Refusing Love As A Queen

Chapter 27: Age of sails

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why

This is actually a very simple question. Almost everyone present can say a few points - the royal power struggle after the death of Edmund III, the hatred between the old gods and the new gods, the port is controlled by the major families, Tax chaos, fleets in decline...

But the problem is that these reasons are more or less related to those present here.

Then, the room fell silent.

"Tell me, Rodri."

Adele looked past the other silent people in the room, and directly pointed at the archbishop.

This made the expressions of some people more subtle. Before, they would never have any associations with the queen and the archbishop. But now, everyone has not forgotten the accusations of the old priest Balder. Some of the things that Archbishop Rodriguez did before were not in line with his usual image of an ascetic monk.

The chancellor's first reaction was to go and see Heinrich.

Unexpectedly, Heinrich didn't react at all, he just sat there quietly, with half of his face covered in the shadow of the back of the chair.

"We have lost our fleet, and our shields to meet the sword."

Archbishop Rodrik said that this was the first time he participated in the Queen's imperial meeting, and he was the only one here. The others more or less vaguely chose between Dalton and Heinrich. Now that confrontation has been torn apart by the accession of Archbishop Rodri.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer speculated that perhaps this was the reason why the Queen asked Archbishop Rodri to join the Royal Council.

An anomaly used to warn others.

Thirteen years ago, a naval war broke out between the Roland Empire and the Yager Kingdom.

General Roland, who commanded the battle, was unlucky. The main ship was sunk after the war started, and the fleet was destroyed one by one by the Yager Kingdom after losing command. The most direct impact of the naval battle in 1546 was that Roland lost the most important colonial island on the east side of the Sea of Heaven, Nightingale Island. After the defeat, the two sides signed a treaty, and Queen Adele's sister was forced to marry King John VI of Jager.

This fiasco had a profound impact on Roland.

The heavy war debt made it difficult for the Roland Empire to maintain a fleet as strong as before, and the loss of Nightingale Island made the Roland merchants lose their habitat on the east side of the Sea of Heaven. Since then, Roland's caravan has become the favorite prey of the pirates who criss-cross the straits and reefs.

"That's right," Adele nodded, "Gentlemen, I know some of you..."

When she said "some people," she glanced at Heinrich.

It is well known that the House of the Two-Headed Serpent is deeply rooted in the important ports of the Empire, like a serpent of the deep beside its treasure.

"Your interests are closely related to the port. I believe you know better than me how fragile and vulnerable a caravan without the protection of a sword is on a long voyage. At the same time, I believe you know better than me that losing Nightingale Island Afterwards, Roland's status at sea changed—the taxation of the port, the changes in the entry and exit of various commodities, and the emigration of merchants... "

"We need to rebuild the fleet." Bulger, a member of the imperial council, spoke carefully, guessing what the Queen meant.

Before the queen, Roland's imperial council was dominated by nobles. After Adele was crowned king, she made three lawyers into her council, one of whom was a convert. Although Congress has always been dissatisfied with the queen's decision, the professionalism of the council has been greatly improved through this method.

Compared with his peers, Bulger was bolder.

He was born in a merchant family, and he was a fair and handsome young man, but possessed a different ability to handle affairs than his age. He is familiar with all the legal provisions of the empire, but more importantly, he has no family support, nor does he have an army like Dalton - without the Queen, he is nothing.

"According to the laws of the empire, major port cities and chambers of commerce are obliged to provide the empire with ships over 100 tons."

Dalton looked thoughtfully at the Queen and Heinrich.

He doesn't think the intention of the queen's meeting today is as simple as rebuilding the navy.

"Roland without a fleet is a lion without its tusks." Adele said softly, "But, gentlemen, what should we use to form our fleet?"

Just as the Chancellor was about to speak, the Queen pulled out a stack of documents from the desk.

"Businessmen have been dissatisfied with the heavy exploitation of port tariffs for a long time. Imposing fleet tasks on them will only cause dissatisfaction among merchants. I believe that the Yager Kingdom is very happy to subsidize merchants' riots." The Queen's tone was calm, as if directly pointing out the nobles" The one who is heavily exploited is not her. "The merchants are the brave and fearless adventurers of the empire. I hope we can give them back the power that belongs to them."

coming.

The people in the room trembled, and the queen finally expressed her position on the upcoming port and navigation regulations.

And this attitude is directed at the various families that have controlled the port for a long time.

As the queen said, they are like unbearable checkpoints for the merchants in the port. In addition to paying taxes according to the standard, merchants also need to pay other payments to the port controller to prevent their goods from being withheld under various names when importing and exporting.

