Lorist knew very well what the Second Highness wanted, nothing more than to tie the Norton family to his chariot for him to drive. But this is what Lorist couldn't figure out. Why should the Norton family contribute to the ambition of the Second Highness? Just like doing business, there is still a profit expectation. But what can the Norton family gain after helping the Second Highness unify the former empire? The Norton family has reached the pinnacle of a kingdom's nobles, and there is nothing His Royal Highness can reward. Do you still want to use the so-called truth to persuade Lorist to agree to let the Norton family arm for the The Second Highness was born and died, was the sacrifice in vain
The current status of the Norton family did not come in vain, it was obtained in exchange for their great contributions to the Antinac Kingdom, and His Royal Highness knew this in his heart. But on the one hand, the Second Highness was afraid of the strength of the Norton family's armed forces, and on the other hand, he was very envious of the prosperous development in the Norton family's territory. He thought that if Lorist was sincerely willing to help him, he would definitely do so in the fastest possible time. In order to realize his ambition to unify the territory of the former Krissen Empire.
This was the most annoying thing for Lorist, and this time he made it very clear that it was the Second Highness who went the wrong way, and he couldn't blame others. If it weren't for the Second Highness's vigorous military expansion and war preparations, the development of the Antinac Kingdom would have been faster than that of the remote Northland. Whether it is the quality of the people or the production environment, it is many times better than the Northland. However, His Highness the Second Highness missed this best opportunity. He only wanted to develop armaments and unify the former empire, but when he encountered setbacks, he collapsed completely.
Don't think about the idea of taking over the territory of the Norton family after the destruction of the Antinac Kingdom. That's why Lorist said it very bluntly. Second Highness, you have regained the throne, and the territory of the Antinac Kingdom has returned to its rule. , Now it's up to you to seize this second chance. Is it like our Norton family learning to immerse themselves in the production and development of the territory, waiting for ten years to have the capital before trying to unify the former empire, or is it like the last time that the military expanded its armaments and made people exhausted...
The Second Highness is also very clear about the meaning of Lorist's words. He has already failed once, and he promised so many unfair conditions and signed a humiliating oath to let the four major families of the Northland work for him. Ascension to the throne relies on the Norton family's armed forces. Although in the eyes of outsiders, the current kingdom of Antinac is in full swing, having destroyed the Principality of Madras, connecting the Northland and the imperial capital, the territory is almost two or three times larger. But in the heart of the Second Highness, he has no pride and glory, no other, because the victory of the demise of the Principality of Madras was not achieved under his command, he has no sense of accomplishment, and even has a little neglected anger and anger. Feelings of inferiority.
The Second Highness also knows that there is no way to fool Lorist with empty words. He is not stupid, and he is very satisfied with the current situation. He belongs to the kingdom but still maintains a certain degree of independence, because his previous actions have kept Lorist. It shows the vigilance and alienation towards himself, the upper lord. However, such a situation made it impossible for the Second Highness to force Lorist to submit. Whether it is personal force or family strength, it has formed a crushing suppression on the current strength of the Second Highness. In addition to vigorously wooing and keeping close, avoiding estrangement or turning against each other is the only way. What His Highness needs to do most.
The Second Highness thought for a long time and finally chose to balance production and armaments, and asked the Norton family to give him some support, and put his airs very low. Lorist heaved a sigh of relief and began to bargain with the Second Highness. He knew that the Second Highness's purge of the nobles in the imperial capital had accumulated a huge amount of property in his hands. Instead of letting the Second Highness invest these funds in bottomless It is better to let him take some out to increase the family's financial income.
After a night of fierce quarreling until the sky turned pale, Second Highness and Lorist finally reached a series of arms and commodity trade agreements. As expected by Lorist, the Second Highness's main energy is still on armaments, and there are few agreements on resuming production and development, just like the few factories that are going to be opened in the imperial capital are mostly related to armaments. But Lorist was not prepared to be troublesome, anyway, he himself did not expect to be able to knock out so much money from the hands of the Second Highness.
