Victor climbed to the fourth floor of the lord's mansion, and Nicole, wearing a yellow waist dress, was standing at the door of the conference room.

"My dear, come in quickly." She smiled and stepped forward to hold her sweetheart's arm and push open the iron oak door. "My lady is preparing to send someone to find you. You will be back soon."

In the conference room, the lords and lords of the York family and nine silver knights gathered together. Dozens of pairs of eyes looked at Victor who walked in. Sylvia sat on the main seat and turned her head towards Victor.

She smiled sweetly and said softly: "My dear, please sit next to me."

The conference room on the fourth floor of Silver Moon Manor is different from the traditional lord's hall.

The lord's hall is similar to a classroom. The great lord sits on the throne, with the lord's wife on his right hand and the first heir of the family on his left. Opposite the throne are tables for three people, representing the positions of the vassal lord, his wife and the heir.

This conference room is modeled after a modern conference room. There is an oval mahogany table in the middle, which can seat 40 people. There is a circle of cowhide sofas and chairs around the table. This layout is friendly and easy-going, but it cannot reflect the family.

The authority of the leader means that if it violates the rules of etiquette, it will not be considered a formal occasion.

However, Victor didn't want to see the Duke of York and Sylvia sitting together, which made him feel awkward. Of course, Embisse York was also unwilling to stay by Sylvia's side. The Divine Knight always disliked her.

In the form of mental coercion, the signal of "Don't come close to me" is clearly shown. It is difficult for mortals to resist this invisible pressure. Once Eunbise comes close to Sylvia, he will be covered in cold sweat and feel like he is sitting on pins and needles.

Victor sat down next to Sylvia and saw Embisse and Katerina on the opposite side of the conference table. People around him turned a blind eye to it, as if he was the Duke of the York family. Victor couldn't help but feel a little bit

I felt dumbfounded. After careful observation, I found that there was something strange about the seating arrangement in the conference room.

The right-hand men of the Duke of York and Lady Catalina are the Grand Knight Bruce and Trisly’s brother, Viscount Raven respectively. Behind them are the four baron lords. They have one thing in common - they are all newly canonized vassal lords.

He relies heavily on the Duke's support and can be regarded as a direct descendant of Eunbi Se.

Next are the high knights Viscount Giris and Viscount Metrolo. Their territories protect the territory directly under the duke. The two of them take turns guarding the central fortress, and they have a closer relationship with Enbiser.

Then there are Viscount Hanas and Viscount Walter, these two high knights once served the two earls of the three eastern provinces. After their respective lords were hanged by Neovist on charges of treason, they accepted Sylvia's offer.

Recruit, swear allegiance, and become vassal lords of the York family. Their position is exactly in the middle of the conference table.

Later, the four great knights, Viscount Fred, Lady Odell, Earl Terlanden and Lady Ulena, sat opposite each other. They are the younger brothers and cousins ​​of the Duke of York. In terms of strength, bloodline, and...

The inheritance rights are enough to challenge the status of Eunbi Se and Katerina.

Finally, there are the think tank members of Rose Manor, Nicole, guardian knight Trishley, Victor and Sylvia.

If you look at it from the other side, the positions of Enbiser and Catalina are the main seats, and they are arranged according to their distance and proximity. Looking at it from the front, Rose Manor arranges the seats according to the strength of the vassal lords.

Victor thought about it carefully and found that Sylvia's deprivation of Enbither's right to freely enter and exit Rose Manor occurred after Catalina was promoted to Grand Knight. In other words, regardless of Victor's existence, Sylvia

It is necessary to let Caterina take over the duties of the duchess, so that the Rose Manor can escape from the confines of the duchess's residence and become the highest authority of the York family.

When Embiser was weak, Sylvia had to support him. Bruce and Catalina stepped into the silver field one after another. When Embiser's lineage became full-fledged, she got rid of the role of duchess and exercised the authority of the family guardian.

