Princess Silvia is coming, what's the matter
"Schward, how many years will it take for the agreement we signed with the Feisabrun family to exchange cattle and sheep for standard equipment?" Lorist's first thought was whether something had changed in the agreement between the two families.
"My lord, we have completed this year's deal, and only next year's is left." Schwader replied.
Time flies so fast, it has been the fourth year in a blink of an eye, the agreement signed at the beginning was five years in total, and the agreement will be completed tomorrow.
"Then what has happened to the Fisabrun family in recent years?"
Schwader shook his head: "My lord, the largest market between the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce and the Feisabrun family is in Muyeyuan Province, where the Governor-General is Viscount Christopher. They understand it very well, but they can't go deep into the Eastern Wilderness Province, which is the territory of the Grand Duke of Feisabrun. We can only learn some very rough information, and we can't get more detailed information. The family once sent a team of spies pretending to be small merchants to enter the Eastern Wilderness Province. A deserted province, but was soon evicted.
In the past few years, the information we have learned is that the Grand Duke Fesabrun reorganized the two legions under his command and integrated the garrison. A garrison regiment, plus a pro-guard regiment and a bodyguard brigade around him, the total strength reached more than 136,000 people. The current military deployment of the Fesabrun family is that three garrison regiments are deployed in Muyeyuan Province, Donghuang Province and Southern Province.
The Sirius Legion in Muyeyuan Province was commanded by Viscount Christopher, and the Tiger Roaring Legion in Donghuang Province took turns to attack the Northeast Prairie. In recent years, the grasslands on the grassland have been hit hard. According to Wo According to the report sent back by Libel intelligence investigators, nearly a hundred grassman tribes have been wiped out in the past three years, and nearly 150,000 grassman tribes have been captured, most of whom are women and children. The Grand Duke of Sabrun betrothed them to the soldiers under his command as wives and concubines. It is said that all the captains and above are monogamous and concubines... "
Lorist sat up straight: "What is the total population of the two provinces under the jurisdiction of the Feisabrun family plus the southern province?"
"My lord, the Eastern Wilderness Province and Muyeyuan Province seem to have less than 800,000 people, and the Southern Province is dilapidated, with an estimated population of less than 150,000 to 160,000..."
Lorist stood up, rubbed his chin and walked around the room twice: "It's strange, the Feisabrun family has less than one million people under its jurisdiction, and the ratio of its soldiers to civilians is too high, it's almost seven to one. Feisabrun What is the Grand Duke Sabron thinking about?"
Shi Huade rolled his eyes beside him: "My lord, I have to remind you that our family includes Hilovas Island and Hanea Bada Islands, and the total population is only about 1.6 million, but our family The total number of armed forces is close to 300,000."
Lorist waved his hand: "They are incomparable to our family. The next thing our family will deal with is the Principality of Madras and the Kingdom of Iberia. In my plan, I will rest for another year next year, and the year after It is necessary to make a full-scale attack and annex these two countries in one fell swoop. But we did not expect that the Grand Duke Fessabrun would integrate so many armaments. Has this old fox been vigilant against our family? It seems that our future intelligence focus will shift The Eastern Wilderness is saved."
Princess Sylvia arrived as scheduled, and as expected, Earl Kenmes was there to accompany her attentively.
After settling in, Lorist held a grand welcome banquet for Princess Silvia.
I haven't seen her for a few years, but Princess Sylvia is even more beautiful when she emerges, like a lily in full bloom. She is so bright and beautiful, and she smiles so sweetly between glances. Even Lorist can't look directly at the dreamy beauty. A pair of green emerald eyes...
At the banquet, Princess Sylvia said generously that the purpose of her trip was to purchase standard equipment from the Norton family again, and extended an invitation to Lorist on behalf of the Grand Duke Fessabrun. The Grand Duke Fessabrun is planning to hold a grand knight tournament in Windbury, the royal city of the Iberian Kingdom, in May next year to select talents for the kingdom. I specially sent Princess Sylvia to invite Earl Norton to attend...
