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It was late autumn, and the first snowflakes danced in the air. The atmosphere in the tower was harmonious.
Laing, Suria, and the Lady of the Lake sat around a small table with a hotpot in the middle. The newlyweds sat on one side, and the Lady of the Lake did not sit opposite them. Instead, she sat on Laing's left.
"It's not as simple as I thought?" Laing hugged Suria and asked curiously. He had not been in Brittany for long, and there were some rules that he did not know.
"Laing, you're from Nord. In Nord or the Empire, how can a serf become a noble?" The Lady of the Lake had a smile on her beautiful face. She cut the beef, prawns, and chicken into pieces, dipped them in sauce, and put them into the hotpot. The Lady of the Lake did not need to eat much. She did not eat meat, and only ate some fruits and tasted fruit wine.
The Lady of the Lake did this to show her intimacy.
"There are three ways, just like the Empire." Laing stretched out three fingers.
"The first way is to enter a school or a church as an apprentice. The nobles of the Empire will regularly go to the major schools and churches to find excellent attendants and courtiers. Although the schools always recommend piety and loyalty, there are still many excellent apprentices who are chosen by the nobles to become their attendants and gradually be promoted to housekeepers or courtiers. When a courtier has accumulated enough experience or merit, some nobles will choose to give them noble status. However, this method is not cheap. Among the commoners, only the farmers, the rich farmers, the merchants, and the shop owners can afford the high tuition fees."
"The second way is to join the army." Laing stretched out his second finger. "The lords will always need an excellent army to protect their territory. Commoners can join the army every year. First, they will be trained as new soldiers. Those who can survive will become reserve soldiers. The reserve soldiers will wait for an opportunity to be replaced as garrison soldiers, and then continue to wait for an opportunity to become official soldiers."
"Official soldiers will be organized into a swordsman regiment, crossbowman regiment, spear or halberd regiment. They will need to continue to fight until they accumulate merit and strength to become great swordsmen. Great swordsmen can enjoy double the salary and live in a camp with a good environment. The best of the great swordsmen will be promoted by the nobles to become military officers or knights. This means that they have entered the noble class. Some military officers even have the opportunity to become generals of the Empire."
"The third way is to find a way to become a knight's apprentice. A knight's apprentice will learn from a knight and take care of their daily life. After a few years, an excellent knight's apprentice will be promoted to a knight's squire. Squires will start to have a certain status and can follow a knight to the battlefield and make contributions. Among them, an excellent knight's squire will have the opportunity to become an apprentice knight. They will ride a horse to fight and wait for a noble to confer a title to them.
"So that's how it is!" Suria's eyes lit up. She looked at her husband with admiration. "Then Laing, you must be the third way?"
"Ahem, I'm not. I'm the adopted son of the White Wolf Knight. I was born with the qualifications to be an apprentice knight. After I made contributions in the Battle of Lapland, I directly became a wandering knight," Laing said a little awkwardly.
This was the back door that the nobles of the Empire left for their children. The children of the nobles took a different path. They were better trained from a young age. After graduating from court courses or school courses, the children of the nobles would either become apprentice knights or pike cavalrymen (also known as a type of apprentice knight).
"Laing, my champion, if I didn't help you, you would be a company commander of the White Wolf Knight Regiment now, living in the White Wolf City, waiting for orders from White Wolf Yurick, and fighting the Orc Tribe in the Drakwald Forest and the Chaos Gang in the Brass Mountain Range all year round, right?" The Fairy in the Lake said with a smile. Her little hands were covered in pearls and jade, and her fingers were interlocked on the table.
"Most likely. Then I would need to fight for another ten years to accumulate military achievements and see if Kurfürst Boris would be willing to make me a baron. Then I would need to accumulate military achievements for another thirty to fifty years … Maybe eighty years to see if I could be promoted to an earl." Laing complained helplessly, "It should be like this, or even longer. My lady, Suria, you all know how many people in the Empire are ranked based on seniority. I have no seniority. Even if I make great contributions, there won't be many rewards left in the end."
This was the system of promotion in the Empire. Although it was almost impossible for a serf to become a noble like the Brittany, if a commoner in the Empire wanted to become a noble, the effort of one generation was not enough. It would take at least three generations.
"Not many rewards left?" Suria leaned on her husband's chest sweetly, thinking that she was really lucky.
The Fairy in the Lake looked at the happy face of the female knight and felt uncomfortable. She snorted softly, and the pair of beautiful black silk legs under the table moved restlessly, changing her sitting position.
"The contributions of the subordinates are the contributions of the superiors, and the mistakes of the superiors are the responsibilities of the subordinates." Laing said calmly, "The Empire and Nord do not have the teachings of knights and ladies. I've made countless military achievements since I was eighteen, but in the end, I was only promoted from a ranger knight to a royal knight, and this was the result of the White Wolf Knights being relatively fair and only valuing bravery."
Suria understood what Laing meant. In the Empire, there was no such thing as a knight.
"This is the Empire." The Fairy in the Lake looked somewhat proud. "My champion. You didn't make the wrong choice."