Of course, there are also some that are more ingenious, such as the two-headed snake family. They control the market by controlling the chamber of commerce.

"The Empire will protect those who make it prosperous." Adele said, "The regulatory companies that appeared in the southern ports did not hinder the interests of the Empire, and Congress has no right to suppress them... provocation, I will grant the ancient protectors of the port a license to privateer."

This passage was spoken to Heinrich.

In other words, with the noble class headed by the Heinrich family.

a deal.

The queen is determined to regulate the ports of the empire, protect the interests of merchants, and promote the development of commercial regulation companies. This means that she will take back part of the interests originally occupied by the nobles. There is no doubt that this will cause dissatisfaction among these families, and the coup d'etat and religious turmoil have just passed, and Roland cannot usher in a second new turmoil. As a result, the queen also made concessions to the nobles.

Privateer's license.

The term "private piracy license" is actually quite subtle. The licensed ships can be legally armed, and the government allows them to attack the ships of a specific enemy—this specific enemy is obviously the ships of the Kingdom of Yager at the moment. And the act of plundering merchant ships without a license will be severely punished.

Heinrich was silent.

The weird atmosphere was so overwhelming that no one dared to speak.

Daylight fell into the queen's study through the rose window, which slanted across and divided the room in two. Like this silent and dangerous dispute.

It is true that the rewards that private plundering licenses will bring will not be small, and may even be more lucrative than the exploitation of domestic merchants in the port. It even went a step further than the "Permission for Armed Private Ships" agreed between the Queen and Heinrich during the mutiny. However, the armed privateer license is based on strengthening the control of the port, and the privateer license is based on the loss of control.

In the long run, this is not a good choice.

"Mr. Heinrich, what do you think?"

Adele said softly.

Her eyes were cold.

— Please remember, don't be my enemy.

Heinrich did not ignore the cold light of the sword under her soft words, but... the Imperial Council is almost the epitome of the pinnacle of power in the entire empire, and in this microcosm, Dalton, who symbolizes the army, sided with the Queen at some point. Rodrik knelt down in front of the Queen in the rainy night corridor, and the object of allegiance of the last Templar Knights of the Old God Sect changed accordingly.

And the rain...

The rain that miraculously drowned the world.

This is the moment when the queen's prestige is at its highest, and the nobles have lost the ability to confront the queen head-on like they did in July.

Changes in the arena of power are as unpredictable as the world itself.

After a long silence, Heinrich stood up and bowed to the queen: "Follow your will."

On the one he bowed, the ancient aristocracy of the empire, after long arrogance, at last bowed its haughty head to its young mistress.

……………

"The actions of the privateers against the Yager Kingdom are likely to further intensify the matter."

After the imperial meeting ended, Dalton did not get up and leave, but waited until everyone else had left, and said to the queen.

He admitted that the queen's thinking was very ingenious. She not only gradually took back the control of the port from the nobles, but also used the privateers invested by the nobles to attack Roland's enemies, killing two birds with one stone. But this is not a long-term solution. Once the dispute between the Yager Kingdom and the Root Empire in the Tuva area is resolved, John VI will definitely retaliate in great annoyance.

"Put all your eggs in one basket, of course, is extremely stupid."

Adele flipped through the documents submitted by the clerk, and answered without raising her head.

Dalton watched her intently.

Mrs. Kelly has a pair of dexterous hands. Today, she has arranged the queen's thick hair into a complex and beautiful hairstyle, which is somewhat similar to the day of the parade. She fixed it behind her head with a few curved hair combs studded with diamonds. . Her beautiful face was completely exposed, and at this moment, the edges of her face reflected golden thin lines in the light.

With such a queen, it is indeed understandable why Rodri's family, whose minds are only filled with gods and saints, would prostrate in front of her like fanatics.

He used to think that the queen at the ball was dazzling enough, but today Dalton found out that he was wrong.

Adele belongs in the crown.

Wearing a crown on her head and holding power in her hands, she is the most dazzling. Dalton realized that he didn't know why people had always believed that politics had nothing to do with women-clear power created her sharpest and unparalleled beauty.

"I brought something."

Dalton said suddenly.

Adele looks up at him, apparently that's why he's stuck until now.

Dalton pursed his lips, looking a little embarrassed for the first time. He avoided the Queen's gaze, put a small wooden box on the table, and pushed it to the Queen.

"I think… "

Before taking out the gift, he still hesitated, but now he doesn't doubt his choice.

"You might like it."

Dalton opened the box.

The presents on the dark velvet had a cold luster in the sunlight.