CHAPTER 52: THE CURRENT SITUATION

Chapter 52: The Current Situation

"Thirty men?" Lothar surveyed the shabbily armored, dark-faced, and emaciated sergeants, frowning. "A castle garrison actually has only thirty men?"

Thirty defenders, and all of them infantry. At best, they could only hole up in the castle for self-preservation, completely lacking the ability to protect the surrounding villages from desert bandit raids.

"It is a bit few, but we can’t afford more, can we?" The castellan forced a smile, his face full of apprehension.

Such a powerful lord, upon discovering his fief was so utterly destitute, would surely erupt in thunderous rage. What if he vented his anger on him...

Although he was nominally the castellan, technically a household vassal of His Majesty the King, he didn’t even have a title; in reality, he was just a servant. If he didn’t have to present taxes every month, His Majesty the King might not even know such a place existed.

"Is there not even a single church in the castle for the subjects to worship in?"

The castellan, struggling to maintain his smile, said, "There is only a small prayer room, located on the first floor of your inner keep."

Lothar smiled. "Good, very good. Truly a destitute place."

The castellan’s heart leaped into his throat.

Fringilla looked at the castle with dissatisfaction. "This place is simply too dilapidated. I doubt even rats would bother to patronize such a ruin." She added, "The most broken-down place I’ve ever stayed was a castle in Moldavia when I ran away from home before. Compared to this, even that was like a royal palace."

"My apologies, milady, this place is indeed too crude," the castellan said cautiously.

’This lady speaks with such airs; could she be an esteemed princess? Heavenly Father above, surely she wouldn’t have poor old Leonard dragged out and hanged because of how dilapidated this place is?’

"Actually, I think it’s not bad," Lothar said with keen interest. "Since there’s nothing here, it’ll be convenient for us to tear it down and rebuild. For example, this inner keep—I plan to tear it down directly and rebuild it as a Lord’s Hall."

The castellan, bracing himself, said, "Milord, if you stay here a bit longer, you will realize there’s simply no need for large-scale construction. The annual tax revenue of Jorgklusburg might not even be enough for you to renovate a single Lord’s Hall."

A Lord’s Hall was essentially the inner keep in a city or castle where the lord, his family, and servants resided. Though nominally a "hall," it would have at least three stories.

Lothar ignored him, instead looking at the "giant" Marlus beside him and asking, "Marlus, what do you think of the smithy here?"

Marlus was silent for a moment, then replied, "It’s barely usable, but its efficiency is very low. I need time and materials to improve the tools and the forge."

"No problem. I’ll give you a budget of two hundred top-quality Solidus gold coins. Please forge me a suit of sturdy and durable armor as soon as possible."

Marlus nodded. "No problem. I guarantee your satisfaction."

"Soldiers! Since Jorgklusburg is now mine, from this moment on, your personal fealty has been transferred from the Crown to my hands. Now, in the name of the Heavenly Father, swear your allegiance to me!" Lothar raised the arming sword in his hand.

The castellan and the thirty soldiers, after only a slight hesitation, all knelt on the ground, noisily swearing their oaths to Lothar. When His Majesty the King enfeoffed Lothar with this territory, the land, population, servants, including debts and bonds, were all transferred to Lothar’s name.

"Hans, you kneel too!" Hans paused, then knelt on one knee without hesitation.

"Castellan, tell me, what is the name of that village to the west?"

The castellan, still kneeling, replied without thinking, "It is Sego."

"Then Hans, my loyal and faithful squire, to reward your valor and skill in battle, I grant Sego to you as your fief and promote you to knight!"

"Thank you, Milord!" Hans was somewhat joyful—he was finally a proper knight—but also a little bewildered. He didn’t understand why Lothar would grant him a fief, but when he saw the almost glowing expressions on Ryan’s and Moder’s faces, he seemed to understand.

"All of you, rise." Lothar’s gaze swept over the faces of the eighty-odd people. "I, Lothar of the Habsburg family, swear in the name of the Heavenly Father—as long as you achieve sufficient merit, I will promote anyone to knighthood, regardless of background!" In their faces, Lothar saw longing and expectation. And that was precisely what he wanted.

"Moder, from this day forward, you will retrain the thirty newly joined sergeants in formation drill. Ryan, you are responsible for the daily drill of the fifty veteran sergeants. Hans, you will command the Jorgklusburg cavalry. In the coming days, you may select ten men from among them who are skilled in horsemanship or possess outstanding talent to become cavalrymen."

Moder and Ryan both accepted their orders, now full of drive, eager to immediately show Lothar their efforts. Hans, however, had a bit of a headache; discerning who had cavalry talent was no easy task. He could only go by past experience.

"Castellan, tell me your name!"

The castellan said with an ingratiating smile, "Milord, you can call me Leonard."

"During this time, you are responsible for procuring warhorses and packhorses. I need ten top-quality Arabian horses, price is no object—but this concerns my assessment of you."

Leonard immediately patted his chest and guaranteed, "I assure you, Milord, I will definitely buy fine steeds that are both excellent and inexpensive!"

"Alright, go and do what you must. Training is suspended for today. Go sort out your living quarters."

Eighty armored sergeants were more than enough for defense, but insufficient for offense, and could barely even maintain basic public order.

This era, after all, belonged to cavalry. In wild terrain like the Holy Land, if they encountered desert bandits, they couldn’t expect infantrymen to outrun swift light cavalry on their own two legs.

However, the time and effort required to train a cavalry unit were immense. Training cavalry from scratch like this was the most time-consuming and laborious approach. And recruiting knights was limited by the scale of his territory... without fiefs, how could he gather a large number of knights to serve him?

From Castellan Leonard, Lothar learned that Jorgklusburg had only six villages, each with an average population of about two hundred, living along the Jordan River. In total, he had over a thousand people under his rule.

But these were all impoverished people struggling at the subsistence level. Based on a one-in-ten mobilization, he could raise about a hundred conscripts—even in Western Europe, which was teeming with minor nobles, this force was pitifully weak.

If he enfeoffed all the villages as fiefs, he could summon six fully armed knights. But if he relied on collecting taxes to train his own cavalry, the annual tax revenue from one village wouldn’t even be enough to buy a single cavalryman’s full suit of armor.

This was why the feudal fief system was so prevalent.

The Ayyubids and the Eastern Empire could support large standing cavalry armies because their territories were vast enough and situated at trade nexuses, allowing them to collect substantial commercial taxes.

Also Lothar had to admit, Jorgklusburg was completely unsuitable for farming and far from possessing the necessary conditions to be a springboard for success. No wonder Baldwin IV had told him not to put too much effort into this fief.

Fortunately, Lothar had a cheat. The system had been activated. From now on, he would get one card draw chance every week.

If he drew retainers every time, he would have fifty two retainers in a year. These would all be his best core team, all suitable for use as officers.

Moreover, he could also complete various milestones to accelerate this process. In a few years, he would command a force to be reckoned with. By then, whether marching south to attack Egypt or north to invade Asia Minor, both would be viable paths.