54 – Tosa Gupaeng (2)

After finishing the treatise on our family, which made the greatest contribution, the young knight continued to present his treatise on other barons.

“… Baron Crescent is given 20 villages around the territory in recognition of his achievements so far. With this, I will finish all the non-gongsangsangsang. His Excellency, Count of Nantes, has to stabilize Helsman for the time being, so each baron, please return to your own territory.”

After that, all the barons, including Viscount Creutel, got down on one knee and bowed their heads to pay respect to the count.

Seeing us bowing like that, the Count held out his right hand, shook it slightly, and said:

“Everyone, thank you for fighting honorably for me. Your loyalty has been rewarded, so now go back to the Lord’s territory and rest in peace.”

“thank you.”

And we left the audience room to return to our respective territories.

After passing through the throne room, I and the Viscount were walking down the long corridor, separated from the other Barons, when Baron Crescent’s voice was heard.

“I guess Viscount Creutel and Baron are over now. What if you are good at it? They didn’t even think about following His Excellency’s orders and were only blinded by their own achievements. isn’t it? Baron Wren.”

“But the Kreutel family’s achievements are of a different rank…”

“Sounds like nothing. If you’ve calculated it all, shouldn’t you have shared it with us? They must have taken all of our exploits. Even if it’s just the land they received… Isn’t it the best place in the county?”

“That’s right… From copper mines to limestone mines… They say that taking possession of Hellsman Castle in its entirety is a big deal, but the size of their territory has actually doubled. They overtook us who were destined to be in name and reality and became number two.”

Baron Wren and Baron Crescent talked about us behind our backs until we could no longer hear them.

Summarizing the contents of the conversation, it seems that the other barons are trying to develop a sense of inferiority toward our Kreutel family, and later divide them into ‘the majority following the count’ and ‘the Baron Kreutel family’…

No matter how much I and the viscount grew up as vassals of the count, if this is the case, I’d rather just order them to be ‘independent’.

As expected, the extreme of cowardice who tries to protect his life to the end even at the cost of his honor as a nobleman…

The one who will learn a lesson from the ancestors who purged Admiral Yi Sun-sin and the army commanders..

While I was walking from the audience room to our inn, the viscount looked at me with a worried expression and asked.

“Ciel. What shall we do now?”

In my heart, I want to go back to the territory right now and say, ‘Come on, then I’ll give you independence!!’ After saying this, I want to be independent, but…

If you do that, the Count of Nantes will say it’s time and invade our territory and start a war.

When war breaks out, no matter how elite our soldiers are, they can’t handle the amount of water pouring out of the Countess of Nantes.

No matter how strong a trained soldier is, it can’t defeat 5 serfs holding pitchforks.

So I gave the most standard answer.

“I can’t help it. I will stabilize the newly increased Baron Kreutel, father, please take charge of the ‘Blue Fort’. Wouldn’t it be best to grow the territory as much as possible and prepare for the next war?”

The Viscount heard that and replied with a nod.

“right. Since the other barons have already started to envy us, all we can do is make a mark.”

“Yes, and if we digest all of these and show our abilities… we will be able to create a richer and more powerful territory than before. Copper mines and limestone mines, if only these could be used well, what would be scary?”

The viscount answered with a satisfied expression, as if he liked my confident reply.

“Yes, since I have received so many awards, it is inevitable that there will be people who are jealous of that grace… Shouldn’t I try even harder… to repay the kindness of the late Count?”

It seems that the person who was loyal to the count of Nantes to the point of claiming to be the guardian of the count of Schwain was referring to the ‘earlier’ rather than the current count…

The Viscount must have been very disappointed in Schwein because the Count was trying to keep us in check through this non-professional performance.

Because, the nobles of this era are those who ‘always’ give their allegiance to their current lord, not to the ‘dead’ who have human grace…

In front of me, ‘The one I’m loyal to right now is not the Count of Schwain, but the Count of Nantes.’ It’s like what I said.

“Yes, Father.”

**

After the war of conquest of Count Helsmann’s Territory, Baron Kreutel and I returned to Baron Kreutel’s territory, and the Viscount decided to head for the Blue Fort.

And before parting with the viscount, I asked the viscount as follows.

“Blue Port is a good port for exchanges with the Northern Alliance. Therefore, please promote exchanges with the Northern Alliance. If you tell them to sell ‘sugar’, ‘grain’, etc., they will definitely open the door over there.”

“Yeah, that’s how it should be. The Northern Alliance is also a country that has the Holy Romanian Empire like us as its enemy, so if we form an alliance, the rear will be safe.”

