Ch.177Territory (3)

“…Census and identification cards?”

What is this now?

I didn’t hear about this from my son or servants in Dijon?

Just the words themselves reek of bloodshed. There’s no way such a policy could have been created suddenly without any warning signs.

“It’s not that reports were omitted or neglected, but it truly seems to have been decided abruptly. The usual warning signs that appear before policies are implemented were completely absent this time as well.”

“Even so, isn’t this on a different level from those other matters? Until now, all policies implemented by the king were directed at royal territories, but this… This must have required some preparation.”

Duke Vermand is right.

The reason vassals haven’t interfered with the king’s actions until now is partly due to victories in war and the authority emanating from the two crowns, but the main reason is that those actions didn’t affect them at all.

[What if introducing unproven farming methods ruins a year’s harvest? How would you take responsibility? Oh, you don’t care whether we follow it or not? Then it doesn’t matter.]

[His Majesty is creating large workshops and putting manpower into them? I think it might be better to cultivate new farmland with that manpower… But it’s not my territory, so whatever, let him do as he pleases.]

[Church territories are being destroyed? If I did something like that, I’d lose the church’s cooperation and tax collection would become troublesome. Hmm, I should keep a close eye on this to make sure it doesn’t spread this way.]

[…Converting churches into small schools to educate the people? Why on earth? Sigh, I suppose given his background, he has a certain sensitivity in that area.]

Until now, Claude’s policies have mostly been limited to royal territories. That’s natural since even a king cannot infringe upon the autonomy of his vassals.

The king here is not an all-powerful absolute ruler with immense authority like in China or East Asia, but merely a high-ranking noble whose duty is to mediate disputes between nobles and protect vassals from external threats.

No matter how much higher in rank a high noble might be, they cannot treat other nobles as they please, which is why Claude has intentionally ignored his vassals. There’s simply no benefit, either in principle or in practice, to interfering with them.

However, contrary to his past behavior, this policy directly targets the vassals’ domain.

“The justification is… terribly perfect.”

Ironically, the king’s justification is respect for the lords’ rights. He claims to clarify the ownership rights of territory residents to respect the lords’ rights and thereby make territory management easier for them.

It sounds good on the surface, but digging deeper reveals the trap. It’s no different from a stranger entering your home and labeling all your furniture so you don’t lose it—where is the respect for rights in that?

Of course, that furniture has legs and might run away on its own… but that’s still something only the homeowner should deal with.

“Fortunately, Your Excellency has been diligent in paying taxes, but others who haven’t will be quite displeased.”

“Indeed. The others will absolutely go berserk.”

If this policy passes, it will be impossible to commit tax evasion by manipulating ledgers as before, which means that if the amount of tax suddenly changes, it will raise suspicions of previous tax evasion.

I’ve never evaded taxes, so it’s not a problem for me in that regard, but those with something to hide will strongly oppose this policy. Having to pay more taxes is one thing, but having to expose their own misconduct? How could nobles with sky-high pride possibly endure such a thing?

“Will you refuse it?”

“I can’t, since this is related to taxation.”

Above all, the pretext of making tax collection easier was quite clever.

A lord must not interfere in anything his vassals do. Except, of course, in matters related to taxes and rebellion.

And this census and identification system is clearly related to taxes.

Respecting the ownership rights of territory residents while simultaneously making taxation more precise… Hmph, you’ve really made up your mind, haven’t you?

“Sigh… Let’s stop debating this policy. If His Majesty wants to use his precious administrative power to manage my territory, that’s not so bad in a way, is it?”

The Duke decides to enjoy what he cannot avoid.

The House of Vermand is a warrior family, and the Duke’s nature is that of a textbook warrior. As such, the Duke has a reputation—or rather, notoriety—for managing his territory very roughly.

It’s no coincidence that the Duke has been paying his taxes properly without evasion. To successfully evade taxes without getting caught requires administrative capability, which simply doesn’t exist in Vermand’s territory.

Well… they say good and bad things come together, as the king is fond of saying, and that’s exactly right. Since things have come to this, I might as well extract whatever benefits I can.

