Chapter 45 Conflict between Father and Daughter
Count Morin drove the ridiculous thoughts that flashed through his mind. magic? How is it possible?
The priests of the church always scare ordinary people with legends about evil wizards and witches. They have also set up special tribunals. Some priests will use a broken stone to pretend to poke around here and there if they have nothing to do. , said it was about detecting traces of magic and witchcraft.
Because of their influence, the public firmly believes in these statements, especially the people at the bottom.
But in the eyes of a few well-educated people, the terms wizards and witches are just fabricated by the church to expand its influence.
With the development of the times, a large number of mysterious phenomena have been reasonably explained. For example, the phenomenon of "will-o'-the-wisps" in graves was previously said by the church to be caused by evil spirits. However, after subsequent research by alchemists, it was just a phenomenon called The "phosphorus" substance just spontaneously combusts.
Because the lies were exposed, the church was very unfavorable to these scholars who had the courage to explore the unknown, and many of them were labeled as wizards and persecuted.
However, this cannot stop people's curiosity, and even some factions have emerged within the church, which advocate approaching and understanding gods through exploring the unknown and studying nature, such as the famous "Mingli Society".
The church will far-fetchedly link some people or things that it cannot explain with witchcraft or the devil, and use people's fear to strengthen their dependence on the church. This view has spread to a small extent in the circles of high-level nobles, believing that wizards and magic are things used to deceive foolish men and women.
Earl Morin himself thinks so, but most nobles still hold the attitude of preferring to believe what they have rather than what they have not.
"Please Merlin, please continue to investigate this matter. But no matter what the truth is, the reality of food shortage can never be changed."
The king broke the silence in the study and spoke of the most pressing issue at present.
Katherine frowned and said: "Father, I have ordered to raise food and grass in the royal territory, but it will take a long time."
"Even if we can raise some food and grass, it will still be a long time." It is not enough to support the army's long-term expedition deep into the south."
Rodney XVI fell silent for a long time and said: "We can only buy it from the lords who support the royal family."
"A king should be self-sufficient" is an unwritten rule in this world.
Since the collapse of the ancient Bela Empire, new regimes, large and small, have been established in her territory.
The newly born countries have frequent wars, and the monarchs of these countries do not have as vast territory to rule as the Bella Empire, and their wealth is unable to support a large standing army.
In order to meet military needs, countries generally adopt two methods to maintain their military strength.
The first is that only a small number of elite troops, such as knights with various names, are retained in peacetime, and a large number of civilians are recruited to form an army during wartime.
The second is to adopt the enfeoffment system. The king grants land to meritorious nobles and makes them become lords of the land. The great lords can allocate the land in their territory to their vassals, and the vassals can in turn enfeoff their own vassals. This is how it goes. It was divided and enfeoffed, all the way down to the knight class.
The lord must rely on the income from his own territory to form a military force, and during the war, he is obliged to respond to the call of the lord and provide his military force for the lord's use.
Correspondingly, the lord has no obligation to pay taxes to the lord or only pays a symbolic amount. The royal families of various countries basically rely on the income from their own territories to meet their expenditure needs.
So as the king, Rodney XVI could summon lords from all over the country to lead troops to serve the king, but he did not have the power to order the mobilization of the grain stored in the lords' lands. Of course, legally he could also forcefully issue this order, but The result will definitely be to force more lords to Giles' side.
Katherine suggested: "Let the royal commissioners we sent before be responsible for communicating with the lords in their respective places, and try to keep the price as low as possible."
The king agreed, and the Count of Morin took the order, and his intelligence system was responsible for the royal commissioners.
He took out the second scroll and handed it to the king and princess, reporting: "There is another important piece of information. After our investigation, there is indeed someone behind Giles."
The king unfolded the scroll and read the information with the princess. Catherine said naa-naa: "No wonder, a year ago he did not have sufficient strength, and a year later he raised the flag of rebellion with such confidence."
The earl looked at the princess and said: "We analyze , the forces supporting him may be 'over there'," he said while pointing in the east direction. The princess glared at the count: "Don't talk nonsense without conclusive evidence!"
The earl lowered his head and responded: "Yes, Your Highness."
The king suddenly said: "Don't say that to Mr. Merlin. The relationship between countries is very complicated. There are too many things that do one thing in person and another behind the scenes. "
The princess wanted to say something: "But, father..." But she hesitated.
Rodney XVI looked lovingly at his eldest daughter. This daughter was the greatest pride of his life. She was so outstanding at a young age, but she still needed a lot of tempering in politics.
He turned to Earl Molin and said, "Okay, Lord Merlin, you can go back and rest today. You have worked hard during this period."
"This is your responsibility, I dare not say it's hard." Count Morin bowed and left the study.
Only father and daughter were left in the study. Rodney XVI stood up and walked slowly to the window.
The king turned his back to the princess and said: "Catherine, there is something I want to tell you."
The princess quietly waited for her father's next words, but what she heard shocked her extremely. news.
“I intend to marry your sister to Veblen.”
The study suddenly fell into silence, and only the pendulum of the grandfather clock could be heard. Catherine could not say anything for a while.
Finally, she asked: "Why...why?"
In fact, the princess knew very well: Duke Veblen was the most powerful among the lords in the east of the kingdom, and also The most powerful of the lords who are now watching from both sides and have not expressed their support for either side.
The king did not answer, he knew that his daughter must understand his intention.
"Irene is only 15 years old now. Did she agree to it?" The princess's tone suddenly became sharp.
The king still turned his back to her and whispered: "15 is not too young..." but did not say whether Catherine's sister agreed.
“But that Veblen is almost 50 years old! He still has such a bad reputation! You actually want to marry your biological daughter to such a person!”
Princess Gao Gao tone, almost shouted.
"Enough! I have made up my mind! Back off."
The king suddenly turned around, glared at his eldest daughter and shouted sternly, his eyes no longer as loving as before, On the contrary, it revealed a sense of determination.
Catherine understood the meaning in her father's eyes. She looked at him coldly and said: "As you command! Your Majesty the King."
She turned and walked outside. With a "bump", the door of the study was slammed hard. Buckle up.
Rodney XVI stood blankly in front of the window. He sighed for a long time, walked to the desk, and slumped down on the chair weakly.
This daughter is still too naive politically.
(End of this chapter)