Ch.191Central Authority (1)

“…What on earth is going on?”

Duke Akitan sighs.

Since the outcome of this war would greatly determine the path I should take in the future, I had been keeping my senses sharp every day, monitoring changes in the war situation… but what is this?

“Annihilated?”

Those who rebelled were all killed except for a few. Almost all the nobles, and over 70% of the soldiers and knights who fought alongside them.

At first, I couldn’t believe such an absurd report, but when reports came from all directions that thousands of corpses were burning in the plains near Dijon, I had no choice but to believe it.

“Y-yes…”

Even the servant reporting seems so shocked by this outcome that his tongue is stiff with fear.

Normally, I should reprimand such an attitude, but I can’t since I feel exactly the same way as the servant.

At the very least, over ten thousand people died.

‘Why on earth?’

I simply cannot understand.

If you kill all the nobles, it’s obvious that the remaining nobility will fiercely resist.

And to annihilate even the soldiers—they were simply mobilized, and if they put down their swords and picked up plows, they would become proper farmers. Why kill them?

“The bodies of the dead nobles were all beheaded, their heads thrown into the sea, and their severed necks displayed publicly…”

Is there any reason to go this far?

Even if they were enemies, to deny them burial—why do such things to corpses that are already dead?

Public display of severed heads? The ignorant commoners might be frightened, but I can’t imagine the nobles would react the same way.

Wouldn’t they be angered rather than frightened?

Above all, to publicly display the heads of even relatives like those from the Bourgogne family—it’s impossible to see the King as being in his right mind.

…Of course, the King was never in his right mind to begin with, but this is the first time he’s acted so openly deranged for all to see.

“I need to send more people to Dijon to receive daily reports.”

This is just the beginning.

Given the King’s cruel nature and love for finding fault, there’s no way he would stir up such a massive incident only to end it here.

Damn it… When I heard the King had won, I thought I was fortunate to have sided with him early on, but it seems I won’t be able to rest easy until I die.

……….

The nobles who rebelled all died on the battlefield as no surrender was accepted, except for those bastards who infiltrated the palace. According to common succession law, the heirs remaining in those nobles’ territories would inherit their titles.

In other words, by common sense and customary law, I cannot take away the titles inherited by those heirs. The nobles who should be punished are already dead.

“About 70% of title reclamations have been completed…”

But none of that matters.

Common sense? Customary law?

The rebellion itself went against common sense and law, so there’s no reason for me to act according to law and common sense.

Above all, why should I show mercy to the descendants of those who rebelled? If they wanted their descendants to live well, they shouldn’t have rebelled in the first place.

“They resisted quite a lot. It’s surprising how many people fail to understand that their titles were revoked the moment they rebelled. How were they handled?”

“They were executed on the spot as rebels caught in the act.”

“Well done.”

Because there were so many nobles to deal with, I had no choice but to divide the army to carry out the title reclamation work. This resulted in smaller forces, which apparently led some to underestimate the army and resist.

Of course, their resistance was futile since all their soldiers had already died on the plains of Bonne. We haven’t failed to reclaim a single title.

The remaining 30% will likely be the same. At this pace, everything will certainly be finished in two weeks.

In that case… I should start preparing now.

“In two… no, three weeks, I will hold a banquet to commemorate the suppression of the rebellion. We should send invitations to the vassals in advance.”

Since this banquet comes right after the rebellion, most would prefer not to attend due to the high probability of problems arising, but they won’t be able to decline.

It’s clear that something related to post-war settlement will happen at this banquet, and refusing to participate would mean accepting that their power will be manipulated at will—something the proud nobles would never accept.

……….

[I wish to express my gratitude to those who did not join the rebels.]

‘…What is this?’

Is this really an invitation?

When I heard the King was gathering only the nobles of the Lotharing Kingdom for a banquet, I secretly obtained an invitation to examine it, but it was filled with nothing but vile threats.

Most nobles who didn’t participate in the rebellion during this incident wanted to avoid entanglement with anyone, so they maintained neutrality, keeping their distance from both the noble faction and the King.

And for the King, nobles who maintained neutrality rather than siding with him would have no redeeming qualities, yet strangely, the King is praising the nobles for maintaining neutrality.

