When the lord issued a call to banners , vassals would need to bring their warriors and fight on the side of the lord until released . In exchange the lord gave vassals land with farms and peasants . The vassal would have full control over the land and it ' s people . He collected his own taxes and governed as he wished . Provided he kicked some of the taxes back to the lord . <| sep |> First off , stop reading badliterature . It ' s full of self superior Bloom worshippers . Their tastes are by no means what you should base your own on , especially since they disregard most writing after the Modernists . If you like Cormac McCarthy , I ' d recommend sticking with him . You might also like Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon , although they can be difficult .