His Second Highness was also very happy. He didn't expect that most of the military supplies could be obtained from the Norton family at a very low price, and some of the equipment was even more cost-effective than building a factory by himself. In the plan of the Second Highness, the property worth tens of millions of gold in his hand is the guarantee for him to control the kingdom and the army. He originally planned to invest most of it in the preparation of the army, but he did not expect to spend only three or four Wanwan actually bought from Lorist the equipment and materials that were expected to cost around 6 million yuan, as well as those thunderbolt catapults that he had dreamed of. Tightly holding his hand and not letting go, the people next to him got goosebumps when they saw it...
Lorist bid farewell to the reluctant Second Highness at noon on December 19th and embarked on his return journey. After leaving the Tugang barracks, he ordered Tager to release a letter eagle and send a message to the people in the Bailu Lake swamp. On the other side, Parker and Hughes Great Swordsman, who had camped with a large group of guards, asked them to return to Vandenus City to wait for their arrival.
On December 22, Lorist and a group of people arrived in Vandenus City. After a day's rest, we set off again, and arrived at the pontoon bridge downstream of the Mitobura River on December 30th. After crossing the river, we hurried and hurried, and finally returned to Rock Castle in the evening of December 34th.
"Thanks to God of War Sigva for looking after me, my prayers have finally paid off." Fatty Shi tugged on Lorist's sleeve: "Your Highness, I really can't imagine that when the family holds the first New Year celebration banquet, As the Grand Duke of the Northland, what kind of lively scene will it be if you cannot appear in front of the family knights and the nobles of the vassal territories? That must be the most embarrassing event for the Norton family in the past three hundred years... "
Lorist didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Okay, okay, don't complain, I'm back... I'm not going to be an example, after all, it's just embarrassing to delay the New Year's celebration banquet, if I don't go this time, it's not just Lei Di, even His Majesty is in danger."
"Ah? Why is our bloody majesty implicated again?" Fatty Shi was taken aback.
Since the Second Highness bloodbathed most of the nobles in the imperial capital, he has gained the title of bloody king in the rumors of knights and nobles.
Lorist briefly described the process of rescuing Reddy and the Second Highness.
"It's such a pity, Your Highness, why can't you arrive half a day late? Your Majesty died heroically in battle or was captured, and Reddy escaped in the chaos. That would be the best ending." Fatty Shi looked regretful.
"What nonsense!" Lorist scolded, "He is His Majesty the King, the only surviving bloodline of the former Krissen Empire, who will kill him, and who dares to kill him? Not everyone is willing to bear the title of King Killer The purpose of the great swordsman of Shandi and the great swordsmen of those two duchies is just to take His Majesty captive to the four principalities in the middle. If this happens, it will cause trouble for our family and become the title of the Antinac Kingdom The highest prince of the Northland, I still have to come forward to solve this matter. Whether it is raising money to redeem him or dispatching family armed forces to rescue him, it will disrupt the arrangement and execution of the family plan. Fortunately, I arrived earlier to solve this problem one question."
"I'm just talking about it." Fatty Shi muttered unconvinced: "Your Highness, tomorrow is the last day, and after tomorrow is the New Year's celebration day. Now all the nobles of the territory, the senior knights of the family, and the commanding knights have come. His Royal Highness the Duke of Kenmes, Earl Felim and Earl Shaheen have also arrived. They are still staying at the old place. In addition, all the ceremonies have been prepared, including the family badges of the vassal families and new nobles. You need to check it ?"
"No need, anyway, I have seen the drawing before, as long as there is no violation, I am relieved that you will be responsible for all of this. Is there anything else? I want to go to rest. By the way, tell Duke Kenmes and Philim for me Earl, Earl Shaheen three, said that I would invite them to lunch at noon tomorrow." Lorist turned around and prepared to go back to the rear castle.
"Your Highness, I know you have had a hard time traveling, but there is still one thing you need to make an immediate decision." Fatty Shi said while looking through the folder in his hand.
"What's the matter?" Lorist stopped and turned around.
"It's Viscount Eddis, Viscount Schindler, Baron Klaus and Baron Wade from Winston Province." Fatty Shi's expression was a little strange: "They came to join our family, and they also brought Nephew as hostage. Now, here's their letter of allegiance."
