Although Margaret is young, she is precocious and intelligent, even more mature than these uncles and brothers in their twenties.

Many members of the Haaland family have received a half-baked aristocratic education, and they have invited governesses to their homes since childhood.

In fact, aristocratic education is not only about inviting tutors to teach knowledge and etiquette, but also about teaching nobles through words and deeds, teaching some ways to observe words and emotions and behave in the world. There are even a lot of things that have been passed down by word of mouth, involving the black history of the great nobles, the secret transcendent knowledge, the imperial art that they figured out by themselves, and so on.

The Haaland family has a short history and insufficient background, and the teaching quality of this half-baked aristocratic education is actually inferior to that of government schools.

Margaret was in school since she was a child, and she was also in contact with older children, and her level of hospitality was probably higher than that of these older brothers and uncles, and the city government was also deeper.

The people complained and even cursed Sophia in front of her, and Margaret took it to heart even though she didn't speak.

When she returned, she decided to report to Sophia, and Margaret knew very well that her mother was by no means a big-hearted person, but a little cautious, and it would only be these young people of the Harland family who would be unlucky at that time.

The group made a difficult trek to the Hurricane Castle before the goddess's birthday, and Richard met them in front of the castle early.

After arranging the accommodation, Margaret immediately made a small report to Richard and told her father some things along the way.

Richard saw that Margaret had grown to the height of his shoulders, and raised his hand to touch the top of her head, and suddenly felt that his daughter had grown up. He beckoned and said to his adjutant: "Inform me, this year's Christmas dinner, except for Simon, Cohen, and George, the rest of the people will not participate, and the rest will be handled accordingly in the future, and the rest of the people will not pass the test, so they can only take care of the face of the elders and raise them as rice worms." ”

Seeing that the adjutant was about to go out to give orders, Richard suddenly asked, "Green, is Cohen serving in the reconnaissance team, and how is he doing?" ”

Richard's lieutenant was also a member of the Harland family, and his bloodline was relatively close to William's, and Green's grandfather was William's cousin.

Since William's promotion to hereditary nobility, distant relatives of William's three brothers have rushed over to defect, and Richard has always used it for so many years, but only three of them can really get important positions.

The first is Anne, who is the housekeeper of Richard's court, Sophia's important assistant to the management of the court, and a full member of the Mage Guild.

The second is Gibson, who was originally William's butler, and later transformed into Haaland's civilian officer, who retired a few years ago. Although retired, because he grew up watching the Richard siblings, he still has a lot of influence in Haaland's territory.

The third is Gibson's eldest grandson, Noel, who is now in charge of Haaland's intelligence system.

Green is the fourth distant tribe reused by Richard, he is closer to William than the Gibson family, and the relationship with Richard has not been produced for five generations in terms of blood, according to the division of the noble lineage of the Grant Kingdom, it is actually a close relative.

Green is twenty-six years old, his talent is no less than William's, and now he has been promoted to a third-order professional, and he can be promoted to the fourth order before the age of thirty, and there is a little hope to break through the bottleneck of the legend.

There are now 1.8 million people in Haaland's territory, and even if there are 1 in 10,000 talented people, there are not a few every year, but whether they can grow up is actually uncertain.

Talent can only be considered successful if it is cashed out, and if it is not cashed out, it is an ordinary person.

Green joined the army after graduating from elementary school at the age of fifteen, and was born as a young soldier, first as a logistics staff officer at the headquarters, and later went to the squadron below to lead the troops, successively served as deputy squadron leader and squadron leader, and quickly fell into the eyes of Richard because of his background, and took over as Richard's adjutant after being promoted to the third rank.

Although the position of lieutenant Richard is not high, the responsibility is very heavy, and it is not easy to do in fact. As an adjutant, he not only acts as Richard's assistant, manages military affairs well, coordinates many things, but also manages Richard's private affairs, which requires a person with a strong memory and shrewdness to serve.

"Cohen was a deputy squadron leader in the Scout Brigade, and he was highly regarded on file, but I knew he was a man with little talent for war. The only thing that is commendable is obedience, he is an honest man, and orders from his superiors can be carried out without discount. ”

As Richard's aide-de-camp, Green is naturally very well-informed, and Cohen, as the younger generation of the Haaland family, is the object of attention. As Richard's adjutant, Green is not afraid of offending people, and chooses to tell the truth in everything.