In other words, this is a signal that if they don’t behave properly, he’ll consider them equivalent to the rebels.

‘…Madman.’

Even though I’m politically aligned with the King, I still need to say what needs to be said.

The King is implying that nobles who don’t attend the banquet will be accused of having some connection to the rebels and killed, so if they don’t want to see such a fate, they should come to the banquet and defend themselves vigorously.

The nobles will naturally be displeased, but they can’t simply ignore the King’s nasty threats.

Literally, it hasn’t been long since the rebellion occurred.

Even a king with poor legitimacy, royal authority, and military power normally gains some strength after suppressing a rebellion—it’s natural and logical. But the current King’s legitimacy, royal authority, and military power are all as magnificent as those of the great kings in history.

This means that at this point, there is nothing the King cannot do if he sets his mind to it.

He can truly bring down an entire family by falsely accusing even a noble who did absolutely nothing of rebellion.

“I should go to Dijon in advance. Treasurer, I entrust things to you in the meantime.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I’m a noble from the Carolingian Kingdom who didn’t receive an invitation, and I even brought the Carolingian crown to the King, so there wouldn’t be any problem if I completely ignored the banquet. But there will certainly be a major restructuring after the war, so I should go.

Hmm… I feel like I’m forgetting something… Ah, right.

“And Ethan will be coming with me, so make preparations.”

If we can arrange a marriage with the royal family, we can maintain our family’s prosperity even if things don’t go well.

Since I’m going to Dijon anyway, I should also have my son make an appearance.

……….

Since invitations weren’t sent to the nobles of the Carolingian Kingdom, only a few participated, but in contrast, all the direct vassals of the Lotharing Kingdom attended without exception.

Well, well, none of them showed their faces when the rebellion was in full swing, but they’re certainly decisive when it comes to this.

It’s so disappointing that I, who have been lenient all this time, look like a fool.

“Thank you all for coming like this. When the rebels were rampant, it was too dangerous for everyone, so it couldn’t be helped, but seeing that everyone has come without exception now makes me feel good.”

“Ha, haha…”

My words don’t sound like those of someone hosting a banquet, but the nobles force themselves to laugh. If they don’t laugh, they might get on my bad side.

One could argue that those here—the radical nobles who didn’t participate in the rebellion—could be considered somewhat favorable to me, so there’s no need to go this far, but I can’t completely absolve them of responsibility.

If they truly had goodwill toward me, they should have cooperated in suppressing the rebels.

“This may not be appropriate to say at a banquet… but I want to say it anyway. Such a terrible thing must never happen again. Do you all agree?”

“…Yes.”

“I’m truly glad you agree. I hope you will also cooperate with various policies to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.”

This is hardly appropriate talk for a banquet, but it doesn’t matter.

I didn’t host this banquet to enjoy it.

“Excuse me… Your Majesty.”

“What is it?”

“Could you tell us what those policies might be?”

“Hmm…”

At that moment, a bold noble caught my attention and asked a question.

Judging by the reactions of the surrounding nobles, this wasn’t pre-arranged but solely this noble’s own impulsive action… Well, that’s fine.

I’ll have to say it eventually, so it’s better to get it over with sooner rather than later.

“There are various measures, but… first, I wish to receive a new form of sincere oath of loyalty from the nobles of Lotharing who are suspected of being closely associated with the traitors.”

“By a new form of oath, you mean…?”

“For starters, wouldn’t it be sufficient to surrender all your soldiers to me? Without that, one cannot claim to have shown loyalty.”

“…!”

To be honest, I never understood how nobles could freely use soldiers in the first place.

They raise and handle soldiers at their own discretion, completely ignoring the orders of the state—that is, the King. If you apply this to modern times, it’s no different from gangster organizations like the mafia or yakuza.

The most fundamental reason nobles can keep asserting themselves is that they can resort to force if things go wrong, so if I remove this cause, they will never be able to rebel again.

It’s no coincidence that Yi Bang-won eliminated private armies as soon as he seized power.

Eliminating private armies will be difficult and challenging, but it must be done to ensure that I, my son, and my descendants can live properly as kings.