-191- Invitation from the Grand Duchy of the North
The Grand Duchy of the North is the northern neighbor of the Crescent Kingdom. It was a tribal alliance decades ago. In recent years, it was reformed into a feudal serf monarchy under the leadership of a talented and strategic monarch.
For hundreds of years, the people of the North have always been equated with pirates, bandits and barbarians in the eyes of the Yunaite people, mainly the Crescent Kingdom, Falling Star Kingdom, and the West Yunaite Empire. They are also barbaric and backward.
synonym.
Today is no exception. Even though the Northern Grand Duchy has long been civilized, it is still incompatible with many countries in the central and southern parts of the continent. This is not only the impact of technological gaps, but also geographical conflicts and cultural conflicts.
There is always a chain of contempt in the human world. People are always used to dividing people into us and them, and then gain a sense of superiority from identity.
The nobles despise the common people, the city people despise the country people, the Empire people who are also members of the Yunet Kingdom look down on the Star-Moon people, and the Star-Moon people look down on the Northerners...
Just after the Northern War ended, the Grand Duchy of the North sent an envoy to visit. Seriously speaking, this time point is quite sensitive. After all, although Castel is independent from Bold at this moment, it has not yet sworn an oath to the Crescent Royal Family.
Allegiance.
Legally and nominally, Castel is already considered a direct vassal of the Crescent Kingdom, but as long as he has not sworn allegiance, the relationship will still be ambiguous.
In particular, there are many cases in history where aristocrats from border territories launched a war of independence against their lords, and then turned around and fell into the arms of neighboring countries after winning a war of independence.
In the feudal era, legal principles were legal principles and reality was reality.
Under the premise that the royal power is not strong, the aristocratic lords are actually quite independent. It is not surprising that the powerful lords rule like a country within a country.
Of course, the Grand Duchy of the North sent an envoy at this moment not to win over Charlotte.
To be more precise, like the Violet Principality, they came to negotiate.
Charlotte was not very surprised by this.
She also has thousands of Isaac's Hussars from the North in her hands. Such a large number of mercenaries is not a small number for the North, especially since there are many northern nobles among them.
It is the nature of Northerners to love adventure, whether they become pirates or mercenaries.
Even though the country has long been feudalized, many people in the north are still interested in adventure, including many northern nobles.
This is the reason why the Leglis family was able to recruit so many northern mercenaries during the rebellion.
And this time, the Northern Grand Duchy sent an envoy precisely for these prisoners.
"The kind, wise, rich and beautiful Lord of the North, Count of Castres, and Special Envoy of the Grand Duchy of the North, Hamid Casimir Novak, sends you my lofty greetings."
"I'm sorry that some of our compatriots caused you some trouble during the Castres War..."
In the Earl's Mansion, the envoy from the Grand Duchy of the North, who had a thick beard and wore a robe similar to the aristocratic robes of the Yunet countries, but still showed a rough style overall, gave Charlotte a rather standard Yunet greeting.
Special aristocratic etiquette.
On the lord's throne, looking at these tall northern representatives, Charlotte nodded slightly:
"Welcome, His Excellency Hamid Casimir Novak, I already know your purpose of coming. Regarding the prisoners in the North, I, Castel, have no intention of detaining them..."
"It's just that prisoners are prisoners after all. Your support for the rebels has also caused a lot of losses to me, Castel."
"If you want to redeem those nobles and warriors, you must give us a price that satisfies us."
The envoy from the north became more respectful:
"Of course, Lord Earl, we are willing to redeem those reckless compatriots with Warcraft materials that are higher than the universal ransom price in Miria..."
After hearing what the messenger from the north said, Charlotte's heart moved slightly.
The Grand Duchy of the North is vast and sparsely populated, and many areas are quite bitter and cold, with vast forests.
Although as a country, the Northern Grand Duchy is not wealthy, its vast forests bring abundant resources of Warcraft.
If it were not too far away from the center of Miria's civilized world and the environment was too harsh, the Northern Forest would be fully qualified to become the fourth adventure paradise for free mercenaries.
To be honest, Charlotte is quite satisfied with the conditions offered by the Grand Duchy of the North. Castor does not lack secular currency, but only extraordinary materials.
but……
"Your Excellency Hamid, if you want to redeem those Isaac Cavalry, I'm afraid it won't be possible with just these conditions."
Charlotte shook her head slightly and said.
