OBS Chapter 299 Looking for
Chapter 299 Looking for
"Another wasted day."
John sat with his butt on the chair and his legs on the table. He had just finished thinking about the social relations in the Kingdom of Lana.
The reason why he thought about this was because the White Wolf Knight who went to Basque to transport equipment came back and told John about his mercenaries beating up local councillors. He also told John that in the eyes of the Basque ruling class, he, the governor, did not have as much power as their court ministers.
This left John completely puzzled. He had won the battle and seized the land, so were these people blind or just pretending not to see? The display of military force was so clear, so why did they still think that a minister who had no land or soldiers of his own was better than the noble lord who had both land and soldiers?
However, combining the map of the Lana Kingdom and the information he had collected, John quickly figured out the reason.
The territory of the Kingdom of Lana is basically the same as the Southwest Governorate under John's jurisdiction, which is about the size of four ordinary earldoms of Midland.
But there are about twenty earls in the Kingdom of Lana. After leaving out the free cities and royal territories, the lands governed by the earls of Lana are the same as those governed by the Viscount and Baron of Midland, and so on. For the knights, having a village is considered good enough. As for castles, manors and the like, they have no money and no one to build them.
In this case, comparing Father John's territory with those of the nobles of Lana, the difference is enough for Father to become a baron.
The basic output of a feudal lord mainly depends on the crop yield within the territory. A small territory means a small area of arable land, and a small area of arable land means a small grain yield. The grain yield directly determines how many people the territory can support, and the number of people in the territory ultimately determines how many people the lord can mobilize when going to war.
According to John's estimation, the number of retainers owned by an Earl of Lana plus the mobilized militia in the territory is only about a thousand people at most. The lowest number of knights that can be mobilized is about ten to twenty people. The maximum number of soldiers in an earldom is about two thousand.
In other words, the feudal lords of the entire Lana Kingdom could only raise an army of 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers, and the quality of the army was also uneven. If the battle was fought on the plains, John could lead his army to defeat them in one go.
But it is obvious that the main force of the Lana Kingdom cannot be this group of people. As a country with a tortuous coastline and many excellent ports, maritime trade is the main theme of this country. Along with the maritime goods, there are also mercenaries from various countries.
There are many countries on the Southwest Peninsula, but there are only so many people. Mitlan and Yuda also recruited a lot of mercenaries to fight. These small countries do not have the abundant manpower of big countries, so they can only hire mercenaries to help them fight. So that on the battlefield, except for the guards of the main general, the rest are all mercenaries. This kind of war that only costs a little money and does not waste manpower has always been the mainstream fighting method of the small countries on the peninsula.
The Kingdom of Lana is no exception. Almost half of the king's standing army is based on mercenary groups.
The leaders of these mercenary groups signed employment contracts with King Lana, and every time the military pay was to be distributed, it was directly handed over to the leaders of the mercenary groups for them to distribute on their behalf.
Apart from the king, the second largest group of people who hired mercenaries were the ministers. In addition to the official positions given to them by the king, they also participated in King Lana's commercial trade and made huge profits from it.
In order to protect their cash cows, these people usually hire several mercenary groups to carry out security work. The combat capabilities of these mercenaries are far higher than those militiamen who have just put down their hoes.
Of course, the nobles also wanted to participate in trade, but those important ports were controlled by the Free City. The nobles could only sell the resources of their own territories to the local chamber of commerce in exchange for the lowest profit. The ministers could organize maritime trade with the Free City, process Lana's local resources such as mahogany into commodities and sell them to various countries at high prices.
In this way, in the eyes of outsiders, the ministers have both money and soldiers, and are much stronger than the lords. That is why some people think that Hoss is stronger than John.
John suddenly thought that the Midland Navy had already blocked Lana's northern sea routes, and Lana's maritime trade would certainly be hit hard. Lana's ministers and Free City councilors would definitely not be very nice to him.
"grown ups."
At this time, Wesker placed a stack of parchment on John's desk.
"These are the intel you requested on some disgraced officials in the Basque Country."
John looked through the information of these people. Most of them were Basque parliamentarians or senior military officials in peacetime, but they were suppressed during the war because of their stance. After Hoss entered the city, the situation remained the same, and eventually these people lost their last chance to turn the tables.
"So, which of these people do you think is easiest to succeed?"
John asked Wesker. As a spy, Wesker was very skilled in intelligence analysis and selecting informants. John decided that it would be better to ask a professional about this matter.
"Sir, please take a look at this guy called Paulino. I think he's okay."
Wesker picked out a character report and handed it to John. As John read it carefully, he continued to explain:
"This Paulino is a native of Basque Country. His father was once a Basque councillor. However, during the war between Lana and Midlan, his father chose the wrong side and was assassinated by the dignitaries of Lana. Without his backer, he had no choice but to join the Basque army. Now he is a centurion of the Basque City Guard."
"Another point is that Paulino's father had a group of old subordinates before his death. After being liquidated, Paulino still has a very close relationship with these people. It is very likely that he wants to return to the power center of Basque. If we can support him to work for us, it is equivalent to supporting a force, which can save you a lot of time."
"Um……"
John thought about it carefully for a while, and finally made a decision:
"Please go to Basque Country and contact this Paulino to see what his attitude towards us is."
The Basque Country in the rain was like a foggy city, with fog everywhere, so much so that both pedestrians and carriages on the streets slowed down.
In a pub, a man watched the rain outside and drank the rye beer in his glass.
"Sir, can I sit across from you at the table?"
A strange voice sounded beside his ears. He looked up and found a middle-aged man who was wet all over speaking to him. He looked around and nodded in agreement when he found that the other tables were full.
"Thank you."
The middle-aged man thanked him and sat down opposite him. The bartender next to him came forward and asked:
"Sir, here is the menu."
The middle-aged man flipped through the menu, took out a few silver coins from his pocket, handed them to the waiter and asked:
"Is there anything big happening in Basque this month? I haven't been back for a long time, and I feel like the city seems a little different."
The waiter put away the silver coins and said with a smile:
"I'm not happy with what you said. Recently, there have been a lot of big events. First, the Midland army entered the city, then Councillor Sander was beaten up by a group of people, and finally yesterday, the city council held a meeting and said they wanted to sue Paulino for malfeasance."
Unexpectedly, after the waiter said this, the man opposite the middle-aged man sighed, then put some silver and copper coins on the table and prepared to leave.
"Please wait a moment, Master Paulino."
Paulino looked back at the middle-aged man. As far as he could remember, he seemed to have no impression of this man at all.
"Can you take a step to speak?"