Chapter 91 Knights

The area of ​​the baronial territory that Chen Mo took over was less than 10,000 acres, with a radius of only six or seven kilometers. There were about three or four thousand people in the territory. Without affecting the normal operation of the territory, it could only support a few hundred people at most. number of soldiers.

In the Middle Ages, people's livelihood was poor, materials were scarce, and the burden of supporting the army was very heavy. The noble lords usually kept only a small number of standing troops, and then temporarily recruited them from the civilians when they were fighting.

The war in this era was dominated by knights, and the number of knights in the hands of a lord determined his military strength.

Equipped with warhorses, heavy armor and long swords, knights have an overwhelming advantage in combat against infantry.

But at the same time, well-equipped knights also need to spend a lot of money to support the lords. Although the knights' equipment is all equipped by themselves, the cost of maintaining a knight's daily expenses is extremely amazing, even if He is a noble lord who owns a large area of ​​land and serfs, and cannot support too many knights.

Well-equipped and powerful knights were the most powerful force in the medieval European battlefield, and they were also the most valuable wealth of noble lords.

The richer the nobles, the more knights they can support, and the stronger they are.

Many small nobles have limited financial resources and cannot afford the huge cost of supporting knights. They can only fight with infantry. Once they encounter an attack from noble troops with knights, they can only retreat and defend. Pure infantry and knights fight head-on, and the final outcome is usually All were fiasco.

As for the baronial territory occupied by Chen Mo, there were originally eight knights, and they were considered the strongest among the nearby lords, but they all died in the battle with the invading werewolf tribe.

The most powerful Earl of Warren in this area has as many as 50 knights under his command, plus nearly 100 squire knights and thousands of elite infantry, enough to deal with a general-scale werewolf invasion.

The status of knights is second only to the nobility. To a certain extent, they can be regarded as the bottom of the nobility class. As full-time soldiers, they fight for their loyal lords.

Some knights with outstanding merits will obtain the land granted by the lord and become a small lord with a fief.

This is also the only way for ordinary commoners to become nobles.

However, becoming a knight is not an easy task. All the equipment of knights, including war horses, armor, long swords, shields and spears, all need to be equipped by themselves. In medieval Europe, this era of extremely backward productivity, these The value of the equipment is extremely expensive. The price of a warhorse alone is as high as twelve gold coins, which is equivalent to six robust bulls.

The price of iron is also very high. A long sword is worth seven gold coins, and a full set of armor including helmet, breastplate, and leggings is worth as much as twenty-four gold coins, which is equivalent to two war horses.

Coupled with some other equipment, the cost of arming a knight is close to fifty gold coins, and more than twenty bulls can be purchased.

This is an astronomical figure for ordinary European families. Many farmers cannot afford to buy even a single cow. This amount of money is equivalent to their income for decades.

Such a huge expense, not to mention commoners, even many minor nobles can't afford it.

Therefore, the number of knights is actually not many. It is difficult for ordinary civilians to have the opportunity to become knights. Most of the knights are children of nobles who were born in knight families or have no right of inheritance. Fully equipped.

Well-to-do aristocratic families usually only have one set of ancestral equipment, which is passed down from father to son. If two sons are born and the family does not have enough financial resources to purchase another set of equipment, then the younger son has no choice. become a knight.

Andrew, whom Chen Mo rescued, came from such an ordinary knight family.

As the youngest son, although he received his father's knight training since he was a child, but because the family could not afford to buy him a set of knight equipment that cost astonishingly,

Andrew Kong has a strong military force, but he can only join the army of the lord as an ordinary soldier, hoping to make military exploits through battle, get the reward of the baron, and become a real knight one day.

It is a pity that more than ten years have passed. Although he has killed countless enemies on the battlefield, and even killed more than one werewolf, he is still an ordinary soldier without any changes, except for the countless scars on his body and the gradual appearance of more on his face. vicissitudes of life wrinkles.

What a powerful knight, a magnificent life, a beautiful noble lady, are so far away from him.

Frustrated, Andrew left his hometown and army for which he had fought for many years, and came to this village.

He intends to succumb to fate and give up his ideals, just to be a civilian honestly and spend his life plainly.

But now, he, who had given up, seemed to see the hope of realizing his ideal from Chen Mo.

He has seen Chen Mo's strength with his own eyes. Now Chen Mo has become their new lord and has entrusted him with a heavy responsibility. While he is very excited, he also secretly swears that he must swear allegiance to Chen Mo, not only to repay Chen Mo's life-saving and knowledge. The grace is also to realize his dream of becoming a powerful knight.

And his ideal was soon half realized.

The original eight knights in the territory all died in the previous werewolf invasion, plus the baron who also died, leaving a total of nine sets of knight armor and weapons that were somewhat damaged.

Chen Mo paid no attention to these valuable knight equipment, and directly gave it to Andrew and other nine people who were rescued by him.

They were rescued by Chen Mo from the wolf's mouth in a desperate situation. As their savior and new lord, they have no problem with Chen Mo's loyalty.

Of course, they were not even knights now. Except for Andre, who possessed the necessary formidable force of knights, although the others did not lack the courage to fight werewolves, their strength was still a lot worse.

You must know that real knights have received systematic knight training since childhood, physical fitness, riding, swordsmanship, fighting. A qualified knight can kill a wild boar with his bare hands without wearing any armor. It is not just anyone who wears it. A knight's equipment can be called a knight's.

Of course, except for Andrew, the other eight people are not useless. When the werewolf invaded the village, most of them panicked, and even cried in despair, without the slightest resistance.

However, they dared to face the werewolf and fought back bravely. Under the command of Andrew, they blocked the attack of the werewolf with their simple weapons and geographical advantages. From this point of view, they still have the potential to become knights, and this is exactly what Chen Mo said. valued.

According to Chen Mo's observation, these people are very loyal to him and have a certain fighting talent, which is enough for Chen Mo. As for strength, it can be cultivated slowly.

Moreover, there are still many good things in Chen Mo's space that have not been brought out.