Chapter 24: Hot potato

The vassals of Duke Han Ruowei of Duke Han Ruowei gradually led their troops away under the city of Marenko Castle. Duke Han Ruowei of Duke Han Ruowei released their military service and led their respective troops back to the territory. The noisy Marenko Castle immediately became quiet. The contrast between noisy and silence made the people in the castle feel even more uncomfortable. The Countess stood on the wall and stared at the flags of the vassals who were leaving. Among them, there was an eagle flag that made her eyes difficult to let go for a long time, but just like the banquets in this world, there were always times to disperse, and the people in love also had moments to separate.

"Sir, was the romantic love last night happy?" Koro rode to Schwab's side and said to him with a smile.

"Well." Schwab did not dare to look back at the countess on the Marque Fort, and left the Marque Fort as if he was running away. In the habits that everyone was accustomed to, Schwab was like a ray of light on his back. Fortunately, there were still many things waiting for him. When he reached a crossroads between the territory, Schwab bid farewell to Duke Hanrowe, Earl Baden and others, and led the Mark Legion soldiers to the south to return to the Mark Fort. Along the way, the Mark Legion soldiers sang loudly in the drums. The carriage was filled with captured Novaidian armor, and Schwab's pocket was filled with silver sacrificial chambers.

"Look, we're back." Bald Otto pointed to the forest ahead. Through this forest, it was Mark's territory. This small knight's free collar is Schwab's home.

When Schwab led the soldiers of the Mark Legion back to his hometown, the villagers of Mark spontaneously welcomed the return of their hometown soldiers on both sides of the muddy road. They looked at the blue ribbons flying on the flagpole of the Schwab flag, which meant that Schwab's title had been improved.

"Look, what is that on Sir Schwab's flag?" said a young man.

"That's the earl's ribbon, stupid thing. Lord Schwab is already an earl." The old and knowledgeable village chief of Mark Village said excitedly. Being able to obtain the title of earl shows that Schwab's reputation has been widely spread among the nobles, and Mark will be blessed by Schwab's prestige.

"Look, there are so many armor and spoils on the carriage." The women looked at the supplies on the carriage and called loudly to the men of their own family in the Mark Legion. Although the soldiers really wanted to share with their families, the strict discipline made them stand upright and hold their spears without squinting.

"Ah, my god, are they Ruvets?" Suddenly, there were tall, blue-eyed and blonde Ruvets in the Mark Legion. The villagers heard the cruelty of Ruvets from the travelers. At this time, when these devilish Ruvets appeared in front of them, it caused panic among people. The women quickly pulled their children behind them. However, these Ruvets did nothing except curiously and looked around, which made the Mark people feel relieved.

"Look, that's my castle." Schwab pointed to the princess Sari and said.

"A very small castle." The princess Sari curled her lips. It was indeed a very small castle compared to Han Ruowei and Marenko, but for Schwab, this is the foundation for her own foothold in this world.

"Welcome back, Lord Schwab." The guards opened the gate of the castle and allowed Schwab and the officers to enter. The spear soldiers of the Mark Legion disbanded outside the castle and returned to their respective homes. After the quarantine officer settled their spoils and salaries, Schwab would pay the silver office in his own hands the next day.

The servants in the castle prepared rooms for Schwab and others. The Ruwads were placed in other rooms. After all, in the eyes of the guards, these Ruwads were all aliens. In order to avoid trouble, Schwab took off his armor in his room. He took out the countess' gloves, which seemed to have her smell on them. Schwab put the gloves aside. In addition to obtaining the title and land of Stockingshire, this time, he earned more than 6,000 silver offices for Duke Hanrowei. Schwab decided to use this money to start to really establish his own troops and territory, and then lead his troops to Stockingshire to develop, and show his strength on that wider land.

"Congratulations to Lord Schwab, for getting the title of Earl Stettin." The next day in the lord's hall of Mark Fort, Schwab accepted the congratulations from Old Lauke and others. He sat on the lord's seat and put on a crown symbolizing the Count's power.

"Are the blacksmiths here?" Although traditionally speaking, a grand ceremony should be held to obtain the title of earl, Schwab came to Fort Marques alone. He did not have the wealth of family property as strong as other nobles and could not afford such a fee. Therefore, Schwab just held a dinner in his own palace, and on the next day Schwab began to build the army and territory.

