The Chancellor of the Exchequer always clearly remembered the King's reaction after reading the letter sent by the Kingdom of Blasey a month ago.
At that time, he tore the letter to pieces in front of the messenger, then smiled and said, "Since John has sworn allegiance to me, it is time for him to die for the great Legrand Empire."
The rage and ruthlessness under that smile made one shudder.
Twenty thousand pounds.
Even for the entire Legrand Empire, it is not easy to come up with such a large sum of money. During the time of the former King William III, in order to launch a war against Blaise, 100,000 marks (equivalent to 66,000 pounds) were raised, which took more than seven months. [1]
Normally, it would take at least two months to raise 20,000 pounds.
But Blaise Kingdom only gave a month to raise.
- they have no will to let the captives be redeemed.
Coupled with the rumors that General John surrendered to the enemy and the Duke of Buckingham was suspicious at the time, the king directly gave up on redeeming General John, and only set a time for negotiations with the Kingdom of Blaisey.
The king's attitude was there, and it was useless even for Grand Duke Glace to write a letter to persuade him. It only made the king more angry, and other officials dared not to offend him.
So more than a month passed, let alone twenty thousand pounds, and they hadn't raised even a penny.
But who would have thought that the king suddenly mentioned this matter when he saw that there were only a few days left to negotiate and deliver the prisoners. From what he meant, it seemed that he had changed his mind and planned to redeem General John.
The chancellor almost wanted to kneel down on his capricious king.
"Two months?"
The king tapped the handrail with his fingers.
"How much is left in the treasury?"
The Chancellor of the Exchequer was covered in cold sweat. He carefully observed the king's face and replied tactfully, "Your Majesty, in order to resist the invasion of Blasey Kingdom, we have spent a lot of money in April, and even raised it once. Exemption from military service tax…”
"What about the royal treasury?"
The Chancellor of the Exchequer looked like he might tremble at any time, and his voice became even lower: "Your Majesty, you built two royal castles in the west and the north some time ago..."
The king remembered.
The Legrand Empire has been an eventful year this year, with riots in Newcastle in the north and Nordover in the west at the end of last year. After suppressing the rebellion, in order to strengthen the rule of these two places, Purland built a castle belonging to the royal family in the local area. In order to build the castle, the supervision of the royal forest area has even been increased.
great.
The king thought blankly.
Otherwise, let General John die for the country.
"What about my private territorial income?"
This part is the king's own personal income. His question clearly meant that the king was going to redeem General John at his own expense. The chancellor was a little surprised.
He reported the income of several of the king's direct territories. Although the amount was considerable, the king's usual extravagant living expenses were obviously very considerable - within three days, the money that could be urgently taken out was only a few thousand pounds.
The king pressed his forehead.
It may be a little after-effect of the rebirth, and now his head is starting to ache.
"What is the income of my uncle's territory?"
he asked casually.
Of course, he didn't expect the wealth of the Duke of Buckingham, who looked like an ascetic who didn't pay attention to pleasure - he even suspected that the Duke would use most of his income to fill the big hole of military spending.
The answer, however, surprised the king.
The duke simply couldn't make ends meet.
"That's right, Your Majesty."
The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied.
"It stands to reason that the Duke is one of the biggest creditors of the royal family."
While Poolan was still an infant, Legrand was almost in chaos. A baby king worries many nobles of the kingdoms—in this day and age, babies take too many risks to grow into adults, especially if this baby is the co-lord of the thirty-six kingdoms.
It is the Duke of Buckingham who has repeatedly paid out of his own pocket and used huge loans to support the royal family's finances.
Then, shortly after the king came of age, rumors arose that the Duke of Buckingham was unwilling to exchange power. At this time, the Duke of Buckingham did an unexpected thing - he burned all those IOUs.
The king's hand on his forehead was so hard that his joints turned white.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer took a peek at the young King, who covered his eyes with his hand on his forehead. The chancellor of the exchequer had no way of judging the mood of the king at this time.
There was silence in the room for a long time.
"great."
The king cheered up.
"Get ready to negotiate and start raising money."
Hearing the fundraising, the Chancellor of the Exchequer immediately had a not-so-good hunch.
"I remember that the inheritance of the nobles is under my control."
The Chancellor of the Exchequer was already beginning to stutter: "Yes... yes... yes."
"Then let the heirs pay their taxes for their titles."
"Your Majesty..."
The cold sweat of the Chancellor of the Exchequer "brushed" down. There is nothing wrong with the king saying that. According to a charter signed by the nobles to swear allegiance to the king at the time of the king's coronation, the king has the right to determine succession - but this is generally used when the two heirs to the title are on equal terms.
However, listening to the meaning of the king at the moment, he clearly wanted all the nobles and nobles with the right of inheritance to take out all the money in their pockets.
As a result, even the legitimate eldest son, who had been firmly seated in the nobility, would be restless.
It is clear that their brothers would be happy to hand over a large sum of money to the royal court to get the "official" ruling - whoever bids the most wins - and take the title from their brother.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer can already imagine how many nobles in the country will scold the king for insidiousness in front of Rose Flower.
But for Zhu Chi, this is also something that can't be helped.
Legrand's current situation is too bad. Various complicated factors are involved. Does he have enough time to sort it out? According to the answer of the chancellor, Purland has exploited the common people at least three times in the past two years. If he directly increases the tax burden of the common people, then the people's riots are not far away.
He would rather face the rebellion of some nobles than the riots from the commoners.
Of the two, the latter is the truly devastating blow.
And don't forget that the Duke of Buckingham was not executed. As long as the old Duke is alive, those nobles who want to rebel have to be cautious.
"Do you really want to do this?"
asked the chancellor with little hope.
"Tell them," said the king calmly, "either pay or go to the front."
Well, hope is completely gone.
the chancellor thought desperately.
- As the messenger of the king's will, he is afraid that he will also bear part of the infamy.
…
The Duke of Buckingham also came to meet the king after learning that the king had ordered to start raising the ransom.
"I know what you're going to say."
Before the old duke could speak, the king stopped him.
"However, John is not only your son, my brother, but also the general of the Legrand Empire, the dignity of the Rose family. The most important thing is—"
The king paused.
"I need to know the truth about the Battle of Kewen, who betrayed me."
There was anger in his ice blue eyes.
The Duke of Buckingham was silent.
…
Meanwhile, negotiations are looming.
They began to prepare to set off for the negotiation site, near the city of Tru on the front.
The Duke of Buckingham originally planned to go with him, but Zhu Chi had other concerns.
He was not at ease with the status quo of the Legrand Empire, and he simply did not trust those nobles to be safe while he was on the front line. So he entrusted the Duke of Buckingham to return to the palace at the heart of Legrand and temporarily take charge of government affairs in his place.
Before leaving, Zhu Chi remembered something.
That's the owner of the Castle of Mourne, Earl Walter.
He has not come to meet the king for a long time.
"Why, does he think I've given three days too much?"
Zhu Chi sat in the carriage and asked softly.
The Chief of the Household hurried off to look for Count Walter.
After waiting for about an hour, he rushed back to report with a pale face.
"Your Majesty..."
"Say."
"The count committed suicide."
The air also seemed to be frozen by the cold of midwinter.
"suicide?"
Inside the carriage, the king laughed inexplicably.
The team that was about to leave stopped.