short-lived dynasty. Once the kingdom falls, only God knows whether anyone will recognize the title of the Kenmath family, a territorial nobleman.

His Royal Highness was keenly aware of this weakness of the Kenmath family, so he was confident that he would lure the Kenmath family into joining him. This was a good opportunity for Earl Kenmath to vindicate his family and make sure he truly became a nobleman of the realm. He knew that if His Royal Highness had soldiers in his hands and swept the territory of the empire before the unification of the world, when he encountered a family like himself, he would only have one way to perish, and he would not even give the opportunity to reduce or transfer the seal, at most, he would sacrifice the wealth accumulated by the family to save a life for himself and his family, and then be demoted to a civilian......

Although the current Second Highness is only the former king of the Kingdom of Antinac, with no soldiers and no generals, and the throne was usurped by his niece, he still represents the orthodox inheritance of the royal family of the former Cresson Empire. Therefore, Count Kenmeth was moved, and defected to His Royal Highness, which meant that his family was recognized as the most orthodox territorial noble, and since then, he, the earl, has rightfully become a member of the territorial nobles.

"You promised him?" asked Lorlist, sitting in the tub.

"Not yet, I said that it was a matter of the family's future, and we had to think about it and give him an answer in two days. I'll come to you as soon as I send him off. Said the Earl of Kenmeth.

"In addition to letting you defect to him, what other requirements did he make for you to take charge of a province and become a grand duke?"

Count Kenmath spread his hands: "He wants me to find a way to encourage you to attack the Duchy of Madras. As soon as the Duchy of Madras is destroyed, I will be made Grand Duke immediately. However, I told him that without the help of your Norton family, it is impossible to destroy the Duchy of Madras, and with the military strength of our Kenmath family and the Shahin family, we can defeat the enemy, but it is very difficult to destroy the Duchy of Madras. ”

Lorist frowned and pondered for a long time, and Count Kenmax stood patiently by the bathtub and waited.

The water in the tub was a little cold, and Lorist finally raised his head: "Perhaps, this is a very good opportunity for our four major families in the Northlands, we can bring the entire Duchy of Madras into our sphere of influence." You first dry His Second Highness for two days, and then go to him, and then say so......"

......

In the past two days, Baron Saheen Henneard led his troops out to sweep the surrounding castles of the lord's manor and brought back countless grain and grass supplies. As the largest granary of the former Crescent Empire, the province of Delemke is truly worthy of its name. Henneid went out for two days and looted four nearby manors, but the grain and grass he got back were piled up, enough for nearly 100,000 Northland coalition troops to rest in peace and winter in the camp where the facilities were gradually improved.

His Royal Highness had a feeling of living like a year in the camp of the Northland Alliance, because Baron Shaheen went out to rob, oh, he went to collect grain and grass, so that His Royal Highness could not contact Baron Shahin. And Count Kenmeth didn't know why, and kept avoiding. Thinking that he had to think about it for a few days, His Royal Highness couldn't urge him to give him an answer. As for Lorist, he took his guards to fish on the Mitobro River every day, looking like he was at ease with everything.

Although His Royal Highness was extremely well received in the camp of the Northland Alliance, his freedom was restricted. When he came up with the camp, a very polite guard appeared in front of him and reminded him, as a noble knight watching the battle, please do not walk out of the camp at will, as it will cause great confusion to the owners of the camp. After all, the Northland Alliance and the Duchy of Madras are currently only a skirmish, and if His Royal Highness goes out and is discovered by the scouts of the Duchy of Madras, the consequences will be very serious, which will affect the outcome of this war.

For the sake of a more ambitious goal, the Second Highness endured. He didn't want to be declared persona non grata by the Northlanders, especially at a critical moment when he hoped to win over the Kenmasses family to his side. Therefore, he could only take his retinue around the camp, drooling at the Kenmax family armed forces and the Shahin family armed forces who were well-equipped and armored, fantasizing that these two elite family armed forces would sweep all directions under his command and unify the former empire.

The Northland coalition camp was home to 36,000 men from the Shahin family, 46,000 from the Kenmax family legion, and 12,000 from the Norton family, for a total of nearly 100,000 horses. Except for Baron Shaheen and his Golden Knight Tabek who led a light cavalry regiment out every day to collect food and grass supplies, the rest of the men and horses were doing chores in addition to training and patrolling the defense camp, such as cutting wood, building barracks for winter, fishing, hunting, grazing livestock and so on.

