Chapter 456, Year-End Meeting

Before the Winter Veil holiday, Ryan, the Earl of Glamorgan, officially held a year-end meeting in the winery.

Participants are:

Earl Ryan and his wife Suria.

Morgiana, the sorceress of the lake.

Tax Collector Gasparton, Chief Steward Katzenberg.

The flag bearer, Armand, the Holy Grail Knight.

Kingdom Knights Hux, Olivier, Lopes, newly promoted Kingdom Knight Lucien, etc.

Lane's two courtiers, Teresa Trovik and Veronica Bernadotte.

Head of the Justice Church branch, Templar Alfred.

The newly promoted Lord Winford, Sir Bertrand.

As a matter of course, Morgiana was the most powerful and prestigious person in the audience, but the Lake Goddess Witch calmly stated that I was just here to observe. She was sitting on Ryan's left hand, holding an exquisite hardcover book Binding the book to read, there is no meaning of speaking.

Teresa and Veronica are in completely different states. In the cold weather of Winter Veil, Teresa's mana is particularly powerful. She is in very good state and looks like she wants to say something.

Veronica, as a light and flame wizard, was sleepless and lacked energy at all. Witch Jialan yawned, thinking that when the meeting was over, she would go back to the Wizard Tower to catch up on sleep. Or sit in front of the fireplace to warm up, read, enjoy hot drinks, chat with Ryan, and spend the day comfortably and comfortably.

Routinely, the butler Katzenberg spoke first. The butler reviewed the brilliant victories of last year, the further development of the territory, the inflow of a large amount of wealth, the expansion of the population, the increase of newborns, and how to correct the situation in the new historical period. Address a range of opportunities and challenges.

After Katzenberg made a general summary, the tax officer Gasparton began to speak. The tax officer has followed Ryan for seven years. Although he is old, he is in good health. He coughed first, and then said: " From the Winter Veil Festival last year to the present, the entire earldom has collected a total of 7,326 gold kroner in tax revenue, 5,100 gold kroner in expenditure, and a balance of about 2,200 gold kroner, the total hoarding of food is enough for all the troops of the entire earldom to eat for a year and a half."

"The earldom now has a total population of about 90,000, 3 towns, 38 villages, and several small settlements. There is a total of about 1 army, including 900 standing troops and 900 semi-professional soldiers.

If we want, a levy of up to 5,000 men can be raised without affecting farming. "

"In addition... there is an additional income of 500 gold crowns from the winery, as well as 2,000 gold crowns from the war against the ancient tomb army, and about 12,000 gold crowns from the capture of the Blackstone stronghold. This money is guaranteed by the dwarves, Baylor The King of Canada will pay over two years."

After conquering the Blackstone stronghold, the human-dwarf coalition captured a lot of wealth. There were about 50,000 gold kronor accumulated in the Blackstone stronghold. Four or six split accounts, so he can share a wealth of about 12,000 gold crowns.

"It's still not fast enough to grab it." Kingdom Knight Olivier yelled with a smile: "That's so much money for one grab. I really want to see if there are any citadels occupied by vampires in the Gray Mountains?"

"That's probably gone, Olivier, what do you think the vampire's fortress is? That old guy Kemler has accumulated so much gold and silver for more than 20 years." The kingdom knight Lopus has now retained Beard, his voice was thicker: "Or do you think we can deal with an entire legion of undead by ourselves?"

"Impossible. If this war hadn't been for the participation of the large group of knights from the Duchy of Wenford, the elite of the Brotherhood of Champion Knights of Quinalis, as well as the wood elves and dwarves, we would not have won such a brilliant victory." Hux I spoke.

This knight of the Kingdom is over thirty years old this year, and he is still alone. During the Battle of Blackstone Stronghold, his face was torn open by the claws of a bloodthirsty sky ghost, leaving several hideous scars. The medication worked so well that he almost lost an eye.

After returning to the territory and recuperating for a period of time, Hux was still pale and not in good condition, but his scars are the best military medals. Now, among the knights of the kingdom, he already has a faint leadership posture.

