In the Middle Ages, people drew cards to be promoted to nobility.

"Thirty people?"

Lothar looked at the soldiers with disheveled armor, dark faces and thin muscles, and frowned: "There are only thirty defenders in a castle?"

Thirty defenders, all infantry.

At most, they can only huddle in the castle to protect themselves, and have no ability to protect the surrounding villages from being plundered by desert bandits.

"It's a bit small, but you can't afford more, right?"

The guard officer laughed along with him, his face full of guilt.

Such a powerful lord would definitely be furious if he found out that his fiefdom was so poor.

What if I take my anger out on myself again...

Although he is a guard officer in name and can be regarded as a retainer of His Majesty the King, he does not even have a title and is actually a slave.

If he didn't have to bring taxes and pay tribute every month, His Majesty the King might not even know that there is such a person as himself.

"Isn't there even a church in the castle where the citizens can worship?"

The guard officer forced a smile and said: "There is only one prayer room, located on the first floor of your inner fort."

Lothar smiled: "Okay, very good, it's such a poor place."

The guard officer's heart was in his throat.

Fringilla looked at the castle with some dissatisfaction: "This place is really too shabby. I doubt even the mice would be willing to visit such a shabby place."

"The most shabby place I have ever lived was the castle in Moldavia when I ran away from home. Compared with this place, it looks like a royal palace."

"Sorry ma'am, it's really too shabby here."

The guard officer said cautiously.

This lady speaks so loudly, she must be a noble princess, right?

For heaven's sake, she wouldn't push poor old Leonard out and hang him because of the dilapidation here, right?

"I think it's not bad. There is nothing, and it is convenient for us to knock down and rebuild. For example, I plan to knock down this inner castle and rebuild it into the Lord's Hall."

Lothar was very interested.

The guard officer gritted his teeth and said: "My lord, if you stay here for a while, you will realize that there is no need to build a large-scale construction here. Yogurus's tax revenue for one year may not be enough for you to renovate a lord's hall."

The lord's hall is actually an inner castle in a city or castle where the lord, his family, and slaves live. Although it is a "hall" in name, it has at least three floors.

Lothar ignored him, but looked at the "giant" Malus beside him and asked:

"Marrus, what do you think of the blacksmith shop here?"

Mallus was silent for a moment and replied: "It can barely be used, but the efficiency is very low. I need time and materials to improve the tools and the forge."

"No problem. I will give you a budget of two hundred gold coins of the best quality. Please build me a solid and durable armor as soon as possible."

Mallus nodded and said, "No problem, I promise to satisfy you."

"Soldiers, since Yogurtsburg has been owned by me, from now on, your personal dependence has been transferred from the royal family to my hands."

"Now, in the name of Heavenly Father, pledge allegiance to me!"

Lothar raised the armed sword in his hand.

The guard officer and thirty soldiers only hesitated for a moment before falling to their knees and noisily swearing an oath to Lothar.

After His Majesty the King entrusts this territory to Lothar, the land, population, slaves, including debts and bond relationships, will also be transferred to Lothar's name.

"Hans, you kneel down too!"

Hans was stunned for a moment, then knelt down on one knee without hesitation.

"Guard officer, tell me, what is the name of the village to the west?"

The guard officer knelt on the ground and said without thinking: "It's Sego."

"Then Hans, my loyal squire, in order to reward your bravery and good fighting skills, I will give you Sego as your fief and promote you to a knight!"

"Thank you, sir!"

Hans was a little happy that he had finally become an official knight, but at the same time he was also a little confused.

He didn't understand why Lothar gave him a fief, but when he saw the eyes of Ryan and Model that were almost shining, he seemed to understand.

"Everyone, get up."

"I, Lothar of the Habsburg family, swear in the name of Heavenly Father - as long as I make enough merit, I will promote anyone to a knight regardless of their origin!"

His eyes swept over the faces of these eighty people.

Lothar saw desire and expectation on their faces.

And that's exactly what he wanted.

"Model, starting from today, you will re-train the thirty new sergeants. Ryan, you will be responsible for the daily drills of the fifty veterans."

"Hans, you will be the commander of the Yogurt Castle Cavalry. In the following time, you can select those who are good at riding or have outstanding talents to become cavalry. There are only ten places."

Model and Ryan all took orders. They were very motivated now and wanted to let Lothar see their efforts immediately.

Hans had a headache. If he wanted to tell who had cavalry talent, it was not that easy. He could only look at past experience.

"Guard Officer, tell me your name!"

The guard officer smiled and said, "Sir, just call me Leonard."

"You are responsible for purchasing war horses and draft horses during this period. I need ten high-quality Arabian horses. The price does not matter - but it is related to my recognition of you."

Leonard quickly patted his chest and promised: "I promise, sir, I will buy a good horse at a good price and good quality!"

"Okay, go do what you should do. Training is suspended today and you can go clean up your residence."

The eighty armored sergeants were more than adequate in defense, but insufficient in offense. Even the most basic maintenance of law and order was difficult to achieve.

This era is, after all, the era of cavalry.

In a wilderness area like the Holy Land, if you encounter desert bandits, you can't expect the infantry to use their two legs to run past the light cavalry that come and go like the wind.

But training a cavalry takes too much time and energy.

Training cavalry from scratch like now is the most time-consuming and labor-intensive method.

And the recruitment of knights is limited by the size of the territory...Without a fief, how can one gather a large number of knights to serve for oneself?

From Leonard's mouth, Lothar learned that there were only 6 villages in Yogurtsburg, with an average population of about 200 people, and they depended on the Jordan River.

Altogether, there were thousands of people under his rule.

But these are poor people struggling to make ends meet.

According to the mobilization of one out of ten, he can pull up hundreds of conscripts - even in Western Europe where there are small nobles everywhere, this power is really weak and pitiful.

If he were to carve out all the villages as fiefs, he could summon six fully armed knights.

But if you rely on collecting taxes and training your own cavalry, a village's annual tax revenue cannot afford to buy a full set of armor for a cavalryman.

This is the reason why the feudal fief system is so popular in the world.

Ayyubid and the Eastern Empire were able to support a large standing cavalry army because their territory was vast enough and located at a trade node, allowing them to obtain a large amount of commercial taxes.

As a Chinese, the desire for farming is engraved in our instincts.

But Lothar had to admit that Yogurtsburg was not suitable for farming at all, and it was far from meeting the necessary conditions to become a place of dragon prosperity.

No wonder Baldwin IV would not focus too much energy on his territory.

Fortunately, Lothar is a cheater.

The system has been activated. Next, he will get a chance to draw cards once a week. If he draws all the followers, he will have more than fifty followers in one year.

These are his best team members, and they can all be used as officers.

Moreover, he can usually complete various milestones to accelerate this process. In a few years, he will master a decisive force.

At that time, whether it is to go south to attack Egypt or go north to attack Asia Minor, it will be a way out.