Not just for royal family members to live in
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat.
Following Louis V's gaze, she looked at the kingdom division map on the wall.
As Charlotte's eyes scanned the emblems of the noble families on the map, a strange thought came to her mind.
"Your Majesty, from what you said, are you planning to invite the nobles of the kingdom to stay here as well?"
She asked calmly.
Louis V smiled faintly and said with appreciation:
"Sir Castel is right. I did plan to invite nobles to live in this palace."
As he spoke, Louis V stood up, looked out the window at the Royal Square, and sighed:
"In recent years, the kingdom has developed rapidly, and the population of Lutetia has also increased exponentially in the past few decades. The land and housing in the city are quite tight, and many poor people even have no place to live. They can only set up simple tents around the city walls..."
"The nobles also face similar problems. Especially when the central meeting is held, it is difficult to find a house in the inner city. I think... Lord Castel should have felt the same way."
"Not only that, every time a central meeting is held, the influx of a large number of nobles will bring great pressure to public security. The nobles' competition to buy mansions in the city has further raised the price of Lutetia's real estate. Now it has reached a level that an ordinary person can hardly afford in his lifetime."
"Under high prices, forced buying and selling can be seen everywhere, and more and more citizens are going bankrupt, but there are also more and more domineering nobles and playboys."
"Although the capital is prosperous, beneath the prosperity are increasingly acute social contradictions..."
Louis V turned around, paused for a moment, and said calmly:
"So, I built this Crescent Moon Palace..."
"The Crescent Moon Palace is the largest palace in Miria's history. The main palace alone can accommodate at least 8,000 people for daily living. If the surrounding ancillary buildings are included, it can easily accommodate 12,000 people."
"Not only that, the Crescent Moon Palace has the most luxurious and comfortable environment in the entire kingdom, and its extraordinary facilities far exceed those of the various countries of Yunite, and can fully meet the daily needs of the nobles."
"In addition, the New Moon Palace also has the most advanced magic inscriptions in the entire West Yunite. Its activated magic array can even block the detection of legends, and can ensure the privacy of the residents to the greatest extent..."
"Therefore, I plan to gradually abolish the nobles' mansions in the capital one by one. All nobles in Lutetia will move into the Crescent Palace in the future."
"This Crescent Moon Palace will not only be the royal palace, but will also be the residence of the nobles in the capital."
After listening to Louis V's words, Charlotte felt a stronger sense of déjà vu.
Looking at the most powerful king in the history of New Moon, she continued calmly:
"Your Majesty, when you say that the mansions are to be abolished, does that also include vassal states in various places?"
Louis V smiled calmly:
"certainly."
"The residences of vassal states in the capital occupy more than two-thirds of the entire Lutetia inner city area, and more than half of this two-thirds area is usually empty."
"This is a huge waste, and this situation must be improved."
"After this central meeting, I will issue a royal decree that the area of the properties owned by nobles in Lutetia cannot exceed 200 square meters, and each family can own no more than one to three properties according to the rank of their nobility."
"All properties that exceed the specifications must be abolished. I will exchange the residence qualifications of the Crescent Moon Palace for the residences of the nobles."
Charlotte: …
She felt a growing sense of déjà vu.
"Your Majesty, is this the deal you intend to make with the nobles?"
She asked.
Louis V glanced at her and said calmly:
"No, it will be the King's order."
Charlotte felt as if she wasn't surprised by this answer.
She understood what Louis V meant. He planned to turn the Crescent Palace into a residence for the nobles in the royal capital.
The nobles lived a luxurious life, and an area of only 200 square meters might not even be able to accommodate the servants who accompanied the nobles.
If Louis V enforced this policy, the nobles would most likely move into the Crescent Palace when the central meeting was held...
"What about the daily maintenance of the palace? Running such a large and luxurious palace will cost a huge amount of money. Your Majesty, do you plan to let the nobles pay for it themselves?"
Charlotte asked.
Louis V smiled:
"Of course, I am only responsible for providing accommodation. As for daily expenses, the nobles will naturally be responsible for them themselves."
