Rose Empire

"Without land and without people, how can Miss govern?"

With Charlotte's reminder, Renee also figured out the key. Then the object of her worry became Charlotte. In the girl's heart, the lady was obviously much more important than those civilians and serfs.

"Don't underestimate me, your lady. Such a small difficulty can't stop me." Charlotte smiled gently, then tapped the horse's belly with her foot, and the horse under her started to run briskly.

Renee and the guards hurried to follow.

Back at the castle, Charlotte saw an unexpected visitor.

"Hello, Viscount Melfield, I am the chief priest of the local church, Fado." A tall and thin man in a washed-out priest robe put his right hand on his left chest and bowed slightly to Charlotte.

Charlotte was a little surprised, because she hadn't had time to ask someone to notify the local church of her arrival, but she didn't expect the pastor to come to her on his own initiative.

However, Charlotte did not hesitate at all and immediately smiled and greeted the pastor named "Fado" in return: "Good day, Your Excellency Chief Pastor. I am very happy that the first distinguished guest I met after arriving in the territory is the shepherd of the Lord God."

The reception room in the castle was still being cleaned and was full of dust, so Charlotte simply had someone set up temporary tables and chairs in the deserted garden to entertain Fado.

Renee tacitly served the guests tea and snacks, which were things Renee always prepared, so that the young lady would not be too rude when she suddenly needed to receive guests.

"I originally planned to send someone to invite His Excellency the Chief Pastor after the dinner was ready. I didn't expect you to come so early. I am flattered." Charlotte asked Fado to sit down and said.

"No, no, you flatter me too much..." Fado waved his hands quickly. It seemed that he was the one who was truly flattered.

Fado saw Charlotte's convoy entering the territory while picking vegetables in the fields. Seeing the size of the convoy and the purple leopard emblem on the carriage, Fado knew that an important person must have come. This place is close to the Green Plains Principality, and even the lowest slaves should understand what the purple leopard emblem represents.

So he hurried back to the church to bathe and change his clothes before visiting the castle.

Since the speed of information transmission in this era was too slow, Fado actually didn't know that the Viscount of Lanwan had a new owner. It was not until he arrived outside the castle and stopped a servant to ask, that he learned that the daughter of the Duke of Luyuan was canonized as the new Viscount of Lanwan.

Fado was just a country priest, and the only thing he could boast about in his first half of life was that he had seen Archbishop Maitland Contao from a distance once when he was a student. Facing such a noble person as the Duke's daughter, Fado could not help but tremble in his legs.

However, what Fado did not expect was that Charlotte Melfield was not only not difficult to get along with, but was very respectful to him, which made Fado feel flattered.

"You should just call me Fado. I really can't bear your honorific title." After Charlotte called him "Chief Pastor" again, Fado finally couldn't help but said.

Charlotte smiled and said, "Well, Reverend Fado. Fado has been preaching in Lanwan Church for many years, right?"

"I completed my studies as a priest at the Holy Light Cathedral at the age of fourteen and was sent to the Viscount Lanwan's territory. It has been more than ten years now." Fado answered truthfully. There was nothing to hide.

"Then Pastor Fado should be very familiar with the local situation, right?" Charlotte asked.

"I think I understand." Fado nodded, not quite understanding what Charlotte wanted to say.

"That's great," Charlotte asked with a smile. "I've been walking along the way and have seen many fields around here abandoned. I wonder why so many acres of land are uncultivated? Are the fields here unsuitable for growing food? Can Pastor Fado help me solve this puzzle?"

"I do know that!" Speaking of this topic, Fado suddenly became a little excited. "How can the fields be unsuitable for growing food? Your Excellency, if you go a little further to the north of the territory, you will see that the knights in the north are still cultivating the land. The abandoned fields are basically in the knights in the south! Your castle is located in the south, so naturally you will see a lot of abandoned fields."

"Ah? Why don't the knights in the south want to farm?" Charlotte looked puzzled.

"Because farming is not as profitable as doing business." Fado said, "The Sokyans have been at war for years and need to build a lot of warships. So the knights in the south sell the wood that can be used for shipbuilding in the Quek Forest to Sokya, and sell the pearls, corals, and fish glue of the Sokyans to the Green Plains Principality, making a lot of money..."

The Viscountry of Lanwan is a crossroads. To the east and northeast is the Duchy of Greenfield, to the northwest is the end of the Campe Mountains, to the west is the Kingdom of Lesare, and to the south is a bay - Lanwan, which is why the Viscountry of Lanwan got its name.