When Lorist heard what Princess Sylvia said, the first thought in his mind was fraud. Who in the Kingdom of Iberia didn't know that the four major families of the Northland, led by the Norton family, jointly sent troops to capture the city of Windbury, captured The king left, that is, Iberia, the second prince of the former Krissen Empire, and was sent to the imperial capital of the Antinac Kingdom to become a sacrifice for the death of the third prince. Now that the Grand Duke Fessabrun said that he will hold a knightly tournament in Windbury next year and invite Lorist to participate, Lorist has to think carefully about whether there is any calculation in it.
Lorist was not afraid of any conspiracy such as grand banquet set up by Grand Duke Fesabrun, if he really wanted to go, he could easily get away alone. . What's more, as the head of the Norton family and the most powerful earl in the Northland, if he wants to participate in the knight tournament, he will at least bring Hughes Great Swordsman and a legion, even if the Duke of Fessabrun sends out a legion to besiege Loris Te also has the confidence to break out of the encirclement.
It's just that Lorist thinks it's boring to participate in any knight meeting, and he's not interested in participating. To put it bluntly, he believed that if he participated in the tournament, no knight would be his opponent, unless the Grand Duke Feisabrunn himself got on his horse and confronted him, as a third-level great swordsman, he might still be able to fight Lorist a few times Hundred rounds. Since this is the case, it's better to stay in the family territory and enjoy the happiness. At this moment, Lorist has a cancer attack, and really doesn't want to leave the family territory next year to go out and run around.
But now it was at the banquet, and Lorist was too embarrassed to directly reject Princess Sylvia's invitation, although Earl Kenmes, who was next to him, had already vowed that he would definitely attend. But Princess Silvia didn't take him seriously, she just politely expressed her welcome, then turned her head and stared straight at Lorist. Lorist had no choice but to say that if the family's territory affairs were not busy next May, he would consider participating.
Princess Sylvia was very dissatisfied with Lorist's answer, she pouted her mouth and lost her temper, which made the atmosphere of the banquet somewhat awkward, and Lorist had no choice but to hastily end the banquet.
As the host, Lorist invited Princess Sylvia to go to the study after the banquet. It was originally a polite word, but Princess Sylvia gave Lorist a blank look and went to the study first. Following her were her godmother Sandy the Great Swordsman and the cheeky Earl Kenmax. Lorist shrugged and followed.
In the study, Earl Kenmes was still searching for treasures in the wine cabinet, while Swordsman Sandy was sitting on the sofa in the corner, and Schwader was making tea for her. Princess Sylvia stood in front of the desk angrily, her almond-eyed eyes widened, and she looked at Lorist viciously...
Lorist smiled wryly, the little girl's temper is really hard to fathom: "Your Highness, don't be angry, look at so many documents on my desk, like a hill, I'm really busy."
"Hmph!" Princess Sylvia turned her head away, ignoring Lorist.
"By the way, Your Royal Highness, last time I went out and brought you a gift, I hope you like it." Lorist invoked the ultimate method, sending a gift might calm Princess Sylvia's anger and dissatisfaction.
In the drawer on the left side of the desk were five exquisite boxes wrapped in purple satin. The bottom one was the largest. Lorist took it out and opened it. Inside was black velvet, and on it was a necklace woven with platinum silk. , the center of the necklace is a thumb-sized green emerald, the green is so clear and crystal clear. Next to the necklace are a pair of bracelets of the same jade and a pair of earrings.
It has to be said that women and dragons have the same nature, they like shiny items. As soon as this pair of jewelry was taken out, it attracted Princess Sylvia's attention. Even the great swordsman Sandy couldn't help standing up and walking to Princess Sylvia's side to carefully appreciate this pair of exquisite and extraordinary jewelry.
"Oh my god, Locke, where did you get it? It's a priceless treasure handed down from generation to generation!" Earl Kenmes exclaimed.
Lorist sniffled, how should he answer? This is his spoils, the jewelry of the Great Princess of the Kingdom of Haneyabada, and there are four boxes of jewelry of the same quality in his drawer, but this pair of jade jewelry is the most expensive, estimated at 200,000 Goldford. If he hadn't seen Princess Sylvia's charming green eyes, Lorist would never have remembered that he had this pair of emerald jewelry in his drawer.
