Song of Heroes : Warring Period

Chapter 05: A New Warring Era

After the Pendragon dynasty falls, The Warring Era began for a hundred year.

Scheming Generals fought brutal wars all across the land. In a short span of years, the Generals, warlords, begins styling themselves as Dukes even Kings.

With no clear ruler of the world, the great Kings that managed to survive the Warring Era established their own kingdoms and some declared the legal inheritor of the Imperial Mantle, all wanted to realize the noble ambition of unifying the land once again.

Seven Kingdoms were formed after the grueling hundred year’s war.

The Seven Kingdoms is Westhold, Western Capital, Southern Han, Norveg, Avillon, Stormholt, and Eastern Capital.

Westhold is ruled by King Julius of House of Loraine and the kingdom have five large regions.

It has Lindberg, Iathium, Morova, Bourgnon and Grecia.

On its eastern border are Norveg kingdom and Southern Han. On its southern Border is the Western Capital.

On its western border is the Mountain range of Merciana that separated Midgard and Aeropa.

Then there is the Western Capital. The Kingdom is ruled by King Uther Pendragon.

Western Capital royalty all have connection to the illustrious Pendragon bloodline and have always declared themselves as the inheritor of the land and most qualified to sit on the Dragon Throne.

But compared to their burning ambition, they are incapable to unite the land with their current military force

They only have two regions under their control. Thorngate and Westward.

Thorngate. Usually the region of Thorngate is peaceful and the region is ruled by Honorable Prince Andrew Thorpe from the House of Thorpe.

Honorable Prince Andrew is the childhood friend of the current King of Western Capital

And then there is Westward

The region is ruled by Duke Derrick West.

He is the Duke of Westward and the royal brother of the former King of Western Capital, and uncle of the current King, his prestige and status is only second to the King.

In his youth, the Duke led armies and men to fight the Western Barbarians and the Southern Han troops that dares to set foot into Westhold.

But age claims every man youth.

Now, he is old and very sick, some even said he is nearing death.

The Duke is also known to have seven young concubines of exceptional beauties and talents.

He was demoted during his altercation with his brother who was the Crown Prince at the time, who was the father of the current King but yet he was not killed else the former King would be accused of not caring about brotherly affection.

On its Northern Border is Westhold. On its eastern Border is Avillon Kingdom. In its North east border is Southern Han.

It has been years since Westhold and Southern Han have a conflict against each other.

Then there is the Southern Han. Southern Han on the other hand is unique than the other kingdoms in Midgard.

Their people are resilient and hardworking and composed of primarily of the Western Plain people, the Han people

The kingdom is ruled by a woman now. Queen Luo Ruohua from the House of Luo 

Her age is fifteen years old. She is aided by her minister and generals in her rule of Southern Han. Southern Han has many internal problems.

Most of her ministers wanted to oust her from the throne

The kingdom itself has no big region and the capital of the Southern Han is also its only territory.

It is the smallest kingdom compared to the other six kingdoms.

The kingdom is established by one of the descendant of the fallen Han dynasty before the destruction of Norveg in the Far Northern Hell.

On its West is Westhold. On its North is Norveg. On its south is the Western capital. On its East is Avillon.

Southern Han is surrounded by enemy’s nation and Northmen kingdom and survives because of their smooth diplomacy

Then there is Norveg.

The kingdom is ruled by King Ragnar Hardstone and Queen Frieda of Lombard whose family ruled Snowhel and Windspell.

The King and Queen have seven princes of exceptional prowess in military and one princess of unsurpassed beauty.

The rulers of this kingdom come from the bloodline of Olaf Hardstone. And they also possess large land as they have five regions that covered most of the Northlands

There is Windhill, Hardstone, Windspell, Snowhel and Vanheim.

On its West is Westhold. On its Southwest is Southern Han. On its South is Avillon. On its East border is Stormholt.

Stormholt and Norveg are in an alliance to keep Avillon the largest kingdom in Midgard under check.

Avillon is also one of the superpower kingdoms in the land. It is ruled by the Merovech. The current King is King Clovis Merovech.

Merovech both paternal and maternal families control Vult and Marya. While his Queen, Queen Margaret of Anjou, her paternal family control Troy.

Her maternal family control Traia.

Her son the Crown Prince has large support in the Imperial Court.

The Imperial Noble Consort Morgana gave birth to the Second Prince and her son manages to rule Traia.

Blessed with exceptional son but incapable to quell the internal unrest of his Harem. This is the evaluations of the scholars.

In the Imperial harem, King Clovis favored Morgana.

He wanted to make the Second Prince the Crown Prince which was rebuked by the scholar and ministers.

The power struggle between these two Princes has always been the reason why the Court of Avillon is never peaceful and why King Clovis has never managed to fulfill his ancestor wish to unify the land.

Avillon is the largest of all the Kingdoms and have one of the largest military the continent has ever seen.

Its weakness lies in the internal discord and the power struggles in their court. It has five large regions

Vult, Marya, Troy, Traia, Plainsblood

On its West is the small Southern Han. On its Southern border is the Eastern Capital. On its North is Norveg.

On its East is Stormholt. The Avillon military usually clashes with Stormholt in its eastern border or Norveg in its northern border.

Eastern Capital rarely interferes but at times also takes advantage when the opportunity presented itself.

The second largest kingdom in Midgard is Stormholt, ruled by the House of Stormborn. They have five regions, Windhelm, Throrn, Alfheim, Nilfheim and Vanaheim

They are in an alliance with the Norveg on its Northern Borders. In a hostile relationship with Avillon on its Western border.

On its southern border is the Eastern Capital. On its eastern border is the large seas called the Midgard Endless Sea.

