Unexpected Visitor and Marriage Proposal

As October drew to a close, the construction in the Two Rivers Territory was largely completed on schedule. The more than 6,000 standard houses planned at the beginning of the year were mostly finished. Although there was no interior decoration, a house made of teak beams, cement, and bricks was unimaginable for most of the inhabitants of this world.

Especially in the Northlands, these houses with heated floors and chimneys, which can keep warm and protect against rain and snow, are both practical and precious.

However, these houses were not given to the subjects and serfs for free. After the houses were allocated and the subjects and serfs were arranged to move in, they were told that they would have to take out a housing loan with a total value of 4 Silver Maple, to be repaid in ten years. These loans would be collected from them in the form of taxes.

Victor didn't play any tricks on the people and serfs, he didn't even ask for interest, he simply calculated the labor and material costs and got the house price.

As for the repayment of loans to serfs, Victor made a promise to all serfs that they would be freed after working for Two Rivers Territory for five years. At that time, the territory would provide these new Freemen with land, at a standard of 10 acres per male and 8 acres per female, and would also provide loans to these Freemen to purchase livestock and farm tools.

Victor's welfare policies for serfs also included allowing them to keep 10% of the output from their allocated land as their own income, while handing over the other 90%. If a serf's family member became a soldier in the territory, Auxiliary Troops could retain 40% of the output, while a professional soldier could retain 80%. If a soldier performed meritorious service or died in battle, he could release five of his immediate family members from serfdom at once.

Although the Two Rivers Territory has only been established for a little over a year, three or four thousand serfs have already been freed from their serf status by having their families join the army.

Currently, these new Freemen's families may still be burdened with a large amount of debt from their territories, but with the allocated land and the benefits of their families joining the army, these debts will soon be changed. At that time, these Freemen will provide a new market for Two Rivers Territory, which is also an important fulcrum for Victor's planning of industrial development in Two Rivers Territory.

Therefore, everyone in the entire Two Rivers Territory, including most of the soldiers, is Victor's debtor. The properties allocated to him in the territory alone are worth 5,000 gold coins, and there are also loans to these new Freemen, totaling nearly 3 Silver Maple per person. The more Freemen there are, the more wealth Victor has. Victor only needs to give up a little bit of land.

However, to prevent land consolidation, Victor stipulated that these allocated lands could not be traded, and Freemen people did not have ownership of the allocated lands. They could only lease them from the territory on a long-term basis, but the annual rent was very small, basically only one Copper Piece per acre. Victor's taxes were mainly collected in kind, since these Freemen did not have many sources of money at present.

Currently, the farmland that has been centrally cultivated in the territory will not be included in the allocation. At most, it will be used as a reward for soldiers. The farmland reward is mainly provided to facilitate the centralized residence of military families. However, if the farmland is exchanged for uncultivated land, it can be exchanged at ten times the standard. Victor also encourages soldiers' families to exchange for uncultivated land.

On October 30th, the territory welcomed an unexpected guest: Baron Brown and another person arrived in the Two Rivers Territory.

When Victor first received the news, he assumed that Baron Brown had come to visit the Two Rivers Territory alone as agreed. But when he heard that the visitor had a guard of more than a hundred men, he realized that the most important guest might be someone else.

Victor personally left Wood Fort Town to greet them at the border. When he saw that many of the guards were wearing standard light armor with Iron Birch Territory, he knew exactly who had come.

Sure enough, as Victor approached, he saw Baron Brown talking to a man draped in a black robe. Victor dismounted and walked over.

The man in black robes lifted his hat and revealed himself to be Alex Iron Birch, the second son of Count Colt and the largest angel investor in the Two Rivers Territory.

"Long time no see, Alex."

"Long time no see, Victor. Congratulations on your promotion to viscount. Your performance in this campaign was outstanding, and your story is being told throughout the Northlands."

"That wasn't my achievement alone. It was thanks to Count Colt's guidance, the help of noble predecessors like Viscount Benjamin and Baron Brown, and the joint efforts of all the Northern Frontier Allied Army that we were able to achieve victory, and that I was fortunate enough to be promoted."

"Alright, Victor, enough with the pleasantries. I've come here for two reasons. First, I want to see you and your territory. Second, I'm here on behalf of my uncle Benjamin Viscount Benjamin Pear, to propose marriage to you. His eldest daughter, my sister Veronica Goldpear, has just turned 16 and wants to be engaged to you."

"Ah!" Victor exclaimed in surprise.

Although Viscount Benjamin had discussed introducing him to potential marriage partners during the campaign, he never expected that Benjamin wanted to introduce his own daughter.

"Victor, it seems you really didn't notice. I mentioned the marriage alliance to you before, and I wanted to remind you, but then I considered that you didn't know much about the local noble families, so I didn't go into details," Baron Brown said, shaking his head. "If he didn't want you to be his son-in-law, why would Viscount Benjamin keep going on military campaigns with you despite his injuries, cooperating with you as the Acting Legion Commander? He's even willing to keep teaching you military skills and the unspoken rules of the Northlands nobles. He must have been planning this for a long time."

Victor was genuinely surprised, after all, he had never been married in his previous life. Although he had dated, it had never reached the point of discussing marriage. He had no idea what his future father-in-law would be like. He thought that it was because of Alex's introduction that Viscount Benjamin was helping him so wholeheartedly.

"Victor, actually, it was my idea to arrange a marriage between my sister and you in the first place. I introduced you to my uncle, partly to get his support and help you make contributions in the campaign, and partly to let him assess you."

"My uncle is very satisfied with you so far, but it's up to you to decide. You can rest assured and don't have any worries. Even if it doesn't work out, it won't affect our relationship."

Victor thought for a moment and said directly, "I have no problem, but I have a request. Could I meet with Miss Veronica first?"

Alex laughed upon hearing this, "Victor, you're still as decisive as ever. I would have let you meet beforehand anyway, but it's not really appropriate to talk here. As the host, you should treat us well first."

"Of course." Victor immediately invited the two of them to mount their horses and head towards Wood Fort Town together.