118 – Working Behind the Scenes (2)
“So your Highness, the Duke of Aquitan, is neutral?”
“You are wrong in your words. My territory has been greatly devastated by two unprofitable wars. If I try to do something here again, my family will probably end in my generation, so my lord’s It means that it is difficult to be summoned.”
The envoy’s words, “Isn’t that what it is?” Welled up in his throat, and he strained his throat to swallow it.
Two unprofitable wars.
What does this mean?
‘Stop asking for loyalty that won’t work even though you won’t be able to give anything…’
To be honest, even if the king, the person who sent the envoy, had come to this place in person, he would not have said much after hearing this.
Feudalism is a system in which loyalty is paid in exchange for benefits, rather than benefits given in exchange for loyalty.
The nobles who rule each territory are guaranteed safety as a shout to the king, and in return pay a certain amount of tax and lend an army for 40 days out of the year.
That is to say, except for taxes, forty-day army hire per year, and a ban on rebellion, the king cannot force anything upon his subjects.
When declaring war on the Principality of Burgon and participating in the civil war of the Holy Empire, the King of Carolingus used up all the right to summon an army that could be rented out for the army of the vassal. I bought an army, and when all the funds ran out, I sold future military rental rights to maintain the army far away.
In a nutshell, the present Carolingian king has no means left to control his vassals. The military’s rental rights have been used up until the future, and the funds have long since run out.
“Rental ticket for the future army–“
“hahahaha… I’ve already been exempted from being called up for the military for 5 years. Isn’t that not enough?”
“…”
The royal envoy manages to squeeze the horse out of his throat, but the duke cuts it off at the waist.
Originally, it was impossible to treat a royal envoy like this, but the word [Original] Has seriously faded in today’s Carolingian.
“Furthermore, I just said that it would be impossible to summon any more troops because the territory was devastated, did you forget?”
The envoy impulsively tries to tell them not to play with the word devastation, but then pushes them into the back.
Wasn’t both wars fought from the outside, and the main force of the troops sent outside was mercenaries and standing troops? Of course, peasants participated as conscripts, but it is certain that they managed to adjust the amount of conscription to the extent that it did not harm their estates.
In fact, on the way to here, farmers were farming peacefully all over the world.
It is impossible to say that the territory was devastated. The current duke of Aquitan is trying to maintain neutrality in the civil war with a small blood loss.
“…Sorry.”
However, the envoy can’t point that out.
It is an obvious fact that there are farmers who have not been able to farm due to excessive participation in the war, and it is because they have faithfully participated in the two wars even though they have complained so far, so it can be seen that they have done their duty.
The envoy of the royal family simply bowed his head with a sad expression and offered an apology to the duke, a servant of the king.
“Then go. God bless you, Your Majesty.”
“Yes, thank you for your precious time. Your Highness, Duke of Aquitan.”
The envoy who posted the greeting slumped and left the seat, and the duke looked at the back of the envoy with frowning eyes.
“…What should I do?”
“Leave it alone, it will soon perish even if I don’t use my hands.”
When the envoy finally leaves the room completely, the attendant who accompanied him next to the duke carefully opens his mouth, and the duke stops the attendant and laughs.
“What happened to Rotaring’s proposal?”
“They say it’s not the time yet. They seem to be planning to intervene when the civil war is fully ripe and everyone is devastated.”
“As expected. The war seems to be going on for at least a year, so let’s do some farming and look around.”
“You are indeed right.”
Located in the southwest of Carolingian, the domain of the Duke of Aquitan is far from Lutecia, where the king resided and the forces of the claimants who rebelled in the north, west and southeast.
If it were between them, Duke Aquitan would have seriously considered giving up neutrality and joining someone else.
Well, even if I was worried, I would have chosen to participate in the Civil War after hearing Rotaling’s proposal, no, but I would have chosen to participate in the Civil War later.
…………
“Damn it!! Vassals, what are vassals doing?!”
“Your Majesty, please fix it. Loyal vassals are gathering in Lutecia to protect you.”
“So…? No, no… They can’t work for me… You liar!!”
