Chapter 60 - 060_Split
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060_Split
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Rodney was summoned by Count Banyusas and entered Great Eagle Castle in Bassam. Many northern nobles had gathered there.
Count Banyusas had a troubled expression. It seemed to be a troublesome matter, and Rodney let out a sigh.
"Now, the reason I gathered everyone here today is that we have received a notification from the royal family."
From his seat far away from Count Banyusas, Rodney could see the expressions of the other nobles change. They all wore reluctant, displeased looks.
"The royal family has ordered each noble to bear the burden of the postwar processing costs paid at the time of the peace treaty with the Jabaru Kingdom."
His bad premonition became reality. Rather than the royal family bearing the burden of 1 million large gold coins alone, they were ordering that half—500,000—be borne by all nobles.
"What arbitrary nonsense. We did not approve of such a peace treaty. And yet to demand we pay money on top of that is going too far in making fools of us!"
"That's right! Surely Your Excellency Count Banyusas has no intention of accepting such a foolish demand."
Count Banyusas understood the nobles' indignation, as did Rodney. Especially in the north, grain does not grow as well as in other regions, forcing strict territory management. Few nobles, like the Count Banyusas House or the Forvas House, have industries within their domains.
The backlash from the northern nobles was fierce. Count Banyusas himself had no intention of accepting such an order. However, if he didn't accept, there was a possibility of conflict with the royal family. He pressed this point to each noble.
"If the royal family says they will pick a fight with us, then we shall stand to meet them!"
"「「「That's right!」」」"
Count Banyusas proposed presenting several conditions, with conflict as a last resort. If conflict led to civil war, that would be playing right into the Jabaru Kingdom's hands. In the worst case, they might invade the kingdom during its civil war.
"But then, how do you propose we reach an accommodation?"
Count Banyusas presented two plans.
One was to have the royal family grant territories commensurate with the amount. This could be treasures owned by the royal family or even promotions in rank. That would not be a one-sided burden and would bring benefits to each noble house.
The second was to lower the amount of 500,000 large gold coins to a smaller figure. Currently, the royal family's order demands 10,000 large gold coins from a count's house. Naturally, they couldn't pay such a large sum and had no intention to. Since the amounts for other noble houses would also decrease, he thought it would be a manageable burden they could compromise on.
"Envoys should be heading to the other nobles as well. I hope that all nobles can cooperate and extract concessions from the royal family."
The nobles of east, west, south, and north intended to work together to force concessions from the royal family. The nobles themselves did not want to deliberately start a civil war, but they were indignant about the things the royal family had done so far and the conclusion of a peace treaty that could be called unequal.
Added to that, other nobles had suffered great losses just before the peace treaty. Many house heads had been killed in battle, so many nobles would be unsatisfied.
Negotiations were difficult. Therefore, great nobles representing regions like Count Banyusas gathered in the royal capital and held discussions daily.
What was understood there was that, despite being called "all nobles," the cost burden was only demanded from land-owning nobles and the court nobles working under them. In other words, the court nobles serving the royal family in the capital had no need to bear any burden at all.
Even mild-mannered nobles showed anger at this. The court nobles serving the royal family, who usually looked down on court nobles working under land-owning nobles as mere servants (toneri), only thought of themselves.
The root cause was the four ministers, and the nobles demanded the king dismiss the four ministers and remove those holding important positions in each government office.
Count Banyusas sought cooperation from Sage Daguldor through Rodney. Sage Daguldor himself was not satisfied with this matter either, so he promised to give his opinion to the king.
Sage Daguldor told the king how the court nobles were enriching themselves, pretending to swear loyalty to the royal family while privatizing power.
However, the king was also stubborn and did not easily change his mind even after being persuaded by Sage Daguldor.
Because the matter had become serious, the Crown Prince also supported Sage Daguldor's opinion and advised the king.
Perhaps because he didn't like this, the king placed the Crown Prince under house arrest.
Given such background, it might have been inevitable that this incident occurred.
The four ministers, bureaucrats, and representatives of the land-owning nobles who were discussing matters within the castle caused a brawl. It didn't escalate to using blades, but a great western noble who rampaged there—Marquis Geord—was arrested by order of the king.
