Before arriving in Ivangorod, I already knew about Bishop Oleg's arrangements.

I was ordered to meet with a Svadian nobleman, an envoy of the Emperor of the West, from the great Norman family.

The family lived in two empires in Swadia, scattered across the continent to raise troops for His Majesty the Emperor, some of course, destined for Paraven and others for the Frost Castle. It was not difficult for these Normans to recruit a mercenary brigade, but it was difficult for them to recruit a boyar, let alone the Valan Guard, who represented the ancient honor.

We left the small city of East Lake early one morning and headed to Ivangorod to meet Bishop Oleg and his Svadia guests. After that, we will no longer climb over the mountains, but go directly south to the Ryazan River, where we will go west on the boat provided by the Western Saharas. In Rhodok we will stay for a while, where we will change ships and then we will take a Swadian ship to Parabun, the capital of the world. Due to the severe weakness of the Rhodok navy and the connivance of the pioneers, the pirates in the western seas are now rampant, and the bad weather has caused the ships of Swadia not to be able to dock at any time, and our stay in Rhodoc may be longer. There, I was even able to travel inland.

Due to the coldness of Swadia, Rhodok has now changed his tactics and turned to friendship with the two North Sea countries and the Kujits, and for the two Swadias, Rhodok has also abandoned his political views and switched to trading with both sides. There is not a single place where Rhodok's workshop is not in full swing, an iron ingot worth fourteen silver coins, after being beaten by craftsmen. can be turned into an iron sword or a scimitar worth ninety silver coins; No one wants to buy the leather, after it has been tanned and cut. It will become a belt or boots that double the price; Not to mention the large quantities of grain that are shipped each year from the grain-producing areas of the Rhodoks. These things allow the poorest inhabitants of the Rhodok to live better than most of Swadia. Rodok's only drawback is that while some of her plains are extremely rich, the mountainous terrain has become a bottleneck for her continued development. The advantage of the swelling wealth of Svadia. Let every resident of Rhodok have a kind of sympathy for Svadia in their hearts, and the voice of Greater Svadia has been rising in recent years, and there are even Rhodoks who shout that there are three Svadia - Rhodok - that is, South Svadia, and they also have their own natural right to join the competition in Svadia.

This is not a good sign for Rhodok, and the fact that Rhodok is rich does not mean that Rhodok is strong enough. If it goes all out to develop overseas, maybe it will become the most promising country on the mainland, but if it rashly enters the war-ridden North Continent, maybe her hard-won freedom will be lost in an instant.

When my team left Xiaodonghu City, most of the residents were still asleep. We were ready on a cold morning, half of the men on horseback, and the rest of the soldiers were carrying wagons or mule carts, loaded with food, arrows, armour, daggers, and tents. The ropes, the cloth, and the banners of the Valan Guards were put away and rolled up in a ball and stuffed into the carriages, and it was best not to show them to everyone until the Norman nobles had officially confirmed that we belonged to the Svadian Empire, which is why I chose to rebuild the Valans in the tomb. We boarded the inland in three hours on six riverboats.

Vladimir and Alexei came to say goodbye to me. Alexey said only one word to me and left in a hurry.

Farewell, Little East Lake City.

The half-eagle and half-dove banner of the Valanne family fluttered in the sky, and the Valanne soldiers gathered together. The axe blades and helmets shone brightly, and smoke rose as they walked. The Valan soldiers were good soldiers, and they never spoke when they were marching. Only the neighing of mules and horses and the crunch of the wheels of large carts. The helmet of the Valan soldiers is a saucer-shaped helmet with an iron mask. However, this type of mask is different from the Wiki style, where the Wikibians carefully depict a human face on top of the mask. But the Varan Guard's mask would only leave two pure round lookout holes at each end of the eye. The armor of the Valans is made of iron plates, which is relatively lightweight, and in ancient times, the Valan Guardians would have the same battle skirt as the Chanda army, but now it has been changed to a chain mail skirt. The soldiers' boots were made of six pieces of iron and iron rings, and the inner lining was made of calfskin, which was very strong and fit the feet. On the chest, the Varan soldiers wore chain mail, and on the chest there was a round iron chest guard in the shape of Salander, which was taut with four thick leather belts, faintly straining the bulging muscles of their bodies. The varan soldiers' capes were all red, but they were generally only worn during ceremonies or when the emperor was garrisoned, and they were taken off and given to the men to take care of during marches and battles. The Valan soldiers preferred long-handled axes to spears, and their shields were round shields made of pine, and the Valan guards used the short swords of the Chanda people in the choice of short weapons, and some of the Valan soldiers wore marching hoes.

This is all my soldiers, eighty-four Valan warriors.

