71 – Great Leap (4)

In Joseon, the position of Il-in-ha and Man-in-ji-sang, that is, the highest position that a subject can ascend to, was called Yeonguijeong.

And its status is infinitely higher than that of Yeonguijeong in Joseon.

The land, millions of subjects and power with enormous economic power worthy of the highest nobility give them a status almost equal to that of the ‘immediate imperial family’.

No, some dukes sit in a higher position than the imperial family at the official events of the Elain Empire…

It can be said that their status pierces the sky and makes the mountains ring.

The mansion of the Duke of Brussels, who held such power and wealth in both hands, was gorgeous.

No, it was dazzling enough to blind me to the extent that it cannot be described in words as splendid.

On the ceiling, pictures representing anecdotes of Deus boasted colorful colors, and pictures of Deus, the goddess of beauty, and angels were painted sparsely on the walls.

The unpainted walls were covered with pure white marble, and the corners were inlaid with gold patterns.

I’ve always wanted to see masterpieces from the era of absolute monarchy, such as those in the Palace of Versailles, but to think that wish came true after being reincarnated in Europe.

Ella and Chris seemed to think the same as I did, so they both looked around and said in a voice full of admiration.

“Wow, that’s amazing, master… The painting on the ceiling is so pretty, it looks like a living person.”

“I never thought such a beautiful house would exist. I wonder if the palace in heaven is like this.”

“Yes, the painting on the ceiling is pretty, like looking at a living person.”

And not long after, a man dressed in a black silk robe appeared in front of us, bowed his head slightly, and greeted me.

“I am Baron Paul von Brinschwitz, Your Excellency Count Kreuttel. It is an honor to meet you in person.”

Even though I have occupied all of Nantes and the Earl of Hellsmann, the role of meeting people like this is usually played by the ‘head of the duke’s family’…

I can’t believe that a man the size of a baron came out to guide me…

The Duke of Brussels seems to think very highly of me…

I answered as politely as possible to match the evaluation.

“I am Ciel von Kreuttel. This girl here is Ella, my concubine. And the guy next to me is Chris Belladora, my assistant.”

Baron Brinschwitz looked surprised that he had brought his concubine Ella here, but when he introduced her, he did not change his expression and listened to my story.

But when I introduced Chris, he looked at me in surprise and asked.

“To say that His Excellency the Count’s secretary is a woman… His Excellency has quite peculiar tastes…”

“He is a worthy talent. If it hadn’t been for her help before the subjugation of the Count of Nantes, we would have had to deal with 18,000 infantry in a tired state after defeating over 2000 knights. I am treating you the same as any other man.”

Hearing that, the baron replied while scratching his head.

“Is that so? I thought of her as a ‘concubine’ who was taken with her in the name of ‘secretary’.”

In Europe, it is common sense that women are seen as subordinate to men, so the baron can’t help but say that.

No, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but at the point of ‘honest clarification’, gender equality is high for aristocrats of this era.

So I came up with another word to change the story.

“no. Baron by the way. When can we see His Highness the Duke?”

“I think we will be able to meet each other on the sand tomorrow. In the meantime, relax in your Brussels mansion. While you are waiting, we will fully support ‘Your Excellency’s Tourism’ if you wish. Do you have anything you want? If it’s a woman, if it’s a woman, if it’s food, everything is prepared.”

“First of all, I will take a break today and look around tomorrow. Please introduce me to many good places.”

Hearing that, the baron looked at me and smiled.

“Should I even send a woman to attend? Compared to Ella-sama, it’s a bit inferior, but…”

“It is done, Baron. Let me take heart. It’s because I haven’t been able to make love with Ella so much lately.”

Even though I said this, that nobleman said this openly now.

‘How about our spy? She has a pretty face and a toned body.’

Even if I accepted it, the duke wouldn’t be so disappointed with me who had already passed the test to become a count, but at least it’s a foolish act that would reduce my value by 5-10%.

I’m not Schwein, and there’s no way I’ll be caught in such tricks.

Then I covered my mouth and yawned, then said while holding onto Ella’s shoulders as she was eating tea and snacks with Chris.

