Expansion

Allen Village is located at the foot of a high mountain, backed by a forest. Most of the villagers are hunters who make a living by hunting.

That evening, the hunters who had gone out began to return one after another. They boasted to each other about their catch, compared who had the biggest harvest that day, and discussed how many silver coins a few valuable pelts could be exchanged for at the Lord's shop in town. At this point, they couldn't help but praise the Lord's fairness and generosity, which had greatly increased their income and made their lives less difficult and frugal than before.

Just as the hunters, returning from their hunt, gathered at the village entrance to relax and chat, a rapid, heavy thud of hooves suddenly broke the stillness of the twilight.

The villagers at the entrance looked up in the direction of the sound and saw five majestic silver figures riding tall warhorses galloping toward the village at the end of the road leading to it, bathed in the red glow of the sunset.

When they rushed closer, the people could finally see what they looked like in the afterglow of the setting sun.

They wore heavy silver Knight armor, which shone brilliantly in the golden sunset. The tall, powerful warhorses beneath them, clad in horse armor, were magnificent and agile. Longswords, shields, and spears hung on either side of the saddles, and specks of crimson blood, still seemingly wet, clung to the exposed blades, exuding a chilling aura in the setting sun.

Everyone tensed up, gripping their weapons tightly, ready to fight to the death to protect their wives and children in the village behind them.

Fortunately, someone was the first to notice the emblems on their armor.

"It's the Lord's Knight!"

As the voice rang out, everyone turned to look at the chest of the Knight at the front. A black shield-shaped emblem with a longsword on its back and Nine-Headed Dragon engraved on the front was clearly imprinted on his chest armor. The gazes of the crowd softened instantly as they looked at the Knight, and the bows and swords they were gripping loosened. Instead, they looked at these majestic Knight with eagerness and reverence.

This is the legendary powerful Knights that has always followed their great Lord, conquering the north and south, and wiping out countless terrifying werewolves.

But why would these powerful and noble Knight come to their remote little village?

According to what they heard in town, only formal Knight are qualified to have the noble crest representing their Lord engraved on their breastplate. Even the Black Iron Knight are only knights who have personally killed at least one enemy Knight on the battlefield before being Knight by their Lord and becoming the most noble lord.

According to the merchants, there are only a little over a hundred Black Iron Knight in the Lord's Knights, most of whom were soldiers who were the first to follow the Lord's territory guards.

Just as everyone's excitement subsided and their eyes filled with doubt, the Black Iron Knight, who was at the very front of the five Knights, suddenly dismounted and strode confidently toward the group of people gathered together.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the strong and imposing Knight stopped in front of old Jack. Then, to everyone's astonishment, the noble Knight suddenly knelt down on one knee in front of old Jack.

Old Jack was also taken aback by this sudden turn of events, but then he seemed to suddenly remember something and looked excitedly at the strong Knight kneeling in front of him.

After kneeling down, the Knight slowly removed his helmet, revealing a cold, resolute, yet somewhat familiar young face to everyone.

"Father, Oliver is back!"

The young Knight's voice trembled slightly, and his eyes were red as he looked at old Jack, but he forced himself not to let the tears fall.

"Oliver! My son! I knew it! I knew it!..."

Old Jack was so moved that tears streamed down his face. He tried to pull his son up from the ground, but found that he couldn't budge him at all.

Fortunately, Oliver quickly stood up and looked at his tall, strong son in his imposing armor. Old Jack stroked the black emblem on the chest of the armor and nodded excitedly.

"Okay! Okay!..."

The people around then realized what was happening and began to discuss it excitedly.

"It's Oliver!"

"So old Jack wasn't exaggerating! His son really did become Knight!"

"Our village has finally produced a remarkable person!"

"Little Oliver wasn't always this strong, but his archery is the best in the village, even better than his father's!"

Women and children from the village, hearing the commotion, gradually gathered around. The news that old Jack's son, Oliver, had become Knight under the Lord quickly spread throughout the village.

Oliver was one of the first members of the territory guard that Chen Mo selected and formed. In the first battle with Count Valen, although he killed many soldiers, he failed to kill a single Knight under Count Valen's command.

In the subsequent battles, although his strength grew stronger, he was never able to seize the opportunity to kill the enemy Knight. Watching his comrades become Knight one by one fueled his burning desire.

Until recently, in a battle, Oliver fought bravely and fought hard, finally managing to kill a Knight single-handedly. Only then was he finally conferred the title of the glorious Black Iron Knight by Chen Mo, and he also had four squire Knight under his command.

He was originally ordered to eliminate a werewolf that had appeared nearby. When he learned that the destination was very close to his hometown, he asked Captain Andrew for permission to go home to visit his family after completing the mission.

