The Grand Duchy of the North is the northern neighbor of the Crescent Kingdom. It was an emerging country that was a tribal alliance decades ago. In recent years, it was reformed into a feudal serf monarchy under the leadership of a talented and strategic monarch.
For hundreds of years, the people of the North have always been equated with pirates, bandits and barbarians in the eyes of the Yunaite people, mainly the Crescent Kingdom, Falling Star Kingdom, and the West Yunaite Empire. They are also barbaric and backward. synonym.
Today is no exception. Even though the Northern Grand Duchy has long been civilized, it is still incompatible with many countries in the central and southern parts of the continent. This is not only the impact of technological gaps, but also geographical conflicts and cultural conflicts.
There is always a chain of contempt in the human world. People are always used to dividing people into us and them, and then gain a sense of superiority from identity.
The nobles despise the common people, the city people despise the country people, the imperial people who are also members of the Yunet Kingdom look down on the Star and Moon people, and the Star and Moon people look down on the people of the North... Just after the war in the North, the Grand Duchy of the North sent an envoy Seriously speaking, this time of visit is quite sensitive. After all, although Castells is independent from Bold at this moment, it has not yet sworn allegiance to the Crescent Royal Family.
Legally and nominally, Castel is already a direct vassal of the Crescent Kingdom, but as long as he has not sworn allegiance, the relationship remains ambiguous.
In particular, there are not many cases in history where nobles who had been in border territories launched a war of independence against their lords, and then turned around and fell into the arms of neighboring countries after winning a war of independence.
In the feudal era, legal principles were legal principles and reality was reality. Under the premise that the royal power is not strong, the aristocratic lords are actually quite independent. It is not surprising that the powerful lords rule like a country within a country.
Of course, the Grand Duchy of the North sent an envoy at this moment not to win over Charlotte. To be more precise, like the Violet Principality, they came to negotiate.
Charlotte was not very surprised by this. She also has thousands of Isaac's Hussars from the North in her hands. Such a large number of mercenaries is not a small number for the North, especially since there are many northern nobles among them.
It is the nature of Northerners to love adventure, whether they become pirates or mercenaries. Even though the country has long been feudalized, many northerners are still interested in adventure, including many northern nobles.
This is the reason why the Leglis family was able to recruit so many northern mercenaries during the rebellion.
And this time, the Northern Grand Duchy sent an envoy precisely for these prisoners.
"The kind, wise, rich and beautiful Lord of the North, Count of Castres, and Special Envoy of the Grand Duchy of the North, Hamid Casimir Novak, sends you my noble greetings."
"I'm sorry that some of our compatriots caused you some trouble during the Castel War..." In the Earl's Mansion, a man with a thick beard, although he put on aristocratic robes similar in style to those of the Yunet countries, but overall The envoy from the Grand Duchy of the North, who still showed a rough style, gave Charlotte a rather standard Yunet noble etiquette.
On the lord's throne, looking at these tall northern representatives, Charlotte nodded slightly: "Welcome, His Excellency Hamid Casimir Novak, I already know your intention, regarding the northern captives , I, Castel, have no intention of detaining..."
"It's just that prisoners are prisoners after all. Your support for the rebels has also caused a lot of losses to me, Castel."
"If you want to redeem those nobles and warriors, you must give us a price that satisfies us." The envoy from the North became more respectful: "Of course, Your Majesty, we are willing to pay a price higher than the general ransom price in Miria. Warcraft materials to redeem those reckless compatriots..." After hearing the words of the northern envoy, Charlotte's heart moved slightly.
The Grand Duchy of the North is vast and sparsely populated, and many areas are quite bitter and cold, with vast forests. Although as a country, the Northern Grand Duchy is not wealthy, the vast forests bring rich resources of Warcraft.
If it were not too far away from the center of Miria's civilized world and the environment was too harsh, the Northern Forest would be fully qualified to become the fourth adventure paradise for free mercenaries.
To be honest, Charlotte was quite satisfied with the conditions offered by the Grand Duchy of the North. Castel did not lack secular currency, but only extraordinary materials.
but……
"Your Excellency Hamid, if you want to redeem those Isaac Cavalry, I'm afraid it won't be possible with just these conditions." Charlotte shook her head slightly and said.
The northern envoy's brows suddenly furrowed, and he asked in Dalu Common Tongue with a northern accent: "My lord, I don't know...what are you dissatisfied with?"
