"Barony Matthew covers an area of 4,000 square kilometers, with 17 villages, 6 estates, and two towns, namely Jinxi Town and Sandor Town, with a total population of about 9,000 people, including more than 4,000 freemen. However, most of the freedmen of Barony Matthew were not outcasts, but descendants of vassals and lords, who were loyal to their territory and could be armed into a militia at any time. ”

"Baron Matthew usually lives in Fort Sandol, and there are 6 lords under his command, 5 of whom are the descendants of knights who have been divided into the Baron Matthew family for generations. At present, these 5 lord families only have 1 knight and 15 probationary knights, plus Baron Matthew's son Lord James, Baron Matthew has 2 knights and 15 probationary knights. Baron Matthew has more than 200 full-time guards, 50 elite guards, 30 light cavalry, and can also mobilize 3,000 militiamen. Among the barons of the Buryat family, Baron Matthew is considered to be very powerful. ”

"Baron Matthew himself was an ordinary nobleman, but he was a generous and humble man, and he was deeply loved by the people. The baron had a son and a daughter, the son was the James Knight, and the daughter Judy was a famous beauty, and at the age of 16 she was favored by the Viscount of Buryatia and became a viscountess. Liujin Town is a dowry gift from the Viscount of Buryatia to Baron Matthew, and the Viscount also gave Baron Matthew a lot of exquisite equipment.

In addition to his children, Baron Matthew had three sisters and a younger brother, one of whom was married to a silver knight of the Marquis of Solim's family, and the baron's younger brother was a knight of the Solimm family and had the status of a lord. ”

Balor glanced in awe at Victor, who was playing with the wind element, and then stood respectfully waiting for his master's inquiry.

Victor's index finger was torn with a blue air current, the wind was originally colorless, and the blue color was the embodiment of the Void Wind element. The blue wind elemental spun faster and faster at his fingertips, letting out a whimpering cry, Victor felt that the tyrannical wind element was no longer willing to continue coiling, he flicked his fingers, and the wind element turned into a thin ring and shot straight at the iron golem target 5 meters away. "Bang", the iron puppet made of fine iron shook backwards, and the place where it was hit by the wind element rippled with air currents, and the room suddenly resounded with a tearing sound.

Observing that there was no damage to the place where the iron golem had been hit, Victor shook his head helplessly. This blow was enough to kill and injure ordinary people without armor, but it was still far from the Azure Moon described by Sword Saint Ravin, but to be able to manifest the Void Wind Element, Victor could be regarded as entering the house, after all, he had only been cultivating the Azure Battle Technique for a few months. Victor cleaned up his mood and smiled at Balor: "I didn't expect that in such a short time, Mercury would find so much information, and I am still quite satisfied." ”

"My lord, this is just the most basic information, and you can learn it by asking casually, but it's really nothing. Balor replied disapprehantly.

Victor's eyes lit up and he asked, "Oh, do you have anything else to add?"

Balor nodded and said, "My lord, according to the information from the mercury, it can be found that there are still many problems in Baron Matthew's family. After the death of the Viscount of Buryatia, Baron Matthew not only lost his biggest backer, but also faced oppression from the viscount's younger brother, Lord Austin. This can be seen in the baron's forced collection of offerings, Baron Matthew, who is a benevolent lord who insists on collecting offerings after the disaster of his people, and he is obviously under a lot of pressure, which also shows that Madame Judy is no longer able to influence the Buryat family's decision. Because, Lord Austin has been promoted to the rank of Grand Knight. ”

Victor frowned and said, "I want to hear your opinion, speak boldly!"

"Yes. Barol recounted his analysis to Victor in detail.

It turned out that when Ant-Man invaded the Buryat Territory, the Viscount of Buryatia and his wife and children were returning to Yeliu City from Liujin Town. After the two sides encountered, in order to protect his wife and children from retreating, the Viscount led his personal guards to lead away the ant colony, and the city defense officer of Liujin Town organized more than 600 militia to support the Viscount of Buryatia, but instead of saving the Viscount of Buryatia, even 600 young militiamen were not spared.

