"Have you finished designing your family crest?" Claude asked as he looked at the crests of the nobles scattered all over Nasrian.
Bolonik walked to Claude's side and looked at the map. He sighed. "I've got someone to design it. One official and three backups. I'll have to double check it when I register in the royal capital to prevent it from overlapping with other nobles' crests.
But I think one of these four badges will come in handy. If it really doesn't work, then I'll think of something. At most, I'll pay a high price to ask the Wang family's badge registration office to get me one … "
Claude smiled. "Don't worry. You're a viscount, so you can carve a pattern on the lower half of the crest. That alone is more eye-catching than the barons' crests.
As for symbols, flowers, birds, beasts, fishes, plants, mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon, and the stars, you could choose any one that you liked. Even if it was the same as others, you could change it so that it was different from others.
Look, on the map, there are thirteen families that have chosen the image of a cow as their family emblem, but they all look different. "
"Yes, I chose a musketeer," Bolonik said.
Marshal Bolonik said, "A soldier aiming a musket, to commemorate my first experience on the battlefield when I was young, and to remind my descendants that their ancestor was a common soldier, not much nobler than anyone else.
I relied on my own hard work to get to where I am today, to obtain the title and territory … "
Claude rolled his eyes. "Forget it. You graduated from the royal military academy as a second lieutenant. What kind of common soldier are you talking about?
It's true that you were a commoner, but becoming a soldier is a little too tragic.
Who would let a second lieutenant line up and attack the enemy's camp?
I did experience something like that, but I was lucky enough to survive … "
Bolonik shook his head with a smile. "I really did have the experience of marching into the enemy's camp with a musket.
I remember that we sent out more than eight hundred men in that attack, but in the end, we managed to capture the enemy's position, and there were less than three hundred survivors.
I was lucky, just like you, to be one of the few who survived.
Actually, at that time, the enemy only had one company defending their position, but they defeated the eight attacks of our two battalions, and more than half of our soldiers fell on the way.
If it wasn't for the fact that they ran out of ammunition and three of their four light infantry field cannons went silent, perhaps our attack would have failed as well.
By the way, how many territories are there on the map? "
"Around 600 …" Claude picked up a folder on the side of the table and flipped through it. "As of yesterday, there are 456 registered baronies, 61 viscounts, 43 earls, 17 marquises, and 3 dukes.
There are a total of 580 aristocratic families' hereditary territories, I wonder if there are any more today … "
Marshal Bolonik was a little envious. "These noble families should be relatively wealthy, occupying the best land in Nasrian as their family's territory …"
"The best land in Nasrian should be the capital of Polivisia and the surrounding areas. However, His Majesty and the royal court won't grant them anything.
These nobles who already have their own territories won't overestimate themselves and want the capital to be their family's territory.
They know that His Majesty won't agree no matter how high the land selection fee is. He might even doubt their loyalty, so no one will choose this place. "
"They paid?" Marshal Bolonik asked curiously.
Claude nodded. "Yes, at least a hundred thousand crowns for the land selection fee.
News from the capital says that His Majesty and the royal court fought it out, and the treasury gained tens of millions of crowns all of a sudden.
It's said that Her Majesty even used the treasury's money to lend to honorary nobles and councilors who couldn't gather enough for the promotion fee and land selection fee.
Also, it's said that the promotion fee and land commission can be discounted because of their relationship with His Majesty.
Of the 580 noble families who already had their own territories, most of them were hereditary nobles. They only had to pay a hundred thousand crowns for the land selection fee to obtain a satisfactory inheritance.
The rest were the wealthy honorary nobles and third-generation nobles. They paid the promotion fee to become a hereditary baron and then paid the land selection fee to obtain their family's inheritance.
His Majesty and the royal court probably earned close to thirty million crowns from those two fees.
"It's said that there are still seven to eight hundred nobles who haven't gotten their own land in the capital. They're all third-generation nobles and honorary nobles.
Think about it, His Majesty gave all the councilors the title of honorary baron, giving the kingdom more than three hundred honorary barons in one go.
At present, these honorary barons are all raising money to obtain a hereditary family fief from His Majesty. Her Majesty's lending business is flourishing. One hand is lending, and the other hand is taking back. It's a very profitable business! "
This was the intelligence gathered by the spies of the Overseas Dominion's office in the Royal Capital. They reported the rumors that were circulating in the streets of the Royal Capital to the Royal Capital.
Of course, the fact that Her Majesty was lending money was a semi-public fact in the capital. Many people knew about it.
