"The Pioneering Order is Nalant's reward, so let's talk about the rewards for each of your families in the Autumn March!"
"A total of more than 12,000 gold coins were collected from the Northern Principality in this autumn expedition. According to the practice of previous years, you and your vassals can get 45% of them."
"However, since each of your families has lost a lot of manpower this year, I will give you half of it, which means there will be 6,000 gold coins for you to share equally!"
This time, the king did not exclude the Black Iron Family and the Iron Cavalry Family.
After all, there is a big enemy outside now, and taking back some territory earlier is already considered punishment.
And now that the rewards they deserve are being given, it can be regarded as appeasing them in disguise.
The six earl families are all very important to the Agate Principality. It is really not in the interest of the principality to force them to alienate themselves.
The six earls naturally had no objection to this.
However, the king's words did not end. After a pause, he continued: "In addition, in this autumn march, the Tulip family's role was undoubtedly dazzling, whether it was intercepting the northern principality's retreating team in the northwest, Or did Bernard receive the message and inform him of the ambush in the Northern Principality in advance!"
"This avoids the complete annihilation of our army by the Northern Principality."
"So, in addition to the reward of gold coins, I will also reward the Tulip family with an additional baron-sized fief. Do you have any objections to this?"
"I am willing to obey your will, Your Majesty!" The expressions of all the earls were different, but one thing was unified, that is, they were filled with envy.
Other families suffered heavy losses in this Autumn Expedition, including the king, but it was Bernard and his vassal who gained.
However, when everyone heard the king's subsequent words, they finally understood why the king wanted to reward the Tulip family with territory.
Moreover, the original envy and jealousy of Bernard was transferred to Narant.
"Since you all have no objections, let the matter be settled as it is. In addition, the location of this territory is on the edge of the Tulip Territory and the Fire Grassland, which is the barony that I just took back from the Black Iron Family!!"
"Bernard, please hand over to Count Batman later!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Bernard responded immediately with a smile.
"Adjacent to the Tulip Territory and adjacent to the Fire Grassland? Isn't this Quint's territory?" Nalant's eyes widened. This king is simply a good man.
Although he had obtained a corridor into the grassland from Quint through blackmail last time, it was only two or three miles deep and too narrow to be safe.
Even if the grassland is really opened up by him in the future, the passage will be choked by the Black Iron family like a throat.
But if this territory belongs to the Tulip family, then this worry will disappear in the future.
Next, the king did not stay long, after all, he still had a lot of things to deal with.
When the king dismissed the earls, Nalant returned with Bernard.
"Narant, how are you? Are you confident?" Bernard looked at Narant with a smile on the way.
"Lord Earl, what confidence do you have?" Nalant didn't respond.
"With the two-year development order period, how much territory do you think you can develop?"
"This... Lord Earl, I actually have no idea, but I think no matter what, I can open up an area larger than my current territory, right?" Nalant suddenly understood, but he did not dare to say too much. Full and modest is his motto.
"Bigger than your territory? It seems like you have a lot of confidence?"
"Narant, don't forget that to develop a territory, you must build a fortress or castle to achieve stable control, and the population needs to be maintained at thousands for a long time before you can truly develop the territory!" Although Narant is enough! Although modest, Bernard still expressed slight surprise.
Although the development order does not limit the size of the land, it does have other restrictions, otherwise it will be easy for loopholes to be taken advantage of.
At that time, a certain nobleman would wander around with his men and horses with a development order and say that the land was his. Wouldn't it be possible to occupy the entire continent?
Therefore, the truly effective proof of ownership in developing territory is related to the real strength of control.
For example, if you occupy a territory the size of a barony, then you must establish a gathering place with at least a thousand people.
The territorial scope of the viscounty and earldom is 5,000 and 10,000 respectively.
Therefore, in Bernard's view, opening up a new territory is not as simple as it seems.
It would be fine if there were no enemies, as long as it could satisfy the population's survival.
If there is an enemy threat, then both safety and survival need to be guaranteed.
Barbarians live on the Fire Grassland, and the living environment is harsh and dangerous. Even if you want to build a defensive fortress, you will still lack wood and stone.
More importantly, the grasslands were not suitable for cultivating wheat, so Bernard believed that the best outcome for Nalant might be to develop a territory the size of a barony.
Now that he said it so smoothly, he was naturally very confident.
Little did Bernard know that Nalant actually wanted to turn this large grassland into his own back garden.
Even if we can't completely occupy it, we still have to capture most of it.
As for the problems of building defense facilities and food, he can actually solve them.
Tanalant has bricks. Bricks are lighter than stone, easy to transport and faster to build. It will definitely not be difficult to build any defensive facilities by then.
As for food, once his sweet potatoes are cultivated from this batch of seeds, they can be cultivated on a large scale.
The seeds of sweet potatoes are the sweet potatoes themselves, and they can grow geometrically.
After a sweet potato sprouts, it can be cut into several pieces along the sprout head for sowing.
With green elves, this is no problem at all.
Nalant is not worried about the development. As long as the invasion of dark creatures is resolved in a while, it will start taking action.
However, now he was more interested in the unknown armor of the Holy Knights, so he asked Bernard: "My Lord Earl, I have something to ask you!"
"What's the matter, Nalant, tell me!"
"Lord Earl, when we evacuated last time, I fought against the Paladins. However, when my long sword struck them, I found that I could only make a small gap and did not even hurt the enemy's flesh. Do you know what's going on?"
"Huh?" When Bernard heard this, his originally relaxed expression became a little solemn. After thinking for a moment, he said to Narante: "Narante, I didn't expect you to find out about this!"
"Actually, the king, the king, and the earls and I also discovered this problem that day after we intercepted the paladin!"
"The armor on those Paladins is stronger than ours, and even the swords in their hands are sharper and harder!"
"A group of earls and I later discussed this matter on the way back, and finally heard a speculation from His Majesty the King."
"His Majesty the King said that he had seen such a description in the old king's notes, saying that there is a kind of golden elf in this world, and the mineral deposits dug by the elf are all more magical ores!"
"It seems that some mithril ore, fine gold ore and other ores can be mined. Therefore, His Majesty the King speculates whether the church has mastered higher-grade rare ores!"
"Mithril mine? Golden elf?" Nalant's eyes widened.
