The present Kingdom of Prussia has a bit of the flavor of the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The prestige of the King of Prussia plummeted due to a major incident, and the nobles with real titles in provinces across the country have all set up their own factions.

They united together for mutual warmth. Although they were still vassals of the king in name, they actually no longer cared much about the king.

Now there are 20 or 30 nobles in the province of Orange, all of them are princes. The biggest one is the Count of Libya.

The Pompeii family is a vassal of the Patton family.

In other words, he is a military general with real power.

And to stand out in the entire Orange Province and demonstrate military force and strength is a very, very reliable strategy.

So this time, Lelouch and Luther came up with the same idea, not only to recruit residents, but also to spread the word that there was a Pompeii family in Orange.

Originally this matter was a bit taboo, after all, they were vassals of the Patton family. If they showed off too much, would the master's family be happy?

But didn’t Luther ask his dad for advice? His dad said it was okay and he could just do whatever he wanted.

Luther still believed in his father's ability as a politician, so he dared to think and act.

In fact, the reason is very simple. First, the Patton family owns a town and has knight vassals with greater military strength and financial resources than the Pompey family.

If the Pompeii family develops, it will only be one more great vassal, which is nothing.

Secondly, Old Thor has hidden his real strength. With his military prowess as a high-ranking knight, he has already made a place in the entire Patton Territory and can be used as a great general.

Besides, Old Thor now has the possibility of being promoted to a grand knight. If Old Thor really becomes a grand knight, then he will be the most powerful man in the entire Patton County.

Not to mention one town, even owning two or three towns would not be a problem.

Of course, this kind of acquisition by force is unreliable. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for a rural knight lord family to have every generation become a great knight.

If the family's military strength declines, its influence will inevitably shrink.

But old Saul trusted his son, Luther Pompey.

So Old Thor's idea is to develop upwards in his generation, or Luther's generation, and become a baron. At that time, he will rely on his huge power and financial resources, use magic potions to accumulate, and pile up his grandchildren and great-grandchildren to become great knights.

Secure the position of Baron Pompeii.

Old Saul did not explain these things in detail to Luther. He just said, "Go ahead, son. I support you."

In short, Old Saul is Luther's strong backing. Luther dares to think and do anything and is very courageous.

The topic returns to the starting point. How can we eliminate a notorious bandit group rooted in the Orange Province and demonstrate military power?

It would be impossible to use the dozen or so knights of Pompeii to fight head-on, and they would not be able to win.

Then the only remaining option is to ask the mercenary group to take action.

This is not a matter of losing face. Financial resources are also a part of military power. How much financial resources must one have to be able to afford a mercenary group to demonstrate the military power of his family?

It is also a kind of strength.

And they can whitewash it at that time, for example, the Pompeii family joined forces with a certain mercenary group to wipe out a certain notorious group of thieves.

We all work together.

All in all, it's a good choice.

But the question is how much money does it cost? Luther asked Lelouch to find a thief group entrenched near Barton County, which was called the "Autumn Wind Thieves Group".

The leader was a high-ranking knight named Omima.

No knight of noble birth would become a thief.

Because the nobles have enjoyed a fine and luxurious life since childhood, they would not become thieves unless they encountered something particularly serious, such as being wiped out or being hunted down.

No one knows the experience of Knight Omima, the leader of the Autumn Wind Thieves Gang, before he became a thief. He was a high-level knight when he first appeared, and possessed the powerful fighting spirit of a wild wind.

He recruited a group of civilian knights and formed the Autumn Wind Thieves.

He had been entrenched in a mountain range between the territory of Patton and another great noble, leading a happy life of robbery.

It has been more than ten years since then.

The bandit group now has thirty or forty official knights, of which thirty-two have names and bounties. There are actually ten intermediate knights.

Not to mention the knights who are hiding in the dark and may never have shown their faces.

It is best to treat the Autumn Wind Thieves' Group as a group of thieves with the combat strength of forty or fifty knights, otherwise it is easy to capsize in the gutter.

The Qiufeng thieves' style of doing things is relatively mild among thieves. For more than ten years, they have only robbed and collected protection fees.

Rarely attack towns within Patton's territory.

Because the thieves' gang was so powerful, Baron Patton was afraid that his own strength would be weakened, so he never took action against this gang.

There is another reason.

This group of Autumn Wind thieves is based between two territories. Why should I take action?

This is a typical idea, and it is also the reason why bandit gangs have proliferated throughout the Orange Province.

The information Lelouch collected was quite detailed, and after Luther checked it out, he discovered a big problem: the bounties on the heads of this Autumn Wind Thieves Group totaled a total of 80,000.

Among them, the bounty for the high-ranking knight, Omima, the leader of the Autumn Wind Thieves, was 30,000 gold coins, and the rest was shared by the knights under his command.

As long as you get the heads of these members, you can go to the residence of the Orange Consul, the Count of Libya, to collect the reward.

In addition, there is the wealth acquired by the bandit gang through years of robbery.

This is a very tempting idea, to make a fortune by robbing bandits.

But the question is whether this is how it is calculated.

First of all, if we want to attack such a bandit group, can we keep all the knights? If one Omimar escapes, it means a loss of 30,000 bounties.

After the robbery, will the thieves keep the accumulated wealth? Many knights become thieves because they can make money quickly. Many of them will exchange the money for magic potions to increase their strength.

This is also the important reason why there are only thirty-two knights in the Autumn Wind Thieves' Gang, but the proportion of intermediate knights is as high as ten.

In other words, robbing this gang of thieves may not necessarily yield corresponding spoils.

Luther estimated that the price for hiring a mercenary group to wipe out such a gang of thieves would be at least 100,000 gold coins.

What if the bounty, plus the spoils, is only 50,000 gold coins? Then the Pompeii family will lose 50,000 gold coins.

Is this business worth doing?

Because the leader of the thieves was given the name of the president of the United States, it was censored with an asterisk. Now it is changed to Omima.

However, the revisions may contain errors and omissions. If an asterisk appears in the text, it represents the leader.

(End of this chapter)