Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

After dealing with the mess in his own territory, John quickly started the construction of his own territory.

First of all, without affecting local production and life, the destroyed rural towns and various castles should be repaired and expanded as quickly as possible.

In addition to obtaining materials locally, some are transported from the forest. If that is not enough, you can buy them from Midland or West Balden.

Thanks to the local unique terrain and natural conditions, both the local planting and animal husbandry industries can develop, and a part of the arable land area can be appropriately expanded.

John estimated that if he wanted to complete all the construction plans by next spring, he would need at least 10,000 people. If it were in the past, John might have considered it, but now...

These cultists have so many good things. John looked at the gold and jewelry and felt that religion is indeed a profitable industry.

At present, the interior of the Earl's Castle has been cleaned up. Since the castle is full of cultists, the soldiers basically massacred the whole city when they came in. At present, the entire castle has been almost completely slaughtered.

"Send out a scouting team to explore the entire territory of the earldom. Make sure all settlements in the territory are under our control. Eliminate all pagans and items that carry pagan symbols. Be annoyed when you see them."

After handing over one task after another to his subordinates, John wandered around the castle.

It can be seen that the former earl put a lot of effort into this castle. In addition to all the defensive facilities, he also hired sculptors to carve some sculptures on it. It's a pity that it was given to a group of cultists.

Walking up to the rooftop of the castle, you can see the outline of the entire castle. Currently, the entire castle only has three walls. The wall at the east gate was built by cultists. The quality is not up to standard and it is not beautiful. John directly ordered people to tear it down and redo it. Now a special person is designing and building drawings based on the design of the other walls.

The flags on the city walls were also replaced with the flag of Midland and the family flag of John's family.

Because John now had his own official territory, he was officially separated from his previous family. From then on, John was no longer introduced with a single name and official title. He could call himself the Count in front of his subordinates and minor nobles, and he could be called Count John from Franche-Comté in front of other kings or grand dukes.

The family has changed, and the flag must also change. John simply painted an eagle with its wings spread on the white flag with a stroke of his brush. However, John's painting skills were really poor, and the eagle looked like a duckling. But it didn't matter at the moment. What was drawn was a design drawing. John could take the design drawing and ask a specialist to revise it, so for now he still used the family flag.

John was thinking this when a soldier suddenly came to report:

"Sir, there is a troop of about 1000 men coming from the east. Judging from the flags, they are from the French King's Hall."

John was shocked when he heard this. First, the King of Midland actually allowed the troops of the King's Office to enter his territory. Second, generally speaking, when the King's Office brought troops, it meant that either there was a problem with you or there was a problem with your territory. Of course, the most important thing was that John had not paid the tithe for a year.

That's right, the governor is in charge of the local finances. Even though it is a territory used for military purposes, tithes still have to be paid. The governor of neighboring Yuda Dordorei is very generous because he has a lot of money. Therefore, the team that comes to collect tithes always comes when Dordorei is besieged, forcing Midlan to abandon the siege after a certain period of time so that a large force can gather in the rear. But John has never paid tithes. He thought, I am so far away from the King's Hall, who can cross the battlefield to collect tithes from me?

The French King's Office is coming today with an army. If you go to greet them, they will definitely ask you for tithes. If you ignore them, they will be offended and will definitely complain to the French King's Office. Don't be excommunicated then. As for silencing them directly, please, if they can't beat the pagans, can't they beat you?

There was no choice but John and his army waited for them not far from the castle. Not long after, a team of soldiers in gorgeous armor appeared in front of John.

When the two sides were about a hundred meters apart, the French King's Hall team stopped. The leading knight rode over with a priest and several knights, stopped a few meters away from John's troops, and said in a solemn voice:

"I am Lusitan, the leader of the Knights of the Sword of Angels of the King's Office and the Inquisitor of the Inquisition. I am here to eliminate heresy under the order of the King's Office."

"I am John, Count of Franche-Comté, Governor of the Forest of Midland, and Master of the Knights of the White Wolf." John returned the greeting, and then wondered who was so wicked as to bring the French King's Hall here.

In the northern part of the earldom, the old priest who was telling stories to little Wala and his group of children suddenly sneezed.

"Who is talking about me again?"

The old priest meant well but ended up with a bad result. He thought John might need manpower for his next attack on the pagans, so he sought help from Balden's old friend. Balden's godfather saw the letter and quickly wrote to Bishop Binsey of West Balden.

Since John actually controls the vast countryside of West Balden, the local priests will vote for Bishop Binsey. Bishop Binsey directly obtains about 50% of the votes in the Balden Kingdom. If something happens to his sponsor at this time, he will definitely not end up well.

After seeing this, Bishop Binsey hurriedly wrote a letter to Archbishop Balden, who then gave the letter directly to the King of France.

After discussion in the French King's Office, they decided to send this knight group. They originally wanted to bring 5,000 people with them, but Midlan did not allow it. So they could only take 1,000 knights with them to check out the battle situation first. If it was unfavorable, they would write back to the French King's Office for help.

"So you are here to fight against the cultists, right?" John asked.

"Yes, please take us there quickly." Lusitan said anxiously.

"Oh, that's easy." So John took them to see the pile of pagan heads that had been burned to charcoal.

"What are you doing?" Lusitan asked.

"As you can see, part of the pagans have been burned to ashes," John answered truthfully.

"The remaining part..."

"Oh, do you see that direction I'm pointing? Over there they are throwing the remaining pagan bodies into the pit and setting it on fire," John said to Lusitan, pointing at the crematorium over there.

"Oh, then please leave some for us so that we can go back and report to the French King's Office." Lusitan saw that the heretics had been eliminated and was very satisfied with John's handling of the matter.

"Since you have come from afar, why don't you eat something here before leaving?"

"Then I would rather obey your orders than be respectful."

So John held a banquet for the Knights of the Sword of Angels in the castle. At the banquet, John and Lusitan discussed a series of issues including military and religion. John expressed zero tolerance for cultists and said they would be executed wherever they were caught, which won unanimous agreement from everyone present.

"It's such a pleasure to talk to you. Many lords shelter pagans and cultists for the sake of profit. There are very few people like you who have a firm belief in the Lord. And this wine is quite sweet." Lusitan exclaimed while drinking grape juice.

"No, no, you're too kind. I was just doing my duty," John said holding a glass of grape juice.

"Oh, by the way, there is one last thing. I need to communicate with the local bishop. Please bring the bishop here. The report needs the signature of the local bishop." Lusitan said.

"Ah? Bishop? Captain Lusitan, to be honest, I was just conferred the title of local count not long ago." John suddenly became nervous.

"Oh, then I will go back to the French King's Office to report and ask the French King's Office to appoint a bishop." Count Lusitan said after hearing this.

"Thank you for your hard work." John said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Also, remember to prepare this year's tithes. It will be time to collect tithes when the bishop arrives. Then you can just deliver the tithes directly to the cathedral in Windham."