The shape of Lan Bay is somewhat similar to the Suez Bay in Charlotte's memory of her previous life. Similar to the Suez Bay, Lan Bay is very long and narrow, with the narrowest part probably only a little over ten kilometers wide. Unlike the Suez Bay, what is connected to the Eagle Continent is not another continent like Africa, but a peninsula. This peninsula is what Fado calls "Sokya".

There is no unified country on the Sokya Peninsula, but a series of city-states. Wars between city-states are frequent, so an industry has flourished, that is, mercenaries. Sokya mercenaries are also a "well-known brand" in the Eagle Continent. Even Jose Melefield once reminded Charlotte of the dangers of "mercenaries from the southern city-states."

However, it now seems that the shipbuilding industry in the Sokya Peninsula is also very developed.

"The trade route only passes through the south of the Viscount's territory, so it has been occupied by the knights in the south. The knights in the north can't do business and are still farming honestly." Fado finally said, with a hint of grievance in his tone.

Charlotte could almost guess why Fado felt wronged. Fado was able to come to the castle so quickly, so his church probably belonged to the "South", but judging from his old priest robe, he was probably also very poor. It seemed that those knights in the south collectively excluded Fado from their business, so he was so excited and aggrieved.

"Why do we have to abandon farmland to do business? Business doesn't interfere with farming, right? The knights don't need to farm themselves, don't they have serfs?" Charlotte asked again in confusion.

"Why should we farm when we have serfs? It would be better to sell them to Sokya to fight in the war, or to the Quek Forest to cut trees. The yield from our land here is not high." Fado said as a matter of course.

Charlotte nodded. She finally understood why there were only a few households in a village in the territory. It seemed that not only the serfs but also the villagers had almost been sold out by the knights.

"Thank you, Mr. Fado, for clearing up my confusion."

"It's just some small things. To be honest, you can find out the information by asking anyone." said Fado.

"Mr. Fado, you said you studied at the Cathedral of Holy Light, so you should also be a student of Archbishop Kongtao." Charlotte suddenly said again.

Fado waved his hands quickly and said, "I have only listened to Archbishop Kongtao's sermons. How dare I call myself his student?"

The Holy Glory Cathedral is located in Platinum City. It is the largest church in the entire Oran Empire. The coronation ceremonies of the emperor and queen of the Oran Empire are usually held there. At the same time, it is also the main church of the Ryon Diocese, the territory of Archbishop Maitland Contao.

Fado had indeed attended Kong Tao's class. Maitland Kong Tao would explain the Lord's teachings to all priests once a month at the Holy Light Cathedral. It was an "open class" that anyone could attend. All apprentice priests in the Ryon Diocese had to go to the Holy Light Cathedral to receive the "Church Canon" and priest robes before they could become real priests. When Fado went to Platinum City to complete this procedure when he was fourteen years old, he happened to encounter Kong Tao's "open class" and listened to it.

Therefore, it is pure exaggeration for Fado to say that he completed his studies at the Cathedral of Holy Light.

Charlotte did not delve into the meaning of Fado's words, but winked at Renee: "Coincidentally, I am also a student of Archbishop Kongtao. I feel very lucky to meet another disciple of Archbishop Kongtao in such a remote place."

Renee understood what she meant, took out a cloth bag, opened it and handed it to Charlotte.

Inside the exquisite silk bag was a tattered copy of the Holy Scriptures. Given the condition of this Holy Scripture, it would probably not be sold even on a street stall.

However, when he saw this tattered scripture, Fado, who had been relaxing in the harmonious conversation atmosphere, was so frightened that he stood up.

"Please forgive my impoliteness just now." After carefully identifying the neat and beautiful annotations on the "Canon", Fado, regardless of his identity as the shepherd of the Lord God, bowed respectfully 90 degrees to Charlotte.

PS: Thank you very much for the reward and vote from "Shu Ke 65254541083", and thank you for the votes from Chi Feng, Shu Ke 40175489080, Li Jie Wan Shui, hikaru, Mi no Nian Gao and many other big guys.

PS2: I just saw the reward from the big guys because I was watching the live broadcast of Wu Dajing's game. I am very sorry. Also, I was very frustrated watching the game, so I typed slowly. I am very sorry.

PS3: I recommend a new book, "The Queen's Disqualification", which is also a bitter orange novel. If you are interested, you can take a look.

Book I: Chapter 18 Chapter 17 The Bishop's Business and the Southern Alliance

In addition to preaching to God, the archbishops of the church also like to sell goods.

This is a well-known thing.

For example, the Archbishop of Isis likes to sell holy emblems, which are small pendants hung around the neck. For example, the Archbishop of Bailon likes to sell palm-sized statues of gods, which are said to be carved by himself before going to bed every day. Another example is the Archbishop of Luen, Maitland Contao, who likes to sell tattered "Canon"...

