Pepin rode his warhorse and walked in front of a procession of pagan pilgrims, his mount draped in elaborate riding clothes depicting the personal coat of arms of his red bull.

After thinking about it again today, he decided to quit the Royal Knights and become an "honorary knight", that is, a nominal member who no longer needs to fulfill his obligations and loses his "salary".

He hopes to be able to serve Lothar and become a fiefdom knight.

On the one hand, he revered the lord who had led them to successive victories.

On the other hand, he believed that serving Lothar was far more promising than staying in the Royal Order, and in less than a month, Lothar was promoted from baron to earl of Outer Jordan.

If it weren't for the age match, he would have suspected that Lothar was the illegitimate son of Baldwin IV.

Walk into the city.

Pepin was taken aback.

"Heavenly Father, this Hebron is so rich?"

Many of the people of Jerusalem had never been to Hebron once in their lives, because it was a holy place for the infidels, full of pagans who were supposed to be fighting with them.

A little further north, Bethlehem (also translated as Bethlehem) is a different story, with a constant stream of pilgrims each year because it is the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Baldwin IV had wanted to give it to Lothar.

But after discussing it privately with Lothar, he decided to abandon the idea.

Because of the large number of churches in Bethlehem, there were countless estates belonging to the church, and only one-third of the entire city belonged to the secular lord of Lothar.

You know, even Jerusalem donates a quarter of its tax dollars to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre every year.

This was the rule established during the time of Godfrey of Bouillon, the first king of Jerusalem (who only called himself the keeper of the Holy Sepulchre, but was the uncrowned king).

And Lothar, with her present power, could not have done anything to the estates of the Church.

He was not the Dharma King in his previous life who dared to get out of Avignon's captivity.

The clerical power of this era was still in its heyday, and even the emperors of Greater Germania and Hohenstaufen were anxious when the pope gave an order.

Hebron is different.

No matter how much he tosses the pagan local power, he will only be regarded as "a fanatic of faith who has inherited his father's style."

He wanted to "intensively cultivate" Hebron, develop this city full of infidels, and develop this city full of infidels into the foundation of his own rise, and then gradually control the entire county.

It's going to be quite a long process.

After dealing with these internal affairs, Lothar will only think about external expansion, he will not be like Renard who is arrogant, once he decides to fight, he must ensure that he has a good chance of winning.

"Ulm!"

At a glance, Pepin saw that standing outside the hall of the lords, the local tycoons who had just helped the infidels recover their arrears and were about to return to Ulm, who had reported to Lothar.

"Peping! What are you doing here? ”

Ulm surrounded him with a group of hussars.

"I'm quitting the Order."

Ulm was surprised: "How come? Haven't you been promoted to flag officer, why do you want to quit when you have a great future? ”

"Ha, I always feel uncomfortable if I don't follow the adults, anyway, the adults are still the Grand Master, and I follow him, and it is no different from continuing to stay in the Knights."

He chatted and laughed familiarly with the hussars.

The friendship of fighting side by side on the battlefield is quite solid in the absence of conflicts of interest.

Ulm hurriedly said, "Come in with us, your lord is holding a banquet, and you came at the right time." ”

At this time, in the main hall, Lothar was conversing happily with a baron wearing a red burqa with a golden fire dragon coat of arms depicted on it.

The baron, who is said to be a distant relative of the Wessex royal family in Albion, is named Argonne Rudolph, and is the lord of Petra, the largest baron in the Earldom of Outer Jordan.

Also in this war with Saladin, he accepted the commander of Lothar, and the two had a friendship of fighting side by side.

His territory was far from Hebron, but he returned to Jerusalem with the king.

He wanted to pay a visit, but when Hans learned that Lothar had rushed to the fiefdom, he immediately followed him with his servants and knights.

When he first saw Lothar, he quickly stepped forward, kissed the heraldic ring on Lothar's finger, and knelt down on one knee to show his allegiance.

"My lord, I, Argon of Rudolph, am willing to serve you, and I ask you to accept my allegiance."

Lothar hurriedly helped him up and played a scene of "deep love between kings and ministers" with him.

That's why Lothar held a banquet.

Although he received the titles of Lord of Hebron and Count of Transjordan, the vassals had previously been loyal to Renard.

