Hearing Gawain's words, Knight Philip was a little dazed for a moment. He didn't quite understand what his lord was referring to, until Gawain asked him a more specific question: "When the old Cecil was still in existence, your fief How big is it?"
"There are two villages and a garrison to the southwest of the old castle," Knight Philip replied, "...and a mill."
In the system of the Ansu Kingdom, this was a standard fief for poorer knights. After the decline of the Cecil family, the knights who were loyal to the family basically only had these fiefdoms.
Gao Wen nodded: "You have been with me for a while, you should know that according to the current land distribution system in Cecil Territory, there is no living soil for traditional land nobles here, even if the concept of 'fiefdom' still exists, land The privileges of the nobility have been greatly reduced."
At present, the Cecil Territory has passed the initial stage of gaining a foothold. With more and more pioneering areas, land distribution has become an issue that the ruler of the Cecil Territory must consider. For Gao Wen, the pioneering and construction of the Cecil Territory is by no means his whole goal. After all, he wants to push the new order to the whole world, but he doesn't want the new order he promotes in this world to become a waste of time. Progressive "reign change", so when thinking about how to deal with the traditional land aristocracy and related systems, he really consumed a lot of brain cells.
At the beginning, he thought about eradicating the concept of "nobility" completely in one step, binding the governance of the territory to the government affairs hall, and destroying all the nobles who stood in the way during the expansion of the territory in the future. However, During his trip to Glenring, he was reminded.
If you are too aggressive, big things will happen.
Although the situation in Cecil Territory is different from that of Glenn Territory ten years ago, although Gao Wen has promoted education and publicity in the Territory to enlighten people's wisdom, and also has his own armed forces and supporting productivity, but he It is still necessary to face up to the fact that outside the Cecil Territory, the almost indestructible old social order that pervades the entire world is still very strong, and even inside the Cecil Territory, those officials who fully support him, Soldiers and civilians also grew up under the influence of the old social system, and the changes he wanted to make were far more intense and profound than those of Gulenling ten years ago.
The old social order has long permeated everyone in this world and this era, and his "one step" is likely to lead to unpredictable consequences.
No matter how fast Cecil's productivity develops, it will be difficult for him to complete the transformation and reconstruction of the entire society while conquering the world in the process of expansion in the future. First of all, it is impossible for qualified and capable civilian managers to emerge out of thin air , Most of the talents used to maintain social order still have to be selected from the old aristocratic system. Secondly, too extreme changes will stimulate the aristocratic system all over the world, unless he can eliminate all opponents in the world in a short time If it is dropped and replaced with a new system, then sooner or later the external enemies will attack in groups, and most of them will come when the Cecil Territory is greatly expanded and the interior is unstable.
Traditional aristocrats may be greedy or slow, but they are by no means stupid, let alone vigilant.
After realizing these hidden dangers, Gao Wen thought carefully for a long time, and referred to some situations of the Typhon Empire in the east. Finally, he made his own policy for future expansion, which is to retain the nobles, but gradually disintegrate the resources they depend on for survival. soil.
Gawain will retain the title of "Nobility" and some honorary privileges, and will even retain their power to collect tribute from the land in the early days, but he will take back all the super-standard powers of the enfeoffment nobles, including legislation, retaining troops, minting coins , self-determined tax rates and other privileges, in this way, the land nobles' control over the land will be greatly weakened. At the same time, Gao Wen also planned to cancel the concept of "fiefdom" and replace it with "dependence" to cut The relationship between the old "lord" and the land, in the end, he hopes to create such a situation:
A new aristocrat, he owns a piece of legal "territory", he can collect a certain percentage of tribute from the economic development of this territory as his "annuity", but apart from this "dividend", he will no longer Retaining any control over the land and its population, he could retain the family castle, treasury, and honorary titles, but that was all he could retain.
If he wants to gain more income or gain more power, he can choose to compete for a government office position, or invest in opening a factory or business.
This is an incomplete change, but Gawain knows that even this level of change will still greatly stimulate the traditional nobles, even more severely than the Typhon Empire next door, attracting more intense pressure. After all, the rebound was in Typhon, and the nobles at least retained the concept of "fief".
But it doesn't matter, as long as their backlash is within the control of Cecil "Truth", then everything is not a problem.
