Sword of Dawn

Page 143

Not to mention the courtyard wall, there are mousetraps on the top of every street lamp along the entire road starting from the Lord's Mansion...

Not long after, Knight Philip appeared in front of Gawain.

There was also Amber grinning at Gao Wen with various funny expressions.

Gawain ignored the half-elf girl who was making fun of her, and looked at Philip, "It's time for us to think about the old knights in Kant."

As a role model for young knights, Philip immediately thought of the procedure that should be followed at this moment: "Should we summon them to swear allegiance?"

"It's not just about swearing allegiance," Gawain smiled, looking into Philip's eyes, "Actually, I've always been curious about one thing...how do you think about the new 'rules' I enforced."

Chapter 0343 Cecil's "Order"

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 settlement 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 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 considered carrying out the reform in one step - directly and completely erasing the concept of "nobility", completely 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 the 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 enemy will attack in groups—and it will most likely come when 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, and finally he made his own strategy for future expansion - that is to retain the nobles, but gradually disintegrate the land they rely on. Soil for survival.

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. Backlash—after all, in Typhon, 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 anything, but for those smart people— —For example, Knight Philip, he can at least see the position of the land 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 he was facing his idol and even his spiritual role model in the past 20 years, he did not hide his thoughts, "At that time, I discussed with Knight Byron about when you would remember to talk to us about the fiefdom. 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," Philip said heartily, "I never thought a land could become so rich in such a short time in this way--not by farming and renting , but rely 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. Existence—this is what you said in Ansu 4 years ago, and I engraved it on my shield," Philip said with a serious face, "So, if your new order can make the people safe, Let the land prosper and do better than the old system of privileges, then those privileges need not be preserved."

"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 summon all the knights in Kant's territory—the time has come 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. It’s under the control of the government——Before you, there were only Rebecca, a countess, and Byron Philip, two knights in the territory. At that time, I was curious. Who are you targeting by making such a move in advance? It can be seen that you will not be able to say who you will target in the future, but now the old knights in Kant's collar 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 legal right to rule over the land, 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 that, they will know how correct their choice is."

Chapter 0344 The Day of Allegiance

Under legal circumstances, when an aristocratic lineage belonging to the royal family is delisted, the royal family has the right to take back the property of this aristocratic lineage and transfer it to others, and the subordinate vassals who were loyal to the noble family before should deal with the new lord under normal circumstances Swear allegiance - but this is not mandatory, but a "moral" and "customary" requirement. The king has no right to interfere with the vassals of the vassals. Therefore, whether the followers of the old lord will be loyal to the new lord often depends Look at the new lord's wrist.In fact, whether the vassals of the previous lord can swear allegiance to him is an important criterion for judging whether a nobleman has sufficient strength and prestige, at least, this is the case in Ansu.

The prestige of the name Gawain Cecil in the knight community is unquestionable. His legendary personal strength and the current development prospects of the New Cecil Territory are enough to convince the old knights of the Kant Territory. There is one final test ahead—

That is whether they are willing to give up their old land privileges and submit to the new order of Cecilland.

The knights in Kant Land are no strangers to Cecil's order. Although the traditional nobles are a somewhat dull group, the Cecil family has actually ruled Kant Land for half a year. Those with a little heart will inquire about the "jurisprudential basis" behind these changes—after all, they have already guessed that the Cecil family will become Kant's new masters sooner or later, and no one will care about their future. what to face.

After learning about the status quo of Cecil's system, the Kant knights became nervous, but no matter how nervous they were, they still had to face it—the canonization of the king became a fact, and the one who had always been in charge of Kant's affairs Knight Philip brought an order to summon the lord.

The Kant knights responded to the summons with anxiety. On the seventh day of the recovery month, the "old knights" of Kant led by Walder Peric (former Viscount Kant chief knight) arrived at the residence of Duke Cecil .

Everyone knows the purpose of everyone's gathering here today, so they put on clean and bright armor and burqas over the armor. These mighty knights gathered in the hall of the Lord's Mansion with a little anxiety Communicate in low voices from time to time.

The main content of their discussion was the unbearable "new order" of the Cecil Territory, and how to fight for the privileges that they should have and deserved from the new lord.

"I heard that everything in Cecil Land revolves around that 'government hall', even including tax collection and levying," a young knight said to his companion, "The land is only in name Aristocrats, but in fact, those who hold the land don't have much rights at all...even have to listen to the arrangements of the Government Affairs Office."

Another knight seemed even more worried: "They may take back all the fiefs—that Knight Philip said that he has no fiefs."

"It is said that the fiefdom will become a 'territory'. From now on, we can only receive annuities according to the size of the territory, and we will have no other rights - even if people in the village want to work in the city or go hunting in the wasteland, they only need to Go to the government affairs hall to report without the permission of the lord..."

