Knight Lords: Infinite Simulation and the Path of Light

Chapter 214 Military Glory
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
As the bell rang, the Imperial Politics class finally came to an end. It was Havent's least favorite class, and if it weren't for Ms. Louise's insistence on enrolling him, Havent felt he would never have chosen this course in his life.

After all, it's quite boring to listen to an old man with gray hair analyze step by step why a matter that has already been settled has become the way it is. Although the old scholar spoke very seriously, and the people below may have listened very attentively, Haven was clearly not the kind of good student who listened attentively.

After all, there's a saying that goes something like this: the only lesson humanity learns from history is that it never learns anything. When each new generation of people encounters a similar situation, their first thought is, "If I were Lao Tzu, I would have done this or that."

When they realize that things are hopeless, they simply die without hesitation. Some cultured people will even say a few polite words to ensure that they can be remembered in history. Of course, such people are usually called heroes, pioneers, or revolutionaries.

Of course, many more are simply unwilling to take the risks. When things go wrong, they simply pack up and walk away, leaving the suffering to the working class. There are far too many people like this. After all, the idea of ​​making the common people suffer first is always effective, no matter the time or place.

After more than two hours of agonizing waiting, get out of class finally ended. Just as Haven was considering what to do next, Heman's voice came from behind.

"Hey, Haven, over here, over here~~"

He-Man, dressed in expensive clothes, looked like he had just finished class. He was holding a thick blue book with his short, stubby fingers, which looked a bit comical.

"Want to have dinner together later?"

He-Man nudged Haven with his round shoulder as he approached. As his best friend now, He-Man felt that knowing Haven was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to him.

Since becoming acquainted with Haven, the sons of nobles from other regions have stopped causing him trouble. In fact, thanks to their relationship, and through Haven's introduction, the Hendry Merchant Guild successfully established itself in the North, which was a great breakthrough for the Hendry Merchant Guild.

It's important to understand that the North is a military region, and the vast majority of its market share is controlled by the Northern nobles. This means that any merchant guild that wants to establish itself in the North has to pay a hefty price to secure a partnership. Even after paying the price, due to numerous restrictions, the guilds still find it difficult to have much room to maneuver in the North.

However, this situation improved significantly with the introduction of many new policies in the North. The Hendry Merchant Guild, to which the Heman family belonged, became the first to venture into the North after receiving a letter of recommendation from Havent. Naturally, the benefits they reaped exceeded those of other merchant guilds that later moved in more slowly.

This has led to He-Man's father praising him a lot lately. You see, while the North may not be as wealthy as the southern provinces, that's only relative. For all merchants, the North is a treasure trove waiting to be discovered. Whoever can take over a large portion of the North can reap enormous and incalculable profits.

Moreover, compared to other provinces, the North has a huge advantage that other places cannot match: military merit.

It's important to know that over a thousand years ago, during the reign of Emperor Spencer I, the rule of diminishing nobility after three generations was established. Although subsequent emperors supplemented this rule with various forms of nobility titles, such as the special five-generation system, the fixed-ranking system, and lifelong hereditary systems, etc., these systems have been developed.
However, the main setting still uses the rule of diminishing nobility. Over the long years, very few noble families have been able to obtain hereditary status. This rule of diminishing nobility has become a sharp blade hanging over the heads of every noble. The only way to resolve this crisis is to maintain military merit.

During the empire's era of great expansion and war, obtaining military merit was relatively easy. As long as a family had an armed force, they could go to the front lines to fight after reporting to the military and earn military merit to maintain their family's title.

However, as time went by, due to changes in territory management, the pressure of supporting noble private armies, and the empire's foreign policy, obtaining military merits became less easy. This led to the emergence of a new model: selling military merits or having someone else earn them for you.

The empire generally turns a blind eye to such things. As long as there are normal military merits to be returned, the military will not care whether you cut off the head yourself. For all nobles, the best place to earn military merits is the northern border.

