The long-term orc invasion wars have made almost every family in the border area wear filial piety, and everyone bleeds.

After the end of the Pioneer War a hundred years ago, the population growth of northern Xinjiang was also very slow. In order to defend against orcs, the Grant Kingdom promotes new nobles every three years to support the military aristocracy. Then they relied on the slave market trade and constantly transported slaves to the northern frontier in order to withstand long-term blood loss.

After defeating the orcs, the kingdom of Grant once again began to reward and punish them.

King Roger personally signed an edict punishing incompetent officials and promoting some of them to hereditary nobility.

This time the orcs invaded, and King Roger rewarded one viscounty and six baronies.

The bounty is slightly stronger than in previous wars.

But the nobility of Northern Xinjiang also had four baronial families who gave up their hereditary domains and fell into professional families. In fact, the number of noble territories increased, with only one viscount and two barons.

In fact, after each orc invasion war, a few territories were added and placed in the northern frontier of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, and the expansion of the Grant Kingdom was very slow.

In recent years, the territory of the three families of Haaland, Martins, and Jonathan has expanded a little more.

In this year's war, the biggest gain is the Haaland family.

After the war, Richard had accumulated enough military exploits and was awarded the title of second viscount.

Richard received the merits of the officers and soldiers, and in exchange for a bounty of more than 30,000 gold coins.

Because he didn't have that much cash, Richard could only issue a portion of paper bonds, which could be exchanged for various materials produced in the territory.

Richard had a high prestige among the officers and soldiers, so that the officers and soldiers could believe that the pieces of paper he gave were worth a lot of money.

After getting the paper bonds, the officers and soldiers immediately exchanged them for various supplies. It seems that there is little trust in this kind of paper bonds, neither soldiers nor officers, as if they hate it, and they are all spent immediately.

In fact, Richard issued paper bonds, which were actually a specific kind of paper money, which had violated the coinage rights of the Grant royal family.

It's just that the number of paper bonds he issued is small, the duration is relatively short, and there is almost no circulation, which can be regarded as a marginal game. If you let the royal family know that he distributes currency, I'm afraid it will come to him for trouble.

The reason why Richard took the risk of issuing paper bonds was actually to issue paper money in the future.

In order for the people to accept paper money, it is necessary to prepare in advance, and the issuance of paper bonds is a rehearsal.

Slowly through several rehearsals, let the soldiers know that pieces of paper can also be exchanged for various materials, and when paper money can be distributed, the opposition will be smaller.

When paying soldiers, they can use paper money to make bonds.

In this way, the territory can save a lot of gold coins, which can be used to import various materials, and the speed of development will be faster.

After the completion of the reward, the demarcation of the new territory has begun, and according to the gossip heard by William, the Grant Kingdom hopes to allocate more than 6,000 square kilometers of land to the eastern part of Harland's territory to the Harland family.

In this way, Greyfordson Castle is relatively safer behind Haaland's territory.

But the next time the orcs invade, the Harland territory will take on more responsibility.

Although the territory of 6,000 square kilometers is large, the land is not fertile, and it is basically mountainous terrain. If the fiefdom is chosen here, the Haaland family will be responsible for the defense of the two mountain passes, and the pressure will become very heavy.

Instead of bringing development to the Haaland family, the new territory will become a big burden.

Today, the Haaland family is the highest-ranking nobleman in Geda Province, and has a large number of voting rights in the noble council, and has the ability to bargain with the royal capital.

According to Richard's advice, try to expand the family territory to the north, and it is best to take the swamp basin where the necromancer is hiding.

Not only did the swampy basin have half of the mage towers built, but the basin has been developed to reclaim 26,000 hectares of paddy fields and feed more than 200,000 people.

This basin of several hundred square kilometers will become the foundation of the Haaland family.

At that time, with this basin as the center, occupying a large area of land in the south and central part of the Eagle Mountain Range will be enough to develop a powerful mountain dukedom.

Richard's opinion was recognized by William, and now in the Haaland family, Richard's prestige has surpassed William and has become the real head of the Haaland family.

Although William is a father, he has to follow Richard's baton at this time.

