Throne of the North.

Chapter 80 Ransom and Indemnity

He did not lose to Baron Hatton, but he lost to the most forgotten territorial noble from the Frozen Territory in the North Wind Province.

Roche stared at Ryan. He couldn't imagine how such a shabby place like the Frozen Territory could have such soldiers.

Perhaps the only answer is Earl Clayton.

"Tell me how much money you need to release me."

At this moment, Roche was feeling somewhat desperate. Unrest in the North Wind Province was about to come. He had wanted to concentrate the wealth and resources in the territories of several knights and Baron Hatton, and then sell them for a good price for himself, but now he no longer had the confidence.

In the North Wind Province, the military strength is far greater than the means of political struggle of the nobles. If it were in the south, an aristocrat without an army might be able to deal with a powerful aristocrat, but it is impossible here.

The nobles of the Northern Province have nothing without military strength.

His father saw this very clearly, so he was able to gather an army of hundreds of soldiers, instead of having to recruit serfs who would run away as soon as they went to the battlefield like other nobles.

but now……

Roche stared at Ryan and swore that he would never forget the humiliation of today.

"Cough cough."

Ryan cleared his throat, then laughed and looked at Baron Roche.

"Since Baron Roche is willing to use gold coins to redeem his freedom, that couldn't be better."

"Let's do the math. First, you, the fifth-rank noble of the empire, Baron Roche, how many gold coins are you willing to pay to buy your life and freedom?"

"Five thousand gold coins."

Roach said immediately.

"Five thousand?"

Hatton next to him shouted.

"Roche, are you only worth five thousand? Without fifty thousand gold coins, don't even think about leaving my territory."

"Fifty thousand gold coins, why don't you go and rob Hatton?"

"Humph! Roche, you have a barony, three knight lords, and at least five iron mines. Tell me you can't come up with 50,000 gold coins?"

Hatton was quite familiar with Roach's Crow Ridge, after all, they were old rivals.

"Do you think the gold coins fell from the sky? Ten thousand gold coins, I will pay a maximum of ten thousand gold coins to redeem myself, otherwise I will wait for the Noble Council to come to you."

Roche looked at Ryan. After all, he lost to the Baron of the Frozen Territory.

Ryan nodded and said:
"Well, Baron Roche will pay each of our two barons 10,000 gold coins to redeem his freedom."

"I only said ten thousand." Roche was still roaring, his heart bleeding.

Ryan looked at Roche and said with a smile:
"Ten thousand in total? With this amount of gold coins, why don't I go to Crow Ridge myself? I think I'll have everything by then. What do you think, Baron Roche?"

Ryan's words silenced Roche. Looking at the other party's reaction, Ryan continued:

"Then, it's your soldiers, Baron Roach, who will be next. We have captured a total of 560 soldiers from Crow Ridge. Each soldier is a precious treasure, at least 30 gold coins per person."

"Thirty? Most of them are slaves. Thirty gold coins for one slave, what are you thinking?"

Ryan folded his hands.

"How come I didn't know there were slaves there? You know, on the battlefield, they were all warriors who took up arms."

"Impossible. The maximum amount for a serf is ten gold coins, while other soldiers can get twenty-five coins each. This is the rule among nobles."

After hearing what Roche said, Ryan and Hatton looked at each other, and the latter nodded. "Okay, then that's nine thousand three hundred gold coins, rounding it up to nine thousand five hundred gold coins."

Hearing Ryan and the other man being so easy to talk to, Roach suddenly had a bad thought in his heart. He reacted and looked at Ryan.

"My...my knights...where are they?"

"Them? None of them survived."

Hearing this answer, Roche felt dizzy.

"I...you..."

Roach stared at Ryan's handsome face, his fingers turning white from pinching.

"And Knight Watt, he is your lord. Since your own ransom is ten thousand, then for this lord, giving us five thousand each is not too much, right?"

Ryan said, looking at the desperate Baron Roche, who was still immersed in the outcome of the annihilation of his cavalry, and silently accepted Ryan's proposal.

"Then the next issue is the compensation for our two nobles."

Ryan said as both Roach and Hatton's eyes widened.

"besides?"

"besides!"

Ryan looked at Baron Roche, somewhat puzzled.

"What, is it weird?"

"I was originally a guest in Mr. Hatton's territory, but suddenly, your lord, Knight Water, came with a large group of people to plunder Mr. Hatton's wealth. Then you came with a huge army. This is a war, an invasion of territory. According to the rules of the nobility, we have unlimited rights to defend ourselves."

"You started the war, but you don't get to choose how it ends."

“If there is no war reparations, then when will the war end?”

"Baron Roche is a noble. He wouldn't be so naive as to think that we don't have the strength to continue this war, right?"

Hatton echoed excitedly:
"That's right, Roche. You were the ones who started the war. If there is no war compensation, it means the war is not over yet. The war between Crow Territory and Shenma Territory will continue."

Ryan looked at Baron Roche and nodded.

"The damage and impact caused by war need to be smoothed out with gold coins."

"Then how much do you want?!"

Baron Roche stared at Ryan's face. He used to think that this black-haired, red-eyed boy from the Clayton family was a symbol of nobility, but now he just felt that it was the face of a devil.

"In a word, the damage caused by this war will cost at least 100,000 gold coins."

Ryan said that any redemption of prisoners could not compare to the reparations for the war itself.

"One hundred thousand gold coins, not a single coin less."

Hatton's eyes were shining and he said with great excitement.

"One hundred thousand gold coins? That's absolutely impossible. Fifty thousand at most."

Ryan interrupted Roche and said:
"Baron Roche, I think you haven't realized your position yet. One hundred thousand gold coins is a number that cannot be bargained for. Crow Ridge cannot provide that much. We can use food or iron ore and wrought iron to supplement it. We can even pay it off by the end of this year."

"There is no room for bargaining for the loser in war reparations. In this case, you are no longer a noble, but a loser."

Ryan said, causing all the color to drain from Roach's face.

(End of this chapter)