The journey of film and television world is endless

#143 - Chapter 29 Guest Mercenary

In Westeros, there isn't a clear division of nobility, only liege lords and vassals. They are all called lords. When a person is knighted and receives a piece of land of their own, they are qualified to become a lord and establish a knight's fee.

If they can manage the territory well, continue to grow, and have a real castle, they can become a small lord in the true sense, that is, a barony.

When the family grows to dominate an area and has its own vassal families, it can become a high lord or be called an earl. The real nobles, as commonly understood, refer to the lord families of this class.

Among them, there are some powerful families that are much stronger than other earl families, and they can become hegemons in certain areas, also known as marquis families, such as the Redwyne family, the Hightower family, the Bolton family, the Frey family, or the former Reyne family.

Above that are the former royal families, the current Warden families of the Seven Kingdoms, and the royal family of King's Landing is essentially no different from them. What truly distinguishes the lord class is always strength.

But managing a territory is extremely difficult. Not only must one support one's own armed forces with the territory's resources, but also protect the common people from bandits, and worry about whether crops will be reduced, how to sell products, and so on. What's more, the lord has a most important obligation, which is to fight for his liege lord. The military expenses, material losses, soldiers' wages, and post-war compensation, etc., the liege lord only pays a small part, and the rest is borne by the lord himself. Once the warrior fails or cannot get enough spoils to subsidize, the territory's output for several years may not be enough. If he is captured, he must pay a large ransom.

At the same time, these lords also face competition and malicious attacks from surrounding lords. Therefore, a large number of knights are knighted every year, and the same number of knights go bankrupt. They can only sell their land and become wandering knights or accept employment from other lords.

Only a few knights can expand themselves by merging other lands through purchase or marriage. Therefore, many knight's fees are the result of several generations of painstaking management. Liu Yuan's neighbors mostly belong to this category, such as the Hogg family of Sow's Horn, who spent seven generations and 150 years of effort to develop from a pig farm to the present.

This is still because Sow's Horn is close to the Kingsroad, taking advantage of the convenient transportation. Some inland and remote territories develop more slowly. The Wode family, another neighbor of Thorns, has had a bad time since the decline of the House of Harroway. Even the lord has to take his men to be mercenaries to subsidize the family.

When Liu Yuan came to visit with a hundred cavalry, they were all frightened. But Liu Yuan really didn't care about their small and broken territories. He was just paying a visit as a new neighbor. The gifts he sent were also very practical. After signing a purchase agreement with these neighbors, their territory's output mainly purchased grain and meat. The price given was very fair. And they don't have to deliver the goods themselves. The Jingji City's caravan will come to purchase them uniformly.

Time has come to late autumn, and the facilities of Thorns are becoming more and more perfect. A new batch of common people has also been sent. With the words and deeds of the previous batches, these newcomers quickly integrated into the new life.

The huge underground vault has also been built, filled with coins. Every week, a special transport team transports the specialties of the workshop to King's Landing. These coins are hidden in the goods and secretly handed over to Earl Adrian for disposal.

Everything in King's Landing has been on the right track. Liu Yuan left a letter to Earl Adrian, and without even taking the guard, he went north alone. This time, he disguised himself as an ordinary free rider and joined a caravan.

In the continent of Westeros, mercenaries are also an indispensable and important profession. They are not regular armed forces, and their equipment is usually very poor. They receive remuneration by completing short-term tasks. Mercenaries are divided into different types. In Westeros, the reputation of sellswords and free riders is not very good. It is said that sellswords lack loyalty, and free riders have no discipline.

The meaning of free rider is broad, sometimes referring to sellswords equipped with horses. More often, free riders refer to knights who are neither lords' retainers nor conscripted.

Some of them are experienced mercenary knights, and some are desperate recruits or thieves. They usually do not receive remuneration, but survive on spoils, and hope to be conscripted by the lord one day. There are also many young free riders like Liu Yuan. Most of them are the youngest sons of noble families who have no right to inherit. Their fathers cannot afford to train them into knights. They have to equip them and let them go out to make a living on their own.

After Liu Yuan joined the caravan, no one ostracized or bullied him. Because he was tall and big at a young age, which could not be raised by ordinary families. What's more, his equipment looked a bit old. But it was very complete, from head to toe, nothing was missing. Even some ordinary mercenaries took the initiative to get close to him, expressing their willingness to follow him.

People are all admiring the strong. Those ordinary mercenaries who make a living will look for some strong or promising people to rely on. Many mercenary groups are formed in this way. A young knight like Liu Yuan who can equip himself may have a promising future to follow. Even if he is unfortunately killed in battle, his equipment can be divided.

Liu Yuan was also happy to take in a few followers to run errands for him. This caravan was affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce under Riverrun. The leader heard that the North was preparing for war to defend against pirate attacks. He purchased a large number of ironware, cloth and other materials, intending to make a fortune. The caravan has fourteen carriages, 30 caravan clerks, and 13 mercenaries. Including Liu Yuan, there are four free riders, three sellswords, and the others are ordinary mercenaries, which are only a little stronger than strong farmers.

Liu Yuan rode his horse following the caravan. Although he didn't have to walk like other mercenaries, these free riders also had a task, which was to take turns to scout the surrounding situation.

"Clatter... clatter..." A burst of hoofbeats, a cavalryman leisurely drove his horse back, and said to them: "No situation was found, the old inn is not far ahead. Who's next? Lucky guy."

Liu Yuan raised his hand: "It's my turn, I'll go now."

The leader said: "Garon, don't go too far, don't miss dinner. We will rest at the crossroads inn today. Martha's cooking is very good."

"Got it, Giddy up~!" Liu Yuan gently tapped the horse's belly, and the horse darted out.