The End and a New Beginning
Copyright© 2025 by REP
Chapter 3
July 17, 1005
After the evening meal, King Zonder led me to his study so we could talk in private. Once we were settled in comfortable chairs with glasses of brandy, the King said, “For the rest of your stay in the castle, Captain, you are Vic and I am Tom.
“I dropped you into a major mess, didn’t I, Vic.”
“That is what it seems like to me, sire.”
“Please, address me as Tom, Vic. We need to form a close personal relationship to support our future interactions.
“Do you know why I did what I did today in the meeting?”
“No, I thought that you would appoint a noble to the position.”
“That is what usually happens, Vic. Fortunately, I realized the situation was not what it seemed to most people.”
“What do you mean, Tom?”
The King chuckled and said, “That it is an odd switch in views, Vic. You, a soldier, looking at the situation as a diplomat, and me, a diplomat, looking at the situation as a soldier.
“The situation I dropped you into, Vic, is actually a battlefield, even if it does not look like one. King Henn’s kingdom will be filled with hostile people. They will not like that he lost the war. You will be the symbol of my rule over them, and some of them may decide to attack you.
“Nobles are good for ruling a pacified territory, Vic. Even in pacified areas, most nobles need people like you to guard them for they are not proficient with weapons. I view the Duchy of Adair as a likely center of hostility against me. It would be a disaster if I were to send what I view as a typical noble to that Duchy to rule it.
“I realized that what I needed to send is an experienced, intelligent warrior who could be reasonable, loyal, and diplomatic when required. I was having problems identifying an officer with those characteristics that I could trust to act in an appropriate manner in both peaceful and hostile situations. I was considering my staff, when my eyes fell on you sitting at the rear of the room. I remembered the remarks and praise of your superior officers. I don’t think I could have found a better person to resolve my situation.
“But, I am a peasant, Tom.”
“Yes, you were, Vic.”
“Select any noble in my kingdom, or any kingdom, and follow their lineage back to the original noble to hold the title. What you will find is a peasant who did something for his superior that warranted his being elevated to a position in the nobility. However, in your case, it is a matter of what you will do in the future. I had to make you a Duke so you could perform the mission I needed to have done.”
“I think I understand now, Tom. As a Duke, I can take control of the Duchy, preferably peacefully, and rule it peacefully, if possible. Captain Bauer could not do that. Duke Bauer is to use the degree of force necessary to complete his mission. It could be said that I am to become Captain Bauer when it is necessary to pacify the Duchy and become Duke Bauer to manage the Duchy, until you have merged the two kingdoms.
“Yes, Vic. It appears that you understand what I want you to do and why it needs to be done.
“Tom said, Vic, we need to talk openly and as equals in order to sort this situation out. Tell me what you learned from that Captain you were talking with.”
“All right, Tom.
“The Captain’s description of Adair reminded me of Duke Bosa’s Duchy with a few major differences. I believe that two of those differences will be immediately critical. Most of the differences will evolve and become non-issues over time.
“According to the Captain I talked with, Duke Karn had no respect for peasants and treated them like dirt. The Captain believes Karn’s Earls have a similar view of peasants. The Captain indicated that he did not know much about Duke Karn’s Earls, but his impression is they were not to be trusted.
“I understand that Duchess Karn has been managing the Duchy since her husband left to support King Henn’s war effort. I suspect that she has been using information that she received from the Earls and people who are loyal to the Earls to make her decisions. If these advisors are doing what I suspect, she is being given false information about the circumstances in the Duchy.
“I spent a short amount of time thinking about how to approach this situation, Tom. What I want to do is go into the Duchy with a low profile. Assess the Earls and the people of the Duchy. Then decide how to proceed.
“If I encounter, or create, a worst case situation, I will need a small army to put down a rebellion. However, I don’t think it will be that bad. Initially, my main focus will be, getting established at my castle and then dealing with the Earls individually.
“I will give the current Earls a chance, but I may not want to keep them in their positions. I will need four officers with me that I can elevate to the rank of Earl to replace the current Earls. If I have to replace all of the Earls, each of those officers will need a core of loyal and trustworthy people to be their Household Guard. I will also need a Household Guard. For now, I am thinking of six 5-Horse Cavalry Units, perhaps some Foot soldiers, and four handpicked officers, preferably Captains.
“What are your thoughts on my approach, Tom?”
“There are a couple of things that I think you need to keep in mind, Vic.
“I was thinking about the current Earls. It occurred to me that you might want to just replace the current Earls with your Captains. Did you consider doing that?”
“Yes, I considered it. However, I tried to visualize the outcomes of my just replacing them without a visible, valid reason. Replacing all of them without apparent cause is what would trigger my worst-case scenario, which is a rebellion. I will probably replace them, but I will do so one Earl at a time over a period of months.”
“That is what I was going to suggest, Vic.
“One of the things I want you to do, Vic, is find a suitable woman, marry her, and have your wife give you a son as soon as possible. You will need an heir. The Duke having a wife and children can have a stabilizing effect on a Duchy.
“Under the circumstances, Vic, you may want to consider more than one wife or a wife and multiple concubines. If necessary, I can buy a dispensation from the Cardinal that will allow you to have multiple wives. Multiple wives means your family will grow in size quickly and all of the children will be legal heirs. I believe this is necessary in order to having a strong stabilizing influence on the Duchy.
Note: During the Middle Ages, senior Priests in the Catholic church would charge wealthy individuals fees for forgiveness of sins and to give them permission to violate the church’s policies and practices.
