I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 147 Initial Observation

Cooper Castle.

The short but strong Baron Berry strode into his territory, followed by the somewhat old castle steward. The steward was very tall, but still could not keep up with the baron's fast pace.

"Has anything happened in the castle recently?"

The soldiers cheered as they returned home outside the castle, and the people either hugged their fathers who had returned alive in surprise, or cried bitterly for their dead husbands, but the treatment was the same regardless of life or death - there was no pension or reward. All the spoils had long been collected by the steward behind the scenes and stored in Berry's private treasury. Only a few lucky guys who bribed him and the court knights could embezzle a few leathers.

"My dear sir, everything remains the same as before. No danger has occurred and your estate is still prosperous."

The butler bowed slightly and flattered him.

Each lord has a different personality, and smart subordinates will adjust their words according to their lord.

The tall butler knew very well that his master was a cunning and clever man who loved to be praised.

"very good."

Sure enough, the burly Berry sat down on the sheepskin chair and nodded with satisfaction.

This time, Berry accompanied the Duke on the expedition and worked extremely hard. He fought on the front lines several times and successfully defeated the rebellion in the south before winter. He pushed the army of the County of Burgundy back to the border and forced the other side to submit a negotiation document.

And all this hard work brought a handsome reward - a large amount of spoils, sufficient food and fodder, and as many as thirty prisoners.

These will not only make up for the losses in the expedition, but may even make a fortune. Of course, what Berry values ​​most is that he has successfully become the Duke's direct baron.

"Direct baron? Master, didn't you say you would become county governor?" The butler's eyes flashed. He knew Berry's plan very well. Like Pierre, Berry had longed for the title of county governor, that is, earl, for a long time, otherwise he would not have worked so hard.

"Sooner or later."

Berry drank some milk. He had a cow that specialized in producing milk, and it produced a huge amount of milk.

"Take a long-term view, my friend. You have to understand that the Duke has only just arrived. Coupled with the recent wars, it will probably take him a year or two to secure his throne. If we want him to provide us with weapons, we need to be patient and wait."

Although Berry coveted the position of earl, becoming an earl was not something that could be achieved by just a few words from the Duke of Burgundy. The other barons entrenched in various places were all warlords with private armed forces.

All Berry wanted was the earl's legal consent and military funding, and he would annex the country himself.

"Is there anything going on with the knights?"

In order to annex territory, in addition to legal claims, one must also have strength. Berry believed that the military of Cooper Castle was strong, and the only drawback was that there were a few disobedient knights.

"Everything is relatively peaceful, especially Knight David in the south. He has been much more peaceful since you made him pay a large sum of grain."

"Hmph!" Berry's eyes turned vicious when he mentioned David. Like old Baldwin, David was a knight left by his father, but he was never his own knight.

The reason is taboo but also simple, because Berry is his father's second son!
Baldwin Sr. and David's true loyalty were to his long-dead brother.

"A fool who can't see the situation."

Berry put away his memories. David did not follow him on this expedition. Instead, he used food instead of conscription, which made the original plan to assassinate David on the battlefield fail. However, he took the opportunity to extort a large amount of supplies from the other party.

"Oh, by the way, sir, that Knight Luc has set up a hut at Telf Bridge and started collecting tolls. However, he's still nowhere to be seen. Instead, he's been assigned to guard the bridge by one of Old Baldwin's former retainers."

The butler suddenly remembered the new knight he had recruited half a year ago, and slapped his forehead.

"Luke?" Baron Berry hadn't spoken yet when the Freeman attendant who had been silent beside him suddenly raised his head when he heard the name, his eyes full of unconcealable disgust.

Seeing this, Berry glanced at Freeman, causing the burly attendant to lower his head instantly.

"Luc earned his title through his own hard work, he didn't steal it from you. Don't react so strongly in the future."

"Yes"

Berry withdrew his gaze in annoyance. Freeman had followed him for a long time, but had never been promoted to a knight. This time he had made considerable military achievements, but was still just a squire. It was inevitable that he began to feel hostility towards Luke in his heart.

After all, in the eyes of the other party, Luke is just an opportunistic and lucky guy.

However, although Freeman fought bravely, he was too short-sighted. He wanted to turn against Luc for a miller, and now he was angry for the title of a knight who had no land but only a title.

"Don't worry, everything David has will be yours in the future."

After comforting Freeman, Berry turned his head and fell into deep thought. He still remembered Luc's appearance. The guy who claimed to be from Upper Lorraine was quite handsome, behaved well, and most importantly, was smart. Baron Berry had a good impression of him. But if he remembered correctly, Luc already had two guards and a warhorse, and now there was Du Si's family and several followers. How did he support all these people with just the bridge toll?

He originally thought that Luc would go to the county to buy real estate, but in the last letter to Pierre, he heard him say that he hoped he could send Luc to see him. From the tone, it seemed that Luc was not in the county, so where would he be?
Unless he has another way to support himself.

"Keep a close eye on the situation at Telfbridge. If you discover that Luc has other income, notify me immediately."

……

Under the same sky, unlike the people who were resting in Cooper Castle, Luc, who was far away in the mountains, had no time to rest. He was going to start building a wooden wall!

But before that, the ditch needs to be improved.

Luc had specifically instructed that an area be reserved in the middle of the ditch that covers all the cultivated land, and now a second diversion gate is being installed on it.

The triangular gate was built in the middle of the cultivated land in the old way with clay. The four tributaries would flow as the gate opened and closed, sometimes flowing like a stream and sometimes drying up as before. The excess water would continue to flow along the main channel and move northward.

That's where the new cultivated land on the hillside leads to.

"Yeah, that's good. If I plant different crops on the new land or on the old land in the future, I can use it to control the water flow."

Luke looked at the diversion device with satisfaction. In fact, the cultivated land had been divided into vegetable fields and grain fields, but the two were almost the same and did not need to be subdivided too much.

"Old Eike, take your men and dig another drainage ditch around the field."

As the name suggests, the drainage ditch is dug from north to south, gradually lowering to form an outlet, and then the water flows back to the river bank. Although it is troublesome to build, it is not complicated. Just assign a few people to dig slowly, and the rest of the people will start thinking about the new wall.

This time the wall was three people high and the area was three times the size of the previous one. Luke first decided on the location of the gate, and then built a watchtower, or arrow tower, about ten yards to the east and west.

"Master, according to your idea, if the Knight's Castle is built, it will be a real fortress!"

Ryan expressed his views with both joy and worry. He was happy that the Knight's Castle would be stronger, but he was worried because he knew in his heart that the arrow tower was not in the original design blueprint. They had only planned to open some battlements. All the reasons were because of the emergence of the iron mine, which deepened the master's sense of crisis.

"It's still far from being a true fortress. It's just barely capable of defense."

Luc did not comment and continued to study the direction. Unlike the previous fenced yard, it didn't matter if it was a little crooked or slanted, but the wooden wall that could be considered a city wall still needed to be more precise.

"Okay, that's it, let's get started!"

(End of this chapter)