Lord Harland

Although Margaret is young, she is precocious and smart, and even more mature than these uncles and brothers in their twenties.

Many members of the Harland family received a half-baked aristocratic education and invited tutors to their homes since childhood.

The actual aristocratic education not only invites tutors to teach knowledge and etiquette, but also teaches some ways of observing people's behavior and behavior through words and deeds. There are even many things passed down by word of mouth, involving the dark history of the great nobles, secret extraordinary knowledge, imperial arts that you have figured out, etc.

The Harland family has only a short time to prosper and lacks foundation. The teaching quality of this half-baked aristocratic education is actually not as good as that of government-run schools.

Margaret has been studying in school since she was a child, and has been exposed to older children. Her level of dealing with people may be higher than those of her brothers and uncles, and the city is deeper.

These people complained and even cursed Sophia in front of her. Although Margaret did not speak, she remembered them in her heart.

After returning home, she decided to report it to Sophia. Margaret knew very well that her mother was by no means a broad-minded person, but rather a bit petty. The only ones who would be unlucky would be the young people of the Harland family. .

The group of people trekked hard and finally arrived at Hurricane Castle before the goddess' birthday, and Richard also greeted them in front of the castle early.

After arranging accommodation, Margaret immediately reported to Richard and told her father some things along the way.

Richard saw that Margaret had grown to the height of his shoulders. He raised his hand to touch the top of her head, and suddenly felt that his daughter had grown up. He waved and said to his adjutant: "Please tell me, except Simon, Cohen, and George, the rest of the people will not attend this year's Christmas dinner. We will do the same in the future. If you don’t pass the test, you can only take care of the face of your elders and feed them like rice bugs.”

Seeing that the adjutant was about to go out to deliver the order, Richard suddenly asked: "Green, is Cohen serving in the reconnaissance brigade? How is his performance?"

Richard's adjutant is also a member of the Harland family, and his bloodline is relatively close to William's. Green's grandfather is William's cousin.

Since William was promoted to the hereditary nobility, the distant relatives of William's three brothers have rushed over to join him. Over the years, Richard has always used his talents according to his talents, but only three of them can really obtain important positions.

The first one is Anne. She is the housekeeper of Richard's palace, Sophia's important assistant in managing the palace, and a formal member of the Mage Association. She has been promoted to a fourth-ring mage and plays a decisive role in the territory.

The second one is Gibson. Gibson was originally William's butler, but later transformed into Harland's civil servant. He retired a few years ago. Even though he is retired, he still has a great influence in the Harland territory because he watched Richard and his sister grow up.

The third person is Gibson's eldest grandson Noel, who is now responsible for managing the Harland Territory intelligence system.

Green is the fourth distant clan member that Richard has reused. His genetic relationship with William is closer than that of the Gibson family. In terms of blood, his relationship with Richard is not more than five generations old. According to the classification of the Grant Kingdom's aristocratic blood, it is actually pretty good. Close relatives.

Green is twenty-six years old, and his talent is as good as William's. Now he has been promoted to a third-level professional. He can be promoted to the fourth level before he is thirty, and there is some hope of breaking through the legendary bottleneck.

There are now 1.8 million people in Harland's leadership. Even if there are only one in ten thousand talented people, there are not a few every year, but whether they can grow up is actually not sure.

Only when talents are realized can they be considered successful. If talents are not realized, they will be ordinary people.

Green graduated from elementary school at the age of fifteen and joined the army. He was born as a young soldier. He first worked as a logistics staff at the headquarters, and later went to lead troops in the squadron below. He served successively as deputy squadron leader and squadron leader. Because of his background, he quickly fell into the eyes of Richard and was promoted to the third level. After the rank, he took over as Richard's adjutant.

Although the position of Adjutant Richard is not high, the responsibility is very heavy, and it is actually not easy to do. As an adjutant, he not only serves as Richard's assistant, manages military affairs and coordinates many things, but also manages Richard's personal affairs. This requires a person with a strong memory and a shrewd and capable person.

"Cohen serves as the deputy squadron leader in the reconnaissance brigade. He is highly rated in the file, but I know that he is a person with little war talent. The only thing worthy of praise is obedience. He is an honest person and can ignore orders from his superiors. Execution at a discount.”

