Chapter 368 The Scapegoat 3

"What price do I need to offer to make you willingly... accept only the honor of a sword noble and give up the power of a sword noble?"

Paul sat on the chair, staring at Bryce, holding the wine glass in his right hand and shaking it gently, and said this calmly.

What responded to him was silence. The battalion commander of the first battalion opposite seemed to be frozen, and his eyes did not move.

Paul tilted his head and asked curiously: "Bryce?"

"My Lord Earl, I... I don't know what you mean?"

Bryce finally spoke, but his voice was so small that it really didn't match his image of being five big and three.

"Literally!"

Paul answered without hesitation.

The restaurant continued to be silent, and Bryce stared at the wine glass in Paul's hand, not knowing what he was thinking.

"My Lord Earl!" Bryce finally spoke: "Is this how you treat your loyal subjects?"

There was actually some anger in his voice!

Blind! Did I mess it up?

Countless thoughts flashed through Paul's mind in an instant, regret, worry, annoyance...

Have I underestimated the traditional concepts of this era? Even people like Bryce Alder who don't care about personal interests are not immune to this.

What remedial measures should be taken?

Paul stretched out his left hand, "Bryce, listen to me! I..."

"My Lord Earl!" Unexpectedly, the other party clenched his fists and hammered the table, shaking the cups and plates on the table. He was wearing full armor and burst out with a mighty momentum.

Bryce almost roared, "You actually think that I put my own interests above my loyalty to you. How disrespectful! What 'price' is this? How derogatory to our honor?"

Huh? Paul's outstretched hand froze.

What did he say?

"Bryce, I... I don't know what you mean?"

Paul asked in a low voice.

"Literally!"

The commander of the first battalion answered without hesitation.

He continued, "You are the lord of Arda, you are our master. Whether to grant power depends on your words. Why do you have to test my loyalty with 'what price'? In your eyes, am I the kind of person who values ​​interests?"

The tone was very serious, and there was still a sullen look on his face.

Paul was surprised, his face full of disbelief!

After hearing what Bryce said, it was done? Was the process so smooth?

On the contrary, it seemed that I was worrying too much. Then I spent so much effort to set up this Hongmen Banquet...ah, why set up this dinner?

Shouldn't the normal process be that the other party makes an offer, you bargain, the other party continues to make an offer, you continue to bargain...until both parties reach a compromise?

That's a sword-bearing noble! In this era of blood supremacy, how great is the temptation for non-nobles? With their own titles and their own territories, they can be kings and hegemons behind closed doors, and no one can control them.

If you don't sell this thing that can't be bought with gold at a good price, it's really...really...I really don't know what to say.

"Bang!"

The sound of glass breaking broke the silence of the restaurant, and Paul smashed the wine glass in his right hand into pieces.

"Bang!" Bryce stood up suddenly, with a wronged and angry look on his face, but he closed his eyes as if he had accepted his fate.

The sound of the restaurant door opening came, and sure enough, someone came in!

Alas...after all...

Alas? Wait, I have already said what the Earl meant in his heart, it shouldn't be like this.

Thinking of this, he opened his eyes again and looked at the door.

"You two, what happened?"

Oh, it was the old butler Mr. Philip.

The butler looked down and saw the broken wine glass.

"Wait a moment, I'll get a new one right away."

He turned and went out, and another servant came in to clean up the fragments.

"Really, I've watched too many dramas..."

Bryce said with an embarrassed look on his face, self-deprecatingly.

He looked at his master, only to see that the Earl was excited, and it turned out that he was too excited to break the glass just now.

The Earl apologized and said, "I was wrong. I used a villain's mind to speculate on a noble knight... But what do you mean by drama?"

Bryce laughed awkwardly and waved his hands: "Haha, it's nothing, as long as the Earl doesn't doubt my loyalty."

Paul snapped his fingers and said, "We must not let honest people suffer. Come on! Map!"

The dishes that had not been eaten were quickly removed, and a huge map was placed on the table.

Bryce looked at the map. This was the first edition of the map drawn based on the information brought back by the previous surveying teams.

The first edition of the map includes the three earldoms of Arda, Bayerdin, and Emden. There are still many imperfections and blank areas, but several important towns and the roads between them have been drawn.

