"You two are my blood brothers. Don't be so restrained. Relax a bit. Relax, "Loriste said.
However, his words did not make the two men standing in the middle of the tent relax. They looked at each other and bowed even more respectfully. "Sir, if there is anything you need, please tell us. We will definitely risk our lives to help you. “
With a bitter smile, Loriste sat down on a chair covered with the skin of a saber-toothed tiger and let out a deep sigh. Ever since he stubbornly disobeyed the advice of others and insisted on beheading nearly 100,000 captives of the Haneabada Kingdom and gathering the heads of those enemies who died in the battle to build a 33 m high pyramid of human heads called Jingguan, he found that whether it was the family knights or the family soldiers, they all looked at him with deep fear in their eyes.
The last time he saw Ell seemed to be deep in thought, he wanted to play a joke and sneaked up to him to pat his shoulder. In the end, when Ell turned around and saw that it was him, he was so shocked that he jumped three feet high. As for Fatty Shi, it seemed that they could no longer return to their previous intimate relationship. When he came to report, he was always respectful, like a standard subordinate. He could no longer hear him call him Locke anymore.
As for the slave gladiators who wanted to go home, he only asked them to stay out of courtesy. In the end, half of the slave gladiators immediately changed their minds and were willing to serve the Norton Family. Even those who were eager to go home hesitantly said that they would immediately bring their families to the Norton Family's territory after going home. They hoped that he would not be offended, and that they were not ungrateful people.
Sigh, I've become a demon king after chopping off 100,000 heads. The act of building a pyramid with human heads is even more shocking. Look at the current Nubit Port. Everything is in order, and orders are strictly followed. The freed slaves strictly follow the rules and regulations of the Norton Family. There are not even any loud arguments. It looks so harmonious.
F * ck, I'm now more frightening to the freed slaves than those damned slave masters. Loriste did not know whether to laugh or cry. Chopping off the 100,000 captives of the Haneabada Kingdom was only because Loriste hated the descendants of slave traders and pirates. He might as well kill them all and eliminate the root of the problem to avoid future trouble. The other Lollister also wanted the Norton Family to show their claws and teeth, so that there wouldn't be anyone who didn't have eyes and caused trouble for them …
It was just that the effect of this display of power seemed to be a little too good, leaving Loriste all alone. Looking at the two people standing in the tent, they could be considered Loriste's elder brothers, the illegitimate children of the former Baron Norton. Morosinger and Wiligesang were actually trembling in fear when faced with Loriste's summons, as though they were walking on thin ice.
"Norton Morosinger, Family Knight, 3-star Silver rank. Currently the captain of the 17th Brigade of the 3rd Battalion of the Heavy Armour Division. His performance during his military service was courageous and courageous, and he was deeply loved by the soldiers under him …
Norton Willigsen, Family Knight, 2-Star Silver rank. Currently the leader of the Light Cavalry Battalion's Third Brigade. Takes the lead in battle, courageous and tenacious. Did not retreat despite being injured multiple times, holding his ground until victory … "
Laurist threw the file in his hand onto the table, "It's been eight years since I returned to the family territory and inherited the title. As the descendants of my father and my elder brothers, you've performed very well. I'm very pleased with this, and I've allowed you to inherit the great Norton family name. I've called you here today to discuss a matter, and that is the issue of the Haneabada Archipelago's garrison.
You should know that the family is preparing to bring the Haneabada Archipelago under our jurisdiction as an overseas territory, right? I'm preparing to establish the Haneabada Archipelago Garrison Army, with five battalions under it. Morosinger will be the commander, and Willigsen will be your deputy. "
Morosinger and Willigsen were both stunned. As Laurist's illegitimate elder brother, it was already very generous of Laurist to treat them equally. They did not expect that he would have the opportunity to take charge of things on his own so soon. In other noble families, illegitimate children had always been suppressed and looked down upon.
Laurist smiled slightly, "Don't think too much about it. I'm eager for you to be successful. I look forward to you making contributions to the family, receiving land and titles in the future, and becoming a branch of the Norton family in the future. Only then can the Norton family become stronger and stronger. This time, I've also chosen you for selfish reasons. I hope that you can take charge of things on your own, and train your ability to govern, laying a good foundation for the future. "
Laurist flipped open an animal skin map of the Haneabada Archipelago, "Both of you, come here and take a look. I'll tell you about the family's garrison strategy for the Haneabada Archipelago. The family is preparing to establish the Haneabada Archipelago Garrison Army. There will be a total of three land battalions and two sea battalions. Each battalion will have three thousand people, and the organization, equipment, and treatment will be the same as the guards. The three land battalions will be deployed in three places: the royal city, the hills, and Nubit Harbor. Three fortresses will be built in these three places, and the three land battalions will be stationed there.
In addition, two sea battalions will be built in Nubit Harbor, equipped with sixteen armed ships, responsible for patrolling the entire archipelago and defending against foreign enemies. Wiligson, you will report to Sunbarwood next. You will learn to drive ships and conduct sea combat training in the Sea Legion. The establishment of the two sea battalions is not in a hurry. You will be given three years to complete it.
