Blue sea, blue sky, sunny beach.
Lorist lay comfortably under the shade tent made of gray linen gauze, watching his wife and children playing in the water on the beach. This is life, Lorist let out a sigh of relief, and tried his best to forget all the unhappiness and troubles he encountered in the imperial capital.
The Duke of Kenmes came over with a small wooden barrel, which contained ice cubes made by cooling with saltpeter, and there were two bottles of fruit wine in the ice cubes. After sitting down beside Lorist, Duke Kenmes took out two glasses from the small wooden barrel, and opened a bottle of fruit wine. The amber fruit wine is clear and translucent, exuding a charming fragrance in a transparent glass.
Passing a glass to Lorist, the Duke of Kenmes took a sip of the fine wine in the glass, and exclaimed: "I really don't know how you can have so many wonderful ideas in your mind, and you can actually create them in such a hot summer. Here comes the ice cubes. It is an incomparable treat to drink a glass of cold fruit wine in this weather...”
Lorist didn't say a word, just drank the fruit wine in the glass in one gulp, poured himself another half glass, found two ice cubes from the small wooden barrel and threw them into the glass.
It is now the beginning of September, and after attending the enthronement ceremony of His Highness the Second Highness in the imperial capital, there were some disputes with His Highness, which led to the evening celebration banquet breaking up unhappy. So Lorist, Kenmes, Felim, Shaheen and the other three grand dukes left the imperial capital early the next morning with their guards and left without saying goodbye. He returned to Hilovas Island and joined his family.
This is the white beach in front of Wanghai Manor. Compared with the white gold beach of the Kenmes family, this beach is much narrower, but it is enough for the family members of the four grand dukes to play in the water. Looking at the crowd frolicking on the beach, the Duke of Kenmes sighed deeply. He spent a huge amount of money on the platinum beach in his family's territory, building it into a summer resort for the whole kingdom, and preparing for every summer. Can welcome a large number of kingdom nobles and their families to come to play. Then the Second Highness came down and lobbied the nobles of the kingdom to send troops to fight against the business alliance. As a result, three years of bloody battles resulted in heavy casualties for all the nobles of the kingdom. …
"It's okay, next year you invite those nobles to go to the Platinum Beach to play. It's been five years. Forget what should be forgotten. Now that the empire is revived, there should be no more wars in the past few years. Everyone has money in their pockets. You played there." Seeing Duke Kenmes staring blankly at the beach, Lorist certainly understood what he was thinking.
"Ah, it's not..." Duke Kenmes came back to his senses: "I'm not worried about that. What I was thinking just now was what did His Majesty mean by the disarmament proposal at the dinner party on the day of the grand ceremony?"
After the enthronement ceremony, His Royal Highness held a grand welcome banquet in the palace to entertain all the imperial nobles and their families who came to the ceremony. Although some unsatisfactory things happened before this grand ceremony, thanks to the efforts of the Second Highness, today's enthronement ceremony can be said to be a complete success. Satisfied, His Royal Highness announced his policy policy for the next three years at the celebration banquet. It is nothing more than focusing on internal affairs and people's livelihood, increasing the fiscal revenue of the empire, enriching the treasury, encouraging businesses to vigorously develop mineral resources, and streamlining the army and streamlining administration...
The focus is on better troops and simpler administration. The Second Highness believes that the empire is revived now, so he is going to restore the three-army system of the former empire, that is, the Royal Guards guard the imperial capital, the White Lion Army conquers the outside world, and the Storm Legion suppresses bandits internally. At the same time, a garrison regiment was established in the provinces directly under the royal family to suppress the localities. In addition, His Royal Highness will also prepare to establish the Royal Knights again, and recruit the relatives and children of the kingdom's nobles to become Royal Knights to serve the Krissen royal family, etc...
These are actually the old rules of the Krissen royal family, and everyone doesn't care. Just like the Royal Guards, the White Lions, and the Stormwind Legion were the three standing legions of the former Krissen Empire, and they were under the direct control of the royal family. As long as the Second Highness can afford to build more legions, everyone has nothing to say. As for the Royal Knights, it is a way out for the children of the imperial nobles who cannot inherit the title and territory. Sometimes in peacetime, in order to avoid disputes, these children cannot even join the armed forces of their own family, so as not to cause confusion and threats to the heirs of the family. Like Lorist's second uncle who had died in battle, he was the former deputy head of the Royal Knights of the Christen Empire.