In other words, even if Lothar became their lord according to the law, they were still counted as Vassals of Renard until they did not pledge allegiance to Lothar.

Even if they refuse to fulfill their obligations to Lothar, there is no reason for others to blame.

Lothar only retained the power to crusade against him, and could not appeal to Baldwin IV, because it was already a request for outside intervention that would inevitably provoke a backlash and discredit him.

Because this matter is itself an internal matter of the Countdom of Outer Jordan, if he cannot solve it himself, he will be regarded as the king's mouthpiece, lackey and minions.

In this day and age, this is not a good reputation.

Even King Philip of Gaul was still sitting in the position of the lord of Gallic Island (a royal territory around Paris, similar to the province of Zhili), and the vast territory beyond it was not controlled by King Philip at all.

The nobles of this era generally believed that it was good for the king to take care of his own affairs, not to meddle in the affairs of the vassals at will, and not to gather the vassals at every turn, and it was better to stay in touch with each other.

In the event of an invasion by a foreign enemy, it is a special situation.

Therefore, Lothar's first priority now is to accept the allegiance of all vassals.

Fortunately, Lothar led the knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the southern territories to achieve impressive results.

Naturally, many of them also have a crush on Lothar.

In addition, now, the angel statue that has been upgraded can increase the favorability of the direct vassals, so the vassals who came to meet him still gave Lothar a lot of face.

But giving face doesn't mean that you don't despise it.

In their eyes, the majesty of the new feudal lord was far less than that of the formidable Earl of Renard.

But it's a thing to be thankful for.

No one wants to have a strong vassal on their head, and as vassals, they prefer to divide power, but as lords, they want to strengthen their control over the knights' territories.

It's human nature, and even Lothar doesn't want Baldwin IV to meddle in the affairs of his court at every turn.

At this time, Pepin strode up and knelt down to Lothar: "My lord, I have renounced all positions and titles in the Order, and I only wish to serve under your command. ”

The atmosphere in the room fell silent.

Because they all know that they will witness a sacred ceremony of canonizing knights.

Lothar did not hesitate, even if it was a thousand dollars to buy horse bones, he had to be generous once, and he could not fool around with a mill or a bridge.

He placed his sword on the other's shoulder and said in a loud voice.

"Peping, you have served under me and made many meritorious deeds, but because you are a knight of the Royal Knights, I cannot give you a fief, and now, since you have chosen to pledge allegiance to me, I will make you lord of the Negev."

The Negev is a village with a population of almost six hundred, as well as a small copper mine.

It can be regarded as a knight's mining of the top grid.

Of course, after the transformation of Pepin into hussars, he could only essentially serve as a "tax collector" (jue) in the Negev.

In other words, it was just that Lothar extracted a higher vassal tax and had a deeper control over the region.

He will not be stingy with the salary he should be given.

Although Lothar can not pay a penny to the soldiers who have been transferred, he can even let them work under the other lords, and after earning the money, he will transfer it to Lothar.

Capitalists weep when they hear this.

But Lothar is not a devil!

Just because a soldier who has been transferred is more loyal, it doesn't mean that Lothar will squeeze that loyalty.

Isn't that another time for "good people should be pointed at gunpoint"?

Loyalty deserves to be rewarded!

No matter how that loyalty comes from.

Baron Argonne exclaimed, "I remember you, Knight Pepin, you are indeed a warrior who is good at war. My lord, I have to congratulate you on a strong hand. ”

Everyone immediately reacted and toasted Lothar one after another.

Beautiful words don't cost money, baskets and baskets are smashed on Lothar's head, if he is not mentally tough, I am afraid that he may really get lost in people's praise.

Things are going well.

All the vassals saluted Lothar with great pleasure, and their allegiance, including the pagan powers, was also flattering, promising an additional tax at the end of the month.

No one jumped out to give Lothar a chance to slap him in the face.

This is understandable.

How long has it been since he sent out the invitation?

I was able to come so quickly, and I already had the idea of showing goodwill.

If you really don't give Lothar face, you just don't come.

After the guests and hosts were happy, after bidding farewell to these people.

Andreas said happily, "My lord, they have brought a lot of money, especially Baron Argonne, who has given you ten uncastrated stallions. ”

Lothar smiled, "Ryan, the head of the stable, must be very happy, this is the first stallion in the territory. ”

(End of chapter)