Chapter 306: Promoted to Duke
On the night of the Harvest Festival, the Harland Opera Troupe began their performance in a simple square.
There was no curtain, no speech, only a wooden board separating the front and backstage.
Catherine appeared on the simple stage for the first time, looking at the huge audience, she was a little nervous and excited. She is an old actor with two years of performance experience and the most popular female star in Fort William.
Catherine only felt this nervous feeling when she first went on stage. Catherine is a person with a big heart. The bigger the scene, the more passionate her performance.
She looked around and found that there were still many orcs in the audience.
Although Richard sold 40,000 orc prisoners of war, there were still about 40,000 orcs living in the Lothar Basin. The remaining 40,000 orc slaves were relatively docile, and most of them were sheep-bodied people.
The cohabitation of humans and orcs is also a special landscape of the Lothar Basin.
"The story takes place in a village near Fort William. Sam was sold to Harland by a slave trader..."
As the narration sounded, the background of the opera began to be introduced.
The name of today's opera is "Life is Beautiful", which tells the story of a man named Sam who was captured by slave traders and sold to Harland. After being a contract slave in Harland for five years, Sam became a free man, was given land, and established a new family. He earned a lot of gold coins with his hard work and gained a new life.
The highlight of this opera is the male lead, and Catherine plays Sam's wife Irene.
Irene doesn't have many roles in this play. As the narration sounded, Catherine slowly walked to the stage. She was wearing a dirty gray robe, her hair was messy on her head, and her face was covered with black ash. She looked more like a woman from a poor family.
Although this play is a new play, after two days of rehearsal, Catherine has memorized the entire plot process.
In this era of lack of entertainment, the performance form of opera is very novel and it is easy to attract a large number of audiences. The performance just started and caused a sensation.
Stevin stood under the simple stands, watching the performance with relish, his eyes fixed on Catherine.
A middle-aged officer looked around, and after seeing Stevin, he pushed through the crowd and slapped Stevin on the shoulder.
"Brother, I heard from the logistics department that you came to Losa Basin. We haven't seen each other for five years. How have you been recently?"
The person who spoke was Norman, the captain of the third battalion of Harland. He was Soros's nephew and had been promoted to a sixth-level warrior. He and Stevin were old comrades-in-arms and had a very deep friendship.
Stevin was born a serf in the northern border. When he was young, he became a serf soldier of Baron Barton. Later, he was bought by Soros and joined Soros's mercenary group. As the mercenary group was incorporated into Harland, Stevin also became a veteran of the third squadron.
With this relationship, Stevin naturally had a close relationship with the officers from the old third squadron.
"That's it. After retiring from the army, I made a lot of money, but my life seemed to have lost its direction and I couldn't get excited about anything."
Hearing what Steven said, Norman shook his head and said, "Your mental state is not good. I think you lack family life and can't adapt after leaving the barracks. You should find a woman you like to marry."
Steven stared at Catherine on the stage and said thoughtfully, "Maybe you are right. What do you think of the girl on the stage?"
"She has excellent conditions. I heard she is a star in Fort William, but you are old enough to be her father."
"But I like her. I will find her after the performance. Propose. "
Seeing Stevin's face with determination, Norman grabbed his arm as if he was a madman and said, "Listen to me, you will scare the girl like this. It is not easy to talk about a girlfriend and get married. You need to get close to her first, attract her with your advantages, and arouse her curiosity about you, before you can succeed.
Just like we fight a battle, we should work hard on reconnaissance first. After the reconnaissance is completed, we must decisively invest troops in the battle, and we must not hesitate to be brave at this time. If you listen to me, I guarantee that you can get this woman. "
Even when the two of them were chattering, the envoy from Nolan rushed to the Lothar Basin.
It has been two months since Richard killed the Dragon Vein Doghead Man. The orcs have already retreated across the board, and the Grant royal family has begun to reward meritorious officials.
This year, the Grant royal family will divide four fiefdoms, one earldom, three barondoms, and two noble titles will be promoted, including Earl Harland who was promoted to Duke.
The birth of a dukedom will greatly affect the power structure of the Grant Kingdom and even the stability of the regime.
