Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 176: Hesse Provincial Council and the Mengjiang General
In addition to 2000 dwarven oath golds, the coalition forces also found 4000 gold crowns and dwarven jewelry worth approximately 7000 gold crowns in the limestone valley.

According to the agreement between the two parties before the war, Su Li will be able to get a share of wealth worth nearly 5000 gold crowns!

This number really surprised Su Li and his face was filled with a bright smile for several days.

He had never gained such a huge fortune at once before. If the income from the dwarf's oath gold was included, his gains from this battle would be as much as 10,000 gold crowns.

As expected, high risk comes with high returns.

This Red Crown cult force gathered the largest army on the northern side of the Hessen foothills, brewing the greatest crisis and making the Hessen Lord pay the highest price to resolve it all.

But after the problem is solved, the accompanying benefits are also the greatest!

The most fundamental reason for all these situations, which are so different from the East, is that this world empire is not the richest force.

Although the Empire occupies a vast plain area west of the World's Edge Mountains, it is not the strongest in terms of agriculture, technology, engineering, or wealth.

The dwarves and elves far surpass the Empire in art, production, and even history and heritage.

The problems faced in expanding outward to the east, such as the fact that the power is too large and all the core areas are occupied, as long as the power expands outward, it will be a wasteland on all sides, the conquered power will be poor, and the gains will be far less than the expenditure, etc., are not a problem in this world.

Humans just need to fight outward. If they easily discover a hidden ancient dwarf treasure house or find the ruins of an elven colony, the wealth they gain can make a hungry human territory rich instantly.

Not to mention the forces like dragons and demons that have survived for thousands of years and possess massive resources.

Therefore, this summer, the territory really gained a lot of wealth.

What made Su Li even happier was that since he entered this world, he finally had more than a month of peaceful and quiet life.

Although new powerful demons are born every month in this world, this world is also vast, so it is impossible for demons to appear near the Hessen Territory every time.

Shouldn't the lords be allowed to rest for a while?

During this month, the threat of demons was eliminated and the dragon had not yet awakened, so the Hessen Territory had a peaceful time to develop.

Perhaps no profession is easy. Farmers have to work in the fields with their faces to the earth and their backs to the sky. Knights have to wear heavy armor and fight under the scorching sun. Dwarves have to sweat profusely beside the forge in this hot summer.

But Su Li is definitely not included in this difficult life!
After returning from the bloody highlands full of war and battles, the lord took three days to recuperate his exhausted body, and then began to enjoy himself!

Hildre was promoted to Champion Knight! Her body's flexibility, firm skin, and abundant physical strength gave Su Li an unparalleled experience!

After returning to the territory, Su Li used the excuse of practicing as an excuse to start a wonderful life of revelry with Hildrede.

Even during the day, knights' training sometimes occurs.

The ministers of the territory had no objection to Su Li's dissolute and immoral life of debauchery.

Because his slogan really worked.

Hildur wore the dwarf's golden hair comb to assist Su Li in his practice, which made Su Li's practice progress rapidly.

It is a rapid development in every sense of the word.

After each knight training, Su Li's breathing would become smoother and his strength would increase dramatically.

At the end of two weeks, Su Li's strength had reached the level of a high-level formal knight.

Now he is accumulating strength and feels that he may break through to the elite knight at any time.

This progress of training shocked countless people and knights in the territory, and also made countless knight-errants frantically apply to join the army of the Hessen Territory.

You should know that when Su Li set out from Bauhinia Castle, he had just broken through to the junior apprentice knight three days ago. Barely half a year had passed, and he was about to break through to the elite knight!
Even the champion knights did not have such a fast training speed as him. When Fastrick returned to the territory to visit his Pegasus mount, everyone who visited Su Li was stunned. He was a champion knight who broke through at the age of 20 and was once praised as a genius by the province where his hometown was.

However, it only took him half a year to break through from an apprentice knight to a formal knight.

Su Li's original training mentor, the guardian knight Schwartz, took half a year to train from a beginner knight to a mid-level apprentice knight.

The key is that their practice is too arduous. They train in the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer, constantly exercising their bodies, challenging strong enemies, and killing monsters in order to make progress.

Su Li was not as happy as he thought. He just had to lie on the bed, with Phyllis dancing in front of him, Ingrid wearing beautiful stockings massaging his body in the middle, and Avril's pretty face kissing him gently in front of him.

Hildre patiently helped him sort out the rhythm of his practice, adjusted his breathing, and led him to make progress in his practice in extreme pleasure and explosion.

What made Su Li even happier was that his practice had also yielded results, and Phyllis successfully became pregnant with his child.

