In the Grimm Empire, the nobles were allowed to have private arms.

But it is not that all private armed forces have the formation of the Imperial Army.

To be precise, the military establishment is a license for the lord's private armed forces, such as the military taking over due to some unstable factors in a certain area, riots and wars in certain planes, and rotational garrisons between planes. In these cases, the armed forces with the Imperial Army will be assembled first, and will be deployed by the top local administrator to lead the army to maintain law and order in the area.

Although the Grimm Empire's plane wars broke out frequently, the private armed forces were in a state of decline.

Even so, there were still many nobles who wanted to have the establishment of the imperial army, and the army establishment given to Surdak by the Marquis of Luthor was a dream of many lords.

Since the private army of the noble lord requires the lords to pay for the expensive military expenses out of their own pockets, why do so many nobles still want to form a private armed force to become lords?

The reason is simple, there is a greater good hidden in this.

This is mainly because while garrisoning the plane, the lords will have the priority to acquire the resources of the plane, if the lords are willing to lead private troops to participate in the plane war, they will get the legal right to explore the new plane, instead of the '433 land allocation law' in the imperial territorial code, forming a private army or a common means of tax avoidance, etc.

All in all, even if you have a family background, if you want to advance to your own knighthood, forming a private army is absolutely essential.

And having an elite army will also give the noble lords more say in the House of Representatives.

The Marquis of Luthor included Surdak's personal forces in his legions, and for Surdak it was a good first step in terms of the noble lords.

The Marquis of Luthor believed that Surdak, who was born as a commoner, had no family background, and as a low-ranking baron, his wealth could not afford the expensive military expenses of the private army, so he told Surdak that in the process of forming a private army, no matter what difficulties he had, he could help.

……

Nobles were called lords when they had territories and private armed forces.

Prior to this, Surdak was only the leader of the cavalry squadron of the Haylanza City Guard Battalion stationed in the Badlands, and the Hylandsa City Hall entrusted him to form the Badlands Militia Battalion, and Surdak had the title of part-time militia battalion commander.

When he has a private army of his own, he can be said to have become a true lord.

At present, Surdak's title is somewhat low, and the territory is not vast enough, and the only sulfur mines may not be able to support a private army.

Marquis Luthor put down the knife in his hand and said to Surdak: "If you are worried about military expenses, in the initial stage, you will need to exchange your merits for the title in the future, and only by being promoted to the viscount can you get more territory, of course, you can also develop a few mines in my plane, I still have a few undeveloped copper-rich mines and iron mines, and the geographical location is not far from the town." ”

Surdak immediately said: "At present, I am building the territory, and I will prepare well when I return to Vol Village." ”

Madame Marianne glanced at the Marquis de Luthor, with a look in her gentle eyes that no one else could understand.

In the dining-room, only the Marquis de Luthor could see it, and Madame Marianne hinted to him again: 'Young people have some ideas of their own, and do not always impose their own ideas on the other, and rebellion often comes from this.' ’

Marquis Luthor stopped talking about the promotion of the knighthood and the development of the mines, he pondered for a moment, and changed the subject: "You can recruit some subordinates at the Advanced War College, I know several well-known college directors in Bena City, you can go to their colleges and choose at will, provided that you also have to convince those students to want to join your private army." ”

"Lord Luther, I don't want those newcomers who have just graduated from the Academy." Surdak touched his nose and rejected Marquis Luthor's offer.

Marquis Luthor asked with some surprise, "Then what do you have a good idea?" ”

Surdak expressed some of his understanding of the formation of an army: "I want to recruit some veterans who are willing to stay on the battlefield, many veterans who have rich combat experience, but are forced to return to the countryside because they were wounded on the battlefield, they have no life skills, so many people's lives are very difficult, and I want to find such veterans." ”

Marquis Luthor glanced at Surdak again, and he remembered that Surdak had climbed out of the hoplite battalion step by step, so he had a deeper understanding of these lowest-level veterans, and it seemed that he still had some prejudices against the new army of the academy, which led him to have the idea he had now.

Marquis Luthor said: "But they have not received formal knightly training, I think you can form a cavalry regiment or a swordsman regiment, next spring is the graduation season of the Advanced War College, you should not miss this good opportunity, come and tell me when you think about it." ”

Surdak nodded and said, "Okay, I'll think about it." ”

The Marquis of Luthor then said: "But if you insist on choosing some retired veterans, although I don't agree with that, I can still provide you with some convenience, I know many lords, there are always some veterans who have retired from their army, I will have these lists given to you another day." ”

Only then did Surdak realize that a problem that had plagued him could be solved with a slight movement of his fingers in front of Marquis Luther.

