Warlord: King of All Clans

Back at Isenpol, Rigolav advised: "You should consider my suggestion."

"I'll keep all the fifteen knight collars for you, but if you don't share them out, people will gossip about you sooner or later."

Leo said helplessly: "Can't we just divide it up? Wouldn't it be better to just let the Lord's Mansion take care of it and manage it in a unified way?"

Rigolav snorted coldly, "You're dreaming. You want to change the rules that have been in place for hundreds of years? Who will obey you then?"

Fearing that Leo, a commoner, would not know the rules, Rigolav patiently explained to him, "The corner flag system in the North has been in operation for hundreds of years. As the saying goes, those in the city belong to the earl, and those outside the city belong to the knight. This is not just a casual saying."

"The land outside the city was snatched from foreign tribes by the knights and pioneers. It was developed bit by bit. Can the Earl take it back just like that?"

"The Lord's Mansion has already taken control of the city. At most, it owns some manors and farmland in the suburbs. If it touches the knights' corner flags, who would be willing to be loyal to it?"

Leo was silent for a while, then asked, "How did the square and corner flags of the North come from?"

Rigolav was educated, so he started to tell stories. "That's a bit far-fetched..."

The corner flag system of the North originated from the legion system of the Empire.

Seven hundred years ago, the Northern Clans were incorporated into the glorious Orlantis Empire. The expeditionary corps of the empire's ten earls entered the North, helping the Northern Clans to attack the north bank of the Anzeno River and drive the orcs into the northern snowfields.

During the heyday of the Imperial Legion, each soldier was an elite soldier with heavy armor, and there were countless armored cavalrymen. Behind them were a large number of craftsmen and mages who formed an auxiliary corps, providing the main legion with large-scale war weapons and extraordinary combat power.

Such a legion may seem small in number, but its combat effectiveness is extremely strong.

The Earl's Legion system was undoubtedly superior to the clan armed forces and was quickly absorbed by the northern clans.

The earl's legion has a full strength of more than 6,000 people. The earl himself serves as the legion commander. The legion is divided into six square flag battalions. The first square flag is his own Zhili troops, and the captains of the remaining five battalions are barons under his name.

The centurion under the brigade is the corner flag knight.

The Imperial Expeditionary Force entered the North not just to help, they also came to occupy the land.

After the Imperial Expeditionary Corps expelled the aliens from a piece of land, it would build a permanent stone legion camp, and then send its corner flags out of the city to open up the land and grow food to reduce the logistical pressure on the expeditionary corps.

After hundreds of years of evolution, these permanent legion camps became new northern cities.

The lands opened up by their knights became the original corner flag territories.

Some earls in the south who had gained a foothold began to grant barons to guard this remote enclave for themselves.

However, due to different cultural traditions, the northern kings who were enthroned as imperial earls were unwilling to divide up the land in their hands, so the northern earldom only had the non-hereditary Corner Banner Knights.

However, due to the resistance of the knight class, although the count had the right to take back the Corner Flag Territory, he could not keep it for himself and could only continue to distribute it to other knight families.

These knights, that is, the chiefs of all sizes under the kings, were already very violent because they did not receive the hereditary titles of the empire. Many clans chose to rebel or become savages.

For example, the Lavades and Basakas living near the Wolf-Driving Plains, their ancestors were either rebelling or wandering, and there has never been any nobles.

In this way, seven hundred years passed, and the Northern Corner Flag System, the product of the struggle between the earls representing the ruling class and the knights representing the landlord class, stabilized.

Five hundred years ago, at the command of the emperor of the empire, the human armies in the north and south rushed to the west and conquered the nomadic peoples in the west in one fell swoop.

But not many people from the Southern Territory eventually returned to the Northern Territory, and the Northern Territory was still dominated by people from the Northern Territory.

The viscounts and baronies left behind by the people of the southern border were also gradually annexed over the past seven hundred years. Now, only the seven barons of the northern border remain.

Two hundred years ago, the last Viscount of the Southern Territory in the North sold all his lands to Count Gustav next door, and then returned to his warm and comfortable hometown in the South.

After listening to Rigolav's story, Leo concluded: "To put it bluntly, the corner flag system in the North is a deformed product between feudal separatism and centralization. As rulers, they naturally pursue centralization, and as landlords, the knight lords only want to maintain feudal separatism. The kings of the North are unwilling to divide the land into pieces, but the knights under their names are also unwilling to hand over power."

When Rigolav heard Leo's summary, he suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly, "That's right!"

There were no professional schools or books to teach about this kind of change in the political system in that era, and Rigolav was able to make a general summary based on his years of experience.

Leo summed it up in a few words, which immediately made Rigolav feel like he had read ten more years of books.

Rigolav continued, "That's why I advise you to divide the land quickly. Now with Count Hermann's covenant, it's even more legitimate. Instead of giving it to an unfamiliar knight family, it's better to assign it to the extraordinary knights in your hands. At least in the next few decades, these lands will still belong to you, Hewan."

"But don't even think about taking it for yourself. Not to mention the knights of Isenbol, I find it hard to support you."

Leo had been thinking about this for a few days, and nodded hesitantly, "Alright, fifteen knight collars, I can take both the Gale Knight and the Rose Knight in my hands."

But Leo's next sentence made Rigolav feel relieved again.

“But I confer titles on people, not on land.”

Rigolav knew that Leo was going to do something weird again, but now he no longer regarded Leo as a jerk. Hearing this, he asked seriously, "What do you mean?"

Leo laughed, then changed the subject and asked, "Do you know what a company is?"

"Of course I know. These are things from the southerners. There are only caravans and guilds in the north," Rigolav nodded and looked at Leo and said, "Things from the southerners won't work in the north and will easily lead to hostility."

Leo stood on the coffee table and announced, "I don't care! I will set up the River Bay Joint Development Company, act as the agent for the management of the Corner Flag Territory, establish an insurance system, and implement a drought- and flood-proof income guarantee so that the knights will no longer have to worry about the consequences."

"Go down! Well, keep talking."

"The fiefdom system of the empire is to protect the knights' horses, armor and soldiers, right? But look at how poor the land in the north is. It can't support the noble knights of the corner flags at all. They can only condescend to take their warriors out to plunder to supplement their family income."

"This is too difficult. Who would want to go out and rob? It's not in line with tradition!"

Rigolav had to correct his yuppie slang, "It's not decent, it's still very traditional."

"Yes, it's outrageous!" Leo calculated for Rigolav, "A corner flag territory covers thousands of acres, with at least a thousand acres of arable land. If there are no minerals, the annual output, minus the consumption of the people and the taxes of the great lord, will only leave less than 20 gold coins for the knights, enough to train one regular soldier."

"Many knights with corner flags don't even have ten regular soldiers. They have a bunch of conscripts and militiamen, and they have to borrow money and armor to fight."

"I will now give them a minimum of 20 gold coins for each corner flag, and they no longer need to bear the cost of arming their soldiers."

Rigolav realized the seriousness of the problem. This was going to cut off the roots of the corner flag system. He stood up and said seriously, "You sound good, but few corner flag knights will agree with you!"

Leo said shamelessly, "But all the knights I have agree."

"Other people's objections are useless. Let's try it out with the fifteen knights I have."

(I haven’t returned home yet, so I’ll update alone for a few days!)