Lord Harland

Rednour held back the Holy Radiance Empire's envoy for two days and asked Harland to make a plan in advance. By the time the envoy came, Richard had already thought of a way to deal with it, and he was no longer nervous and regained his composure.

Although Rednor said all his good things, he went against the envoy's wishes and after arriving at Fort William, the envoy was not very happy.

The Holy Radiant Empire is the most powerful country in the Dawn Plane, with a glorious history and a long heritage. It is rumored that the royal family of the Holy Radiance Empire is the descendant of the God of Radiance.

Although the Holy Glory Empire was thousands of miles away, Richard still showed due respect to the envoy, and the welcoming ceremony was also particularly grand.

The messenger's name is Rosen. He has a noble status in the Holy Glory Empire and is the second heir to an earl.

The titles of the Holy Glorious Empire have always been superior to others and are more valuable than the titles of the Kingdoms of the Central Continent. Generally speaking, the counts of the Holy Glorious Empire have more important status than the dukes of the eastern countries.

But Rosen's status is incomparable with a powerful Duke like Richard.

With the current strength of the Harland Territory, it is no less than a kingdom. Although Richard does not wear the crown, his actual status is almost the same as that of the king. After all, in the Dawn Plane, people have always been convinced by force, even if placed in the divine glory. The empire is also equivalent to a dukedom, and it is also the top of the food chain.

Richard's status is far more important than Rosen's.

Although there is a huge difference in status, Rosen represents the Holy Glorious Empire, so he is basically equal to Richard in terms of etiquette.

After getting off the magic ship, Rosen looked far away and suddenly saw a long steel dragon outside the Black River Castle. He asked thoughtfully: "Is this the legendary railway?"

Seeing that the envoy asked about the railway as soon as he got off the boat, Richard nodded and said: "The envoy guessed well, it is indeed the railway."

After receiving Richard's affirmative answer, Rosen asked with great interest: "I heard that the railway led by Harland is a strange magic prop. It is like a legendary golem. It has powerful power and can conquer the entire city at once. Hundreds of tons of cargo were hauled away, but I wonder why there are no steam engines and locomotives on the railway lines?”

In order to avoid the limelight, Richard notified the railway department in advance and asked the steam locomotive to return to the factory for maintenance within a few days before the special envoy arrived. Lest the envoys of the Holy Radiance Empire see the locomotive with their own eyes and then make a request that is not easy to refuse.

"The locomotive is very fragile and has been undergoing maintenance at the factory for some time."

Although Richard had secretly expressed his refusal, Rosen shook his head noncommittally and asked reluctantly: "Can you let me go to the locomotive manufacturing engineering to have a look? I want to see the magic locomotive head with my own eyes."

"The motorcycle manufacturing factory is a confidential unit and is not suitable for outsiders to visit." Richard waved his hand and decisively rejected Rosen's additional request.

There are many strange magic methods in the Dawn Plane. Richard doesn't understand the envoy, so he naturally doesn't want the envoy to visit the secret factory. Although it seemed very abrupt, Richard still decisively refused the envoy's temptation.

"Is there any place that the envoys of the Holy Radiance Empire cannot enter?"

Before Richard could speak, Soros said directly: "If you have the handwriting of Edward VII of the Holy Glorious Empire, of course you can enter the confidential unit to visit for the sake of His Majesty the Emperor. But your weight is really not enough, forgive us. I cannot agree to your request."

"Uncle is drunk, please don't take offense, Mr. Special Envoy." As if he was afraid that Soros would say something unpleasant, Richard hurriedly interrupted.

In fact, Richard and Soros already had a plan, one was a good guy and the other was a bad guy. Whatever Richard was embarrassed to say, he said it all through Soros' mouth.

When Soros said something, Rosen turned pale with anger.

But in Harlan's territory, Rosen had no way to regain his face. Thoros looked like a powerful professional at first glance, and Rosen did not dare to risk throwing his gloves at him, and dueled according to the rules of the nobles.

Rosen has no soldiers or generals under his command, and the only thing he relies on is the tiger skin of the Holy Radiant Empire. Relying on this tiger skin, the fox can fake the power of the tiger and frighten these wolf dogs in the Eastern Kingdom.

Although the Holy Radiant Empire is a ferocious big tiger, it is still too far away from the Harland Territory.

The two sides are tens of thousands of miles apart. Even if the Holy Glory Empire goes on an expedition, it will not be able to send too many troops. I am afraid that it will not be able to defeat the growing fierce dog of Richard. Unless the Holy Radiant Empire can give up its interests in other directions and spend several years coordinating the interests of all parties, it can organize a large-scale expedition to deal with Richard, a distant opponent.

However, Harland and Richard have not violated the interests of the Holy Glorious Empire, nor have they caused trouble for the Holy Glorious Empire. They cannot mobilize troops and give up a lot of benefits to cause trouble for Harland just because they receive the envoys poorly. .

