After the demarcation of the opening ban in Chapter 256
was completed, the Barony of Harden was assigned to Richard, and the Redemptor Army commanded by Zachary also left Iron Lion Castle (formerly Harden Castle) and stationed in the Earl of Downey Martins.
The land near the Barony of Harden is mature land that is ripe for development. Not only does it have a complete castle, but it is also easy to restore production and does not require the Harland family to invest too many resources. The newly sealed territory has a large amount of flat land and salt lake minerals. If all are developed, the strength of the Harland family will be greatly improved.
The Earldom of Downey Martins is very large, covering an area of more than 60,000 square kilometers, second only to several duchies. However, the strength of the Earl of Martins is weak, the territory is sparsely populated and the products are not abundant. Count Martins' army could not effectively defend such a vast area.
King Charles placed too heavy a burden on Earl Martins, which resulted in the Earl of Martins falling twice, and the accumulated population in the territory was robbed by orcs.
In just three years, two earls died in succession, and the strength of the Martins family's many years of operation was almost completely lost.
In the end, King Roger took office, helped the Martins family, allocated a special loan of 300,000 gold coins, and sent a legion of redeemers to the Martins Earldom to help the Martins family maintain the situation.
Despite the presence of a Redeemer Legion, the orcs invaded Gascoigne from the Count of Martins.
Because the area to be defended was too large, and the Harland family was developing rapidly, and the defense line in the area near the territory was relatively stable, the Kingdom of Roger transferred the highly decorated Zachary Redeemer Army to the Earl of Martins and reorganized it into the Iron Lion Army to unify Command all the troops led by Earl Martins to fight.
Although his political stance failed, Zachary had another chance to make a comeback.
In two consecutive orc invasion battles, Zachary's troops have made military exploits. The army under his command has redeemed its crimes and been reorganized into the central second-line army.
After leading his men to achieve military exploits, Zachary's performance won the recognition of King Roger, and he once again sat on the throne of the commander of the Central Army Corps. The strength of the troops was also expanded to 16,000, and the weapons and equipment were also increased a lot. However, Zachary's political status is far from being comparable to that of when he was the commander of the Northern Army, or even compared to his old subordinates William, Teng Wei and others.
It is a very difficult step to transfer from the commander of the second-line army to the commander of the main army. Unless you make undisputed military exploits and win a beautiful battle, it will be difficult to achieve such a big leap.
The Dawn Plane is a world where personal power is integrated into one body. War in the Demonic World relies on strength. Although conspiracy is of some use, it cannot determine the outcome of the war.
If Zachary wants to get back up again, he still needs to struggle for many years and achieve a brilliant victory.
You may even never reach the heights you once had in your lifetime.
The opportunity to change a person's destiny may only come once or twice in a lifetime. Once lost, it is difficult for this opportunity to come back again. Unless you have great talent or extraordinary luck. Like Richard, become the person who changes the situation.
Although Zachary is brave, capable, and a good general, he is not someone who can turn the tide and change the situation.
Richard was promoted to hereditary earl, and the Harland family's political influence greatly increased.
At this moment, within the Grant Kingdom, there were only a dozen or so noble families left who dared to touch the interests of Harland's territory.
The task of preventing infiltration of the territory and guarding against spies can finally be relaxed.
In fact, in recent years, after seeing the tragic situation of the Cisse family, ordinary barons and viscounts no longer dare to provoke the Haaland family, and they no longer send spies to the Haaland territory.
When encountering business disputes, they dare not touch the interests of the Haaland family easily.
As his strength gradually increased, the situation faced by Richard became better.
Becoming a great noble this year can also adjust policies, promote the circulation of goods in the territory, and activate commercial activities.
Richard is preparing to sell goods to Nolan after winter. Brown sugar, hemostatic ointment, burn ointment, liquor, enchanted weapons, northern Xinjiang specialty animal skins, wool cloth, and Warcraft materials can all be sold in Nolan.
Relying on the power of the hereditary earl, Richard no longer needs to cooperate with the court nobles to do business in Nolan.
As a great nobleman, when doing business within the Grant Kingdom, you can at least have the right to fair competition.
This right is very critical to the business operations of Haaland territory.
Starting next year, business profits should increase a lot.