This left Su Li baffled. Could it be that in the knight's training, the lower the strength, the easier it was to get pregnant? Or the higher the strength, the harder it was to reproduce?
But no matter what, this is Su Li's first time as a father in his two lifetimes, and he dotes on Phyllis more and more. Sweet Phyllis has a happy smile every day and a happy married life. She would not trade it even for an electorate.

But Su Li's cultivation is not the fastest in the territory. The fastest is undoubtedly Su Li's first guardian knight, the high-level attendant steward, and one of the two pillars of the territory, Hirud Cosonia.

With the help of the golden comb, she kept her mind clear at all times, stayed away from sleep, and studied and practiced day and night, which made her strength advance by leaps and bounds.

When she returned from the battlefield of Crimson Highlands, she was still a beginner champion knight. After more than a month of study and practice, she had finished reading 80% of the three sets of books, with only less than 20 books left to read. Her strength also successfully reached the peak of advanced champion knight!

This means that there is still a large amount of divine grace in this set of books that has not been absorbed. It is very likely that she has broken through to the God-chosen level, and the remaining books are enough for other knights to break through.

As far as Su Li knew, someone in the territory had already set up a bet. The bet was on who of the two pillars of the territory, Hilde and Orstein, would break through to the God-Chosen level first, and on which day. The closer the time, the higher the odds.

Su Li did not intervene in this situation. This was because gambling was so prevalent in the empire that they could bet on anything from trivial matters in daily life to major matters such as territory administration, official appointments, wins and losses in the Lion Ring Arena, and even castle secrets and the weight of Death Claws.

Many people could skip meals, but they couldn't skip gambling. With just a copper coin, they could participate in a variety of gambling activities. It was common for people to gamble for pleasure, from the small to the big, losing everything.

The most famous gambling case in the territory took place between a halfling and a dwarf. Both of them bet their entire fortunes, with a total stake of 157 gold coins, on which position the next official appointed in the territory would hold.

The halfling is the chief tax collector, and the dwarf is the director of the provincial government.

As a result, the dwarf successfully won the gamble. When Su Li was immersed in cultivation, he left all government affairs to the Provincial Council.

This involves the ruling structure and political structure of the Hesse Territory. After all, in any country, the ruler cannot be alone.

Su Li could rule hundreds or even thousands of people by himself and rely on force to intimidate them. But now the Heisen Territory has expanded rapidly, extending to the outskirts of the Blood Pine Forest and the foot of the Gray Mountains. It is rich, vast, and has numerous strongholds.

He would definitely need a group of people to help him maintain his rule. In politics, it is always necessary to unite the majority and make as many friends as possible in order to achieve long-term stability and a stable rule.

In the Hessen Territory, the ruler is undoubtedly the owner of Hessen Castle, the pioneer knight of the Hessen Foothills, the chosen one of the Goddess of the Fiery Sun (in the future), the descendant of the Bauhinia family, Su Li, the Bauhinia Knight.

As a pioneer knight, his territory is much larger than that of an ordinary kingdom knight, and may even be larger than the territories of some small earls within the empire (only in terms of the wide area).

Therefore, it was impossible for him to appoint only one civil servant to manage such a vast territory and such complicated affairs.

He then established a Hesse provincial government in accordance with imperial tradition. The feudal rule was mainly implemented by the Provincial Council, an institution that assisted him in handling government affairs, and the Provincial Council, a legislative body composed of representatives of large landowners. Both of them often met in the government hall in Hesse.

The fact that provincial councils, composed of representatives of large landowners, were responsible for legislation was highly appropriate for the Empire's national conditions. These councils primarily included the feudal knights of the Empire's ruling class, the farmers and mayors of the Halfling Dominions, and the leaders of the dwarven communities. These individuals generally had their own farms, mines, and industries, each with its own distinct interests and customs. A narrow set of laws clearly couldn't adapt to such a complex landscape, so they needed to work together to negotiate laws and some degree of autonomy.

The Imperial Dwarves are a prime example of this, having assimilated into human society, their culture and traditions influenced to some degree by human society, though some traditions have been modified or abandoned. In smaller human towns and villages, Imperial Dwarves are considered part of the community, generally following the same laws, customs, and traditions as their human neighbors.

However, when multiple Imperial Dwarven clans inhabit an Imperial settlement, they establish a Council of Elders to govern the community. This Council is composed of the elders of each clan, who elect a single elder to lead the Council. Imperial laws, customs, and traditions are followed, but elements of Dwarven law still exist within the clans. Crimes against property are arbitrated by the Council of Elders, who can punish offenders with fines, forced labor, or both.