King Roger was unwilling to see a new duke. But Richard had made real military achievements, and it was unreasonable not to promote him.
If the Harland family was suppressed, it would mean that the noble promotion system would lose its authority.
The noble reward and promotion system was the foundation of the Grant Kingdom.
It was precisely by relying on this system that generations of outstanding talents could be attracted to serve the Grant Kingdom. The nobles of all sizes fought together to stop the invasion of the orcs. The eight main legions of the Grant family alone could not stop the orc army.
If this system was broken, not only would the Harland family become enemies, but it would also affect the stability of the situation in the northern border.
Through this battle, King Roger knew that the Harland family was already fully grown, and even if he did not promote Richard to a title, he could not stop the expansion of this family.
If you come forward to suppress it, you can only suppress it in name, and in fact you are a villain in vain.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, King Roger decided to abide by the system of awarding noble titles, promote Richard to a noble title, and award him a new earldom. Anyway, most of the fiefdoms that the Harland family conquered were all wild mountains and wilderness, and the Grant family only paid in name, and did not need to invest much capital.
In this year's battle, not only did Richard reap rich rewards and was about to be promoted to Duke, but William also accumulated enough military merits and obtained the second baronial territory.
If it were not for the exchange of breathing methods, which consumed a lot of merits, William should have enough merits to obtain the third territory and be promoted to Viscount.
William's first territory is now the core of the Harland territory. Although this territory belongs to William in name and has not been incorporated into the Harland Earldom, it is actually controlled by Richard.
Even if William divides this territory to other heirs, he will not have any say, but will be a fatal disaster. Richard's brothers, such as Ron and Hayden, simply could not make the soldiers of Fort William obey their orders.
Once they got into a fight for the right of succession, Ron and others had no chance of winning due to the disparity in power.
Richard would never give up the area near Fort William to others. Anyone who dared to take the idea of this territory, even his own brother Richard, would be ruthless. Once the nobles involved the struggle for territory and inheritance rights, it was often very bloody.
The people of the Harland family also had a tacit understanding in their hearts that this territory would be given to Richard to inherit.
Now the Harland family has three hereditary nobles, in addition to Richard, there are William and Bernie. Bernie's fiefdom is inherited by his second son Gavin, and William's second territory will establish a new heir.
In fact, when the Harland family held a banquet the year before last, William discussed this matter with Richard, Bernie and others.
According to William's opinion, if a new fiefdom is obtained, Ron, Hayden and others will inherit it in turn according to the order of succession. This time, William's new territory will be handed over to Ron to manage.
William's new fiefdom is near the original Harden Castle, adjacent to the Duke of Harland. The northern part of this territory is the last ridge of the Eagle Mountains, and the southern part is the impact plain of the Kaiya River, a tributary of the Black River. The territory is not very large, only 930 square kilometers, but the flat area is large, only 30% of the territory is mountainous, and there is a river passing through. The agricultural endowment is much better than that near William Castle.
According to the introduction of the explorers, this territory can reclaim 300,000 acres of paddy fields and feed 200,000 people.
Before the arrival of Nolan's envoy, the boundaries of this territory had been demarcated, and Ron also retired from the Crazy Lion Corps and started to manage the territory.
Ron's talent is very average. He has served in the Crazy Lion Corps for 20 years and has not yet been promoted to the fourth level. His position is only a squadron leader. He has only accumulated one great merit and four medium merits in his life.
Before retiring, Ron exchanged all these merits for potions, ready to use them to train his son Kane.
Ron's eldest son Kane is already nineteen years old. This child of the Harland family is more talented. He may have inherited William's genes. He has become a professional at a young age and is now the deputy captain of the Grizzlies.
Ron has lived near the Flame Castle for twenty years. Although he was not very successful in the first half of his life, he is also a direct descendant of a great noble, and his conditions are far beyond those of ordinary people.
In the past twenty years, Ron has also made a lot of connections in the Crazy Lion Army. With the care of his third uncle Bernie, he has become a local snake in the Crazy Lion Army and has barely taken root in this army.