“Baron, Ella and I are of course in the same room, right?”

Hearing that, the baron smiled and said as if he had been attacked.

“Yes, of course. We will provide you with a Royal Suite, which is used when His Highness’s immediate family members visit. The servants…”

“A maid who is a bit older is more comfortable. i look forward to.”

After saying that, I went up to the room with Ella.

And that day I said, ‘Don’t even think about sending another female spy up.’ I spent time with Ella in order to break my back.

Seriously, the day after arriving at the mansion, it was so passionate that the maids, who would have seen or overheard a far more lewd and violent sex act than this, were slightly surprised.

As an aside, since Ella lightly expressed her ‘dissatisfaction’ with me about sleeping for the first time that day…

To appease Ella, I promised to buy her a bunch of pretty dresses tomorrow.

**

Anyway, despite spending a passionate time with Ella, I woke up at noon because I had to ‘work’ to look around this estate.

When I opened my eyes, changed my clothes, and left the room while being attended by Ella, the baron greeted me the same way today.

The baron cleared his throat as soon as he saw me.

“I heard that he was so active on the battlefield that he was called Creutel’s White Reaper, and he was terrifying like a reaper even on the bed… Our maids told us about it.”

In modern Korea, invasion of privacy and sexual harassment through eavesdropping are crimes worthy of imprisonment, but these are not the issue here.

Why, even in the Joseon Dynasty, people openly peeked through holes in the windows and doors of people who were spending the first night of their honeymoon, and in Europe, even until the Middle Ages, the marriage of aristocrats was a proud event.

As an extension of that, even if this kind of eavesdropping is discovered, there is no reason for big reprimand, and there is nothing to say if the maid said that she was on standby because she didn’t know.

And being terrifying at night is the highest compliment a man can receive, whether in Korea or here.

So I said with a smile.

“It is an honor, Baron.”

“At that age, I thought I dominated the bed like you, but after hearing about your achievements, I can no longer boast of my former years.”

That’s how we talked for about 20 minutes like the nobility of ‘Europe’ dominated by chivalry and masculinity.

I didn’t want to reveal the picture of Ella on the bed, so I talked about clothes, snacks, and cute things that mostly fit Ella’s taste.

And after a while, a woman wearing a pale pink one-piece dress with Chris came up to me and said hello.

“Sir, sorry to have kept you waiting.”

“Miss Belladora, is this the Countess of Creutel?”

I greeted the woman in a dress in front of me with dignity.

“Ciel von Kreuttel, count who rules Creutel, Nantes, and Helsman. What is the young lady’s name?”

“I am Anna Brünhild of the Brünhild family, a collateral branch of the Baron Brinschwitz. Today, I have been instructed to serve you so that you will not get bored while waiting for your Highness. It is an honor to tour the city with such a wonderful person as your Excellency.”

At that, Ella looked at me with her cheeks puffed out as if she was in a bad mood when she saw the stray cat wagging its tail in front of her eyes from a distance from me.

Normally, I would comfort her saying it wasn’t like that, but now it’s an exhibition, so I left Ella alone for a while and continued the conversation with the woman in front of me.

“Please. Brunhild. I would like to see some of the luxuries, luxurious clothes, food, and barracks of this estate. Is that possible?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. His Highness the Duke has instructed that if His Excellency wishes, the treasure chest of the ducal family and even the library containing confidential documents may be opened to the public… Of course it is possible.”

Even if that’s the case with the treasure chest, even the library with classified documents…

The duke is deliberately sending a signal that he trusts me, fearing that if I become hostile to him, he will be far from winning the war for the succession.

Of course, if you do, you won’t do anything crazy.

“Okay, then I want to go to the barracks first. Luxuries and clothes are mainly good things for ‘evening’.”

“That is a wise idea.”

And I looked around Ella and Chris and said to the baron.

“These women are very important to me. Although Chris is not my concubine, he is my dear secretary. So, while I’m gone, could you provide me with a massage or some delicious food that I wouldn’t be out of place with?”

“Of course, sir. We will treat you as the best honored guest with the honor of our baron.”