"What did you say?" Lorist didn't accept the stack of animal skin papers handed over by Fatty Shi, and looked at Fatty Shi in surprise: "Viscount Eddis, Viscount Schindler, Baron Klaus and Baron Wade, they Isn’t he a traditional territorial noble of the Kingdom of Iberia? The last time I went to Windbury, I stayed in a small town in his territory for one night. What did Viscount Eddis come here with his three allies for? What?"
"Your Highness, they really said that they came to serve our Norton family. This is their letter of allegiance. I told them that you are really not here, and you should come back in the spring of next year. But they refused, saying they insisted on seeing you." It's up to you. I've been waiting in the castle for thirteen or four days." Fatty Shi finally handed the stack of loyalty letters to Lorist.
Lorist lowered his head and quickly read the four letters of loyalty. Behind him, the well-behaved Schwader quickly took a candlestick from the corner of the wall and illuminated it for him.
After reading these four letters of loyalty with similar content, Lorist raised his head: "How about this, Shredder, you can make arrangements for them to come to the study to meet me in an hour, and I'll take a shower before eating something. Meet them in the study, ask them what it is that makes them so desperate to serve our family, and that's it."
He turned around and patted Schwader on the shoulder: "And you, didn't you hear Lord Shredder say that Earl Felim is here and is still staying at the same place, and your beautiful fiancee must be here too, I don't need your service here, go back and clean it up, and go to see your wife. By the way, be more temperate at night, you are still young... "
"Your Highness!" Schwader glared at Lorist angrily, but finally couldn't resist the desire to see his fiancée, and ran away blushing.
Shi Panzi laughed and shouted from behind: "Don't forget to call Reddy over..."
Because Lorist's study room involves a lot of secrets, servants are generally not allowed to come in and clean it. All the cleaning tasks are done by Reddy, Schwader, El, Parker or Jim, who are trusted and reliable. . But later, Reddy went to the back mountain to practice, and El and Parker got married again. After Jim recovered from his injury, Lorist sent him to the gunpowder laboratory to accept a secret mission, so Schwader was basically responsible for cleaning the study. Finish. Now that Schwader was put on leave by Lorist, Fatty Shi wanted to find Reddy to replace him, otherwise both he and Lorist would have to clean it by themselves.
After taking a shower and eating something, Lorist went to the study, and sure enough, Reddy had already cleaned the study. The fireplace has also been lit, exuding warm heat, dispelling the coldness of the study room without a master for a month.
Seeing Reddy cooking Max, Lorist couldn't help but fell into deep thought: Schward already has a fiancée, and El has a family, but Reddy is still alone, why don't you ask him if he has a girl he likes? , it's time to find him a wife...
While thinking wildly, the door of the study was knocked, Reddy went to open the door, Fatty Shi came in with four nobles, Viscount Edith, Viscount Schindler, Baron Claus and Baron Wade. There was still unbelievable surprise on his face, just like seeing a rescue ship arrive suddenly on a ship that was about to sink.
Lorist stood up, and solemnly apologized to the four nobles of the territory: "I'm very sorry, I have been waiting here for a long time, and I really neglected you all. Because the little boy had something to do outside, he had to rush He brought it back and didn't come back until today. I heard that the four adults waited here for more than ten days and wrote a letter of allegiance to our Norton family. I'm curious, what happened to force you to come and serve?"
The four nobles of the territory stood in front of Lorist and respectfully bowed to Lorist, and Lorist also accepted the ceremony graciously. The four nobles breathed a sigh of relief. Viscount Edis took a step forward as the leader, and said to Lorist with a wry smile: "His Royal Highness, our four families are already desperate, and we have no other way out except to come and serve you..."
Following the narration of Viscount Eddis, Lorist and Fatty Shi realized that these four nobles were all forced by the Grand Duke Fessabrun, and as they said, they really had nowhere to go. The condition of the Grand Duke of Sabrun is to watch the family go to extinction. Or they can only rely on the Norton family, so there is still a way out...