Claude only said a few words when he saw it. He wasn't really envious or jealous of Her Majesty.
However, Bolonik didn't want to gossip about the royal family behind their backs, so he changed the topic. "Claude, if all the nobles in the kingdom get their own family's land, will the entire Nasrian region be divided up?"
Claude shook his head. "That's impossible. Even the hereditary dukes only get half a prefecture. The other barons only get a village or a small town if they're lucky.
Nasrian has sixteen prefectures in the center, five in the northeast and seven in the southwest. There's also the royal city of Polyvicia and the surrounding territories. The entire region isn't much smaller than the kingdom itself.
There were 580 noble families scattered across the 28 prefectures, but the territory they occupied was no more than a quarter of the entire Nasrian region.
"As for those seven to eight hundred nobles in the royal capital, they'll at most be promoted to a hereditary baron. Their combined territories are at most as big as the territories of those 580 nobles. Half of Nasri's land should be left for His Majesty to bestow upon them in the future, or for the members of the autonomous region's parliament and us generals who are conferred titles due to our military merits …"
Bolonik was a little annoyed. "Only those leftover lands are given to us. When it's our turn, there's nothing good left …"
Claude smiled bitterly. "If you and I choose a good place to be our family's territory, what do you think Allen, Bick, Skree and the others will think? What do you think the councilors of the autonomous region will think? What do you think the newly promoted nobles under us will think?
Would they still believe us and take us for granted?
Maybe that's what His Majesty and the royal court want us to do. Without the autonomous region, do you think anyone will still take us seriously? "
Bolonik didn't say anything. That was what troubled him. Without Monolith, he wouldn't have become the kingdom's marshal. Monolith was one of the two major corps of the autonomous region.
If he left the region, no one would take him seriously, be he a marshal or a hereditary viscount. It was only because of the autonomous region's backing that he had the status he had today.
"Let's wait for another month. In September, when the ironclad fleet escorts the autonomous region's councilors to Port Floric, we'll be heading to North Bay's capital, Paster City.
At that time, all the councilors and honorary nobles will hold a meeting there to discuss how to deal with His Majesty's bestowal of land.
Speaker Bennett has already written to me that he hopes we can stick together and not give the royal court a chance to take us down one by one. "
Claude put his arm around Bolonik's shoulder. Only he had the right to do so. "None of us expected something like this to happen. His Majesty's move caught us off guard.
Skri wrote to tell us not to act rashly and that it would be best for us to stick together and survive this crisis.
Didn't he warn us in his letter that if we were to make a mistake this time, it might even cause the entire region to fall apart?
Once the people's hearts are scattered, they'll be the hardest to recover. "
Bolonik smiled bitterly and patted Claude's hand on his shoulder. He pointed at the Nasrian map on the wall. "I understand what you're saying, but I'm still a little dissatisfied that we can't even get our hands on the good places.
All the lands in Nasrian that are known to be fertile and productive now have owners. As the lords of those lands, they don't even have to put in any effort to earn a sizable income.
Look at the areas where the seven mines are located. They've been marked with the emblems of the old noble houses of the kingdom.
It's said that they've sent people to the mines to calculate our daily mining output and take over when the half-year period is up.
They even sent messengers to ask if we can sell some Shiksan captives to them to continue working as miners. "
The seven mining bases were given the rights to mine for half a year. As Nasry was going to be enfeoffed by His Imperial Majesty, Claude couldn't be bothered to assign the hundred thousand Shiksan captives to work on the roads and irrigation canals. Instead, he sent some of them to mine at the seven mining bases while the rest worked in the capital and the surrounding areas.
In the first five months, the production of gold, silver, and copper had been quite good. Without the corrupt officials of the Nasrian Kingdom pulling the strings, the output of the seven small to medium-sized mines was surprisingly good.
It was almost twice as much as what was recorded in Nasrian's account books. Based on that, they could actually produce more than three million crowns in a year. Nasrian's treasury, on the other hand, only recorded 1.4 million crowns worth of gold, silver, and copper coins.
It wasn't hard to imagine that the Nasrian officials who handled the mines had embezzled more than half of the profits. Now, Thundercrash and Monolith were the ones benefiting from it.
The half a year's worth of gold, silver, and copper would be used for the two corps' garrisons. They only had to pay 200,000 crowns to the royal court and the treasury.
He'd thought that the half a year's worth of ore would be enough to make up for the hundreds of thousands of crowns taken away by the emissary. But now, he realised that he'd made a huge profit of nearly a million crowns.