After listening to Green's introduction, Richard nodded and said, "How is his talent?" ”

"It's not as good as Young Master George, barely in the middle class."

"After all, it's the second uncle's child, and it can still be cultivated, so I wrote an order to transfer Cohen to the seventh squadron leader of the guard brigade."

Among the three William brothers, Richard had the deepest relationship with his second uncle Powell.

Not to mention when he was a child, after Richard crossed over, William had married Lady Ola, and most of his feelings were poured into his eldest son Ron, his second son Barron, and his youngest son George.

Ron's mother was William's first love, and they had the deepest feelings for each other.

Lady Ola, though also married, was at the same age as a flower, and had already charmed William under the pomegranate skirt. Moreover, William was busy with military affairs at that time, and only his uncle Soros and second uncle Powell often took care of them.

Richard's relationship with Soros and Powell is actually deeper than William's.

The Grant Kingdom has a special system, and he cannot be knighted without military exploits, and even if Richard is grateful to Powell, he cannot be promoted to the hereditary aristocracy.

Powell has a lot of children, including nine illegitimate children, but most of these children have average ability, some of them are safe to be gentlemen, rice worms, and some are not qualified, so they have been transferred to the civil service system, and only three of them have been promoted to professionals.

The eldest son, Adrian, is already a three-ring magician, but Adrian has been in charge of the hospital and is in charge of logistics. Although the logistics work is safe, it is difficult to make military achievements, and it is basically impossible to promote hereditary nobles without military achievements.

The second son, Cologne, joined the Grizzlies in his early years and served under William in recent years.

Now Cologne is a third-order warrior, serving as the leader of the third squadron of the fifth brigade of the Grizzly Legion, and has accumulated seven medium skills and six minor skills. Cologne was just thirty years old, gifted in the upper middle class, and had the potential to rise to the hereditary aristocracy.

Cohen's talent is similar to that of his brother Cologne, who has been promoted to the rank of professional, and has been unusually promoted by Richard to the Guard Brigade as a squadron leader. If you can gain a firm foothold in the army and reach your fifties, you should be promoted to hereditary baron.

If the second uncle Powell lived longer, he should have the opportunity to see this day.

After arranging Cohen's future, Richard suddenly thought of his eldest nephew, Simon.

"Simon, has he been reused by Ron?"

Green shook his head and said: "Simon is an illegitimate child, and his talent surpasses Ron's heir, Ron has always had a headache in this matter, and now he has begun to suppress Simon." ”

"Since Ron doesn't want to use it, you write a letter of recommendation and let Simon serve as a soldier in Haaland. I think I will go to the first brigade to exercise first, and if I can stand firmly, I will be transferred to the infantry brigade behind me as a squadron leader and lead the troops. ”

The future of the juniors was arranged, and the Christmas dinner was held as scheduled.

Despite being on the front lines, the Duke's family feast was still very luxurious, but only a few people were able to attend. In addition to George, Simon, Cohen, Margaret and other young people, there were also some military generals who attended the banquet, such as Soros, Jennings, Audrey and others.

This winter, the orcs fought a little bit, and Jennings gained some military merits, just enough to raise ten great achievements, and became the fourteenth vassal of Richard.

Jennings' fief was in the northern part of the Barony of Vito, and because of Richard's special care, the territory covered an area of 1,400 square kilometers, which was a few points larger than a normal barony.

This territory is already on the front line, very close to the second station.

Jennings and Flora don't have much money in their hands, although the two of them have high salaries, but Jennings usually spends money lavishly, often sponsoring comrades-in-arms, relatives and friends, and the two have been married for more than ten years and only have a few hundred gold coins in savings. In the upper echelons of Haaland's territory, he can be regarded as a poor man.

Jennings was the first hereditary aristocrat in Powell's family. He was promoted to hereditary nobility, which made Powell very happy.

