After the demarcation was completed, the Barony of Harden was assigned to Richard, and the army of the Atonement Men under the command of Zachary left the Iron Lion Castle (formerly Harden Castle) and entered the county of Donny Martins.

The land near Barony Harden is a well-developed cooked land, not only does it have a complete castle, but it is also easy to resume production, and it does not require the Haraland family to invest too many resources. The newly sealed territory has a large amount of flat land, as well as salt lake minerals, and if all of them are developed, the strength of the Haaland family will be greatly improved.

The county of Donny Martins is very large, with an area of more than 60,000 square kilometers, second only to several dukedoms. However, the county of Martins is weak, and the territory is sparsely populated and not abundant. Such a vast area could not be effectively defended by relying on the army of Count Martins.

King Charles put too much weight on the Earl of Martins, causing the county of Martins to fall twice, and the accumulated population of the territory was robbed by the orcs.

In just three years, two counts died in a row, and the strength of the Martins family's many years of operation was almost completely lost.

In the end, it was King Roger who took office, pulled the Martins family, allocated a special loan of 300,000 gold coins, and sent a randem of redeemers to the Earldom of Martins to help the Martins family maintain the situation.

Despite the presence of a legion of redeemers, the orcs invaded the province of Gascoigne from the county of Martins.

Because the garrison area is too large, coupled with the rapid development of the Harland family, and the regional defense line near the territory is relatively stable, the Roger Kingdom transferred the Zachary Redeemer Legion to the Earldom of Martins and reorganized it into the Iron Lion Legion, which commanded all the Earls of Martins army to fight.

Although the political side failed, Zachary ushered in another chance to turn around.

In two successive orc invasions, the Zachary Department has made great achievements, and the army under his command has atonement for its crimes and has been reorganized into the Central Second Line Army.

With his subordinates, Zachary won the affirmation of King Roger's performance, and once again sat on the throne of the commander of the Central Army, and the number of troops was expanded to 16,000, and the weapons and equipment were also increased a lot. However, Zachary's political status is far from being comparable to when he was the commander of the Northern Legion, and even compared to his old subordinates William, Tengwei and others.

The transfer from the commander of the second-line corps to the commander of the main corps was a very difficult step. Unless we make indisputable achievements and win a beautiful battle, it will be difficult to achieve such a big leap.

The Dawn Plane is a world where individual power is brought together, and the war between China and the Devil World relies on strength, and although the plot is useful, it cannot determine the outcome of the war.

If Zachary wants to get back on his feet, he still needs to fight for many years and achieve a brilliant victory.

It may even be a lifetime, and you will not be able to climb to the height you once had.

The opportunity to change people's destiny may only be once or twice in a lifetime, and once lost, it is difficult for such an opportunity to appear again. Unless you're very talented, or you're very lucky. Like Richard, be the one who changes the situation.

Although Zachary is brave and strong, he can be called a good general, but he is not a person who can turn the tide and change the situation.

Richard was promoted to hereditary count, and the political influence of the Haaland family increased significantly.

At this moment, within the Grant Kingdom, there are only a dozen or so big nobles left who dare to touch the interests of Haaland's territory.

The territory prevents infiltration, and the task of guarding against spies can finally be relaxed.

In fact, in recent years, after seeing the tragic situation of the Cisse family, ordinary barons and viscounts no longer dare to provoke the Harland family, and no longer send spies to the Harland territory.

When encountering commercial disputes, they do not dare to easily touch the interests of the Haaland family.

As his strength grew, Richard's situation became better.

This year, he became a great nobleman, and he could also adjust his policies to promote the circulation of goods in the territory and activate commercial activities.

Richard prepares to sell goods to Nolan in the winter. Brown sugar, hemostatic ointment, burn ointment, liquor, enchanted weapons, animal skins from northern Xinjiang specialties, wool cloth, and monster materials can all be sold in Nolan.

Relying on the power of the hereditary earl, Richard no longer needed to cooperate with the nobles of the court to do business with Nolan.

As a great nobleman, doing business within the Grant Kingdom can at least have a fair competition right.

This right is crucial to the business operation of Haaland's territory.

Starting next year, business profits should increase a lot.