In the eyes of His Royal Highness, this Northland coalition army is simply not doing its job, and being a soldier should be fighting, not doing what these servants do. If these 100,000 horses were under his command, then at least half of the province of Delemke would have been swept away by now, and with his territory and elite army, he would be confident that he would defeat the Grand Duke of Madras, and by next year he would be able to let the Grand Duke of Madras hide in his old nest, the province of Sidgrad, and he would be able to wave his army straight to the imperial capital......

His Second Highness's patience was finally rewarded, and on the third day Count Kenmeth appeared before him.

"Your Majesty, the Kenmax family is willing to offer you loyalty and clear the thorns and bumps in the road for you under your banner. May the glory of the god of war protect our kingdom and make your majesty invincible. Count Kenmax respectfully bowed to the Second Highness.

His Royal Highness was overjoyed, and knew that he had succeeded when he heard the Earl of Kenmeth address him as His Majesty instead of addressing him politely as His Majesty. Now, in addition to the Norton family, another powerful realm nobleman has joined him, which gives him confidence in achieving his goals.

However, when His Second Highness saw Count Kenmeth's somewhat sad face, he felt very strange: "My Earl, what's wrong with you, is there anything embarrassing?"

Count Kenmax replied with a wry smile, "Your Majesty, although my family and I are willing to swear allegiance to you, forgive me for not being able to fulfill your wishes. I can't risk attacking the Duchy of Madras with my clan arms, nor can I convince my allies to continue fighting the Duchy of Madras. ”

"Why, my dear Earl, my promise to you is true, swear in the name of a king. As long as you destroy the Duchy of Madras, I will definitely promote you to the Grand Duke, and in the future, when I restore the throne and unify the empire, you can freely choose a province as your family territory......"

Count Kenmeth shook his head: "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. If we want to destroy the Duchy of Madras, our four major families in the North must jointly send troops, and the two family legions of Baron Saheen and I alone cannot accomplish it. What's more, Baron Shaheen is not interested in fighting with the Duchy of Madras. As for my family, because of my father, he would also object to the consumption of this legion of our family here......"

The Second Highness asked with some suspicion: "My Lord Count, I have observed the two family legions of you and Baron Shahin in the camp, they are both very elite troops, nearly 100,000 horses are enough to sweep through the entire province of Delemke, even if you fight with the Grand Duke of Madras, it is very likely to be defeated, why do you say that you can't destroy the Duchy of Madras?"

"Your Majesty, you don't know about the armaments of the Duchy of Madras. In fact, after the battle between the Grand Duke of Madras and the Second Prince at the city of Kebo a few years ago, the Grand Duke of Madras has been rearmament for several years. In addition to the 48,000 men of the Seamount Legion he had placed in the province of West Degrad, a total of 100,000 men were deployed in the province of Demke, one was 40,000 guards of the seven castles and fortresses in the small mountain range of Hindersen, the second was 20,000 horses in the city of Vannades, the third was 20,000 horses in the city of Kebo, and the fourth was the 20,000 horses garrisoned by the river. The total number of troops reached 150,000. If you add the private armies of those lords, you can also gather fifty or sixty thousand troops.

If I and Baron Shahin's two legions go to attack the Duchy of Madras, soon the Grand Duke of Madras will come to our trouble with a hundred thousand horses. Even if we win, we will lose a lot. And the defeat of the Grand Duke of Madras can replenish his men's consumption with a steady stream of conscriptions in his territory, and continue to fight with us without dying. But if Baron Saheen and I are defeated, it will take at least ten or eight years to return to the family territory to restore the family legion......

Your Majesty, you don't know, in terms of the combat effectiveness of the family forces alone, the Norton family is the most outstanding among the four major families in the Northland, and their family's strength is equal to the sum of our three families. Then there is the Philim family, and your Majesty may remember the Pegasus family in the past, the descendants of Baron Philim, whose light cavalry regiment is known for its swift raids. Compared to the two of them, Baron Shahin's family legion is two halves of foot, balanced in attack and defense. The legions of our Kenmax family are good at defensive combat, and offense is not our forte.

Your Majesty, I'm sorry that I can't follow your will to attack the Duchy of Madras, it's purely to touch a stone with an egg, and the wise don't do it, unless the four great families of the Northland send troops together. Now I can only offer a small amount of money to His Majesty as a sign of my loyalty. If you want to destroy the Duchy of Madras, I beg your pardon for not being able to do anything......" Count Kenmeth took out a thick stack of gold dollar coupons from his arms, estimated to be about 100,000 gold fords, and put them on the desk very respectfully.