"However, compared to living in their own mansions, the cost of living in the Crescent Palace is actually lower for the nobles. After all, they don't need to maintain such a large manor."
That's not necessarily the case.
Most nobles are extravagant and face-conscious, and their favorite thing is to compare with others.
When they didn't live together on weekdays, they were always comparing this and that. If they really lived together, Charlotte could guess what would happen with just a little thought.
Nothing else to say, just an analogy.
If Louis V had set different standards for supply conditions and set a rather outrageous price for the highest-end products, many nobles would probably have tried to cover up the problem just to maintain their dignity.
It's just like playing video games.
When playing stand-alone, everyone plays their own games, but if they can go online, I guess everyone will start comparing.
In the past, in order to compete for the top spot in the garbage mobile games, the rich would choose to spend a lot of money, not to mention the nobles of Miria.
However, these are not the most important things.
The most important thing is how long Louis V intends to let the nobles live in the Crescent Palace.
"Your Majesty, what about outside of the Central Conference? After the Central Conference, the nobles will return to their fiefdoms. How will the Crescent Palace be maintained at that time? How will the servants in the palace be arranged?"
Charlotte asked tentatively.
Louis V glanced at her and said as a matter of course:
"Outside of the central meeting, the Crescent Palace is still operating normally. The nobles will naturally still have to pay for the daily maintenance of the palace, and it will be deducted from the nobles' contract taxes."
"As for servants... apart from the necessary personal servants, you can bring them into the palace yourself, and the other servants will naturally be provided by the royal family."
Charlotte's heart moved:
"You mean, in the future, the Crescent Moon Palace will always have a sufficient supply of servants? Even outside of the central meeting?"
Louis V nodded slightly:
"Of course. Outside of the central meetings, the nobles can still stay in the Crescent Moon Palace at any time."
After listening to Louis V's words, Charlotte fell into deep thought.
She had heard what Louis V was thinking.
This was not only to provide a unified place for the nobles to stay in Lutetia during the central meetings, but also to allow the nobles to live in the Crescent Palace for a long time.
If Louis V really intended to let the nobles live in the palace only during central meetings, then he would probably only provide accommodation for the nobles and would not allow the palace to operate normally outside of central meetings, which would at least reduce operating costs.
But Louis V's intention was to keep the Crescent Palace running, regardless of whether the nobles lived there or not.
Louis V was an ambitious king, as well as a strong and visionary monarch.
The huge expense in building such a huge palace was definitely not just to provide a temporary place for the nobles to stay, nor was it just to alleviate Lutetia's housing pressure.
Well, the answer is obvious.
This is still aimed at centralization.
It is obvious that Louis V was aiming to bring all the kingdom's lords to live in the Crescent Palace in the future.
Maybe now, the nobles only live in the Crescent Palace during the central meeting, but once the nobles move in collectively during the meeting, in a sense, it will be a start.
All beginnings are hard.
Once you get started, it will be much easier to boil the frog in warm water later.
Maybe it was a tough approach, maybe it was coercion or temptation, or maybe it was some other method, anyway... it became possible for the nobles to live in the Crescent Palace for a long time.
Charlotte believed that as long as she could allow the nobles to live in the Crescent Palace, even just for once, Louis V would always find a way to go a step further.
Perhaps the nobles will resist fiercely at the beginning, but as the power of the royal family increases, this resistance will only become weaker and weaker.
Once the nobles adapt to life in the Crescent Moon Palace, they will gradually separate themselves from their own territories and may even stop going to their territories for a long time, playing out another version of being "confined" in the Crescent Moon Palace.
This is very likely.
After all, not all aristocratic territories are as rich as Castres, and the palace built by Louis V is indeed luxurious.
Once Louis V used various means to keep the nobles away from their territories and local power centers for a long time, the relationship between the nobles and their fiefdoms would gradually weaken, and the royal family would be able to better control and influence the activities of the nobles, and even manage and monitor the nobles through the Crescent Palace.
In this way, the influence of the nobles will continue to weaken, while the king's authority and control will be further strengthened.
When all the nobles of the Crescent Kingdom are concentrated in the Crescent Palace, the quantitative change will even further lead to qualitative change.
