Baron Camorra realized that he had made a big mistake. He shouldn't have regarded the Norton family of Roaring Bear, which is well-known in the Northland, as the territorial nobles he had dealt with in the past. If we talk about the origin, the Norton family has been awarded the royal title of the Cressen Empire for a longer time than the family of the Grand Duke Lukins. Such aristocratic families that have been passed down for two or three hundred years have their own persistence and arrogance, and they are not like other families. The lord of the Northland, when he heard that he was the Duke's emissary, he bowed his knees to please him in every possible way, sending money and gifts to women, for fear of offending him by poor reception.
Baron Camorra faintly felt that this errand might fail to achieve its purpose. After arriving at the territory of the Norton family, he realized that what he saw in his eyes was completely different from what he had heard about the Norton family. Didn't Viscount Kenmes swear that the Norton family has become a dog in the water? He once brought hundreds of peasants, soldiers and mercenaries to the Norton family's manor castle, and besieged them for three months. If it weren't for the fact that the food in the new territory of the territory was not enough to support, Lord Viscount would still want to continue the siege...
Viscount Kenmes said it lightly, but only half a year later, the Norton family looted the Viscount's Red River Valley Manor Castle and burned it to ashes, even the new immigrant town next to it was no exception. When the news came, Baron Camorra still remembered the scene at that time. In front of the Duke, the gentle and personable Viscount, his face turned purple, vomited blood and passed out, muttering in his mouth: "My gold coins, My gold coins…”
Others thought that the Viscount was feeling sorry for the gold coins spent on the looted supplies. Thinking about how many people were jealous when the Kenmes family transported so many supplies into the Northland, how much gold coins would it cost to prepare this huge amount of supplies, Northlanders All of a sudden, I knew that the Kenmes family was really rich and powerful, rich as an enemy.
While many people were secretly gloating, Baron Camorra bought a personal entourage of the Viscount in the Viscount's mansion, and learned that the real reason for the Viscount's anger, hematemesis, and coma was that all the money from the Viscount's private house was placed in red. Inside the River Valley Manor Castle, it is now the spoils of the Norton family.
The personal attendant said that the amount of the private money was 100,000 jinford, because he put it into the box with his own hands and sent it to the secret room of the Red River Valley Manor Castle under the order of the Viscount. He remembered very clearly that there were five large iron boxes with corners, each containing 20,000 gold coins neatly arranged.
This private house money was accumulated by Viscount Kenmes over ten years after he entered the family chamber of commerce at the age of sixteen, using various means to slowly save up. Except for two or three close relatives around him, even his father didn’t know about it. . Now it is swallowed up by the Norton family, why not let the Viscount Kenmes heartbreak, even if the family armed forces arrive to wipe out the Norton family, the money will be exposed, and it will become the family's spoils of war, and will never return to the Viscount In the hands of adults.
Baron Camorra was stunned by the huge amount of the Viscount's personal money, which was almost equivalent to six times the annual income of the entire duchy. He is very clear about the income and expenditure of the Duke of Lukins. His Excellency has formed the Northland Legion, so far there are only more than 20,000 people, but the annual expenditure for this Northland Legion has reached more than 40,000 imperial old man's gold coins, and His Excellency's The annual income is only more than 60,000 points, and if converted into Jinford, it is only about 16,000. This is also the reason why the Duke's Northland Army can only maintain its current scale and cannot expand.
In the eyes of many people, Baron Camorra is just a lucky courtier beside the Duke, a monkey-like clown who won the Duke's favor for a while. It's just that they forgot that although Lord Lukins has many faults, he is not a foolish monarch. He believed in Camorra, and the title of baron was not a favor, but a reward for Camorra's contributions to him.
Baron Camorra was born in the slums of Gildusk City, the capital of the Duchy. He has been at the bottom of society since he was a child. He has been a thief, a liar, and a hooligan. Until the age of sixteen, he was caught stealing in a market, and according to the custom, his hands would be chopped off. At this time, the nobleman in the territory was in a happy mood because he was old, so he exempted him from his crimes, and also gave him some clothes and a small sum of money.
The merciful lord said: "I can't cut off another boy's hands and let him lose his life at the same time I get my son, it will cast a bloody shadow on the future of my precious angel. So I exempt you , and gave you these gifts. You don’t need to thank me, this is the good luck that my precious angel brought to you. The advice I can give you is to change your ways, find a job seriously, and use your hard work and hard work for Win a happy future for yourself. If you don't listen to me, you'll be cut off somewhere else and die like a wild dog, but then you won't have anything to do with my precious angel."
