Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 265 Hidden murderous intent

The coronation ceremony and trial lasted until the sun set and the horizon turned red.

Defined as usurpers, Penny and her son were directly stripped of their noble status and imprisoned forever in the White Castle until they died of old age.

Such a trial can be said to be decided after considering many aspects.

Although the other party was a usurper, she was the old duke's biological daughter and Leah's aunt after all. If she was tortured to death directly, it would make Leah appear too cruel and leave a name of a tyrant in history books.

In addition, as long as he is alive, he can be used to control Damon in the south, so this trial is a punishment that satisfies all parties.

Secondly, it is about the aid to the North and the return made by the South.

White Harbor will be handed over to the other party for management and will be exempt from taxes.

It may seem like the asking price is not much, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that by controlling the Northern Territory of White Harbor, they will have the initiative over the Southern Territory both militarily and commercially.

Therefore, even those neutral nobles strongly opposed it at that time. After all, Leah and Damon were just fighting among themselves in the South Territory, and it would not affect them much who won.

But handing over White Harbor would be completely tantamount to undermining the roots of the Southern Territory.

Unfortunately, both grand dukes had made up their minds about this and no one could change it.

As one of the only two people who took the initiative to lead troops to support Leah, although his title did not change, he was also rewarded with enviable rewards - the archipelago and nearby ports near Wolf Island were all granted as the other party's territory, and he served as the commander of the Cologne garrison and the Duke's hand.

After being crowned, Montvit secretly found Levi and said bitterly that he was actually not very willing to serve as the commander of the Cologne garrison and the Duke's hand.

The reason, of course, is that he wouldn't be able to live a good life with his wife and daughter if he did that.

Levi was so shocked that he rolled his eyes and despised the other party for making him eat dog food.

As for our Lord, he had already returned to the High Cliff Fort camp without any regard for his relatives.

Zat was meticulously brushing honey on his bear paw in the cafeteria of Highcliff Castle. Only food could calm him down. When he was about to put the paw into his mouth, a pair of hands snatched it from behind. His calmness was instantly broken. He turned around and was about to curse in the wilderness slang, but he changed his words abruptly: "Boss, is the meeting over?"

Li Weilong took the tiger's step and sat down on the chair, trying his best to pretend that he was calm and said "hmm".

"Zat, you bear, you use so much honey, it's too greasy." The lord, who took a big bite, gave a fair comment.

Looking at the lord who said that the food was not tasty but was biting the bear's paw with big mouthfuls, Zat felt very aggrieved, but he had no choice but to snatch the lamb leg from Sam next to him and bite it viciously.

The old man looked around and finally realized that he was the one with the lowest status. He silently took a potato and dipped it in the mutton soup to eat.

"My lord, what do you say?" As a shrewd man, Leighton knew that his lord was preparing to show off when he saw his lord's attitude, so he took over the conversation at the right time.

Mil asked the cook to prepare another portion of stewed lamb leg, put it on Sam's plate and patted him on the shoulder.

"Cough cough." Levi put down his bear paw and cleared his throat twice.

The leaders of Gaoyabao who were eating and drinking suddenly stopped and focused their attention on one person.

"First of all, from now on, my Lord, I will be a marquis, an honorary marquis." The Lord smiled slightly, fearing that these country bumpkins did not know the value of it, and reminded them: "There are no more than four marquises still alive in the whole of Derby."

The entire cafeteria was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, but after a moment, it broke into thunderous applause.

In fact, Zat hadn't figured out how many four palms there were, but he clapped more vigorously than anyone else.

"Quiet, quiet, I'm just a marquis. If you don't know, you would think I've become a duke."

The lord stood up, pressed his hands twice in the air, and smiled modestly.

"Secondly, we will nominally become the Honor Legion of the South, with 3,000 soldiers. We will still maintain our independence, but the military expenses, equipment and supplies will be provided by the other party!"

Wow!
Before the others could react and understand why the latter event was more worthy of celebration than the former, Leighton had already stood up with a look of shock on his face.

