The political structure of the Gold Coin Federation can be roughly divided into two ways. One is the central aristocracy headed by the two marquises, and the local powerful faction headed by the earls from various places; the other is the merchant faction represented by the coastal and border trade circles, and the aristocratic faction represented by the inland.
The former division doesn't make much sense. The contradiction between the central faction and the local faction can be seen everywhere in all countries—well, except the Northwest Republic. This kind of thing is really common. For thousands of years, or even longer, countries of all races have faced the same problem. No one has ever come up with a solution, and it is rare to think about it. into a large-scale conflict.
The power of the big nobles is absolutely no match for the union of the local nobles, but the local nobles will not easily unite. This is the check and balance between the two sides.
But the latter classification is exactly the biggest problem of the Gold Coin Federation at present.
With the long-term operation of this country, which was founded on commerce, the conflicts between the two major factions of merchants and nobles have accumulated more and more, and gradually reached the point where it is difficult to deal with.
The merchant faction controls more than 60% of the country's assets. If it is limited to money, then the amount they control even exceeds 70%. Although the aristocracy has less money, it controls nearly 80% of the country's population and almost the same amount of land.
One party has money and the other party has people. When the relationship between the two parties is good, they cooperate sincerely and accomplish great things more than once.
But as time goes by, the conflicts between the two sides become more and more serious. The merchant faction hopes to promote the construction of more trade routes, promote consumption, and promote population mobility—in short, to make merchants' businesses easier to do. The noble faction hopes to maintain the status quo or even reduce trade routes to stabilize the situation and cut unnecessary expenses. In particular, they want to restrict the flow of population to ensure that their territory can have stable output.
This contradiction is almost irreconcilable, and even the great goddess of wealth can't do anything about it. He can only let his priests stand in a neutral position, try to mediate the disputes between the two parties, ease the relationship between them, and act like lubricants or cushioning pads.
In the past, because merchants sent more money, by recruiting mercenaries, they were able to obtain powerful force and suppress the aristocracy firmly. Even though the noble faction has a large number of people, it has always been at a disadvantage in front of the merchant faction who can recruit a large number of mercenaries at any time.
In recent years, as the God of Nobles has become more powerful, the power of the Noble Faction has also continued to increase. They already had a population advantage, and with the overt and covert support of the Church of the Noble God, they accumulated more and more combat power.
As the saying goes, if you are armed with a murderous weapon, you will have a murderous intention. The aristocrats have increased the force at their disposal, and they will naturally want to rely on this power to strive for greater benefits. In addition, since the battle of "The Day the Sun Dies", the number of mercenaries walking on the main plane has been greatly reduced, and the mercenaries are increasingly reluctant to join the army to fight, so the strength of the merchant faction is indeed declining. As things went on and on, the aristocratic faction's ideas became more and more radical, and various conflicts, large and small, occurred from time to time in the country.
The most famous incident happened in a city in the central and western part of the Federation. There were conflicts between local lords and large merchants. What started as a quarrel eventually led to a large-scale conflict. Both sides mobilized a total of more than 500 troops and fought for almost half a month. If a marquis had not joined forces with the Church of the Goddess of Wealth to mediate, the two sides would still be fighting to this day.
This incident was almost a trigger, bringing the conflict between the two factions to the forefront. Since then, there have been more and more frictions and conflicts between the two factions, and bloodshed has occurred from time to time.
For this reason, the leaders of the two factions are currently stepping up their efforts to win over all parties, hoping to increase the strength of their own camp as much as possible to overwhelm the other side.
Since the summer, Baron Dahl has been receiving letters from both sides. Whether it is the aristocratic faction headed by the two marquises or the merchant faction headed by the seven major business banks, they are constantly persuading him to support their side, and they all have nominally justified reasons.
No matter what, Baron Dahl is always a noble and a lord, which makes him naturally belong to the aristocratic camp. But for a long time, the Dahl family has been making profits from the smuggling business. It can be said that the family's lifeline does not depend on the identity of the lord, but on the identity of the smuggler, which makes him naturally belong to the merchant camp.
In fact, in the Gold Coin Federation, most of the small and medium-sized nobles like the Dal family are like this. While running the territory as a lord, he also does business to support his family. It's just that few of them can be as successful as Baron Dar, whether as a lord or in business.
The bad thing is this "very successful"!
Perhaps taking the Dal Territory as a model, both sides are becoming more and more wooed by Baron Dal, and their attitudes are becoming tougher and tougher.
Especially this time, the envoys they sent all hinted that "if they are not comrades, they are enemies."
This is the problem that troubles Baron Dahl the most.
He really doesn't care who he wants to be a comrade in arms, but he does care who he wants to be an enemy with.
After all... no matter which side it is, it is a behemoth that is too powerful for the Dahl family. No matter which side he surrenders to, he may be slapped to death by the other party... just like slapping a mosquito to death.
Although both parties swore that as long as Baron Dahl surrendered to them, they would be able to get a lot of benefits and would definitely be well protected, but Baron Dahl didn't believe it!
What a fool to believe this!
Protect? Very good protection
Haha, how did the heir of a certain viscount who suddenly fell from his horse and died not long ago die
A young man with the strength of a quasi-knight would fall from his horse and die? Even if the horse falls to death, he will not die!
In addition, how did a medium-sized chamber of commerce and their warehouse on the seaside get breached by fishmen? Don't tell me that those poor men who were abandoned by the goddess of the sea are actually capable of breaking through the fortress made of rocks on the shore. That is an insult to everyone's IQ, okay
Baron Dahl dared to bet with his own head that as long as he defected to one of the parties, after the news spread, within half a month, there would be fewer people sitting here today.
Naturally, everyone understands this truth, so you look at me and I look at you, and they all look sad.
An embarrassing silence enveloped the small conference room.
After a long time, in the silence, a voice suddenly sounded, but it was a young quasi-knight named Dar.
"I think... we might as well surrender to the Church of the Mask of the Void!"