Ch.211Status (1)

“Ah… somehow it ended.”

The first assembly of the Senate and Tripartite Council was finally adjourned after a week, having maintained proper form despite being plagued by noise from all quarters and moving at a turtle’s pace in handling agenda items.

And having “proper form” means not only that the parliament functioned as intended, but also that it featured the factional struggles and collusion commonly found in various parliaments. After all, a properly formed parliament inevitably includes factional struggles and collusion.

On the first day, the representatives were unable to adapt and simply criticized each other, but by the second day, such behavior had disappeared as if it had never existed.

On the surface, it was quite satisfactory, with representatives pretending to listen to each other’s opinions or presenting proper counterarguments to opposing views.

[Your Majesty’s prediction was correct. Several representatives from the Noble Chamber and Church Chamber exchanged opinions. Since these exchanges were purely verbal, there is no documentary evidence such as meeting minutes, but there is testimony from attendants that they agreed to push any agenda items requiring sacrifice onto the Commons Chamber, accommodating each other’s circumstances as much as possible.]

‘Sigh, they never fail to meet my expectations.’

However, this change didn’t occur because the representatives suddenly developed proper parliamentary consciousness. Rather, it happened because they made backroom deals during the night between the first and second days.

According to reports from informants infiltrated around key representatives, collusion occurred mainly between nobles and clergy. There was some collusion between commoners and clergy, but not a single instance between commoners and nobles.

Although my somewhat harsh acceleration of progress has made many policies and social aspects appear more early modern than medieval on the surface, it seems most nobles still consider commoners too lowly to associate with.

Well, no matter how quickly progress advances, changing what’s in people’s minds is difficult.

Unless they’re students, people’s sense of self is already formed, making change difficult. It’s no coincidence that most people become more conservative as they age.

‘Fortunately, I prepared countermeasures in advance… sigh.’

If I hadn’t prepared ways to deal with them beforehand, the first Senate would have ended with only the commoners suffering heavy losses.

The next Senate should place all three classes on equal footing… that would make it easier to sow discord among them.

“That’s how nobles are, Your Majesty. The vast majority of nobles believe commoners are merely subjects to be governed, not equals with whom to exchange opinions.”

“I’ve always known that, but I’ve never felt it so deeply until now.”

As I was fidgeting with the reports submitted by informants and thinking about various matters, Leclerc, who was standing beside me, spoke as if reading my thoughts.

…I’ve felt this for a long time, but it’s truly amazing. How do you know what I’m thinking?

“Some nobles even openly disregarded the temporary titles I bestowed upon commoners.”

“That… even I was certainly surprised by that.”

This is the part of the nobles’ mindset that gave me the most chills.

I clearly filled the commoner representatives with individuals of status—such as mayors or fallen nobles—to ensure they wouldn’t be inferior to the nobles and clergy. When that wasn’t possible, I revived the defunct People’s Assembly or granted temporary titles of junior baron/baron to match the commoner representatives’ social status.

But to the nobles, such measures apparently amounted to nothing more than a trivial game.

[How dare a mere commoner!!]

[Who was that?! Who just uttered such nonsense?!]

If they would openly say such things in the Senate—where all representatives are legally equal in status—and in front of me who appointed the commoner representatives, one can easily imagine how terrible it must be when I’m not present.

The commotion was settled by revoking the Senate position of the noble who made such an outrageous statement, but it’s obvious that other nobles likely concluded they should be careful with their words in front of me, rather than thinking they should respect commoner representatives.

I need to correct the nobles’ sense of superiority, but there’s a problem.

‘All the possible methods are somewhat flawed.’

First, leave it alone and let time solve it.

It has been observed that most nobles who graduate from university develop more open-minded thinking, so as time passes and they replace their fathers’ or grandfathers’ generations, the culture of looking down on commoners should improve considerably.

But the problem is it takes too much time. By the time the nobles’ consciousness changes, I’ll be a grandfather. That’s too late. Even long after my death, such culture might not improve.

Second, severely punish those who insult commoner representatives.

This also doesn’t change anything fundamental. As seen when I revoked the Senate position of the noble who insulted a commoner representative, they’ll pretend to respect commoner representatives on the surface, but behind closed doors, all manner of insults and schemes will abound.