When Ron went to the territory, Richard took out five thousand gold coins from the vault as his start-up capital. In addition to the five thousand gold coins supported by Richard, Ron has served as an officer in the Crazy Lion Army for twenty years, and has also acted as an agent for some of the Harland products, saving about three thousand gold coins. William also subsidized part of it, and he has about ten thousand gold coins in cash.
Ron has served in the Crazy Lion Army for twenty years, and has gathered many retired soldiers around him. This time he managed the territory and recruited one hundred and twenty people at one time. With these 120 people as the core, plus more than 300 serfs, Ron quickly raised 500 soldiers.
Ron's start was already better than Richard's. At least he didn't have to bear debts, and the location of the territory was also very good. Not only could he get support from Harland Territory, but it was also very close to Flame Castle.
It was easy to demarcate the boundaries of the baronies, but it was more troublesome to demarcate the boundaries of Richard's new territory.
The territory Richard wanted most was Viscount Nelson's territory.
Because of Soros's deliberate release, the orc Gatlin tribe captured Felin Castle, and the Nelson family suffered heavy losses again. In less than ten years, the castle fell twice, and 60% to 70% of the tribe members were massacred by the orcs.
With the Harland family, a neighbor with ulterior motives, the Nelson family could not turn over at all.
Of course, there were smart people in the Nelson family. After seeing this clearly, they were unwilling to continue to operate the territory, but were ready to talk to the Harland family and ask for a large sum of money.
But Richard thought they were asking too much, so he never agreed. Anyway, Viscount Nelson's territory was surrounded by the Harland family on three sides, and it was impossible to escape Richard's grasp.
In the end, the Nelson family lost their patience and agreed to sell the territory for 20,000 gold coins. This matter has been approved by the Noble Council, and the speaker of the Noble Council, Marquis Allen, has also approved it.
Viscount Nelson's territory is about 6,000 square kilometers. Due to two invasions by orcs, there are almost no free people now. The serfs in the territory were also sold out by the Nelson family.
After taking over Viscount Nelson's territory, the territory allocated to Richard was basically a wilderness. The northern territory of Salt Lake County, the western territory of Grotta River County, and the large area between the military station fort and the Losa Basin were all allocated to the new Duchy of Harland.
The miscellaneous territories added up to an area of about 38,000 square kilometers, which was a few points larger than the territories divided in the previous two times.
Including the new territory, the Duchy of Harland has a total area of 93,000 square kilometers, second only to the three major duchies of Jonathan, York, and Edward. It is a few points larger than the Duchy of Gis, the Duchy of Fox, and the Duchy of Loran, and is roughly equal to the Duchy of Duran.
In the new territory, except for Viscount Nelson's territory and Losa Basin, the rest are basically mountains and ridges. If no mineral veins can be found, only the two sides of the Tani Valley have agricultural development value.
After years of operation by the Dog-headed Principality, the Losa Basin has become a mature territory with dense population and rich products. A small magic crystal mine was also discovered nearby, which can dig out about a thousand or so magic crystals every year.
Although there are not many people in Viscount Nelson's territory, it has been operated for many years. Castles have been built, wells have been dug, and farmland has been reclaimed. As long as enough manpower is invested in development, it is not difficult to resume production. With very few resources, it can bring profits to the Harland family.
Although the spring plowing was delayed, after obtaining this territory, Richard immediately bought 20,000 serfs and immigrated to this area.
The special envoy from Nolan was still Richard's old acquaintance Morris Allen. He personally rushed to the Losa Basin, not only to confer the title on Richard, but also to communicate with the Harland family on several matters.
The first thing is the breeding of lion ducks. Because the Harland family and the Grant royal family divided the lion duck population, the size of the two lion duck populations was small, and they could only borrow seeds from each other. Last year, the lions and ducks of the Grant royal family came to Harland for breeding. This year, it is Harland's turn to lead the lions and ducks to Nolan for breeding.
The second thing is that King Roger hopes that the Harland family will take more responsibilities in the northern border. First, they will block the two canyons of Pratos and Tani. Secondly, he hopes that Richard will station troops in the Iron Lion Castle and cooperate with the Crazy Lion Legion to block the upper reaches of the Kaia River from the south and the north to prevent the orcs from invading from this direction.