I'll leave the three land battalions to you, Morosinger. In the same three years, you will complete the reconstruction and remodeling of the three fortress fortresses, train the three land garrison battalions, maintain the order and safety of the archipelago, and assist Governor Hickard in settling the lives of the freed slaves left in the archipelago. I hope that in five years, the archipelago garrison will be self-sufficient in food and pay and no longer need the support of the family.
In addition, in three years, the archipelago garrison will be able to provide the family with a thousand qualified, outstanding, and well-trained soldiers every year and become the source of the family's troops. Yes, the inner city of Nubit Harbor will be given to Governor Hickard and become the location of the governor's office. He will set up another city defense camp under the jurisdiction of the governor's office. The governor's office has the right to supervise the garrison, and the garrison has no right to interfere with the city defense camp. Do you understand? "
Morosinger saluted, "Sir, I understand. I will assist Governor Hickard and protect the Haneabada Archipelago."
Buckingham nodded. "The detailed strategy for the formation of the archipelago's garrison army is in Knight Shredder's hands. The governor's office has the right to supervise the garrison army, but it refers to military discipline and the annual property audit, not military command. Unless there is a foreign enemy invasion and a large-scale rebellion. I believe you will not disappoint me and disgrace the Norton surname. Go, report to Knight Shredder and discuss with him the difficulties and problems that need to be solved in establishing the garrison. "
"Yes, sir. We'll take our leave first."
In fact, the greatest gain from destroying the Norton Family in the Haneabada Kingdom was not wealth, but the source of soldiers and young laborers. The reason why Lollister had never been willing to recruit troops in the family territory was because he was afraid of affecting the development of the territory. The Norton Family's armed forces were mainly composed of two parts. One was the regular field troops, and the other was the town garrison.
The field troops were mainly composed of two heavy armor regiments, two cavalry regiments, one chariot steel crossbow regiment, and one single-wheeled steel crossbow regiment. In addition, there were the archer cavalry battalion, the scout battalion, the thunderbolt catapult battalion, the guard battalion, the knight regiment, the female battalion, and five guards battalions. There were a total of 43 battalions. Because the establishment was not enough, the total number of people was about 120,000.
The garrison was composed of three parts. The first was the recruit battalion. The second was the five guard battalions, which were basically made up of retired family soldiers. They were responsible for guarding and escorting all kinds of material warehouses, mines, and workshops. The third was the garrison brigade of each town and the garrison squadron of each village, with a total of 50,000 to 60,000 people. However, their treatment was not as good as the field troops. For example, the salary of the guard battalion was only half that of the field troops, and the salary of the town and village garrison was only a third of that of the field troops. They were considered half soldiers and half civilians. The soldiers in the recruit battalion did not receive a salary, only a small allowance.
Now that Lollister had built up a naval army, the total number of people was more than 17,000. The entire Norton Family's armed forces now had almost 200,000 people, but the total population of the family territory was just over 1.1 million. With this calculation, the ratio of soldiers to civilians was about one to five. It could be said that the Norton Family was militaristic. Expanding the family's armed forces was truly insane.
Lollister actually had his own difficulties. Although the family had a large number of armed forces, they could really only muster about 70,000 to 80,000 people in the field. Just like the Haneabada Kingdom, they had mobilized 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers, and the family almost went bankrupt because of logistics. However, expanding the family's armed forces was a last resort. Apart from the family's expanding territory, the most important reason was to take in the captives who had completed their military service.
The first time they defeated the Grand Duke of the Northern Lands, they had captured more than 30,000 young and strong laborers. After three years of hard labor, they had absorbed more than 10,000 of them who met the requirements for conscription. The family's armed forces now had almost 80,000 people. There was no other way. They could not let these people join other families, could they? The second time they defeated the second prince's army of 100,000 and captured more than 60,000. In the end, after three years of hard labor, they had no choice but to recruit more than 30,000 of them. In addition to the youths who wanted to join the army in the family territory, the family's armed forces had unknowingly expanded to such a large scale.
The main reason why Lollister recruited the captives who had completed their hard labor to expand the family's armed forces was to recruit citizens for the family territory. When a captive joined the Norton Family's armed forces, because of the preferential treatment given to soldiers, they would move their families to the family territory. This would increase the population of the family territory. Moreover, these captives who could join the family's armed forces had all awakened their combat energy and met the requirements for conscription. Rejecting them was equivalent to pushing them to other families. Only a fool would do that.
Other than the captives, Lollister did not recruit soldiers wantonly in the family territory. Other than forming the naval army last year, the biggest reason was that they were afraid of affecting the development and development of the territory. Now that the family territory was full of life and needed manpower everywhere, these young and strong slaves who had been liberated after the destruction of the Haneabada Kingdom would be the best supplement for the family territory.
Other than the 40,000 refugees and 6,000 islanders who had been captured from Sirovas Island, there were 410,000 slaves who had been freed. Among them, there were more than 100,000 women and children, and 170,000 slaves who were willing to stay in the Haneabada Islands and settle down. Most of them were second-generation and third-generation slaves who were already married. They were born here and treated this place as their home.