As the military advisor of Gaoya Fort, it not only manages military affairs but also logistics. No one knows better than it that the income of Gaoya Fort is completely insufficient to cover its expenses. This lord is estimated to have taken out all his wife's capital to maintain the daily expenses of Gaoya Fort.

And the reason why the military structure can be maintained is that Gaoyabao has no military expenditure at all.

Whether they are orcs or centaurs, they are only provided with food but not military pay.

But even so, being able to maintain nearly a thousand full-time soldiers is already the limit.

The warriors of High Cliff Castle were indeed a top-notch legion, but their shortcoming was that they were too few in number.

They are destined to fight only small battles. Once they join a large-scale battle involving hundreds of thousands of people, they can only create a big wave at most.

Now he had no worries at all. Leighton instantly thought that with this, Gaoya Castle could at least expand its soldiers to 5,000. If the military salaries were not paid, it could even expand more.

And if it can maintain the current quality of its army, it will be considered a powerful force in Derby.

"To put it simply, the Southern Territory will pay the big guys in Highcliff Castle with heads in the future." Leighton explained it to these reckless men in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

After hearing this, everyone present understood. They didn't have more than a silver coin in their pockets and had no idea what military expenditure was.

But when it comes to money, they understand.

After all, they still understand the common sense that money can buy things.

"Hehe, then can I eat honey every day from now on?" Zat laughed happily, as if he had already seen himself achieving honey freedom in the future.

Because in its view, the money given to them by the South Territory is actually given to Gaoyabao. If Gaoyabao has money, wouldn't the food quality be improved? Then it can also eat more delicious food.

This guy doesn't understand at all. In fact, even if you are a private, you still get a salary.

In fact, it was not just him. Anyone present who was born in the wilderness had no concept of military spending at all.

In their view, providing three meals a day is enough to make them work hard.

After all, this is what people do in the wilderness. Some people even have no food to eat but still have to go to the war.

However, there were a few people who understood what was going on, such as Miller, Leighton and Heather, but since no one said anything, they naturally wouldn't say anything and get scolded.

"I have a question."

Only one person timidly raised his fair little hand, with a pair of cute big eyes as bright as stars.

"explain."

The lord looked over and found that it was Sophia, the silver dragon girl. He smiled and snapped his fingers.

It can be said that all the supplies for the three thousand soldiers were provided by Leah, which he did not expect. What is the difference between this and directly supporting him, Li?
A real man will never eat food given out of pity!

But at this moment, he felt that this kind of charity could be a little more, rich women are really delicious! In a good mood, he fully encouraged his subordinates to ask questions if they had any doubts.

"I am also a member of High Cliff Castle, so it stands to reason that I should have a share of the money." The silver dragon girl counted on her fingers, then raised her head and mustered up the courage to say, "Levi, I want to keep my money myself."

Heather, who was standing next to him, smiled and calmly tugged at the silver dragon, who was blinded by money, in an attempt to change his mind.

No one knew better than her how stingy Levi was. It would be impossible to get money from him even if this silver dragon climbed into his bed.

Unfortunately, the girl, whose heart had been blinded by greed, completely ignored it.

"Sophia, I am very happy that you can say you are a member of Highcliff Castle, but I am very unhappy that you are doubting me." The lord put his hands on the table and said bitterly, "Do you think I would embezzle your little money? I am helping you save money!"

"You are still young now. Can you manage the money?"

"If you spend it, how can you go back to Dragon Island to buy a dragon nest? How can you slap your brothers and sisters in the face? How can you be the dragon among dragons?"

"When you finish working here, I will give you all the money. Then you can go back with a whole box of golden Jinke to blind their longan eyes, right?"

The Lord continued to persuade, but he was like a poor preacher looking for monks to preach to.

"Really?" Sophia was a little dizzy after being bombarded with words. At the same time, she felt that she seemed to have heard these words somewhere before. However, looking at the lord who was staring at her, she shrank her neck and could only ask weakly.

"That's for sure!" Levi said righteously, like a Templar Knight who kept his promise: "You are still young, you can't control this money, I will save it for you, and when you finish your work, you can withdraw it whenever you want!"

"Okay." Sophia still chose to believe the other party and sat back.

The lord is a typical hypocrite. He clearly wants to end the topic immediately, but he still pretends to say something.