Once this tiger skin fails to scare him away, there is nothing Rosen can do to Harland's territory. Seeing Soros being so disrespectful and Richard speaking out to protect him, Rosen could only hold back his anger and press it back into his heart.

Although Rosen was very angry, he quickly controlled his emotions and did not say any evil words.

Rosen has been serving as a regional envoy in the Lion Kingdom for six or seven years and has heard many rumors about Richard.

After all, Richard had a history of insulting and abusing envoys. The Haaland family had a low reputation in nearby kingdoms. It was said that they had barbarian blood. Rosen did not dare to really offend Richard and cause trouble for himself.

There have long been rumors about Richard's courage. Once he kills the envoy in anger, even if the Holy Radiance Empire avenges Rosen in the future, Rosen will not be able to be resurrected. As the saying goes, a good man never suffers immediate losses. Seeing that Richard and the senior leaders of Harland Leader were not afraid of the aura attached to the Holy Glory Empire, Rosen already knew in his heart that it would be difficult for Harland Leader to agree to his additional conditions.

Because Richard didn't give him any face, Rosen put on a bad face along the way and showed an expression of "don't let strangers in".

For a moment, the atmosphere became solemn, and the officials nearby did not dare to speak easily.

Although the envoy was unhappy and gave Richard a lot of looks, Leader Harland still performed his duties as a landlord and provided very considerate services. Even a banquet that was not usually held was held at the Duke's Palace, and Harland was invited to lead the best song and dance troupe to perform.

After the banquet, Richard also gave Rosen an exquisite gift of magic props.

A lot of thought was put into this gift, including a mage robe, a magic pen, a fourth-level magic core, and a magic dagger. The total value of this gift is more than 160 magic crystals. It is considered a very generous gift among the nobles.

You must know that the annual salary of Soros, Zhannings and other legion commanders is only about six hundred gold coins. Adding subsidies, bonuses and other miscellaneous income, the annual salary income of a legion commander is only about seven hundred or eight hundred gold coins.

However, when they reach the level of legion commander, they are all hereditary nobles, and salary is not their main income.

In addition to the economic benefits in the territory, the main income of the legion commander is business dividend income.

For example, Jennings took a stake in the Odaye Flour Processing Factory and received dividend income of two to three thousand gold coins every year. In addition, Jennings also owns several shops in Fort William's most prosperous commercial street. He has real estate income of about four to five hundred yuan in rent every year, plus the income of five to six thousand gold coins from two baronies. Jennings's annual income is about ninety-nine. About a thousand gold coins.

As the territory continues to develop, the income from the two baronies continues to increase. Jennings's net income in a year is roughly equivalent to about 60 to 70% of capitalists such as Odaye and Immorton.

Jennings had a relatively large fiefdom. In order to save the cost of raising soldiers, he rewarded one hundred acres of land and recruited a soldier, which was equivalent to paying 60,000 acres of land to maintain a standing army of 600 people.

Although Zhan Nings serves in the main army, the aristocratic private army can only be managed by old subordinates and old comrades-in-arms. However, because this aristocratic private army soldier owns a large area of ​​land, each soldier owns two or three families of serfs, and can earn from agriculture every year. Earn an income of twenty gold coins.

With high economic income, you can eat a lot of meat, which is very helpful for practicing breathing techniques. In addition, with sufficient economic income, you can also prepare your own equipment and buy sophisticated armor and war horses. The 600 standing troops under Jennings were equivalent to 600 land-owning squires. Although their combat effectiveness was not as good as Lord Harland's army, it was quite impressive.

The soldiers under Zhannings' command are equivalent to the soldiers from another world. He has sealed off 60,000 acres of land, occupying about two-fifths of two baronies. By granting land in one go, Zhannings's cost of raising an army is relatively small, and he usually does not need it. Issue military pay. Only after a victory was won were small rewards given out.

A rising noble like Zhannings only earns less than 10,000 gold coins in total a year. Including some expenses required to maintain the territory, the annual net income is about 8,000 gold coins.

Richard's gift is equivalent to one-fifth of Zhan Nings' annual income, and his sincerity cannot be said to be insufficient.

After receiving the generous gift from the Harland family, Rosen's attitude immediately changed a lot. He thought in his mind: "It seems that the rumors are not reliable. Richard of the Harland family is not a barbarian without good etiquette. Since he held a grand welcome banquet for me and gave me precious gifts, it seems that he is not unable to communicate. I don't need to think of ways to suppress Lord Harland."

Rosen came to Harland Territory with a mission indeed.

Of course, Rosen's mission is not for railway and magic crystal charging technology. Teleportation arrays have been established in major cities of the Holy Glory Empire through which materials can be transported. Although transmitting materials requires a relatively high cost and consumes a large amount of magic crystals, The Holy Glorious Empire does not value things like railways.

