Munitions Empire

Chapter 54: 54 Knights

Actually, Brunas City's Sheriff did not dare to capture 500 prisoners; he even had to turn a blind eye to the slightly influential gangs within Brunas City.

The Kingdom's rule was built upon the support of the Nobility and conglomerates, and to maintain the privileges of the Nobility and conglomerates, the entire Kingdom had always maintained a rather lax management system for private militaries.

The Nobility had knights under them, knights who were originally mounted combatants from the noble Soldier class and had now developed into a title.

These noble lords had their own Guardian Knights, appointed by the Nobility themselves with only a restriction on the number, not requiring any registration.

According to the Kingdom's law, a Baron should have three knights under him, a Viscount should have ten, an Earl could have thirty knights, and a Duke would have one hundred knights as his private military.

In ancient warfare, knights were never lone fighters. A complete knightly formation included a squire to handle the horse and chores, two cavalrymen to cover the knight's flanks in cavalry battles, attendants to maintain the armors, and various servants responsible for taking care of horses and food...

Therefore, one knight included a large number of miscellaneous followers; at that time, roughly one knight was expected to support seven retainers.

Therefore, this system of knights had developed to its current state, and with the passage of time, it had undergone significant changes.

Firstly, in terms of numbers, the retinue of a single Guardian Knight no longer simply constituted a seven-person squad. These Guardian Knights would typically lead 30 to 50 soldiers, considerably overstaffed.

On the one hand, the Kingdom's leadership wanted to reserve troops that the nation couldn't afford through the knight system, keeping the nation's war readiness intact; on the other hand, the Nobility also needed private militaries to protect their own interests, so this system indistinguishably mixed public and private interests has continued to this day.

However, as years went by, this seemingly mutually beneficial system gradually decayed over time.

The Nobility became increasingly wealthy and more inclined to maintain a larger private military to consolidate their power and suppress the discontented commoners.

The status of merchants also rose, and with more resources in their control, they equally needed armies to protect their business interests.

Hence, private militaries increased in number and the management became more chaotic, leading to the increasingly uncontrollable private armed forces under everyone's command.

Of course, this wasn't a universal phenomenon; many Nobility who were not adept at management actually couldn't afford so many knights and private armies. So they often only had a few guards.

By the same token, some knights were from large, noble families and could have hundreds of private soldiers under them. In contrast, some knights were impoverished and perhaps even unable to afford a wife.

In such an environment, many knights originally belonging to the Nobility became mercenaries specialized in managing private militaries for the conglomerates.

For instance, the Shireck Consortium had thousands of private soldiers within the Leite Kingdom's borders, protecting Shireck's interests and industries. This private military was so massive that even the King could not command it.

Moreover, some exceptions regarding the military within the nation made the management system of the military appear even more chaotic.

Taking the Leite Kingdom as an example, the nation's armed forces were diverse, including several categories. The largest was the "Central Military" under the King's command, followed by the behemoth that was the Shireck Consortium's private military, then the "Border Defense Forces" assigned to various territories near the borders, and also the private militaries of various noble knights.

The Northern Ridge Legion of Count Fisheo was a "Border Defense Force" from a border territory. This Troop was trained by Fisheo and financed by Count Fisheo himself, and it was responsible for collaborating with the King's "Central Military" during wars.

On the other hand, the behemoth that was the Shireck Consortium's private military did not answer to the King; it was merely a malignancy outside of the law, existing to uphold Shireck's interests.

In summary, the entire social system had become corrupt; many of the original laws and old customs had been damaged beyond recognition, but everyone still somewhat accustomed themselves to certain frameworks of this system.

However, if someone were looking for trouble, there were still laws to refer to. This was also why Count Fisheo gave Tang Mo a knight's title.

If there indeed were troublemakers, Tang Mo could rely on this title of an Earl's knight to avoid many unnecessary issues.

Tang Mo certainly hoped to become a Guardian Knight of the Nobility, for it was the first step into the noble class.

Only by becoming a true Knight could he be knighted as a Baron by the King for his service or for some other chaotic reason -- in a sense, he was now only one rank away from the once-unattainable Baron Stela.

"Then, please convey my thanks to Lord Earl for his recognition," Tang Mo smiled as he accepted the disposition: "I appreciate his support."