After the Knights Tournament held in May last year, the 20,000 soldiers of the Frontier Ranger Legion that the Archduke Feisabrun brought to the King City of Windbury did not withdraw with the departure of the Archduke, but stationed there. Afterwards, the Grand Duke of Fesabrun and the Central Four Principalities allied and destroyed the Principality of Melein, which relieved the Iberian Kingdom from the great trouble behind it. Grand Duke Fesabrun then visited the royal city again.
This time the Grand Duke was not as easy to be fooled and dismissed as before. He brought more than 20,000 horses over again, making the border rangers stationed in Windbury King City reach a legion. With this legion in hand, the Grand Duke Fesabrun showed his fangs to the nobles in the royal city and killed them. Every day, either nobles were arrested and imprisoned, or nobles were executed for treason. What is more sophisticated than His Highness the Second Highness is that the Grand Duke Fesabrunn spent more than half a year slowly rectifying these nobles, also purging the nobles, and the Second Highness is the killer, making himself notorious. On the other hand, Grand Duke Feisabrun adopted the strategy of boiling frogs in warm water. It seemed that the number of nobles who died in his hands was not much less than that of His Royal Highness...
Lorist already knew these things clearly through the spies arranged by the family's Volibear Intelligence and Investigation Bureau in the Royal City. Anyway, when he occupied the Royal City of Windbury, he would attack those nobles. Since the Duke of Fessabrun is willing to do it for him Lorist was also very happy, at least he didn't have to dirty his hands, and even after occupying the royal city, he could pour dirty water on Grand Duke Feisabrun, publicize his massacre of nobles, and find some family members of the nobles who survived the disaster to go around Let's spread the word and make sure that the reputation of Grand Duke Fesabrun will be spread all over the world. Therefore, Lorist's order was to let the spies keep their eyes on the ground, just record and collect evidence secretly, and don't ruin the good work of the Grand Duke Fessabrun...
However, after the Grand Duke Fesabrun purged the nobles in the royal city, he turned his attention to the traditional territorial nobles in Winston Province. He decided to make these landed nobles swear allegiance to him and transfer them to the southern provinces. This caused an uproar among the nobles in the territory, and they all raised their flags to resist. The Archduke Fesabrunn was waiting for this moment, and immediately announced that the nobles of these territories were rebellious. In two months, more than 20 nobles of the territories were exterminated. The grass barbarian cavalry of the legion...
Viscount Edis and his four families did not raise their flags to protest, but they received an order to transfer their seals to the southern province with their family members, no more than 1,000 people and garrison before May next year. The new territory, the current territory is handed over to the emissary of the Grand Duke Fesabrun. Everyone knows what the southern province looks like now. The army is in chaos, the bandits are like ants, and the whole province has become a ruin. Under such circumstances, a team of more than a thousand people went to the southern province, and it was like falling into a pack of wolves. No one could guarantee whether they would survive to reach the new territory.
"Your Highness, this is the reason why we came to serve you. We know that the Duke of Feisabrun cleaned up the nobles in Winston Province to prepare for the decisive battle with the four major families of the Northland. The news I heard is that Feisabrun Grand Duke Brunn plans to transfer the young and strong people from various territories in Winston Province to their own family territory in Eastern Desert Province. The old and weak women and children will be concentrated in the royal city. With my Walker Town as the boundary, the front is solid and clear, and Walker The town was built into a military fortress, serving as a barrier for the royal city, and also as the main point of the first line of defense against the invasion of the four major families in the Northland."
Lorist nodded: "I am very happy to accept the votes of the four of you. The Norton family will regard you as their vassal families, and transfer your family territory to Dremke Province without any reduction. As for you The nephews I brought, I will arrange them to serve in my bodyguard. Gentlemen, are you willing to accept such an arrangement?"
The four nobles were overjoyed and knelt down on the ground at once, swearing in the name of their family ancestors that they would wholeheartedly serve the Norton family. They were grateful for a long time before leaving respectfully.
Fatty Shi squinted at Lorist, and waited until there was no one else in the study before asking, "Locke, tell me, what the hell are you planning?"
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