Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

Another month passed, and summer was at its hottest. Almost every night there were a lot of cicadas chirping in the forest, followed by some small insects crawling around, such as...

"Snapped!"

John slapped a mosquito that was trying to suck blood from his shoulder and continued to work.

At this time, John was almost well enough to go out to work. Seeing that he insisted on working, Jules ignored him and went to accompany Count Milo. After all, Count Milo was his boss.

A month ago, Adam and a group of Yoda's nobles and soldiers were taken away by their old boss, General Conseil, on the order of King Midland. Before leaving, John was given a lot of weapons and equipment. John knew at a glance that they were seized from Yoda, and some of them were even stained with blood.

But John was not angry. After all, when the Forest Territory was first established, he got so many gold coins and weapons and equipment for free from General Conseil. Now it might not be a bad idea to use these prisoners to repay a favor.

However, John no longer values ​​many of the weapons there. Although the ores in the forest territory are not as diverse, they also have ores that can be used to forge weapons and armor. John also has a bunch of blacksmith shops that produce various equipment day and night. Now, John can even export some weapons. He doesn't value these second-hand goods at all.

However, John still planned to make some use of the waste and sell this batch of weapons and equipment, except for armor and crossbows, to the people in the territory. This would definitely seem incredible to other lords.

Generally, the lords believed that the peasants took up weapons either because they were conscripted to fight in wars or because they were working as mercenaries. You did neither of these and you wandered around the village with weapons every day. What do you want to do? Are you trying to rebel?

However, John did not have so many concerns. The current population structure of the Forest Territory, except for a part of the local residents, the rest are all farmers recruited by the system. Their loyalty is guaranteed. If anyone dares to rebel, he will be arrested as soon as he leaves the house.

Secondly, the peasants wanted to rebel simply because they could not survive. In this era, it was very easy to keep the peasants in peace. As long as they had enough food to eat and could make some money, that would be even better. John did not have to pay tithes or all kinds of messy levies and taxes. As long as they worked in the fields quietly, they would definitely have some money left after paying taxes.

And even if some peasants wanted to rebel, those soldiers patrolling outside during the day and at night were no pushovers. They had just come down from the battlefield of Balden and were full of blood. If anyone dared to rebel in front of them, he would be courting death. If he could keep his body intact, it would be considered a mercy from the God of Light.

The most important point is that ordinary people in the Forest Territory have weapons privately, and even if we sell these weapons to them, there probably won’t be enough for them to share.

"It's time for lunch, let's see what's available." John looked at his pocket watch and saw that it was almost time for lunch, so he put down his pen, opened the door and went straight to the hall.

After arriving at the hall, John wrapped his napkin around his neck and waited for his meal.

The first thing that came up was something similar to Yorkshire pudding, like jelly. To be honest, John didn't like it very much, but it was the only dessert the kitchen could make at the moment. This was because although this was a forest, there were not many fruit trees. Only a few trees grew wild berries, which were sour and had a low yield. Then there were the berries that grew in various bushes. You could grab a handful of them and the people were sick of eating them.

The main course that followed was much better. The first thing that came up was bread, a kind of white bread made from wheat, filled with various dried fruit creams and sprinkled with white sugar.

Then it was an ordinary grilled steak. John didn't know much about steak, but there was one thing he paid special attention to. He didn't like eating half-cooked or raw meat, so he explicitly requested that all the meat must be fully cooked. After all, in the Middle Ages, if you really got sick from eating, the only options were to take medicine or have your blood drained.

The last dish served was a mushroom soup made with mushrooms, milk, and various spices. John felt it was acceptable.

John originally wanted to replicate Kung Pao Chicken or Fish-flavored Shredded Pork in this world, but he was told that there were very few spicy spices in this world, and most of them were distributed in the spice gardens of the southern countries. If he wanted them, he had to cross the southern battlefield to buy them in the southern countries, so John temporarily gave up the idea.

"Governor John, Governor John!" At this time, the voice outside the door reached John's ears. John, who was concentrating on eating, knew it was Count Milo as soon as he heard it.

Count Milo's troops have stayed in John's territory with their troops since the war, and have been eating and drinking for free in John's territory. Of course, what they took belonged to John, not to the common people. After all, they were still frightened by the previous siege of mercenaries.

However, their arrival still brought some benefits to the territory, because after the victory, Count Milo gave the soldiers a sum of money. Except for those who sent the money to their families, the other soldiers would definitely spend it. All of a sudden, all kinds of stalls and vendors appeared near the military camp, and some taverns also had more business, with Midland soldiers going there to drink from time to time.

"My Lord Earl, do you have any good news? Has His Majesty the King agreed to your triumphant return?" John asked unhappily.

"How do you know?" Count Milo took out the letter and handed it to John, then said:

"Because we won the battle, His Majesty the King is holding a celebration banquet for us. You and I are going to the capital, and there may even be a triumphal ceremony."

After hearing this, John had the dishes on the table removed, and then ordered someone to prepare a basin and a towel. After wiping his hands, he carefully took out the letter and read it. After learning about the banquet, John returned the letter to Count Milo and asked:

"So when do you think we should leave? I think the banquet is less than twenty days away."

"We have to leave in two days at the latest. Once we get to the capital, we have to choose formal clothes, learn etiquette, make friends with various nobles, and deal with a lot of other troubles." Count Milo thought for a while and gave his opinion.

"Then let the soldiers prepare today and we will set off tomorrow morning," said John.

The next morning, John and Count Milo led a large army and left the Forest Governor's Territory and headed towards the royal capital. This time, John brought a thousand knights with him, and left the affairs of the territory to his various officials.

After more than ten days of bumpy ride, they finally arrived at the royal capital, Windham. After reading the documents from Count Milo and John, the soldiers guarding the city immediately let them pass, and the group entered Windham through the center of the city gate. Of course, it was impossible to bring so many people into the royal capital, so most of the soldiers still camped near the royal capital, and were patrolled and supervised by the royal capital's cavalry.

Under the reverent gaze of the people of Windham, John was brought by Count Milo into his residence in the royal capital.

In order to demonstrate their power in front of other nobles, some wealthy nobles would buy a house in the wealthy area of ​​the royal capital, or even better, directly buy a house with a courtyard and a garden.

"Just treat this as your own home. If you need anything, just ask my butler." Count Milo found a gorgeously decorated room in his mansion as John's bedroom, said this and hurried out.

Then in the next few days, John, on the recommendation of Count Milo, talked with some small nobles and businessmen. Needless to say, they were from Count Milo's faction, but those people just wanted to make themselves familiar to John, and they also brought gifts. John accepted the gifts reluctantly for Count Milo's sake.