Throne of the North.

Chapter 46 Lordship System
Ryan's expectations were ultimately not fulfilled.

It is estimated that the newly discovered mountains after the spring can only be reclaimed into less than 1,000 acres of arable land at most. This amount is completely inadequate for the current population's frozen land.

"We have to keep searching, or find a way to open up arable land. Tell everyone in the territory that if anyone can open up good farmland from the wasteland, I will reward his family with one acre for every ten acres, and one gold coin for each of the remaining nine acres, and I will not collect taxes from them for three years."

Ryan invested heavily directly. Nothing could stimulate development better than more benefits. Even those slaves had needs.

If someone can really do it, then the value of that person will completely exceed the benefits Ryan provides.

He hoped that some talents would emerge in his territory, rather than mediocre people who were muddle-headed and spent their days doing nothing but eating and sleeping.

In this era, technology is irrelevant. Only talent and power are the primary driving force for development.

Ryan inspected the territory he was developing almost every day, but the call from the North Wind Province made him realize that he was not a stand-alone noble.

……

"Sure enough, something happened."

“It’s still a big deal.”

Ryan looked at the letter sent by the Governor of North Wind Province to all nobles, which only mentioned two things.

First, the punishment that the Empire discussed for the North Wind Province was a punishment, not a handling. It seemed that the orcs went south and ravaged the entire North Wind Province last winter, causing the deaths and injuries of too many nobles, which still made the Empire's nobles angry.

This responsibility, of course, falls on the heads of the nobles of the North Wind Province, especially the Earl Governor.

But it seems that this Earl Governor does not intend to handle it alone, and wants to share the pressure with everyone below him.

As for the second thing... that's much more terrifying.

"Lordship."

His palm was tightly grasping the letter in his hand, and Ryan didn't feel it even though his fingers were turning purple.

From the brief explanation, Ryan seemed to have seen the bloody storm within the empire, whether in politics, military, or even economy.

No, on the main road.

"Prepare the carriage!"

Ryan shouted loudly, and soon the gorgeous carriage from the Clayton family, pulled by two magical beasts, appeared at the gate of the castle. Ryan didn't even have time to eat lunch today, and took hundreds of knights and attendants to the North Wind Province.

……

Snapped!
The whip woven from tree bark fell on the orc's body, leaving a bloody mark.

"You bunch of damn orcs, hurry up and get to work! If you don't finish the work today, all the orcs will have no food to eat!"

On the busy construction site, the supervisor's loud voice echoed amid the hustle and bustle. He deliberately let his voice drown out the sounds of stone mining and road construction, trying to get the master in the gorgeous carriage slowly approaching in the distance to look at him.

"Hurry up and move the stones off the road. Can't you see the lord is coming? If you scare the horses, I'll chop off your heads immediately!"

"You guys over there, kneel down. Who allowed you to look up?"

Sitting in the carriage with a magic circle, even if it is traveling on a road that has not been fully opened up, you still can't feel any bumps. Even in this somewhat cold north, the carriage is as warm as a quilt.

A few months ago, Ryan had to cross mountains and hills to travel from the Frozen Territory to other places in the North Wind Province on his own two legs. But a few months later, he was already sitting in a carriage exclusive to the nobles, and the soldiers following him were all riding war horses from the highlands.

Compared with the past, it is now so majestic and spectacular.

The swamps that were as flat as the ground in the cold winter were no longer so easy to walk on after the spring. The frozen mud melted, so the team had to stop to pack up and repair after passing through the swamps. The place they chose was, of course, the nearest Barony of Hatton.

"Lian, my friend."

Baron Hatton opened his eyes wide, looking at Ryan's carriage and the one hundred soldiers in uniform in shock, his eyeballs almost popping out.

"This, this, this..."

He found it hard to understand. How long had it been? A few months ago, Ryan was still dressed like a peasant, a poor baron, a child who was incomparable to him. But now...

With this lineup and this scale, Hatton felt that he was already too weak.

"Lian is also going to Beifeng City, right?"

Hatton asked in a somewhat mean tone, his entire fat face squeezed together, looking particularly flattering.

Ryan looked at Baron Hatton who was hesitant to speak, smiled and said:

"Mr. Hatton is my friend. I stopped here this time because I wanted to invite Mr. Hatton to go to North Wind City with me."

"Okay, it's settled."

After saying this directly, Hutton was about to go up to Ryan's magic carriage, and he even brought along the two catwomen that he had looted from Knight Water's territory.

Ryan reached out to stop Hatton, looked at the two cat slaves who were obviously a little bit beaten up and said:

"Baron Hatton, you should know what happened during this trip to North Wind City. It's not good to think about enjoying yourself at this time."

After taking a reluctant look at the two female slaves, Hatton finally gave in.

"Okay, then I won't bring a maid this time, so I can travel light."

It was indeed quite light, just 200,000 kilograms of pig iron and 2,000 gold coins.

"Why do you carry so much iron?"

Ryan asked curiously, and Hutton, who was leaning on the soft deerskin in the carriage with a look of enjoyment, became a little bitter after hearing it.

"The orcs moved south, and my barony suffered heavy losses. Most of the food was gone. If the remaining food was hidden underground by me, I would have starved to death."

"Those damn orcs robbed all the wealth in my territory, and they don't even care about these iron mines."

"After the orcs are gone, we still have to make a living. We can only rely on trade. My territory can only take out these iron ore for trading."

Hatton was a little dejected, but soon became optimistic again.

“But in comparison, many barons in the North Wind Province died, and the territories of those who survived were much worse off than mine. Some even had their castles breached and their wealth looted. Hahahaha.”

As the saying goes, joy and suffering are contrasted. Compared with most of the nobles in the North Wind Province, Hatton's losses were indeed much less.

But this contrast left Ryan speechless.

He could only change the subject and said:
"What do you think about the lordship system jointly agreed upon by the Empire, the Church, and the southern kingdoms, Mr. Hatton?"

Those great nobles who stood at the pinnacle of power planned to customize a title called Lord, below Baron but above Knight.

It's not a title, but it's nobility.

(End of this chapter)