The northern envoy suddenly frowned and asked in Dalu Common Tongue with a northern accent:
"My Lord Earl, I don't know...what are you dissatisfied with?"
"compensation."
Charlotte paused and said:
"What you proposed is only a ransom, but it does not cover the compensation for the losses caused to the North due to Isaac's Hussars' participation in the war."
After listening to Charlotte's words, the Northern Messenger fell into thinking.
He discussed in a low voice with his northern compatriots who were walking beside him for a moment, and then saluted again:
"I understand, Your Majesty the Earl, then... what if on the basis of this ransom, an additional 20% of mineral materials are added as compensation?"
Charlotte shook her head:
"There is no shortage of ore in Castells. I'm afraid your compensation will have to come from other sources."
"Oh? What do you hope it is?"
The messenger from the north asked.
"War horse, I need war horse."
Charlotte paused and the lion opened his mouth:
"All the war horses captured in the civil war will belong to Castel. In addition, the Grand Duchy of the North must compensate me, Castel, for a thousand standard war horses of appropriate age and a hundred male dragon scales.
Horse, and it must be young and strong."
This is really a big opening for the lion.
You must know that strictly speaking, most of the war horses ridden by Isaac's Hussars who participated in the Northland Rebellion actually did not meet the rigid standards of war horses at all, but were generally stronger than Castell's own horses.
After all, the hussars are light cavalry and do not have high requirements for the quality of their horses.
But the standard war horse that Charlotte is talking about here is different.
The so-called standard war horses refer to war horses that must be capable of being used by heavy cavalry, and each of these war horses means that extraordinary cavalry can be formed.
Not to mention the dragon-scaled horse. Anything in this world mixed with dragon blood is incredible, and the same goes for the dragon-scaled horse. This thing can no longer be measured by ordinary war horses. It can be called a Warcraft.
Many entry-level knights don't have this kind of war horse.
One hundred horses... all are males. Even if the Northern Grand Duchy has many horses and the family has a big business, they cannot be taken out casually.
Not to mention that this is what the neighboring countries want, and the relationship between Castor and the Grand Duchy of the North has always been delicate. It is not that there are no border conflicts...
If we really provide so many horses, it can even be called "enemies" in a sense.
Large opening, Charlotte is the standard lion wide opening.
Of course, she herself was the one who mentioned the numbers later. She did not expect the other party to agree and ask for the best to win. In the end, even if she could get 300 standard war horses and 10 or 20 dragon-scale horses that could be used as stallions, she would
That's enough.
After hearing Charlotte's words, the Northern Envoy also frowned.
When Charlotte saw the other party, she turned around and started talking to the members of the delegation in Northern Territory. There were even several arguments.
It was not until a moment later that the northern envoy saluted Charlotte again and replied respectfully:
"We understand, Lord Earl, we agree to your conditions."
Charlotte:……
Um?
Is this agreed?
Did you really agree?
Her expression was incomprehensible, and for a moment she couldn't tell whether it was the envoy from the north who was tricking her, or whether the conditions for her to open her mouth did not exceed the other party's bottom line.
A thousand standard war horses, that’s a thousand standard war horses!
If extraordinary equipment is difficult to create, then it can only be said that qualified war horses are even harder to find, and a thousand extraordinary cavalry are enough to reverse a secular war.
Not to mention 100 dragon-scale stallions. If they are really provided to Charlotte, then in a few years Castel's cavalry troops might become humanoid Gundams!
"Oh? Sir Hamid? Are you serious? Can your decision represent the Grand Duchy of the North?"
Charlotte asked.
Although the Northern Envoy promised, she did not believe that the other party would really agree to her request so easily!
Either it’s a scam or it’s just something else!
The northern envoy nodded slightly and replied:
"Of course, my dear lord, although your request is rather harsh, to show sincerity, the North is willing to agree to your request. This is the decision of His Majesty the Grand Duke."
"It's just... we also have a precondition, or to be more precise, a deal, or an invitation."
Sure enough, there are conditions...
Charlotte raised her eyebrows slightly, then asked with a calm smile:
"Oh? What's the condition?"
The northern envoy took a deep breath, and then bowed respectfully to Charlotte again.
Under Charlotte's slightly surprised gaze, he stretched out his right hand and drew a cross symbol on his chest crookedly, with a pious expression that was quite exaggerated:
"Praise the Holy One, Your Excellency the Earl, as you can see, I am actually a devout Holy believer, not only me, but also the current Grand Duke of our Northern Grand Duchy, His Majesty Stefan Sobieski."