Imperial Dwarves are regarded as the "second people" in the Empire and are the most important race in the Empire besides humans. They play various roles in the Empire, including architecture, engineering and military, and have made important contributions to the construction of the Empire. Every lord has a Dwarf Siege Master who shoulders important responsibilities.

Therefore, it is very important to respect their interests and ensure that they also have a certain say in ruling the territory.

After all, one-third of the main export commodities of the Hesse Territory: grain, timber, wine, metal, weapons, armor, cattle, wool and witchcraft props are dwarven specialties.

It is no easy task to rule such a vast territory, stretching from the Grey Mountains to the Brienne River, from the Blood Pine Forest to the Leafy Hills.

A road has just been opened up in the middle of this vast plain, connecting towns and farms, but there are still forests and unexplored areas with no power on both sides of the road. Greenskins and beastmen live in them. In some areas, ancient ruins and lost treasures are hidden, attracting a large number of treasure hunters and scholars.

To the north, at the foothills where the Crimson Highlands meet the Grey Mountains, lies a lucrative mineral vein, threatening to spark conflict with the Dwarven Kingdom. However, the Dwarves disagree. Everything at the foothills of the Black Forest Mountains belongs to the Black Forest Territory. They are all lords of the Grey Mountains, so why should the minerals at the foot of the mountains belong to the humans and not the dwarves? While the Redbud Knights are pioneer lords, the Dwarves are the ancient masters of the Grey Mountains.

So in order to deal with all these government affairs and also to make it easier for himself to be lazy and "cultivate", he specially established a Provincial Council to be responsible for the affairs of the entire Hesse-Foothill Province.

The selection of the president of the Provincial Council was once the hottest gambling item in the casino. Most people believed that Minister of Seals, Lawn, deserved the title, while others believed that the territory's farming business would be in full swing. Minister of Agriculture, Fandral Oak, would shoulder the heavy responsibility and concurrently serve as the president of the Provincial Council. Others such as High Attendant General Hilde, Master Engineer Kurgan, and even Minister of Industry, Sharif, were nominated.

Finally, Su Li went against all odds and appointed the territory's religious minister, His Excellency Rong En, the priest of the Sun Goddess, as the dean of the provincial government.

Once this decision was announced, countless people dropped their jaws!
So much so that some people even suspected that the lord had also participated in the gambling and earned more than 600 gold crowns from it!

After all, shortly before the market was closed, a mysterious person added more than 300 gold crowns to the betting pool at one time, betting that Rong En would become the president of the Provincial Council.

In the Hessen Territory, there are not many wealthy people who can afford to spend 300 gold crowns at once, and even fewer who can bet so much wealth on an unpopular candidate like Ron.

If someone hadn't finally seen the mysterious man who collected the bet return to Silver Spring Valley, the headquarters of the Corona Knights, this matter would have continued for a long time.

Su Li didn't need to explain to anyone why he chose Rong En Priest as the director of the Provincial Council against all odds.

This was originally an institution to assist him, and he had the right to decide who would be the high minister of the territory. If he wanted, he could choose a rapist, a prostitute, or even a dwarf butcher to hold this position.

Of course, Su Li chose Rong En as the dean of the Provincial Council not out of boredom to demonstrate his absolute and powerful dominance, but out of consideration of multiple factors.

First, during the war against Skaven Bloodfury, Lord Ron made outstanding contributions. Before the battle, he led the soldiers in devout prayer and personally blessed and encouraged each knight about to enter the battlefield. In this regard, he fully demonstrated the value of a combat priest and his devotion to the Sun Goddess.

When the soldiers attacked, they shouted like thunder and waves, "May the Goddess of the Fiery Sun protect us and let us die a worthy death," and launched an extremely violent offensive.

Then Ron personally participated in the battle, and never retreated even when facing a powerful God-chosen demon.

This fact finally earned him the Goddess of Medicine's forgiveness, proving that he hadn't left the Church of Life and Love out of fear. (Of course, it could also be that he participated in the slaying of a chosen demon, which was enough to repay the Goddess of Medicine's gift to him.)
But no matter what, the curse on Lord Ron has disappeared, and he can now practice again and gradually regain his strength to the level of a chosen god.

This former God-chosen knight took only one month to advance from an apprentice knight to a formal knight, reaching the elite knight level even faster than Su Li. Moreover, I heard that in recent days, while handling government affairs, he still did not neglect his cultivation and had already reached the mid-level elite knight.

In addition to winning over this chosen knight destined by the Church of the Fiery Sun, another important consideration in appointing him was the information given to Su Li by the intelligence.

The day after Su Li announced the establishment of the Provincial Council, the daily intelligence system listed several different candidates for him and the effects each person would bring to the Provincial Council.

