*
Viscount Boldt's mansion was besieged by the territorial army led by Haddin, thanks to which his private army was quickly overrun.
The viscount, who was taken in front of me, has a look on his face that says he is not at fault at all.
"Sir, what the hell is this! How could you do this!
"Do you play dumb? The two women you sent me have already confessed to everything.
"Oh, no!
Viscount Boldt, who instantly turned pale, immediately looked unconcerned and shook his head.
"Misunderstanding! I can't believe I poisoned his Excellency! It's a conspiracy of theirs!
"Poisoned? I'm sure I only said I confessed, but how did you know that?
"......
Viscount Boldt, who tried to cut off his lice, fell silent. He seemed to be disgusted with himself.
It was an unintentional self-destruction, but I'm glad to see that this has resulted in the elimination of a cancerous presence in the territory anyway.
"Oh yeah, that's ....... Ugh, I've heard the rumors!
Well, I was feeling something fishy even if I wasn't. I'm going to investigate and you'll be quiet.
"This is tyranny! Hey, let go!
Naturally, he began to lash out, stepping on the dung beetle rather than meekly.
Check the books and papers in the mansion. And, Hadyn, you are to find the soldiers and all the Viscount's property and make a tally!
"Yes, my lord!
Of course, it doesn't matter, I ordered a search of the mansion. As the soldiers and vassals hurriedly began to search Viscount Boldt's house, he became pale and pale before long.
"Phew, stop messing around! Get out of my house now!
Proportionately to the scrambling, a number of gold bars and treasures, as well as land titles, were soon counted. In addition, a warehouse full of grain and unspeakable luxuries.
And when the books of the lord's castle were checked against the books seized from Viscount Boldt's house, there were many discrepancies. In other words, the story goes that the Viscount had embezzled a considerable amount of taxes.
There was a reason for Viscount Boldt's refusal to raise taxes when I suggested doing so. He not only raised 80% of the taxes, but also collected almost 100% of the tax money from his fellow countrymen by robbing them behind the scenes. The additional money he took from them went directly into his own pocket.
Perhaps they were rooting around with that money.
However, despite the heavy taxes imposed, there has been no rebellion by the fiefdoms.
The reason for this is precisely the fear that a strong status-based society brings.
They may rebel and kill their lords, but eventually the kingdom will intervene.
At any rate, its end result is death.
Still, if so much taxation had been imposed for so long, something would have already happened, but since Erhin hadn't been a lord for so long, now was the time when the discontent of the fiefdoms was still beginning to build up.
Elhin's father just died, which means that Viscount Boldt has only recently begun to expropriate the territory.
"Crackle, your honor!
Haddin came rushing to me, foaming at the corners of his mouth. He looked at me differently after the war. I could feel his respect, if you will.
What's all the fuss about?
Look at this. The letter. Viscount Bordo had been in cahoots with the Kingdom of Narya!
I see. It's certainly something to make a fuss about. Of course, it was somewhat predictable. Because in order to kill me and become a lord, you'll need the power of the outside world. So, you're saying that you were using the money you landed on to lay the groundwork for the Naluya Kingdom and not the Lunan Kingdom, right? If you kill me, you're going to offer up this estate to the Kingdom of Nalja and make yourself the lord of it?
In other words. In other words, Viscount Boldt raised taxes up to 80% and was not satisfied with that, he was also depriving the people behind the scenes, and even had a secret communication with the enemy? And he even had a secret affair with the enemy?
Haddin nodded vigorously as he said this while looking at the letter.
"Kuhk. I see. In the name of assassination of the lord, civil war conspiracy, and tax-grabbing, have Viscount Bordo put down!
What makes me angry is that even a guy like that is still a nobleman. It's not my country yet, but the territory of the Lunan Kingdom, so any punishment worthy of the death penalty, such as a civil war conspiracy, according to kingdom law requires the permission of the king.
But even so, with this much evidence, even the most corrupt Lunan Kingdom would have no choice but to execute the death penalty. The fact that they were in cahoots with the Naluyah Kingdom is a very serious civil war conspiracy charge, regardless of the others.
Of course, you have to create a scenario where it was all planned by Viscount Boldt and Erhin, who had just become a lord, knew nothing about it.
'And, according to the laws of the realm, all the property he's accrued belongs to the realm!
"Yes, sir!
The entire territory should be informed that all the vassals who torment the people will be punished in this way in the future. And tell the whole country that Viscount Boldt, who has been plotting against us, will be punished in this way!