Then there is the Eastern Capital which only has two regions.

Hamptons and Arling

They are the second smallest kingdom after Southern Han. Not only that, but they are also surrounded by superpower nations.

The kingdom is versed in diplomacy and famous for its fertile land and merchant activity that trade with the far off Southern Great Land by ships.

On its north is Avillon. On its northeast is Stormholt. On its south is the Endless Sea. On its East is the Endless Sea.

Charles nodded as he finished writing his notes. He needs to summarize the relationship of the seven kingdoms and its geography if he were to plan for the future.

At dawn, he will ride with his uncle to the Western Plain. He then write another slew of information on another parchment.

The Way to Improve the Village

Since pottery in Lindberg is very good, Charles will instruct the steward to promote pottery. Porcelain can be traded with the Southern Han.

Since the people of Westhold are closer to the Western Plain, they also gain many more exotic products from the land beyond the Western Plain.

So, Charles instructed in his letter to promote pottery but not only on the production of porcelain but also on stoneware for domestic use.

Then the gold mine in Lindbergh must also be excavated.

Tourism which is a new concept in this world is also introduced.

Since the Temple of Orlanth is here Charles has already scheme something as he put his thoughts on the paper.

He also encourages business near the Temple.

Then he assesses his benefices, properties and the terrain of the village. The climate, terrain, potential industries are all noted.

How many acres are growing staples? The facilities like the mills, mines quarries market and fairs.

The repair that needed to be done.

In the parchment, Charles also stress the importance to attract more people. After all land does not make money without people to work it

Which is why Charles also plan a construction program of sewers and other construction that would help the hygiene of this village to increase.

He included inside the parchment his design and blue print for such construction program. With his body possessing the compressed energy of the years he was on earth, he is not tired.

Noting that only when the village economy has surplus that the steward is to construct buildings.

Why make buildings?

Because construction requires labors and temporary laborer become permanent tenants if the manor offers them parcels of land of give them materials for building their own homestead.

He also warns not to take another lord tenant and peasants which will result in an unfriendly neighbor, and urge to recruit mostly from the nearby cities.

With great relationship with the neighboring lords, his steward can negotiate and trade with each other.

If they are some who is hostile towards Charles territory, Charles has no other choice but to ask help from his father military since this village hardly has any army.

The orchard will provide food as well as cider and liquors which can be traded away in time of excess.

Since he will not be here, he also order the steward to maintain the manor finance and not to order cider and liquor for the manor instead trade it with the traveling caravans and merchants that will surely pass here before they continue their journey to the Pass.

Wool must also be traded when there is a surplus and thus Charles also orders to promote the caring of livestock by providing an in depth explanation on how to rear goats, cows, how to treat their disease and the such.

And then there is also a vineyard.

It usually takes seven years to establish a new vineyard.

Charles will not be here anyway for the next four to seven years so he also put it in his to do list. An acre of grapes makes about twenty gallons of wine.

Some of it must be supplied to the manor while the other will be sold and traded.

Weekly markets and hosting biannual fairs is a must while at the same time strengthen the internal economy.

Since tourism is also on his to do list, inn must be constructed. A large inn. The income gained by fines, rents, tax, and tolls will be used for the expense of the manor and the surplus will be stored inside the manor treasury.

Then assarting.

When necessary to create more arable land, the steward will be allowed to assarting the forest but only if there is some kind of drought or lack of land which is not a main concern.

Since most of the activities of the lords will not be possible since Charles will leave tomorrow, the maintenance consumption of the manor will surely decrease and increase the wealth of the manor when he returns.

The gold can also be used to repair any facilities damaged in the village when he is gone.

There are many more ideas inside Charles mind but many are not feasible considering the amount of wealth this village possesses so the limited it became for Charles to improve the economy.

He also draws design for iron plows. This is to be sold later to the merchant guild for a heavy price. For the northern soils which is hard, iron plow would improve their agricultural development.

As the lord, Charles also wrote an order, a clause in which it declared that anyone who lived in the town for a year and one day is a freemen.

This is to attract serfs and people.

It is very important that before next autumn this village would be self-sufficient and become an attraction for people to stop and trade.

Why?

Because trade fairs is closed in autumn and the weather made roads impassable.

Merchants will wait out the winter in a village or town. Artisan who make goods will attract merchants.

Wool trade is also very important in the plan to increase the wealth of this little territory.

When he finally finished writing all that he wanted, then he went to sleep.

In the morning, Charles informs his steward of his departure. The steward is shocked and reminds the Young Lord that the Vassal Prince will surely not allow this.

But Count Lancel vouches for the Young Lord and has already sent a letter to the Vassal Prince.

Three days later, they send their farewells.

The steward insist on sending a carriage with the young lord but Charles knowing that it will be detrimental to his mental state said to his steward with an air of a great scholar.

‘Peace and happiness makes people lazy, being dispirited leads to death. Seeing the world is better than being in seclusion reading books.

The steward hearing this, his face brightened.

The steward is a loyalist of the Wellham’s.

Seeing the descendant of this Wellham’s bloodline to inherit the will of his forefathers, not caring about difficulties, understanding the ancestor teachings and have the will to learn, how could he not be happy?

Seeing the Young Lord is determined, Steward Errol finally relented and gives the young lord the gold enough to last ten years.

Even that Charles rejected and only takes enough for one year.

Having a lot of gold would only lead to death in the Jianghu if you do not have the ability.

Charles then reminded Errol to follow the instruction left on his book to develop the village.

Errol knows how to read and is particularly bright so Charles did not have any worries.

And then Charles and Lancel ride to the Western Plains.

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