The knight's domain is the most basic territorial ruling unit. It is usually composed of manors and villages with a population of several dozen families.

It is the underlying cornerstone of the feudal ruling system.

Each knight leader had a heavily armed knight, a cavalry attendant, 5-6 infantry squires, and hundreds of levies.

In normal times, knightly lords do not have to pay taxes to their superior lords. And their duty was to have at least forty days a year to bring their army to work for the lord.

For feudal lords, feudalism was an option that could provide a high-quality army at a low price.

Due to the constraints of transportation and communication, it is very unrealistic and exaggerating for a lord to rule a vast territory directly.

For example, the dynasties in the East needed a lot of expenses to support an extremely large group of civil officials. Another example is the Eastern Roman Empire, which not only had to maintain a large number of useless officials, but also often overthrew the emperor by local powerful generals.

Therefore, in contrast, the feudal system, especially the knightly lords with smaller feuds, was a relatively cost-effective way for lords.

First, there is no need for a lot of ruling costs, such as recruiting tax collectors, sheriffs, etc. Second, it is possible to have a free army that has always had considerable combat effectiveness, and it is not necessary to spend money to use this army for a period of time every year.

And a knight leader can provide an army of 1 heavy cavalry, 1 light cavalry, 5-6 heavy infantry, and hundreds of light infantry, so that even a small baron can pull out thousands of troops in an instant, effortlessly.

A single king can mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops.

Of course, this is only for a short time, and after a long time, you still have to give money.

In early medieval England, it was common for four knighthoods to form a barony, and four baronies to form an earldom.

Due to the fact that the size of the standard barony and the standard county varies from country to country, and at the same time, due to the existence of inheritance, land sales, wars and other means of territorial expansion, the actual title does not represent the strength of a nobleman.

Generally speaking, for high-ranking nobles, they have nearly 20% of the land in their hands, which will be reserved for the knight class, the remaining 3-4% will be reserved for vassals, and the rest is their direct domain.

Therefore, the most effective way to judge the strength of a nobleman is to see how many knights he has who are directly loyal to him.

For example, in the county of Allgäu, the knights who are loyal are only in their early thirties, and their strength is very average among the counts.

At the age of ten, Otto acquired a piece of land of his own, about the size of a barony, with six knightly domains.

In other words, even if Otto has now lost his status as heir, he is still a lord, he can call himself a baron, and he can raise one or two knights to be a dashing nobleman.

Of course, this kind of land reward for children was still relatively common in the early Middle Ages, and in the late Middle Ages, out of the concern of centralizing power and avoiding the division of family land, it was basically difficult for other children except the eldest son to enjoy this treatment.

But now, it is the early Middle Ages, when the feudal system is still quite strong, and it must be that the land that Er's can get by then will not be small.

Thinking of this, Otto felt a little heartache.

After obtaining the land, El is free to choose who he is loyal to, and if he does not choose to be loyal to him or simply become an independent lord, the land has nothing to do with the county of Allgäu.

Of course, the independent lord mentioned here is also relative, not referring to his own public establishment or anything, this must be looking for death, but allegiance to a higher lord, such as a duke, such as a king, etc.

A vassal of my vassals, not my vassals. This sentence is indeed a perfect portrayal of the feudal system.

The addition of new personnel has made Otto's work progress much faster, especially the two brothers Ghent and Ivo, perhaps thanks to the good education of the Baron's family, or perhaps the two brothers themselves are intelligent and show certain management skills.

Gent oversaw the repair and manufacture of weapons and armor, and Ivo helped Bard with the construction of the Eagle Castle, and everything was well organized.

And an unexpected news, at this time, came to the Algao collar, which seemed to be temporarily calm.

Otto's father, Count Bethold of Allgown, was seriously wounded on the battlefield!

Even though the Duke of Swabia entrusted the church to intervene and sought treatment from the cardinal, he still failed to cure the Count of Allgäu, who was still in a coma and was being escorted by Aargau's army and returned to the territory.

When he heard the news, Otto only felt that his head was "buzzing".

This is undoubtedly big bad news for Otto.

In fact, whether Count Allgäu returned to the territory in good health, or died outside without returning to the territory, it did not have much impact on Otto.

After all, his identity as the heir is stable and unquestionable. When the Count of Allgäu is alive, he will naturally shelter him, and when he dies, he is the new Count of Allgäu.

And the Count of Allgäu, who is now half-dead and unconscious, is the most difficult situation for Otto.

Without the administrative ability of the Count of Allgau, whose power of the territory will fall?

There is no need to think about it, Otto also knows that he will definitely fall into the hands of Lady Kaylin, and he will compete with the other party, and the disadvantage is too great.

At the end of the day, he is too young to have a power of his own.

As for Lady Kaylin, she has been in charge of the finances of her territory for more than ten years, and she already has enough authority and influence over her vassals.

If nothing else, Lady Kaylin's first step after she was in power was to take away her newly trained army. After that, whether you want to collect taxes or what you want to do, you will be greatly restricted, and you can't even guarantee your own safety.

Otto's time was running out, and as soon as Count Allgäu returned to the realm, Lady Kaelin would be in power. The earl who has no ability to rule, the heir is a minor, and the countess rules the territory, and no one can find fault with it.

Instead of sitting back and waiting, it's better to give it a go.

A dangerous idea popped into Otto's mind, which he immediately rejected. Even if that cheap dad has nothing to do with his real soul, there will be no psychological burden if he goes to the knife, but once the matter is revealed, then he will be completely finished.

Killing relatives, whether in the East or in the West, is to be blamed, except for the Slavic barbarians and a certain green Rome, once the nobles have this kind of behavior, the loss of noble status is light, and the heavy may be punished by death.

After all, in the eyes of the church, this is a sin that cannot be forgiven.

Killing Count Allgäu didn't work, and in addition to the terrible effects, the more important reason was that there were no trustworthy men.

Don't look at the loyalty of Wade and the others to him now, but how much of this central component is because of his identity as heir, and how much is because he is the son of the Count of Allgau, how much is loyal to him personally?

If this path doesn't work, then we can only see if we can seek the support of the "real power" in the territory.