The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

"Did you know? His Majesty the King has issued a decree for expansion!"

"Huh! What's a development order?" a resident asked, confused.

"You don't understand, do you? A land reclamation order is when the king commands everyone to expand the land and build new towns..." Clearly, Roland's accomplice began to spit as he described the grand prospects.

"Tch, what's the point? We're perfectly content with farming now, why would we want to run off to a place so far from the big cities?" Clearly, the Lagrange people, accustomed to a stable life, weren't buying it.

"Exactly! Delwin was almost breached this time!"

"I just don't want to go to places where there's no safety guarantee."

Seeing that his deception was about to fail, Tuo was getting anxious. He knew that messing up the king's plan would be disastrous.

"Don't rush, don't rush, His Highness said this time... I'll tell you quietly..." He kept everyone in suspense, but his voice didn't lower at all.

“This time, each town will be garrisoned with one hundred Lagrange City Guards! Moreover, those who make meritorious contributions to the expansion may be granted a title and become a noble!” To dropped a bombshell.

"Huh? Nobles? Really?"

"My Dragon God! Don't lie to me!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" The smile on Toh's face was impossible to hide; his smile was harder to suppress than an AK's. It seemed that he had perfectly completed the task the king had given him.

……

Within a day, the entire city of Jiliu knew about it. Even Yun Feng came over to ask Roland if it was true or not, leaving Roland speechless. He thought, "Just be a good servant to me. I'll give you a noble position in the court later. Don't push your luck..."

"Your Highness, you've done a great job!" Omske gave a thumbs up, praising Roland's brilliance.

"It's just a noble title! It's not like it's a hereditary noble title!" Roland shrugged and pouted. An ordinary noble title isn't valuable; what's valuable is the inheritance and fiefdom that come with it! A noble with only a title can only earn the respect of commoners, but a noble with fiefdoms will earn the respect of the noble circle! If you are a noble with real power, you will gain the friendship of many nobles!

In other words, a powerful hereditary nobleman is definitely more influential than a hereditary count who only has a title and property. (Court marquises are usually close ministers of the emperor. For example, Yunfeng will start with the title of court marquis. These court nobles who can be with the emperor every day can be more powerful than ordinary nobles with real power.) This is because, in addition to hereditary and non-hereditary nobles, hereditary nobles also have three distinctions: those with real power, those with real fiefdoms, and those with court status!

A powerful noble is a noble who owns a fiefdom and wields absolute power within it. Even the king cannot directly command the people within his fiefdom. This is the highest level of nobility, like the families of Nyx and Apophis Breo in the past.

Another type is the fiefdom noble. As the name suggests, these nobles have fiefdoms, but they do not have complete control over the land. They share control of the land with the state, and their power is less than that of the real-power nobles.

Finally, there were the court nobles, who had no fiefdoms and relied entirely on the emperor's favor and stipends to survive. However, court nobles generally had their own properties, so apart from lacking military power, they were not starving.

Non-hereditary nobles fared much worse. Their descendants could not inherit the title, and apart from leaving behind connections and property, they could leave nothing to benefit their descendants. If they had a private army, it was a little better, as they could at least leave behind some loyal retainers for their descendants.

"You're really ruthless!" Yun Feng felt a toothache. You should know that the mayors or city lords of towns directly under the empire are mostly non-hereditary nobles, and are mostly between knights and barons! Obviously, Roland's nobles refer to the position of city lord.

"...Why would a country with such a large population need so many nobles?" Roland said helplessly. He was not going to raise a bunch of rats. Moreover, what Lagrange, which was in dire need of rebuilding, lacked right now was cohesion, not to enfeoff the people to nobles as subjects.

Roland was quite cautious about hereditary nobility. Apart from those who had made great contributions to conquering the country, what chance did others have of obtaining the glory of hereditary nobility? Dream on! Even a hereditary baron was incredibly valuable! Border barons and border earls were the most coveted titles, since guarding the borders required military strength to maintain national security. Therefore, these border nobles had very powerful military forces, and with bigger fists, their words naturally carried more weight.

"The whole city is buzzing with news of being granted a noble title... Are you satisfied now?" Yun Feng shrugged. It seemed that everyone in Jiliu City, young and old, was eager to go out and explore. Whether they died or not was not important; what mattered was whether they could obtain a noble title and that this tremor would determine their fate!
"Select the best candidates from each family!" Roland tapped the table. "Start organizing the first batch of settlers, using 500 families as the standard!" Roland commanded. Roland had carefully considered this calculation; 500 households would amount to approximately 2000 people, which would be sufficient for a town! The number of settlers in the early stages couldn't be too many or too few, otherwise the town would be under too much pressure, and the population structure would be unhealthy.

"Alright, I'll arrange it!" Lance nodded. Yun Feng was clearly too busy to handle these screenings, so he had to let Baron Lance take care of it.

“Alright, make sure the registration is thorough! Have the Lagrange City Guards help them prepare!” Roland nodded.

“All of them!” Roland added. Clearly, Roland, who had been staying in Jiliu City for a year, couldn’t stay idle. Roland, who was planning to personally lead the expedition, obviously needed to make some preparations. Then he saw Yunfeng with his dead fish eyes. As the logistics manager, he was obviously going to start working for Roland again.

……

"You've decided to leave now?" Caslo looked at Roland, who was all packed and ready, with disbelief.

“Of course! The king must accompany the first expansion! Otherwise, how would I know the actual situation?” Roland said matter-of-factly, as being familiar with one’s own territory is a king’s duty.

"Then don't you feel like you've forgotten something?" Caslo shook his head helplessly.

“No? The war is over? Is there anything else I need to remember?” Roland spread his hands.

"What about my wedding with Ajax?" Caslo roared in a low voice, his eyes wide. Roland had painted such a rosy picture for him, but the reality was a cold, indifferent one... Who could stand this?

"..." Roland was stunned for a moment, and then a feeling of sweating profusely crept up his back.

“You haven’t forgotten, have you?” Caslo scrutinized Roland’s expression.

"..." Although Roland still wanted to pretend to explain, he immediately shut up and admitted to the fact that he had forgotten after seeing Caslo's clear eyes.

"I've been busy with the Expansion Order these past few days and really forgot... I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you when I get back!" Roland bowed deeply in apology.

"Sigh... never mind." Caslo waved his hand. The king was about to flee, so his wedding was definitely going to be canceled. Moreover, their expansion schedule was based on spring planting, so Roland obviously couldn't change it at will. After all, if they were late, they wouldn't be able to plant any crops this year. So Caslo could only suppress his anxiety.

“Bring Ajax along this time, so she can get to know our land!” Roland offered as a perk.

"Ahem, actually, that wedding isn't in a rush..." Caslo chuckled.

"Oh, right, tell her you and she will protect me the whole time, so you two have to be with me every day..." Roland continued.

"As for my wedding, you must have your own considerations. It's really just about the ceremony. You can handle the arrangements when you have time!" Upon hearing this, Caslo's bottom line immediately became more flexible than that of the Ringwraiths, and he was practically patting his chest to guarantee it.

“That Yun Feng, remember him? Caslo still has a wedding to hold!” Roland said to Yun Feng.

"Oh..." Yun Feng said weakly. If it weren't for the fact that you can make empty promises, he might not have been able to finish the work he was doing even after Roland returned from the expansion. And Caslo's wedding would have been scheduled for who knows when!

I've been experiencing writer's block these past few days, trying to get back into the swing of things.