But if I had to choose between the two, the second option is somewhat better. At least nobles will pretend to respect commoner representatives in public settings.

‘Yes, this is better. People’s values don’t change that easily.’

People don’t change unless their existing common sense or status is completely denied.

Above all, even when society changes, people with antisocial thoughts don’t disappear, so rather than waiting for their consciousness to change, it’s best to use the law to beat them into not expressing such thoughts aloud.

Otherwise, it would only happen when their sense of privilege completely evaporates or is dragged through the mud—unless a revolution breaks out—wait, dragged through the mud?

“…Leclerc, what do you think about the sale of titles?”

“The sale of titles… from the context, you seem to be referring to commoners buying titles rather than nobles buying titles, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

If we could endlessly chip away at the nobles’ sense of privilege… there’s a possibility.

Although this is a feudal society where commoners have very little power, there are quite a few commoners who are more powerful than nobles if you look for them. The Vines Commercial Republic, where Luca came from, is a prime example.

“What do you think about selling some of my royal domains and titles to commoners who have the wealth to buy them, and appointing them as proper nobles? Due to extremely limited lordship rights, they would be no different from independent farmers rather than lords, but having land as the basis for their title is important. Oh, and we could also elevate wealthy independent farmers to nobility for a price.”

“What are you thinking now, Your Majesty? If you do that…!”

“One reason noble senators can treat commoner senators that way is because they have a sense of superiority from possessing titles passed down through generations from their ancestors. If we crush that sense of superiority… don’t you see the possibility of solving this?”

One reason nobles mistreat commoner senators is because they aren’t “true nobles.”

I did grant temporary titles of junior baron and baron, but those are just temporary. They have no land as the basis for their titles.

“Lord Leclerc, as we’ve seen in this incident, noble lords don’t recognize nobles without domains as true nobles.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty. That is indeed the case.”

Leclerc, who lived his entire life as a robe noble until I granted a title to his eldest son, responds very deeply to my words.

Over time, the atmosphere of looking down on robe nobles seems likely to improve significantly, but at present, robe nobles are generally considered two levels lower than ordinary nobles.

“So if commoners buy titles with money and become proper noble lords, even if it’s just for show, how do you think existing noble lords would react?”

“They would be furious. They would say titles bought with money aren’t true titles.”

“Yes, and what would be the reason for that anger?”

“If titles could be bought with money, the dignity of their titles would—oh!”

“I like how quick-witted you are, Leclerc.”

You immediately notice what I’m aiming for with just a few words.

Although Leclerc has aged to the point where he has slight difficulty walking and speaking, his insight hasn’t diminished at all. When Leclerc retires, his absence will be deeply felt until his death.

“Being angry because the dignity of one’s title is diminished is the same as being angry because the value of one’s title is diminished. The devaluation of titles inevitably affects the privileges and sense of privilege that nobles possess.”

For example, scarcity.

Even in the early 19th century, aluminum was extremely difficult to produce, making it considered a luxury item even more precious than gold.

However, after technology was developed to produce aluminum cheaply, this trend rapidly disappeared, and nobles and wealthy people who proudly used aluminum tableware suddenly became embarrassed about using it.

‘If we substitute titles for aluminum… that’s good.’

Even looking at 19th century titles rather than aluminum, it’s a perfectly plausible scenario. Every country elevated their kings to emperors, saying kings had become too common and thus diminished in rank.

Even without going as far as kings, we can see how the value of the baron title greatly diminished due to it being freely given to the bourgeoisie.

“However, if nobles become too numerous, problems could arise regarding tax revenue and military service. After all, being a noble means belonging to a privileged class.”

Leclerc’s point is valid.

It’s no coincidence that late Joseon Dynasty suffered severely in various areas due to the proliferation of genealogy purchases.

“That’s not a concern. The tax privileges held by nobles will become virtually non-existent, as I will make it so.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

And knowing such a future, I will preemptively block potential problems.

For example… not differentiating between taxation standards for nobles and commoners, collecting more taxes from those with higher incomes, or imposing equal military service obligations?