Well, I should not explain that this pair of emerald jewelry was taken from the dead princess. The jewelry in the four boxes were all taken from the corpses of other princesses. It is also because of this that I hid these pairs of jewelry in a drawer and did not give them to those women...
"It came from robbery." Lorist said, of course, robbing a kingdom is also an act of robbery.
"Huh? You think I'm a fool!" Earl Kenmes was angry: "Which fool would take such expensive jewelry on the road. Such jewelry is hidden in the family's treasure house as a family heirloom, okay?"
"Really, I didn't lie to you." Lorist said sincerely, "I robbed a kingdom."
"The devil will believe you." Earl Kenmes said, "You still have four boxes in the drawer, take them out and have a look."
The jewelry in the four boxes is not as complete as that pair of jade jewelry, but they are also very exquisite and precious treasures. Earl Kenmax, Princess Sylvia and Great Swordsman Sandy admired it with great joy.
"Brother Locke, I think..." Earl Kenmes said hesitantly.
"Okay, you can choose whichever one you like. By the way, the Sandy Great Swordsman is the same. You can choose a box, and the jewelry inside will be yours. Everyone who sees it will have a share. Each person has a pair of jewelry, which is fair." Alright." Lorist knew exactly what Earl Kenmes wanted to say, so he just sent him off graciously. Anyway, apart from the pair of jadeite jewelry, the other jewelry in the box are worth tens of thousands of gold dollars. The most important thing is that Lorist is a bit jealous of the jewelry taken from these dead people. This is also the influence left on him in his previous life, but Earl Kenmes and the others don't care about this.
Princess Sylvia didn't expect Lorist to give him such an expensive gift, and it was such a treasure. Now she smiled like a flower: "Brother Locke, thank you for your gift. I like this pair of emerald jewelry very much."
Lorist laughed and said, "It's fine if you like it, as long as you don't get angry."
Next, Lorist is going to decline the invitation to the Knights Tournament in May next year, and when Princess Silvia is in the right mood after receiving the gift: "Well, Your Royal Highness, I am worried that in May next year, the family territory will There will be a lot going on, so…”
"Brother Locke, I'm already twenty-four years old..." Princess Sylvia said shyly.
kindness? What about twenty-four? I'm already thirty-four... Lorist didn't react.
"Oh, you were only twenty when we met last time, and now you are twenty-four. Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, Her Royal Highness is already twenty-four, and you have been promoted to a gold two-star. You are really talented. It seems that thirty is expected It has been promoted to three gold stars." Lorist said with emotion.
Princess Sylvia got angry, and stomped on Lorist's feet fiercely: "I will be twenty-five next year, so my grandfather will hold a knight tournament, do you understand! Wood!"
"Yeah!" Lorist was caught off guard and cried out in pain.
Princess Sylvia angrily carried the box containing the emerald jewelry out of the study room, and the great swordsman Sandy came to Lorist and smiled slightly: "The little girl has been practicing in closed doors for four years, and she has finally been promoted to the gold medal." Two stars, the Grand Duke Feisabrun specially held a knight tournament for her, and the little girl has been insisting on coming to your place to invite you to participate, do you understand?"
Seeing the Great Swordsman Sandy leave the study, Lorist recovered his senses and turned to look at Earl Kenmes, only to see him drinking heavily with a bottle of fine wine with a frustrated expression on his face.
"What are you looking at, no, I didn't expect Princess Sylvia to fall in love with you!" Earl Kenmax said with red eyes and panting.
"I..." Lorist pointed to his nose in disbelief.
"It's me, it's you, don't you understand such obvious hints? Your Royal Highness is right, you are just a piece of wood..." Earl Kenmes collapsed on the sofa: "Obviously I am more handsome than you, and I have a better temperament than you." Hello, you are even better at self-cultivation than you, why does Her Royal Highness take a fancy to this piece of wood like you?"
