Laurist kept his word. Count Corbili was nailed to the cross and wailed for a long time before he died. Before he died, he saw the head of his illegitimate son, who had been shot three times, cut off in front of him. The Gold rank illegitimate son died painlessly, as he had been unconscious ever since he was shot.
Laurist piled the heads of Count Corbili's illegitimate sons in front of the cross. He decided to hire a few stonemasons to carve a tablet next to the cross. The tablet would briefly describe Count Corbili's life and how he disguised himself as a Red Beard Bandit to rob merchants. Perhaps many years later, the story of Count Corbili and his sixty-seven illegitimate sons would become a folklore in Galinthea, just like the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves that Laurist had heard in his previous life.
After resting for a night, Josk volunteered to lead 2 newly formed slave platoons to Mount Moz to cut off the escape route of Count Corbili's bandit suppression squad. There were 1 Gold-tier, 3 Silver-tier, and 2 illegitimate sons of the Count whose Combat Qi had yet to reach Silver-tier. Josk was not willing to let them slip through his net.
Laurist did not mind. After all, the surrendered lancers had already said that the camp would only be left with three days of rations. Once the rations ran out, the camp would collapse on its own without an attack. Joask's trip was just like a fish in the water, beating a dog in the water.
Three days later, Fatty Shi and Josk rode into Gerdost City.
Josk brought back six heads and piled them up in front of the cross again. He said that when he and his platoon of slave soldiers blocked the back road of the garrison of Mount Moz, the first ones to break down were the slave soldiers recruited by the nobles who were vassals of Count Corbili. They cried and screamed in the camp, running around in all directions, and stirring up the camp into a mess. Then, Bofinger and Ross, who were well-prepared, led two heavy lancer platoons into the camp and secured the victory.
Count Corbili's Gold rank illegitimate son died in the hands of Ross. As for the others, they tried to escape. Unfortunately, they were not as fast as Josk's arrows. Now, Count Corbili was finally reunited with his illegitimate children. Not a single one of them had escaped.
Fatty Shi said that Bodefinger would probably arrive tomorrow afternoon with the captives, and in the next three days, the family's caravans would also arrive in Gerdos City one after another. Fatty Shi asked Lorist, "What should we do with the Bodock Manor after the caravan arrives?"
Laurist said, "Leave it to Tim. I've been thinking about the next few days and the arrangements after we leave this place. I have a general idea now. You came at the right time. Let's have a good discussion. "
What Laurist lacked now was time. When the caravan had left the Port of Amethrin and headed north, they had been more than five thousand kilometers away from the north. The original plan was to travel more than two thousand miles in the Redelis Kingdom within a month and reach the border of the Andinac Kingdom. However, no one could have imagined that they would run into a weirdo like Count Corbili as soon as they set off. He was wreaking havoc in the area the caravan was passing through, attacking the caravan and forcing Laurist to lead his family's armed forces to annihilate Count Corbili, delaying them quite a bit. It was almost January 23rd, but the caravan had only traveled six or seven hundred kilometers.
After conquering Gerdos City, Count Corbili had wiped out more than a dozen territorial nobles. All the property and material reserves he had collected over the years had fallen into Laurist's pocket. Looking at Fatty Shi's beaming face with the inventory in his hand, it was obvious that the caravan would be delayed in Gerdos City for a while. Fatty Shi would not leave until the material reserves were all taken care of.
Laurist decided to leave the caravan at the end of the month with only a few people. He would return to the north before March to inherit the title and the family's territory. He would reorganize the family's territory and wait for the northbound caravan to arrive. As for the caravan, Fatty Shi and Bodefinger would be in charge. They could go north slowly without being in a hurry.
However, there were a lot of things to do right now. Laurist had to take care of everything before he could go north.
First, he asked Bodefinger to lead a squadron of heavily armored lancers to William Mills Castle to replace the squadron of garrison soldiers that had been reorganized. Then, he asked Yuri to send someone to find the coalition army of nobles and tell them that Count Corbili had been wiped out. He also asked the coalition army to send a representative to Gerdos City to discuss something.
After the squadron of garrison soldiers returned to Gerdos City, Laurist issued a cruel order. All the surrendered lancers and garrison soldiers were to bring their families to a block and settle them down. The families of the remaining lancers and garrison soldiers who had died in the battle would be imprisoned in the slave camp as the remnants of Count Corbili.