Even though many of the minor nobles were dissatisfied with the encroachment of goods from Haaland's domain on the market, which caused an outflow of gold coins. can only politely negotiate with the territory caravan, and dare not directly loot and kill people like in previous years.

In the Kingdom of Grant, the political status of a viscount and an earl is almost completely different, and the deterrent power to the outside world is also very different.

After attending the ascension ceremony, Richard did not stay in Nolan for too long, but returned to the county of Haraland.

The day after his return, Richard carefully weighed the pros and cons and repealed the decree prohibiting the movement of his subjects. However, the departments involved in secrets still prohibit outsiders from visiting or approaching. Outside the secret department, there are now red arrow warning signs, through the lessons of more than ten years of blood, whether it is the free people of Harland's territory or ordinary slaves, they all have the concept of not approaching the red arrow area in their hearts.

Nowadays, most of the secret departments in Haaland's territory are related to magic, and the threshold is very high, and it is relatively difficult to leak secrets.

Some key technologies, such as the creation of alchemy bombs, are controlled by the core of the territory.

Even if the people were allowed to move freely, the impact on the secret-related departments would be relatively small.

The ban on migration mainly controls the speed of information dissemination, although it has a good effect on counter-espionage and preventing the leakage of territorial crafts, but the population cannot circulate, which seriously suppresses commercial activities.

Without commercial activity, without population circulation, the market cannot exert its power.

This year, there are 90,000 freemen in the Haaland Territory.

The consumer market formed by 90,000 free people is second only to the capital city of Nolan in the Kingdom of Grant, and the market size is equivalent to that of a big city like Fort Black River.

After weighing the pros and cons, Richard decided to lift the ban and support business development and make the territory more prosperous.

Although the Haaland Territory has experienced war this year, it has not affected the industrial and agricultural production of the Territory.

The 59th Legion of the Orcs did not invade the hinterland of Harland's territory, and was blocked out of the garrison fort, although the wheat seedlings in the swamp basin were trampled by the army in battle, resulting in the loss of thousands of acres of farmland to varying degrees. Compared with the overall situation in Haaland's territory, the summer and autumn harvests have not been greatly affected.

This year is not a bumper harvest year, nor is it a disaster year, and the grain harvest is neither high nor low, it is a normal year.

The invasion of orcs this year has seriously affected the reclamation of new fields this year.

Both the swamp basin and Graveson Castle are not far from the front line, and these two areas are the focus of Haraland's development.

This year's reclamation work can only be carried out in the hinterland of the territory, mainly to develop the southern area of Fort William and Fort Sophia, and about 60,000 acres of land have been reclaimed, most of which is still dry land.

Because it is the first year, the yield will be relatively low, and despite the application of farm fertilizer, the average yield per mu is less than 70 catties. Next year, half of these farmlands will be planted with cotton and cotton production will be expanded.

This year Richard was promoted to earldom and was given a large new territory. In particular, the former Barony of Harden has about 260,000 acres of farmland that has been reclaimed.

Aqueducts and waterwheels have also been built on the farmland, and the infrastructure is very good.

Richard relocated the commoners of Barony Harden to Haraland's domain, leaving vast tracts of farmland barren and canals clogged. Now it is also necessary to relocate people, dredge canals and resume production.

Although his uncle Soros was promoted to hereditary baron, he did not choose to return to run the territory, and still served in the army of Haraland's territory.

Cousin Kent retired from the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade and came to the Castle of the Brave to run the territory of the Soros family.

Soros's fief is also the fief of the former Harden family, which is directly north of Barony Harden's county and is the fief of Baron Leon, Baron Harden's eldest son.

There is a river in this territory, which is a tributary of the Kaia River, which is a very important river in the northern Xinjiang region, a natural danger to the defense of the Orcs in the province of Gascoigne, and the most important tributary of the Black River.

There are rivers in the territory, so naturally there is no shortage of water, and many paddy fields can be cultivated on both sides of the river valley.

Baron León operated in this territory for several years, buying tens of thousands of slaves and cultivating more than 80,000 acres of farmland. In the northernmost part of the territory, a castle was built in a dangerous location, which was connected with the castle of Platos.

Now, although the people of the Barony of Leon have been captured by the nearby nobles, the farmland castle cannot be taken away.

