The Extraordinary Earl

Stone, Pompeii.

This intermediate knight may not be the most accomplished knight among the Pompeii family knights who have made a living outside, but in the past hundred years, Stone and Pompeii have been the most accomplished knights among the Pompeii family knights who have made a living outside.

Especially the ability to make a living outside is very strong.

Because he has been a mercenary, he is very clear about the various situations in the Orange Province. Even if there are some things he is not clear about, he can get some information through his personal network.

Luther entrusted the matter of introducing population this time to Stone and Pompeii, and this commission was absolutely correct.

This time, following Stone and Pompeii, there were also several knights for escort work, a team of thirty guards, and several scholars responsible for procurement and accounting.

After a long journey for a period of time, Stone, Pompeii and his party arrived at the territory of Marquis Parker.

This is a typical marquisate, consisting of several cities, more than a dozen towns, countless villages, and knights.

Whether it is military strength, reputation, or influence, Marquis Parker far exceeds Baron Baron.

But this marquis is still not as powerful as the Earl of Libya, the largest family in Orange.

Because the Earl of Libya's family not only has the strongest territory, power, and military strength in Orange, but also is one of the eight nobles under the first king Michaux.

The Earl of Libya's family reputation also exceeds that of the Marquis of Parker.

It can even be said that the influence and strength of these two families in the entire Orange Province are not at the same level.

By the way, the Marquis of Parker is also a branch of the Prussian royal family and one of the branches of the royal family. This is why the family title of the Marquis of Parker is higher than that of the Earl of Libya.

However, because of the major event in Prussian history, the relationship between the Marquis of Parker's family and the royal family became increasingly alienated, and instead became a real title noble in an alliance with the Earl of Libya.

The Kingdom of Prussia is located in the south of the continent, close to the sea, but because there is still a large area of ​​undeveloped forest in the south, it does not directly border the sea.

The Orange Province is one of the southern territories of the Kingdom of Prussia.

In the entire province, there are 20 to 30 real nobles, who are not subordinate to each other. In name, they are all vassals of the King of Prussia. In fact, the alliance relationship between them is led by the Earl of Libya.

In this large province, some real nobles' territories border on unowned forests, and some real nobles' territories are next to other nobles' territories, leaving no room for development and expansion.

For example, the Pompeii family can directly cut down forests and build farmland. As long as they can attract free people and buy serfs, they can expand the entire territory many times.

Of course, there are still certain risks in cutting down forests, because there are still many monsters in the forest, the harsh environment, and even dragons.

Unless the entire Kingdom of Prussia once again calls on all the nobles in the country to expand southward and carry out the eighth expansion in Prussian history, the entire forest can be developed and the kingdom's power can reach the sea.

However, because of that major event, the prestige of the King of Prussia declined, and the real nobles and the court nobles became two vaguely opposing major forces, so the expansion of the Kingdom of Prussia to the south became a distant prospect.

Without the endless forest as an expansion, the territory of the inland nobles has only one way to develop, that is, to develop business in the entire territory.

However, business development depends on the personal ability of the lord, so the tax revenue of most inland noble territories will not develop for a long time.

Some nobles spend a lot but have low income. In this case, what should we do?

There is only one way.

Collect as many fields as possible in the territory. Bankrupt those free people and increase the number of serfs, because raising serfs is like raising livestock, as long as they are given the minimum level of living materials.

This is a profitable business.

And this is what Marquis Parker did. Because Marquis Parker did everything he could to bankrupt those free people, even assassination, dispatching troops, pretending to be thieves, and clearing the free people in the territory.

Because of Marquis Parker's cruelty, he even got a nickname called "Executioner".

There are many free people who lost their land in the entire territory, and the situation in the entire territory is very depressed and even chaotic.

Thieves and robbers gradually increased.

Even the nobles believed that the governance of the territory like the Marquis of Parker was an important soil for the emergence of rebellion. If there was a rebellion in the Orange Province, then the Marquis of Parker's territory would definitely be one of the sources.

And Stone and Pompey learned about this situation through their intelligence connections, and came to the Marquis of Parker's territory in a dusty manner, for the free people who had lost their land here.

Although the Marquis of Parker had several cities, the main city was Sparta City, with a population of more than 100,000. In the entire Orange Province, this was a large city with the largest scale.

At noon today, under the persecution of the scorching sun, Stone and Pompey Knight hurried to the city with their own men and horses.

In the entire Kingdom of Prussia, most cities had no entry fees. Because those shrewd lords knew that if they wanted to keep the territory prosperous, they had to cancel the entry fee. And the entry tax and other taxes would lead to a decline in commercial activities and cause the city to become increasingly sluggish.

But it was obvious that Marquis Parker was not a shrewd lord. He collected entry fees in the city of Sparta and established a series of standards from caravans to civilians, nobles and travelers.

A group of people from Pompeii rode on tall horses, pulled several vehicles, and were accompanied by a group of guards. They looked like a caravan and mercenaries.

The guard responsible for guarding the city gate was treated like a mercenary and received a considerable city entry fee based on head count.

After paying the money to buy the road, knights Stone and Parker entered the city of Sparta, and relied on the previous layout to go directly to the official residence of the city lord in the city of Sparta.

After entering the city, the atmosphere is full of malaise. People with numb faces and weak breaths appeared to be malnourished, doing nothing on the streets.

Beggars can be seen everywhere.

In Pompeii, several thieves were seen attacking people on the road, some succeeded, and some were caught.

The one who gets caught will be miserable.

First, he was beaten severely, and then he was tried at the city lord's official residence.

Because the lords made their own laws, the standards were different. The lighter ones are imprisonment and flogging, while the more severe ones are chopping off the hands.

And Stone heard that in Marquis Parker's territory, thieves wanted to chop off his right hand.

In addition, there are traces of defecation and defecation everywhere in the city, and no one cares about it. The whole city exudes a stench.

He looked like he was about to subjugate his country.