"Yes, I don't think I made the wrong choice." Laing lowered his head. Although the Fairy in the Lake had a lot of ideas and goals for him, he had always thought that his alliance with the Fairy in the Lake was a win-win situation.
Only after experiencing this kind of strict system did Laing understand how difficult it was for a commoner in the Empire or Nord to become a noble. Basically, if one started off as a lowly tenant farmer (a knife and a dog), it was almost impossible for one generation to become a noble. It often took three generations of accumulation.
For example, if the first generation of a farmer joined the army and became a swordsman, and then was injured in battle and retired with a large pension, then his son would be able to receive a certain degree of military education and rely on his father as a springboard to enter the army directly.
The second generation of children started off as soldiers and won recognition and military merits in some major battles. They became great swordsmen and enjoyed double the salary and better living conditions in the barracks. Of course, they were already qualified to send their children to military school to study and receive military training (in Brittany, they were sergeants).
The third generation of children finally blossomed. Relying on his father's position and income as a great swordsman, he could become a squire of a knight, buy knight equipment, or inherit his father's position as a great swordsman and be promoted to the lowest level of nobility — a knight. (In Brittany, if one wanted to become a knight and get rid of their status as a serf, they would need the king's order and the Witch of the Lake's order.)
Of course, there were always some "exceptions" in the world. Under normal circumstances, like Hua Meisi, there would be people who were blessed by the gods or especially powerful people who could jump three levels in a row. Such people were not rare, but they could not be treated as normal.
But on the other hand, what about a royal knight like Laing?
It was harder to climb the ranks of nobility in the Empire. From a royal knight to a baron, it was basically impossible in one generation. Generally speaking, it would take at least three generations. From a baron to an earl, it might take hundreds of years of accumulation, and there would also be major battles. Because Laing was a good fighter, the process should be relatively shorter. But as Laing complained, 30 years of accumulation was the least.
Nord could forget about it. A lord would be a lord for life. It was good enough that he could protect his own territory.
"By the way, Suria, you haven't told me why Duchess Hua Meisi can't inherit the title of a duke even if she has a child." Laing thought that this topic had gone too far. He hugged the voluptuous female knight and asked with a smile, "Isn't Hua Meisi's husband a noble?"
Laing thought of the famous "one drop of blood principle". In the United States, as long as a person had one drop of black blood, they would be considered black and would still be discriminated against. It was the same for the nobles in this world. Only nobles and their children would be nobles.
"No, first of all, Hua Meisi has never married. Second, even if her husband is a noble, her children are still serfs and can't inherit the title." Suria still shook her head. "The title of Duke of Lyonassi is destined not to be passed down."
"Why?!" Laing was puzzled. Hua Meisi was already a noble. Why couldn't she find a noble husband?
"Haha, there's something you don't know, Laing." The fairy in the lake smiled. "In Brittany, whether a person is a noble or not depends on the person and his family's genealogy."
"Family's genealogy?"
"My lady is right. Tracing back to the family's genealogy, the person is five generations. If all his relatives within five generations are nobles, then he is a noble. Otherwise, he is a serf." Sulia scooped up a piece of beef with a spoon and placed it in Ryan's bowl. "Duchess Huameis is a noble conferred by the Lady and the King. However, her father is a minor tax official, and her mother is a shepherdess. She is the only one who is a noble. Her children are still serfs. The Lady's grace only extends to her and has nothing to do with her descendants."
"Hahaha!" Laing covered his face with his hand and laughed bitterly. "My lady, your rules are really strict."
"I didn't set this rule. It was set by Arthur and his son, Lewis." The fairy in the lake was afraid that Laing would misunderstand, so she shook her head. "This is not my area of concern. Gods belong to gods, and mortals belong to mortals."
Laing understood. In Brittany's history, the five serfs who were promoted to nobles had to some extent alarmed the fairy in the lake. In the face of the goddess' oracle, the knights could not object.
"Okay … then I should also be considered a noble. My adoptive father is a noble, my Godfather is a great noble, and my father … is probably the most honorable noble." Laing suddenly thought of something. He said to the fairy in the lake, "My lady, if I say that I want to give a small number of serfs a chance to be promoted to nobles, would you be willing to help me?"
"You want to start this?" The fairy in the lake narrowed her eyes. There was still a faint smile on her beautiful face. "It's not easy to start this example."
"Laing, I've already discussed it with my father. Both of us will support you on this!" Suria was the first to express her attitude.
"In the whole kingdom, there will be no more than three places a year, and they will be given to the particularly outstanding serf soldiers. Especially outstanding. What do you think?" Laing finally exposed his ambition in front of his wife and the fairy in the lake. "If you want to motivate the serfs, you always have to give them some expectations. In the end, my lady, you will be the one to check."
"Okay …" The fairy in the lake deliberately kept him in suspense. Then she said, "My champion, do we still need to distinguish between each other? If you think it's okay, then let's do it. I will support you. "
Seeing that the fairy in the lake had relented, Laing was relieved.
The insurmountable gap between nobles and serfs must be broken.
This was the most important step to revitalize the kingdom!
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