After the plague, the families of these refugees approached Baron Matthew and cried out, demanding a bereavement pension and a waiver of several years of service. Although Baron Matthew was a benevolent lord, it was still difficult to come up with a pension of tens of thousands of gold soles, so he asked Yeliucheng for help. But what Baron Matthew didn't expect was that Yeliucheng not only refused his request for help, but also asked him to send food to Yeliucheng. Because, the Buryat family is now in charge of Lord Austin, and Lady Judy and her son are already in jeopardy.

"Baron Matthew could not allow Austin to find an excuse to strike at Lady Judy and her son. Therefore, instead of giving care to the orphans and widows, the baron forced the collection of grain. This is tantamount to abandoning the families of the dead refugee soldiers. In fact, most of those who were driven out to gather food were outcasts. Ironically, James Knight was completely unable to comprehend Baron Matthew's intentions, and thought that his father was a cowardly good old man. ”

After Balor finished speaking, Victor couldn't help but sigh, for a creature like a lord, kindness is a proper luxury. Caring for the militia who died was supposed to be the right thing to do, but Baron Matthew decisively abandoned the families of those militiamen when his daughter and family were in trouble.

Victor could also think of how Baron Matthew operated with his knees, first he made a blank slip to the family members, and then asked the chiefs of each village to hand over the food, and the rest was not to worry about the rest. Families who have lost their breadwinners will inevitably become the targets of other families, because they all have many freeman relatives, and those orphans and widows can be evicted in order for their relatives to gain consular status. Baron Matthew could have killed three birds with one stone by just sitting back and watching his achievements, without having to pay a huge pension, surrendering food to the family to support his daughters, relieving the pressure of the population in the realm and the contradictions between the old and the new, and without damaging his reputation in the slightest, the only victims were the poor women and children.

"Baron Matthew can't even afford tens of thousands of gold soles to have a pension, but I'm afraid that there is no oil and water. How much do you think he's going to send over Barol?" Victor asked with a smile.

But Barol said, "My lord, if I am not mistaken, Baron Matthew will not only deliver a huge ransom, but he will also come in person." ”

"Haha, I don't want to get involved in the troubled waters of the Buryatia, and if he wants to bribe me to get into the York family, he has made a mistake. However, if he dares to give it to me, he will accept it, and he can give you mercury as a fund. Victor laughed.

As she spoke, Lilia, dressed in a white dress, knocked on the open door a few times and smiled sweetly at Victor.

"Victor, Baron Matthew's car is heading towards the village of the estuary. ”

————————————————

Victor met with Baron Matthew at his estate.

Baron Matthew looked like he was in his forties, with a blue gown over a white fine linen shirt and a simple jeweled brooch pinned to the neckline, which was a very formal attire, but the baron's face was tired and haggard, and I don't know if it was due to the fatigue of the journey, because he was worried about family affairs, or both.

Compared with Baron Matthew's formal attire, Victor only wore a regular dress with narrow sleeves and a round neck, and the natural and casual back showed a very rude contempt. Victor also realized this, and he smiled: "Baron Matthew, I didn't expect you to come over in person, instead of sending the messenger first. ”

Matthew was still a little dissatisfied, but he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he heard this. When the two families negotiated the ransom and compensation plan, they often sent an envoy to negotiate first, and it was rare for the lord to negotiate face-to-face at the beginning, and the situation of Baron Matthew appearing in person was almost groveling, so he could not blame himself for being treated coldly. However, Baron Matthew did not come this time only to redeem the heir, he also wanted to establish a good relationship with his neighbors in order to protect himself.

"Lord Viscount Randall, I am deeply sorry for James's reckless behavior, and as is customary, I am willing to pay you a ransom to compensate you for your losses. ”

Baron Matthew's attendant placed a wooden box on the table, which contained twenty purple gold coins, each of which could be exchanged for 1,000 gold soles in the Imperial Chamberlain of Gambis, and twenty purple gold coins were equivalent to 20,000 gold soles. This money was a huge sum for most barons and more than the knightly ransom between the lords of Gambis. Of course, Victor doesn't like a lot of money, and his intelligence organization and his own civilian chamber of commerce need a large amount of start-up capital.