"If you have any questions about this, please feel free to speak up. We in Gaoyabao don't practice dictatorship."

This kind of undead talk can only fool some ignorant people. If anyone really dares to say it, he will be harassed afterwards, so everyone is very willing to do it.

"No."

"No."

……

"Very good, then this matter is settled. My lord, I will save all the money for you and give it to you when you get married." After receiving collective rejection, the lord clapped his hands and ended the matter with a smile.

……

The days that followed became peaceful, and Gaoya Castle began its peaceful time of defending the city day after day, preparing for the day of return.

Although there were some demons heading south, their leader didn't say anything and they didn't take it seriously.

Now that the war is over, it is time to return.

Otherwise, staying here every day, either guarding the gate idly, or staying in a cramped camp where it is inconvenient to move your hands and feet.

And because the meals were provided by the Southern Territory, all members of Gaoya Fort gained weight, which made someone both happy and worried.

The good news is that at the beginning, the nobles in charge of this matter did not dare to cut corners on food. What they were worried about was that these big-bellied men would gain weight and lose some of their demeanor as a strong army.

However, Levi also knew that this was just his unfounded worry. The orc warriors did not lose their fighting power because of this. They just became more restrained because there was no war.

This is the reason why a dog that bites doesn't bark.

Everyone was looking forward to returning to Highcliff Castle, but this hope was interrupted by a group of uninvited guests a few days later.

It was a starless night, and the moon was obscured by dark clouds.

The lord is inspecting the city walls as usual.

Don't think that he is a pig who does nothing just because he is diligent in collecting city taxes.

In fact, collecting city taxes is just a hobby of his. In the past, he was taxed by others. Now that the positions of offense and defense have been switched, he naturally wants to satisfy his desire.

Since Gaoyabao was assigned the task of guarding the city walls, Levi would naturally carry out the task well until Gaoyabao left.

Otherwise, they might happen to be on duty and cause a tragedy due to negligence, which would add a black mark in the history of Gaoyabao's elite soldiers and generals. That would be totally not worth it.

The reason I stay here is that I haven't figured out the situation in the south yet, so I can't leave for the time being.

He didn't want those demons to surround Colen again as soon as he left, and Florina also thought so.

"Boss, there's a situation!"

Zat was the first to notice the situation. He patted Levi's arm and pointed to the road beyond the city wall.

Without it saying anything, Levi had already noticed a team gradually walking out from the darkness in the distance and appearing under the light of the fire.

The team stopped when they were about to reach the boundary between light and darkness, and only the leading knight continued to move forward.

This is the default safety line for both sides. Once you rashly cross this position, Gaoyabao can even launch a direct attack.

The knight was wearing bright silver plate armor, a pointed helmet with white feathers, and a bauhinia emblem on his chest, which was Ando's family emblem.

He raised his head and revealed a resolute face in the firelight. He was a young knight of a high rank, and his face was weathered from the long march.

He tried his best to pull the corners of his mouth to reveal a kind smile, but it seemed that he was not good at smiling, and it seemed a little far-fetched and hypocritical. He shouted loudly: "Sir, I am an officer under Count Ando. I am here to return. Please let us enter the city."

"Hold on."

Although the city wall was very high and far away, Levi's sharp eyes could still tell that this was the cavalry commander who had always followed Count Ando.

Usually when An Dao is not around, he is in full command of the cavalry.

According to gossip, this man seems to be An Dao's illegitimate son, which is why he is in charge of a cavalry regiment at such a young age.

Soon a small door opened, and the lord walked over with a tiger step, with a holy sword hanging on his waist and his hands in his pockets. Dozens of orcs followed behind with torches.

"Where is Count Andao?" Levi looked behind him, but did not see Andao.

Out of caution, he did not directly open the huge city gate to let people pass, but opened a small corridor, and as he came out, the corridor was directly closed.

Levi was sure that the other party was indeed the cavalry and regiment commander under An Dao, and he was not in a hurry to let them go just because of the regulations.

No matter who wants to enter the city, they have to go through careful procedures, especially such a large cavalry team.

(End of this chapter)