Due to the use of advanced measurement methods, the accuracy has risen by more than one level compared to the old-fashioned maps drawn by people based on feelings and estimates before.

The Earl was seen holding a pencil and drawing circles on the map.

Speaking of pencils, this is also Piaget's "great invention". The refill is made by mixing graphite and clay in a certain proportion, and then wrapped with wood. It becomes a pen that can be used to write and draw on paper. Compared with the traditional quill pen that uses ink, the beauty of the pencil is that its marks are not permanent, but can be wiped off with bread crumbs.

Once the pencil was launched, it was welcomed by all kinds of people, such as teachers and students in schools, and officers in the army. They could finally draw without any scruples when they were thinking about the map.

Paul stopped the pencil in his hand and said loudly: "I have decided to grant you the title of Baron of Bylanburg! In the Usurper War, it was you who commanded the army to trap Bylanburg, and you deserve this title!"

Bylanburg, isn't that where the Earl of Kent used to stay?

No mistake, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar, take a look!

Use the residence of an earl to confer a title on yourself? Bryce became excited.

"In addition," Paul pointed on the map, "the five villages in the Bylanburg area, as long as the public farmland under the management of the State Council, will also belong to you."

Emden's so-called public farmland under the management of the State Council is actually the farmland under the name of the Kent family in the past. After the Usurper War, the output of the farmland under the name of the Kent family was collected into the public treasury.

"Really? Lord Earl?" Bryce asked excitedly. He was familiar with the area around Bylanburg. It was a large piece of land. He would be a big landlord in the future!

Paul confirmed: "Of course it's true! But... don't forget what I said before."

Bryce nodded like pounding garlic: "Yes, yes! Lord Earl, of course I remember."

Although he had obtained the property rights of the land, he still had to pay the taxes and obey the laws. In a word, apart from the noble title of Lord Bylanburg, he only changed from a small landlord to a big landlord, and he was still a citizen under the rule of the State Council.

He knelt on one knee with gratitude, "Thank you Lord Earl for the reward. My descendants and I will be loyal to you as always."

Paul smiled and helped him up, "Keep working hard! You will get more in the future."

The two sat back at the table, and Paul said: "I believe you must understand my "excessive" request."

He was talking about not granting the sword-bearing nobles the right to rule.

Thinking of the school and talents they just talked about, Bryce nodded heavily.

"There must be no independent kingdom in my territory!" Paul clenched his fist and said, "To tell you the truth, I think the current feudal system - that is, layers of lords - is too inefficient to do things..."

"Shh!" Bryce made a gesture to silence, "Sir, don't say this publicly."

Paul said hesitantly, "Let's talk privately!"

Bryce asked worriedly, "Sir, I have a question in mind - I can accept this myself, but it's hard to say for others. What if everyone is dissatisfied?"

Paul smiled and said with some ill intentions, "That's the second reason why I asked you to come here tonight."

Looking at the mysterious smile on the earl's face, Bryce felt a chill in his heart.

Paul approached Bryce and whispered in his ear, this and that... this and that...

Bryce's face became worse and worse as he listened.

Before Paul finished speaking, he shouted, "No! Lord Earl, absolutely not! Find someone else."

Paul said seriously: "I can't find anyone more suitable than you! You must do this job!"

Bryce said aggrievedly: "Why don't you give the title of Baron of Bylanburg and the farmland there to someone else? I... I really can't afford it!"

There was even a crying tone in his voice.

"Shut up!" Paul was a little angry, "How can I, a lord of a place, go back on my words? You must accept the reward and do the job well!"

After Paul's carrot and stick, Bryce finally reluctantly accepted the order.

...

The commander of the first battalion dragged his somewhat weak legs and staggered through the corridor. He carefully recalled the scene after Paul broke the cup. It seemed that he was really worrying too much.

It shouldn't be like this. How could Lord Earl be such a mean and ungrateful person?

Baron Bylanburg and the fields of farmland, Blaise's heart was burning with excitement. His social status and wealth had skyrocketed tonight.

But when he thought of the task assigned to him by the Earl, he started to feel bitter again.