Originally, many land-owning nobles were militaristic. Great nobles do not go to the battlefield, but that said, if they lacked the ability to lead an army, they would be looked down upon by their vassals. Therefore, they acquired as much source power as possible and trained to be ready for the battlefield at any time.
On the other hand, except for those belonging to the military, other court nobles never go to the battlefield. Since they don't go to battle, they don't train their bodies that much. Instead, they spend time studying politics.
Inevitably, a fight between a land-owning noble and a court noble would be no contest. Marquis Geord put on a grand performance, tearing court nobles apart and throwing them around.
Among the court nobles, some suffered serious injuries like broken bones. Hearing the commotion, the king ordered the knight order to arrest Marquis Geord.
The king was deeply enraged that such a brawl had occurred within the castle. Therefore, he issued a ruling to abolish the house of Marquis Geord (kaieki – stripping its rank and territory).
While the brawl was not commendable, this ruling was far too heavy. The land-owning nobles pressed the king for a reduction in Marquis Geord's sentence and that the law required both parties to be punished, but they were ignored.
The king also questioned himself why things had come to this. If they had continued fighting the Jabaru Kingdom army as before, there should have been even greater losses. Yet he felt frustrated that no one understood his thoughts.
On top of that, there was Marquis Geord's brawl. The king quickly arrested Marquis Geord and decided to crush the insolent Marquis Geord house, as the ministers advised.
Perhaps he was being cornered by the increasing number of things not going his way. At this time, the king's ears could only hear the words of the ministers.
The ministers cleverly manipulated the king, thinking to weaken the power of the troublesome land-owning nobles.
Policies to weaken the financial power of land-owning nobles had been implemented for a long time. The ministers thought this was only natural, and for the past 50 years or so, this had been carried out through the war with the Jabaru Kingdom.
The ministers took advantage of Marquis Geord's rampage in the castle to try to destroy the Marquis Geord house and turn its territory into royal domain. They did not know that this decision would trigger a civil war that would split the country in two.
The land-owning nobles all returned to their respective territories and issued manifestos to neighboring nobles. The reason for raising an army was to correct the privatization of politics by the four ministers and bureaucrats.
That manifesto also reached Rodney in the Dedel Territory.
Civil war, huh...
Rodney had wanted to avoid civil war. However, the court nobles, using the royal family's authority, had pressured only the land-owning nobles to bear the burden. He had no intention of accepting this meekly.
The court nobles had trampled on the land-owning nobles' desire to settle things through discussion.
By the time the court nobles realized it, it was already decided to move the army. Once things had come to this, the only way to settle it was for the ministers and bureaucrats to go to the guillotine or for the land-owning nobles to be suppressed.
Rodney decided to head to Bassam, leading the knights Hortus and Endever, two squires, twenty local soldiers, and Feld of the Blue Wolf Tribe.
"Pinica, I'm counting on you to continue the durability tests for the automobile and the screw."
"Y-yes."
"Hobart, you are Pinica's guard and assistant. Don't leave Pinica's side."
"Understood."
The identification of parts prone to wear on both the automobile and the screw had been completed.
Perhaps because the lucky Hobart was serving as the test driver, being able to quickly identify problems was a big help.
Now they were testing with different materials for those parts. He had given instructions that if wear was still too severe, they could ask the smith Pelt to make them from true steel.
"Basically, the sheep farming is entrusted to the Blue Wolf Tribe. But I've told them to consult if they have problems, so I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to us."
Domestic affairs are handled by Kiris as usual, military matters by the chief knight Rodmel. This time, unlike last time, Roxwell is also staying behind, so if the two don't agree, Roxwell will step in to handle it.
"Emilia. Don't fight recklessly. Listen to Roxwell properly."
"I know, Big Brother."
He wouldn't take Emilia to war.
"Yulin. I'm counting on you to take care of the household."
"Yes."
"Don't overdo it. It'll affect the baby in your belly."
"Don't push yourself either, Rodney."
In Yulin's belly was Rodney's child. It was a long-awaited child for the Forvas family members. Since it was due to be born in autumn, Rodney thought he wanted to return by then.