Ch.271271. The Great Rebellion in the Marquis Territory (1)

No matter where you go, the life of a tenant farmer is always like hell.

Being a tenant, meaning having to farm someone else’s land, puts you in a subordinate position. And then there are phenomena like now, where there’s little farmland but many people, causing the demand for tenancy to rise.

But even among the tenant farmers who receive the lowest treatment in this world… If one were to name those who are synonymous with mistreatment, it would be the serfs of the Frankish Kingdom.

Serf (農奴), translated as “agricultural slave,” originated from the system of Serfdom. In Earth’s medieval period, serfs were typically treated as a class between actual slaves and free people… But the serfs of the Frankish Kingdom don’t even reach that level—they’re literally treated as agricultural slaves.

They couldn’t own private property—or even personal possessions—and had to borrow everything from their lords. Naturally, they had no personal dwellings and had to live in communal dormitory-like places.

For taxes, they had to provide at least half of their harvest as a baseline, and with various other pretexts for extortion, they were left with barely a tenth. It’s no wonder that outsiders mockingly referred to the Frankish Kingdom’s insane tax structure as the “nine-tenths system.”

Additionally, serfs were obligated to provide labor whenever the lord demanded, frequently being dragged away in the middle of farming. And when their crops failed because of these interruptions, these deranged lords would beat them severely or even kill them, as if they had forgotten what they themselves had done.

On days when monsters needed to be subjugated or territorial wars broke out, serfs would be conscripted and dragged away. Some lords, practicing their own version of gender equality, would conscript everyone regardless of gender or age.

Naturally, these conscripted soldiers weren’t even given crude spears; most had to “borrow” crude farming tools themselves, showing just how sewage-like their treatment was.

Of course, serfs couldn’t even marry freely, and some deranged lords would shamelessly engage in breeding programs like livestock, trying to create stronger serfs.

It makes one wonder how the Frankish Kingdom’s society manages to sustain itself, especially considering that serfs can be bought and sold with money…

The serfs of the Frankish Kingdom live lives worse than medieval Western European serfs… no, even worse than the slaves of the Joseon Dynasty.

Because of this, they naturally accumulate tremendous discontent and anger. But the knights of the Frankish Kingdom can instantly crush any uprising the serfs might attempt.

In particular, one great lord’s resolution of a protest for lower farming tool rental fees with “horses” became the talk of neighboring countries’ taverns.

Furthermore, those with cunning minds actively incorporate awakened serfs—those rare talents who rise from humble beginnings—into the privileged class, effectively maintaining this filthy, vile feudal kingdom.

It’s a vicious social structure where 99.9% work themselves to the bone, forced to sacrifice for the 0.1% elite (nobility)—a structure that would make anyone yearn for revolution.

And perhaps that’s why?

“Death to the oppressors! Fight for freedom!”

“We demand human lives! Kill them all!”

Various rebellions frequently erupt throughout the Frankish Kingdom, and the ones in this Glios Marquisate were among them.

※ ※ ※

The Glios Marquisate, ruled by Marquis Glios, one of the great lords of the Frankish Kingdom, was notorious for its exceptional cruelty.

Usually, even though the treatment of serfs is said to be terrible, territories that possess all the conditions mentioned above are rare. The problem is that the Glios Marquisate not only falls into that “rare” category but goes even further, according to public opinion.

Here, they go beyond tenant farming to operate almost like collective farms, where serfs work themselves to exhaustion and then must receive food “rations” to eat.

Despite this, the daily ration is pitifully small, and they never replace equipment—if farming tools break, they viciously attack the serf responsible.

Additionally, Marquis Glios constantly initiates territorial wars and conscripts serfs who, predictably, serve as arrow fodder and meat shields for the knights, with over half being “consumed” as a matter of routine.

The most fundamental cause of this harsh exploitation mechanism is the enormous military expenditure due to the frequent wars waged by the war-loving Marquis Glios.

First, Marquis Glios loves war so much that he maintains a standing army of 5,000 professional soldiers, which is unnecessary for the Glios Marquisate—an inland plains region with no enemies except neighboring lords.

Yet, obsessed with playing war, Marquis Glios provides them with equipment and generous salaries, wasting a significant portion of the budget.

Furthermore, the Glios Knights under the Marquis consist of 100 men, and when including servants and horse handlers, the total reaches about 3,000 people.

Just the employment costs for individual knights are enough to break one’s back, and when adding the salaries of servants and equipment maintenance personnel, the cost reaches murderous levels.

Moreover, the Marquis does have considerable military talent and has invested heavily, so he does win territorial wars… The problem is that he pockets the reparations extorted from his serfs while refusing to spend his own money, continuing to exploit the serfs for the next war.

It’s only because the marquisate possesses fertile farmland and a population exceeding one million that it has somehow managed to sustain such an economy, though it’s a wonder they’ve survived this long.

Of course, they were also accumulating resentment.

Picking fights everywhere under the pretext of territorial wars, plundering enemy territories after wars, insulting nobles—Marquis Glios was amassing karma that would never return favorably, while simultaneously being a terrible lord to his own people.

He tried to interfere in the politics of free cities with self-governance, forcibly turned free people into slaves—sometimes brazenly insisting even after being caught—and this madman even attempted to plunder a temple of the Debona Order, only to be thwarted by passing holy knights.

Like juggling torches over a pile of explosives, he continued his suicidal provocations until finally, Marquis Glios crossed a line that should never have been crossed.

Droit du seigneur—a deranged policy whose very existence was doubted, but which he actively sought to implement—

“We can’t live like this! Overthrow them!”

“”””””””We can’t live like this! Overthrow them!””””””””

“Down with the feudal lord!”

“”””””””Down with the feudal lord!””””””””

Finally, after enduring as long as they could, the free people and serfs launched a revolution while Marquis Glios was away at war. The doctrine of the Revenge Order, which had gradually infiltrated the Frankish Kingdom, greatly influenced this uprising.

The city that served as the capital of the territory instantly revolted, with most of the million-strong population rising up, bringing the situation to an irrecoverable state.

While the Marquis’s standing army of 5,000 and 100 knights might be able to suppress the rebellion initially… the bigger problem would be what comes after.

How on earth could they control an entire population of about a million who harbor resentment?

Setting aside talk of vested interests, at this point, even using force would make cleanup impossible, meaning the fate of the Glios Marquisate was already sealed.

When facing starvation anyway, how many would choose to die without taking their oppressor with them?

“T-That’s impossible!! My territory! The t-territory I inherited from my father—!!!”

Thus, the Glios Marquisate found itself in a total crisis with no solution. Upon learning this, Marquis Glios briefly denied reality, throwing a tantrum like an immature child—

“Fine, if that’s what they want, I’ll kill them all! All troops, return! Target: the lord’s castle!”

In the end, Marquis Glios made the worst possible move.