"Everyone, thank you for coming, to be honest, after we experienced such a war last winter, we really shouldn't continue to fight this year" On the morning of the 25th, all the vassals arrived at the Earl's Mansion in Maned Wolf City, and in a hall, the Earl sat in full costume on the chair in the center of the hall.

The vassals stood on the left in front of the count, and Rant, as one of the viscounts in the county, stood behind the elk viscount and ahead of the other barons.

To the right in front of the Count are the knights of his family, the captains of the Maned Wolf Order, and other members of the Maned Wolf family.

Everyone in the hall was looking at the Count, and Rand felt the displeasure of the barons behind him, but everyone remained silent.

"But, no matter what we have been through, the war of the new year will not wait for us to be ready, and we, as lords, have the responsibility of defending the land and protecting the people, and we must always be ready for war," the count continued.

"Gentlemen, just yesterday, February 24th, our neighbor Kirislav marched to the Frostwolf Forest under the pretext of suppressing bandits, and the king has received a message that they are going to carry out a special anti-bandit operation to completely eliminate the orc forces in the forest within a few months!" The earl's words aroused the alarm of the vassals, who knew that the so-called banditry of the neighboring country was in essence to occupy the forest territory and gain a larger territory.

"The eldest prince and I have decided that our dragon kingdom must help in this matter, and we can't let the neighbors eat the entire forest! Except for the three territories of Roth, Galloping Horse, and Blue Magpie, which were seriously affected by the war just a few years ago, other territories need to be dispatched. You don't have to worry, my Maned Wolf Knights will set off before the end of the month, and the knights will set off before the end of May, and we will try to occupy part of the forest by July! The Earl had finished all the plans, and the vassals below began to talk about it.

"My lord, each of our families suffered a lot of losses in the war at the end of last year, and I am afraid that we will not be able to send too many troops," Viscount Elk was the first to complain.

The viscounts and barons present are all old fritters, and they all know the division of family power in the kingdom today, and the earl of the white owl territory is served by King Dusen himself, and his own earl is probably coming up now to show goodwill to the king's own family.

You don't mind if your earl hugs his thighs and votes, the problem is that you have to see if you can do it before you do it.

There are not only half-orc bandits in the Frostwolf Forest, but also the Kirislavs, the Blue Dragon Family, the Red Dragon Family, the Dianqian Division, and the barbarians unique to the Frostwolf Forest.

No one in the hall would say a word of support, and it was clear that everyone didn't want to rush into the forest and fight the orcs.

"Don't worry too much, we and the army of the Northern Earl are not going to wipe out the entire Frostwolf Forest, the current idea is to pick a half-orc tribe to exterminate and occupy the surrounding woodlands. The group of orcs had a half-bull leader, and the entire tribe consisted of only 20-30 people. Count Owl has decided that he will send a team of 25 knights, and I will join them in a squadron of 50 men, as long as I can disperse this group of orcs. "The Count is quite confident in this plan,

"Fernando will lead a small group of Maned Wolf Knights, and your knights will be mainly responsible for garrisoning and clearing out stragglers." The earl saw that the vassals below still had no stubble, and smiled, and said in his heart that he was really a group of people who could not afford to be unprofitable.

"Don't worry, you won't let everyone do it in vain, the family that has contributed the most will be rewarded with a bottle of intermediate elixir."

"Oh?"

"Intermediate Elixir?" The vassals below quickly moved, the mid-level potion is a good thing, if the descendants of their own family are not angry, they need this potion to ensure the level of the family heir.

"Don't worry, Lord Earl, we will definitely bring someone here in three months." Viscount Elk was the first to take a stand.

"That's it, Lord Earl, we will definitely bring our own horses, and if you need us, we can come at the end of the month to make Fernando strong!" In a lively atmosphere, the meeting ended, and only Rand was a little blindsided.

"This... What's my business with the break? Why did you call me here? You don't need my help, why do you need me to come and listen? Rand walked out in a daze, but was halfway invited by Fernando Mane to another room in the castle.

"Viscount Lante, this war has nothing to do with you, and I called you here for the first territorial meeting this year, and there will be a banquet in the evening. I'm going to have a couple of dances in the next two days, so please come and have a good time, and you can get to know the children from other families. The Earl was still half-lying and talking, and unlike the radiant look just now, he now seemed to be just an old man who spent his old age in peace.

"Thank you for your kindness."

"There is another thing, this time to the north to recruit bandits, I want to buy 20 sets of iron armor and 25 black-scaled horses from you, of course, it is the original price, and you will not suffer."

"In addition, I bought a batch of his grain with the Marquis of Warnat Elk, and their old grain is even cheaper, only less than two years old, which is cheaper than the one in my warehouse, and it will be delivered next month, and you can buy it directly when you send the iron armor and horses."

"Thank you, sir" Rand also didn't quite understand why the earl could always buy old grain, but why not buy cheap grain?

However, Rand still didn't know very well, even if the grain in the south could offset some of the price of the iron armor, the total cost would still be quite large, how could such a stingy person like the Earl get such a large amount of money?

"Besides, you should know that the empire has a department called the Temple Division, right?" At the mention of this institution, the old earl's eyes lit up.

"Yes, I've heard of it."

"Stay away from them, the department's favorite thing to do is to sow discord among the nobility." The Earl watched Rand leave the room, and soon the butler of the Earl's Court came running to report.

"My lord, those two batches of magic plants exchanged for the frost wolf forest have been configured into potions, according to estimates, they should be able to sell for 2,000 gold coins in the king's capital, and 2,500 gold coins in our black market, and many of them are potions suitable for magical beasts."

"It's those two batches of magic plants that were exchanged for salt, right?" The Count glanced at the butler,

"Very good, Derek will sell the remaining two batches of salt to the southern forests this month, and the magic plants that can be exchanged for salt in the lizard tribe are even rarer"

"Yes, my lord" The Earl's butler was in charge of the finances of the entire Earl family, and he knew that since the end of last year, the finances of the Maned Earl had suddenly improved, thanks to the Viscount who had just left.