Powell has a lot of money, and Adrian has a lot of assets, so he funded the couple with 3,000 gold coins in cash. In addition, Jennings's old comrades-in-arms, Sula and Odaye, are all rich men. These old comrades-in-arms are very active, and they got together with each other, and even lent Jennings a huge sum of 5,000 gold coins, plus the 2,000 gold coins sent by Richard, Jennings and Flora actually had tens of thousands of gold coins in their hands.

Despite his promotion to hereditary baron, Jennings did not retire from active service to run the estate, and his wife, Flora, still lives in Fort William.

Jennings was very open-minded, and completely imitated Wendy, handing over the territory to the Haraland Lords to run the bureaucracy, and executing the exact same decrees as the Duke of Harland.

Jennings and Wendy, two baronies, also enforced the pardon of serfs.

After he had eaten and drunk, Richard waved his hand, the dancers and musicians retreated, and the banquet hall was suddenly very quiet. Richard stood up, pointed to a few young people who had been allowed to attend the dinner, and said directly: "Last year I gave you a question, who is our friend and who is our enemy?" Now, in front of everyone, you might as well share your answers.

George, you're the oldest, and it's up to you to start. ”

George prepared for a moment and replied directly: "From the perspective of the Duke of Haaland, I think the orcs are our worst enemies, and our friends are clansmen and noble vassals of the Haaland family.

But in the southern territories, our enemies are the Kingdom of Delong and the United Kingdom of the East Coast, our friends are the southern nobles, and by extension, the officers and soldiers of the main army. ”

After listening to George's answer, Richard smiled and said, "You are young, you have some knowledge, and you are not bad." ”

Richard rolled his eyes to Cohen: "Cohen, what is your answer?" ”

"Our enemies are orcs, and our friends are all the nobles and soldiers who fight against them."

"Simon, tell me what you think."

Simon hesitated for a moment, then organized his words and said, "Our enemies are not only orcs, but perhaps the royal family and other great nobles. We should be wary of them when making decisions.

And our friends include not only the Halanders, the vassals of the territory, but also the nobles of the three northern provinces. ”

Listening to the young man's answer, Richard smiled heartily: "What everyone said is good, as a nobleman, I hope you will think more and use your brains more." Know who our friends and who are our enemies in order to make the right decisions. ”

After a full meal, everyone sang and danced, and they were very happy. After eating and having fun, Richard announced the end of the banquet with a happy face.

After the banquet, Richard, Sophia, and Margaret's family sent off Soros and other important guests, and when there was no one around, Richard patted Margaret on the shoulder and said, "Margaret, what is your answer?" ”

"My answer is different from theirs, Dear Father."

Sophia smiled and said, "Kid, everyone is in a different position, and the answer is of course different. ”

"I don't think the Haaland people and the noble vassals are necessarily our friends, and the army of the Harland realm may also become our enemies. As a lord, we should not have friends, everyone can be our enemy. ”

Richard looked at his growing daughter and gently patted her on the head: "At a young age, my thinking is too extreme. ”

Margaret's eyes widened, and she asked, as if she were curious, "And what is your answer, honorable duke father?" ”

"There is no standard answer to this question, we have different friends and different enemies at different times. Who is our friend and who is our enemy will have different dialects at different times.

As lords, it is our natural duty to expand the size of our territory and maintain the stability of our territory. Whoever can increase productivity and increase the strength of the territory is our friend, and whoever hinders the development of the territory is our enemy.

But that doesn't mean we're going to be alone. Using power to govern the territory and suppress the territory with strength is not the most clever way.

The clever way is to impress people's hearts with ideals.

You are still young and have a strong sense of curiosity, and along the way your mother told me how happy you were to come out this time.

It's a great thing to have curiosity, and as I've gotten older, I've found that I've lost it, and that's a shame!

But our situation is not stable, there may be enemies both externally and internally, and there are still some enemies hiding in the shadows.

You are now my only heir, and you can't leave your parents' sight yet. This is not only for your own safety, but also for the stability of the territory.

In the last few months, I have prepared to let you stay on the front line, act as my secretary, and get in touch with military affairs, but you must not fall behind in your meditation progress, and you cannot relax in your daily life. ”

Listening to Richard's arrangement, Margaret took his arm and said, "Got it, father." ”

(End of chapter)