“Yes, Father. Please.”

The Viscount patted his chest and said.

“Look forward to it. In a few months, I’ll rake up the money the Northern Alliance has with a pitchfork.”

“That way, I can spend a lot without worrying about money. I look forward to it.”

After saying that, the viscount headed for Blue Fort with five companies of my standing army.

And the rest of the soldiers, including Balt, hurriedly returned to Baron Creutel.

I should go back quickly and rest while eating something delicious with Ella and Balt…

After that, let’s think of a way to hit and kill that damn count.

**

Returning to the territory, I first finished the soldiers’ field trip, and rested with them for a week.

While resting, I woke up almost every day when the sun rose in the middle of the day, took care of ‘urgent business’, and took Ella and Balt out to play in the village outside Creutel Castle, or go to the back mountain to enjoy a picnic.

And on the last day, I secretly hid my identity, went into a rural village, bought ‘three chickens’ and roasted them over a campfire…

It was really delicious because I secretly ate it in a place where other retainers couldn’t see it.

And from then on, the work needed to manage the expanded manor began to pour in like a tidal wave.

“Your Excellency, the copper mine in Sautron says that copper ore is no longer produced since last year!! Miners are in trouble because they have no jobs. What should I do?”

“Isn’t that something you should think about and report to me!! Find an alternative right away!!”

“Your Excellency, there is not enough manpower for the limestone mine!!”

“Put the miners from the copper mines in there!”

“all right!!”

“Your Excellency, maybe it’s because we haven’t used the four-row cropping method well in this territory, so the food is scarce. What should I do?”

“Send all the biscuits that have been stored for more than 7 months that way.”

“all right.”

Work is constantly pouring in like this, ha…

Even when I got the Blue Fort and the Salt Mine, I ended up with a little more work, but thanks to the fact that I received ‘1 Baron Spirit’ from the Count, I have so many things to do…

At this rate, I don’t think I can survive even with two bodies, should I rather hire some of the gentry or knights as inspectors and let them skip work in the middle…

No, let’s just filter it… I’m not King Felipe II, and I can’t supervise the building of a local monastery…

So, I decided to fill out the ‘Inspector Officer’s Order’ to the people in the documents who looked good among the gentry and the knights and replace them together.

Of course, if the capacity is supported to some extent, I plan to guarantee a territory or a higher title, just like the soldiers did.

Ah, now that I think about it again, I have to recruit soldiers from the newly hired territory…

Food is surplus, so this time I have to recruit an additional 2,3,000 people from all over the territory so that I can fight against the count…

Usually, even in a modern country, if the number of soldiers exceeds 2% of the population, it is considered a problem, but in the Middle Ages, the standing army accounted for more than 3% of the people living in the territory…

A feat that would have been unthinkable had it not been for copying money with sugar.

If it were another lord, even half of me would have been 100% bankrupt…

In terms of job difficulty, it seems that war is more convenient than arranging a new territory like this. really..

In addition to this, marriage permits and matchmaking for soldiers of ‘sergeant’ or higher now have to be done, the amount of sugar to be sold to the Northern Alliance must be inquired with the administrative officers, and the consumption of surplus grain in the military is gradually limited, so a full-fledged poultry industry is also underway. I need to think…

Ha, aren’t you really going to die like this?

**

So for a year, a year, I lived while suffering from internal affairs.

As a result, I was able to safely digest Orvo and Sautron as my domain, and was able to plaster some houses and parts of the walls with lime.

In addition, an apprentice in Hamburg said that there was someone who had learned how to make ‘water-cooling powder’ by putting it in water, so he was able to recruit that person at an extremely high price.

Thanks to the apprentice boasting about making a luxurious food called ‘ice cream’ with the powder that cools this water, I paid a lot of money.

I’m recruiting an engineer, what’s with 50 gold coins…

However, if I’m right about this powder, it will be a skill worth 500 gold coins, let alone 50 gold coins…

It should be considered a good investment.

And as I had planned, I was able to recruit and train 2,000 more soldiers.

However, behind all the good things in this world, there are always bad things…

Finally, the event that symbolized Elaine’s turmoil occurred.

It’s a scarecrow emperor, but ‘His Majesty’ has passed away.

Damn, I’m also a baron, so I’m going to go to the imperial capital ‘Elysium’ for the first time in my life with the Countess of Nantes and hold a funeral for the emperor who is not respectful at all.

And if you secretly have a meeting with other great nobles and get them to subjugate Shubein…

I can devour the Countess of Nantes.

It’s going to cost you a little, but as long as you have the money, you’ll do anything.