As for Lucien from Wenford College, he performed well in this battle, successfully beheading two barren grave guards while rushing back and forth. With his military achievements and the pillow wind from Suria, he also made sense He was promoted to a knight of the kingdom and got the fiefdom of half a village, which is considered outstanding.

"Count, our next plan should be to stabilize production, expand the army, and at the same time prepare to cross the Charon Forest and attack the Spire Palace." Lucien made a suggestion for the next policy: "The Spire Palace is the legal territory of our Earldom. We have a mana claim, and we should take it back."

"The Spire Palace will definitely be taken back, but the first thing we need to do now is to recuperate and preserve our strength. Our army has been greatly consumed in this battle alone. Qualified knight, Earl, I don't think we should send troops at will within two years." Hux raised objections.

"I think we should take advantage of this great victory and attack the Spire Palace when our morale is high!" Olivier agreed with Lucien's point of view. You can reach the Spire Palace within ten days of marching, as long as there are no accidents, you should be able to easily take that castle."

"I don't agree. It's easy to take down the Spire Palace, but how do we defend it? How do we deal with the counterattack of the undead?" Armand also disagreed. The Holy Grail knight said: "Olivier, I will give you five hundred people, Fifty knights, one hundred sergeants and four hundred serfs, can you defend the Spire Palace? Five days?"

Olivier thought for a while, and shook his head in frustration: "At most two days."

"So... you still want to fight the Spire Palace now." Lops also asked.

"Of course, how do you know if you don't try it? I think the vampire probably has no energy left to fight back. Didn't the black knight who claimed to be the Duke of Musillon retreat after ten days of confrontation with the Duke of Lawn? Maybe he was busy hiding Mousillon licking his wounds?" Olivier still insisted: "Just stick to this winter and wait until the weather gets warmer."

"I also think it is feasible to attack the Spire Palace." Teresa spoke. Today, the sorceress is wearing an ice blue dress with clear swallow sleeves and dignified slits. Since she has strong mana in winter, now is the time to try it. There was no performance in this battle, and I felt overwhelmed by Veronica: "Lian, what do you think?"

"..." Veronica's face was calm. She performed very well in this war, and the power of the light magic vehicle attracted everyone's attention. In this case, she doesn't need to express herself, and winter is not because of her powerful mana. when.

The pressure came to Ryan, Suria glanced at her husband, and the female knight said nothing.

The influence of the countess has been infiltrating Ryan's team, but as long as Ryan doesn't speak, Suria never makes decisions in front of her husband. She knows who is the head of the family.

Ryan weighed it for a while, and finally spoke.

"You must be cautious about Musilon's attack. Once you attack the Spire Palace, it means a full-scale war with Musillon. We are not yet capable of fighting that black knight." Ryan finally shook his head and vetoed the issue: "At least not now."

The territory is never bigger and better or more is better. Now it is easy to attack the Spire Palace, but it is very difficult to defend it. This back and forth will consume a lot of energy. Ryan has just finished fighting Kemler , his domain and his people need rest.

Ryan's prestige in the territory is naturally unparalleled, and no one dares to question his decision, so this issue died down.

"The plan for the next year is mainly to recuperate, train, and reorganize the army, and at the same time expand the army size by 200 people." Ryan said his plan: "Train, and then strengthen."

"Yes!" Hux nodded, and he wrote it down.

"Collect a sufficient number of orphans and talented serf children and send them to the dwarves to train craftsmen, blacksmiths, and engineer skills. We want to set up a small academy. You have also seen the power of the dwarves' weapons. As long as they are used well, it will Let the kingdom's future benefit endlessly!"

"Yes!" Katzenberg agreed.

"Finally, about this year's evaluation..." The final highlight came, and Ryan presented the year-end award in the eyes of everyone looking forward to it.

"Confer the title of Baron Huxdevon, Knight of the Kingdom!"

"Give Olivier the title of Fearless and a set of Dwarven Rune Plate Armor!"

"Give Lucien two hundred gold crowns as encouragement!"

…………

The generous year-end rewards made everyone smile, and there is still a future with the Earl.