Even though many small nobles were dissatisfied with the products from Harland territory occupying the market, causing the outflow of gold coins. We can only negotiate politely with the territorial caravans, and we dare not directly rob and kill people like in previous years.
In the Grant Kingdom, the political status of a viscount and an earl are almost completely different, and their deterrent power to the outside world is also very different.
After Richard participated in the promotion ceremony, he did not stay in Nolan for too long, but returned to the earldom of Harland.
The day after returning, Richard carefully weighed the pros and cons and abolished the law prohibiting the migration of his subjects. However, outsiders are still prohibited from visiting or approaching confidential departments. Red arrow warning signs are now erected outside the secret-related departments. After more than ten years of bloody lessons, both freemen and ordinary slaves in the Harland Territory have the concept not to go near the red arrow area.
Nowadays, most of the secret-related departments in Harland's territory are related to magic. The threshold is very high and it is relatively difficult to leak secrets.
Some key technologies, such as making alchemical bombs, are personally controlled by the core of the territory.
Even if the territorial residents can move freely, the impact on the secret-related departments will be relatively small.
The prohibition on migration law mainly controls the speed of information dissemination. Although it has a good effect on counter-espionage and preventing the leakage of territorial technology, the population cannot circulate, which seriously suppresses commercial activities.
Without commercial activities and population circulation, the market cannot exert its power.
This year there are 90,000 free people in Harland Territory.
The consumer market formed by 90,000 free people is second only to the capital Nolan in the Grant Kingdom, and the market size is equivalent to a large city like Black River Fort.
After weighing the pros and cons, Richard decided to relax the ban, support business development, and make the territory more prosperous.
Although the Harland Territory experienced a war this year, it did not affect the territory's industrial and agricultural production.
The Fifty-ninth Orc Legion did not invade the hinterland of Harland's territory and was blocked from the military station. Although the wheat seedlings in the swamp basin were trampled a lot by the military fighting, thousands of acres of farmland were reduced to varying degrees. Compared to the overall situation in the Harland territory, the summer and autumn harvests were not greatly affected.
This year is not a good harvest year, nor is it a disaster year. The food harvest is neither high nor low, it can be considered an average year. The invasion of orcs this year has seriously affected the cultivation of new fields this year.
Both the Swamp Basin and Graveson Castle are not far from the front line, and these two areas are the focus of the development of Harland Territory.
This year's reclamation work can only be carried out in the hinterland of the territory, mainly developing the southern areas of Fort William and Fort Sophia, reclaiming about 60,000 acres of land, most of which is still dry land.
Because it is the first year, the yield will be relatively low. Even though farmyard manure is applied, the average yield per mu is less than 70 kilograms. Next year, half of these farmlands will be used to grow cotton to expand cotton production.
This year Richard was promoted to earl and gained a large new territory. Especially in the former Barony of Harden, about 260,000 acres of farmland have been reclaimed.
Canals and waterwheels have also been built on the farmland, and the infrastructure is very good.
Back then, Richard moved the civilians from the Baron of Harden to the Harland Territory, leaving large areas of farmland barren and drains blocked. Now it is still necessary to relocate the population, clear water canals, and resume production.
Although uncle Thoros was promoted to a hereditary baron, he did not choose to go back to run the territory and still served in the army of Harland Territory.
Cousin Kent retired from the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade and came to the Castle of the Brave to manage the territory of the Thoros family.