With this foundation, it will be relatively easy to resume production next year.

The members of the Soros family are all military officers in the Haaland territory and do not run other industries.

Uncle Soros's annual military salary is 120 gold coins, plus the welfare subsidy of the territory, and the annual income is about 200 gold coins.

Cousin Kent, Morgan, and cousin Audrey have slightly less salaries, plus various subsidies, and their annual income is about one hundred and twenty gold coins.

It takes a lot of money to run a territory, but the Soros family is relatively frugal on weekdays, and they also made some money running a mercenary group back then. In Haaland's territory these years, basically not much money has been spent.

After obtaining the fief, Soros directly took out 6,000 gold coins and handed them to Kent, and gathered all the family members, including several illegitimate children.

"Kent, this money is almost all my savings, and now I will take it out and give it to you to run the territory.

You are my eldest son and the first heir to the territory, and I will give you this territory to inherit.

Our family can be promoted to hereditary nobility and restore the glory of our ancestors, in addition to good luck and the support of your cousin Richard, it depends on the unity of the family members.

This territory not only has the hard work of you and me, but also the hard work of your younger brother Morgan and sister Audrey, if it weren't for their meritorious deeds, our family would have to wait a few years to obtain the fief.

You have obtained all my savings, and you will help your younger siblings in the future, I am now fifty-eight years old, and I can still work for more than ten years, and I will continue to accumulate military achievements and help Morgan rise to the rank of baron. When Morgan runs the territory, you must also come up with 6,000 gold coins to fund your brother's business. ”

The Soros family is the first generation of hereditary aristocracy, and the family members are relatively close, and the internal struggle is not obvious.

Before Kent managed the territory, Soros gave a clear account and clarified the inheritance rights.

According to the unspoken rule within the general aristocracy, Soros's territory should be inherited by the more talented Morgan. But Soros, after careful consideration, decided to hand over the territory to Kent. In addition to the fact that he prefers Kent, Soros is certain to a certain extent. Before retiring, he was able to help his second son become a hereditary nobleman, and the family obtained a second fief.

Kent and Morgan have cousin Richard as a big backer, and Soros's sons are enough to keep the family business.

Kent was thirty-eight years old, had been an officer for twenty years, and in the early years he had a relatively low salary and did not save much money. After coming to Haaland's territory, as the professional level increased, the military salary also increased, and he had saved 1,500 gold coins. Together with the six thousand gold coins funded by his father and the two thousand gold coins funded by Richard, the gold coins in Kent's hand were about ten thousand.

With the original funds of 10,000 gold coins, Kent ordered a thousand slaves from the Duke of Guise for 4,500 gold coins through the channels of the Harland family. Then he used another 3,000 gold coins to buy 500 slaves from the Blackriver Fort slave market.

For the rest of the gold coins, Kent bought a large amount of grain, woolen cloth, ploughing cattle, and farm tools from the Haaland territory.

In late August, Kent entered the Barony of León with the first batch of more than 500 slaves, and began to clean up the castle, clear the weeds, and do a little preliminary work in preparation for the resumption of production next year.

Richard also financed a batch of weapons and equipment from his eldest cousin Kent, allowing him to arm some of his slaves. Kent has a family tradition of breathing, which is easier to start with than a commoner-born nobleman.

The Barony of León has a good foundation, and the land is relatively fertile, so it does not need a large amount of capital investment in the early stage, and it will be able to sell grain and make money after resuming cultivation next year.

After the autumn harvest was completed, Richard began a new round of inspections of the territory.

As the territory grew larger and the number of villages grew, it was impossible for Richard to visit all the villages himself.

Now he can only select some representative villages and go down to see them for himself to observe the living standards of the people and the development of the local economy.

Richard rode his war horse and left Fort William with a dozen retinues, and began his annual territorial patrol.

Many officials have advised Richard to like the habit of being light and simple.

The bureaucrats in Haaland's domain have always hated Richard's contact with the grassroots. But no matter what they said, it didn't change Richard's mind.

Although the bureaucracy needed to govern the territory, it did not have great power, and Richard did not need to compromise with the bureaucracy at all. The soldiers and officers in Haaland's territory were treated better politically and economically than the bureaucracy.

(End of chapter)