Chapter 86: Chapter 77: Someone Actually Dares to Provoke Me?
Henry wasn’t exactly ecstatic about the discovery of the silver mine, but he was quite pleased. For his fiefdom, it was undoubtedly a good start.
Once he had industry and production, he could start to snowball things step by step.
Henry immediately summoned Claude to draft detailed legal documents clarifying ownership of the silver mine. The moment the imperial office was established, it would be officially recorded.
’The emperor granting you a tax exemption is one thing, but harboring thoughts of tax evasion is another entirely.’
Next, the experts who had been left behind to conduct the survey requested a batch of serfs to act as laborers.
The direction and depth of the veins, as well as the quality of the ore, all needed to be determined. They had to map the mining area, marking the location of the veins and the planned sequence of excavation.
The laborers first cleared the surface of the mining area, removing snow, vegetation, and topsoil. Then they dug vertical shafts and horizontal tunnels to facilitate deep underground mining of the silver ore.
Henry didn’t need to supervise the subsequent work. He had other matters to attend to.
Although he didn’t attach much importance to the so-called New Year’s festival, he knew that human beings were creatures who liked to find meaning for themselves.
’After twelve busy months, holding a festival would be nice.’
So, Henry decided to hold a small New Year’s celebration at the tavern. Soldiers, artisans, Free People, self-employed farmers, and tenant farmers could all go raise a glass, drink together, and look forward to the future.
As for the serfs, ten would share a chicken, and they would get a day off to rest.
After drafting the simple plan for the New Year’s celebration, Henry assigned several artisans to decorate the tavern with colorful flags and streamers.
「Two days later.」
The tavern in Westwood Laine was so lively it felt like the roof was about to be blown off.
The loyal soldiers shed their usual solemnity, drinking freely with tailors, artisans, Free People, self-employed farmers, and tenant farmers.
Although the serfs from the various farmsteads only received a small amount of food, they too felt the joy of the festival, their faces breaking into smiles they hadn’t worn in a long time.
That night, the celebration reached its climax. Henry raised his tankard, stood in the center of the tavern hall, and gazed at the smiling faces all around him before addressing the crowd.
"My people! I am your lord, Henry Bro. We have gathered here tonight not just to celebrate the coming of a new year and the passing of the old. I am here to tell you that Westwood Laine will only get better and better. You can write to your kinsfolk and tell them that here, we can guarantee their safety and provide them with work."
Henry’s voice echoed through the tavern, sonorous and powerful.
"Now, let us raise our glasses! To our land! To our food! To our safety! Cheers!"
The moment Henry finished speaking, the soldiers led the tavern in a roar of thunderous applause and cheers.
The people raised their cups in response, their faces filled with hope for the new year and reverence for Henry.
The sounds of laughter and merriment continued to fill the tavern, but Henry had already departed. He returned to his study in the castle and began to outline his future plans.
’It’s a well-known fact that plans can’t always keep up with reality,’ Henry thought, ’but having no plan at all is out of the question.’
Opening the silver mine was just the first step in the fiefdom’s development. Next, he needed to consider how to increase agricultural output, how to improve the attribute proportions of his subjects, and so on.
After the initial success of the silver mine and the joy of the New Year’s celebration, Henry’s fiefdom seemed to be slowly entering a new stage of prosperity.
However, this peace lasted only a few days before some shit-stirrer showed up to cause trouble and make a nuisance of themselves!
Chaimudi Village was a quiet little settlement on the northernmost edge of Henry’s fiefdom, whose villagers made a living by farming and logging.
Their lives were simple, but they were more or less self-sufficient. They had been extremely fortunate that the Half-Beastman raids from six months prior had not affected them.
However, Baron Sura’s mounted archers had launched a surprise attack on the village!
The news quickly reached Henry’s ears. He sat in his study, somewhat bewildered. ’I haven’t gone to raid you, yet you attack me first? How completely backward!’
’Are all the local nobles brain-dead?’ Henry wondered. He thought for a moment. ’No, this is just how those brutes from the eastern grasslands are—all they know is how to ride and hunt.’
This attack was a challenge to his authority as a noble, and more than that, it was a test of his fiefdom’s strength.
Whether Baron Sura was truly brain-dead or not, Henry had to act swiftly and launch a powerful counterattack against him!
Claude hurried into the study, reporting breathlessly, "My lord, Baron Sura only stole grain, livestock, money, and serfs. None of the self-employed farmers or tenant farmers were killed or injured."
"From what we know so far, their objective was to plunder the village’s food and valuables to weaken your strength. It was also in retaliation for you killing the local grassland noble, Nurulan, in Autongard..."
Nobles could be unreasonable, even when the man who died had initiated the duel... Baron Sura had always harbored a grudge against Henry, believing his rise threatened the position of the local nobility.
Boman and Fass were one thing; they had never impacted the old noble families who had passed down their titles for decades, even centuries. But Henry was different. He was a thorn in their side.
Henry frowned. ’What is this about?’
Henry stroked his chin, thinking for a moment before arriving at a ridiculous conclusion.
’Baron Sura is most likely using revenge as an excuse to conduct a raid and line his own pockets. This pretext also allows the other old grassland nobles to look the other way.’
"I need to know how you drew up the patrol schedule," Henry said. "Why were there no soldiers patrolling Chaimudi Village?"
Claude took a deep breath to compose himself and explained, "My lord, your troops are all stationed at the castle and the silver mine. The Cavalry is too small, which makes organizing patrols difficult."
"The serfs you’ve newly recruited haven’t completed their training yet, so I couldn’t assign them to patrol or garrison duties."
Henry snorted. "You and Tommy go take stock of the grain. The new recruits I’m training will be ready for the battlefield soon. I want to beat these surrounding rats into complete submission before the spring planting begins!"
Claude wasn’t familiar with the term Henry used, but he understood that comparing other nobles to rats was definitely an insult.
Henry had begun training new loyal soldiers the moment he returned to his fief. In fact, he had drawn so many men at once that two of his farmsteads were nearly empty.
If Henry hadn’t earned so much money this time, enough to buy another batch of serfs, his fiefdom would never have been able to keep up with his expenditures.
’Just how many people are there in Caladia? How many serfs?’ Henry mused. ’I bet even His Great Majesty the Emperor himself doesn’t know.’
This time, Henry had trained eight teams of one hundred and twenty elite armored New Recruits, two teams of eighty Imperial Shooters, and three teams of forty light-armored Grassland Warriors.
That was a total of over twelve hundred new troops. Added to the more than eight hundred veterans he already had, he now commanded a regular Private Army of two thousand men!
Henry had been wondering what excuse he could use to declare war and plunder the neighboring nobles. Well, now someone had eagerly handed him the justification on a silver platter!