It is said that every copy of the Holy Scripture sold by Maitland Contao was given to the Archbishop by an old priest when he was still an apprentice. Every copy of the Holy Scripture has accompanied the Archbishop for decades. Every copy of the Holy Scripture has been annotated by the Archbishop himself. Every copy of the Holy Scripture has been read to pieces by the Archbishop himself. Maybe the dirt on the pages is the booger that the Archbishop picked off when he stayed up late to read...

Gan!

Charlotte felt bad every time she thought about how much money she had spent on such a piece of junk.

But is it okay not to buy it?

No, at least not for Charlotte.

Don't think that Pastor Faduo is trembling in front of Charlotte, that's just because he has never seen the world. In fact, as the chief pastor in the Viscount's territory, Faduo has a status almost equal to Charlotte. If there is anyone in the Viscount Lanwan's territory that Viscount Lanwan cannot control, it must be Faduo.

Because the royal family of the Oran Empire has always been very pious, the conflict between religious and secular power in the Oran Empire is not that intense. But if you look abroad, the situation is not so harmonious, such as the Kingdom of Lesare to the west of Viscount Lanwan.

The Kingdom of Lesare was once an empire, and the grandfather of the current King of Lesare, Foss Tenhag, Kummer Tenhag, once held the crown. Kummer Tenhag himself hated the church very much. During his reign, he issued a decree prohibiting knights from praying during war, prohibiting priests from discussing state affairs, prohibiting the church from interfering in marriages, etc. These measures triggered the conflict between secular power and church power in the Lesare Empire.

Pope Hurrin I was very old and had not been in office for a long time, but in the face of the provocation of the imperial power, he still showed extremely tough measures. He announced 17 crimes of Kummer ten Hag, including adultery with his biological mother, trading with the devil, cannibalism, etc., and declared Kummer ten Hag to be unclean and abandoned by God.

Just this one condemnation signed by the Pope made Kummer ten Hag lose all his support overnight. Under the pressure of the increasingly fierce opposition forces at home and abroad, Kummer ten Hag had to choose to give in. He walked barefoot to the holy city of Moyes in the winter and received the cleansing ceremony presided over by Pope Hulin I in the Cathedral of St. Moyes. The cold water of the cleansing almost froze the emperor to death.

After the cleansing ceremony, the Pope took off Kummer Tenhag's crown in public. From then on, the Rezale Empire became the Rezale Kingdom.

This is the strength of the church.

If the chief pastor of the Viscountry of Lanwan was not a lowly country priest like Fado, it is very likely that someone else would not take Shylock seriously. Even if it was Fado, without the tattered "Canon" of Maitland Contao, Charlotte would probably only beg him to do things in the future, but not be able to tell him what to do.

With this book, the situation is different.

Are the wise archbishops just selling goods?

No, they sell human relationships.

Charlotte had Contao's "Canon", which was equivalent to Maitland Contao saying: "This is my person, please give me some face and take care of me."

In the entire Liuen Diocese, is there any priest who dares not to give face to Kong Tao?

The countryman Fado thinks, no!

While Charlotte and Fado were having a great conversation, the teams sent by Jack Moore to invite the knights to the banquet were also on their way back.

"Brother, tell me, why did the emperor suddenly appoint a new Viscount Lanwan? We don't even know when the previous Viscount Lanwan died."

A young man riding a warhorse and wearing a dark blue velvet suit asked his companion.

"Why do you care when he died? Anyway, he is a member of the Melfield family who becomes Viscount Lanwan. It makes no difference to us." The companion said indifferently.

The two men are named Costa Scamario and Eric Scamario. They are cousins, Costa is the younger brother and Eric is the older brother.

At the same time, the brothers are both knights of the Viscount Lanwan. Their fiefdom is more than 20 kilometers southeast of the lord’s castle. They are what Fado calls the standard “Southern Knights”.

"How can there be no difference? Viscount Lanwan is so poor that he has lost all his land. What if the new viscount wants to steal our business?" Costa reminded his brother.

"Then return the Viscount's land to the new Viscount."

It turned out that Charlotte had a misunderstanding about Basilic Melerfeld, or rather, she underestimated how stupid Mr. Basilic was.

The former Viscount Lanwan actually did not sell all of his land, as a large part of it was occupied by his knights. Viscount Basilik rarely managed the affairs of his fiefdom when he was young, and after going to Platinum City, he forgot about his territory, so he never knew that his knights had "stolen" a lot of his land.