Due to the power of the Orc Empire, the Orcs' heads have always been the largest among many other hostile forces; the head of an Orc soldier is equivalent to three Black Swamp Lizardmen's heads and eight Shaman's heads.

Thanks to the existence of the Arma Line, although the orcs fought bravely, their casualty rate was not unacceptable. Moreover, some minor nobles who lacked military strength could choose to serve as second-tier troops and earn average military merits. Although they earned far fewer, they were safer.

Of course, if you are a wealthy noble family, you can also choose to buy military merits directly from the nobles of the North. After all, under the North's title restriction policy, once a certain limit is reached, some nobles in the North can only exchange their abundant military merits for resources.

This harmonious scene lasted for five or six hundred years until the later Mad King era, when this tacit understanding was slowly broken. As the wealthiest southern nobles, without the pressure of military merit, some lords boldly let themselves go, disbanding their private armies and retaining only a small number of personal guards.

For a time, you could even see such a strange sight in the southern provinces: a viscount's territory with a military force of only two hundred men. This seemed unbelievable, but it really happened. There was no external pressure, no internal turmoil, and the territory was located in the heart of the southern provinces. Such conditions made it very easy for this lord to make such a decision.

But if that's all there is to it, there's not much to say. At most, you can only say something like, "This lord is really lucky," or something like that.

Unfortunately, this lord was a shrewd and resourceful businessman. He used the money he had saved to support his army to make business investments. After several successful investments, he continued to purchase military merits, even though the amount of military merits required to rise from viscount to earl was enormous, and the title of earl also required opportunity, since the empire imposed strict restrictions on earls.

But this lord actually got the opportunity he was waiting for. After the count of his main territory was demoted to a first-class viscount due to the defeat in battle and the shrinking of his family, he could no longer meet the empire's hard power requirements for the count's territory. The lord, who seized the opportunity and made a successful move, miraculously led his family from an insignificant second-class viscount to one of the empire's 120 counts.

Later, people learned that the Church was behind this miracle, and that this lord's rise to the rank of earldom was on the eve of the struggle between the royalists and the Church.

With such successful examples emerging, more and more nobles began to aspire to upgrade their family's titles. Leaving aside the leap from viscount to earl, even just being promoted from a third-class viscount to a first-class viscount would significantly enhance the family's strength.

This has led to a surge in the demand for military merit among nobles, but the sheer volume of merit points required and the exorbitant cost of purchasing them are beyond the reach of every noble faction aspiring to advance further.

At this point, the lord who had successfully been promoted to the rank of earl stepped forward and called on everyone to jointly demand that the North lower the price of military merits sold, otherwise he would impose trade restrictions on the North of equal value.

The lords of the North, however, believed that every military merit they sold was earned with the blood of their soldiers, and therefore, they would never lower the price.

As time went on, the conflict between the two sides became increasingly acute, and with the church's instigation behind the scenes, the relationship deteriorated to the point of no return.

Hundreds of years have passed, and after nearly five hundred years of struggle between the royal family and the church, both sides have become the main force of their respective camps. After being subject to trade sanctions and self-imposed restrictions, the North's economic development has been severely restricted, and it has become increasingly dependent on the empire's resource allocation.

Having lost their primary means of purchasing military merit, the nobles, both large and small, who lacked the military merit to maintain the stability of their titles, also faced immense hardship under the pressure of the title reduction law. Countless minor nobles were gradually demoted because they were unable to pay for the military merit required for their titles, and many eventually became wandering knights.

Now, as Havent's influence on the North begins to emerge, the North's biggest selling point has reappeared.

"Eat? Let me think about it, I've been really busy lately~"

"Come on, come on, Havent, I never thought a business could be done so easily, without any operation, advertising, or customer acquisition."

"After I spread the word, people came to me for advice like sharks smelling blood. You have no idea, Haven. Those guys even started threatening me. They said if I didn't go, I felt like I couldn't handle it. The pressure was too much."