After that conversation, I left Ella and Chris inside the mansion and headed to the barracks.

**

The duke’s barracks located outside the city of Brussels.

The duke’s barracks were surrounded by a low but very wide rampart, and within it were efficiently placed quarters for soldiers, a parade ground, and an arsenal.

And after a while, I suddenly heard a loud noise in my ears.

“You idiots!! When you drink and hang out with girls at a tavern, you play dirty well, so it’s scary when it’s time to take your lover?! Is that a man or a rat?”

“Please save me!!”

“shut up! Grab a spear and become a soldier! If you work for 10 years, you can live on for the rest of your life and get married, but you can’t stand it! boot!!”

“Captain of the Ten…”

“Everybody get down and stretch!”

Doesn’t that method sound like a ‘press gang’-style conscription method that I usually use when recruiting new recruits, only to avoid kidnapping?

Since it is a method that is ahead of the times by hundreds of years, I thought it would take time to introduce it unless you are a genius, but the duke introduced it?

So I ran to the parade ground where the new recruits were to be trained, not caring about dignity, in order to observe it closely.

When I got there, Anna from behind, wearing a dress, walked as fast as she could without demeaning.

Without waiting for such Anna, I grabbed the man wearing the best armor in the parade ground and handed over some gold coins.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Um, um… Your Excellency. Even if it seems like this, I’m the centurion here, so I can’t get over it that easily…”

“It doesn’t matter, I’m just curious about how recruits are recruited. If you answer, I’ll give you wine and meat to the hundred under your command. A personal favor, of course.”

Hearing this, the centurion replied with a grin.

“At that level, it’s good that I can give you an answer without betraying Your Highness. First of all, when it’s time for conscription, give enough money to the 20 chiefs and go to the bar where the ‘poor people’ gather. Then, 20 people enter the bar and call poor men in their 10s to 30s.”

“Okay, yes. Go on.”

“At this time, the important thing is that even when serving alcohol to dozens or hundreds of guys, the money the 20 chiefs spend should be ‘their one week’s salary’. Otherwise, the new recruits will not give ‘money’ like that in the future, but they will desert because they think that they can overdo it. Stop it because people from the poor deserted because they didn’t keep it in the past…”

I’m only introducing the knowledge I’ve gained from history to suit the situation, but did the duke only see a part of what I showed him and remodel it most efficiently to suit his territory…

Seriously, I shouldn’t be hostile to this nobleman.

“Right. It’s a serious matter.”

“So this principle must be followed. If you drink like that and talk about your saga, your salary, and the future after that, 9 out of 10 people who enter will choose the path as a ‘soldier’. Then, after paying a down payment, they are given the ‘baptism of soldiers’ passing through the road made by crossed spears by veteran soldiers in the ‘Plaza watched by citizens’. And from the down payment, we subtract money to buy cloth armor, spears, and helmets. In the first place, the down payment is the money that falls when you buy it. That’s how we recruit soldiers and train them like that.”

Why is this Duke’s Highness able to look at the ‘conscription’ I sowed and come up with a Tercio-style military system that is most suitable for this era and can efficiently train elite soldiers?

No matter how much more information was stolen through spies, to come up with a system like this by gathering that limited fragmented information… Are you a freak?

Even if something like Tercio-style long spear dust hadn’t been introduced, the duke had already enlisted at least one or two centuries earlier with the hint I gave…

So, in a daze of surprise, I continued to wander around the barracks, being guided by the centurion.

Soldier’s salary, lodging, promotion, personnel management, equipment, supply system are all…

Thanks to that, I spent over 100 gold coins, but considering that I was able to know that such a strong enemy existed, it was cheap…

That’s how I listened to all the explanations, and now when I was about to move my feet to buy a luxury item, Anna looked at me and said.

“Your Excellency Count Ciel von Kreuttel, Your Highness is waiting for you in the furthest part of the barracks.”

Expecting me to be like this, and trying to negotiate when I was surprised to see the barracks is just like a duke…

When it comes to a duke with years of experience, he laughs off Schwein’s troll behavior and even embarrasses me, who survived while beating his head…

oh i want to go home