The King of Carolingian is half mad.
After suffering a hopeless and humiliating defeat in the defeat in the Burgon Duchy and signing a humiliating treaty, he participated in the crusade with the squeezed funds, but was betrayed by the Holy Emperor and got nothing.
In the aftermath, the king’s authority fell to the bottom, and this was revealed by the actions of the servants sent by the families of each territory.
It is natural to secretly pick the king, and all sorts of things have happened, such as openly pointing out the king’s incompetence or slowing down his business.
“Get this bastard out now!!”
King Caroling, a pre-modern man who values honor and face, could not hold his spirit any longer. The higher he is, the greater the impact when he falls down.
Suffering from delusions of persecution and sincere loyalty, the attendant also became unable to identify friends and family, which resulted in worsening the condition of the Carolingian kingdom day by day.
The same goes for the rebellion.
If he had been sane, he would have been able to notice that the atmosphere was going unusually wrong and come up with a plan to respond to it, but that was impossible for Charles, the Carolingian king, who did not trust even a proper report.
“…Let’s go, we’d better talk later.”
“Your Majesty…”
Afraid of an assassination, the soldiers, who have already been replaced dozens of times, sigh deeply as if it were always the case and go out with the attendant on their side.
The crown prince is trying hard to overcome the civil war by arranging state affairs as much as possible, but every time the king goes mad, it is in vain. The crown prince could have his father imprisoned and he could become king himself, but that is impossible as Lens, where the coronation ceremony was held for generations, fell into the hands of the rebels.
Above all, there was nothing left for the royal family to give to their vassals.
The envoys that the crown prince managed to send to various places are trying to get reinforcements from the vassals who did not participate in the rebellion, but the majority of the nobles who are watching sincerely refuse to cooperate with the king because they do not want to cooperate with the king. Some say no because they collaborated with Rotaring.
All that remains for the Carolingians is to wait and see who will win and put a sword to their throat.
…………
“Hmm… Leclerc.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Is this all I have to deal with?”
“Yes.”
No, why are you doing that with a smile on your face? You should know that.
I don’t have much work these days.
Despite the obvious increase in the number of things I have to do due to the outbreak of civil war in Carolingian Kingdom, my workload is not much different from before.
Although there are always reports about the Carolingian kingdom, it even feels like something is missing.
A quick glance at it shows that the report is perfectly organized and all kinds of intelligence collected from Caroling are well organized.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nice for me, but I tend to have too little work these days. Even with the civil war raging in Carolingian, my workload hasn’t changed compared to before.”
“Hmm… Yes, the amount of work is small, but isn’t this a natural phenomenon? Thanks to the system that His Majesty built himself, all practical work is being handled by the bureaucracy, and all the reports have been destroyed, leaving only the core. It’s because it’s put together.”
Is that so…?
After listening to it, it seems like that.
It’s not like they just hired Luca, an administrative official from abroad, to fix the old-fashioned administrative system.
After I ascended the throne, I saw that I had too many things to do, so I thought I would die like this, so I tried my hand in advance.
“You’re right. I’m sorry for saying something strange all of a sudden.”
“I’m sorry, as a king, you shouldn’t talk to me like that.”
“Well, I just told you to accept this kind of thing, so I keep doing that.”
Leclerc waved his hand to stop my actions, but judging from the look on his face, he seems to be quite pleased with it.
“Well then, since I’m done with work, I’ll have to go. Oh, if you have any urgent matters, come to me anytime.”
“Yes, in the meantime, I’ll be taking care of the business. Was it Chloe’s turn today? I’m sure you’ll be very happy that the work ends early so we can stay longer.”
“hahahaha, that’s right.”
Claude got up from his seat and opened the door of the office and went outside, and Leclerc saw Claude off with a smile.
“…Hmm.”
And when the door closes, the smile on Leclerc’s face disappears in an instant.
Lecle sighs lightly, and soon resumes the work of manipulating or hiding all kinds of documents so that Claude does not notice the work of giving the throne of Caroling to his master, as he always did.