The Sun King's Evidence

At this time, Count Dulin and Count Larot were both sitting in the booth on the first floor of the Holy Grail, tasting the famous red wine Latour shipped from Winford.

These two earls are both in their fifties and sixties. Neither of them is a Holy Grail Knight, but they have experienced the Holy Grail expedition. They are also legendary powerhouses. They can best represent the old people in the south of Lyonnaise. Musilon nobles.

After complex negotiations, the newly appointed Duke Adehad of Lyonnais promised to cede the old territory of Mousilon in exchange for a sum of 10,000 gold crowns to assist in suppressing the rebellion and providing food support. Now the cession contract is finalized. , the two Musilon nobles couldn't wait to come to Jean, wanting to meet the real Duke of Musilon, Ryan Malcador, to discuss how to merge.

After Lane had the most orthodox legal claim to Mousilon, these old Mousilon nobles naturally believed that they should belong to Lane's rule. Similarly, the dilemma that Lyonnais is now facing is already known to the old world. The old Mu Xilong nobles had managed to retain some strength and naturally did not want to wade into troubled waters. It was normal for them to come.

Unfortunately, they hit a snag when they first arrived at the Duke's Castle. It was said that Duke Lane would receive them in the evening, but the result was changed to tomorrow at short notice.

Just change it, the key is that a maid came out to deliver the order. She was neither a valet under Ryan nor his courtier, but just an insignificant maid in his castle!

The contempt in this was very obvious. The two earls could only say goodbye in despair and came to stay in a hotel in the city. They felt uncomfortable staying in the room, so they simply came to this famous tavern to sit in the Praise of the Holy Grail. Have a glass of wine and discuss our current predicament.

Count Dulin's facial features are as sharp as a chisel. He is also a knight who has fought many battles. In his more than sixty years of career, he has experienced many wars, including the battle of the Red-Eyed Egil's invasion of Lyonnaise. In that battle, more than half of Count Dulin's army suffered casualties, which directly led to him never responding to the call of Duke Lyonnais. No matter how Duke Aldreard of Lyonnais wrote to plead, he refused. Send troops again.

In comparison, Count Larot is more "creamy". The count in his fifties looks more refined. He has long brown wavy hair, sprays perfume, small eyes, big nose, and shirt cuffs. It's still lace, but it would be a big mistake to regard him as a nobleman with little fighting ability. The ornate knight sword in his hand also drank the blood of the enemy when he fought against the red-eyed Egil and later put down the serf rebellion. He even killed the beastman, the Beast King, and the green-skinned big guy.

Unlike the Empire, there are no great nobles in Britannia who have never been on the battlefield.

"Tell me, why didn't the Duke see us?" Count Dulin said with some distress: "We came with sincerity, but not only did we not see the Duke's face, but we also didn't see the Duke's butler Katzenberg. Sir, or the head maid, Ms. Sylvia!”

During Ryan's absence, Sylvia and Katzenberg were usually in charge in the territory. It was a recognized rule in the territory that if you wanted to do something or see Duchess Sulia, you had to find these two people.

"Is Duke Ryan in the castle?" Count Larot was also confused.

"According to the information we inquired about, he must be here." Count Dulin nodded.

"There is no doubt that the new Duke suddenly told us that something unexpected happened and chose not to see us. This must mean that the new Duke wants to give us a taste of hardship." Count Larot tasted the snacks helplessly: "You know, Dulin, we Wrong team."

Speaking of this matter, even Count Dulin, who had experienced hundreds of battles, could only sigh.

Who made them believe that Mathhubad was the real Duke of Musilon? As a result, when Mathhubad went north, these old Musilon nobles immediately chose to follow him. ? Moreover, it has been confirmed that Mahhubard is indeed the illegitimate son of the kingdom's regent Raun, which is a weak claim.

But in fact, both Count Dulin and Count Larot knew that even if there was no Mathubad incident, they and Lyonnais were seemingly inseparable. The two sides had accumulated a lot of conflicts, and after the invasion of Red-Eyed Egil, Later, in order to reduce losses, the Leonese nobles in the north chose to pass the losses on to them, redoubling their plunder and occupation of their estates. It was not unusual for these old Mousilon nobles to make this choice after being marginalized.

However, these are not the reasons for them to take refuge in Mathubad, the traitor. Although before Kurona, Count Dulin and Count Larot, who knew the general situation, immediately jumped after seeing the light of the Indestructible Lake, they betrayed Their behavior was still unforgivable, which made them feel a little guilty when facing Ryan.