"Baron Matthew, you can take Lord James away. I assure you that Lord James was treated as he deserved, and in fact he was satisfied with my food here. ”

Baron Matthew smiled and said, "Thank you so much, as you already know, we are now short of food, so much so that my people have gone out in search of food. ”

The two lords started to talk about food, and during the chat, Viktor learned that although the Buryatia family had a lot of fertile land, their food reserves had always been insufficient, because their population was as high as 50,000. Gathering and hunting have always been important means for them to replenish food, but this time the ant plague caused the food harvest to fail, and the resources of traditional hunting grounds are no longer enough to make up for the food shortage, so the problem of displaced people has emerged. Baron Matthew said that he would do his best to restrain the people under his rule from migrating to Randall, but Victor said with a smile.

"Baron Matthew, although I am short of food here, I am willing to help those weak women and children as much as I can, but there are fierce wolves in that forest, and if there is no guide to them, they may die from the wolf's kiss, so I intend to establish a guard on the outskirts of the forest to warn and help the people. ”

Baron Matthew's face suddenly turned very exciting, and he could already tell that Victor was planning to take in the old and weak women and children who had been driven away. As far as he knew, the Yorks were worse off than the Buryatia, and they had a fight with the Swift Dragon Knights over food a few days ago. Could it be that the young lord was purely merciful?, however, Victor was willing to take up the burden, and Baron Matthew was happy to see it happen, and he praised: "Your Excellency the Viscount is really merciful!"

Victor smiled, the tacit agreement between the two sides was reached, and Baron Matthew would secretly instruct his men to send the families of those militiamen to the vicinity of the outpost, and then Victor's men would take over.

Victor, who has an alchemical militia, has no shortage of strong labor, and what he needs now is a stable and loyal populace. There are also hundreds of singles in the estuary village, and these women and children happen to form families with them, which helps to increase the people's dependence and sense of identity with the territory, and Victor does not want the people he has cultivated to be easily poached by other forces.

Of course, the population that Victor can accept is also very limited, considering that women and children eat less than men in their prime, 1,500 women and children is an acceptable range for Victor. And setting up a post can not only control the number of people who will flow in, but also exclude those who are disabled, old, stupid, well, and ugly, in short, you can choose people of relatively high quality to join Randall's collar. Victor was sure that with the cooperation of Baron Matthew, the population movement was completely controllable. Because, if no one comes forward to organize, the people will not dare to cross the territory of the ferocious wolf.

Seeing that Victor was in a good mood, Baron Matthew said in a timely manner: "By the way, I heard that Lord Nelson's weapon was cut off, so I specially brought a piece of pure gold and asked Lord Viscount to pass it on to Lord Nelson to thank him for his mercy in the duel. ”

The Spirit Monkey Militia took a half-pound piece of adamantite gold, and Victor was in a good mood, and he smiled, "I thank Your Excellency the Baron for your generosity. ”

"That's not much generosity. Baron Matthew waved his hand and said, "Compared with pure gold, which cannot be eaten or drunk, Lord Viscount is willing to give precious food to the relief of those freemen, which is really generous! ”

Baron Matthew sent money and fine gold, and also took a bite of the adults on the left and yours on the right, this almost humble attitude made Victor realize what it means to eat people with short mouths and short hands, but when the fiery red crystal in the wooden box was revealed, Victor couldn't care about being embarrassed.

"What is this?"

"This is the Flame Crystal, which is not only a rare gem, but also the Flame Knight's favorite elemental crystal. Baron Matthew replied.

Victor immediately understood that this was Baron Matthew's killer trick to win over him, and he thought that he would use this crystal to curry favor with Sylvia. However, Victor suspected that this was the red crystal in Busso's mouth, but in front of Matthew, Victor was not easy to find the alchemy militia next to him for verification.

"Your Excellency, how did you get this crystal?"

Victor's somewhat anxious attitude made Matthew feel like a reassuring pill, and he sighed: "Flame crystals are very rare, this was given to me by the Viscount of Buryatia, but unfortunately the Viscount died in the ant tide in order to protect his wife and children." This hunting event organized by His Majesty Catherine, there is no lord of our Buryat family to participate in. However, Lord Austin, the younger brother of the Viscount of Buryatia, was invited by the royal family. It is no wonder that Lord Austin bowed down to Her Majesty the Queen long before the ant tide, and it is said that Her Majesty had promised to give Lord Austin a barony, and that Austin had carried out one of the Queen's orders. ”

Victor's pupils shrank, and he said lightly, "Really?"