The current Kingdom of Prussia has a bit of the flavor of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The King of Prussia's prestige plummeted due to a certain major incident, and all the nobles with titles in the provinces across the country had established their own families.
They all joined together to keep warm. Although they were still nominally vassals of the king, they were actually no longer kings of birds.
Now there are twenty or thirty nobles in the Orange Province with real titles. One by one, they are all princes. The biggest leader is the Count of Libya.
The Pompeii family are vassals of the Barton family.
All in all, he is a military commander with real power.
To stand out in the entire Orange Province and demonstrate force and strength, this is a very, very reliable strategy.
So this time Lelouch and Luther thought of going together, not only to recruit residents, but also to spread the word that there was a Pompeii family in Orange.
Originally, this matter was a bit taboo. After all, they were vassals of the Barton family. If they were too sharp, wouldn't the Lord's family be happy?
But didn’t Luther ask his dad for advice? He said it’s okay, just do whatever you want.
Luther still believed in his father's political ability, so he dared to think and act.
In fact, the reason is very simple. First, the Barton family has a knight vassal who owns a town and has greater military strength and financial resources than the Pompeii family.
If the Pompeii family develops, it will just be one more great vassal, nothing.
The second is that Old Sol has hidden his strength. With his high-ranking knight's strength, he actually has a place in the entire Barton Territory and can be used as a general.
Besides, now Old Thor has the possibility of being promoted to a Grand Knight. If Old Thor really becomes a Grand Knight, then Old Thor will be the strongest man in the entire Barton Territory.
Not to mention one town, even two or three towns is not a problem.
Of course, this kind of acquisition by force is unreliable. According to normal circumstances, a family of knight lords in the countryside cannot become a grand knight in every generation.
If the family's military strength declines, its power will definitely shrink.
But Saul Sr. trusted his son, Luther Pompey.
So Old Saul's idea is to develop upwards and become a baron in his own generation, or Luther's generation. At that time, relying on huge power, financial resources, and magic potions, he can accumulate everything from his grandchildren and great-grandchildren to become a big baron.
knight.
Secure the position of Baron Pompeii.
Old Saul didn't discuss these matters in detail with Luther. He just took one action: Go ahead, son, I support you.
All in all, Old Saul was Luther's strong backing. Luther dared to think and do anything and was very courageous.
The topic has returned to its original point, how can we eliminate a notorious group of thieves rooted in the Orange Province and demonstrate force?
It would be impossible to fight with more than a dozen knights from the Pompeii family, and they would not be able to defeat them.
Then the only way left is to ask a mercenary group to take action.
This is not a matter of losing face. Financial resources are also part of the force. If you can afford a mercenary group to demonstrate force for your family, how awesome is your financial resources?
It is also a type of strength.
And when the time comes, you can whitewash it, for example, the Pompeii family united with a certain mercenary group to wipe out a certain notorious bandit group.
Everyone works together.
All in all, this is a good choice.
But the question is how much does that cost?
Luther asked Lelouch to find a group of thieves entrenched near the Barton Territory. This group of thieves was called the "Autumn Wind Bandits".
The leader is a senior knight named ***.
A very common name and no surname. It proves that this high-ranking knight was born as a commoner. In fact, the knights who became thieves were all born as commoners.
No knight of noble birth would become a thief.
Because nobles have enjoyed a refined and luxurious life since childhood, unless they encounter something particularly serious, such as being exterminated or being hunted, they will not become thieves.
No one knows the experience of this leader of the Autumn Wind Thieves, a *** knight, before he became a thief. When he emerged, he was a high-level knight with strong wind fighting spirit.
He recruited a group of civilian knights and established the Autumn Wind Thieves Group.
He has been entrenched on a mountain range between the Barton Territory and the territory of another great nobleman, living a happy life of robbery.
It has been more than ten years ago.
There are currently thirty or forty official knights in the thieves group, and thirty-two of them have names and bounties on them. The proportion of intermediate knights is actually ten.
Not to mention the knights who are hiding in the dark and may not have been seen before.
It is best to treat this Autumn Wind Thieves Group as a group of thieves with forty or fifty knights, otherwise it will easily capsize in the gutter.
The behavior of this Qiufeng bandit group is relatively mild among thieves. For more than ten years, they have only committed robberies and collected protection fees.
Rarely did they attack towns within Patton's territory.
Because the band of thieves was so powerful, Baron was afraid that his own strength would be compromised, so he never took action against the band of thieves.
There is another reason.
This group of Autumn Wind thieves is located between two territories. Why should I take action?
This is a very typical idea, and it is also the reason why gangs of thieves breed throughout the Orange Province.
The intelligence collected by Lelouch was relatively detailed. After Luther checked it, he discovered a big problem. The total reward on the heads of this group of Autumn Wind thieves was a total of 80,000 yuan.
Among them, the bounty for ***, the senior knight and leader of the Autumn Wind Thieves, was 30,000 gold coins, and the rest was shared among the knights under his command.
As long as you obtain the heads of these members, you can go to the residence of the Orange Consul and the Count of Libya to collect the reward.
Coupled with the wealth gained by the band of thieves who have been robbing for many years.
This is a very tempting idea, to make a fortune by robbing gangs of thieves.
But the problem is not calculated in this way.
The first thing is that we have to attack such a group of thieves. Can we keep all those knights? If one person escapes, it is equivalent to losing 30,000 bounties.
And thieves will keep the accumulated wealth after robbing? Many knights become thieves because they can get money quickly. Many of them will use the money to exchange for potions to increase their strength.
This is also an important reason why the Autumn Wind Thieves Group only has thirty-two knight members, but the proportion of intermediate knights is as high as ten.
In other words, if you rob this band of thieves, you may not get corresponding loot.
Luther estimated that the price of hiring a mercenary group to destroy such a group of thieves would be at least 100,000 gold coins.
What if the bounty obtained, plus the loot, is only 50,000 gold coins? Then the Pompeii family will lose 50,000 gold coins.