Half of them were veterans, and the rest had never been to battle, but they were sturdy Varans, most of whom hunted or logged all year round, making them easy to train. The Valan's tenacity and harsh living conditions make them natural warriors. Each of the six veterans Giovanni gave me was capable of leading twenty to thirty soldiers, which allowed me to double the size of the Valan's Guard when I needed to. Once these six officers had trained more deputies, the size of the Valan Guard could continue to grow. However, I have no plans to expand the guard at the moment, because I don't know what it is like in Palaubun, where a small number of soldiers are easier to adapt to a variety of circumstances, and if there are too many soldiers, you will run into all kinds of troubles—for I am not in charge of a fiefdom, and the greater the number of soldiers, the more convenient it is to deal with affairs, and we have to deal not with farmers, birdcatchers, thresheers, petty merchants, and robbers, but with barons, noblewomen, court women, nobles, and His Majesty the Emperor. I need savvy soldiers, not reckless warriors.

The only people I can trust now are the Varans of the Kugit and Giovanni. These people will never be swayed by the temptations of Paravon. But the rest of the Valan soldiers needed to be observed for a long time. For my worries. The Valan officers sent by Giovanni had long expected this, and they said that as long as the orders of the legion were strictly followed. And I must not be the captain of the captain to first transgress the prohibition, and then increase my majesty with severe punishment, and give them justice with an equal reward, so that in a short time there will be order within the Legion among the Valan soldiers, which will make all the Valan soldiers easy to manage, and will inspire their loyalty.

I don't have much experience with this, and I have to rely on my officer Valan. For things that are not capable of themselves. You must learn to leave it to someone with expertise to take care of it, and if you take care of everything, you will make everything a mess. I can only barely lead a squadron of hundreds of men as an officer in a squad, so I have to rely on soldiers who have been on the battlefield to assist me. At its peak, the Valan's Guard numbered more than 16,000 men, with a total of three legions, thirty brigades, and one hundred and fifty squadrons, under the management of three corps commanders. When fully staffed, it is the same as a normal legion. Those Valan captains were first-rate warriors and incomparably strong nobles, as well as the most shrewd of propertied men. The Varan Legionnaires used their power to form alliances with many nobles, and their influence in the Chanda court grew day by day. For a long time. The Valan Guard was even able to influence the appointment of a provincial governor, as well as the life and death of some nobles whom the emperor did not like. The Valan Guard, having swelled to its maximum number, were quickly struck. The Valans were too involved in the royal strife, which led to a Chanda emperor using the Valan Guard to come to power. Immediately raised the butcher's knife against the Valan Guard. For a long time, the number of the Valan Guard dropped to the weaving of a legion. And for the most part, the Guard was dissatisfied. After Chanda was invaded by foreign tribes, the emperor's own assets were no longer able to support such a large-scale guard, so the Chanda guard gradually declined, and the number of lost people could not be replenished, and finally it was disbanded. From then on, the emperor's personal guards could no longer make the nobles fearful, nor could they make the barbarians flee as they had done before.

In Svadia today, and around the world, even if there are no names of emperors and kings, these emperors and kings are far less powerful than the kings of the Zenda era. After the glorious victories of the general of the Chanda era, all the lands he occupied were given to the 'fathers' of the Senate, and the nobles could not take possession of the land themselves. The emperor at that time was not in the same class as anyone else, he was alone and high, and all of them were nothing more than his long-term and short-term servants. But now, even the emperor of Svadia is only the noblest of the nobility, and he does not exist alone from the nobility. So in fact, in ancient times, the emperor had a standing Valan guard, which would put a huge pressure on the nobles who only had the manor guards, but for the nobles today, the emperor's army is not as significant as it used to be - because each nobleman actually has his own army, and holds the rights of the people in his own territory like a king.

In the western world, rights and freedoms actually mean the same thing.

The boundaries of the rights of emperors and kings are the starting point of the freedom of the nobles. When the Svadian aristocracy defined freedom, they usually enumerated their rights to do anything. There was once an emissary of the Emperor Svadia who was expelled from the realm by the nobles for raising the number of recruits in the nobles' realm without authorization. The nobles would often rise up against the Emperor, but they would not oppose the system of the Emperor, the King, and the Aristocrats – they would only 'legitimately' raise troops against His Majesty the Emperor when the Emperor touched the boundaries of the rights agreed upon by everyone. Once the dispute was settled in the war, the outcome was determined by the law, creating a new boundary of power between the emperor and the nobility.

Perhaps my Valan's Guard meant more to Haraus than to actually change the balance of power between him and the nobles. This is a good thing for me, because it will not cause me too much resentment of the nobles, and it will be easy for me to form friendships with them.

