Lord Harland

Seeing that Richard's conversation was as direct as boxing, Lawrence couldn't keep talking in circles, so he had to get straight to the point.

"I wonder if His Excellency the Duke has any plans to marry His Highness Margaret?"

After hearing this, Richard suddenly said with something strange on his face: "Your Excellency, Earl, you should know that my eldest daughter Margaret is only eleven years old this year, and my eldest son Philip is only seven years old. I have only two direct descendants. , for the sake of the stability of the territory, I don’t want them to leave the territory too far. Although the territory has just been established, our need for external support is not strong. For the first generation, I am considering internal marriage, and have no plans to marry with outsiders for the time being.”

According to the laws of the Grant Kingdom, if something happens to Richard, William and Sophia will have the right to inherit the territory. On the contrary, Margaret and Philip, because they are underage and not professionals, do not have the right to inherit for the time being.

Hayden and Wendy are half-brothers from the same father and mother, and their inheritance rights are further back than William and Sophia.

Further down are half-brothers such as Ron and George. Even Powell and Bernie can be related and have inheritance rights lower in the order.

Richard has been fighting in the Dawn Plane for many years and has devoted countless efforts to the Duchy of Harland. As long as Margaret and Philip show their talents, they will of course pass the territory to their direct bloodline.

If the children can't hold up the wall, they may have to choose from close relatives.

Richard is only thirty-three years old now. If he is promoted to a legendary magician, there are various ways to extend his life, but he is still far away from the normal transfer of power.

Normally, the life span of magicians is longer than that of knights and warriors. The life span of legendary magicians can often reach 200 years. Maybe the children will be ahead of Richard and won't be able to wait to take over.

The battle for noble territory was extremely cruel and often resulted in bloodshed. If you are not careful, you may cause trouble.

Although Richard is now at the height of his power and Sophia's position is very stable and no one can challenge it, in order to protect the children, Richard cannot let them stay too far away.

Margaret and Philip's marriage partners will only be selected from within. There is a high probability that it is Stork, Dak and other members who are closely related to the Harland family.

Of course, Richard is not a conservative person like William. Even if his children have average qualifications, they will have a certain degree of autonomy in marriage matters. Richard just drew a range and let the children choose from this range.

Lawrence came to Harland to test Richard's tone and see if the Harland family had any plans to marry the royal family.

King Roger's eldest son Ferdinand is already sixteen years old, and the royal family needs to make plans for the eldest prince's marriage.

The marriage partners of the king's children are very narrow. In addition to the domestic nobles, they are members of the royal families of nearby countries. Adding up all the big and small families, there are actually no more than a few dozen families, which adds up to very few candidates.

Large nobles sometimes have to wait for more than ten or even twenty years to find a suitable marriage partner.

In recent years, the Grant Kingdom has provoked many wars, offending the Linus family, the Lane family, the Delon family, many great nobles of the East Coast United Kingdom, and offending neighboring countries.

In a short period of time, there was almost no way to reconcile the Grant royal family with neighboring countries. The next generation of King Roger's royal family members could only choose marriage partners from within.

The king's eldest son, Ferdinand, has awakened his knightly bloodline, been promoted to a professional, and clarified the order of succession, and is now the first in line to succeed.

After marrying the eldest prince Ferdinand, the earl and marquis families are no longer a good match, but a little worse in terms of family status.

Moreover, the influence of the earl and marquis families is weak, and their strength is not as good as that of the great dukes. It is difficult for them to help the great prince to reach the top.

The only ones suitable for marriage are a few members of the duke family.

The person whom King Roger most wanted to marry was Richard, the Duke of Harland.

First of all, they are suitable in terms of age. Margaret and Ferdinand are not much different in age and status. Both of them are legitimate sons and daughters, and they are both natural heavyweight members of the aristocracy within the Grant Kingdom system.

Secondly, the high-level political relations of the Haaland family are relatively simple. Once Ferdinand becomes Richard's son-in-law, he will definitely receive the full support of the Haaland leader. This is very crucial at a critical moment in the battle for the throne.

The third is that Harland's development prospects are particularly good, and King Roger also has plans to invest in advance.

There is also a fourth point, which is hidden in the dark. The royal family's background is stronger than that of the Harland Territory, and they can infiltrate and interfere in the internal affairs of the Harland Territory through noble marriage. Once something happens to Richard, Margaret can control the Dukedom of Harland and find opportunities. The Duchy of Halland was incorporated into the royal family and placed under the control of Margaret's descendants.