As Richard's adjutant, Green is naturally very well-informed. As the younger generation of the Harland family, Cohen is the focus of attention. After becoming Richard's adjutant, Green was not afraid of offending others and chose to tell the truth in everything.

After listening to Green's introduction, Richard nodded and said, "How is his talent?"

"Not as good as Master George, barely above average."

"After all, he is the second uncle's child, so he can still be nurtured. I will write a transfer order to transfer Cohen to the captain of the 7th Squadron of the Guard Brigade."

Among the three William brothers, Richard had the deepest relationship with his second uncle, Powell.

Not to mention his childhood, after Richard traveled through time, William had married Mrs. Ola, and most of his affection was devoted to his eldest son Ron, second son Barron, and youngest son George.

Ron's mother was William's first love, and they had the deepest affection for each other, if nothing else.

Although Mrs. Ola was also married, she was the same age as Hua at that time, and she had already fascinated William under the pomegranate skirt. Moreover, William was busy with military affairs at that time, and the only people who often took care of them were his uncle Soros and his second uncle Powell.

Richard's relationship with Soros and Powell is actually deeper than William's.

The Grant Kingdom has a special system and cannot be knighted without military exploits. Even if Richard is grateful to Powell, he cannot be promoted to the hereditary aristocracy.

Powell had many children, including nine illegitimate children, but most of these children were of average ability. Some of them settled down to be playboys, while some had poor qualifications and were transferred to the civil service system. Only three of them were promoted to professionals.

The eldest son Adrian is already a three-ring magician, but Adrian has been managing the hospital and is responsible for the logistics. Although the logistics work is safe, it is difficult to achieve military exploits. Without military exploits, it is basically impossible to be promoted to a hereditary noble.

The second son Colon joined the Grizzlies in his early years and served under William in recent years.

Now Cologne is a third-level warrior and serves as the captain of the third squadron of the Grizzly Legion's fifth brigade. He has accumulated seven medium skills and six minor skills. Cologne is just thirty years old, has average talent, and still hopes to be promoted to the hereditary aristocracy.

Cohen's talent is similar to that of his brother Cologne. He has been promoted to a professional and was promoted by Richard to the guard brigade as a squadron leader. If he can gain a firm foothold in the army and proceed step by step, he should be promoted to a hereditary baron by the time he reaches his fifties.

If Uncle Powell had lived longer, he would have had the opportunity to see this day.

After making arrangements for Cohen's future, Richard suddenly thought of his eldest nephew Simon.

"Where's Simon? Has he been reused by Ron?"

Green shook his head and said: "Simon is an illegitimate son, and his talent exceeds that of Ron's heir. This has always been a headache for Ron, and now he has begun to suppress Simon."

"Since Ron is unwilling to use it, you can write a letter of recommendation and ask Simon to lead the army in Haaland. I think he will go to the first brigade to train first. If he can stand firm, he will be transferred to the infantry brigade behind to serve as the squadron leader. Soldiers."

The future of the junior was arranged, and the Christmas dinner was held as scheduled.

Although he was on the front line, the Duke's family dinner was still very luxurious, but only a few people could attend. In addition to young people such as George, Simon, Cohen, and Margaret, the banquet was also attended by some military veterans, such as Soros, Jennings, Audrey, and others.

This winter, when the orcs fought at their best, Zhan Nings won some military merits, and just enough to raise ten great merits, he became Richard's fourteenth vassal.

The fiefdom of Jennings is in the northern part of the Barony of Vito. Due to Richard's special care, the territory covers an area of ​​1,400 square kilometers, which is somewhat larger than the normal barony.

This territory is already on the front line, very close to the No. 2 Military Station.

Zhan Nings and Flora don't have much money in their hands. Although their salaries are very high, Zhan Nings usually spends money lavishly and often supports his comrades, relatives and friends. The two have been married for more than ten years and only have a few hundred gold coins in savings. Among the upper class of Haaland territory, he can be considered a poor man.

Jennings was the first of the Powells to be a hereditary peer. His promotion to the hereditary peerage made Powell very happy.