"Compensation." Charlotte paused and said: "What you proposed is only a ransom, but it does not cover the compensation for the losses caused to the North due to the participation of Isaac Hussars in the war." After listening to Charlotte's words , the Northern Messenger fell into thinking.
He discussed in a low voice with his compatriots from the north who were walking beside him for a moment, and then saluted again: "I understand, Lord Earl, then... if on the basis of this ransom, an additional 20% of mineral materials are added, as What about compensation?" Charlotte shook her head: "Castle is not short of ore, so your compensation may have to come from other places."
"Oh? What do you hope for?" the messenger from the north asked.
"War horses, I need war horses." Charlotte paused, and the lion opened his mouth: "All the war horses captured in the civil war will belong to Castel, and in addition, the Grand Duchy of the North must ask me to Steer will compensate one thousand standard war horses of appropriate age and one hundred male dragon scale horses, and they must be young and strong." This really opened the lion's mouth.
You must know that strictly speaking, most of the war horses ridden by Isaac's Hussars who participated in the Northland Rebellion actually did not meet the rigid standards of war horses at all, but were generally stronger than Castel's own horses.
After all, the hussars are light cavalry and do not have high requirements for the quality of their horses. But the standard war horse Charlotte is talking about here is different.
The so-called standard war horses refer to war horses that must be capable of being used by heavy cavalry, and each of these war horses means that extraordinary cavalry can be formed.
Not to mention the dragon-scaled horse. Anything in this world mixed with dragon blood is incredible, and the same goes for the dragon-scaled horse. This thing can no longer be measured by ordinary war horses. It can be called a Warcraft.
Many entry-level knights don't have this kind of war horse. One hundred horses... are all males. Even if the Northern Grand Duchy has many horses and the family has a big business, they cannot be taken out casually.
Not to mention that this is what the neighboring countries want, and the relationship between Castor and the Northern Grand Duchy has always been delicate. It is not that there are no border conflicts... If so many horses are provided, in a sense, it can even be called yes
"Capitalizing the enemy". Large opening, Charlotte is the standard lion wide opening. Of course, she herself was the one who mentioned the numbers later. She didn’t expect the other party to agree to it. She just asked for the best to win. In the end, even if she could get 300 standard war horses and 10 or 20 dragon-scale horses that could be used as stallions, she would That's enough.
After hearing Charlotte's words, the Northern Envoy also frowned. When Charlotte saw the other party, she turned around and muttered to the members of the delegation in Northern Territory, and there were even several arguments.
It wasn't until a moment later that the northern envoy saluted Charlotte again and replied respectfully: "We understand, Lord Earl, we agree to your conditions." Charlotte: ...huh?
Do you agree? Did you really agree? Her expression was incomprehensible, and for a moment she couldn't tell whether it was the envoy from the north who was tricking her, or whether the conditions for her to open her mouth did not exceed the other party's bottom line.
A thousand standard war horses, that’s a thousand standard war horses! If extraordinary equipment is difficult to create, then it can only be said that qualified war horses are even more difficult to find, and a thousand extraordinary cavalry are enough to reverse a secular war.
Not to mention 100 dragon-scale stallions. If they are really provided to Charlotte, then in a few years Castel's cavalry troops might become humanoid Gundams!
"Oh? Sir Hamid? Are you serious? Can your decision represent the Grand Duchy of the North?" Charlotte asked.
Although the Northern Envoy promised, she didn't believe that the other party would really agree to her request so easily!
Either it’s a scam, or it’s just something else! The envoy from the North nodded slightly and replied: "Of course, dear Earl, although your request is rather harsh, to show sincerity, the North is willing to agree to your request. This is the decision of His Majesty the Grand Duke."
"It's just... we also have a precondition, or more accurately, a deal, or an invitation." Sure enough, there is a condition... Charlotte raised her eyebrows slightly, and then asked with a calm smile: "Oh? What? Conditions?" The Northern Envoy took a deep breath, and then bowed respectfully to Charlotte again.
Under Charlotte's slightly surprised gaze, he stretched out his right hand and drew a cross symbol on his chest crookedly. His pious expression was quite exaggerated: "Praise to the Holy One, Your Excellency the Earl, as you can see , I am actually a devout holy believer, not only me, but also the current Grand Duke of our Northern Grand Duchy, His Majesty Stefan Sobieski."