For the marriage to be successful, it requires Richard's cooperation, and it is not King Roger who has the final say.

A great nobleman of the Grant Kingdom, possessing extremely high authority. This country is an aristocratic alliance system. Although the royal family is the strongest, with 200,000 soldiers, it actually only accounts for a quarter of the country's strength. In military affairs, the Roger Kingdom cannot be arbitrary at all and needs to compromise with the nobles, big and small.

Even if King Roger wants to marry Duke Harland, he cannot directly issue an edict to grant the marriage. He needs to communicate with Richard first to avoid being directly rejected and unable to step down.

Lawrence came to Fort William mainly to explore the direction of the wind, but he did not expect to be directly rejected by Richard. However, in addition to the commission from the Roger Kingdom, Lawrence was also preparing to work as a matchmaker for another great nobleman.

"I heard that His Excellency the Duke's sister, Baron Wendy, is not married yet?"

Hearing Lawrence talk about Wendy, Richard suddenly became interested. "Do you have a suitable candidate?"

Wendy is only two years younger than Richard, and is already an unmarried young woman over thirty. Her marriage problem is also particularly troublesome, and there is basically no suitable candidate.

As the sister of the Duke's sibling, the marriage partner needs to be selected from among the great nobles. Although minor nobles can do so reluctantly, they must be members of the nobility with a title.

There are more than 600 hereditary nobles in the Grant Kingdom, including some of the children of the great nobles. Wendy's choice of marriage partners is much wider than Margaret's.

But Wendy herself is a five-ring magician, so it is impossible to choose a husband who is weaker than herself. The noble who can suppress the five-ring magician must be a silver knight of the seventh level or above.

Silver knights of the seventh level and above, those over forty years old are the geniuses of the kingdom and the seeds of legends, they are particularly rare.

Moreover, the seventh-level Silver Knight, who is in his forties, was a hot commodity when he was young and has already married and had children. Unless Wendy is willing to be the replacement for an elderly noble, there aren't many suitable candidates at all.

"This spring, Marquis Allen's wife, Lady Ona, died of illness unexpectedly. If the Duke is interested, I can talk to Marquis Allen."

Given Wendy's social status, it would actually be worse to marry directly to a young marquis. But filling in a house for an old marquis was too aggrieved.

Although Marquis Allen is the Speaker of the Noble Council and has very great real power in the Grant Kingdom, Richard is actually not satisfied with this candidate.

"Marquis Allen's wife is the sister of the Earl of Silver Moon Island. In last year's war, the Earl of Silver Moon Island suffered heavy losses. He lost his territory and was demoted. He lost his status as a great noble. Just half a year later, Mrs. Ona had an accident. It was unavoidable. What a coincidence.

I'm afraid that after the war ended last year, Marquis Allen had plans to marry me.

But why would he target Wendy?

What resources does he want from Wendy?

Wendy has me as her backer, so Marquis Allen may not dare to go against Wendy, but this man is ruthless and has a deep palace, so he is not a suitable candidate for marriage. "

Upon hearing this choice, Richard's expression changed slightly, and he felt a little disgusted. Although he was dissatisfied in his heart, it was not easy to refuse directly. After all, from the outside world, the two parties are a good match and are considered suitable candidates.

Besides, Richard had just rejected Margaret's marriage proposal, and objected again because of the bad appearance.

"My sister Wendy is an important member of the Harland family. Whether she wants to get married depends on her own plans? She has autonomy in marriage matters. Whether she wants to marry Nolan depends on Wendy herself. That’s all.

The messenger might as well wait for two days while I talk to Wendy to see what her opinion is. "

After patiently exchanging pleasantries with Lawrence, he was sent to the most prosperous hotel in the castle. This hotel is officially run by Leader Harland. In addition to daily operations, it is also responsible for some official business. If Halland's middle-level civil servants and above come to Fort William on business, they will basically stay in this hotel.

Of course, Richard would invite the important envoys to live in the city lord's mansion.

Although Lawrence is an earl, he does not have a hereditary territory, and his status is far from that of a hereditary territory duke like Richard. He is not an important messenger to Richard.

After seeing Lawrence off, Richard looked at the sky and took a casual bite, then immediately came to the Western Suburbs Mage Tower.