Thus disposing of Viscount Boldt and seizing all of his property
The territory's assets have risen.
[+15,000,000 Renan]
The assets of the fiefdom have risen dramatically.
The cost of running the fiefdom for a year is 10 million runans. In other words, he had embezzled more money than he could spend on running the territory for a year.
Today, Aintorian's assets are about 30 million runans.
Combined with Viscount Boldt's fortune, that's
[45,000,000 Renan]
This is the kind of figure I came up with.
Of course, it's a considerable amount of money for a personal fortune, but it's not a lot of money to fund the operation of a fiefdom. It's enough money to run the estate, but it's extremely scarce if you also consider raising an army for future wars.
It costs money just to conscript. And there are limits to conscription. If the population of the territory is small to begin with, you can't increase the number of conscripts. If you build a livable territory, word will spread and there will be an influx of population, so it is necessary to spend a lot of money to clear farmland.
In other words, the preparation for war is all about money.
Of course, the money added now would be of great help. Because what the territory needs most now is an army. The battle with the Naluyah Kingdom had reduced the number of troops at once. The current size of the territory's army is about 3,000 men.
It's completely insufficient to defend the territory.
[Do you want to conduct a draft?]
[Current draft limit: 15,000]
First, I activated the system to see what the cost of the draft would be. Then, I set the number of people to be drafted to 1,000.
Utilize 2,000,000 renan]
Chapter 1000
But this was money that should be invested. To create an elite army beforehand, at least 10,000 people would be needed. Given the limits of the money and population we have now, a realistic figure is also exactly 10,000 people.
However, the moment you do a draft, the public sentiment goes down. You have to be prepared for that.
"Hadyn.
"Yes, sir!
The invasion of the Kingdom of Narja forced us to increase our forces.
"I think so, too.
Haddin nodded.
"I'm thinking of drafting about 10,000 men, and I'd like to ask you to train them.
"Oh no, 10,000 people all of a sudden?
We can get enough food from the property we have seized here. Our priority is to protect this territory somehow. We can't let the people be slaves to the Kingdom of Narya, can we?
Of course. If you leave it to me, I will build a strong army, even if it costs me ......! Let's go to ......, which is what I was saying before I was relieved of the commanding officer's position: ......
As I was about to say something, Haddin suddenly fell silent and began to watch my face. He seemed to think that I had wasted my time talking.
Well, Haddin's commanding ability. I'll just have to trust that figure.
Good. I'll trust you. Now collect 10,000 men and make sure they are thoroughly trained. The same goes for the training of 3,000 men, the original territorial army!
"Yes, sir!
Then don't hesitate to draft.
Utilize 20,000,000 runans?
Atrian Territory troop strength is now +10000.
Territorial army training level dropped to 10.
Morale of the territorial army dropped to 20.
The territory's popular sentiment dropped to 20.
That way the entire force came to 13,000 men.
The people's mindset, which had been rising somewhat, went down a notch.
Even though there was a war with the Kingdom of Naluyah, this was inevitable because of the sudden and massive requisition. I'm sure that the sudden rise in public sentiment is due to the hope that they prevented the war, and even more so because it does not mean that they have changed their view of the villainous lords.
In addition, in an instant, the territory's funds were reduced by half. Huh. ...... Money is still important in this world. It's extremely important, but you can't remain as a rogue lord. If the taxes are also adjusted to 50%, the funding source for that will also be reduced. It's good to get rid of Viscount Boldt, but there's still no end to the problems.
There, the pending issue of having to raise the public's spirits was even in sight.
*
In fact, 10,000 is a small number of people to unify the country. But for now, we have to be content with this. There are various restrictions. Even if we wanted to increase the population, it would not be possible because we do not have enough people to begin with. The current population of Aintorian, with its dangerous borders, is not that large. It's not just one or two things I need to do to achieve world domination.
I don't even know where to start. I don't have enough people, money, or level of expertise. In order to grow the territory, I have to raise the level first.
There is a lot of work to be done.
Since there is no set route, it's rather superfluous to find an answer.
After returning to the lord's castle in a daze, I immediately went to my bedroom. I felt like I was going to fall asleep as soon as I lay down, thanks to the fact that I had been busy all night without a break.
But then the chamberlain, who was walking behind me, suddenly stepped in front of me and got down on his knees.
Master ......
The chamberlain who acted unexpectedly. Why did you suddenly get down on your knees?