A tall and thin knight frowned: "We don't even have the power to restrain those civilians from running around, how can we maintain order on the land? After a long time, those muddy legs may not even bend down to us." Salute!"

The knights were worried, and someone whispered: "We should express our attitude - Duke Cecil is indeed a great man, but his decree is simply nonsense, leaving the order on the land to a group of people who are busy in the government office If busy clerks come to take care of it, it will be a mess sooner or later!"

The others nodded in agreement, and more than half of them focused their attention on the old knight sitting in the center: "Mr. Wald, what do you think?"

The old knight who was watched was silent for a long time, frowning and shaking his head slightly: "...depending on the situation, let's take one step at a time."

This answer was obviously not reassuring, so the knights gradually started discussing again, whispering non-stop.

All of this, until the tall and strong man in a noble trench coat with a majestic face walked into the hall.

Their whispered discussion stopped immediately, and everyone involuntarily looked away.

Walking into the hall, Gawain glanced at the Kant knights in front of him: there were not many of them, there were only a few Transcendents who were loyal to a Viscount, and even fewer were enshrined. There are only a dozen or so "standard knights" in total, and judging from the extraordinary aura exuding from them, only one of them is an intermediate rank, and that is the gray-haired gentleman standing in the middle of the knights: the former Chief Military Officer of Fort Conde , Walder Peric.

Gawain met with Walder Perici. After the nightmare incident in Fort Konder, this middle-aged knight was one of the first people to rush to the main hall of the castle to stabilize order. In Gawain's In my impression, Wald is loyal to the lord, but not very showy, but he has been loyal to the Kant family for the longest time, and has the strength of a middle-level knight, so he has the highest prestige and voice among the Kant knights.

While Gawain was observing these knights, the knights headed by Wald also got up and saluted one after another. The sound of metal friction and collision on the armor rang out. Gawain accepted everyone's etiquette this time, and waited until everyone did After the ceremony, he said: "Ladies and gentlemen, you are very punctual."

There are not only men among the knights, there are also three women among them - in this world where extraordinary power exists, as long as women awaken the relevant power, they also have full power equal to men.

This is one of the only "fair" things in a world full of injustice.

"I salute you, the great pioneer, the knight among the knights, the founder of Ansu, the sword and shield of the kingdom..." Wald opened his mouth and threw out a series of titles. Obviously, he had memorized this set of words a lot before he came. "It's an honor to step into your castle - we are very happy that you can become the new protector and ruler of Kant Land, and that land will be safe and prosperous because of your presence."

After Wald finished this routine, Gawain raised a hand and said straight to the point: "I am a person who doesn't like to talk nonsense, so let's get straight to the point—we all know that I called you over today the goal of.

"I have become the legal ruler of the Kant Territory. According to the usual practice, you should swear allegiance to me. I believe that your punctual arrival is to show your attitude towards this matter, but before that, I should explain that you are loyal to Cyprus. A new 'rule' for Seale to adapt to."

Such a straight-forward way of speaking is not like the ordinary nobles of this era - it is impossible for ordinary nobles to get to the point without a few cadenced arias after they speak, but Gawain Cecil obviously does not have this style of painting.

The knights looked at each other for a while, and then the atmosphere on the scene became tense and subtle.

But Gawain didn't seem to notice this, he beckoned, and then a few attendants came out beside him, and handed each knight a piece of paper full of words.

"I'm used to putting everything into written terms. A black and white agreement is more reassuring," Gao Wen smiled. "Everyone can take a closer look."

When Walder Peric saw the provisions printed on the paper, an unexpected but contradictory complex emotion emerged immediately.

Abolish fiefdoms, change them to territories, abolish tax revenue, and change them to be investigated and calculated by the government affairs department to issue annuities. And the position of "official" is not inheritable...

On a piece of paper, almost all land-based privileges are wiped out.

This is only for knights who are only equivalent to "half lords", knights with limited privileges. If a viscount or even an earl is to be merged into the Cecil family, how much power will he lose that belongs to the nobility?

The old knight noticed that the people around him became quiet, and he knew that several pairs of eyes were focused on him without even raising his head, but what could he say?

What could he say to a duke?

But he had to speak, at least not without saying a word, so after ten seconds of hard thinking, the knight Walder raised his head: "My lord, please allow me..."

"Don't worry," Gawain interrupted Walder with a smile, "These papers are just for everyone to understand what Cecil's 'order' is, but swearing allegiance is a very serious matter. It’s not enough just to know the letter of the law—I invite you to visit my city and let you understand this land from all aspects, so that you can better judge whether the Cecil family is worthy of allegiance, isn’t it?”

The knights looked at each other, some of them looked thoughtful, and Walder Peric quickly nodded in agreement: "What you said is very true."

The new lord may want to show off the strength of the economy and army of the territory, so as to increase the weight of people's loyalty. Everyone understands this, and this is also the most common method used by the new lord to attract followers.