As for the remaining 240,000 slaves, other than 30,000 who insisted on returning home, the rest were strong young men. Many of them had lost their families and were alone with nowhere to go. Moreover, most of them were former citizens of the Chrisen Empire. They had either been sold off by their lords or had their villages slaughtered and turned into slaves. Lollister ordered Bofinger to select 60,000 men to form 20 guard camps. He also prepared to form a garrison and a city defense camp. There were still 120,000 left. Lollister decided to transport all these young and strong men back to the north to speed up the development of the family territory.
Lollister felt that he had more than enough troops to protect himself, but not enough to advance. The second prince was now commanding 300,000 troops to sweep through the Redelis Kingdom. When he unified most of the former Chrisen Empire's territory, he did not know if he would start with the north. Lollister had advised Earl Kenneth, Baron Philim, and Baron Shahin to prepare for the expansion of their forces. The Norton Family could not hide in the back and had to provide them with support when necessary. It was better to take advantage of the situation and prepare their armaments first.
"My lord, Lord Sunbarwood has returned," Jim reported respectfully as he entered the tent, interrupting Lollister's thoughts.
Sunbarwood was very busy. Currently, the naval army had more than 300 ships busy transporting all kinds of wealth and resources from the Haneabada Islands to Sirovas Island. They had made two trips in September and October alone, but they had only delivered less than a tenth of the resources.
Lollister was now truly rich and imposing. The Haneabada Kingdom had been destroyed, and the wealth it had accumulated for nearly a hundred years had become the Norton Family's spoils of war. Not to mention anything else, just the Gold Fude alone had seized 17 million gold coins. Among them, there were two huge vaults dug out from under Luther III's palace in the royal city's royal court district. There were more than 6 million gold coins stored in those vaults, causing everyone to sigh in amazement.
Lollister really did not understand why the descendants of these pirates liked to bury their wealth underground so much. As long as they asked the slaves who had served these great aristocrats for many years, these buried treasures could be dug out one by one. The small ones were in the hundreds of thousands, and the big ones were in the millions. Fatty Shi looked at these spoils and smiled every day. This much wealth was enough for the Norton Family to squander for 20 to 30 years.
"Send my order. Summon all the family knights above the captain rank to the tent for a military meeting. We will discuss the next step of the battle," Lollister said.
All the family knights who received the order to gather were somewhat confused. The Haneabada Kingdom had already been destroyed. Who was Lollister going to fight against? The knights gathered in the tent were whispering to each other.
"Silence! The Count has arrived! "Aire shouted. All the family knights in the tent immediately stood up and waited.
Lollister brought the two great swordsmen, Ingrid and Seuss, into the tent, followed by Jim and Tagger.
"Greetings to the Lord!" All the family knights in the tent saluted Lollister.
"Alright, everyone sit down." Lollister waved his hand and sat on the tiger-skin chair in the middle. The two great swordsmen, Ingrid and Seuss, sat on his left and right respectively. Aire and Jim, and Tagger stood behind Lollister.
"Tagger, go forward and read out the information you have gathered to everyone," Lollister ordered.
"Yes." Tagger walked to the front and opened a folder in his hand. "The northern merchant fleet of the Chikede Merchant Association arrives at the Haneabada Kingdom twice a year at the end of May and the end of October to trade goods. The fleet size is about 40 to 50 ships. Among them, there are about 16 to 20 large ocean-going merchant ships, and the rest are medium-sized armed merchant ships. There are about 4,000 to 6,000 of them, and there is a level 1 swordmaster overseeing them.
"Every time, the northern fleet of the Chikede Merchant Association arrives at the Shaisya Kingdom to complete the spice trade before arriving at the Haneabada Kingdom. The main goods traded are ordered goods, daily necessities, weapons and equipment, wine and seasoning goods, as well as fashionable clothing and luxury goods. It is said that the Chikede Merchant Association controls this sea trade route and earns a profit of nearly 400,000 gold fords a year.
At the end of May this year, the third young master of the Chikede Merchant Association, Murray Barker, personally arrived at the Haneabada Kingdom. At the welcoming banquet held for him by the great slave owners in Port Nubit, he revealed to the slave traders that our Norton Family has gathered 50,000 to 60,000 refugees on Syrovas Island and is currently developing and constructing it. This caused these slave traders and slave hunters to turn their attention to our Syrovas Island territory, causing us to suffer this calamity. "
After Tagger finished reading, he retreated. Lollister looked at the family knights in the tent and said with a frown, "I do not have any evidence to prove that the third young master of the Chikede Merchant Association is the mastermind behind the slave traders and slave hunters' invasion of our family territory. However, in view of the enmity the Chikede Merchant Association has towards our Norton Family, we have tacitly agreed that they are at war with our family. That is why I have gathered everyone for this meeting to discuss how to annihilate the northern fleet of the Chikede Merchant Association at Port Nubit. Not a single ship will escape the net!"
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