“I don’t know if you are aware of the problem you have with the Duchess, her two daughters and youngest son.”
“No, I’m not. What is the problem?”
“They will be in a delicate position, when you take over the Duchy, Vic. They will lose their income and you are under no obligation to allow them to continue living in the castle. I don’t know if there is someone who would take them in, if you decided to evict them from the castle and Duchy.
“What are they to do? The son is still a young boy and not old enough to provide for himself, his mother, and two sisters. There is also the fact that you are a single man with no fiancé, concubine, or mistress. I was told that the Duchess is very attractive and in her mid-thirties; I was also told that her daughters are eighteen and nineteen, and they are both very pretty. If you allow them to live in the castle with you, Vic, then you could possibly destroy their reputations.
“What! ... Tom, is this your way of telling me that I need to marry the Duchess or one of her daughters?
“No, Vic, that is not what I meant.
“Vic, I admit that I believe that you need to establish a dynasty in Adair, which will support you in ruling the Duchy. What I mean by dynasty is at least one wife and many children within the next two or three years. However, I am not inferring that you take the Duchess or her daughters as a wife, but you do need a wife. With one wife, you will be lucky to sire three children in three years, which is a small number of children. What that implies, Vic, is you will need to marry more than one wife. Multiple legal wives are the only way you can have many legal heirs in a short time.
“The problem you will have with the Duchess and her family is a separate issue, Vic, from you needing to create a dynasty. However, the presence of the Duchess and her family does present you with a choice of three women to marry if any of them appeal to you.”
“Tom, this situation is even more complex than I thought it was. As an interim measure, I can employ the Duchess as an advisor; that will help her, her family, and my mission without my impinging on their honor.
“Do you have any further surprises for me, Tom?”
“None that I am aware of, Vic.”
“Good. Now we need to decide on who and what I will need to support me in accomplishing the activities we discussed. Let’s start with the four officers that I need and will most likely elevate to Earls.”
While we talked about the details of the support I would need, I was thinking about multiple wives. I hadn’t considered marrying, but could understand why King Zonder wanted me to wed. I even accepted that I would have to marry more than one woman. I talked about my decision and King Zonder said he would obtain a dispensation for at least eight wives and provide it to me before I departed for Duchy Adair. Eight wives were far more than I needed, and would probably be a problem.
September 21, 1005
As we crossed into my Duchy this morning, my thoughts were on the preparation I had done before we left Ripa.
It wasn’t difficult to convince the King to provide the support I would need to carry out his mission. In fact, Tom was willing to provide me with any reasonable request I made for personnel and logistic support. In a few cases, he suggested things that I had not thought of that I would find helpful.
I was eager to leave for the Duchy of Adair. Therefore, the main issue for me was, it seemed like it would take almost four weeks to assemble everyone and everything we needed to take with us.
One of my more difficult tasks was selecting the four Captains that I would take with me. I had served with many well-qualified officers during my time with the army’s Cavalry Troop. The deciding factor in my decision was, would the Captains be suitable to fulfilling the position of Earl. I reduced the candidates to nine officers, who could all be suitable for what I needed. I eventually chose, Captains Jerome Liston, Max Flair, Hugh Price, and Clayton McGee.
Selecting six Cavalry Units was also a difficult choice for I only selected units that had served under me in combat that I felt were outstanding soldiers.
I relied on the advice of Major Greer to aid me in selecting my Logistic Support people. I heard a reliable rumor that he will be promoted again in the near future.
It took a little over four weeks to get everything done, and that is how I came to be leading four Captains, six 5-Horse Cavalry Units, two Platoons of Foot soldiers, close to a dozen logistic support people, and eight wagons into the Duchy of Adair.
My castle was supposedly close to forty miles north of the border. I had deployed four of my Cavalry Units around our column as a mobile security screen.
As I rode around a bend in the path, I came out of the tree line and saw the advance guard in what appeared to be an altercation with a small party near a farm in the dale below me. I selected my four officers and one 5-Horse Cavalry Unit and we advanced into the dale at a slow gallop.
As we came to a walk and then to a stop, Sergeant Alvin Head approached to brief me. I asked, “What is happening, Sergeant?”
“I am not sure of all the details, Captain. When we first saw these people, Farmer Bender and his son were on the ground and they had been beaten. His wife and 12-year old daughter had been beaten and were being raped by the Earl’s Tax Collector and his four guards. The Tax Collector claims the farmer owes taxes to the Earl and that the farmer was refusing to tell him where he had hidden the money he received earlier in the year from selling his crop to the Earl. The Tax Collector is upset due our interfering with him doing his duty.”
“Thank you, Sergeant. Is Farmer Bender capable of speaking to me?”
“Yes, Sir.”
I dismounted and approached Farmer Bender. I could tell he was worrying about what would happen to him and his family.
“Farmer Bender, I am Captain Vic Bauer. Can you explain what is happening?”
“Yes. My family and I were working the fields when the Tax Collector stopped us. He told me that we owed the Earl additional taxes on the sale of our crop earlier this year. At that time, I paid my usual thirty percent tax when I sold my crop, and I told him so. He insisted that we still owed the additional twenty percent tax. We told him we didn’t have any money to pay him. The Tax Collector believes we are lying and that we have hidden the money and won’t tell him where it is. He had his guards beat my son and me, but we don’t have any money to give him. Then they started beating and raping my wife and 12-year old daughter. Your people stopped them and then you arrived.”
“Thank you for your explanation, Farmer Bender”
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