After the pain, they will cooperate.
Of course, most of these were plans in Gao Wen's mind. Although many people in the territory had guessed the fact that the ancestor was planning to pick up the rolling pin and beat the child, after all, Gao Wen hadn't said it out yet. As far as Knight Philip is concerned, he can at least see the position of the landed nobles in the "Cecil Order" from the various systems in place in the territory.
"Frankly speaking, when you first announced the land distribution system, established the government affairs department, and transformed the power of various lords into the daily work of the government affairs department, I had a feeling of resistance for a while," Philip is a sincere person, even though Facing his idol and even his spiritual role model in the past 20 years, he did not hide his thoughts, "At that time, I also discussed with Byron Knight, discussing when you would remember to talk to us about the fief thing... ”
Gawain looked at the Mr. Knight who would definitely tell the truth with a smile: "Then what now?"
"Your wisdom has made the land so prosperous," said Philip from the bottom of his heart, "I never thought a land could become so rich in such a short time in this way, not by farming and renting, but by It relies on factories and commerce, if you hadn't canceled the old system that firmly tied the people to the land, if you hadn't set up an efficient government office, then factories and commerce would never be able to operate."
"Then do you still miss your fief?" Gao Wen continued to ask.
"A true nobleman, he does not get the title to rule anyone or obtain any benefits, but to protect the people, keep the people safe, and make the land prosperous. All his privileges are for better fulfilling this obligation. This is what you said in Anzu 4 years ago, I engraved it on my shield," Philip said with a serious face, "So, if your new order can make the people safe and the land thrive, and do better than the old system of privileges, then there is no need for those privileges to remain."
"Very good," Gao Wen nodded in satisfaction, "It would be great if everyone could have the same awareness as you..."
Then he paused, and ordered: "I want you to call all the knights in Kant's territory to swear allegiance. It's time for them to swear allegiance."
All along, Knight Philip has been in charge of liaising with Kant and Cecil, so he is the best candidate for this job.
The young Mr. Knight lowered his head: "I will definitely complete the mission."
After Philip left, only Amber and Gao Wen were left in the study.
The half-elf lady circled Gawain twice. Strictly speaking, she circled the entire desk twice. Her actions made Gawain unable to resist asking, "What are you doing?"
"I think you're going to make a big deal," Amber looked at Gao Wen seriously, "but I don't understand what you're going to do."
"That's right, it's surprising that I'm going to make trouble." Gawain looked at this half-elf who usually knew nothing about territories, laws, traditional nobles, etc. in surprise, "How did you Did you see it?"
As a result, as soon as Amber opened her mouth, Gao Wen wanted to slap her on the wall: "What I am good at in my life is making troubles, and I still can't see the temperament of the same kind?"
"You... Forget it, I didn't expect you to understand it."
"Don't say that, I can still get a rough idea," Amber said with her eyes widened immediately, "I know how many privileges you took back after you changed 'fiefdom' to 'territory', and how you incorporated those privileges into government affairs. Apart from you, there were only Rebecca, a countess, and two knights, Byron Philip, in the former territory under the control of the government. At that time, I was curious. Who are you targeting by making such a move in advance? Now I can see Now, you can’t say who you will target in the future, but now the old knights in Kant’s land will definitely be cut first...Aren’t you afraid that those knights will fight together?”
"The entrusted knights are 'half' of the land nobles. They have far less privileges than the real lords. They themselves have no powers such as legislation and minting coins. After obeying Cecil's new law, they just The previous land rent income has become annuity income, and they have lost their jurisprudential rule over the fief, but they can get more benefits from the new social order... People with a little wisdom and foresight will know how to choose. "
"My God, you actually asked them to have wisdom and foresight, the two things nobles lack the most!" Amber said in a very exaggerated tone, "What if they don't?"
"That would be great. The saved annuity is enough for me to open several steel foundries in the Kant area."
Seeing the heartfelt smile on Gao Wen's face, Amber suddenly remembered the "negotiation method" mentioned by the other party.
She suddenly felt a little cold...
"However, I think they are more likely to see the situation clearly," Gao Wen said with a smile, "again, they don't lose many privileges, so their resistance will not be so strong, at least it will not reach The degree to which they risk their lives to resist and as long as they see the power of Cecil's order after this, they will know how correct their choice is."
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