The Second Highness's face is a little ugly, Count Kenmeth's words show a meaning, I take refuge in you for the legitimacy of the title, but if you want to use my family legion to fight against the Duchy of Madras, you will not be accompanied, the Kenmath family is willing to pay tribute, but is not willing to pay for the restoration of the Second Highness. Of course, His Royal Highness was skeptical about what Count Kenmath said about the armaments of the Duchy of Madras, which would interest him in another piece of news revealed by Count Kenmeth.

"Is it true that you said that the military strength of the Norton family exceeds that of the three of you combined?" asked the Second Highness.

"Of course, the Norton family has 120,000 regular legions, and the town garrison has 150,000 men. Our family legion is 55,000 men, the Philippim family legion is 46,000 men, and the Shaheen family is 42,000. The sum of our three families is less than 150,000, and in terms of combat power, it is also the strongest of the Norton family. "Count Kenmax deliberately omitted the number of the Norton family's forces, leaving out twenty-five battalions of the Guards. As for the three guard battalions jumping in the big camp, he didn't see them, anyway, the Second Highness didn't know about the Norton family's armed .......

"If that's the case, I have a question. The Second Highness said: "The Northern Lands are already an alliance of your four families, and the Norton family's territory is not connected to other territories except for the three of you, so why do they still have so many family weapons, and what do they want to do?

Count Kenmeth smiled, just like Lorist said, His Royal Highness is really stumbling on the Norton family all the time, which will even be used to sow discord.

"Your Majesty, do you know why our four Northland families are allied?" said Count Kenmeth, "Actually, our four alliances have only two purposes, one is to fight the idea of the Iberian Kingdom, and the other is to guard against the Grand Duke of Fisabrun and his border rangers. ”

"The idea of fighting the Iberian Kingdom?Guard against the Fisabulun familyI understand, but aren't the three of you nobles of the Iberian Kingdom?Why do you want to fight the idea of the Iberian Kingdom?"

"Your Majesty, in fact, after the Norton family sent troops to the royal city of Windbrie to capture the second prince, the three of us have been outside the noble circle of the Iberian Kingdom. It would be more accurate to say that we are nobles of the Iberian kingdom than to say that we are nobles of the Northlands. The idea of fighting the Iberian Kingdom was for Baron Philim, you know that they are the Pegasus family, and the southern province is his traditional family domain, and he dreams of returning to the southern province as well.

It's just that the current Southern Province is in ruins, and if you want to recapture the Southern Province, you must first capture Winston Province. But the current ruler of the royal city of Windbri is the daughter of the Grand Duke of Fisabrun, the queen of the Iberian kingdom. If we send troops to Winston, we will inevitably come into conflict with the Fisabrun family. Grand Duke Fisabrun is one of the three great military gods of the Empire, and his Ranger Frontier Legion is also the greatest threat to the Northlands. In fact, the four major families of the Northland are fighting to defeat him, and the Norton family is the main force to deal with the Fisabrun family, so they maintain so many people. ”

"I see, the Fisabrun family, the Pegasus family, Baron Philim ......" The Second Highness muttered to himself, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "Count Kenmeth, if I am willing to promote Baron Philim to the title of Earl and canonize the Southern Province to him as a family domain, do you say Baron Philim is willing to pledge allegiance to me?"

Count Kenmax had a grudge on his face, but he was scolding in his stomach: This second highness is really shameless, obviously he has no soldiers and no power, but he treats himself as the former emperor of the Krisson Empire, and he takes the territory that does not belong to him to make a big favor, and he said it lightly, canonized the southern province to Baron Philim, and was promoted to earl, but is the southern province his territory? If Baron Philim was to be loyal to him, he would have to send his own troops to attack the southern provinces, and the only advantage was that the Kingdom of Antinac and the Kingdom of Iberia were hostile, and war was a matter of course.

The Second Highness quickly came to his senses when he saw Count Kenmeth's expression: "Of course, my Lord Earl, I will not forget your merits. If you can convince Baron Philim to take refuge in me, you can say what you want. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Count Kenmath bowed half-bowed: "Then you're welcome, if we can destroy the Duchy of Madras, I want the province of West Degrad as the hereditary domain of our Kenmath family." ”

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