William constantly interceded with relationships, and even took a long leave for the division of the new territory, and went to the royal capital to state his interests in the noble council.

"Mr. Councillors, before I speak of the division of the Haaland family's domain, I would like to say a few words about my old chief, Count Martins.

Although the Earl of Martins has been killed in battle, he is worthy of the status of a famous general. I have followed him for more than ten years, I know his abilities, and we have fought many victorious wars, even glorious wars, in the Northern Legion.

According to what I know, Count Martins is the most capable commander of the Northern Legion since its formation, followed by the unlucky Zachary. Of course, the matter of Zakary involves the political turmoil in the royal capital, so I won't talk about it for now.

Why did the county of Martins fall? It was the royal capital that weighed on him and wanted the county of Martins to become the shield of the province of Gascoigne and the northern part of the Duke of Edward.

The Martins family has a shallow background and can't bear this heavy responsibility at all, and as a result, everyone has seen that in just six years, the Martins family has given up inheriting the territory, and a big nobleman in our Grant Kingdom has become a laughing stock.

Do we, as hereditary aristocrats, have a glow on our faces in this matter? Is there any responsibility as a noble councilor who divides the territory for Count Martins?

When you divide your territory, you always think about how to get rid of your burden? Without thinking about whether we can afford it?

If the noble council and the royal family must put this heavy burden on the Haaland family, I hereby affirm that I will exchange my merits for cultivation potions and give up this viscount territory.

The land may require more capable families to take responsibility. ”

William's remarks were resounding, and they took the members of the noble council by surprise.

Military knighthood was the foundation of the Kingdom of Grant, and once William renounced the fiefdom, it would undoubtedly destroy this tradition.

Moreover, the Haaland family's thirty great merits to exchange for various cultivation resources will also make the Grant Kingdom's cultivation resources unbalanced, and there may be a shortage of potions at that time, which is also a big thing for the Grant Kingdom.

Finding that the Haraland family reacted so violently, the upper echelons of the noble council immediately consulted urgently with King Roger.

The Speaker of the Council of Nobles was the Marquis of Allen.

The presidency of the noble council has always been held by the four marquis of the east.

The four eastern marquis were close confidants of the royal family, and many members of the family were married to members of the royal family.

Because the relationship with the royal family is that you have me and I have you, the marquis of the east no longer needs to take political sides, no matter which king comes to power, they must be used.

Compared with the duke family in the north, the earl family in the south, and the marquis in the east are very obedient and very cooperative with the policies introduced by the royal family.

King Roger's wife is the sister of Marquis Allen.

With this relationship, the Marquis of Allen was able to replace the Marquis of Vicia and become the new president of the noble council.

Marquis Allen entered the palace without informing King Roger.

As a rare privileged person in the Grant Kingdom, after Marquis Allen came to the palace, he said straight to the point: "Your Majesty, there are two things that you need to decide now, the first is that the Harland family is not satisfied with the new fief, and threatens to give up this territory and exchange it for cultivation potions.

The second thing is that the Martins family has written an application to renounce the inheritance of the earldom. ”

"The great nobles giving up the inheritance of the territory will damage the face of the kingdom and will also be a serious blow to our political system. Now the most critical question is that the family of the Count of Martins is incapable of running the territory?

I don't think so, my brother Charlie was too mean to Martins back then. My opinion is to immediately set aside a special fund of 300,000 gold coins from the royal treasury, lend it to the county of Martins, and the loan will be pledged with the financial income of the county, and then let the army of redeemers be stationed in the county of Martins for a long time. Assist the army of the county of Martins in maintaining the situation.

Tell the Martins family to have faith in the Kingdom of Grant. Although it may have been difficult in recent years, when the territory is developed and controls 60,000 square kilometers of land, the Martins family will be stronger than the Marquis in the east. ”

Marquis Allen continued to ask, "What about the Haaland family's affairs?" ”

"We just put the burden on the Haaland family and don't give meat to others, of course they are not satisfied. Since the Haraland family wants the swamp basin in the north, they will give it to them this time. In addition, Graveson Castle, including more than a thousand square kilometers of nearby land, can likewise be enclosed to them.

