Chapter 463 The Dilemma of the Royal Family 3
The king looked at the silent people, and he knew what his subjects were worried about.
"You are all people I can trust, and your family has always been loyal to the kingdom, so I have nothing to hide from you."
"In my opinion Come on, power..."
Rodney paused, then increased his voice.
"Power itself has no meaning of justice or evil. Killing with magic is a sin, but killing with a sword is noble?"
"The difference lies in the motivation for using power, and of course...maybe also the results of using power. . ”
“Specifically, [magic] is not evil, [using magic to do evil] is evil, just as [sword] is not evil, [using swords to do evil] is evil.”< br>
“If magic can be used to protect the people of Aldo, wouldn’t it be a good deed?”
Rupert touched the beard on his chin and glanced at those present. Colleagues, no one said anything.
Well, as His Majesty the King's most reliable minister, he has to say a few words.
"Your Majesty is right!"
The Palace Minister loudly agreed, "We cannot stick to traditional impressions."
The Minister of Foreign Affairs asked with concern : "Then the Holy See?"
Rupert responded: "Keep a low profile and never admit it if you are discovered, or find a few scapegoats to deal with it. As long as we do not openly promote heresy, the Holy See will There is no way, and given the current situation, they have no energy.”
So after some discussion, the ministers reached an agreement on this aspect and swore to the king to keep it secret.
The king muttered helplessly: "Since it may take us a long time to find out the opponent's trump card, the strategy against Giles must be adjusted. For now, don't aim to eliminate him quickly. Instead, we focus on suppressing his continued growth. If ordinary force cannot resist magic, no matter how much we accumulate, it will be in vain. Therefore, preparations for the southern expedition can be temporarily slowed down, but the necessary deterrence must still be maintained... ..."
Katherine was still unwilling. She interrupted her father, "Your Majesty, please give me one more time..."
The king looked at his daughter.
“Catherine, I understand your reluctance. As an elderly king, I am even more unwilling than you. But the kingdom really needs time, and that unknown power may be a treasure for us. It may also be poison. Whether it is treasure or poison, we need to find it. Just like an adventurer searching for treasure, this requires time and energy and cannot be accomplished overnight.”
"Yes, I understand."
Katherine tried to calm down her mood, determined to find out the cards behind Giles and find a way to restrain them.
“Since we want to restrain Giles’ power, Your Majesty, I have a suggestion.”
Finance Minister Count Naik Scarlet said this.
The king nodded to him, "You say."
Earl Scarlet: "We should first cut off Giles' financial resources, focusing on the trade of several cash crops in the south."
The king asked: "What are they?" Scarlet Earl Leiter replied: "First of all, it's tea. The south of the kingdom is mountainous and not suitable for growing food, but there are many tea trees. Every year, a large amount of tea is sold to all parts of the kingdom and foreign countries. We should ban the Giles chassis. Even if the tea is not banned, it will still be heavily taxed to restrict its circulation. As long as the merchants lose money because of the tax, the tea in the south will not be sold. ”
< br>"The second is some precious wood that is a specialty of the south. The wood there is very popular. Nobles like to use wood from the south when building palaces and making furniture."
The king nodded, "Good idea, I I think this can be effective. In order to prevent Giles from taking risks, let’s use taxation.”
He ordered the clerk to record the Chancellor's words.
Palace Minister Rupert added: "Just now Naik mentioned that the food production in the south is low, so I think merchants should be prohibited from selling food to the south. And these measures against tea, wood and food should be ordered All the lords loyal to the royal family will implement it together."
"I second the proposal."
As soon as Rupert's proposal came out, all the ministers agreed. Express approval.
The city of King's Capital Jingyao is located on a piece of land called the Fengpeng Plain. As the name suggests, this large plain is covered with dense river networks and rich in water resources, which is very suitable for growing crops. It is the largest food producing area in the entire Aldo Kingdom. It is somewhat exaggerated. Rumor has it that as long as the harvest in the abundant plains is good, people in Aldo will not go hungry. Firmly controlling the Plenty Plain is one of the important reasons why the Rodney family has been able to securely hold the throne to this day.
Katherine frowned, "Prohibiting the flow of food will affect people's livelihood. The south is still nominally the land of the kingdom, and the people there are also our people."
Rupert Looking at the princess who couldn't bear it, she advised with regret: "Your Highness, no victory comes without a price. This is the price of defeating Giles. And if the people there are hungry, the first thing they should object to is Giles, this will help us regain the south."
Listening to the discussions among the ministers, the king thought again and again and said: "It is better not to proceed with a direct ban. This will damage the prestige of the royal family. Just like tea, let’s restrict it by raising taxes.”
The Foreign Secretary asked: “Will the same measures be taken for the Veblen family who once helped Giles?”
Archduke Veblen, who jumped repeatedly during the rebellion, finally jumped to Giles' side, and after the war, he shamelessly sent an envoy to express his loyalty.
The king was lying to him, and for the time being there was nothing he could do about the Veblen family. This family's territory is the Paradise Basin located in the eastern border of the kingdom. Access has to be through extremely steep mountain roads, and guarding a few passes can block hundreds of thousands of people. times the number of enemy troops on the defending side.
But don’t even think about continuing to marry the royal family.
Hearing the Foreign Minister's question, the king shook his head.
He expressed his thoughts: "Concentrating our efforts against one enemy, targeting only Giles, can have the effect of dividing him and Veblen. If we deal with both of them at the same time, it may promote the two sides again." A coalition of traitors.”
"And the southeastern border of the kingdom - the Yunwu Mountains located in the south of Paradise Basin, the lords there still remain loyal to the royal family. Once Veblen and Giles unite again, they will completely cut off the Yunwu Mountains from us. , let’s let Veblen go for the time being.”
Rupert said: “There is a problem now. On land, we can blockade Giles, but on the sea, we can’t do anything for the time being. The kingdom’s navy originally stationed in Westport was destroyed during the rebellion.”
The intelligence chief, Earl Merlin, said: “The problem is not big. Trade between the kingdom’s territories and the Giles territory is mainly through land. The land trade routes must pass through the king's territory. As for Corner Bay, the merchants are busy converting their merchant ships into warships to cope with the tense situation, and the only thing I have to worry about is that the rebellion war will break out soon. ..."
Katherine looked at him, "Northwestern Bay?"
Earl Merlin nodded and confirmed: "Yes, the maritime trade there has developed very rapidly in recent years. , is no longer the desolate place it once was, with merchants from the Gulf running around in their paddleless sailing ships. During the counter-rebellion war, the merchant ships of the Northwesterners stopped docking at Giles for a time out of concern for the royal family. territory, but with the end of the war, merchant ships went there again.”
(End of this chapter)