Looking at the empty block, Laurist said, "Mr. Tim, this block is yours. Your soldiers with big bags can come in handy now."
Mr. Tim was very grateful to Laurist. Since he knew that Laurist was going to give Burdock Manor to him for free, he was so happy that he went to Burdock Manor overnight and found the owner of the fort in the west mountain area. Then, he transferred the military camp that he bought from Fatty Shi for one thousand gold fords to him for one thousand and three hundred gold fords. Then, he sent old Kemos, a family knight who stayed in the military camp, to transfer all the people and resources to Burdock Manor Castle. After everything was done, Mr. Tim returned to Gerdos City and appeared in front of Laurist. He knew very well that as long as he clung to Laurist, he would not have to worry about anything. As he expected, before he had time to take a rest, Laurist gave him another great benefit.
Looking at Tim excitedly running off to make arrangements for the looting, Loriste smiled. He decided to support Mister Tim with all his might and plant a nail in the northwest region of the Redelis Kingdom for his own use in the future.
After Tim came back, Laurist said, "Mr. Tim, I found you a wife."
Spreading out the animal skin map of the northwest area, Laurist said, "You see, Viscount Terbury is here, and Baron Enler's territory is in between Burdock Manor Castle. Although all the males in Baron Enler's family were killed by Earl Corbili, we rescued Baron Enler's only daughter from the Grand Duke's Mansion. I've decided to let you marry her. That way, you can naturally merge Viscount Terberley, Baron Enler, and Bodock Manor and Castle Manor together. "
Laurist threw a few documents on the table. "You see, these are the legal inheritance documents of Viscount Terbury, Baron Enler, and Burdock Manor Castle. I found them in the Grand Duke's Mansion. With these documents, I can let the nobles nearby recognize you as the legal heir of Viscount Terbury. Then, you can inherit the title through the legal way. Do you think my suggestion is acceptable? "
Tim bowed deeply. "Lord Norton, as long as it is your order, I will do it. Not just one, I can marry three."
"Damn, in your dreams. You have to have a big appetite if you want to keep it all to yourself. You'll need at least a battalion of soldiers just to guard this large piece of land. Viscount Terbury and Baron Enler's territory are in ruins, and you will need to spend a lot of money and resources to rebuild it. "Laurist laughed and scolded.
Tim immediately became dejected and said with a sad face, "Lord, I don't have that much money. I can't even afford to have a thousand soldiers, let alone rebuild it. It's too much to spend on an army."
Fatty Shi laughed. "Tim, come, come. I have an idea after looking at the map. Let me tell you in detail. You have been in business before and have always been smart. Actually, with such a large territory, as long as we manage it properly, we can even afford to support three garrison brigades, let alone one. "
"Here, there is a corner of Viscount Terbury's territory near the sea. I looked at the map and found that this can be a good port. Apart from the eastern part of the viscount's territory which is connected to Baron Enler's territory, the terrain is flat. It is a good place to develop agriculture. Tim, you used to be in charge of the viscount's territory, so you should know the income from agriculture. With a port, the territory's economy will be active, and with agriculture, there will be a rich food output. It will stabilize the hearts of the people and allow them to live and work in peace and contentment. "
Fatty Shi pointed at the map, "Look at Baron Enler's territory. Although there are many hills and forests, wood and stone are important industries that can be exchanged for large amounts of money. With a port in the viscount's territory, you won't have to worry about not having a way to sell these two industries. If you have a ship, you can directly bring these materials to Morrent City and sell them. But for now, you can first contact the Chamber of Commerce. After the port and roads are repaired, the Chamber of Commerce will send ships over to trade. Even if there is more shipping, the profit will still be very considerable. In addition, you can find people to carefully explore the baron's territory and see if there are any other mineral resources. "
"As for the territory of Bodock Manor and Castle, I don't think I need to say more. This is the territory of Count Corbili's old family. It has a large population and is well developed. You don't need to spend too much energy to enjoy the fruits of their labor. This place alone is enough for you to support a garrison. What you need to do next is to develop the baron's territory and the viscount's territory. Of course, it's a chaotic world now. Safety has to be taken care of. Here, here, and here. You can build five checkpoints in these five places and send five garrison squads to guard them. That will be enough to ensure the safety of the three territories. "
"The key to the development of the territory is manpower and money. You don't need to worry about manpower. I've discussed with Lord Locke. Except for those who are imprisoned in the slave camp in Gerdos City, we are going to settle the rest of the people who are unwilling to go north with us in Viscount Teberly's territory and Baron Enler's territory. There are a lot of talents there. As long as you use the right people, the two territories will soon prosper. By the way, Tim, you can also expand the number of knights in your family, in case those good knights who left the lancers and garrison join other nobles, "said Fatty Shi.
