Black Iron Crown

Reiner's desire for population is not comparable to that of the lords.

A man who is full doesn't know a man who is hungry. There are only 200,000 people on such a huge piece of land in the north, and the extra 30,000 people in this area are provided by the two refugee platforms built by Lena.

Every time Leiner sees these lords and serfs being used as cannon fodder on the battlefield, he is heartbroken. How many people will be consumed in those wars, and how much value can such a large population generate in the northern border!

Although Reiner's territory has 200,000 people, which is the most among the lords in the entire empire, but after all, he controls a large duchy with a huge land of nearly one million square kilometers.

Even if he has divided up a lot of territories one after another, his territory under direct control still covers 550,000 square kilometers.

That is a territory the size of several Chinese provinces! But there are only 200,000 people, no one in a hundred miles is not empty talk.

What's more, the number and proportion of Lehner's current army has reached a dangerous situation.

In the era of cold weapons, such productivity requires a full hundred talents to support a real full-time professional soldier.

Even though the productivity in Leiner's territory has improved a lot, the population has always been the basic resource that restricts everything.

After several rounds of reclamation, the arable land in Leiner's territory has been reclaimed to the limit.

Not because all the land has been reclaimed into arable land, but because there are not enough people in the territory.

Human energy is always limited, and the time for sowing and harvesting is fixed. Now the amount of arable land in the north has reached the limit that everyone can cultivate.

Even the arable land of many people's homes has been left unused.

For example, some soldiers in Leiner's army, some veterans have made too many contributions and accumulated four to five hundred acres of arable land. In the past, they were able to hire other people to help when the spring plowing was not over.

But now, everyone can barely finish their work before spring plowing and autumn harvest, and they can still help others to cultivate, so they can only leave most of the land idle, and try their best to plant it with the help of livestock and heavy plows. Eighty or ninety acres.

Unless Reiner can open up and automate modern agricultural machinery, otherwise, it is impossible to increase food production in a short time.

Population is also the key to restricting the number of troops. Although productivity has improved,

But at least 30 to 40 people are needed to support a full-time professional soldier. The number of troops in the northern border has almost reached this standard. If the army is expanded further, it will exceed this value.

Therefore, it is imminent to increase the population, and the underpopulation in the northern border is also the biggest source of restrictions on Reiner.

Among other things, if the population in the northern border is larger, it doesn't need to be too much, and only one million people are needed, how can Leiner negotiate with the imperial capital?

Do you still need to retreat due to the offensive of the Kingdom of Bukeden in the south? No need at all!

With a population of one million, I will directly form an elite regular army of 30,000, and then rely on iron ore to form a steel army. Why don't you push you a small southern kingdom? Do you still need to worry so much?

Reiner's thinking diverged slightly, he withdrew the fantasy in his heart, and reluctantly returned to the shameful reality.

"Well, Honorable Grand Duke Reiner, since we have agreed to all your requests..."

Earl Redmara paused after seeing Rainer's expression, coughed awkwardly and said: "I agree with your request, so you should withdraw the soldiers on the city wall? We will prepare your request as soon as possible." everything!"

"Hey, don't worry!" Reiner waved his hands and said, then winked at a subordinate behind him.

The subordinate immediately understood, and took out two pieces of parchment from his arms.

Reiner held the two pieces of paper in his hands, looked at Earl Redmara with a half-smile, and said, "Since we have reached an agreement, let's sign this contract!"

As he said that, Lehner began to write the terms of this negotiation on it.

Reiner first signed his name on it, and then asked for a seal to engrave it.

Afterwards, the parchment was passed to the lords behind him, and they all signed and stamped it in the same way.

An interesting thing happened. The seal patterns on Reiner's side are almost the same. Except for some vassals under Reiner's command, all of them are members of the Moreland family. The coat of arms is also very similar, but there are some small details. difference.

Immediately afterwards, Reiner handed the parchment to Earl Redmara. After carefully reading the terms above, he signed his name and stamped his seal.

After everything was over, Earl Redmara said: "We have also signed the contract, so can you withdraw the soldiers on the city wall?"

That's right, although the two sides have started negotiations, the troops on the city wall have not been withdrawn. Leiner doesn't trust them, and there must be someone behind them to restrain them.

Earl Redmara's face became more and more ugly. After being tossed, ridiculed and threatened by Reiner, he was already on the verge of the limit of anger, and now he can still have this good attitude entirely because of fear.

"Hey, how can this work!" Reiner waved his hands and said reproachfully.

"Although the contract has been signed, I am still worried that you will not abide by the agreement. What if we unilaterally tear up our contract? At that time, we can still take what belongs to us!"

"Oh, by the way, I hope to get everything we need within five days, otherwise we will have to go get it ourselves after our patience runs out!" Reiner kindly reminded.

Seeing the warm smile on Reiner's face, Earl Redmara tried his best to maintain the smile on his face. The upstarts behind him were already full of anger and wanted to kill Reiner with their swords.

"Okay, as you wish..." Earl Redmara forced these words out between his teeth, and then left angrily.

"Nice job, Archduke Rainer!"

"The expressions of these bastards are really wonderful!"

"Hahaha, Grand Duke Reiner is really annoying, but I want to laugh when I see them!"

All the upstarts laughed and rushed to express their admiration and admiration for Reiner.

The unbearable but unbearable appearance of Earl Redmara and the upstarts just now made them extremely comfortable.

Five days later, the upstarts in the imperial capital honestly transported their things to the city wall, and then they were carried down by the soldiers on the Leiner side of the city wall. There were a total of 60,000 gold coins and 800 horses. It took two full days to transport the city wall to the surface.

In addition, Reiner and his vassals and royal lords enjoy all the territory 500 kilometers south of Angron Fort, a huge territory of more than 500,000 square kilometers.

In this way, the Royal Allied Forces, who had obtained everything, embarked on the journey back to the north.

The baggage in front was walking slowly, and the soldiers were also covered in armor and carrying weapons, and walked north in a guard formation.

Lena was riding on the back of a war horse, dressed in gorgeous armor, and looked back at the towering city wall of the imperial capital, half of which was once in his hands, feeling melancholy.

Just a little bit, just a little bit away, I sat on that supreme position.