Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

John was not in a hurry when he saw this. He found a chair nearby, sat at the door and started eating melon. He saw some people came out happily, some looked sad, and even some went in with two people and only one came out. There was no doubt that they were taken in by Count Milo. As for what they were doing, John had no idea.

After all the people in the queue had left, Count Milo came out. Behind him were several followers carrying several large bags. One could hear the sound of coins inside. Then there was a group of people following closely behind him. Most of them were young boys and girls. John knew what they were going to do with the money without having to think. It was estimated that either he would take a few for himself or give the rest to his confidants as servants.

As soon as Count Milo came out, he saw John sitting there, so he went over to greet him: "Governor John, thank you for the support of your artillery last time. If it weren't for your troops, we wouldn't be able to hold the banquet here." Then he pulled a few little girls and asked: "Governor John, you see there is no one around to take care of you. Why don't you find a few beautiful children, or recruit a servant to work for you? It has to be said that these nobles and businessmen are willing to abandon their children for their own glory and wealth."

John quickly shook his head and said, "Forget about that. These people are also a burden on the battlefield. If you are willing to give me a reward, you might as well give me some money as military expenses."

Count Milo was puzzled: "Weren't you a subordinate of General Conseil before? How come no one gave you military funds?"

John complained: "The situation on the front line was tight, and General Conseil only gave me a few hundred gold coins for departure expenses. The rest was earned by me going out to rob Yoda's territory. Basically, before I met you, I was either fighting or on the way to fight."

Count Milo then began to analyze again. In addition to the fact that John was able to fight so well at such a young age, there was also the problem of the tight situation on the front line. He misunderstood General Conseil. He did not expect that John could gather such a large army in just a few months.

Suddenly John thought of something and quickly asked Count Milo: "Didn't you say that you wanted to cross the river and head to the capital as soon as possible? Why are you still holding a banquet now? Aren't you afraid that the Yoda Empire will overtake you if you are late?"

Count Milo said nonchalantly: "You young people are impatient. You can't eat hot steak in a hurry. According to the information I have obtained so far, Yoda's troops are still at the Yoda-Barden border and cannot break through Barden's defense line. Let's go slowly. By then, King Barden will definitely be anxious and will give us more benefits."

"Well, just don't delay it." John could only offer his final advice, hoping that this incident would not have any impact on the war.

Next, John followed Count Milo to visit every aspect of the castle. This visit gave John a deeper understanding of the internal planning of the castle, and he could then make some modifications to John Castle.

Time flies, and it's time for dinner in the blink of an eye. As the dinner king, John can't wait to try the local delicacies.

First, at the beginning of the banquet, Count Milo said a lot of long sentences that seemed like nonsense to John. For example, he said some nice words to his subordinates to encourage them and reminded them to work harder to kill the enemy and establish merits. For the local nobles who surrendered, Count Milo said that the Kingdom of Mitland would absolutely guarantee the security of the territory of the Kingdom of Balden and guarantee that the people of Balden could live freely on the land of the Kingdom of Balden. It was not known whether they believed it or not, but John did not believe it anyway. According to Count Milo's life creed of "nothing can be done without profit", the conditions for achieving the above goals were probably more cruel exploitation.

As for whether they will become refugees after losing everything and wander around the land of Balden in order to survive, no one will care. Didn't you say freedom? Look how free they are, they can walk around anywhere.

So after a long list of banquet greetings, Count Milo announced the official start of the banquet.

"Hank, come with me to get the steak and grilled chicken, Charlie, you get some lobster and grilled fish... What, don't get the salad, get more meat, and don't get the juice first." John quickly made a battle plan for the banquet buffet.

Other nobles usually try to build relationships and curry favor with others, and a common method is to trace one's ancestry back to one's roots. For example, after a Midland noble and a Balden noble are introduced to each other, the Balden noble will pretend to be very surprised and say, "I read in the family history book that we may both be branches of a certain noble in the empire a thousand years ago. We are half-brothers..."

Then he seemed to be very serious in analyzing the similarities in the family flags and crests of the Midland nobles. Even as long as the background color of the family flags was the same, it could prove that they were related. However, given the complex intermarriage relationships among countries, it was possible that he was right, but the probability was very low.

When John was looking for food, a few nobles from Balden actually asked him about it. They probably thought he was the child of a noble and wanted to take advantage of the child's ignorance to build relationships and maybe make friends with his father. But John only replied with one sentence: "I am the governor of the forest directly under the Midland royal family. What business do you have?", and directly retorted the rest of the words of those nobles.

John simply did not have time to talk about relatives with them. The Kingdom of Midland was so large, and there were so many nobles. Many nobles had no land and could only join the army. The Kingdom of Balden was so small, and the nobles were even less valuable. The small nobles here were just taking advantage of the fact that the Midland army had just arrived here and had not yet established a firm foothold, and wanted to make deals while taking advantage of their current influence in the countryside and cities, but John did not need that at all. Or rather, John had enough money now, and could directly recruit a bunch of farmers on the land of Balden. The food reserves of Binsey were enough to feed 5 people for a year, enough to last until the harvest. Other Midland nobles might be in a situation where no one was doing something and they needed the cooperation of local nobles, but John did not lack people at all. He could directly use the system to pay for subspace teleportation to get a bunch of cheap old farmers, who were good at sending soldiers to fight, building bridges and roads, and farming, and would not waste time doing these useless work. If he wanted to win over someone, he had to win over the nobles of Midland, who had a lot of real power.

Count Milo had just finished talking to a few local nobles when he saw John hurriedly carrying his plate and eating without any socializing. He thought to himself: "This governor is really childish." The plan to win over John was gradually taking shape in his mind.

Just after the banquet, Count Milo stood on the podium and announced: "Due to the busy war, the army of Mitlan will soon advance eastward to drive out Yoda's troops and give you a peaceful life. During this period, all matters in Sibalden will be under the responsibility of Governor John and his army. I hope you can return triumphantly."

"Ah?" John thought, this old *Den must have felt that the siege was almost over and that defending the city would not be difficult at all, so he wanted to take the credit. But it was also good this way, so that he could help me test the waters of Yoda's army. By the way, I would have time to consolidate Xibalden's defenses and prevent Yoda's cavalry from advancing.