In the Middle Ages, people drew cards to be promoted to nobility.

Lothar sat cross-legged on the bed and wiped the half-sword in his hand with a white linen cloth.

The armed sword given to him by Count Werner has come to an end.

The half-sword in his hand was a trophy obtained after killing Abelardo.

Abelardo is dead, although the ransom has failed.

However, his armor and war horse also belonged to him according to the rules.

His Arabian war horse was no worse than his own Nissaan war horse.

Together with the entire set of armor, even including depreciation, it can be sold for a high price of nearly one hundred gold coins.

Prajna suddenly asked: "As a champion knight, what reward does Count Leopold prepare to give you?"

Lothar said with a smile: "Leopold originally wanted me to be his vassal - Baron Linshan of Vienna, and he even drew a piece of cake for me to be promoted to earl in the future."

"It's just that I refused. So in the end it was replaced by a sum of money in funding and a promise that supplies would be delivered to us after we established a foothold in the Holy Land."

"This promise is very broad. It may be to provide us with weapons, shields, armor and arrows, or it may be food seeds, blacksmiths and craftsmen."

"There is no specific amount, but the exact amount I can get at that time will probably depend on my performance and whether it is worth Count Leopold's investment."

"This is normal."

Prajna nodded and did not comment on this.

"Get ready for bed."

After turning off the lights, Prajna lay flat on the thin blanket on the ground.

Go to sleep like usual.

But this time, perhaps because of the increased intimacy, the atmosphere between the two was not as alienated as usual.

In the darkness, Lothar stared at Prajna's perfect profile face under the moonlight, and did not fall asleep for a long time. She hurriedly closed her eyes when the other person's eyelashes trembled slightly and seemed about to open her eyes.

Early the next morning, Lothar visited Count Leopold again, politely declined the luncheon, and asked to say goodbye.

From his hands, Lothar obtained a heavy bag of 100 florin gold coins that were far better in quality than Surades and had been issued by the city-state of Genoa in recent years.

Each gold florin coin weighs 3.5 grams, which is 1 gram lighter than the newly minted solid gold coins of the Eastern Empire.

Solidus gold coins are just a general term. It can refer to solid gold coins or Nomisma gold coins. Anyway, they are all gold coins issued by the Eastern Empire.

By regulation, all Suredes gold coins are 4.5 grams.

It's just that the quality of Souledes released in different periods varies greatly.

The new solid gold coins issued by Queen Lagaia in the Eastern Empire are pure gold with a high gold content, which is similar in quality to the florin gold coins issued by Genoa.

From this, it can be seen that the empress has plans to save the already notorious Eastern Empire's monetary system, rather than just doing nothing for her own enjoyment.

Otherwise, if the situation continues as before, the market of the entire Eastern Empire will be flooded with the currencies of commercial city-states such as Genoa and Venice.

During this period, the gold-silver exchange ratio was twelve to one, which meant that one gold coin of perfect quality could be exchanged for twelve silver coins of equal weight.

However, since silver coins are often only a little over 1 gram, logically speaking, one gold florin can be exchanged for about 40 silver dinars.

Of course, in fact it is often impossible to exchange in this way.

Because silver tableware is widely used, the quality of most silver coins is worse than gold coins. For example, a king of Gaul once minted black coins containing one-tenth of the silver content.

There were also emperors in the Eastern Empire who issued silver-plated coins containing less than one-twentieth of the silver content. Even some isolated areas still use bronze coins with no circulation value.

In this era, due to fragmentation and feudal lords everywhere who could privately mint currency, the currency system was too chaotic.

But generally speaking, during this period, a pig was worth about 1.5 gold florins.

A gold florin can buy fifty loaves of good quality bread, free of gluten and grit.

A high-quality war horse, such as Lothar's Nissaan war horse, costs about 60 gold florins, which is six times as much as the prairie war horse ridden by the Magyars.

A top-notch royal horse, used exclusively by the royal family, costs about 500 gold florins.

As for an ordinary pack horse, it was only worth five gold florins.

The annual rent for a hotel in the city is 6 gold florins.

The cost of building a castle is about 2,000 florins.

A set of fine chain mail worn by elite sergeants or lower-level knights is worth about 30 gold florins; if it is a customized knight's full-body armor, it will cost 50 florins.

A four-wheeled carriage for the royal family costs about 240 florins.

Of course, this is just an approximation, and specific prices will fluctuate depending on supply and demand. In later generations, factors such as plague and closed cities will still cause prices to skyrocket, let alone the Middle Ages.

Maybe after a drought, the price of bread skyrocketed hundreds of times due to the gouging by Jewish merchants.

When the Jewish merchants made enough money, the shrewd local lords would often find an excuse to execute them and confiscate all their property.