Eric still looked unconcerned: "Don't think too much. The Melefield family is a great noble family. They have seen everything. How could they care about such a small business like ours?"

"Isn't Basilic's last name also Melefield? Didn't he also want to steal our business before?"

Costa became anxious. He didn't understand why his brother, who had always been resourceful, suddenly became so naive. What happened to the nobles? Didn't the nobles covet money? People die for money and birds die for food. Who can escape this? "Brother, do you still want to go back to farming?"

But Eric was still persuading his brother not to worry. Seeing his brother so relaxed, Costa became even more frustrated.

Until the two men reached a T-junction, Costa suddenly saw a dozen horses, several carriages, about twenty well-dressed, even gorgeous men and their attendants, and servants resting at the intersection.

"Uncle Christopher, Uncle Richards, Brother Adams..." Costa greeted them one by one in surprise, "Why are you all here?"

These knights are all from the southern part of Viscount Lanwan's territory. They often interact with each other and are even related. Costa is the youngest knight in the south, and these people can be said to be his uncles and brothers.

"Of course I'm waiting for you." The man Costa called Uncle Christopher stood up and responded, "Costa, Eric, you are finally here."

"Wait for us?" Costa was a little confused.

"Haha..." Eric laughed and described Costa's performance along the way.

These uncles, aunts and brothers also burst into laughter after hearing this.

The knight named Adams patted Costa on the shoulder and said, "Your brother is right. You really don't have to worry, Costa."

"what?"

Costa became even more confused by everyone's laughter, and finally it was the elderly and kind Knight Christopher who explained it to him.

It turned out that when Basilik just left the Viscount of Lanwan, Eric Scamario had already anticipated the current situation. As long as the title of Viscount of Lanwan was there, the emperor or the Melefield family might replace him with a new viscount. So he connected all the southern knights and secretly organized a "Southern Alliance" for no other reason than that when a new lord came in the future, everyone could advance and retreat together to protect the interests of the southerners.

"There are more than fifty knights in the south. As long as we remain united, even the Viscount will not dare to ignore our wishes! The south will always be ours!" Eric said confidently.

Costa's blood boiled when he heard this. He couldn't help but complain, "Brother, you already had such a good idea, but you never told me. I'm not a child anymore. I'm also a southern knight!"

"Haha, yes, Costa is not a child anymore, Eric, you should tell him," Christopher patted Costa's shoulder and suddenly laughed, "Costa, the new viscount is the daughter of the Duke of Lvyuan. She must be a rare beauty in the countryside of Lanwan. Costa, you are young and handsome, you must try your best, maybe you can win the heart of that lady? If you capture her, our southern part will be completely safe."

"This one……"

Young Costa's face immediately turned red.

"Costa, if you don't want her, then the Viscountess will be mine," Adams said. "I heard that the lady inherited a lot of her mother's estate. If I marry her, I will probably never have to worry about food and drink in my next life."

"Who, who said she doesn't want it? That lady must be mine!" Costa declared loudly to Adams with a red face and waving his fist.

"Hahaha……"

The surrounding southern knights looked at the activeness of the young people and laughed happily, as if there was really nothing to worry about.

PS: The three major dioceses of the Oran Empire have been changed to Ryun Diocese, Byron Diocese, and Isis Diocese.

PS2: Thanks to the citrus-flavored liquor boss for the reward and vote, thank you.

Volume 19: Chapter 18 Chapter Celine and the Chance Encounter

When Eric and his party arrived at the Viscount Lanwan Castle, it was almost dusk. There were many puffs of white smoke rising into the sky near the castle. Those were not warning smoke signals, but cooking smoke, as evidenced by the rich smell of spices wafting from afar.

Costa couldn't help but tighten the reins and swallowed quietly.

However, at this moment, a young voice suddenly rang out: "Dad, it smells so good, there must be a lot of delicious food."

Costa looked in the direction of the sound and immediately spotted another horse team coming from the other end of the road.

The person who just spoke was a short person at the head of the horse team. He had short hair, wore leather armor, and was an excellent rider. At first glance, he looked like a lively boy, but if you looked closely at his Adam's apple and the bulge in his chest, you could tell that he was actually a girl.

When her eyes met Costa's, the excitement on the girl's face suddenly turned into disgust.

When they met on a narrow road, the two horse teams tacitly pulled the reins and stopped their horses.

Another group of cavalry came from the north, and their identities were self-evident. Costa also knew the tomboy opposite. Her name was Celine Adkins, the jewel of the Adkins family, and her father was Ed Adkins. If Eric Scamario was the leader of the southern knights, then Ed Adkins was the leader of the northern knights. It was logical that all the cavalry members of their group were northern knights.