After everyone received generous rewards, Ryan said with a smile: "Finally, we would like to thank one person in particular. This person came from a reckless background and led his subordinates to surrender to me as soon as I promulgated the "Decree of Virtue". ..."

Everyone's eyes turned to Bertrand, who was in the bottom seat. The Green Arrow was sweating on his forehead, and he stood up quickly.

Lord is a special title. In Brittania, Lord is awarded to those who have made great contributions to certain things. After receiving the title of Lord, they are generally called Sirs and enjoy a higher social status. Others call him "sir", which is already the highest level of reward that can be obtained as a serf, but the title of jazz is not hereditary, it is only close to the nobility and does not really enter the ranks of the knight nobility.

Therefore, even if he had the qualifications to attend the year-end meeting, Bertrand was only the last seat, trembling and afraid to say a word, but he was already the envy of all the serfs in the entire Earldom.

"In the battle of La-Messonnell Abbey, he used the black arrow to kill Kemler, which played a vital role in the process and result of the entire battle." Ryan continued: "So, I grant you the title of Lord , This is a reward for your military exploits, but on the occasion of this year-end meeting, I have one more thing to give you."

A green woodland recurve bow was brought in by an attendant. Bertrand could tell with his eyes how much competition this recurve bow would receive if it were put on the market. This recurve bow was made by Athel Loren Made of forest branches, the bow is surrounded by green leaves and vines, the blessing of the hunting god is added to the bow, and the golden engraving of the power of sparks flows with phantom light.

"This is a gift I customized for the wood elves, the woodland starfire recurve bow." Ryan handed the recurve bow to Bertrand: "This is your reward, ma'am, may you continue to reward me with honor and loyalty reward!"

"Yes! My Earl, Bertrand will definitely live up to your great trust!" Bertrand knelt down and took the bow. Ryan noticed that his shoulders were shaking violently, which showed the excitement of the jazz.

Also, serfs and nobles, war horses and knights, Brittania has been here for thousands of years. Bertrand himself knows best what it means to be a jazz.

"Don't be too happy, I have a task for you here." Ryan patted Bertrand's shoulder with a smile: "Hagen, Duke of Gisole Oaks, needs an army to help the dwarves clear the rebellion in the Gray Mountains Serfs and thieves, the mountains are not suitable for knights to lead troops, so I thought of you, Bertrand, you may need to spend this year's Winter Veil Festival in the barracks."

"You must live up to the Count's great trust!" Bertrand said loudly: "Please command the Earl!"

"Well, you pick 300 people from the Xialong Forest Patrol Battalion, and I will give you 200 halberd soldiers plus Ugor horse archers to form a battalion, and you will be the battalion commander. Remember, this time King Belegar is the commander in chief, he is fighting in the mountains, watch more, learn more, ask more, express less opinions, and obey King Belegar's command."

"yes!"

After the meeting ended, Ryan found Teresa and Veronica. The sorceress was obviously a little unhappy that Ryan didn't agree to herself. She snorted and stood up and wanted to leave. Ryan grabbed her with a smile that was not a smile: "What's the matter, Teresa dear? Why are you ignoring me?"

"Anyway, I don't care about you now, and you don't listen to what I said. Why am I still here after the meeting?" Suggested and brooding.

"Ha~ Are you finished with the quarrel? After the quarrel, I want to go back to sleep. In this kind of horrible weather, the only thing I want to do is to hide in the warm bed, read a book and drink hot drinks." Veronica yawned in a bad mood , Witch Jialan took Ryan's arm: "Ryan, do you want to come to my place? We can chat, cook dinner together, and there will be a big beauty to accompany you at night~"

"Okay, don't make trouble, Veronica." Ryan patted Veronica, then turned to Teresa and said, "I heard that you have encountered problems with the construction of the wizard tower?"

"I encountered some minor problems." Teresa actually didn't really have any objections to Ryan. The sorceress just took the opportunity to lose her temper and find some presence on Ryan's side: "Do you want to go and see?"

"Let's go, Veronica, let's go and see what trouble Teresa has encountered."

"Hey~ this little princess... okay, okay."