The Spiritual Knights put too much pressure on the vassal lords. Only by acting as an objective and fair guardian can Sylvia establish her own authority and ensure the unity and stability of the York family.

In fact, Sylvia is now the Queen of Centaur Hills, Trishley and Nicole are the heads of the Queen's bodyguards, Victor is the Interior Minister, Embisse is the heir to the throne, and the others are the Queen's lords.

This is a royal meeting of the Queen of Roses!

Victor propped up his chin and stared at Sylvia's perfect profile face, thinking: I just slept with a queen after I traveled through time... Or did I get the favor of the queen just after I came over?

Sylvia has a keen mind and a delicate mind. She knows the psychological activities of her close lover very well. She quietly crushed Victor's instep with her high heels and raised her eyebrows and said: "My dear, His Majesty the Pope wants to talk to you." What?" The half-smiling look seemed to say: Wait for me, I will take care of you later.

Victor pursed his lips and recounted the conversation with Clement in detail.

"The Pope supports my mercenary army. He made clear three conditions. First, try to resettle the refugees; second, the mercenary army and the clergy will not participate in the war between the lords; third, the stewards, deacons and Officers must be trained as trainee chaplains in school," he concluded.

Sylvia thought for a moment and asked: "From the perspective of the Randall family, what do you think of the Pope's proposal?"

Victor pondered and said: "I have two choices, continue to absorb refugees and expand the mercenary army. Or absorb refugees to a limited extent, convert existing refugee families into citizen families in Randall Territory, and concentrate on cultivating the next generation. Soldier. I prefer the second option."

"First of all, absorbing a large number of refugees will challenge the administrative system of the Randall Territory and increase resettlement costs. Secondly, the training time for the soldiers hired by the refugees is too short, and it is difficult to guarantee combat effectiveness and loyalty, and they are particularly easy to infiltrate. Finally, the hiring of soldiers If they are not strong enough, their casualties will be huge. If many people die, I will be very passive and may even be in danger of being sanctioned by the church."

"The Pope solved most of the problems for me. He arranged for trainee priests to open schools to help me transform refugees and train soldiers and deacons. Combat priests cooperated with mercenaries to fight, which improved the soldiers' combat effectiveness, courage and survivability to a certain extent. The combat priests were all involved, and the church has no reason to hold me accountable. In other words, the sacrifices of mercenaries in the pioneering war were reasonable and legal."

"The most important thing is that I have no choice." Victor shrugged, spread his hands and said: "If I reject the Pope's proposal, it means that the church retains the right to hold accountable, and the priest only needs a little encouragement, then I can only disband the mercenary army, but I have too few vassal soldiers. Without the mercenaries, how can I defend the southern fortress? Let alone open up the southern continent." He turned his head and said: "My dear, I can only agree. Conditions of the Pope’s Majesty.”

Sylvia nodded slightly and asked: "Then do you know Clement's intention?"

"Elusive..." Victor shook his head and said, "I think you must have the answer here."

Sylvia nodded and said: "I received news that Thane from the southern diocese of the kingdom will succeed Lazarus as the cardinal archbishop of Cambis. Thain is a confidant of Patriarch Tamor, and Tamol

He once competed with Clement for the papal throne."

"The relationship within the church is complicated. The three chief priests of the Cardinals are Clement, Tamor and Frides. Frides relies on the Knights of Radiance to control the academic affairs of the Sasanian Empire and Wharton Prairie.

The red archbishops of the Kingdom of Dodo and the Kingdom of Sus are all close associates of Tamor. The kingdoms of Naville, Gambis and Borui belong to Clement’s sphere of influence." Sylvia paused and said: "Now

, the academic affairs of Gumbis are about to fall into the hands of Tamor, do you have any thoughts about this? "

Victor frowned and murmured: "Pero is also a popular candidate for Cardinal Gambis. He serves as the bishop of Centaur Hill, so he lost the opportunity to put on the red robe...Why did Clement let him

His disciples abandon the Archdiocese of Cambis?"

