Chapter 48 Kingdom Council

Early in the morning, Danas came to Galin's courtyard, and the two went to the castle's meeting hall to attend the kingdom's meeting.

They were the first two people to arrive at the meeting hall. Not long after, many nobles entered the meeting hall one after another.

There were Viscount Newo, Viscount Garson, who were familiar to Garin, and the Marquis of Northford, who had a long history. When the seats were almost full, Earl Dabiray finally arrived.

At this time, only the main seat and the two seats below the main seat were empty in the conference hall.

When King Solas entered the council hall, the hall immediately became quiet and the nobles stopped whispering in their seats.

Behind Solas were two nobles in armor. Garin knew them. They were Marshal Oslet and Commander Amaren, the military giants of the kingdom.

Oslet and Amaren, like Omar and Varokar beside Garin, were guards selected from the army by King Solas when he was young. After Solas became king, he entrusted them with important tasks.

The two men lived up to expectations and, through their own efforts, became the highest-ranking generals in the kingdom.

After Solas entered the hall, he sat in the main seat, motioned the two generals to take their seats, and said to everyone, "Elites of the kingdom, I have called you all here to discuss this year's food and armaments proposals, and to inform you of important events in the kingdom in the near future."

Thoras paused, looked at Oslet, and then said, "You start first, Oslet."

Oslet, who was sitting at the top, stood up. He was a typical Stromgarde man, with neatly trimmed brown hair and the most popular small beard in Stromgarde on his chin.

Oslet looked around at the nobles and said, "According to the war report from the Stromgarde military, in the first half of this year, the southern part of Wall Thoradin was harassed by Mudmouth Gnolls, but was repelled by the Second Legion guarding Wall Thoradin. The Second Legion killed a small number of Gnolls, and most of them fled into the forest south of Mount Dun Garok. In addition, traces of trolls were found in the North Alterac Tunnel. After investigation by the First Legion's scouts, it was initially determined that they were a small group of troll headhunters who had fled from Shadralo of the Hinterlands. Apart from this, there were no other battles on the northwest border of Arathi."

After that, Oslet indicated that he had finished speaking and sat down. Solas didn't say anything after listening, and looked at Amaren who was opposite Oslet.

Amaren is a heroic woman with long hair tied up in a bun and a tall figure. Even in occasions like the meeting hall, she is fully armed, wearing a red and white armor in the style of Stromgarde, and a highland eagle wings battle robe of Stromgarde. A wolf-tooth hammer hangs around her waist, which shines coldly under the candlelight in the hall. Behind her hangs a shield with a red fist printed on it.

The red fist was the emblem of the early Arathor Empire, commemorating the Silver Hand of Tyr, and Stromgarde has continued this tradition.

Amaron stood up like Oslet, looked around and said, "Only a small group of trolls have been harassing the villages on the southeastern border recently. With the arrangements made by our lieutenant Danas, we haven't suffered much loss."

Amaren paused here and glanced at Danas and Garin beside him.

"A month ago, the trolls from Deadwood Village launched a massive attack on the reopened Southeast Mine. They were annihilated by the prince's Red Flame Army and the militia, with three thousand heads beheaded."

Although the nobles had known the news for a long time, as soon as Amaren finished speaking, everyone couldn't help but look at the two royal members in the corner of the meeting room.

Jialin was thick-skinned and looked calm, and even wanted to nod to everyone.

Looking at the dozens of nobles in the field, Garin's thoughts began to drift.

He felt that the political environment of the Kingdom of Stromgarde was relatively simple compared to the other six human kingdoms. The first reason was that there were relatively fewer nobles, most of whom were vassals of the Trollbane royal family, and there was no noble parliament. The king's power was basically restricted. Although there were some opposing voices in secret, the royal family of Stromgarde had already become the only dominant force.

Unlike the high elves' Kingdom of Quel'Thalas, which has a Silvermoon Council, the king is only a member of the council. A group of old guys try every means to undermine the king's power and even force the prince to flee to Dalaran.

If it were Jialin, I would never tolerate this. With my violent temper, I will kill these old guys sooner or later.

The second is that Stromgarde is a country founded on military power, and its military strength is well-known among human countries. It has a complete military system, and most of the senior officials are warriors. They basically have a military background, hot tempers, and act straightforwardly and cleanly. Relatively speaking, there are fewer conspiracies and dirty tricks among the nobles.

The military giants of Stromgarde are the two people standing beside Solas.

Marshal Orestes, a marshal, can command a battle of tens of thousands of people with ease.

Garin remembered that in the future he would still be the marshal of the Arathor coalition, and now his position was also the kingdom marshal, the commander of the kingdom's five regular legions.