"Hey, I'll give you one hand. Let's compete with ten of you. With only three moves, I guarantee that all ten of you will fall to the ground." Lorist jumped up and sat down on the sofa, stretching out his hand to touch it. Feet: "This girl's feet are so heavy, it hurts..."
"You deserve it. You can't hear such an obvious hint. Her Royal Highness said that she is already twenty-four. I know why Grand Duke Feisabrun will hold a knight tournament next year."
"No, you mean that next year's knight tournament will be held to find a husband for Her Royal Highness? Isn't this a tournament to recruit relatives?" Lorist said.
"Contest to recruit relatives? Well, you used this term very well, and that's what it means." Earl Kenmes nodded.
Lorist was very curious: "Isn't Princess Sylvia the precious granddaughter of the Grand Duke Fessabrun? Is she still afraid that she won't be able to find a marriage partner? Why do you want to recruit a husband by means of a knightly tournament?"
Earl Kenmax looked at Lorist with contempt: "If you say you are a bumpkin, you are a bumpkin. Do you think it is so easy for the noble princess to find a marriage partner? Tell you, it is actually harder than our marriage. Although pursuing the princess There are many His Highnesses, and they have all kinds of titles, but is it enough to rely on titles alone? There are several dukes in the Kingdom of Iberia, but are they worthy of princesses? They are all nobles with honorary titles, even princes are useless...
Like the Grand Duke Fesabrun, if he wanted to find a marriage partner for Princess Silvia, he had to consider a lot. The identity of the other party, the strength of the family, at the very least, they had to be well-matched, otherwise it would become a joke in the aristocratic circle. As a princess, the most suitable marriage partner for her is the heir to the kingdom of the duke, a prince, or a powerful nobleman like you. Grass, so you are really the most suitable marriage partner for Her Royal Highness..."
"But, but I'm ten years older than her..." Lorist said.
"What does it matter if you are ten years older? Do you know how old is the age difference between the daughter of Grand Duke Melain and the third prince when they got married? Fourteen years old!" Earl Kenmes said.
"The daughter of Grand Duke Melain and the third prince?"
"The three former princes of the Krissen Empire had the same problem. They couldn't find a marriage partner of comparable status. The first prince and the second prince had a bad reputation. The powerful nobles did not want to marry the royal family, and the nobles who were willing to marry the royal family also The status is low. So the eldest prince and the second prince have illegitimate children outside, and their reputation is notorious. When the third prince was thirty years old, the precious daughter of the Grand Duke Melain grew up and was willing to marry the royal family, so the third prince was established by the former emperor as the empire This is the reason for the heir. It is also the case, the eldest prince and the second prince are not convinced. In fact, the previous emperors of the Krissen royal family did not have a queen and only established a concubine to inherit the throne... "
"Why are powerful nobles unwilling to marry the royal family?" Lorist was puzzled.
"Simple, because after marrying the royal family, one is rejected by the noble circle. After all, the royal family and the powerful nobles are naturally opposed. The royal family always hopes to reduce the strength of the nobles, fearing that they will pose a threat to them. Facing the powerful royal family, the nobles like to protect themselves. The ancestor of Baron Felim is an example. No one wants to have the same fate. The second is that the nobles are afraid of joining forces with the powerful. The powerful nobles marry the royal family, and the power is easy to expand and infringe on the interests of other nobles. The third is that, like the Duke of Melain, Involved by the royal family, the three kings of the Krissen Empire competed for the throne. In order to preserve the orthodox inheritance of the third prince's throne, the Melain family invested more than half of the family's resources, which consumed a lot of power. Seriously speaking, the Melain family is now powerful Minus, self-protection is very difficult..." Earl Kenmes explained in detail.
"Then what if the Grand Duke Feisabrun held a knight tournament and couldn't find a suitable marriage partner?" Lorist asked again.
Earl Kenmes shrugged: "That's the best way to deal with it. Find a real winner to be the marriage partner of Her Royal Highness. All the children born are named Fesabrun."
"So Locke, don't disappoint Her Royal Highness's affection for you. No matter what, you will go to the Knights Tournament for me in May next year. Don't let Her Royal Highness find a son-in-law!"
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