"Lord Earl knows that you will become nobility sooner or later, so he deliberately instructed me to tell you that he never had the intention of treating you as his subordinate," Tagg added another sentence.

"Hmm... it's just an empty title," Tang Mo said. Although he had been flaunting the Earl's banner to deceive others, he never thought that one day he would depend on others and truly become a subordinate to the Earl. So, when he heard the Earl's instructions, the smile on his face deepened.

He pointed in the direction of the factory and introduced to Tagg, who had just come back: "I have prepared a batch of new firearms. You will be responsible for boxing them up and sending them to Lord Earl as quickly as possible."

"As for you, it happens that you should stay! Take over training these countrymen from Northern Ridge," he said, walking towards the incoming workers and robust men.

"It seems that we have a lot of work to do today," Tang Mo said, smiling at Wes.

Wes's face was filled with somewhat unnatural expressions, obviously he had not yet figured out why so many people from Northern Ridge had suddenly arrived.

However, he quickly refocused his attention on Tang Mo: "Yes, it isn't easy to settle so many people."

"On the new recruits' side, quite a few people know how to set up tents. We camped a few times on the way here... we have tents," Tagg immediately got into the swing of things.

Tang Mo nodded and said helplessly again, "Then they have no choice but to put up with living in tents for now. Wes... try to arrange for the women and children to stay in the wooden houses, it's safer."

There was no way around it. Although the number of wooden houses around the workshop had visibly increased over the past few days, they couldn't accommodate so many people all at once.

Moreover, it wasn't just people; there was also a large amount of supplies transported from Northern Ridge, including enough food to feed two thousand people for an entire month!

Bags of food were being moved off from the wagons, and this food not only reassured the workshop's workers, but also stabilized the mood of the immigrants who had followed them.

Since they had enough food, everything could continue as normal—daily life, labor, the plain repeating cycle of weeks.

Subsequently, some wagons that followed began to unload, including heavy ingots of iron and cartloads of coal.

Also, there were some valuable chemicals, specifically requested by Tang Mo for Tagg to bring, including some petroleum and other miscellaneous items.

Of course, modern industry also encompasses the chemical industry. Only by developing chemical processing technologies can many aspects of modern industry be further advanced.

Tang Mo did not want to be stuck due to the backwardness of a particular link when he needed it; he didn't have the time to waste.

"In a while, I need to make a trip to Brunas. With so many immigrants arriving at once, it's necessary to report to the mayor." Tang Mo decided it was best to address the most pressing issue first.

The arrival of so many people in Brunas to work for him and the establishment of a factory district on a large tract of wasteland was definitely no small matter.

If such a thing could be kept secret, then Tang Mo might as well apply for a job at the KBG. In fact, there wasn't much he could do, except to rely on distance, use bribes, and other means to delay the response time from the Shireck side as much as possible.

"I brought a personal letter from Lord Earl. If the mayor reads this letter and then sees all these people under your command... and still dares to make trouble, then I would really admire his courage." Tagg pulled an envelope from his chest, sealed with red wax bearing the imprint of the Earl's wolf head crest.

Because Northern Ridge had decided to collaborate with Tang Mo, Alice tried her best to consider every detail of dealing with local officials for him. She was an old hand at this and knew the lay of the land much better than Tang Mo.

This saved Tang Mo a lot of trouble, allowing him to invest more energy in his "inventions and creations."

"Huh? Where's Luff? Where did he go? What about the mercenaries you recruited? Why is only Wes left now?" Tagg, who had trained for nearly a month with Luff and Bernard, now asked about his friend Luff.

Tang Mo shrugged and vaguely replied, "I sent him out to the wilderness for survival training. He probably won't be back for the next ten days. I hope they enjoy living in Vicious Forest a bit more."

"Alright..." Tagg didn't probe further. Seeing a commotion in the distance, he shouted loudly at the subordinates unloading at the back of a wagon: "Hey! Be careful with those barrels! Are you crazy? That's gunpowder! Be careful!

If you don't want to live, just say so!"

"Let's avoid any accidents! That's all money!" Tang Mo reminded Tagg, "Have your men settle down as quickly as possible. Tonight, we'll throw a welcome party, prepare a slightly more lavish dinner for everyone... Wes, go tell Auntie Cui Xi about this decision..."

"No problem." Wes nodded, gave a slight nod to Tagg, and then turned away, walking off imposingly with the two revolvers at his waist.