"Your Majesty admires the teachings of the Holy Court very much, and has always wanted to accept the faith of the Holy Court as the official faith of the Grand Duchy. But you also know that our faith in the north has always been chaotic, and the faith of the old gods is difficult to cut off..."
"His Majesty the Grand Duke admires and admires you very much, especially your devout faith in the royal court, and your status as a saint on earth has long been famous in the north."
"His Majesty the Grand Duke wants to seek help from you. He invites you and the priests from your territory to visit the Grand Duchy and dispatch experienced priests to assist our holy believers in the north in spreading the faith of the Holy Royal Court..." After listening to the envoy's words, Xia Lott was even more surprised.
She had many guesses about the conditions of the Northern Grand Duchy, but she never expected that she would be invited to be a guest and spread the faith of the Holy Royal Court!
"Thank you for the invitation from His Majesty the Grand Duke, but... I am just a small earl, and the church branch in my Castel territory only has one first-level priest. Why doesn't His Majesty the Grand Duke request the Theocratic State to send a priest? Are you asking to come to us?"
"As far as I know, there are many priests and even chief priests in the church who are very interested in spreading faith in the north." Charlotte asked calmly.
The envoy from the north bowed respectfully and said: "My lord, you are joking. Your Majesty is asking for the faith of the Holy Royal Court. And among the priests and chief priests of the Theocratic Kingdom, how can you, the holy saint walking on the earth, be there?" , which can better represent the teachings of the Royal Court and be more accepted by believers and the people?" After hearing his words, Charlotte raised her eyebrows slightly, thoughtfully.
She understood the deeper meaning of the messenger. Although the Grand Duchy of the North hopes to adopt the Holy Royal Court as its official religion, it probably does not want to be strictly controlled by the church like the Yunet countries.
The religious beliefs in the north are chaotic and not conducive to governance. In the past, it was just a tribal alliance, but now after feudalization, religious conflicts have become more serious. The old god beliefs with various doctrines that are relatively bloody and cruel are no longer suitable for the requirements of the new era.
At this time, choose someone like the Holy Royal Court who teaches good things.
It is only natural that the "True God Church" stabilizes its rule as the official faith. However, although religion can stabilize its rule, it will also compete with the ruling class for power, and the top leaders of the Northern Grand Duchy do not want to see such a scene.
Therefore, they did not seek help from the Theocracy, but found Charlotte. After thinking about it, Charlotte smiled and said: "I understand what His Majesty the Grand Duke means. It is not difficult to send priests to assist in preaching. I will also consider the invitation, but I am afraid not now, at least within half a year, I am afraid I don’t have time to leave the Crescent Kingdom.”
"Of course, Lord Earl, it would be best to invite you as a saint. Even if it is inconvenient for you, if you can send some Northland priests that you recognize, it will be the same." The messenger said respectfully.
Negotiations with the Northern Envoy went much smoother than Charlotte imagined. After clarifying the main content of the ransom and compensation, Charlotte ended the meeting, and the subsequent details were left to the cabinet of the Earl's Palace to argue with the envoys from the north.
The envoy from the north resigned, and only Charlotte and Sebastian, who had resumed his duties as butler, were left in the meeting hall.
Looking at Charlotte who was deep in thought, Sebastian couldn't help but said: "Master, do you... really want to agree to the Grand Duchy of the North, accept their invitation, and help them spread the teachings of the Holy Royal Court?"
"Why not? Just send some priests to preach. It just so happens that we can also get rid of those church priests in the territory who are full of energy and have nowhere to vent." Charlotte smiled.
After saying that, she smiled and said: "And...don't you think this is also an opportunity? The faith in the north is already chaotic. Even if we add some private goods among the priests we send, it should be okay." Seba Si's eyelids twitched: "You...you mean, do you also plan to take the opportunity to spread your faith in the north?!" Charlotte smiled: "If you can, why not?" After hearing this, Charlotte Special words, Sebastian's eyes moved slightly, thoughtfully.
After Charlotte finished speaking, she glanced around again and asked: "Speaking of... where is Nice? I didn't seem to see much of him after coming back this time?" Sebastian's expression suddenly became weird: " Nice... If my guess is correct, he should be playing hide-and-seek with Mr. Yurst right now..." Charlotte:...?
