The noise of the nobles was disturbing.
Sitting next to Crown Prince Wales, Victoria Wilde had no expression on her frosty face. She glanced at the nobles and nobles gathered in the long hall of the castle, with an imperceptible scorn hidden in her eyes.
These wine bags and rice bags.
They wear gorgeous robes, and they talk in this castle. They are of noble blood, and their names are louder and louder. When they speak here, they seem to be deciding the fate of the kingdom. However, their impassioned speeches only need one word in the final analysis. It can be summed up: interests.
A righteous voice echoed in the long hall: "...The Kalei family supports the rebuilding of the Kingdom Avenue. We are willing to contribute a hundred labors, and my nephew will personally lead the team..."
"What a great sacrifice! A hundred people!" Someone sneered loudly from the side, "I'm afraid there are more than a hundred people raising horses for you?"
"The people and food of the Kalei family are on the eastern front. We have given out everything we can for this kingdom, but Earl of Gray Mountain, don't you even have five hundred mules?"
"I don't agree with the rebuilding of the Kingdom Avenue. Although what the Duke Regent said is very reasonable, the Kingdom Avenue can bring great benefits in the long run, but now we are fighting, and a lot of manpower and materials are rashly used to repair the road. What if it affects the battle situation? What to do? I think we just need to rebuild the east-west roads so that we can transport troops to the front lines…”
"I object!"
…
The noise of the nobles is really disturbing.
Welsh Moen sat in the top position like a puppet. When the noise in the long hall was almost out of control, the titular heir to the king finally couldn't help but speak: "Gentlemen, ladies, Let's put aside the debate. The Kingdom Avenue project can be discussed slowly. After all, it is winter. We can discuss the town council and the business system first... "
The voice of Wales finally calmed down the debate in the long hall, but the new proposal he proposed quickly brought a new round of disputes. The nobles, big and small, immediately praised the long-term vision of the Duke Regent and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. , praising their wise schemes, and then, one by one, strongly recommending the introduction of these new institutions in other people's domains.
If it weren't for Victoria Wilde and Franklin Baldwin sitting here, they probably wouldn't just be arguing like this.
Such an argument was destined to be fruitless, and before the noise in the long hall reached its peak again, before Wales Moen had to speak again, Victoria Wilde finally stood up.
"enough."
The Queen of the North said in a cold voice, and as her words fell, the temperature of the entire castle approached freezing from the inside to the outside in an instant.
"I hope the cold air can calm you down." After a while, Victoria withdrew her huge magic power, and as the temperature in the hall gradually recovered, her eyes swept over the silent nobles.
These are powerful aristocrats, big and small, who control half of the country's extraordinary power, land, and wealth. That's all it takes to warn these people.
"We didn't come here to quarrel." After ten seconds of silence, Victoria continued, "The town council and commercial reform are the destined direction of development, but I understand everyone's concerns, so all of this It will not be imposed on any of you. The trial of the town council will be selected from the northern territories and royal fiefdoms, and the commercial restructuring will be in charge of the Duke of Franklin's Western Border Principality."
Baldwin Franklin, with a hint of bookish elegance, bowed slightly forward in response to Victoria's words.
The nobles and nobles in the long hall were silent for a while, and then they all showed a sigh of relief, but they didn't dare to show too obvious and exaggerated, so they could only try their best to show reserved and humble smiles, and used messy words Praise and tribute to cover up their true thoughts, their cover-up skills are not uncommon, and the smooth and humble actions and heartfelt praise all reflect their qualifications as nobles, but Victoria Wilde from Girlhood They have seen through these masks.
Keeping a frozen face was already the greatest courtesy she could show to these people.
She sat down, but the Duke of Baldwin Franklin stood up and said: "All new policies will not be enforced, but I want to explain one thing in advance, please remember that one of the noble virtues is to remember yourself So don’t forget your decision today. Those who oppose the construction of new factories on their own territory today, if they want to build factories in the future, they must pay 30% of the ransom to the royal family unconditionally. This is to redeem what you have today. Give up the right to build a factory; if you refuse to let the road connect to your territory today, any road built in the kingdom will bypass you in the future, unless you buy the road like buying the right to build a factory; if you refuse to sign a trade agreement here today, within ten years No new type of chamber of commerce or company is allowed unless you buy back the right to restructure the business."
With a calm face, the Duke of the Western Territory stated these conditions one by one, and his tone and expression made the nobles who had just started to laugh at the scene quickly confused and uneasy.
They know what they are discussing here today. It is a lot of outrageous and sensational things. It is a weird rule from the southern border. Open new factories, set up town councils that can threaten the rule of the lord, build roads, start companies... These things are taken out one by one, all of which are completely threatened and deprived.
However, the Duke of the Westland called them "rights" and announced that every nobleman who raised objections today gave up these "rights". Spend money to redeem these "rights"
This unimaginable, absurd and weird statement is really hard to understand.