However, to the surprise of all the nobles of the empire, after talking about the standing army system of the empire, His Royal Highness proposed a disarmament proposal to the imperial nobles present. You should not continue to expand your family's armed forces, and you should invest your limited money in the development of the territory. Therefore, he suggested that the territorial nobles of the empire should streamline their family armed forces, and discuss the establishment of a family armed system that everyone obeys to limit the family armed establishment of all territorial nobles.
His Royal Highness believes that an imperial baron can build two or three centurions as a family force, a viscount can have five hundred men, an earl can build a family force of a thousand men, and an imperial marquis can have a maximum of three thousand men. As for the duke of the territory, a family armed corps or a small-scale family armed corps can be formed. For example, the current 45,000-member large-scale army can be reduced to four 6,000-member small-scale corps plus a 1,000-member logistics team. The total number of such an army is only about 25,000. .
His Highness the Second Highness emphasized that this is for the sake of the wallets of the imperial nobles. After all, it is a lot of expenses and burdens for any imperial noble to support a large-scale family armed force in the peaceful years. The Second Highness believes that reducing the expenditure on armaments will help the imperial nobles to better build their territories and enjoy a better life. As for the bandits and bandits entrenched in various places, the empire will vigorously suppress them after forming the Storm Legion, and there is no need for the nobles in the territory to shoulder the responsibility of suppressing the bandits themselves.
His Highness said with compassion that the three-year bloody battle on the Faliqiu Plain caused almost all the nobles in the empire to suffer a lot of casualties, so reducing the military expenditure of the nobles in the territories is the compensation given by the empire, and the future foreign wars will be completely controlled by the empire. The three standing legions of the territory are in charge, and the family armed forces of the territorial nobles are responsible for defending their respective family territories. Unless the empire is threatened with subjugation, the Second Highness will not recruit the family armed forces of the territorial nobles to go to the battlefield.
As for the disputes among the nobles in the territory, His Royal Highness said that he does not want to see such a noble territory war happen. If there is any conflict, it can be submitted to the noble court for adjudication. After all, starting a territorial war is not worth the loss for everyone. Regardless of whether they win or lose, the three major standing legions of the empire are likely to intervene in such a noble territorial war to calm down the fighting and wait for the ruling of the noble court on this territorial war.
All the nobles who participated in the celebration banquet focused their attention on Lorist, the Grand Duke Fesabrun and the three Grand Dukes Kenmes, Felim and Shaheen. It is a well-known fact that the armed forces of the Norton family surpassed the imperial armed forces commanded by the Second Highness. Even if the Second Highness formed the three major standing legions of the empire, it would be difficult to compete with the Norton family's armed forces. If the family armed forces of the three grand dukes of the Four Northern Alliances are added, it is enough to sweep the entire empire. Even if the Second Highness adds the Feisabrun family and the family armed forces of all other nobles in the empire's territory, it will not be enough. Unable to resist the front of the armed coalition forces of the four northern alliances.
Obviously, at this moment, His Royal Highness suddenly threw out this disarmament proposal, which was aimed at the four northern alliances headed by the Norton family. For the nobles of other imperial territories, His Royal Highness's disarmament proposal does not matter to them, even if it is the Grand Duke Handra, the Duke of Volunteer, and the Grand Duke Sabaji, they are more in favor of His Royal Highness's proposal. disarmament proposals. As His Royal Highness said, this disarmament proposal does reduce their armament burden, without keeping the family's armed forces at full strength. In the future, even if they receive the call-up order from His Highness the Second Highness, they don't need to send so many troops to help.
Perhaps it was because of the air with the Grand Duke Fesabrun that he stood up: "Your Majesty, the Fessabrun family firmly supports His Majesty's disarmament proposal. I am willing to return the Border Ranger Legion to the imperial military system. Return to His Majesty's command."
Old slick! At this moment, I don't know how many imperial nobles cursed secretly in their hearts. As long as anyone with a bit of a brain understands, the old guy, Grand Duke Feisabrun, is cheap and good-looking. Although the Frontier Ranger Legion is not the three major standing legions of the empire, it is also a well-known imperial army. It was originally formed to deal with the plundering of the border areas of the empire by the grassland tribes on the northeast prairie. The correct definition of the Border Ranger Legion is a local armed force.
It's just that when dealing with the looting of the barbarian tribe's cavalry, the Border Ranger Legion fell into the hands of the Feisabrun family and became the armed forces of the Feisabrun family. At present, the Border Ranger Legion has two legions, the first and the second, with nearly 80,000 troops. It is the main armed force of the Fesabrun family. Lorist formed the family's armed hunting cavalry regiment and deployed it in Muyeyuan Province, mainly to guard against and deal with the border ranger cavalry regiment.
