But the current situation is far from what he had envisioned. As the Governor of the Provincial Affairs Council, Rong'en's territory only had a bit over 100 elite knights in total? Including formal knights, the number was barely over 200.

This meant that even if he lowered the standard to formal knights, he was still short by half!

Previously, he was somewhat smug, thinking his strength had increased significantly, possibly even comparable to Bauhinia Castle.

But now it seems he was still far from it. As far as he knew, a duke could have 10,000 heavy armored cavalry, and a count about 3,000. For example, Bauhinia Castle, the Bauhinia Clan, throughout generations, have brought the entire Bauhinia Valley under their control. Within such a vast area, the Bauhinia Clan had more than 500 elite knights just in the fortress of the Red Night Knight Order garrison. In the entire Bauhinia Earl's Territory, the number of elite knights was probably no less than 2,000.

Perhaps the only advantage the Hesse Territory had over the Bauhinia Earl's Territory was the number of Divine Chosen and Champion-level knights. Su Li was able to bring many opportunities to the knights, so their strength increased rapidly.

So Su Li frowned and asked, "After our territory defeated the Divine Chosen Demon, our fame has spread during this time, why are so few knights joining our territory?"

At this time, the leader of the Corona Knight Order, Constantine, stood up and said, "Let me answer that question. The knights attracted to this land by the doctrines, if they couldn't join the Hesse Forbidden Guard Knights, they would primarily choose to join our Knight Order."

"The number of elite knights in the territory hasn't increased much, but our Corona Knight Order's elite knights have increased by half. There are now over 90 elite knights, with almost 200 formal and apprentice knights currently serving as members of the Preparatory Knight Order, undergoing assessments."

Su Li raised an eyebrow. That's what he thought; choosing Rong'en as the Governor of the Provincial Affairs Council couldn't possibly only attract a mere handful of knights.

Su Li could understand why knights were more inclined to join a Knight Order.

After all, Su Li himself was currently just a Pioneer Knight, without even the authority to bestow a Kingdom Knight title.

Joining the Hesse Territory would yield them nothing except benefits, and they would have to fight alongside a bunch of commoners. This was something many knights resisted. Many knights within the Empire, unwilling to join the provincial army and fight alongside humble commoners, even gave up their claim to the territory to join various Knight Orders of the Empire.

Those who were attracted to the Hesse Territory by the Sun Goddess Church would definitely prioritize joining a Knight Order if they had the choice.

Only those knights with a strong desire for noble honor would join the Hesse Territory's army.

If the members of the Corona Knight Order were included, then the goal Su Li had been anticipating could be barely achieved.

As for whether this army would accept Su Li's command?

There was no need to worry about this matter at all; the Hesse Territory was about to produce multiple Sun Goddess Divine Chosen Knights. In combat against monsters, the Church Knight Order of the Sun Goddess would certainly accept the command of a Divine Chosen Knight. Constantine would follow the tradition, unless he also rose to the Divine Chosen level.

Su Li just needed to be assured that, even without Su Li having to pay salaries, this would be a high-tier elite Knight Order.

In this way, in the decisive battle against the Green Dragon, Su Li might be able to gather two to three thousand main force infantry and five hundred elite knights radiant in their armor in a river valley battlefield.

On the frontline battlefield, they could face the Green Dragon's kin in a formal and upright battle.

Su Li concernedly asked, "After over a month of vigorous recruitment by the Provincial Affairs Council, how many soldiers and residents do we have now in our territory?"

This involved both military and livelihood aspects, with the military aspect reported first by Knight Oerstein: "Currently, we have 3 squadrons of knights, and 3 squadrons of the territory's Directly Affiliated Attendant Corps, which you, Lord, pay salaries to, including two squadrons of Walking Armored Attendants and one squadron of the Bow and Arrow Corps."

"The attendant corps of the knights also adds up to 3 squadrons, plus two squadrons of the Manor Guard Team."

A total of 11 squadrons!

This was already close to a large unit.

Undoubtedly, the scale of Su Li's army was already close to one-third of a Baron's Territory.

In fact, if in a defensive war, adding in the Free People's Corps, the Mercenary Corps, the Knight Order, as well as the Dwarf Community and the Church Guard's assistance, he could raise a force of two to three thousand people.

Then Su Li looked towards the Minister of the Seal, and Lauren immediately stood up, reporting in detail: "Currently, the population of the territory isn't much less than before the Dwarf Legion left. Over the past month, our influx has included numerous farmer rioters and northern immigrants, and we've captured a substantial number of displaced people and mountain raiders from the Evil Land."

"Together with the Slave Capture Team's slave trade, the territory's population swelled rapidly. According to the Provincial Affairs Council, there are over 2,400 Sun Goddess believers scattered across one town and several villages and farms in the territory."

"Currently, Hesse Town alone has over 1,700 people registered, and the population of each village ranges from dozens to over a hundred."

"According to our statistics, the number of free people in the territory who declare their taxes totals 2,135, and with the serfs and slaves added, the total population reaches 4,476."

4,476 people, estimating five people per household, approximates 800 households.

Su Li remembered clearly that when he first arrived at the territory, he marveled at how the territory supported 50 knights and over 120 armed attendants with just 31 households, which was an aggressive and explosive military-to-civilian ratio.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.