As Thoras's only son, Galen should be the heir to the throne in the future if nothing unexpected happened.
Galen simply regained his senses and understood why his father had so readily agreed to let him form an army.
This was to build his own team for the future, and also to allow Galen to earn military merits. Since ancient times, there have been two main aspects to a smooth transition of the throne.
The first is legitimacy. You have to be good enough to stand out among the many people who have the right to inheritance, gain the recognition of the old king, and announce to the outside world that you are the crown prince of the kingdom. This is righteousness and status.
The second is to have prestige and power to suppress the old generation of ministers.
This prestige is a reputation for virtue among civil officials, which can make all officials support you and stabilize the situation in the court. It can also be military merit. When you command the army, everyone will respond to your call, and you can defeat whoever you want. Who dares to say no?
Thoras was paving the way for Galen. Stromgarde was a martial-oriented country, and military power in one's hands was the real power. Nothing was more convincing than being able to win battles.
Thoras did the same back then. He established a knight order of the Highlands and defeated the forest trolls. For ten years, they did not dare to invade the borders of the kingdom on a large scale and only dared to engage in small-scale exploratory conflicts.
Only when Galen returned to his own courtyard did he realize what was happening. So he asked Omar to spread the news that he was forming an army and then waited for the opportunity in the castle courtyard.
After the news that the crown prince was forming an independent army spread throughout the aristocratic circle, those sons of nobles like Fardel Dabyrie who had no inheritance rights would likely choose to join him after hearing the news.
This was an inevitable choice for the nobles and also the best way out for the young sons of nobles. After all, the contemporary king only had one son, so there was no need to worry about being on the wrong side.
Galen received Fardel Dabyrie in his study.
He still had a good impression of the Dabyrie family. The contemporary Earl Dabyrie was a powerful mage who was obsessed with the arcane and had an almost crazy obsession with magical experiments.
Galen once wanted to become a mage instead of the warrior he was now. After all, the sky was on the left and the warriors on the right. Or the master mage Kaelthas, Blizzard's favorite son, who was a symbol of elegance, grace, and knowledge.
Later, Thoras asked Earl Dabyrie to come and teach Galen. Half a year later, the Earl discovered that Galen had extraordinary mental power but was unable to cast spells, not even ice arrows or fireballs. Galen had no choice, as the path of a mage was not viable, so he could only learn martial arts from his father.
The Dabyrie family was also one of the few families that chose to stay in the Arathi Highlands during the future disaster instead of following Jaina to seek refuge in Kalimdor. Perhaps he couldn't bear to give up his family's fief, or perhaps he couldn't bear to give up his huge family business.
But who cared why? They chose to stay and provide assistance to the last people of Stromgarde in the Refuge Valley. In Galen's opinion, in a sense, the Dabyrie family had achieved coexistence and death with Stromgarde.
Galen looked at Fardel. He had long golden hair tied in a ponytail. He wore a blue long-sleeved shirt, a black vest, and black trousers. He looked energetic and capable.
"Good morning, Your Highness." Fardel greeted Galen after entering the study.
After asking him to sit down, Galen asked, "How has Lord Dabyrie been lately?"
"My father is in good health, but he is still obsessed with magical experiments and rarely pays attention to other things."
There was a hint of resentment in Fardel's tone, because his father was obsessed with magic and left all family affairs to his mother, and his mother favored his elder brother. Otherwise, Fardel wouldn't be so worried about the future.
"Your Highness, I heard that you are about to form an army and go to the southeastern mining area to guard against the trolls in Deadwood Village." Fardel went straight to the point, looking a little anxious and impatient, but considering his age and experience in the army, Galen actually liked his straightforwardness.
"Yes, my father has agreed to my request to form an army and has also granted me the mining rights to the southeastern mining area." Galen had met with Thoras these days. He had learned that Thoras had transferred an elite Highland cavalry squadron to Stromgarde, which would arrive in the next two days. At that time, Galen would prepare to hold the swearing-in ceremony.
Upon receiving Galen's affirmative answer, Fardel became excited and blurted out:
"Your Highness, can I join your army?"
"Of course, no problem. The team is still in its infancy and needs a lot of people. I'm happy you can join."
"Thank you, Your Highness." Although Fardel knew that the prince would most likely not refuse to surrender, he was still a little nervous when he entered the study. Now that he received the prince's definite answer and accepted his surrender, his heart finally settled down.
"I can now appoint you as the captain of the third brigade in advance. Your first task is to recruit members on your own. The number of vacancies is provisionally set at 300, and the strength is limited to levels above the first level. You know the nobles of our generation better than I do. You can appoint two team captains to be under your command. The candidates need to be approved by me, and I will hand over the letter of appointment to you at that time."
Was there such a good thing? Fardel was overjoyed. Wouldn't that mean that he could be the boss of those bastards? They were anarchic and arrogant. Then they would have to call me Captain, wouldn't they?
"You are the first to come to me, Fardel. I will remember you if there are any benefits. Tell the nobles who wish to join us that I plan to lease the mining rights of North Mine No. 1 in the Southeast Mining Area for three years. The highest bidder will win. Of course, your family can also invest in partnership, and we will share the mine's output according to the proportion of investment."
Galen dropped another bombshell that almost made Fardel faint. Three years of collection rights was an incredible fortune. The southeastern mining area was a famous and rich mine, but for some reasons it was temporarily abandoned.
Galen had read Thoras's plan, and it was expected that starting next year, they would begin to fight the trolls who were gradually resurrecting in Deadwood Village and resume production. However, Galen knew that the kingdom in the original timeline did not have time to put this plan into practice. It might have been shelved for various reasons. A few years later, the orcs invaded, and then the ogres of the Stonefist tribe occupied this land.
When Fardel left the courtyard, he still had an incredible expression on his face. He probably couldn't understand why the prince was willing to subcontract the mining rights.
Galen was short of money, extremely short of money.
He had to cede one of the mines he had already acquired to the nobles. There was no other way. He didn't have enough troops to open a subsidiary mine at this stage, but he wanted to develop quickly, so he could only recharge gold coins into the base.
Thoras had no extra gold to support Galen, so Galen came up with this idea. The nobles were all very rich, but if you wanted them to obediently hand over the gold coins to Galen's pocket, it wouldn't work without sufficient benefits.
It was only three years, consider it as fundraising.
Galen could only comfort himself in this way. On the surface, he looked calm and acted as if he regarded money as dirt, but in his heart, he had already knocked his head against the ground and was bleeding from the pain.