Camorra has been enlightened since then. He came to the Sigva Temple, worked for the temple for free during the day, received two pieces of black bread to satisfy his hunger, and learned various knowledge from the priests of the temple in his spare time. It took three years to get the priests. His trust and appreciation, an old priest recommended him to be a jailer. Starting as a jailer, it took only ten years for Camorra to climb to the position of sheriff, and then another ten years to become the tax chief of Gildusk City, and entered the eyes of Duke Lukins.
If one were to say who the poorest Grand Duke in the Krissen Empire was, then the Grand Duke of the Northland deserved it. The ancestors of the Duke of Lukins once served as the left chancellor of Christen III, and they are known as the virtuous ministers in the history books. He tried every means to maintain the stability and unity of the empire, and finally died of exhaustion on the desk. With great gratitude, Christen III elevated the Lukins family, who were still viscounts, to the title of grand duke, and granted them the southern part of the Northland as a hereditary duchy.
The Lukins family was very resentful towards Christen III. Although they became the Grand Duke of the Northland, their territory was nearly ten times larger than that of the Viscount, but their income was more than ten times less. Christen III took back the wealthy Viscount, but left them the desolate Northland. In the eyes of the Lukins family, this was simply ungrateful. Perhaps this is also the resentment that Christen III secretly retaliated against Duke Lukins' left minister for taking over power and treating him as a puppet.
In the pre-Crison Empire era, the income of the Grand Duke of the Northland was only about 100,000 imperial old man's head gold coins, which was only comparable to the income of a barony in the most prosperous central region of the empire. The ancestors of the Lukins family also wanted to develop the family territory, but they didn't have the talent of their ancestors to manage the entire empire. They were either lacking in funds or restricted by the natural dangers of the North, so they could only let it go. On the contrary, after staying in the Northland for a long time, the Lukins family produced several military lords, and was laughed at as a noble family who abandoned literature and followed military affairs.
Compared with his predecessors, Grand Duke Lukins is incompetent, ordinary in all aspects, and has many problems, such as lust, greed for money, liking to enjoy a luxurious life, and indecisive personality, etc., but Lukins Dagong has one of the biggest advantages, that is, he knows how to read people. He promoted Camorra and ordered him to be responsible for the taxation of the entire duchy, participate in the formation of the Northland Legion, and be responsible for logistics and supplies.
Camorra lived up to the trust of the duke. He spent three years rectifying the entire tax system of the dukedom, restoring the income of the dukedom, which was overwhelmed by civil strife, to more than 60% of the previous peacetime. The Duke is no longer struggling to make ends meet, and has assisted in expanding the Dukedom's garrison from 3,000 people into a Northland Legion with more than 20,000 people, and has also ensured the supply of weapons, equipment and logistical materials.
Three years later, the Duke was very satisfied with Camorra's performance, fulfilled his promise, and made him a baron. Of course, this is just a court title, not a fief lord, which means that Camorra has become an honorary nobleman. .
On the night she became a baron, Camorra went home and locked herself in her bedroom, crying for most of the night. He knew that others regarded him as a clown, but he didn't know how much hard work and effort he had put in to get to where he is today. He is not yet forty-five, but most of the hair on his head has fallen out. He is grateful to the Duke for his kindness, and also believes in the promise of the Duke. As long as he continues to work diligently for the Duke of Lukins, one day he will get a fief and become a real territorial nobleman.
With the information provided by Viscount Kenmes, Baron Camorra quietly told the Duke the news. Duke Lukins immediately turned red-eyed, one hundred thousand Goldford, even if he dispatched the Northern Army, he would have to get this money. However, Baron Camorra advised the Duke not to make a big show of being discovered by others, which would ruin his reputation and be interfered by others. The Duke also understood that this person was referring to the second prince. In terms of greed, the second prince is worse than the Duke.
It is very easy to find an excuse to deal with the Norton family. It has been almost three years since the second prince established the Kingdom of Iberia and decreed that all the nobles in the Northland should be under the jurisdiction of the Grand Duke of the Northland. Although the Norton family paid taxes on time, they have not Come to see His Royal Highness. Especially when the previous generation of Baron Norton passed away and the new Patriarch took over the throne, they took office as the new lord without notifying the Duke or reporting to the Duke, and without waiting for the consent of the Duke, this was almost ignoring the Duke. exist. Among all the new and old territorial nobles in the Northland, the Norton family has become a unique territorial noble.
The Lord Duke and Baron Camorra discussed this as an excuse to send an envoy to the Norton family. The envoy must be Baron Camorra. One accompanied Baron Camorra, and another twenty Silver Knights were dispatched, and two small teams of elite Northland Legion soldiers took on the escort mission.
Lord Lukins ordered Baron Camorra, if the Norton family is sensible, in addition to handing over the 100,000 Goldford, they have to pay two-thirds of the supplies snatched from the Kenmes family to get the Lord Duke Innoton. Don't go to see the understanding that causes dissatisfaction. If the Norton family dared to disobey, then the force of these escorts would be enough to overthrow the Norton family.