Hearing He-Man's words, Haven raised an eyebrow. He had originally only wanted He-Man's family to take the lead in establishing a few alchemy workshops in the North, and the original plan was to cooperate on a shareholding basis.

But after discussing it with his father, Seaman refused, saying that brothers shouldn't talk about such things, and that the Hendry Merchant Guild was willing to build for the North free of charge.

Haven felt this wasn't a good idea, as it would affect the relationship between the brothers. After some consideration, he took out a small portion of the military merits accumulated by the White Lion Legion and gave them to He-Man as a reward. Unexpectedly, He-Man was overjoyed to receive these merits.

For the Hoylund family, a business-driven aristocracy, military merit was extremely important. In the past, it would have taken the Hoylund family a great deal of effort to obtain a batch of military merits to maintain their title.

The military merits Haven has just awarded are enough to ensure that the Hoylund family will not have to worry about the title for the next fifteen years.

In their excitement, the Hoylund family decided to change their strategy, leveraging the relationship between Seaman and Haven to shift their focus to the North. This was a high-stakes gamble for the Hoylund family's future.

It is precisely because of the close cooperation between the two sides that Haven directly entrusted Hyman with the large amount of military merit accumulated by Hyland over the years.

This sudden opportunity left little chubby Heman completely bewildered, keeping him incredibly busy these past two days.

"A threat? Is it that outrageous? I remember telling you that this batch of military merits is enough to directly redeem two marquis titles. Are they really that scarce right now? Is there such a large market demand?"

After listening to the chubby boy's words, Haven was a little confused. After all, this batch of military merits had already taken out a quarter of the White Lion Legion's share, and the resources exchanged would be enough to organize another 1,500-strong White Lion Elite Construct Knights.

"No, my dear boss, of course there's a shortage in the market, but your idea of ​​selling in a distributed, limited-quantity manner isn't quite right."

"Several young masters have already come to us, demanding that we stop selling them in smaller quantities and that they all want to take all the military merits we've distributed."

"I really couldn't take the pressure anymore, so I came to you. If we hadn't run into each other after class today, I would have gone to your house to talk to you."

Hearing the chubby little boy Heman's plea for help, Haven couldn't help but stroke his chin. He had originally just wanted to give the North a five-year plan to boost economic growth and, incidentally, digest the military achievements he had accumulated over time.

After all, development only occurs when the economy is in motion; otherwise, if everyone hoards and hoards things, it will be like a stagnant pool that serves no purpose other than becoming foul.

"Is it that troublesome? Then it's all those families that are contacting you."

The two had already boarded He-Man's latest custom-made magic carriage. It has to be said that the rich know how to enjoy life. Outside, the cold wind was howling, but inside it was warm and cozy, just like summer. There were even two scantily clad girls inside pouring them wine and serving them fruit.

"Whoosh~"

"These people are all quite influential."

A glass of Odame red wine with ice calmed the little chubby boy's restlessness.

Hevent waved his hand at the chubby boy's gesture. This red wine from the southern province was not to Hevent's taste; the sour and astringent flavor, as well as the dry feeling in his mouth after swallowing, were unacceptable to him.

"Let me tell you about a few of the biggest ones."

"The Romanov family and the Constek family of the Eastern Provinces"

……

The Durhamoye family of the Southern Provinces

……

In the capital, there is the Marquis of Ekkana and the Dura family.

......"

Hearing the chubby boy rattle off a long list of noble names like reciting a menu, Haven couldn't help but smack his lips.

"Hi~"

“That was indeed a tricky situation. I’m sorry, Heman, I didn’t think that much about it at the time. I thought it was just a small matter.”

Once the difficulties were voiced, the chubby boy was no longer anxious. After all, he wasn't important enough, while the White Lion Legion was quite formidable.

“It’s alright, it’s alright, Haven.”

"To be honest, it was my carelessness. I should have just traded with a few trustworthy noble families for this kind of thing. There's no need to worry about finding a market for military merits."

"Alright, let's not talk about this between brothers. Let me go see them."

(End of this chapter)