"Your Majesty admires the teachings of the Holy Court very much, and has always wanted to accept the faith of the Holy Court as the official faith of the Grand Duchy. But you also know that our faith in the north has always been chaotic, and the faith of the old gods is difficult to cut off..."
"His Majesty the Grand Duke admires and admires you very much, especially your devout faith in the royal court and your status as a saint on earth, which has long been famous in the north."
"His Majesty the Grand Duke wants to seek help from you and invites you and the priests from your territory to visit the Grand Duchy and send experienced priests to assist our holy believers in the north to spread the faith of the Holy Royal Court..."
After hearing what the messenger said, Charlotte was even more surprised.
She had many guesses about the conditions of the Northern Grand Duchy, but she never expected that she would be invited to be a guest and spread the faith of the Holy Royal Court!
"Thank you for the invitation from His Majesty the Grand Duke, but... I am just a small earl, and the church branch in my Castel territory only has one first-class priest. Why doesn't His Majesty the Grand Duke request the Theocratic State to send a priest?
Are you asking to come to us?"
"As far as I know, there are many priests and even chief priests in the church who are very interested in spreading faith in the north."
Charlotte asked calmly.
The envoy from the north bowed respectfully and said:
"My Lord Earl, you are joking. Your Majesty is asking for the faith of the Holy Royal Court. Among the priests and officiants of the Theocratic State, there is no such thing as you, the holy saint walking on the earth, who can better represent the teachings of the Royal Court, and also
How can it be more accepted by believers and the public?"
After hearing his words, Charlotte raised her eyebrows slightly, thoughtfully.
She understood the deeper meaning of the messenger.
Although the Grand Duchy of the North hopes to adopt the Holy Royal Court as its official religion, it probably does not want to be strictly controlled by the church like the Yunet countries.
The religious beliefs in the north are chaotic, which is not conducive to governance. In the past, it was just a tribal alliance, but now after feudalization, religious conflicts have become more serious. The old god beliefs with various doctrines that are relatively bloody and cruel are no longer suitable for the requirements of the new era.
At this time, it is only natural to choose the "True God Church" with benevolent teachings like the Holy Royal Court as the official faith to stabilize its rule.
However, although religion can stabilize its rule, it will also compete with the ruling class for power, and the senior officials of the Northern Grand Duchy do not want to see such a scene.
Therefore, they did not seek help from the Theocracy, but found Charlotte.
After thinking about it, Charlotte smiled and said:
"I understand what His Majesty the Grand Duke means. It is not difficult to send priests to assist in preaching. I will also consider the invitation, but I am afraid that it is not now. At least within half a year, I will not have time to leave the Crescent Kingdom."
"Of course, Lord Earl, it would be best to invite you as a saint. Even if it is inconvenient for you, if you can send some northern priests that you recognize, it will be the same."
The messenger said respectfully.
The negotiations with the Northern Envoy went much smoother than Charlotte imagined.
After clarifying the main content of the ransom and compensation, Charlotte ended the meeting, and the subsequent details were left to the cabinet of the Earl's Palace to argue with the envoys from the north.
The envoy from the north resigned, and only Charlotte and Sebastian, who had resumed his duties as butler, were left in the meeting hall.
Looking at Charlotte who was deep in thought, Sebastian couldn't help but said:
"Master, do you... really want to agree to the Grand Duchy of the North, accept their invitation, and help them spread the teachings of the Holy Royal Court?"
"Why not? We just send some priests to preach. It just so happens that we can also get rid of those church priests in the territory who are full of energy and have nowhere to vent."
Charlotte smiled.
After saying that, she smiled and said:
"Besides...don't you think this is also an opportunity? The faith in the north is already chaotic. Even if we add some private goods among the priests we send, it should be okay."
Sebastian's eyelids twitched:
"You...you mean, are you also planning to take this opportunity to spread your faith in the North?!"
Charlotte smiled:
"If you can, why not?"
After hearing Charlotte's words, Sebastian's eyes moved slightly, thoughtfully.
After Charlotte finished speaking, she glanced around again and asked:
"Speaking of which...where's Nice? I didn't seem to see much of him after I came back this time?"
Sebastian's expression suddenly became strange:
"Nice...if my guess is correct, he should be playing hide-and-seek with Mr. Yurst right now..."