Sylvia chuckled lightly, her blue eyes shining with wisdom: "The next twenty years will be a time for the lords to promote new agriculture and animal husbandry, accumulate strength, and integrate internal and external affairs. Clement's judgment was correct, the new agriculture and animal husbandry

Once successful, the lords and vassals will expel the homeless workers and make room for the families of their subjects."

"The Sasan Empire has been resisting the orcs in the northern wilderness. The Radiant Knights shoulder the responsibility of eliminating the orc threat and regaining the homeland of mankind. They use the migration of refugees to integrate the internal forces of the empire. No one can blame them. If I guessed correctly.

, Frieders will leave the Prairie diocese to Clement so that he can take over the burden of resettling the refugees."

"As a contemporary pope, Clement has the unshirkable responsibility to resettle the refugees. The question is, how to resettle them?"

"There is land in the Centaurs Hills. The Nahuel Kingdom is building a large-scale water conservancy project, which requires a large number of hired workers. There is also the potential to develop the land. However, it is not in our interests to resettle a large number of refugees."

"We need loyal people and brave soldiers. Twenty years is enough time for the people to multiply and grow, so why should we accept weak refugees?" Sylvia looked around the audience and said calmly: "Almost all the lords

They all think so. Clement obviously has a different opinion."

"Whoever develops, owns it. If we follow the traditional development method, we can't compete with the August family, and Naville can't compete with the Sasan Empire. And Victor's mercenary army may be an opportunity for us to rise in the process of development."

"In the same way, if the Sasanian Empire takes the lead in development, the Radiant Knights can summon more clergy, and Frieders's reputation will rise greatly. He will definitely regain control of the Cardinals on behalf of the Radiant Knights.

Become the new pope. But if the Kingdom of Nahuel and the Centaur Hills use mercenaries to take the lead in development, the church's resources will be biased towards Clement, and this is his only chance to turn defeat into victory."

"Resettling the refugees is the overall situation, and expanding the territory is the general trend. The overall situation is on Clement's side, and the Radiant Knights must bow to the Cardinals."

"Our original strategy was to expand the Fang Legion, form a pioneer militia, and recruit refugees to serve as transport troops. With the Tusk Legion as the main combat force, the pioneer militia as the main defense force, the refugee troops are responsible for transporting supplies, building defense facilities, and developing farmland.

Logistics tasks. Now, Clement has given us a second option, training a refugee mercenary army and allowing mercenary soldiers to participate in combat missions."

Sylvia stood up and said with stern eyes: "Everyone, this is a major strategic decision. I need to fully listen to different opinions!"

Everyone was deep in thought and no one spoke. After a while, Viscount Fred took the lead in breaking the silence in the conference room.

"Since the interests of the Pope and ours are consistent, we can abandon the conservative heavy army strategy and thoroughly implement Viscount Randall's grand army strategy." He smiled at Victor and continued: "Everyone at the military parade in Pinghu Town

You have all seen that the mercenary soldiers have strict discipline and high morale. Although their combat effectiveness is somewhat weaker, the heroic skills displayed by His Majesty the Pope make up for this shortcoming. It is an army that can be used in actual combat. Please pay attention to two points.

The mercenary corps has only been established for two and a half years, and they still have a lot of room for improvement. Secondly, the mercenary corps has a large number of people, more than 2,000 people, which is almost half of the Fang Legion's strength, and it can continue to expand!

"

"Orc monsters do not accept surrender, and the pioneering war is very cruel. To us, every vassal soldier of the family is precious. If there are refugee mercenary legions as assistants, the number of casualties of the vassal soldiers will be greatly reduced. Actual combat requires training elites

The best means for soldiers, the Pope encourages us to use land to canonize elite mercenary soldiers, which means that the pioneering war will not damage the family's vitality, and we will become stronger as we fight!"