"What should we do now? We will meet tomorrow?" Count Dulin felt a headache. He could only whisper: "I always feel that something is wrong."

"The key point is that Duke Lane is surrounded by those Wenford people!" Count Larot also whispered dissatisfiedly: "I'm worried..."

"Your Excellency Count Dulin, Your Excellency Count Larot!" A cold and serious female voice interrupted their whispers. The two counts trembled and raised their heads: "Ms. Sylvia?!"

Why did the head maid appear here? !

"Ryan is upstairs. He invites you to come up and talk." Sylvia's face was not very pretty. She said with a stern face and a cold tone. This made the two earls very uneasy. Dulin and What Larot didn't know was that the reason the head maid was unhappy was that the date they agreed to have was interrupted midway, and the somewhat magical feeling disappeared.

Soon, Dulin and Larot sat across from Ryan. The head maid originally wanted to stand next to Ryan to serve, but Ryan directly reached out and pulled her to sit next to him: "Bonsoir! The two from Lyonnaise , welcome to Jean.”

"Hello, my Duke!" The two earls performed knightly salutes at the same time to show their respect. They really didn't expect that Ryan would meet them in the bar: "I really didn't expect that we would actually see you here. "

"I happened to encounter something in the evening. I need some time to deal with it. I thought it was not good to keep you waiting for a long time, so I postponed it until tomorrow. It was my poor hospitality. Please forgive me."

"No, no, no! Your Excellency, Lane, is busy with affairs. It's a little abrupt for us to come here temporarily." Dulin said quickly. He was a little unsure of Lane's meaning, so he simply emphasized: "Your Excellency, as the ancestor of Landuin, The legitimate heir is our lord, and we are here to pay our allegiance and petition to you."

"Allegiance? The matter of allegiance will be discussed after Adehad and us complete the cession contract." Ryan did not comment on the sincerity of the two old Mousilon nobles. The Duke's face showed no expression: "Let us first make a statement. This It must be the real reason why you came here, right?"

Dulin and Larot looked at each other, and Count Larot spoke first: "We, the old Mousilon nobles, want to know, Lord Lane, what are your expectations of us? How do you plan to rule this territory? "

"It's very simple. I have three general requirements." Ryan nodded and said calmly: "You can choose to accept it or not, but you will be responsible for the consequences."

"Please say."

"First of all, in my territory, tariffs must be unified. Then I have a schedule. If there are exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes that exceed this schedule, they must be abolished immediately. Also, I ask you to change all tithes to fixed taxes. The establishment of fixed taxes I will send someone to check, can it be done?" Ryan held out his first finger.

"Okay!" This did not surprise the two earls. They had known about Ryan's reforms for a long time. Of course, they chose to support and approve. Although it would cause them to lose some immediate benefits, they did not have any ability to resist. On the contrary, they also eagerly hope that their territory will change like Ryan's territory.

"Second, regarding the issue of vassals, my request is that the nobles under my command are not allowed to wage war against each other. If necessary, they can resort to the duchy's court. The vassals must contribute a small proportion of their income to the duchy's treasury every year. If If there are acts of treason and blasphemy, I can take back all noble titles and fiefs for free. If there are other crimes, they will be handed over to the Kingdom Court and Her Highness Morgiana, the Lake God Witch. Those who commit the most serious crimes will also be deprived of their noble status." Ryan held out a second finger.

Sylvia looked at Ryan in surprise.

What is Ryan doing? He is challenging the unwritten rule that nobles will always be nobles!

Now the two earls hesitated a little. They opened their mouths, not knowing what to say.

"It doesn't matter, I'm not in a hurry for you to make a decision now." Ryan knew that this was a major challenge to the interests of the existing nobility, and it was almost shaking the foundation of the entire Britannia aristocratic system!

But as he said, he already has this ability and status. He is the Grand Knight of the Holy Grail, and he is the divinely chosen champion of the Fairy in the Lake! He came with the great prestige of saving the country and regaining Mu Xilong. Now is the best time to set this new rule!

(A joke here is that if Zhao Guangyi could win a complete victory in the Battle of Gaoliang River and Yongxi’s Northern Expedition, and recover Yanyun, he could also rely on his unparalleled high prestige to fight back against the over-expanded group of civil servants and gentry. It’s a pity that he No.)

If you don't make an effort now, why wait?

Both counts looked ugly. If they were prepared for the first one, then the second one was really unacceptable!