“Let’s ignore whatever His Majesty is doing and find a match for Louis. When I was his age, I already had my second child… Sheesh, what a girl-like fellow. If he couldn’t confess first, that should have been the end of it, so why is he still dragging it out?”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

……….

“Is there a problem?”

“A problem? Of course there is!”

Meanwhile, in another place, a nerve-wracking confrontation is taking place.

While Duke Vermand surrendered peacefully and decided to make the best of what he couldn’t avoid, not all nobles think the same way.

“After saying you would compensate for stealing my territory residents and create a system to prevent such incidents, this is clearly meddling with my territory without permission!”

“Haven’t we provided financial compensation and attached name tags to each resident in your territory? This way, there’s no concern about residents running away.”

“You… call that an explanation?!”

The lord grabs the back of his neck in great anger at the administrator’s words.

They say there are limits to shamelessness, but looking at this fellow proves that saying wrong.

“Those name tags have birth dates and residences written on them, so they’re not just simple name tags!”

“Of course, my lord. With so many people sharing the same name, how could we determine ownership of residents with just names alone?”

“Birth dates and residences are unnecessary! Just write my name and family on them!”

These people are treating the territory residents as the king’s property, not mine.

If they truly intended to respect my rights, they would have written my name—their owner—on those tags, or rather, identification cards.

“Due to the nature of the feudal system, territory ownership and family names change frequently, so such an approach would render the identification cards useless within a few years. Additionally, recording birth dates and residences is essential to prevent forgery. This sequence of numbers is a security measure that encrypts the birth date and residence information—if the numbers don’t match when the birth date and residence are encrypted, we can tell the ID has been forged.”

“Y-you…!”

The lord is not at all appeased by the administrator’s explanation. In fact, his anger has only increased.

What the lord wants is not explanation but obedience.

If he says do it, it should be done; if he says leave, they should leave. Why is this person talking back so impudently?

“Enough! Not only are you counting my territory residents without permission, but you’re even documenting it and sending it to Dijon—this is clearly a shameless act that infringes upon a vassal’s right to rule!”

“But… since we have to meet people individually for this work anyway, isn’t it administratively better to gather population data at the same time? His Majesty can anticipate tax revenue and plan next year’s policies in advance, and you, my lord, won’t have to worry about collecting too little tax. It benefits everyone, so why are you so opposed?”

“…”

As soon as the administrator finishes speaking, the lord who had been in a rage until just a moment ago suddenly becomes calm, as if his anger had been a lie.

He can’t help it. Despite inheriting his title through succession, a noble is still a noble—having been designated as heir and received extensive education, the lord clearly possesses above-average knowledge and intelligence, so he can’t possibly misunderstand what the administrator is implying.

The administrator is now threatening him with his tax evasion.

“…You.”

Even in modern society, tax evasion is a serious crime, but in the contract-based medieval feudal relationship, tax evasion is nominally a far more serious offense. Of course, it’s not as severe as treason, but the fact that treason is the point of comparison speaks to the severity of tax evasion.

Not properly paying taxes, which are evidence of the contract, means the lord has no obligation to protect his vassal under their agreement, and twisting this further, it could be interpreted that the lord may even consider that vassal an enemy.

Of course, that’s just in theory—in practice, few lords have attacked their vassals for such reasons.

Tax evasion is a serious crime, but only nominally so.

It has become customary, and the issue is long past the point where it could be addressed. Moreover, given the poor administrative capabilities of the medieval period, unintentional tax evasion was extremely common. Above all, lords frequently turned a blind eye to their vassals’ tax evasion to gain support.

“I see you understand well. That’s fortunate.”

However, this lord knows very well who his liege is.

Customary? What custom can be invoked before someone who destroyed church territories by challenging their customary expansion?

Administrative capability? Isn’t this very act being carried out to fill that administrative gap?

“Well then, I’ll stay in this territory for a while to continue distributing identification cards. Please feel free to call on me anytime if you have any requests or questions.”

The administrator, who completed administrative studies at Dijon University and thus thinks differently from ordinary medieval people, bows politely without waiting for the lord’s response and then leaves.

The lord can only glare murderously at the administrator, grinding his teeth as he thinks about the one who gave these orders.