What Grand Duke Feisabrun said about returning the Border Ranger Legion to the imperial military system means that according to the establishment of the former Krissen Empire, the Frontier Ranger Legion has 45,000 troops and is a local armed force belonging to the empire. The military and equipment are in charge of several provinces in the Northeast, and they are not counted as the armed forces of the Feisabrun family. So Grand Duke Fessabrun said nicely, and he was reintroduced under the command of His Highness the Second Highness, but in fact the entire legion was still in the hands of Grand Duke Fessabrun.
The old guy's idea is very good. He pulled out a border ranger army and converted the other into the Feisabrun family's armed army. It just changed its name. In fact, both legions are still under the control of the Feisabrun family. middle. And in this way, the Feisabrun family only needs to pay for the armament costs of one legion, while the cost of the Border Ranger Legion will be apportioned to the localities. This will greatly reduce the burden on the family and provide more armament resources to the family. The garrison army and the reserve army formed in the mercenary mode, mainly grass barbarians and fine cavalry.
His Royal Highness smiled and nodded: "Duke Feisabrun is loyal to the country and does not remember loss. It is worthy of admiration. How about this? I remember that the military expenses and equipment expenses of the Border Ranger Legion were paid by Muyeyuan Province, Winston The province and the southern province are apportioned by the three provinces. Then, according to the previous example, the grand duke will be responsible for the annual expenditure budget of the entire border ranger corps in the future, and obtain funds from these three provinces according to the previous ratio."
This is eye salve for the four northern alliances! At that time, Muyeyuan Province, Winston Province and Southern Province were the hardest-hit areas for grass barbarians and cavalry raids. Therefore, the three provinces proposed to form a border ranger army to prevent grass barbarian tribes from looting, and the military expenses were shared by the three provinces. However, as the Border Ranger Legion fell under the control of the Feisabrun family, and opened up the Eastern Wilderness Province, the Southern Province and Winston Province no longer had the threat of grass barbarians. However, as the Border Ranger Legion became the armed legion of the Feisabrun family, this agreement to share military expenses has long been invalidated.
Now the southern province has become the territory of the Felim family, and Winston and Makinohara provinces have also become the jurisdiction of the Norton family. At this time, His Highness the Second Highness, under the banner of returning to the imperial military system, asked the three provinces to re-share the military expenditure of the Border Ranger Legion. It is clear that the four northern alliances are disgusting and use their own money to cultivate the opponent's armed forces. But it is so righteous and awe-inspiring to say it, it is really hard for the Second Highness to spend so much thought on it.
Duke Felim smashed the gold cup in his hand on the table with a "bang", and stood up angrily: "This is absolutely impossible! Back then, the Border Ranger Legion was formed to deal with the grass barbarians. Now the grass barbarians Is the tribe still a threat? The Border Ranger Legion has become the family arm of the Feisabrun family, why should we pay for it?"
Lorist sighed and stood up, restraining Duke Felim's anger: "The southern province was not the family territory of Duke Felim back then, so it was normal to share the military expenses, but now the southern province has become a part of Filim's family territory. Grand Duke Lim's family territory, it is not appropriate to apportion the military expenses of the Border Ranger Legion to the southern province. How about this, Your Majesty, Grand Duke Feisabrun, our Norton family is willing to take over the military expenses of the Border Ranger Legion, guarantee Don't let the Border Rangers lack military spending... "
His Highness the Second Highness was overjoyed: "It's Brother Locke who understands the truth and is willing to contribute to the country."
Grand Duke Feisabrun was also very happy: "Duke Norton is serious? In front of so many imperial nobles, you can't go back on what you said..."
"Of course, what you say is what you say." Lorist nodded: "In addition to the military salary and daily expenses, the Norton family is willing to re-provide the Border Rangers with complete equipment. But this requires pulling the Border Rangers to our Norton family territory Come to reorganize. And re-train according to the characteristics of the equipment. Everyone knows that our Norton family is armed with elites. We are willing to pass on our training experience and combat experience to the Border Ranger Legion without reservation. It only takes half a year. Guaranteed Give His Majesty an elite frontier ranger army."