"Great Sir, have you summoned us?" The blacksmiths came to Schwab and knelt down to Schwab. They worked hard after Schwab left, and at this time, a small hydraulic mill had been built on the edge of the small river in Mark.

"Thank you for building the hydraulic mill, what's wrong with it now?" Schwab asked.

"Very good, sir, the villagers have started grinding wheat with it." The blacksmiths said proudly.

"Very good, you should get the reward. Now I ask you to build a hydraulic blower. Can you do it?" Schwab stood up and walked to them and said.

"Hydraulic blowers? We've never done them?" The blacksmiths heard of this kind of thing for the first time, and they've never done it.

"I know, but now I need to use this hydraulic blower to create a large number of weapons and armor, so this hydraulic blower can save manpower and produce more products. Although it may fail at the beginning, it is very meaningful." Schwab encouraged the blacksmiths, and then drew out some concepts and graphics of how to make it and explained to the blacksmiths.

"It's incredible that you can use these kalal leaves and sticks to make the leather blower move by yourself?" The blacksmiths were stunned when they looked at the drawings, but for these blacksmiths who rely on skills, this was also a very interesting thing.

"Go and do it." Schwab asked the blacksmiths to execute the order. He turned to Lao Lauke and said, "How is the construction of the territory? On the way back, I saw some buildings that had not been built yet."

"Sorry, Lord Earl, no one is going to do many buildings, we don't have any staff, you know that the soldiers are all from Mark Territory, and after these young and middle-aged people were taken away, they even managed to get the harvest from the fields."

"Yes, our troops have suffered a lot this time. I suggest hiring mercenaries in the future when fighting, and not using soldiers in Mark's territory." Bald Otto suggested.

"No, we must make the people in the territory accustomed to serving in military service. Of course, I will ask the blacksmiths to create some famous brands with the names of every soldier on it, so that even if they die, their families will be compensated." Schwab would not entrust his life to mercenaries who only recognize money. These mercenaries without families and land will defect to any high-priced buyer at any time. Only self-cultivated farmers with land will support their rule. However, in the Middle Ages, most of the land was from the church and the nobles. Schwab himself would become the target of public criticism. Therefore, he needed to think of a more flexible method.

"And Lord Schwab, the Duke will soon send someone to send the authorization documents for Stockingshire, so we must prepare the army to Stockingshire to defend our power." Old Lauke said to Schwab.

"Why should we send an army?" Schwab asked curiously. This was the territory given to Schwab by Duke Han Ruowei, and it was said that it did not require any army accompanying him.

"Mr. Schwab, you don't know that although Stedetin County belongs to the family of the Duke of Han Ruowei, the local nobles are powerful. They often offend the power of the lords and wantonly exploit the citizens and peasants. The Duke of Han Ruowei once tried to regain his power, but it caused rebellion among these local nobles. Moreover, these local nobles raised many fully armed knights, but they made the Duke's suppression troops come back and forced the Duke to appease the rebellion after negotiations, which also led to the current semi-independent state of Stocking County."

"So, the Duke threw me a hot potato." Schwab said angrily. He thought that he had lost so many soldiers to fight for the Duke and obtained a piece of territory as compensation. Unexpectedly, these great nobles were so insidious that they handed over a territory like a powder barrel to him.

"It's not right to say this, Count." Liugudi disagreed with Schwab's statement. "This may be the Duke's affirmation of our combat power. On the one hand, he rewards us with land as a reward for you, and on the other hand, he hopes that we can help him avenge him."

"Oh, it's so unlucky." Schwab sat on the chair and had to admit that he was unlucky.

In Han Ruowei, the Duke had almost recovered at this time. He sat in the seat next to the window, next to him was Nighthawk Srike, and the Duke looked out the window.

"Srick, Schwab is a life-saving grace for me, and I feel a little guilty about sealing him at Steding."

"Duke, do you think Schwab can't deal with the local nobles of Steding?"

"Although those mice have low status, their strength cannot be ignored. The relationship is complicated, I am worried~~."

"Duke, you underestimate that Lord Schwab too much." Srick said with a smile. After seeing Schwab's strange tactics, Srick's assessment of Schwab's power increased a lot, but if Schwab knew that it was him who suggested that the Duke seal himself at Stettin, he didn't know what he would think.
Chapter completed!