Wendy, like Sophia, is particularly fond of magic and likes to study the mysteries of magic. Full of desire for knowledge, but actually no intention of getting married.

Richard casually talked to Wendy about today's events.

Wendy was particularly averse to marriage because of what happened when she was a child. As soon as Richard started talking, he was directly interrupted by Wendy, who clearly expressed his rejection.

After Wendy's attitude was clear, Richard gave Lawrence a clear attitude and rejected the proposal of marriage between the nobles of the royal capital.

More than ten years after the establishment of the Harland Leadership, Richard has always resisted integrating into the special circle of the royal family. This can be seen clearly from the fact that he did not choose the count's legitimate daughter when he got married, but chose Sophia.

As an older brother, Richard hopes that Wendy can live happily every day. His three views have matured in his previous life. Unlike William, he has no intention of exchanging the happiness of his relatives for benefits.

Moreover, from the perspective of practical interests, Richard did not want Wendy to marry other nobles.

Because Wendy is an important member of the Harland Mage Association, she has a very complete grasp of the Mage Association's inheritance.

Wendy understands all the ancient wizard language, new discoveries of elemental magic, alchemical bombs, searing ray guns, force field shield refining methods, magic energy steam engine principles, magic energy conversion principles and other new achievements.

Once Wendy marries outside, the unique core heritage of the Haaland family will inevitably be leaked.

The great nobles are all potential competitors of the Harland territory. Once they master the core inheritance, they will undoubtedly add a lot of trouble to the territory.

If it was a normal situation, Wendy should be asked to sign an anti-leakage contract.

But Richard and Wendy have a very deep relationship and can't pull off this face at all.

After Richard traveled through time, his mother passed away and his father soon married Mrs. Ola. Wendy grew up with him and Hayden. The relationship between them has lasted for more than 20 years, and it is like watching a daughter grow up.

As an older brother, Richard actually assumed the role of a father. As Wendy got older, Richard hoped in his heart that she would find a companion.

Even if this person is not a noble and has average talent, as long as Wendy likes him. Richard will always send blessings to Wendy and block the pressure from the outside world for Wendy. But after observing it over the years, it is difficult to do this.

Wendy's talent is very outstanding. Harland leads the same age group and there are almost no suitable candidates. The only suitable one, Zhan Nings, was also preempted by his cousin Flora.

Although there are some strong players in Haaland's leadership, there is no suitable candidate for Wendy.

After so many years, Richard suddenly discovered that Wendy had not shown any affection between men and women for any man. It seems that she is indeed naturally indifferent to this aspect and has no plans to get married.

After rejecting the marriage of the royal capital's nobles, Harland Territory may have to deal with some open and covert attacks, but with the territory developing to its current level, even King Roger will need to compromise with Richard.

As long as the strength of the Harland territory can develop positively, King Roger must win over the Harland family, the most powerful duke in northern Xinjiang, to cooperate with his grand strategy.

Although the nobles in the royal capital have many factions, their control strength is not very strong. Moreover, the internal struggle among the palace nobles is very fierce and it is difficult to unite. These people secretly target them, which is not too troublesome for the leader of Harland.

After seeing Lawrence off, time passed very quickly, and it was November in the blink of an eye.

The new year's commodity fair is once again held in Fort William.

The Harland Commodity Expo has been held for six years. Because of fair trading rules, it has become the premier business event in the Grant Kingdom. Last year's transaction volume reached hundreds of thousands.

This year, Richard released the news in advance and planned to sell some of the early magic hot air balloons.

A few years ago, red rubber grass had not been discovered in Harland. There were no rubber products, and the sealing process was poor. The first batch of magic hot air balloons had some air leakage problems, and the airborne operations could not last for too long.

Even though there were some flaws, the price still exceeded 3,000 gold coins, which still attracted the attention of the nobles of Northern Xinjiang.

The core of a magic hot air balloon is the magic lamp. Richard added voice-activated anti-counterfeiting technology, making it particularly difficult to copy.

According to the level of magic in the Grant Kingdom, even among several duke families, the number of magicians is extremely small, making it even worse for copycats. Only the Grant Mages Association has strong magical abilities and has a chance to crack it.

Despite all the layers of arrangements, in order to prevent the magic hot air balloon from falling into the hands of the great nobles, purchasing the magic hot air balloon requires signing a royal power contract, prohibiting second-hand transactions, and preventing leakage to the greatest extent.