Ch.212Status (2)

“Phew… Truly, Your Majesty has quite unique hobbies.”

“Haha, I agree.”

Meanwhile, the nobles completely fail to understand why Claude has convened the Senate.

That’s inevitable. From their perspective, what Claude is doing appears to be nothing short of a complete farce.

“After establishing a social order of absolute top-down command, you’re now scattering pieces of power everywhere. If you were going to divide it again, why gather it all in the first place? I simply don’t understand…”

“I can comprehend why you’ve distributed Senate positions to noble individuals like myself. There was a need to appease us after having much of our power stripped away, and no matter how much you develop the administration, cooperation with nobles is essential in the provinces. For similar reasons, the church’s inclusion is somewhat understandable. But…”

“—Commoners… why on earth?”

The nobles do suspect Claude’s intention to use commoners as a counterbalance against the nobility and the church.

However, suspecting something and understanding it are two different matters.

Such efforts seem pointless because commoners are just commoners. No matter how united they might be, they could never stand against the nobility and the church.

It appears to be nothing more than donating sacred power to inferior beings.

“…Well, I’m sure Your Majesty has your reasons.”

“Yes, indeed. Let’s drop this subject now.”

Observing Claude’s actions, the nobles can think of only one reason why the king might favor commoners, but they dare not speak it aloud.

After all, every noble who has voiced that reason has vanished as red mist in the slaughterhouse.

They simply stop the conversation, all simultaneously realizing that continuing this topic would be dangerous.

……….

I ordered the administration to investigate the size of the royal domain to plan for the sale of titles, and in less than a day, a terrifying answer came back.

“Land available for disposal is approximately 54,000 km²… What? Why is it so large?”

Apparently, this is roughly the amount of land I’m currently governing directly, excluding land granted to vassals or sold to independent farmers.

Even including undeveloped wilderness… um… this is quite unexpected.

I believe Seoul is about 600 km² in size, so this is like having 90 Seouls…?

“Why are you so surprised? Isn’t this the result of Your Majesty’s consistent efforts to eliminate the nobility and church since your ascension?”

“Eliminate? That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”

“I apologize, Your Majesty.”

Leclerc’s words are extreme, but not incorrect.

Whether it was the church or the nobility, what I’ve been doing all this time was focused on reducing their power, specifically by targeting their direct territories, the source of their strength.

All church lands throughout the country were reclaimed except for what was necessary to maintain the churches, and numerous nobles who had rebelled had their titles revoked, ensuring they could never stand as nobles again.

This is the result.

‘Since the Kingdom of Lotharing is about 270,000 km², that means roughly 20% of the kingdom is entirely under my direct control.’

…Looking at the ratio, it’s surprisingly small?

As king, I can only freely use 20% of the national territory?

If I apply this to the Joseon Dynasty, it would mean the king could only govern Gyeonggi Province at will among the eight provinces, while local magnates freely controlled the other seven. And the Korean Peninsula is only about 220,000 km² in size.

Um… well… it didn’t really hit me when I just looked at the data, but calculating the ratio and comparing it with other things, this is actually quite serious.

If I recalculate to include not just the Lotharing Kingdom but also the Carolingian Kingdom— no, let’s not even imagine that. It’s too frightening.

“…Are you still not satisfied?”

“Ahem, no. Though the ratio is quite poor, I do have this much direct territory.”

“The very fact that you think it’s poor proves you’re not satisfied.”

“…”

Leclerc really… couldn’t you just look the other way instead of always having something to say?

“Even if my direct territory is small, aren’t the nobles’ domains essentially my semi-direct territories? I should look at it from that positive perspective.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Still, what’s truly encouraging is that the nobles’ domains can no longer be called domains in the true sense.

With restrictions on tenant farming fees, severe limitations on seigneurial rights, and laws declaring that all domain residents are the king’s subjects before being the lord’s property, the nobles’ domains have become no different from state-sold farmland to private individuals.

Well, from that perspective, wanting more direct territory would be pure greed.

They’re contributing to national prosperity anyway, aren’t they? Even if it’s due to legal constraints.