"That's great." Surdak said happily.

Marquis Luthor signaled that Surdak didn't have to sit up straight every time he spoke, he could relax and eat well, and he said kindly: "I still have some expectations for you, I hope you can form a new army as soon as possible, don't miss my rotation next year, this will be a rare opportunity to train the army." ”

Surdak hurriedly agreed: "I will hurry up and do this." ”

There was a rush of footsteps at the door of the restaurant, and everyone's eyes then fell on the door of the restaurant, only to see Hathaway and Beatrice walking in from the cloister in delicate long dresses, followed by four maids, two of them entered the restaurant, their eyes fell on the Surdak mountains almost at the same time, the two looked at each other, first slowed down to the Marquis of Luthor, and saluted the Marquis of Luther and Lady Marianne and the other lady.

Then his eyes fell on Surdak, who also stood up very politely at this time, looking at Hathaway with gentle eyes, and Hathaway lowered her head a little shyly.

Although it was winter, in the castle, Hathaway was still very bold to wear a low-cut long skirt, the waist was tightly cinched, so that a white greasy deep groove appeared on the squeezed chest, and the delicate collarbone and long neck made the large area of skin on the chest more dazzling.

Lady Marianne nodded to Marquis Luthor, and only then did Marquis Luther say to Surdak: "Okay, I still have some official business to take care of, and then, I should leave some time for you young people." ”

The two ladies took Marquis Luthor by the arm and left the dining room.

……

Hathaway's white chin was slightly raised, her slender figure was slender, and her snow-white neck and delicate collarbones made her look like a beautiful white swan.

Her lips were slightly raised, her blue eyes were fixed on Surdak, and Hathaway put her hands behind her back, holding her high chest, and neither of them spoke, just looked at each other silently in the dining room.

Constantly compressing the space between each other, until the two were close together, Surdak put his hand around Hathaway's thin waist, held the back of her neck with the other, and kissed her deeply.

It wasn't until the two of them were out of breath that they separated from each other.

Beatrice squeezed Hathaway, who was one step ahead, and looked deeply at Surdak with a pair of bold and passionate eyes, the round-faced Beatrice's eyes were pale brown, she looked a little like a thought-free and bold gypsy girl, always showing two teeth when she laughed, and her skin was another dazzling white, somewhat smooth like brocade.

She didn't even wait for Surdak to come up, she directly turned into a gorgeous colorful butterfly, threw herself into Surdak's arms, and kissed Surdak.

The heat in the restaurant continued to rise, until there was a row of footsteps at the door in the direction of the kitchen, and the middle-aged butler walked up with a row of cooks holding plates in their hands, and Beatrice withdrew from Surdak's arms, restraining a certain physical impulse, Hathaway and Beatrice sat opposite Surdak, and the three of them made eye contact.

After a while, Hathaway and Beatrice took a sip of cold liqueur to lighten the mood.

Surdak finished the grouse breast on his plate, and the middle-aged butler added a little pie to him, which was not a delicacy to be eaten in Wall Village.

The two young ladies did not seem to have much appetite, so they ate only two slices of white bread smeared with some jam, drank a little sweet wine, and hurried to end their breakfast.

The three of them were not in a hurry to leave the restaurant, and the cook standing in the back removed the plate, and the butler ordered a honeyed tea mixed with herbs and lemon to be served.

Hathaway held the warm cup, walked to the window of the dining room and opened the heavy curtains, a dazzling ray of sunlight into the room, immediately eclipsed the magic wall lamps in the room, the snow in the garden was in full view, the thick snow piled up all over the courtyard, a large group of gardeners were clearing the snow in the garden.

The whole Marquis of Luther was a busy scene, and each steward was doing his own job, with a group of maids and servants cleaning and decorating the garden.

In the backyard of the training ground, a group of young people, presumably members of the younger generation of the Luthor family, were standing outside the training ground, several aristocratic ladies in fur coats, whispering to each other on the edge of the training ground.

Hathaway turned to Surdak behind him and asked:

"Do you want to see the whole castle?"

"I can't ask for it!"

Surdak replied with a smile.