But the Haaland family must take responsibility. He told William that if war broke out, the province of Geda would definitely give them reinforcements, and they would have to defend the two passages. In order to become the great nobles of the kingdom, they must contribute to the stability of the kingdom. ”

"We have put this heavy burden on the Haaland family, can the Haaland family bear it?"

King Roger thought for a moment, nodded and said, "I think it's feasible, Richard's ability to fight is not small, no worse than Martins and Zachley."

Compared with the traditional aristocracy, Richard is also good at business, and the Haaland family has developed rapidly in the past ten years, and he has the ability to make the Haaland family a shield in the northern part of the province of Geda.

If the Haaland family had held the two passages in the province of Geda, we would have promoted Richard to the rank of earl. There is a great nobleman in the northern part of the province of Geda, which is a good thing for the kingdom. ”

The Marquis of Allen, after consulting with King Roger, gave the new conditions to William.

William got the new conditions given by King Roger, communicated with Richard, and looked at the fief given by Roger, Richard sighed and said, "It seems that we can't use this shield." ”

William smiled: "I think it's better to accept it when you see it, our family doesn't have a very good impression of the royal capital, many nobles in the royal capital think that the Haaland family is not very obedient, and your character is too unruly and difficult to get along with." ”

"Since my father also approves, I think it's like this, and I finally gave a few sweet dates after making a fuss."

After the demarcation of the border, the territory of the Haaland family increased by more than 8,000 square kilometers. The total area is already 18,600 square kilometers, which is roughly equivalent to the area of a city in the previous life.

But on nearly 20,000 square kilometers, there are less than 150,000 people.

Large swathes of land are undeveloped, and from above, Haaland's territory is still a primeval forest, with only a few areas inhabited.

Population is the foundation of a territory, and no matter how large the territory is without population, the strength is not strong.

In this year's orc invasion war, Richard rescued 20,000 people.

Richard trusted the population rescued from the orcs, and placed them near Graveson Castle.

Castle Greyson is a military fortress, because of its proximity to the front line, there are not many people nearby, only civilians who cut wood, cut wood, and hunt will appear nearby.

After this land was given to Richard, the forest resources were also Richard's property, and Richard set up checkpoints on the main road to prohibit the freemen and serfs near Heihe Fort from entering Harland's territory.

After the land was divided among the Harlanders, the Greyfordson Castle garrison withdrew to Blackriver Castle, and Richard stationed the Fourth Brigade at Greyfordson Castle.

In order to defend the mountain road north of Graveson, Richard chose to build a castle thirty-five kilometers north of Graveson Castle, blocking the front of Graveson Castle.

The new castle was built on a gentle mountainside, and as long as there was a garrison on the mountainside, the valley could be locked.

By water, the Haaland Territory could transport large quantities of supplies to Graveson Castle, and then rely on horse-drawn carts and ox carts to transport them to the vicinity of the new castle.

There is a large area of wild roses near the new castle, which was named the Castle of Flowers by Richard.

In addition to the Castle of Flowers, Richard also planned to build a castle near the Mage Tower in the Swamp Basin, which would serve as a forward base for the development of the Swamp Basin.

After the war, Harden Castle was also publicly renamed, because the Atonement Legion won the battle at Harden Castle, and the castle was named the City of Atonement, but Zachary and other officers and soldiers were not satisfied with the name, and wrote a letter of protest to the noble council, and finally changed its name to Iron Lion Castle.

Because Zachary fought a good battle, King Roger promised to give the Toning Legion commanded by Zachary a subsidy of 20,000 gold coins every year.

With this subsidy, the pressure on the hereditary nobles who bear the burden of building this randem legion will be reduced by a third.

King Roger also promised the three Ransom Legions that as long as they fought well in the war, Nolan would increase their investment in the Redeemer Legion, and when all the finances of the Atoning Legion were invested by the central government, the hereditary nobles who failed in the political team would completely atone for their crimes, and the Atoning Legion would be reorganized into the Central Legion.

(End of chapter)