Ms. Amaren is the commander of the militia corps. By the way, Ms. Amaren is Amor's sister.

The militia corps is the foundation of Stromgarde's army. In Garin's opinion, it is the reserve force of the regular army. It is a system that requires citizens to serve in the military and hides soldiers among the people. So it is not unreasonable that the military literacy of the people of Stromgarde is higher than that of other countries.

The regular army is responsible for the defense of the northern border. The trolls of the Hinterlands have always been the main threat to the kingdom. The Witherwood Tribe and the Evilbranch Trolls are very powerful in the primitive forest of the Hinterlands. The trolls in the Witherwood Village in Arathi Highlands are relatively weaker and there are fewer trolls, so the militia is responsible for the southeastern border.

Solas also has a Highland Cavalry Regiment directly under his command, which is the most elite and strongest legion in the kingdom.

The army is the strong foundation of a country. The royal family of Trollbane enjoys great prestige in the army and firmly controls the army.

At this time, Ms. Amaren also finished her report, and the military affairs came to an end. Solas signaled to the palace steward behind him, and now it was the turn of some issues concerning the country and people's livelihood to be reported and discussed.

The palace steward in a red robe walked to the side of Solas and said to the nobles, "This year, the Arathi region has had sufficient rainfall, making it a bumper year. The wheat planted in March in various parts of the kingdom has been harvested in early July. Your Majesty means that, as in previous years, in addition to stockpiling some food to deal with possible famines, the remaining food will be used for trading. The royal family intends to purchase the excess food from the lords as in previous years. Those who are interested, please be prepared when the time comes."

The three major production areas in Arathi are Northford Farm, Dabyre Farm and Geshak Farm. Geshak Farm belongs to the Trollbane family, Dabyre Farm belongs to the Dabyre family, and Northford Farm belongs to the Marquis of Northford.

The outputs of the three farms are different.

In addition to growing wheat, Dabire Farm also has its own mill and mainly processes white bread. Northford is mainly engaged in breeding, dairy cows and some other livestock. The cheese produced by Northford Farm is famous in Arathi Highlands. Geshak Farm mainly grows wheat and is the main producer of grain trade for the Trollbane family.

The remaining scattered arable land is distributed throughout the kingdom, such as Newo Farm and Garin's small manor.

In addition to scattered farms, the nobles' main industry is the mines located in the northern Alterac Mountains.

After listening to the words of the court supervisor, the nobles present turned their attention to the Marquis of Northford and the Earl of Dabiray. The grain production in everyone's hands was not as good as that of these two families, and some nobles even needed to buy grain.

The Marquis of Northford was a middle-aged man with a slightly bald head, a sinister look in his eyes, a rather plump figure, and he looked at his nose and his heart without saying a word.

Count Dabire still looked deep in thought. When he found that the conference room had become quiet, he realized belatedly that everyone was looking at him. He couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed because he was not paying attention to the meeting at all.

Garin was not surprised, knowing that he was a wizard who liked to study various magics and was often lost in thought about magic experiments. The Dabire Farm was actually managed by Countess Conata Dabire.

The palace steward was obviously not prepared to continue discussing the topic of grain. Today's main task was to report on work, and the other proposals would be the topics for discussion in the next few days.

"My Lords, the following is about the border conflict with the Kingdom of Alterac."

"A month ago, a squad of our Highland Cavalry Regiment clashed with the Royal Guards of the Kingdom of Alterac on the banks of the Thandoril River near Tarren Mill, and the two sides were evenly matched. Not long after, a second conflict occurred again, and the situation escalated into an armed conflict on the border between the two countries."

Before the palace steward had finished speaking, the noble lords below were already excited and the scene began to become noisy.

"These damned Alterac bastards, we should have mobilized the cavalry and wiped them all out."

"If they dare to wander into the border of our Stromgarde, these mountain scavengers should be beaten and tremble in their ravines."

"Aiden is a coward. He has brought shame to the people of Altair."

"Quiet." Seeing that the nobles were quarreling among themselves, Solas put an end to this situation.

At this moment, Garin felt that his father's prestige was full. This group of nobles were really good at acting. It had been a month since the incident, and with the nobles' well-informed level, they were the first to know the news, but now they acted as if they had just learned about it.

What a loyal and patriotic person.

The flattery is great.

"The matter has been dealt with. King Terenas of Lordaeron and Mage Anthony of Dalaran intervened to mediate the matter."

Solas calmly narrated the aftermath of the conflict.

Here it comes, Garin and Danas looked at each other quietly in the corner.