Chapter 33 Hereditary nobility

Chapter 33 Hereditary Nobles
After the war, the promotion of new hereditary nobles became the top priority of the Grant Kingdom.

This orc invasion war was divided into three major war zones, and a total of eleven barons of Grant Kingdom died in battle in the hereditary territories.

Duke Fox’s territory suffered the most serious losses, the duke’s bannermen suffered the most casualties, the territory was scourged by the orcs for a large part of the war, eight barons died in battle, more than 100,000 people were taken captive by the orcs, and the loss of property was also very serious.

The remaining three barons killed in battle were from the direct royal domain. Including Baron Stopa, who Richard is familiar with, are all bannermen directly under the king.

Hereditary nobles who died in battle in their fiefdom, Grant Kingdom will not deprive them of their titles and cut down their territories.

Generally, the title would be handed over to the heir apparent.

At the rank of Hereditary Baron, there will be multiple heirs. These heirs are scattered in different legions, different provinces. Or even different kingdoms, so as not to be accidentally killed in one fell swoop.

Even William, a professional who struggled for his noble status, would arrange for his son to enter a different legion. Not to mention nobles of higher status.

Years and years of conflicting wars gave everyone a strong sense of crisis. Diversifying their investments, reducing risks, and not putting their eggs in one basket were almost instinctive to their survival.

The eastern front battlefield fought the best, Duke Jonathan didn’t lose an inch of ground, and in the war the duke personally took action and killed the eastern front orc commander-in-chief, the ninth-order wolf king Dantren.

This battle merit is very hard, together with the merits accumulated in the past, Duke Jonathan’s family will receive two hereditary baronial collars.

Through the grapevine, Richard knew that Duke Jonathan’s fourth son, and sixth son would receive knighthoods.

The battlefield on the western front was not fought well, although the orcs eventually repelled the orc attack, killing many orc professionals, but also by the orcs plundered more than 100,000 people. The royal family severely reprimanded Duke Fox, and there will be no hereditary nobles promoted this time.

The royal family directly under the territorial center line, this war fought in the middle of the road, a total of two baronies were appointed.

One of them is Baron Harden’s eldest son Leon, Leon’s territory is located in the northern part of Baron Harden’s territory and the western part of the Platos fortress complex. With the addition of this barony, Baron Harden had been able to merge his territories and promote to a Viscountcy.

But Baron Harden didn’t do so, probably because he loved his children too much, he was prepared to give the territories to each of his three sons to inherit.

Two generations of the Harland family have worked hard for more than twenty years, and after this battle they finally made enough merit to be knighted.

William had amassed four great merits and six medium merits before the war began.

In this war, he gained the authority to lead an army, commanding two brigades to fight and hold on to Greyfusen Castle in the southern foothills of the Eagle Mountains.

Although the battle was fought very hard, William still persisted until the end and was honored with one great merit. In the war, William killed one fifth-order orc, one fourth-order orc, four third-order orcs, three second-order orcs, two first-order orcs, and accumulated six medium merits for killing orc professionals.

Now under William’s name, he accumulated six large merits and two medium merits.

Second uncle Powell before withdrawing from active duty, is the Northland Legion very good scouting squadron leader, more than ten years of fighting down also set up a lot of merit, accumulated a large merit, three medium merit, two small merit.

These credits, Powell retired without using, in order to accumulate merit, so that the Harland family to become a hereditary baron.

As long as the Harland family became hereditary nobility, Powell’s children also have noble status.

Third Uncle Bernie had also gained something in this war, and now accumulated one large merit, four medium merits, and six small merits.

Plus Richard’s one major merit and three minor merits.

The combined war merit on the four of them was already enough to make the Harland family a hereditary baron.

In addition the other members of the family had also made some merits, although Baron was killed in battle, he still had three minor merits on him. Ron also honored two minor merits after he advanced into a professional.

All of these merits can be used to promote hereditary nobility.

After accumulating enough war merits, the Harland family became a hereditary baron, the nail in the coffin.

But the division of the territory is still uncertain.