The Norton family has long had no gold-ranked masters since the death of Young Master Norton and Baron Norton. A golden knight, twenty silvers, and two small squads of elite soldiers from the black iron rank may have such powerful guards. To scare the Norton family to death, what else can be done except to raise their hands and let them be slaughtered? Both His Excellency the Duke and Baron Camorra thought so at the time, and the Duke even joked that the real reason for sending these troops was to safely transport one hundred thousand Jinford back.
The Duke and Baron Camorra don't know the real situation of the Norton family, and have laughed at the war between the Kenmes family and the Norton family more than once, so what is there to argue about in the desolate place? You must know that the essence of the Northland is in the south, in the territory of the Duke.
If the Duke knew that the Feather Mercenary Corps was wiped out, at least he would not be so contemptuous of the Norton family. If he knew that Lorist had killed the two famous golden-ranked twin shield brothers, then he would have to Considering the 100,000 Jinford, should he send all five gold-ranked knights under him, and bring an army of five or six thousand. But if he did that, everyone would know that he was going to the Norton family to grab gold coins.
Since working for the Duke, Baron Camorra has seen the shamelessness and filth behind the glamor of many nobles. As the envoy of the Duke, Baron Camorra has been to many territories, some to provoke, some to mediate, some to threaten, some to To blackmail, and most of all to collect taxes. Even though he has not been conferred the title of Baron by the Duke, the nobles of the territory still respect him when they see him. For the sake of profit, Camorra even met the nobles of the territory who shamelessly sent their wives and daughters to his bed, just to let him He promised a 30% tax cut.
Before his envoy, Baron Camorra also regarded the Norton family as those territorial nobles, who would have received a blow in the head under the Rock Castle. Under the newly built city wall, the golden knight Tabek who accompanied him on the mission yelled and asked everyone in the Norton family to come out to greet him or something. Then a young knight appeared on the city wall and shot the arrogant Tabek away. He shut his mouth, honestly like a quail.
Baron Camorra never thought that the Norton family would build a castle here, nor did he expect that the Norton family also had a golden-ranked archer. The huge crossbow arrows, everything showed that the Duke and he seemed to have ignored the real strength of the Norton family, and he began to worry about whether his trip could achieve his goal.
It wasn't until Maple Forest Villa that Baron Camorra suddenly realized the difference between this place and the Rock Castle. All the people there, whether they were soldiers or managers, were indifferent to the envoys sent by the Duke, except for a little curiosity, they just didn't care. Here, when they heard the name of the Duke, they either panicked or looked respectful. Although the two hundred guards were refused to enter the castle, the banquet entertaining them seemed to Baron Camorra to have done his best to serve the best food.
The boss who accompanied them was an old fox, and Camorra tried her best to find out the real situation of the Norton family from him. Baron Camorra secretly urged Tabek to be arrogant once. Sure enough, the people in Maplewood Villa dared not speak out when Tabek molested their silver female knight, until the golden archer who sent them over hummed lightly. Tabek woke up.
Camorra had been watching when the new lord of the Norton family came in. He found that the golden archer and the silver knight next to him were very respectful to the young patriarch. This was awe from the heart. Baron Camorra decided to pretend to be rude on purpose, to test the young man's reaction. Many aristocrats in the territory follow this trick, the more rude and vulgar you are, the more docile they will be to you. Baron Camorra very much hoped that the young head of the Norton family would be like those nobles in the territory.
I just didn't expect this young man's reaction to be so intense. He turned his doubts on Baron Camorra's aristocratic status, especially when he stared at him. , What kind of black eyes are those, like a bottomless abyss, after being targeted by him, it's like being regarded as prey by a ferocious and violent high-level monster, the whole person can't move, and the thinking has stopped, They can only silently wait for the disaster to come.
This feeling of despair and helplessness caused Baron Camorra to lose his usual calm and shrewd mind, so much so that when Lorist suddenly shouted for him to prove his noble status, he almost instinctively took out the imperial seal that he had always carried with him. certified documents. Regardless of whether it is an honorary noble or a territorial noble, this kind of behavior is almost shameful and incompetent.
When Tabek beside him slowly proved his identity, Baron Camorra only felt a great shame. He knew that he would be a joke to the nobles immediately after returning, proving that he was indeed a clown in their eyes.
Baron Camorra silently packed up the supporting documents on the table, adjusted the dress on his body, and took off the pale golden wig on his head, revealing his bald head. With a pale face, he showed Lorist a standard aristocratic etiquette, and said seriously: "Honorable Lord Norton, I am here on behalf of Lord Lukins to ask the Norton family a question and discuss two matters..."