索罗斯获封的领地也是原哈登家族的封地，这块封地在哈登男爵领正北部，是哈登男爵长子莱昂男爵的封地。
这块领地有一条河流，是凯亚河的支流，凯亚河是北疆地区非常重要的河流，是加斯科因行省防御兽人的一道天险，也是黑河最重要的一条支流。
领地内有河流，自然不会太缺少水源，河谷的两岸，可以开垦不少的水田。
莱昂男爵在这片领土经营了几年时间，购买了上万的奴隶，开垦了八万多亩农田。还在领地最北部，挑选险要位置修筑了一座城堡，与普拉托斯城堡互为犄角，连成了一线。
如今莱昂男爵领的领民虽然被附近贵族抓走，农田城堡却带不走。
有了这个基础，明年恢复生产相对来说就容易一些。
索罗斯家族成员，都在哈兰德领地做军官，没有经营其他的产业。
舅舅索罗斯每年的军饷一百二十枚金币，加上领地的福利补贴，每年的收入大约二百金币。
表哥肯特、摩根、表妹奥黛丽三人的薪水稍微少一些，加上各种补贴，每年的收入在一百二十金币左右。
经营领地需要很多钱，不过索罗斯家族平日里比较节俭，当年经营佣兵团也赚了一些钱。这些年在哈兰德领地，基本上不怎么花钱。
获得封地后，索罗斯直接拿出了六千金币交给肯特，并且召集了所有的家庭成员，包括几位私生子。
“肯特，这笔钱几乎是我所有的积蓄了，现在我都拿出来，交给你经营领地。
你是我的长子，是领地的第一继承人，这一块领地我会交给你继承。
我们家族能晋升成为世袭贵族，恢复祖先的荣光，除了时运不错，得到了你的表弟李察提携之外，靠的就是家族成员的团结。
This territory is the result of not only the hard work of you and me, but also the hard work of your brother Morgan and sister Audrey. If not for their contributions, our family would have had to wait several years to obtain the fief.
You have got all my savings, and you will also help your younger brothers and sisters in the future. I am now fifty-eight years old and can still work for more than ten years. I will continue to accumulate military exploits and help Morgan be promoted to baron. When Morgan manages the territory, you must also spend six thousand gold coins to fund your brother's career. "
The Soros family is the first generation of hereditary nobles. The relationship between family members is relatively close, and internal struggles are not obvious.
Before Kent ran the territory, Soros made it clear and clarified the inheritance rights.
According to the unspoken rules within the general nobility Said that Soros's territory should be inherited by Morgan, who is more talented. But after careful consideration, Soros decided to hand over the territory to Kent. In addition to the fact that he prefers Kent, Soros has a certain degree of certainty. Before retiring, It can help the second son to be promoted to the hereditary nobility, and the family obtains a second fiefdom.
Kent and Morgan have their cousin Richard as a big backer, and Soros's sons are enough to maintain the family business.
Kent is already thirty-eight years old, and he has been an officer for twenty years. In the early years, his salary was relatively low and he didn't save much money. After coming to the Harland territory, as his professional level improved, his military pay also increased, and he had already saved 1,500 gold coins. Plus his father With the six thousand gold coins funded by Richard and the two thousand gold coins funded by Richard, Kent had about ten thousand gold coins in his hand.
With the original capital of ten thousand gold coins, Kent spent 4,500 gold coins to Giuseppe through the channels of the Harland family. The Duke ordered 1,000 slaves. Then he spent 3,000 gold coins to purchase 500 slaves from the Black River Fort slave market. For the
remaining gold coins, Kent purchased a large amount of grain, woolen cloth, cattle, and farm tools from the Harland Territory.
Arrive In late August, Kent took the first batch of more than 500 slaves into the Baron of Leon and began to tidy up the castle, clear weeds, and do some preliminary work to prepare for resuming production next year. Richard also funded a batch of slaves from his eldest cousin
Kent Weapons and equipment allow him to arm some of his slaves. Kent has a family-inherited breathing method, which is easier at the beginning than nobles from civilian backgrounds.
The Barony of Leon has a good foundation and relatively fertile land. It does not require a large amount of capital investment in the early stage. It can make money by selling grain after re-farming next year.
After the autumn harvest was completed, Richard began a new round of patrolling the territory.
As the territory became larger and larger, and there were more and more villages, it was impossible for Richard to inspect all the villages himself.
Now he can only select some representative villages and visit them in person to observe the living standards of the residents and the development of the local economy.
Richard rode a war horse and left Fort William with a dozen followers and a light carriage, and began his annual inspection of the territory.
Many officials have tried to dissuade Richard from his habit of driving lightly and being simple.
The bureaucrats in the Harland Territory have always hated Richard's contact with the grassroots. But no matter what they said, they couldn't change Richard's mind.
Although he needed to rely on the bureaucracy to govern his territory, without the powerful force, Richard did not need to compromise with the bureaucracy at all. The political and economic treatment of soldiers and officers in the Haaland territory is better than that of the bureaucratic class.
(End of chapter)