The people in the long hall were silent in confusion, and then discussed in low voices in confusion. Some people seemed to have reacted a little bit, and some seemed to be intimidated by the attitude of the Duke of the West. They cautiously recruited their own Attendant, wrote a note and handed it to the Duke, but more people just spread their hands and shook their heads
Who would want this "right"? The right to cut flesh from the body
The noisy meeting was over, and the nobles left in all directions. Apart from the attendants and guards in the huge hall, soon there were only two regent dukes and a crown prince in name.
"This is the first time I've seen you angry." Victoria looked at Duke Baldwin and said with a little sigh, "You thought you would never lose your temper on such an occasion."
"I'm really angry, but I'm also serious," Baldwin sat on the chair with a tired face, "This can confuse some people, at least they will think more, while others... they at least Someday it will bring some contribution to the kingdom's treasury."
Victoria frowned: "How many people are shaken?"
"Less than 10% of the people," Duke Baldwin shook his head as he recalled the number of people who handed over the notes, "Most of them are nobles who are far away from the Kingdom Avenue and whose territories are not considered rich, as well as royal nobles who have no land. , These people have no worries about wealth and privileges, but are worried about losing the protection of the royal family, and they expressed their willingness to learn more about our New Deal in private."
"Ten percent..." Victoria snorted coldly, but there was deep helplessness in that snort, "It's really a lot."
The queen of the north will also encounter helpless things, which makes Bai Dewen full of emotion.
"As we expected, there are many difficulties," he sighed, and said to Victoria, "We have adjusted the fields involved in the change as much as possible, and removed those items that have the greatest impact on the nobles on the ground, but we still incurred so many problems." Strong resistance, counting the two meetings yesterday and the day before yesterday, and three days of discussions, only five articles were passed, and they are all insignificant parts... "
"As I said at the beginning, no matter how you adjust it, the result will be the same. There is no difference between taking one gold coin and a hundred gold coins from those people's pockets, because they are not willing to lose even one copper plate," Victoria shook Head, "You want to build factories, build roads, and install officials on their land. This is the root cause of them."
Welsh Moen, who hadn't spoken all this time, suddenly spoke up: "At least we can start with the fiefs directly under the royal family and still have some of your territories."
"Ours..." Baldwin showed a wry smile, "We personally understand the necessity of doing this, but the marquis, earls, and viscounts under our name probably don't think so... Even if we personally promote it and implement it within the Principality The difficulty of change remains enormous."
Enfeoffment and separation, each into a country.
Victoria Wilde suddenly thought of the words Gawain said to himself when he evaluated the kingdom's aristocratic system before he left the southern border, and thought of the "new aristocratic" system in the southern border.
The earls and viscounts over there... don't have such great power.
She shook her head, put aside some bad associations, and looked at Wales: "I'm surprised that you can support these new policies so much. I didn't actually take the direct fiefs of the royal family into consideration."
"I know, it's yours for the Moen family..." Wales shook his head, and pressed the words "the last bit of respect" back to the bottom of his heart, "I can see the significance of these new policies, and I know they are important to this country. beneficial."
"Actually, those who opposed, resisted, and refused to express their views at the meeting couldn't see it," Victoria said slowly, turning her gaze to the empty long hall, "even if they couldn't see the new factories, new chambers of commerce, and civilian schools. At least they can see the rise of Cecil... But they still want to object, or refuse to express their views."
Baldwin Franklin sighed: "It's not that they can't see the benefits of doing this to the kingdom, they just don't want to pay for their own interests, their idea is very simple: why can't it be someone else, why can't the factory be built on someone else's site?" Yes, everyone thinks so."
"Think about it," Victoria suddenly said softly after a moment of silence, "At least, the coronation of the new king has gained support."
Baldwin Franklin showed a slightly mocking smile: "Yeah, compared to building a factory on their territory, getting them to support the king is really a trivial matter."
After saying this, the Duke of the Western Territory, who was obviously in a bad mood, stood up. He looked at the exit of the long hall, and after a few seconds of silence, he slowly said: "The town council's plan is likely to fail. This reform is so radical that we can hold off, and so can the schools, but the new factories must be there, at all costs, or we will be forever choked by the Cecilians."
Baldwin Franklin left.
Victoria watched the back of the Duke of the Westlands leaving, and did not speak for a long time.
The voice of Welsh Moen broke the silence: "Duchess Wilder, did Duke Gawain Cecil really tell you that he has no interest in the throne of Ansu?"
Victoria nodded: "He did say that."
"Oh..." Welsh Moen nodded calmly, and then slowly stood up, "Then I'll leave first, please do what you want."
Finally, Victoria was the only one left in the long hall.
The Queen of the North looked at this empty place, at this place where, not so long ago, it was full of noise and disputes, standing for a long time.
A vague sigh resounded in the long hall, and accompanied by flying snowflakes, her figure disappeared beside the throne.
The snowflakes condensed by the magic power fluttered away, and the last few crystal clear snowflakes fell on the portrait of Francis II hanging behind the throne, melted into water, and slowly dripped.