I have in my possession the memoirs of the warans of the Chanda period, which the Copernicus scholars had brought to me. These memoirs were banned during the Zen period because they involved too many political scandals and were accused of being biased. It wasn't until after the collapse of the Chanda Empire that scholars collected these materials on top of the ruins of Chanda. and published after rectification. The volume I have in my hand tells of the triumph of His Majesty the Emperor, "My Valan guards follow His Majesty the Emperor. Pushing away the inhabitants who tried to get close to His Majesty, the enraged citizens cursed loudly that His Majesty was a hypocrite, and professed to love the common people, but did not dare to really come among them. The Emperor smiled apologetically at them, and after the triumphal ceremony, he walked among the commoners in his shoulder-baring robes. A citizen hastily threw a wax tablet beside His Majesty the Emperor, and His Majesty must have seen it, and the picture of the Emperor's wife having an affair with a general was drawn on the wax tablet'''" Many of these accounts are very vivid. But it also often confuses me, because the nobles there are completely different from the nobles around me, and the emperor is very different from the emperor I know - sometimes I think that those emperors seem to be restrained at every turn, but sometimes it says that the emperor often throws nobles into the arena to feed the lions.

Now is the day of harvest, and the fields that should have been golden are now overgrown with weeds, and occasionally the fields are lonely and surrounded by weeds, and the abandoned carts are left all over the plains, and the canopies have been blown by the wind. The wheels were also removed, and the peasants in a daze would look at us with their tools and not say a word as we passed by.

A few weeks later. In the city of Ivangelode, I met Bishop Oleg and the Svadian nobleman.

When I met them, Anastasia, who was full of arsenic, was chatting happily with the somewhat balding nobleman. The nobleman seemed to enjoy Anastasia's company, when I arrived. He took Anastasia's hand with some regret and agreed to meet her again after dinner.

Anastasia said with a smile. "My cousin is a very nice man, he will talk to you," Anastasia took my hand in the soft arm and kissed me on the cheek, as affectionate as she had seen me yesterday, not at all like we had been separated for more than half a year. "So, westerners, I'll quit first."

The Svadia nobleman stood up, smiled and bowed to her slightly.

Who did Oleg turn Anastasia into?

When I looked at the bishop, he only smiled smugly, as if he knew his work would surprise me.

The nobles of the Norman family put away their smiles, showed me a gentle but majestic expression, and extended their hands to me, "By the orders of His Majesty Emperor Haraus, the only emperor between Paraven and the Frost Castle, the true master of South Svadia, and the patron of the North Sea and the steppes, I have come to accept your application for asylum. ”

I gently dragged his hand and touched my forehead and lips, "I sincerely appreciate Your Majesty's kindness. If you wish, I will tell you everything about me. If Your Majesty has any doubts, I will know everything. ”

The nobles of the Norman family nodded, "Bishop Oleg has already told me everything about you, Viktor. Varaneboyar. You can call me Robert. The Earl of Norman. You should swear allegiance to me, and I have been entrusted by your Majesty to see me as if you were His Majesty himself. ”

"Now?"

"It's now."

"I'm afraid I can't swear to you." I said to him.

"Why?"

"Will my knighthood be recognized in the West? How can my guards be accommodated? Will I be honored to defend Your Majesty? I asked him, "If these questions are not explained, perhaps I will not be able to swear to you hastily." Of course, there is another reason why I cannot swear allegiance to you, and that is that I thought I would be given the honor of personally swearing allegiance to His Majesty Harlaus. ”

Count Robert frowned, and Bishop Oleg hurriedly said, "Viktor boyar has lived in the barracks since he was a child, and he is relatively straightforward, please be considerate. ”

The Count smiled and said, "If your family is like yours, I am not at all surprised by the misfortune that has befallen yours. ”

I met his gaze and said to him, "Yes, Lord Earl?" ”

"Well, your title will remain boyar, and Your Majesty will love to introduce your title to his friends, and Your Majesty likes special things, do you understand? Lord Boyar? Said Earl Robert. Actually, you'll be treated like a viscount. Although your boyar is no more than the baron of the west, this is a special gift from your majesty. You will be rewarded with nine pounds of gold paid by the royal family for a year. If in Parabun. You will be granted the garrison gates or His Majesty's manor, no one will be able to enter the palace in the first place, you should have this awareness, Viktor boyar. If you are assigned outside of Paraven, in the army you will be an assistant to the counts, but I suppose you will not speak of His Majesty the Emperor, or even the brave barons, until you have proven your abilities. If it's in the city. You will assist the mayor in maintaining his majesty against the citizens who oppose His Majesty and the unruly little nobles. As for the pay, you will be paid the full amount of thirty cavalrymen. Still have questions? Lord Boyar? ”

