Taking advantage of the Situation?

Only after William had finished listening to them did he say earnestly, "They're all rotten to the core, and so are you.

There's no difference between you.

But you've accepted the young master's rules. Once Baron arrives, you'll be orderly while maintaining your combat effectiveness. When compared with those rotten men, who do you think Baron will appreciate more?

The Baron still has quite a few villages without lords under him. Take Tewain Village, for example."

That made the men's eyes shine even brighter.

They knew it was merely a promise of future rewards, and becoming a landed knight was not that easy.

But whether Baron treated them favorably was connected to the daily allowances of these court knights.

So whether they merely wanted to get through their assignments or genuinely wanted to improve their circumstances, the knights trained with William, practicing horseback riding and cutting down melons.

On the uneven paths, wooden frames stood at different positions, with melons placed on them.

The knights had to maintain their speed as they passed through, using crossbow shots, spear thrusts, sword cuts, whips, or any other means to destroy the targets.

When they actually saw the knights from Tervain Village accomplish it with ease, the eight men led by Sir Ramai were dumbfounded.

"Knight Adena truly deserves his reputation as a famous instructor of the Northern Legion. This method clearly comes from the Northern Knights, doesn't it?"

Sir Ramai's single remark exposed how shallow his knowledge was. The original training of the now-rotten Northern Knights had been far more difficult than this.

Only after experiencing it firsthand did Ergons understand why the Church wanted to restore the Northern Knights to their former glory.

It might have been to contend for power, but more likely, it was to increase Newbury Province's military strength.

The Northern Knights had originally fought for their creed and the Holy Light. Because the great nobles recruited them, many knights became nobles or court knights serving nobles.

They had not left the Northern Knights' ranks, but after taking on outside positions, many things could no longer be organized into a proper fighting force.

In this duchy, every lord was an absolute King within his own territory. That was true feudalism. A centralized knightly order found it very difficult to assemble.

After the Northern Knights lost the ability to mobilize their forces in a unified and orderly manner, their reputation had already collapsed. Now, they merely relied on the Northern Legion to maintain appearances.

As for the Northern Legion's so-called heavy infantry, they were simply infantry wearing padded leather armor. They did not even have iron helmets.

They were inferior to the Tervalin Light Infantry, let alone the Tervalin Militia.

Sir Ramai's twelve "heavy infantrymen" were exactly like that. They could not even withstand a single charge from the knights.

"Don't think that wearing armor means you can ride recklessly among pirates or slaughter the starving, ragged mobs at will.

"We should demand more of ourselves and set knights in matching armor as our targets. Of course, for now, this training is still aimed at refugees."

This training method left them no room to muddle through. If you could do it, you could do it. If you couldn't, you truly couldn't.

For a pampered knight like Sir Ramai, saying he could not complete a slash from a galloping horse would be an insult.

But expecting him to eliminate more than a dozen targets along the way while riding at over thirty miles per hour was still asking too much of him.

In truth, all these knights could manage it with a little training. Thus, the difficulty kept increasing, and the court knights, whose interest and pride had been provoked, began taking things seriously.

After all, even Ergons could do it with ease when he personally took the field. They could not afford to lose face.

Within three days, more landed knights arrived with their troops. In an environment that was already completely under control, they could only submit to Ergons's leadership.

Thus, they continued building watchtower camps, having everyone practice hygiene, forbidding them from emptying manure buckets wherever they pleased, and participating in training.

By the time the fifth landed knight had been trained by William until he was utterly exhausted, Sir Ramai had already noticed the obvious changes in the twelve peasants under his command.

The three knights who arrived later had noticed as well. Their uniform "heavy infantry" had all grown stronger. Once equipped with spears and formed into ranks, they were beginning to resemble a real elite force.

After all, not every knight was willing to equip his soldiers with swords, but at least they would all provide them with a spear.

Even if the shaft was bent like a snake.

After estimating the Baron's travel time, Ergons organized another briefing. This time, when he appeared, there was not a single noisy sound.

His training was actually aimed at the knights and court knights. As for the soldiers temporarily recruited from among the peasants, he only needed to tell them what to do. They might be lazy or fail to do things properly, but beating them was enough.

There was no need to bring out any formation or posture-training contraption. These ignorant, simple soldiers, who nevertheless revealed the cunning of small farmers, were truly unenlightened and terribly mean.

Seeing that everyone could wait quietly, Ergons was very satisfied. Thus, William and Adamson, his two henchmen, had no chance to contribute this time; there was no need for them to clear the area.

"Although the training has lasted only a short time, the results are very significant. I'm very pleased. According to the records, seventeen court knights should have arrived, but only seven are present. Seven landed knights should have arrived, and five are present.

"I have twelve court knights and two clerics with me. Sir Ramai, Sir Peruzzi, Sir Biyong, and Sir Willham each brought twelve heavy infantrymen and five auxiliaries, for a total of forty-eight combat troops and twenty auxiliaries.

"The Chancellor dispatched three military administrators and fifteen baggage soldiers."

Ergons folded the parchment in his hand and paused, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces.

"In other words, besides me, we have twenty-two heavy knights, eighty-six spearmen including combat and auxiliary troops, and two military clerics.

"Not counting the two other landed knights traveling with Baron, or the court knights at his side, we already constitute a very powerful force."

When he finished speaking, he exposed the hidden thoughts in many people's hearts.

At the beginning of the collective training, some of the seven court knights had already voiced their dissatisfaction. They believed that the Baron's son was the true heir, although his frail body might cause him to die young.

"Sir Davis" was only the second heir, so it was inappropriate for him to manage the Baron's army.

As the training force grew larger and larger, the landed knights who arrived later were forced by the situation that had already taken shape to join in. More and more people began harboring ulterior motives.

Sir Ramai was the first to side with him, whether out of sincerity or for some other purpose.

Sir Ramai had two sons who were approaching adulthood. Normally, his younger son should have served as a court knight in Tevalinburg.

However, Sir Ramai said that after his second son arrived with the Baron, he hoped to have the honor of receiving William's instruction and becoming a true knight.

The seven court knights needed even less explanation. Toby, who had a full beard, and the youngest, Josev, were the first to side with him.

They were the second sons of nobles from other territories. If they continued serving the Baron as court knights, they could be said to have no chance of ever becoming landed knights.

Among the other five, some had their own hidden motives, while others pretended to be simple-minded. One after another, they all stated that they would support him in matters concerning the succession.

Then there were Sir Peruzzi and Sir Biyong's promises to send their sons. Of the landed knights present, only the last to arrive, Sir Willham, had yet to show him any goodwill.

What was this supposed to be? A crowning ceremony?

Of course, he was not so naive as to believe that sending their second sons to serve as his attendants or court knights meant they had pledged allegiance.

At the end of the day, it was merely a form of political investment. When the winds shifted, would a second son really matter that much?

What was more, everything they had said so far was merely verbal.

Besides, as long as the Baron exposed that he was not Sir Davis Tevalin but Ergons Tevalin, he could drive away these opportunists.

Of course, whether the Baron could expose his identity was another matter entirely.