So since Gao Wen wants to go through this "traditional process", the Kant knights don't mind cooperating, but cooperation is cooperation, and the power that should be fought for must still be won.

Everyone had their own calculations, and followed Gao Wen to leave the Lord's Mansion, and started a tour in this city that was still a little strange to them.

Neat and well-ordered urban areas, wide and straight streets paved with unknown materials, bustling commercial streets and neatly dressed civilians everywhere, Wald was riding a horse, silently watching everything in front of him, but a little absent-minded .

These are indeed manifestations of the prosperity of the territory, and a strong proof of Gawain Cecil's governance ability and wealth. In all fairness, a place that has been built for less than a year can develop to such a degree that it even surpasses the concept of "rapid development". It can be described as incomprehensible, but the current attention of the Kant knights does not seem to be on this.

Gawain was always smiling, silently observing the reactions of these old knights, but he didn't say anything, but signaled the team to speed up and walk towards the northeast exit of the city.

A female knight noticed the team's acceleration and couldn't help asking curiously, "Master Duke, where are we going?"

Gao Wen said casually: "I see that you don't seem to be very interested in the commercial streets and residential buildings in the territory, so why don't you go and see what you might be interested in first."

"What are we interested in?" The female knight became even more curious, "You mean..."

"It is something you will definitely have to deal with in the future."

Chapter 0345 A Wise Move

Something that will definitely be dealt with in the future?

The Kant knights couldn't help thinking after hearing Gawain's words, and they quickly thought of something similar.

What will the Cavaliers deal with?In addition to the etiquette that every member of the nobility must come into contact with, of course there are swords, armor and war horses.

Although Ansu's aristocratic system has begun to decline, and many traditional fighting nobles have also been corrupted by the extravagant life, they have begun to rely on simple and easy methods such as magic rituals and potions to catalyze their extraordinary power, but this is after all an existence of extraordinary power , and personal strength can determine social status to a large extent, especially in the southern border where the law and order is poor, the fighting nobles at the grassroots level still pay attention to "strength", and these knights from the Kant Land are of course no exception— ——As the guardians of the upper-class nobles and the benchmarks of force in the territory, they always put personal strength improvement first. When it comes to things that knights must deal with... there is no doubt that they are weapons and equipment.

At most, add "decoration" such as retinues.

The knights exchanged glances silently. They knew that this was probably the new lord's intention to show them strength.I heard that the original armed force of the Cecil Territory was hit hard after the previous disaster. There were only two extraordinary knights who survived. A large number of people were trained to barely make up the number of troops to defend the territory...

They don't know much about this new army, they just heard that this new army has some peculiar weapons and equipment, and its combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of ordinary soldiers. Probably this is what the new lord mainly displays.

The knights had their own ideas, but they all agreed that the lord did not need to show off his army. As a powerful knight lord with legendary strength, Gawain Cecil himself was the best deterrent. His force value Enough is enough, what else needs to be shown?

No matter what their thoughts were, the team quickly came to the weapons testing ground outside the city. After passing through the soldiers checkpoints, the Kant knights came to a tall wooden viewing platform and watched I saw a row of strange big guys neatly arranged on the ground below.

"I want to show you the Justice-I Magic Crystal Railgun that has just been installed in the Cecil Combat Corps," Gao Wen looked at the Kant knights who were looking around curiously, and said with a smile, "Everyone If you want to become a member of Cecil, you must have a good understanding of your own fighting style."

Justice · Type I Magic Crystal Railgun?What it is?Is it those large iron bumps and iron pillars on the field?Their shapes are quite regular, and I don't know how the craftsmen made them all exactly the same...

The knights were at a loss, and then watched soldiers take action: those soldiers trained by ordinary people ran around the rail guns, put metal objects into the steel, adjusted the "track" Angle, checking something, still shouting strange passwords...

This is a very new sight. There is almost no extraordinary aura on these soldiers, which shows that they are ordinary people with mud legs who can't read. That Duke Gawain Cecil can train such people to be so obedient It is not easy to let them act quickly and cooperate with each other tacitly, but what are they doing?

Just when the knights were wondering, a soldier holding a small flag suddenly ran under the high platform for observation, and the soldier shouted: "Report! The rail gun is ready, request instructions!"

Gawain nodded slightly: "Quick fire, fire."

The soldier turned around and waved the flag in his hand with a strange pattern.

Before the knights understood what was happening, they saw that all the soldiers standing behind the "rail gun" had moved: they pressed something on the base, and there was a burst of magic charging buzzing. From those strange large devices, bright magic runes began to appear on the surface of the device, and then the soldiers standing behind the base pulled down a certain red lever.

A series of blasts followed, and a bright halo erupted from the front end of each "railgun": it was the flash activated by the aerodynamic rune, and then, the cloud of indistinct things rushed into the sky, flying to the sky. distance.