Powell has a lot of property, and Adrian has a lot of assets, which funded the couple three thousand gold coins in cash. In addition, Zhan Nings old comrades-in-arms Sula and Odaye are both wealthy people. These old comrades-in-arms were very active. Together, they lent Zhannings a huge sum of five thousand gold coins. In addition to the two thousand gold coins sent by Richard, Zhannings and Flora actually had something in their hands. Funds of tens of thousands of gold coins.

Although he was promoted to a hereditary baronet, Jennings did not retire from active service in operating the territory. His wife Flora still lives in Fort William.

Jennings was very open-minded and followed Wendy's example in handing over the territory to the Harland bureaucrats for management, and implemented exactly the same decree as the Harland Dukedom.

The two baronies of Jennings and Wendy also implemented the serf pardon.

After having enough wine and food, Richard waved his hand, the dancers and musicians retreated one after another, and the banquet hall suddenly became very quiet. Richard stood up, pointed to a few young people who were allowed to attend the dinner, and said directly: "Last year I asked you a question, who is our friend and who is our enemy? Now in front of everyone , you might as well tell us your answer.

George, you are the oldest, starting with you. "

George prepared for a moment and answered directly: "From the perspective of the Duchy of Harland, I think the orcs are our biggest enemies, and our friends are the clansmen and noble vassals of the Harland family. To expand it, they are military professions. To prepare for the aristocratic class.

But in the southern territory, our enemies are the Kingdom of Delong and the United Kingdom of the East Coast, and our friends are the southern nobles, and to expand it, they are the main army officers and soldiers. "

After hearing George's answer, Richard smiled and said: "You are young and have some knowledge, which is not bad."

Richard turned his eyes and faced Cohen: "Keen, what's your answer?"

"Our enemies are the orcs, and our friends are all the nobles and soldiers who fight against the orcs."

"Simon, tell me what you think."

Simon hesitated for a moment, organized his words and said: "Our enemies are not only the orcs, but may also include the royal family and other nobles. We should beware of them when making decisions.

And our friends include not only the Harland people and territorial vassals, but also the aristocrats of the three northern Xinjiang provinces. "

After hearing the young man's answer, Richard smiled heartily and said: "What everyone said is pretty good. As a noble, I hope you will think more and use your brains more. Know who is our friend and who is ours." Only the enemy can make the right decision.”

After drinking and eating, everyone sang and danced and acted very happy. After having fun and eating, Richard announced the end of the banquet with a happy face.

After the banquet, Richard, Sophia, and Margaret's family sent away Soros and other important guests. When no one was around, Richard patted Margaret on the shoulder and said, "Margaret." , what’s your answer?”

"My answer is different from theirs, dear father."

Sophia smiled and said, "Child, everyone is in a different position, so of course the answer is different."

"I feel that the Harland tribe and noble vassals may not be our friends, and the Harland territorial army may also become our enemies. As a lord, we should not have friends. Anyone may be our enemy."

Richard looked at his daughter who was growing up and patted her on the head gently: "At such a young age, her thoughts are too extreme."

Margaret opened her eyes wide and asked like a curious baby: "What's your answer, dear father of the Duke?"

"There is no standard answer to this question. We have different friends and enemies in different periods. Who is our friend and who is our enemy requires different dialectics in different periods.

As lords, our natural responsibility is to expand the size of the territory and maintain the stability of the territory. Whoever can improve productivity and increase the strength of the territory is our friend; whoever hinders the development of the territory is our enemy.

But that doesn’t mean we have to be alone. Using power to govern a territory and using force to suppress it are not the wisest methods.

The smart way is to impress people with ideals.

You are still young and have a strong curiosity. Along the way, your mother told me how happy you are to come out this time?

Curiosity is a very good thing. As I grow older, I find that I have gradually lost my curiosity. What a pity!

But our situation is not stable. There may be enemies both externally and internally, and there are still some enemies hiding in the dark.

You are now my only heir, and you cannot leave your parents' sight. This is not only for your own safety, but also for the stability of the territory.

In recent months, I plan to let you stay on the front line, act as my secretary, and get in touch with military affairs, but your meditation progress cannot be slowed down, and your daily life cannot be relaxed either. "

After listening to Richard's arrangement, Margaret took his arm and said, "I understand, father."