“I’ll need to carve out about 20,000 km² and create titles to sell to the private sector. Since these are lands that were either idle or tenant-farmed, from my perspective as the owner of Lotharing, there’s little difference in income between tenant farmers and independent farmers. It will also reduce the administrative burden.”

Tenant farmers are those who belong to landlords and offer their harvest to them, while independent farmers don’t belong to landlords and offer their harvest to the state. Since we’re in a feudal society, I am the state, right?

That means tenant farmers belonging to me, while different in status, are no different from independent farmers in terms of tax revenue. Since I’m both the landlord and the state, what they pay to the landlord and what they pay to the state is the same.

Since cultivating with such tenant farmers is essentially the same as running independent farmers, selling these lands to the private sector shouldn’t be a problem. It’s just changing which farmers till the land.

If there’s little difference in annual income but I can gain significant profit from selling titles, shouldn’t I obviously do it?

“Your Majesty, will you only proceed with ennobling independent farmers?”

“No? I plan to grant noble titles to wealthy urban citizens, mayors, and any citizens who can pay the price for a title. To be honest, I think there will be more wealthy people rushing to obtain noble titles than farmers.”

“Indeed, independent farmers who can afford titles would be rare. Large landowners might have a chance, though.”

In the medieval era, for commoners to rise in social status, they must break through an iron wall with their bare hands.

Occasionally, a madman miraculously breaks through the iron wall with bare hands, but that’s just an occasional miracle.

Nobles, on the other hand, are born beyond the iron wall, so many commoners who have tried to break through are filled with resentment.

If I give them a chance to break through that wall, commoners from everywhere will surely flock to it.

Competition will become extremely intense, with everyone scrambling to buy titles. I can already see it.

…Competition, huh.

“Yes, since we’re selling titles, an auction would be good. With everyone competing, we can get higher prices.”

“…An auction? Your Majesty, you are truly wicked.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Now that the plan is roughly in place… let’s start preparing.

……….

“Selling… titles…?”

What is this about now?

Title sales? I can’t imagine the Kingdom of Lotharing is so desperate.

Hugh, the head of the People’s Assembly, who has returned to Arlong city to focus on his main duties after a terrible experience in the Senate, doubts his eyes as he receives an extraordinary document.

‘The most recent title sale was… 50 years ago.’

Fifty years ago, when the Kingdom of Lotharing was still the Duchy of Burgundy, His Highness the Brave Duke, the current king’s grandfather, sold titles to raise war funds while fighting against the Carolingian Kingdom and the Holy Empire. More recently, during the crusade a few years ago, the Holy Empire sold titles to His Majesty in exchange for funds.

But those were emergency measures to quickly raise funds when the war situation was dire, not precedented sales of titles during peacetime like this.

‘It would make some sense if they were gathering war funds in advance… but that doesn’t dispel my doubts.’

Why sell titles during peacetime to gather war funds when you could just wait for the funds to accumulate?

Titles are sold during wartime because the situation is too urgent to wait for money to accumulate. What urgency exists during peacetime?

Unless they’re preparing for a war so massive that regular peacetime revenue can’t handle it… wait a minute.

“Um… well…”

That’s not entirely implausible.

The Kingdom of Andalusia to the south is blocked by mountain ranges and has barren land, so there’s no need to compete with them. The Kingdom of Albion across the sea to the north would require crossing the ocean, making them an unlikely competitor at present without a navy, though perhaps later.

That means the only remaining competitor for the Kingdom of Lotharing is the Holy Empire.

And while that Holy Empire has been weakened considerably, its basic weight class is about twice that of the combined Lotharing and Carolingian Kingdoms. Moreover, having experienced a civil war in the name of a crusade, their military quality is also quite excellent.

To face such a Holy Empire… the Kingdom of Lotharing would need to increase its weight class. Since population growth has its limits in speed, the only immediate way to increase weight class would be through the military.

Haha… His Majesty is quite impatient. Does this mean he can no longer leave the Holy Empire alone?

‘…But that’s one thing, and this is another.’

“Assistant, look into suitable properties among the titles around Arlong for this title sale.”

“Yes, sir.”

It’s certainly not good for a monarch to be fond of war, but… well, now that there’s an opportunity to obtain a title, why not? Long live His Majesty.