Warlord: King of All Clans

If Leo heard what Rigolav said, he would nod in agreement on the surface, but he would find it difficult to agree in his heart.

After Sir Nelson traveled a hundred miles and had a flower on his neck, Leo also had some understanding of the Gladstone family.

Their three knightly fiefdoms were all located to the north of Isenpol; one was their ancestral property, one was a fiefdom for military merit, and one was a pioneering fiefdom.

Both ancestral estates and military fiefs were large, well-developed villages with extensive farmland and pastures.

The pioneer territory has been run for nearly two generations, relying on the wolf-driving forest. Not only is it self-sufficient in food, it also has a good output of timber and fur.

Most of the fiefs of the Northern Banner Knights' families were like this, with no more than ten knight territories at most, and only two or three at the least.

The rule of the Earl of the North depends on these square banner families, but also requires guarding against them.

As long as the Fangqi family's territory exceeded a certain amount, it would either be suppressed by the Earl's Mansion, which would find a reason to deprive it of its territory, or the brothers would split up and take the knight's territory away.

However, the last time the foreign coalition forces rushed out of the Wolf-Driving Plain, the Gladstone family's pioneering territory was the first to bear the brunt and was reduced to ruins overnight.

Although the coalition of lords of Isenbol defeated the foreign race, the Gladstone family was also severely damaged.

Rigolav had the traditional feudal landlord mentality and believed that population and land were the most valuable assets. With the military strength of the River Bend Territory, he could gather his forces and take advantage of the situation to defeat Gladstone in one fell swoop.

Whether it is occupying their land or taking away some of their subjects, it will be lucrative.

It is also a good opportunity to deter villains and enhance the influence of Hewan Territory.

The people of the North are brave and aggressive, the rule of law is backward, and the fighting between noble neighbors never stops.

Not only did the seven earls attack each other, but the knight families under the earls also started wars due to various conflicts.

Although the Earl of the North was powerful, his territory was too vast and his standing army was scattered all over the place, making it impossible for him to establish absolute rule.

Just like Isenbol, the Earl's Mansion had only 300 standing troops, and even daily city defense and patrols had to recruit nearby small lords for cooperation.

This is still relying on the superior geographical and climatic conditions of the Anzeno River. In the cold and barren north, the land produces very little and cannot support too many full-time soldiers.

The great lords formed legions and waged wars almost entirely by recruiting vassals.

Therefore, in wars between local knight families, the Earl's Palace could only mediate, and rarely got involved unless one side threatened his rule.

If the Reach defeated Gladstone and occupied their land, seeing that the matter was done, the Earl's Court could only make verbal condemnations and let the matter go.

At most, a "punishment" sentence would be pronounced through the Lords' Assembly, and some of the land they occupied would be recovered and transferred to those small lords who were very emotional.

As the object of punishment and appeasement, the River Bend Territory can at least be allocated a village of the Gladstone family, and Urian will most likely become the new banner.

Although Rigolav is decent and relatively conservative, he is not an angel or saint.

If we don't take advantage of the weakness of the enemy forces, we would be letting our ancestors down.

Rigolav's thinking came from his status as a small feudal lord in the north, and there was nothing wrong with it in theory.

In fact, by taking the initiative to attack Gladstone, Rio could indeed take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune and expand.

Given the current elite strength of the River Bay Lord's army, they won't even lose too many soldiers in the battle.

But Leo thought differently. Land was indeed valuable, but the River Bay Territory had no shortage of it. Population was also important, but the prerequisite was that it could be quickly converted into productivity.

The increase in family influence is actually a mixed blessing.

The biggest problem facing the River Bend Territory right now is not the attacks from the wild alien races, but the threat from human society.

When Hewan was just a village with a few thousand people, it was already targeted. Now that it has grown to a scale of three towns with a population of 5,000, it is impossible that there are not more coveters.

Kill one Gladstone, and perhaps another Braxton will appear.

Hewan’s top priority is not to rush to show its claws to the outside world and attract more people’s attention.

Instead, they hide away and quickly digest the existing population and land and transform them into their own strength before their strength is discovered by the outside world and before new enemies appear.

Convert the service militia into conscripted infantry, and convert the conscripted infantry into regular infantry.

Transform the wild and unruly barbarian hunters into well-trained elite imperial longbowmen.

Replace leather armor with iron armor and iron sword with steel sword.

Promote and absorb all kinds of talents to carry out industrial upgrading.

As for the thousands of acres of arable land and pastures in Gladstone that had been ravaged by foreigners, it was a huge fortune for the small feudal lords, but Leo really looked down on it.

Is the profit in Hekou Town not high enough?

Are the walls of Gravel Castle not thick enough?

Are the dense forests in the west not spacious enough, or the pine plains in the north not flat enough?

In the long run, land is indeed valuable, but for now, the tax revenue from thousands of acres of farmland and pastures is not as high as the profit from a workshop in Hewan.

Moreover, the Gladstone Knight Territory is too far away from the main river bay, and the military support is too slow. After occupying it, it is necessary to find ways to eliminate the hatred of the people. The cost of operation almost exceeds the benefits that can be obtained.

Instead of doing this, Leo might as well take his people to farm and develop the land and make the River Bay Territory an iron plate.

After all, in the eyes of the people in the North, it is normal for large tracts of land to be left barren, but in Leo's eyes, this is original sin!

The territory covered by the three towns of Hewan has exceeded two thousand square kilometers, which is equivalent to the area of ​​a county in the previous life.

However, less than one percent of the land has been developed.

There are only three administrative villages!

As for the Gladstone family, who are in a weak state, they can just help him stand in front and act as a buffer.

There is no right or wrong in the different decisions made by Leo and Rigolav, only trade-offs.

After Rigolav left, Leo and Olivia stayed in Gravel Castle until the afternoon, dealing with a group of people and things.

Although Olivia's sons are stupid, they are also very hardworking and serious.

They will record every act of corruption and bribery, and every careless mistake made by the bosses!

Leo once again used money to motivate the pioneers of Stonebreak Castle, and returned to the Riverbend Peninsula that night.

Before leaving, Leo beat up Vic and Olivia beat up Nairn, hoping that they could honestly serve as the managers of Gravel Castle for a while instead of letting themselves go based on their interests.

Nairn felt aggrieved because he had been doing the housekeeping work for some time, but he had to share half of the beatings.

Moreover, when the two little friends who were playing with cement in the Gravel Fort found out that he had embezzled the toffee but did not give them even a small piece, they also felt that their brotherhood had come to an end.

The lonely Nain was lying on the top of the city wall. Because he was too short, he could only stand on a small wooden barrel. He stood on tiptoe and barely rested his head on the parapet to see the human mistress gradually disappearing into the team on the forest road.

The cold wind blows but it can't dry my tears. My tears are about to fall, and my heart is broken all over the ground!