"The pay of thirty horsemen? I have brought for Your Majesty fifty cavalrymen and thirty heavy infantrymen. Could it be that His Majesty has given me a fief and can get taxes? ”

"Fiefdom? Not an inch of land in Svadia is idle, don't be delusional about having a fief in the first place, this requires a lot of merit in exchange. But Your Majesty will not stop you from holding the property, you have to find a way to feed your people, and if you can't support them, dismiss a group of people. Or rent your soldiers to mercenary traffickers to fight for you, so you can also earn a sum of money. Your Majesty doesn't keep idlers, and your first few years in Swadia will only require you to guard the manor or the docks. Sometimes it's even just the imperial treasury, why does Your Majesty need to bear hundreds of troops for you? Of course, when you really get the honor of the garrison palace one day. Your Majesty will do your best to bear the burden, and perhaps allow you to expand the size of your guard. ”

"We are the Valan Guard. But to guard the city gates and manors? How is this different from a mercenary? ”

"The difference is that you can get a knighthood, you can get your majesty's care, you get a fixed salary, you get permission to buy property in Swadia, and you will become a Swadian nobleman." Count Robert said. "None of these mercenaries. Am I clear enough? ”。

"Yes, sir."

"Swear to me! From now on you will be a vassal of His Majesty Harlaus, and when you arrive in Parabun, Your Majesty will summon you, I promise. ”

He drew his sword, and I fell down on one knee and accepted the shelter of Svadia against me, an exiled nobleman.

A week later, I, along with Anastasia and her two female companions, plus all my soldiers, left Ivangelod and began my life in exile.

Within a year of becoming a boyar, I was exiled by the Parliament, which is naturally due to Oleg. During the council, the members of the Romanovs remained silent about the reason, while the other nobles speculated that I had been exiled because of my collusion with the Duchy of Valan, and this rumor was the best protection for me. Although the more I think about it, the more ironic it becomes.

When she rode with me, Anastasia always had a smile on her face, as if she had completely changed as a person. She calls me her cousin, and I am the exile of the Valenne family.

"Anastasia." I said, "What have you been through in the past six months?" ”

"Nothing," she said lightly, "don't you know, cousin?" ”。

"I'm not your cousin."

"Then learn to get used to having a relative like me, Victor." Her smile slowly faded, "You have no idea what kind of vortex you're involved in. When you think that everyone else is stupid and at your mercy, maybe you are such a character yourself. ”

"Maybe."

The sky was overcast, and it was about to rain.

"Timmy," she said by my real name, "will you be nostalgic for Vecchia?" ”。

Will it? Absolutely.

When I left the city of Little East Lake, Vladimir and Alexei came to bid me farewell. Alexei, still wearing his high neck guard, looked at me, but didn't say a word. Only Vladimir came to talk to me and told me to take care of myself after I went to the west.

When they were finally leaving, I couldn't help but ask Alexei, 'Can't you really forgive me?' You saved me from the river and I will be forever grateful to you. Why do you want to be so repulsive to me forever, I don't belong to the Romanov family in the first place, and I turned my back on the Romanovs, but it doesn't mean that I turned my back on you. I beg your pardon. ’

Alexei turned the horse's head and looked at me, still silent, cold and terrible.

We were silent for a while, and Daddy Vladimir sighed.

'Victor,' he said, 'do you know who nominated you last,' he shook his head, 'it's Alyosha''

'How is it possible, he won't even say a word to me''''

Vladimir rode up to Alexei's side and untied Alexei's neck guard, and underneath the neck guard was Alexei's terrible neck, where there was a dark wound that had healed.

'The arrows of the Valans wounded Alyosha in the throat, and poor Alyosha could not say a word anymore, so how could he talk to you?' He's been worried about you, Vidor. ’

I was shocked and looked at Alexei without a word.

Alexei smiled at me kindly, and his eyes were still as humorous as when I first met him, as if to joke with me that he was unlucky, that he had a belly of words, but he would be dumb for the rest of his life. He pinched his throat, pointed to the small Donghu City behind him, and with all his strength, he hoarsely and with difficulty said a word that was out of tune, and it was the only word he said to me.

'Home. ’

Then the two of them waved at me and rode away.

Looking at the backs of the two of them leaving, my tears flowed for the Romanov family for the first time, and I felt for the first time that Little East Lake City really had the warmth that belonged to me.

Will I be nostalgic for Vecchia? I will always miss this place.

My Mysera, dear Alyosha, they are all here.

"Nostalgia for Vecchia?" I looked blankly ahead, "No, not at all, Aniah. (To be continued......)