Grand Duke Fessabrun's face turned pale all of a sudden, and he was dragged to the Norton family for half a year of training and reorganization. Can the Ranger Legion here listen to him? Guaranteed that even people and horses have become part of the Norton family's armed forces , Even the military salary is taken from the Norton family. Will they listen to other people's orders? I am stupid to send the Border Rangers to the Norton family's territory...
The Second Highness also understands this, and Lorist resolved his problem by saying a few words softly: "Let's discuss this later, anyway, it's not urgent now. By the way, my Brother Locke, you treat me What do you think of the disarmament proposal just now? Now that the empire is at peace, your Norton family does not need to maintain so many family armed forces. I think your Norton family can completely reduce the four family corps to two, or even one family armed corps is enough. "
The picture is poor! Lorist shook his head: "Your Majesty, I regret that I cannot agree with your disarmament proposal. Because it will affect our family's military plan."
"A plan to dispatch troops?" The Second Highness was surprised: "Where else do you want the Norton family to conquer?"
"It's not a conquest, Your Majesty don't have to worry about it at all." Lorist said: "In the next stage, our Norton family is going to open up the Demon Dragon Mountain Range and the barbaric plains to the north, and we are going to expand and build provinces in the north to open up new territories for the empire. Now two of the family's four legions are preparing to go north, the other is deployed in Muyeyuan Province to guard against the grass barbarian tribes, and the other is guarding the north. In fact, our family's strength is also very tight, and maybe we need a few more The grand duke's family armed to help..."
The Grand Dukes that Lorist pointed out were the Duke of Kenmes, the Duke of Felim and the Duke of Shaheen. This prevented the Second Highness from attempting to force them to reduce their family's armed forces.
His Highness's face was ashen. He thought that Lorist was making random excuses to refuse to reduce the family's armed forces. However, after taking a few deep breaths, he managed to bear it: "By the way, Locke, since you don't want to reduce the family's armed forces, I won't force your will. But should you change the name of your Guards? After all He has the same name as my Royal Guards, maybe someone will gossip... "
Lorist laughed: "Okay, Your Majesty, according to your wishes, from today onwards, our family's Guards will be renamed Iron Guards."
For Lorist, it doesn't matter what the name of the legion is. Since the Second Highness avoids violating the name of the Guards Legion, it is better to change the name of the Guards to Iron Guards, which is simple and easy to remember. But what I didn't expect was that as soon as the name of the Iron Guard Corps was spoken, His Royal Highness became angry. He kicked over the table in front of him, turned around and left the hall, and the celebration banquet broke up unhappy.
After leaving the palace, Lorist was still puzzled and a little annoyed. Second Highness, are you turning your back on me? How unreasonable!
The Duke of Kenmes laughed loudly: "Locke, you are absolutely amazing. If I had known that you had changed your name to the Iron Guards, it would be better not to change your name. This is simply a big slap in the face of our Majesty..."
"No, I still don't understand why it can't be called the Iron Guard?"
"Haha, have you forgotten? At that time, the Grand Duke of Madras formed an iron guard army with 8,000 troops to defend Kebo City. The father of the Second Highness, the former king Prince Antinak led the entire royal guard army with 60,000 troops. After attacking for more than six months, they were unable to attack. Instead, most of the troops were lost and only 20,000 remnants came back in despair. As a result, the situation in the empire changed drastically, resulting in the final fragmentation. You said that it was renamed the Iron Guards. Your Majesty's face? It is clearly aimed at his Royal Guards..."
Lorist was dumb, he didn't mean it, but the Second Highness definitely thought he meant it, and now the gap between the two of them was getting deeper and deeper. However, Lorist had no intention of explaining, and left the imperial capital early the next morning.
Lying comfortably on the sand, Lorist said: "His Majesty's disarmament proposal that day was actually setting us up. He doesn't care whether we reduce the family's armed forces. The important thing is to determine the size of the armed forces of each of our families. Etc. After clarifying the family's small armed forces, if something happens, we expand the army, he can accuse us of expanding our troops for the purpose of conspiracy. If we don't expand our troops, we can only ask him for help, and then he can let the three imperial standing legions intervene Regarding the internal affairs of our family territory... I guess so."
Duke Kenmes finished off the fruit wine in the glass: "Your Majesty is very worried now."
"Of course..." Lorist nodded: "There is no external threat, His Majesty is now focusing on our four alliances. Perhaps to him, our four alliances are more threatening than the business alliance back then. So the four of our alliances The family's armed forces cannot be reduced, and they must conduct regular drills to maintain combat effectiveness, so as to ensure the continuation of our family and the security of our territory."
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