In the view of the nobles of the Holy Radiance Empire, Harland's use of magic steam engines to pull trains also consumes a large amount of magic crystals and is not essentially different from the magic teleportation array. In fact, most of the railways operated by Harland are steam locomotives, which consume only coal and use industrial technology.

The difference between industrial technology and magic technology is not yet clear to the Holy Radiance Empire.

The Holy Radiance Empire does not pay much attention to railway technology, and the Harland Territory possesses magic crystal charging technology and has not exposed it to the outside world. The rumors that occasionally surfaced were just the suspicions of the hostile nobles of the three nearby countries. Special Envoy Rosen did not know about it, and it was impossible to figure out the details.

Rosen came to Harland Territory, and his main mission was to bring the crown to Richard's head, split the Grant Kingdom, and restore regional balance. His purpose of coming has already been guessed by Jennings, Soros and others.

The reason why the Holy Radiance Empire is a bit impatient is mainly because the Grant Kingdom has expanded at an alarming rate in the past ten years.

Within ten years, the Grant Kingdom defeated the Orcs in the north, and defeated the coalition forces of the East Coast and Delong in the south. Even the nearby powerful Kingdom of Lane, which joined forces with the East Coast and Delong Kingdoms, was unable to win against the Grant Kingdom. .

Including the Dukedom of Harland, the Grant Kingdom now has a land of 2.6 million square kilometers and a population of 54 million. It is almost the overlord of the northeastern region of the Central Continent.

If the Grant Kingdom were to annex the three countries of Lane, East Coast, and Delong, and then take over the Northern Prairies and Silver Wolf Mountains, it would form a powerful kingdom with an area of ​​7 million square kilometers, a population of more than 100 million, and a large number of magic wells.

Even if other kingdoms in the southeast region join forces by then, it is estimated that they will hardly be able to compete with the Grant Kingdom.

Once the Grant Kingdom is allowed to devour the eastern countries, its power will soon undergo a qualitative change. By then, in the eastern part of the mainland in the plane of dawn, a powerful opponent will appear to challenge the Holy Glory Empire.

The Holy Radiance Empire has implemented a regional balancing policy for three thousand years, and of course it is not willing to see the rise of a powerful country that threatens its own interests.

The growth of the Magic Kingdom in the southwest region has diverted a lot of energy from the Holy Radiance Empire and suffered a lot. With the situation in the east, the Holy Glory Empire is naturally unwilling to develop to this point.

Therefore, as long as there are signs, the Holy Glory Empire will intervene and prepare for a rainy day. Separating the Harland family from the Grant Kingdom is the top priority of Special Envoy Rosen's current mission.

Harland's army is strong, but the population is insufficient, and the land is vast and sparsely populated. It will take a long time to develop. However, the Grant Kingdom has lost the elite soldiers of Harland Lord Richard, and its national strength has also been greatly damaged. It is not the east coast, The opponents of the three-nation alliance of Delong and Lane.

Once the Duke of Harland becomes independent from the Grant Kingdom, the threat from the Grant Kingdom will be much reduced, and the regional situation will be restored to balance.

The most critical step now is to contain Richard's power and prevent him from having the energy to support the Grant royal family and intervene in the southern region.

Achieving this goal is the most important task of Special Envoy Rosen.

After Special Envoy Rosen received the valuable gift, his attitude immediately improved a lot. He found Richard and said directly: "The Duke is a vassal of King Roger. In terms of aristocratic etiquette, the Harland family has been a vassal for generations. To serve the Grant royal family.

The Duke's power is so strong that he can gain a foothold in this area on his own. The Duke's descendants no longer need the protection of the Grant family. Today's Grant royal family has become the shackles and shackles of the development of the Harland family.

If the Harland family wants to continue to develop, they may have to bear the reputation of killing their lords. Once they have such a reputation, it will be almost impossible to gain a foothold among the nobles.

I think the situation has developed so far that the Duke needs to break this shackles.

I heard that the Duke has a close relationship with the Church of Dawn, and it should be easy for him to be canonized by the Goddess of Dawn. As long as the Duke is willing to serve the humans of the Dawn Plane, Emperor Saint Sith of the Holy Radiant Empire will be willing to forge a crown for you and recognize the status of the Harland royal family.

At that time, the Harland family will become the frontier vassals of Emperor Saint Sith, and will assume the task of development. The empire is thousands of miles away, and there is no need for the Harland family to fulfill the obligations of vassals. The descendants of Duke Richard will play an important role in politics. The Admiral will be completely autonomous.

We can also write this on the canonization contract, and the Duke can put aside all worries. The only obstacle now is whether the Duke is willing to contribute to humanity in the Dawn Plane and whether he is willing to serve Emperor Edward? "