That was why Bolonik was displeased. Thundercrash and Monolith were only given half a year's worth of mining.
Now, the nobles in charge of the seven mines were already in place. All they had to do was wait until next month to take over the mines. From then on, the mines would belong to their families.
Even though they still had to pay half of the profits to the kingdom, they would still be paid according to Nasrian's records. In the future, the nobles would get two to three times the profits.
"Don't forget that the region has a lot of gold, silver, and minerals," Claude reminded.
Small transactions in the Dominion used paper currency. According to statistics, there were about 30 million crowns worth of small denomination notes circulating among the people, a large portion of which were used in the colonies on the west coast.
However, the western colonies didn't allow the region's Minsheng Bank to set up branches in their colonies. However, the trading houses opened by the region could use gold, silver, and copper coins to exchange, so paper currency was more and more widely used in the western colonies.
Whitestag, on the other hand, allowed the bank to set up a branch, but the royal capital didn't have one. Even so, the office in the royal capital served its purpose as a branch and could be used to exchange gold, silver, and copper coins.
However, the people in the royal capital didn't really trust paper currency. Apart from the merchants who traveled to and from Whitestag, paper currency wasn't widely used in the royal capital.
What was laughable was that the region didn't even bother mining the mines in the Loki Mountains region after getting used to using paper currency. After all, Minsheng Bank had 20 million crowns in reserve, which was more than enough to exchange for paper currency.
After Thundercrash and Monolith wiped out the Nasri and Canas dukedoms, they transported all their loot back to the autonomous region, forgetting to keep some for emergency use.
It was only when they were stationed there that they realized that the best way to purchase troops was through physical objects such as gold, silver, and copper coins.
That was why Bolonik cared so much about the production of gold, silver, and copper. With two corps of more than a hundred thousand men stationed there, the amount of money they needed to purchase each day was no small sum. Fresh meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits alone cost thousands of crowns every month.
Bolonik only regretted his generosity after taking over. He shouldn't have let the royal envoy take away so much gold and silver. Looking at the royal treasury and court, they were the wealthiest.
"We can't sell a single one of the Shiksan captives to the nobles. We might need them to develop our new lands after our council is done with the discussion," said Claude.
On the 1st of the 6th month of Year 601 of the Sacred Light Calendar, Fredri I of Aueras officially issued a decree approved by the noble assembly and the national assembly. The newly conquered Nasrian region was granted hereditary lands to the nobles of the kingdom.
By the 1st of the 8th month, 580 nobles had been granted hereditary fiefs.
However, the nobles from the region didn't make a move at all, as if they hadn't heard of the decree at all.
The main reason for that was because the region was too far away from the kingdom. A round trip would take two months.
The region's two corps were stationed in Nasri and Canas, so they couldn't return to the region for the time being. So, the council decided to head to Canas and hold a meeting in Paster City to discuss the matter.
Claude and Bolonik left the capital of Polyvicia on the 20th of the 8th month to lead Thundercrash to Northbay.
The reason they were heading there was to regroup. Eiblont sent a letter to Claude asking for help.
After the fall of Canas, bandits of all sizes appeared on the Plains of Canas. They would often attack the towns guarded by Thundercrash.
General Eiblont only had a temporary division under his command, and he had already done his best to guard the Beibu Gulf region.
Monolith continued to stand guard in the capital. Claude took all the captives and excess supplies with him.
News from the capital said that the royal court had begun to reorganize the royal guard, the Crimson Dragon Army, and the Gryphon Army with the money they had on hand.
It was said that His Majesty compensated the old nobles of the three corps so that Crimson Dragon and Gryphon would be under the control of the royal court and the ministry of the army.
A large portion of the old noble families that had obtained hereditary territories in the kingdom had retired from the three major armies of the kingdom. They had gathered their trusted aides and children in the kingdom's army to form their own private armed forces. As a result, the influence of the old noble families had been greatly reduced in the three armies. His Majesty and the royal court had paid a hefty price for this.
There were rumors in the capital that Reddragon would be sent to the Nasrian region to guard the capital of Polyvicia after the reorganization, replacing Thundercrash and Monolith.
Gryphon, on the other hand, would be stationed at Odin Mountain Range to guard the eastern gate of the kingdom.
The royal guard would remain in the royal capital and the Ibnister Plains.
It was also said that His Majesty wanted to rebuild Bluefeather to guard Whitestag and the coastal areas, but was opposed by many officials in the royal court. They believed that Bluefeather was a traitor and shouldn't be rebuilt.