Tim was a bit stunned. "My lord, you … you're leaving? You're giving up Gerdos City? "
Laurist smiled. "Of course. This is a good place, but it's not my family's territory. So what if I occupy Gerdos City? Bandits? Robbers? I don't want to be a thorn in the eyes of the nobles in this area, and I don't want the eldest prince to know that I'm sending troops here. If that's the case, I can just leave, but you nobles will be in big trouble. The eldest prince will use the excuse of colluding with me to wipe out all the nobles in this area. "
"My lord, you can get the territory here by marriage. If the eldest prince really sends troops to attack us, we can gather the nobles in this area to form a coalition army," said Tim.
Laurist shook his head. "Tim, you don't understand. The eldest prince is another enemy of the Norton family. Under his instruction, Count Corbili pretended to be a horse bandit and robbed merchants. Most of the loot was offered to the eldest prince as military expenses for the rebellion. So, to some extent, the eldest prince is the real murderer, and Count Corbili is just a knife in his hand. Right now, I only broke his knife, and I hope that I can get even with the eldest prince one day. If I become the lord of this area, I will have to bend my knees and work for him, which I don't want to do. Based on these considerations, I've decided to give up Gerdos City and continue to go north to my family's territory. "
Fatty Shi also said, "Tim, rest assured. Even if we go north, we will make arrangements for your three territories first. We will make you a powerful noble in the northwest of the Redelis Kingdom and a loyal ally of the Norton family. As long as your territory is in trouble, we will not sit by and watch. Just now, I told you about manpower. Now, let's talk about financial and material resources. I have a few suggestions. You can consider them. "
Fatty Shi gave four suggestions. First, the tax in this area was sixty to seventy percent of the farmland. If Tim distributed farmland to the family members of the garrison and reduced the tax to thirty to forty percent, he believed that it would be easy to establish two garrison brigades and save a lot of money. After all, Viscount Teberly's territory and Baron Enler's territory were abandoned, and there were plenty of farmland.
Second, Fatty Shi promised that when the caravan went north, he could provide a lot of materials that could not be taken away from Gerdos City to Tim for the development of the three territories.
Third, Fatty Shi was willing to provide a lot of weapons and equipment to Tim at a very low interest rate to establish a garrison brigade to guard the three territories, which would relieve Tim's tight financial situation.
Fourth, Fatty Shi could help Tim contact the Peterson Chamber of Commerce and let the Peterson Chamber of Commerce participate in the development of the three territories, so that Mr. Tim would not have to worry about the lack of funds for the development of the territories.
Tim was so grateful that he accepted all of Fatty Shi's suggestions and swore that he would never forget the kindness of the Norton family as long as he was alive. In the future, as long as the Norton family needed anything, Tim would follow them without any hesitation.
Just after Tim left, Josk came. He decided to follow Loriste and become a knight of the Norton family. After learning of his decision, his old friends also hoped that they could follow the caravan north with their families and leave this place.
Fatty Shi was very happy. He gave an order to Josk, asking him to encourage as many disbanded lancers and garrison brigades as possible to join the caravan north, as well as those young and strong slaves who had been rescued. These were all human resources that would be needed for the development of the north in the future.
Loriste frowned. He believed that the more people there were in the north, the larger the caravan would be, and the slower the journey would be.
Fatty Shi, on the other hand, was very confident. He said, "It's okay. I'm going to establish another spearman brigade with the manpower in Gerdos City and expand Bofinger's heavy lancers into four squadrons. After all, we have plenty of weapons and equipment. With such a strong escort force, it doesn't matter if it's slow. If there are any stupid people in front of us, we can just crush them and replenish the caravan … "
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