The knights are used to being nobles. Under the feudal system, no matter how hard a serf works, he will never become a knight in his life. However, no matter how low a knight falls, he is still a noble! Even though there were indeed some knights in history who were deprived of their knighthood by convening a knights' conference in the kingdom due to serious mistakes, but in the history of the thousand years, the kingdom has convened no more than ten knights' conferences for this reason! The fact is that knighthood is almost unshakable and inalienable. A knight can be executed, but he will still retain his noble status even if he dies!

Counts Dulin and Larot immediately said they needed to discuss it.

After Ryan finished speaking, he leaned back quietly on the chair. He calmly waited for the answer from the representative of the old Musilon nobles. He could give them some time to think. If it doesn't work for one day, then two days, if it doesn't work for one month, then two months. But if it takes too long, then Duke Mousilon can only say sorry. There are many people who want to be counts, and he has two legendary kingdom knights under his command.

"My Duke, I just want to ask you a question." At this time, Earl Dulin gritted his teeth and asked: "Are you just targeting us, the old Mousilon nobles, or are you targeting your subordinates, including the entire future knights? All knights and nobles in the kingdom are treated equally.”

"Everyone is treated equally." Ryan's voice was cold.

"Then... our answer is, yes!" Unexpectedly, the representative of the old Mousilon nobles made a decision immediately: "Please tell us the third point, Duke!"

"Third, the issue of vassal military strength. As my vassal, once I have a request, all vassals can only leave the city defense force and a small number of mobile forces, and all the remaining armies must come to join me. Listen to my orders. Then, I have the power to appoint military commanders. If I appoint a military commander, even if his title is lower or equal to yours, you still have to obey his military orders. Can you do that?" Ryan was a little surprised that the two earls agreed so readily. The Duke tried to keep his expression and voice calm.

"Okay." The two earls could accept the previous one, and they would not have any more objections to the next one.

"Very good." Ryan nodded, and the first step of the reform was taken. "Okay, you can tell all the local nobles when you go back. If you can accept the above three points, I will accept their allegiance. If you can't accept it, I will soon It’s simple, they can also go to Lyonnaise and continue to be their knight nobles, but the ceded land belongs to Mousilon, so we can only ask them to find their own fiefdom.”

Before he finished speaking, Ryan sneered and said: "It would be interesting if some nobles occupied land, were unwilling to be loyal to me, and claimed to be Mousilon people and were unwilling to go to Lyonnais. Britannia only has These principalities, since they are unwilling to be Lyonnaisans and Mousillons, then they should simply stop being Bretons!"

"What do you two think of my proposal?" The Duke's blue eyes stared at the noble representatives of Musilon. Although Ryan's face still looked young, his sharp sword-like eyes made the two knights of the war come together. Shivered.

"There are...some nobles just don't understand for a moment. They also think this is an opportunity to expand their autonomy. We will definitely, definitely persuade them to be loyal to the Duke." Count Larot swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and he hurriedly Said: "It is only a small group of people who are obsessed with it. Of course, we old Musilon people are willing to follow the Duke."

"If you only want rights, don't want to take on obligations, and want freedom, then I'll give them to them." Ryan nodded: "I have always respected personal wishes... Okay, it's your turn to make demands."

"We need the Duke's support to quell the rebellion in the territory." Count Dulin immediately said impatiently: "In addition, we also need food support. We hope that the Duke can send troops as soon as possible to help us control those violent areas. .”

"Yes, I will send a group of old guards to lead two regiments of serf infantry and a group of dwarf artillery to support you." Ryan agreed: "When the counter-rebellion is over, you will join forces and support Lyonnaise!"

"yes!"

After discussing the details for a while, the two earls stood up and left with some relief and some heaviness. They would return to their own territory and convey Ryan's will.

After the two earls left, Ryan withdrew from the majestic Duke state. He noticed that his head maid was still looking at him with some fear, so he smiled: "What's wrong? Sylvie? You were scared. ?”

"No... I'm just a little scared." The head maid's expression was not very good, and she whispered: "You make people feel that you are not like the young lady's husband."

"Of course it's different at home and outside." Ryan smiled, leaning on his chair: "Okay, let's continue the date!"

"Huh? Continue?" The head maid's face turned red again: "Should we go back?"

"No, let's continue." Ryan nodded, and he smiled quite maliciously: "There will be a performance in the town tonight!"

"Perselect Walter, a famous clown artist, will perform his performance art in the town, let's go and see it!"

"Remember to shout for protection!"

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