This can not only calm the boiling public resentment, but also indirectly take out every copper coin from the fingers of the people for your own enjoyment.

So Lothar's current possessions include one hundred gold florins, eighty gold suludes, nearly five hundred silver dinars, two silver wine glasses given to him by Otto, and two prairie horses. War horses, a Nissaan war horse, an Arabian horse, and two pack horses.

and a fine spare set of chain mail and barrel helmets.

A considerable part of the silver coins were ransoms obtained by Hans after defeating his opponents.

This money can probably equip ten sergeants wearing leather armor, holding iron swords and spears, and hire a small mercenary group of between thirty to fifty people to serve for themselves.

"Sure enough, war is a waste of money, and it is not easy to stand out in Jerusalem."

"The battlefield is not as good as the competition ground. The role of personal bravery can never be compared to a well-trained army, at least not to Hans and I."

Lothar took inventory of his small treasury and sighed.

Prajna is a close combat and defensive retinue who can protect herself on the battlefield, but it is a bit difficult to expect her to be invincible.

When he returned to the hotel, Ryan had already paid the room fee, packed all his luggage, and was waiting outside with the horses.

"Sir, this is your mount. The food and mount's feed have been prepared. When will we set off?"

Ryan bowed humbly and said with awe.

Model came to the horse and bent down, preparing to act as a pedal for Lothar so that he could mount the horse.

Ever since Lothar defeated Abelardo, the werewolf knight, yesterday, he and Model looked at themselves completely differently than before.

He is simply worshiped as a god.

Hans, on the other hand, remained as usual, no change.

In his opinion, it was a matter of course for Lothar to kill the werewolf. Even the famous gatekeeper of hell served the lord. A mere werewolf was nothing.

Lothar looked solemn and stopped Model's behavior: "Stand up, Model!"

"If I need a slave, I will buy it with money, but what I need now is a brave warrior who is good at fighting, not a humble slave. Never behave in such a humble manner in front of me."

"Same for you, Ryan."

Under the stunned expressions of the two of them, Lothar got on his horse and coldly snorted: "We will set off immediately!"

In fact, a loyal slave can often display considerable power on the battlefield, such as the Mamluk cavalry of the Ayyubid Empire.

But Lothar couldn't accept this kind of abuse at all.

He is still a long way from fully integrating into this world, but Lothar would rather he never integrates.

In the afternoon, Lothar and his party stopped in front of a small town.

This is a town that has been burned by flames. It is devastated and full of ruins. The pungent smoke and burnt smell make the group frown.

The man's body and head were separated and fell on the roadside. Thick flies lay on the deceased's mouth, nose and wounds, moving in and out.

As soon as the sound of horse hooves approached, a black storm suddenly arose.

Predating wild dogs were tearing at the corpses that had rotted due to the summer heat in the ruins. Even when they saw people, they showed no fear.

Model, an experienced veteran, said solemnly: "These bandits have just left, and there are still embers in the ruins."

Lothar frowned and said, "Don't Babenberg's Border Patrol also care?"

"It should be under control. Look at the corpses. There are marks on the body and neck from being strangled when wearing armor. He should be a sergeant, but the armor has been stripped off."

"Can you find it?"

Lothar's tone was very calm. Such things happened every day. This was a microcosm of this era. Not only bandits, but also fights between nobles often plundered villages.

All men and women were captured as serfs, and all the old, weak, sick and disabled were killed to reduce the burden.

The lives of untouchables have been worthless since ancient times.

Model observed carefully for a while and nodded: "No problem, they were not in a hurry. They also brought prisoners, baggage, and livestock with them, and they were not going very fast. We can definitely find them along these tracks."

Lothar looked back and said to everyone: "Some people say that during the war, the nobles provided weapons and equipment, the rich provided money and food, and the poor provided their children; after the war, the nobles made contributions and the rich gained more money. And the poor can only look for the graves of their children.”

"The best war is no match for the worst peace."

Lothar's eyes swept over the corpses. An old man still held a farm tool that had been chopped off by a sharp blade, and there was an arrow penetrating wound on his neck.

But the arrow must have been recovered in the end.

The life of such a pariah is not even worth being buried with an arrow.

"But war will never go away."

"I can't change this era, but I swear that if I become a lord, I will do my best to protect the people in my territory, eliminate bandits, and defend the enemy from outside."

Ryan and Model had surprised looks on their faces.

In this era, there are not many people who can say the word "subjects".

Are serfs considered human beings?

"Model will lead the way. We will set off immediately to catch these bandits and send them to hell in the name of Heavenly Father."

He had to admit that a big part of chasing down the robbers was completing milestones.

But there are still quite a few who hope to rescue those abducted people.

Kill those cruel robbers, blood for blood, tooth for tooth.