275 – St. Patrick’s Day (1)
The most common policy when conquering a kingdom is to take the daughter of an influential nobleman as a wife or concubine. It is a policy.
Even if we occupied the land, we cannot rule the people of the newly acquired territory with force alone.
In exchange for becoming relatives with the nobles of the existing kingdom, it is to guarantee the nobles’ identities, property, and power to some extent, and in return, treat them as if they were your own hands and feet.
So, it may not be a civil war, but in most conquest battles, in most cases, only barons or higher nobles are divided.
In many cases, administrators such as knights and inspectors who own estates survive by giving their daughters to conquered noble families.
For that reason, it is said that in many cases, the history of an insignificant knight family is longer than that of a noble family called a prestigious family.
But now we can’t use that kind of marriage policy because we’ve sent all the nobles of Brittany to the monasteries.
“But it is not that there is no way. Superintendent Perry.”
Hearing that, Perry asked again with a puzzled expression when I brought up the story out of the blue.
“What method are you talking about, Your Highness?”
“Aside from the marriage policy entwined with politics, my father’s usual method of providing food support through civil engineering and clearing farmland, and marrying local women and soldiers to settle them, the way to get them on our side.”
“Then, if you tell us what method you came up with, we will turn it into an actionable policy through the administrators.”
When I was learning public administration at the academy, the professor often said this.
‘The king or monarch’s job is to give officials the right direction and general framework. If you try to give detailed and meticulous instructions beyond that, you’re bound to mess things up. Because the ruler is the one who oversees everything, not an expert in a specific field.’
I really agree with that statement.
As evidence of that, the instructions I gave at the Battle of Hastings were roughly to the extent of which direction to fight, and the cannon was vague about when to fire.
I have never meticulously intervened by asking a company or battalion to move a few meters to block the charge of enemy knights.
So this policy will only give the supervisor in charge a rough direction and goal.
“That is why we, the conquerors, respect the culture of the common people of Brittany. It goes further and supports it.”
Director Perry stared at me, blinking as if he didn’t understand what I was saying.
Anyway, it’s not the knowledge I learned at the academy, but the policy that my father taught me only, so I don’t think I understand what he’s talking about.
If you don’t know the purpose, you can’t make a proper policy, so I think you need to explain it clearly.
“Listen carefully. In Brittany, the native culture and language of the serfs and the common people, and the culture and language of the aristocrats brought in from France and Romania are thoroughly divided. So, they are high-ranking people who feel distant because of their class, but even the language and culture are so different. To be honest, existing kings and nobles live in the same land, but to them, they would have been no different from foreign kings or nobles.”
So, in Brittany, there is even a non-joke saying that when a nobleman and a serf have a conversation, they need an official to interpret.
For example, nobles say it’s a toilet, but serfs don’t understand it, so they say they have to say it’s a toilet to understand.
“But anyway, nobles talk and act that way, and even among the citizens, families with a little money say they lived by imitating the nobles. That’s why the serfs and common people even think that the high-ranking people are different creatures with only a little bit of the same appearance as them.”
Even if you put aside your sense of privilege, serfs and me, as well as the imperial family and nobles, have completely different lives and aspirations.
As long as they and their families do not starve, the people live without much concern whether the lord changes or the country collapses.
A ruling class like me never starves even if I don’t work, and I live to gain prestige by taking power and developing the country.
“But we, the new occupiers, need their support in order to stand above them, win their hearts, and rule them. Otherwise, just as Londimium was opened at the slightest instigation, we could be taken down at any time.”
At that, Perry also nodded in agreement.
“As Your Highness said, gaining their support is the basis for ruling, I know very well. What will you do then?”
“The people of Brittanya are still poor enough to live on three bowls of porridge every day. Of course, it’s all Edward’s fault, but… Just as Brittany’s biggest celebration is three months away.”
“Are you talking about St. Patrick’s Day? Certainly, on this day, it is customary for serfs to lay down all their work and enjoy a rich meal in a warm room. Although the event was not held for several years because of the civil war. But what does this have to do with respecting their culture?”
I felt a little frustrated with Perry’s question, but I answered patiently.
“Think the other way around. Until now, the people of Britannia have not been able to celebrate this Patrick’s Day because of the civil war. Then, wouldn’t it be the best way to make them feel that peace and daily life have returned to their lives?
Although I have completely ended the war in this land on behalf of the three grand dukes and the foolish king, the sight that the serfs and commoners who returned to their hometowns saw must have been horrendous.
House burnt out or in ruins, farmland overgrown with weeds and empty cattle pens.
Even precious family and friends who have gone on a path of no return.
Though it’s a situation where you don’t have to fight in war anymore, and because porridge is rationed every day, you don’t die or go hungry.
Because they are so poor compared to their previous happy days, it would be difficult for them to think that complete daily life and tranquility have returned.
“Also, when this festival ends safely, agricultural lands throughout Brittany will find some stability, so the food situation will improve. Then, if not as much as the mainland of the Creutel Empire, they would be able to lead a standard of living before the war. Isn’t it?”
“Other administrators are filing similar reports. I think it was possible thanks to single soldiers who settled here in Brittany after being discharged and worked hard to restore farmland.”
“Therefore, it is to show hope by allowing them to fully enjoy and enjoy this holiday. Now that you have become a subject of the empire, you can go back to your peaceful daily life.”
Superintendent Perry heard that and looked at me with an understanding expression.
“As Your Highness said, it will be a means to let them know that the war is over in its true sense.”
“In addition, commanders and nobles dispatched from each province will directly participate in this festival and tell them to eat the same food and wear the same clothes, even if they don’t enjoy it together. So that the serfs and commoners of Brittany will see that we are trying to understand them, unlike the nobles before us.”
Of course, even if you did that, understanding the people of Brittanya would be close to impossible.
How can you understand them when the environment they live in is different and the location is not the same?
“Then, unlike the nobles of Brittany who tried to build a wall by using other cultures and languages, it will be conveyed that we are making an effort to listen to them.”
“You are right. If so, how should I prepare?”
“Since we need to receive support from our father in the mainland, shouldn’t we hurry up and write a plan? Roughly, the amount of food that would have to be supplied to Brittany from the home country in order to properly celebrate the feast would amount to tens of thousands of tons of flour alone. Considering the meat and alcohol, the amount wouldn’t be a joke either, so we should mobilize at least the 1st and 2nd armies of the Imperial Fleet.”
Supervisor Perry was half-stunned when he heard that, his mouth hanging open.
I tapped him on the shoulder to wake him up and continued his speech.
“I can guess from my father’s usual way of handling things, but if there is no clear reason for how the material will be used, it will be rejected. I will make a justification for support, so you should organize the route through which the food will be transported and how much it will cost. I have to complete the plan within two weeks to meet the holiday, so I’m working overtime for the time being. Instead, overtime pay and performance reviews are well reflected.”
With that said, was Superintendent Perry under the burden of telling his far-out superiors and his men the terrible truth?
I started to bubble while standing.
So I handed him a document detailing the instructions I had given so far and went to the next task.
My heart hurts sometimes when I see you like this, but what can I do?
I am not free from the situation of having to work overtime, and it is the duty of an Imperial nobleman to suffer like this.