For example, if Lunadesan serves as the head of the provincial government, the territory can more effectively control the relationship between wildness and domestication. Not only will the spread of weeds in the cultivated land be curbed, but the herds may also be able to gain the addition of species such as wild horses, goats, and Uros cattle when grazing.

Every once in a while, animals from the Blood Pine Forest would even bring gems, props, and precious eggs to the farmland in the territory.

If the dwarf engineering master Boros Dragonhammer serves as the Minister of the Territory's Provincial Council, the progress of the territory's engineering projects can be greatly improved.

In particular, the territory's currently under construction walls of Hessen Town and Hessenburg will be raised from their current height of 16 meters to 24 meters! Construction costs will also be reduced by 20%. The trade-off is a decline in the territory's economic prosperity, tax revenue, and public security.

The defense of the territory has been given priority. Su Li hopes that the dwarf engineers can lead the ogre construction team to build the territory's defense facilities as soon as possible to provide more tactical options for the upcoming decisive battle with the green dragon's followers.

The dwarves have achieved remarkable results in this regard. Whenever Su Li occasionally came out of the manor to relax, he would be shocked to the point of disbelief every time he saw the magnificent rock walls of Hesse Castle and Hesse Town.

He simply couldn't imagine that this place was just a small fishing village a few months ago, but in such a short period of time, such magnificent and majestic defense facilities had been built here.

A 16-meter-high city wall is so exciting, so a 24-meter-high city wall must be like a spectacular building, full of the colors of a fantasy empire, right?
But in the end, Su Li resisted the temptation and chose Rong En as the dean.

Because there are so many benefits to choosing a religious advisor and priest of the Fiery Sun Church as the president of the Provincial Council.

Firstly, after he became the dean, he was able to increase the spread of the Blazing Sun Church in the Hessen Territory, allowing the teachings of the Blazing Sun Church to spread more widely and become the core area of ​​the Blazing Sun Goddess Church in a larger area, especially in the towns and knights' castles of the territory.

Secondly, his position as the president of the provincial government was conducive to spreading the deeds of the Hessian Territory.

In addition to troubadours, newspapers and letters, another important way to spread information in this world was through the connections between monasteries.

Often, you couldn't understand why the monastery's priests, without leaving their homes, could know what was happening thousands of miles away. But it was true that these priests could always tell stories about the deeds of their sect's powerful chosen gods and their glorious victories.

Most people attributed this incredible situation to the grace of the monastery, and the priests were the apostles walking on earth on behalf of the gods.

Ron's appointment successfully amplified the speed of the spread. In the southern provinces of the empire where the belief in the Goddess of the Fiery Sun was widespread, many priests in monasteries had already known about the Hessen Territory, a model place of the Church of the Goddess of the Fiery Sun, and their great feat of exiling a God-chosen demon.

So many heroes came to Heisen to surrender to Su Li, hoping to follow Su Li and bathe in the glory of the Goddess of the Sun.

This scene always seemed unexpectedly familiar to the people of the Empire.

Yes, it is very similar to the greenskin waaagh.

Because the Sun Goddess's followers are keen to launch human versions of waaagh to reclaim lost territory and fight against Chaos followers and the undead, this makes her unique among the gods of the Empire and is an important reason why her teachings are becoming more and more widespread.

Usually, great strategists in the empire come from the sect of the Sun Goddess, so once a follower of the Sun Goddess achieves a brilliant victory, it is easy to attract humans from various sects to participate.

These heroes, knights and warriors believed that this renowned follower of the Church of the Fiery Sun would lead them to victory in one battle after another.

During this process, Su Li gained a lot of powerful generals.

For example, there was a champion knight named Tiberus, who was very much liked by him but was complained about by the knights.

This is a northerner, a nomadic ice and snow person from the northern part of the Empire's Nord Province. Most of the local people believe in the evil gods of the chaotic wasteland, but there are also a few who are loyal to the Empire and maintain the purity of mankind.

Normally, these people were followers of the Winter God, Ulric, but this muscular, six-foot-three-foot-tall man suppressed his rage and murderous will, and worshipped the teachings of the Sun Goddess like a heretic. He traveled to the southern part of the empire, where Violet's faith was more widespread, to travel and study.

This is what the Knights of the Flaming Sun espouse. As the knights of the Goddess's church, they are dedicated to studying and mastering the ultimate in the science and art of war. They travel to every corner of the continent, seeking out wars and conflicts, and learning and consulting with every human nation on their tactics and strategies.

After completing their studies, they would spend one or two years testing what they had learned, hone their skills by serving as military advisors to the nobles, and learn from the strengths of others, allowing the military thinking of various places to improve their own tactics.

(End of this chapter)