Viscount Fred slammed the table, instantly igniting the enthusiasm of the participants. Everyone was whispering and discussing.

The great knight Ulena gracefully lifted the hair that fell on her chest to her shoulders, lightly opened her red lips and said: "My uncle, Baron Cardia, has been fostered by the Asshai family in the Kingdom of Borui since he was a child. He once participated in

The pioneering war of Pioneer Fort. Uncle Cardia believes that the reason why the Kingdom of Borui failed to develop the southern continent is that the number of troops and craftsmen invested was too small."

"The Borui people made full preparations before exploring the southern continent. Their scouts detected a lake with rich water and soil, and then mobilized 70,000 troops. This is almost the mobilization limit of the Borui Kingdom. If more than this number is exceeded, the seven major forces will be defeated.

The production of Liandao came to a halt. The Borui people raided the barbarian settlements near the lake. The barbarians suffered heavy casualties and fled in all directions. The Borui people took over the land in one fell swoop and began to build a vanguard fortress and wipe out the scattered small barbarian tribes around them.

No powerful opponent was encountered. The Pioneer Fortress gradually took shape. Just as the Borui army concentrated their efforts to build the South Bank Pier, one hundred thousand barbarians swarmed in. They cut off the connection between the South Bank Pier and the Pioneer Fortress, and the main force of the Borui people had to

While the ships were evacuating, the 6,000 elites stationed at the Pioneer Fort were besieged by the barbarians and became a lone army. They held on for a year and a half before being rescued by the church coalition forces. There were less than 3,000 survivors, and the total number of casualties in the Kingdom of Borui exceeded 30,000."

"Facts have proved that the barbarians in the southern continent have outstanding wisdom and strong individual strength. They took advantage of the pressure from foreign enemies to integrate large and small tribes first, and temporarily stopped fighting with the human army. They waited for humans to build fortresses, accumulate supplies, and improve production facilities.

Launch a fierce attack, drive the main human force down the river, reverse the tide of the battle, then besiege the Pioneer Fort, and rob the Borui people of supplies and production facilities."

"If the Borui people mobilized 150,000 troops and built two fortresses at the horns of each other, they might have gained a firm foothold in the southern continent. Now, relying on the vanguard fortress and production facilities, the barbarians have formed a powerful barbarian kingdom with a population of more than

One million, directly threatening the security of Borui's seven major islands."

"So, when we face foreign opponents, we must show decisive force and never give them any chance to breathe!"

"We need to implement a Grand Army strategy."

Victor stood up from his seat, stroked his chest and saluted: "I'm sorry, Countess Terlandon, please allow me to interrupt you. I have a question here."

Ulena's eyes flashed, she looked at Victor with interest, and said with a sweet smile: "Your Excellency Randall, please ask."

Nicole turned her face and rolled her eyes behind Ulena's back. Any high-level female knight who tried to pursue Victor was her love rival. Trisly glared at Nicole and then at Victor.

.Nicole's jealousy makes her, a teacher, feel embarrassed, but her beloved disciple became so jealous because he was affected by the elemental sea, but in the final analysis, it was Victor's fault.

Victor ignored the anger and jealousy of the master and apprentice, and asked politely: "The barbarians once intermarried with humans. Have there been any dialogue between the Borui and the southern barbarians?"

Wu Liena smiled faintly and said: "The barbarians once intermarried with humans, and there was an unsolvable blood feud. Not to mention that we want to seize the land of the Southern Continent..." When she said this, she frowned her slender eyebrows, showing a thoughtful expression.

Sylvia said to Victor in surprise: "Are you worried that the Borui people will tip off the barbarian kingdom and hinder us?"

If you can intermarry, you can communicate, and communication represents all possibilities. Facing a powerful barbarian kingdom, the Borui people's plan to open up the southern continent is blocked. They can spread the news of Gambis going south and disperse the strength of the barbarian kingdom so that they can also
To be continued...