At that time, the Crescent Palace will become a social and cultural center that nobles will compete for.
By that time, it would be easier for Louis V to strengthen central power.
For example, he formulated a series of strict court etiquette and regulations, requiring the nobles to obey his orders and regulations in the court, thereby strengthening his authority and restricting the freedom of the nobles; for example, he held political rallies and meetings in the Crescent Palace to control and supervise the political activities of the nobles...
This change can even be a two-way change.
The Crescent Palace will also become a platform for nobles to communicate with each other, compete with each other, and show their wealth and status, as well as a place to express their opinions and requests directly to the king. Even the status of the central meeting of the nobles will be greatly weakened.
Even those nobles who are unwilling to live in the Crescent Palace for a long time will have to travel frequently between their territories and the Crescent Palace, weakening their influence in the local area.
Over time, the connection between the nobility and their fiefdoms will become increasingly weak.
At the same time, the royal family will have the opportunity to intervene in local affairs, and even go a step further, gradually infiltrate and control the local areas, and even control local finances through the transfer of contractual taxes.
In the end, the nobility may even become an empty title with no actual control over the territory.
This is very likely to happen, and Charlotte is almost certain that this is most likely Louis V's future plan!
Otherwise, why would the other party spend huge amounts of money to build such a "wonder" as the Crescent Moon Palace
As for why Charlotte had so many associations, all we can say is that there is nothing new under the sun. In the history of her previous life, there was also a similar monarch who did similar things.
Moreover, his name is the same as that of the Crescent King.
That was Louis XIV, the "Sun King" in French history who built the Palace of Versailles.
As for the difference between the two sides, it was probably that the French feudal aristocracy had begun to decline during the time of Louis XIV, but in the Crescent Kingdom, the local feudal forces were still strong.
But Louis V also had his advantages.
That is, this world is a supernatural world, and the Crescent Royal Family is the most powerful supernatural force in the Crescent Kingdom, and he himself is also the most powerful supernatural person in the secular world of the Crescent Kingdom.
The authority and prestige he accumulated through war and saving the country were far beyond what Louis XIV could achieve.
Thinking of this, Charlotte couldn't help but look again at the king who was called "the Great" by the world.
The king summoned her, it was impossible that he just wanted to chat with her.
Charlotte has memories of her past life and can think of so many things at once.
But in fact, even without the memory of her previous life, she could still sense Louis V's unspoken thoughts through the political sense she had developed during the two years of time travel.
The Crescent Moon Palace is introduced in such detail and explained so much, the implication is obvious...
"Your Majesty, you... probably don't just want to talk to me about the future of New Moon Palace, right?"
Charlotte raised her head, looked into the deep black eyes of Louis V, and asked calmly.
Louis V looked at her with admiration:
"Sir Castel, I know your deeds in the North. In my opinion, although you are very young, you have vision and skills far beyond other nobles."
"You are an excellent nobleman just like your parents. If your father were still alive, I would have granted him a higher title, made him a direct vassal of the kingdom, and joined my cabinet..."
"You are the same. I see many good qualities in you. I admire the various policies you have implemented in the North, especially the suppression of unrest elements. You have completed the control of the territory in just half a year and were able to defeat the coalition forces of the two principalities. It is really excellent."
"I'm sorry about Philip's matter. This matter is not over yet. I will give you some compensation as an apology from the royal family to the Castel family..."
Charlotte was quite surprised to hear what Louis V said.
She didn't expect the other party to think so highly of her and be so sincere.
She smiled slightly and asked in a neither humble nor arrogant manner:
"Your Majesty, please allow me to ask, are you trying to win me over?"
Louis V glanced at her:
"You could think so."
"Of course, I am also expressing the attitude of the royal family, and... I believe you have heard what I mean."
As he spoke, Louis V looked directly into Charlotte's eyes, and his aura suddenly became majestic:
"Sir Castel, no one can change my will to strengthen the central government. Not the nobles, not the church..."
"Since the end of the Star-Moon War, the number of powerful dukes and divine territories in the kingdom has only decreased, not increased."