Chapter 55: The Knight and the Witch

Three hundred years ago, maintaining a knight required granting a fief. With a fief, a knight could afford his own armor and lead retainers to fight for his lord.

Even after the Industrial Revolution, when many knightly fiefs were replaced with regular military pay, the quota of knights remained strictly controlled by various nations, as the knightly class still enjoyed certain privileges.

There was simply no helping it; the pie was only so big.

Zhang Shan’s cheap father dared not expand the establishment casually.

Leonid’s visit was, in truth, to test the waters on behalf of all the connected knightly squires and knight apprentices, seeing whether Zhang Shan would employ them and what kind of terms he could offer.

Zhang Shan was different.

First, he was no good-for-nothing wastrel selling off his ancestors' estate; second, his plans were exceptionally grandiose.

Sitting behind his desk, Zhang Shan crossed his fingers, pressed the backs of his hands against his chin, and wore a rather intriguing smile.

"I am delighted to hear that the future knights of the Principality of Boria possess such fighting spirit. As long as we defeat Yamato, I do not mind issuing ten maids to every knight serving under me, along with a knightly fief no more than five miles from the coast. Of course, that is on the condition that we defeat Yamato."

Upon hearing this, Leonid quickly struck his chest with one hand, lifted his chin, and declared, "Certainly! Your Highness, the enemies of the Boriysky family are our enemies! The glory of the Boriysky family is our glory."

In his view, His Highness Andrei was about to risk everything, willing to give away his family's most precious coastal fiefs just as he had previously traded with the Buriya nobility.

What Zhang Shan actually wanted to say was: Yamato maids were still maids, and Yamato's coastline was still coastline!

The news of Zhang Shan opening this door stirred a thousand ripples.

The city of Barovsk was in an uproar.

"Have you heard? His Highness is about to announce a new batch of knights!"

"I heard earlier that he used the Guard of the Church to blow themselves up against the enemy's demon samurai, so I thought he hated knights."

"Nonsense, His Highness was definitely just pooling resources for us back then."

At first, some knightly families adopted a wait-and-see attitude regarding the stance of Grand Duke Vladimir Boriysky, as this involved carving up the Boria family's fiefs. Yet a full day passed, and the Grand Duke's mansion remained completely silent.

Assuming they understood, the knight families concluded that this was the Grand Duke’s tacit approval of the Third Prince’s bounty.

Consequently, they rushed to find Prince Andrei, nearly beating down the threshold of the Composite Brigade's headquarters.

Only the Grand Duke knew what his third son—whose ambition matched his capability—was truly thinking: he intended to use the lands of the Yamato people to reward the knights.

Yet the third son’s promise was technically flawless; it would only be fulfilled 'after defeating the Yamato people.'

However, his definition of 'defeat' was not the same kind of defeat the Emperor of Ruthenia had in mind!

How could the Emperor allow the Boria family, whose territory was already vast, to expand once more and capture hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land with deep-water ports?

Yet the Emperor had acted too dishonorably this time, not even bothering to put up a front as he publicly opposed his own people, leaving the old Grand Duke burning with indignation.

"Suka! I am an elector prince myself, so do not push me, or I might just vote you down! Heh heh! Who knows, one day I might even grab a crown to play with myself!"

In Ruthenia’s political landscape, the nobles east of the Raoul Mountains had never held much sway. This was determined by territorial strength.

Ruthenia’s core region lay west of the Raoul Mountains, close to Europa.

Grand Duke Vladimir was merely venting aloud.

He was no time-traveler; how could he possibly know that a great European war awaited in the future?

Over here, Zhang Shan had acquired over a thousand cheap heavy infantrymen.

Interestingly, their quality was not only decent—it was absurdly high.

Zhang Shan witnessed with his own eyes how many of them, after transforming into their ursine forms, moved with lightning speed while wearing over a hundred pounds of heavy training armor.

The Boria family held another fascinating tradition in selecting knights: challengers were required to put on heavy armor and, in a one-on-one bout, grapple with a Boria brown bear weighing no less than eight hundred catties and emerge victorious.

Initially, those Boria brown bears would aggressively charge at the challengers, wielding brute strength sufficient to tear apart a Yamato armored vehicle.

Yet the challengers would immediately respond with a shoulder throw or push them flat onto the ground.

Having been beaten up too often, the bears eventually adapted and became like giant Boria hamsters; realizing these strange heavy-armored humans had no intention of killing them, they simply took it in stride, letting themselves be tossed through the air or pinned to the dirt, letting out a few mournful roars before calling it a day.

It left Zhang Shan truly unsure whether to laugh or cry.

He readily accepted all who passed the trial.

Different positions brought different perspectives.

Had he been playing a video game, Zhang Shan might have had moral cleanliness issues and refused to touch any remnants of feudalism.

Having actually time-traveled, he immediately transformed into a pragmatist, uniting every force that could possibly be united.

Never mind these bellicose feudal knights; even if someone dumped ten soldiers from the White Elephant divisions on him right now, Zhang Shan would take them all without hesitation.

After all, cannon fodder was cannon fodder; he wouldn't feel a shred of pity if they were wiped out.

Shoot whichever deserter tried to run. Execute whichever freeloader took supplies but refused to work.

These newly recruited knights were mostly former squires capable of bringing their own armor.

Zhang Shan only needed to shove an MG34 machine gun into each of their hands and call it a day. These Ruthenian powerhouses were a complete machine gun squad all by themselves.

As for whether they could win, Zhang Shan didn't care.

Win, and they would be rewarded.

Lose, and all your talk meant nothing!

Another unexpected development awaited Zhang Shan.

"Ah, Natalie, you want to go to the front lines?" Hearing this, Zhang Shan’s mouth stayed open in an 'O' shape for quite a while.

Natalie lowered her head, her fingers nervously twisting and tangling with one another, but she still mustered the courage to say, "Your Highness, my primary duty was originally to ensure your safety. But recently, because you have your own guard detachment, you don't really need me as much. After hearing the deeds of Dmitry Nurbagandov, I couldn't sleep for many nights, thinking I should do something for our motherland. Therefore..."

Zhang Shan fell silent.

The original Prince Andrei had been a nobody, so being assigned Natalie essentially meant she came as an all-in-one package—both bodyguard and, when needed, bedmate. The resources provided by the Grand Duke back then were that meager.

As the situation shifted and Andrei became the Grand Duke's sole heir, the resources at his disposal naturally differed from the past.

Moreover, ever since his trans-migration, Zhang Shan’s sole focus had been on wiping out the Yamato people; far from acting like a stud, he hadn't even touched a woman. Natalie’s status had essentially been marginalized. Thus, the ambitious female knight had timidly raised the request to head to the battlefield.

"Um, Your Highness, I was just being a bit impulsive. If Your Highness wishes, I am still very willing to stay by your side."

Zhang Shan remained silent for a long time. "Aside from serving as a heavy infantryman, what else can you do?"

"I can fly an airplane! I plan to borrow some old aircraft to carry out night bombing missions and harass the enemy!"

For some inexplicable reason, a fiercely legendary moniker flashed into Zhang Shan's mind—

[Night Witches]!