Having been constantly on the move, the Knight had no chance to go home. Now that they had this rare opportunity to visit their families, Andrew naturally wouldn't object.

That's how the scene described earlier came about.

After a year of expansion and construction, the territory under Chen Mo's control has undergone tremendous changes.

The territory's economic and military strength is extremely powerful, far surpassing all other surrounding territories.

The promotion of new agricultural tools and new farming methods greatly increased agricultural output, while Chen Mo only levied very little tax. For the first time, the common people in the territory felt the happiness of having surplus food and not having to worry about food.

In addition, Chen Mo led the Knights to continuously hunt down werewolves that appeared in the territory, which almost wiped out werewolves in Chen Mo's territory. Without the threat of this terrifying Beast, the lives of the people were guaranteed, and they no longer had to live in hunger and fear every day.

With ample food and security, the common people in the territory lived in peace and contentment, and their living conditions improved significantly. Unlike the common people in other places who were emaciated and ragged, everyone's spirits were renewed, and their faces were filled with happiness.

Many civilians from other surrounding territories secretly came to Chen Mo's territory, hoping to become his subjects, escape the threat of werewolves, and fill their families' stomachs.

Chen Mo welcomed all the commoners who came to him. At that time, Europe was extremely underdeveloped in terms of productivity. The output of the land was limited, and the people had to bear heavy taxes. In addition, natural disasters and man-made calamities, continuous wars and the constant killing by werewolves over the years made life extremely difficult for the common people. The population was always very low, and the total population of Europe was less than ten million.

As the most important source of productivity and soldiers, civilians were a very important asset to Lord.

All the commoners who admired the strength and stability of Chen Mo's territory and came to him were given land, farm tools, food, and seeds by Chen Mo, so that they could quickly settle down and start production.

After defeating several powerful Lord in the surrounding area, Chen Mo's territory now spanned nearly 10,000 square kilometers, equivalent to the area of several counties in Britain.

Besides forests and mountains, there are large tracts of land available for development and cultivation, so naturally, the more people the better.

Although Chen Mo spent a lot of troops on eliminating werewolves as his territory expanded, the pace of expansion did not stop.

With formidable combat power, superior equipment, and the perfect combination of timing, location, and popular support, Chen Mo's army swept through the land, conquering territories large and small. Many Lord located on the outskirts of Chen Mo's territory surrendered voluntarily before Chen Mo's army arrived.

Chen Mo would require these nobles to relinquish all their territories and power, while allowing them to retain their wealth, with further arrangements to be made after Chen Mo had assessed them.

Those with ability will be sent by Chen Mo to different regions to serve as governors, while those without ability can stay in the city and live a leisurely life as nobles.

For those who incurred too much public resentment, Chen Mo would order the court to conduct a public trial and then execute them directly.

As for whether this would deter other nobles from surrendering, Chen Mo didn't care. To him, whether they resisted or not made little difference. In the face of his powerful Knights, all forces would crumble. The more resistance he received, the more he could train his troops.

It is worth mentioning that among the Lord wisely chose to submit to Chen Mo's army when it was pressing in, there was one named Victor!

When Chen Mo finally saw him in person, he became even more certain of his guess. The world he had traveled to was indeed the world of the movie "Underworld," and it was before Victor became a vampire.

Before this, Victor had been personally leading his Knight troops to exterminate the werewolves in his territory. His forty elite Knight and he himself were all experienced in battle and had considerable combat strength.

Chen Mo chose to directly recruit this special and elite team.

Chen Mo did not reorganize the troops as he did in other territories, but instead handed them all over to Victor to lead.

Chen Mo was not afraid of his betrayal. Putting aside the fact that his power posed no threat to Chen Mo, this could actually be seen as a test for him.

After a thorough investigation and a period of personal contact, combined with the plot of the movie, Chen Mo discovered that Victor was a very principled and stubbornly conservative person.

For him, the rules of nobility and the honor of his family were paramount. Even when his daughter Sonya violated the laws of the vampire family, destroyed the purity of the pureblood bloodline, fell in love with the werewolf slave Lucien, and became pregnant, he, as the leader of the vampires, was extremely reluctant, but was forced by racial laws and his own principles to personally order her execution.

Most importantly, he didn't have much ambition, unlike Marcus, the progenitor of the vampires, who fantasized about the undead ruling the world.

Victor always believed that humans were the true masters of this world.

Of course, at present he is just an ordinary human nobleman under Chen Mo.

I only had time to buy New Year's goods today, and I'll be writing this chapter tonight. Sorry it's late. For those of you still awake, read on. I can't stay up any longer, time for bed!