Comparatively speaking, the northern region was still relatively barbaric, the population was very small, and the division of the territory was much easier. In the other regions of the Grant Kingdom, there had been no hereditary nobles promoted for many years.

The situation in the Morning Glory Continent had not been very stable, and wars would often break out, as the environment forced the vast majority of countries to be very warlike.

The few countries in the north that were invaded by the orcs had the rule of not being knighted without military service.

Rumor has it that Duke Jonathan wants to knight his favorite fourth son in the rich southern region, and is still communicating with King Charles. The Harland family didn’t have that high of connections, and although his father William had some friendships with some nobles, the ones he befriended were all lower class nobles.

With William’s network of contacts, it is impossible to seal the Harland family in the affluent areas.

The fiefdom is bound to be on the northern front, and the specific location can probably be determined.

The royal family’s direct territories in the North, there are just a few unclaimed lands.

The rich basin inside the Dragon Canyon is not the place for a new family like the Harland family to get their hands on.

A hundred years ago, it had been divided cleanly.

Richard estimated that the probability was in the northern mountains of Gerda Province, and this area had already been sealed with four baronies.

The rest of the area was still large enough to reward a few more baronies.

Generally speaking baronies are above three hundred square kilometers and below one thousand square kilometers.

Many of the baronies in the rich southern regions were even less than three hundred square kilometers.

However, in the sparsely populated, war-frequent northern border. Many baronies greatly exceeded the size of the barony, and there were quite a few that exceeded one thousand square kilometers.

The largest few baronies, the territory area can even be compared to the southern viscounts.

The size of the northern territories, the terrain is the crucial factor.

In order to facilitate defense and hold important passages, the king would hitch a portion of fertile land with treacherous valleys and reward them to border nobles.

Such a policy caused the border nobles to generally overrun their territories.

The five major dukes’ territories in the North combined accounted for almost half of Grant Kingdom’s territory.

The size of the border baronies’ territories was generally between one thousand square kilometers and three thousand square kilometers.

Entering November, the reward finally settled.

The Harland family territory was sealed eighty kilometers east of the Platos Fortress Complex.

The territory was not small, thirty kilometers from east to west and forty kilometers from north to south, with a total area of one thousand four hundred square kilometers, and the vast majority of the land was mountainous and hilly terrain.

The territory borders the baronies of Stopa and Dilam.

This time the orcs invaded, the two baronies of Stopa and Dilam suffered heavy losses, and the population of Stopa’s territory was annexed by Baron Harden. The territory now only has a few empty castles waiting to be inherited by the remaining family members of Stopa.

Although Baron Dirham held the castle, he was also captured by the orcs and took seven to eight hundred of his people.

The reason why the territory sealed to the Harland family is so large, the king requires that the baron’s castle must be placed in the northernmost part of the territory in a valley.

This valley, can be interspersed into the middle of the Eagle Mountains.

As long as this mountain pass was held, the flanks of the Platos Fortress Group also had a stable support.

In addition after Fort William was completed, it could also support each other with Fort Harden and Fort Wick, strengthening this area and forming a complete line of defense.

The royal family also knows that the Harland family is shallow, if they are only allowed to gnaw on the hard core, there is no output from the territory, I am afraid that the Harland family will not do their best to run the territory.

If the rewarded territory is quickly lost, the meaning of hereditary nobles will be lost. Therefore, the reward in the territory is a bit generous, and the area given is almost equal to the size of a Viscount’s territory.

There are two rivers in the rewarded territory, and the two sides of the rivers can open up a lot of farmland, which means that this piece of territory has both meat and bones, which is not a bad result.

After getting the hereditary fiefdom, how to develop and manage the fiefdom will become the top priority of the Harland family.

William has gone to the royal capital of Nolan to participate in the knighting ceremony, Richard and Powell, Bernie wrote a letter to communicate. When William returned, Richard decided to resign from the military, with Uncle Powell to preside over the operation of the fiefdom. The rest of the family, continue to operate contacts in the military.

(End of chapter)