Chapter 157 Qualification for War
Master Parker is the third son of Count Odysseus, and he has an older brother and an older sister.
Master Parker's elder brother was an outstanding young man who was highly praised and admired in the upper class of the Rhine Kingdom. When he was Master Parker's age, he was already able to take over the family business.
Master Parker's sister is known as the first female official in the East. The governor of the largest city in the territory of the Odysseus family is Master Parker's sister.
Although the Rhine Kingdom also had the bad habit of looking down on women, the door to power had never been closed to women from top families; if upper-class women were outstanding enough to be more valuable than being tools for marriage, they could also get family support to obtain bureaucratic positions and even compete for inheritance rights.
With such outstanding brothers and sisters, Master Parker has never been under any pressure since he was a child. His father, Count Odysseus, has been hesitating over the years between his eldest son who is good at networking and his second daughter who is full of talent for governing to choose the successor, and has never considered him, the youngest son.
But no matter how easy his life was, Master Parker was still the son of an earl, and he had a much better sense of politics than the average noble after years of exposure to the political world: he felt that Yang Qiu's request was ridiculous...
Seeing that Yang was determined to convince them, Master Parker had to muster up his courage and said as tactfully as possible: "Dear Yang, I do agree with you...Charlie Rex is an excellent lord, and my cousin Dart also praised Westham's changes..."
"However, there is a difference between a small town like Westram and a viscount territory like Innadri." Master Parker swallowed his saliva and said firmly, "Perhaps Charlie needs more time to get familiar with the territory before considering further progress... At least that's what I think, and this may be more appropriate."
Master Parker was really trying his best to be tactful - how could Charlie Rex, an illegitimate child not recognized by the Rex family, compete with the Bartles family for the Innade collar? !
Even if Charlie Rex was acknowledged by the Rex family and recognized as an illegitimate child, he would not be qualified to compete for the position of heir; a marginal person who is not even an heir to the title has no right to initiate a territorial war!
And the Odysseus family is also expected to support this illegitimate child - that's simply impossible!
Not to mention asking this kind of question to his father, his brother and sister would never agree and would simply think it was wishful thinking!
Yang Qiu was not surprised by Master Parker's refusal and smiled indifferently.
In any society where classes are beginning to solidify or have already solidified, the nature of internal competition and power games in its social structure remains unchanged: the bottom class relies on gambling on life and reincarnation, the middle class relies on personal connections, and the top class relies on blood ties.
This is true on Earth, and it is also true in this alien world.
In the top-level power game centered around territorial fiefdoms, having noble blood is the only ticket to enter.
But having an admission ticket is not enough. After all... the bloodlines of the upper class also have different levels of hierarchy.
But Yang Qiu didn't care about this - he just wanted to get the admission ticket, and he had no intention of playing by other people's rules!
Yang Qiu smiled and nodded, saying, "I understand your concerns, Master Parker. Compared with the Bartles family, Rex's status is indeed not important enough. But what if the church supports Rex?"
Master Parker suspected that he had heard wrongly: "Whose support?"
"Church, the Gold Coin Church." Yang Qiu repeated with a smile.
Master Parker: "......( '-' )"
Master Parker had a ('-') face and turned to look at his good friend Gray.
Gray: "...(°A°`)"
Master Parker's mouth gradually opened wide: "Church (゜ロ゜)?!"
Yang Qiu said with a smile: "When Rex replaced Baron Marcus as the master of Westram, the Gold Coin Church had already expressed its friendship."
While Baron Marcus was working hard in the city of Innadli, the Gold Coin Church turned a deaf ear and dumb throughout, acquiescing in the change of hands of Baron Marcus' fiefdom - rounding it off for Yang Qiu was considered friendly.
Master Parker: "..."
"As for me, I've said before that people have many misunderstandings about me, and these misunderstandings are not true." Yang Qiu said shamelessly, "The Red Wall Farm incident that troubled the Gold Coin Church for two years was solved by my people (the undead) and the church's night watchmen working together."
Master Parker: "..."
Master Parker felt dizzy again... The church's night watchman cooperated with the "Nightmare Butcher", what on earth is wrong with this world? !
Yang Qiu did not say anything to give Master Parker some time to get used to the shattered worldview, and continued, "The Bartles family has indeed done a lot for the establishment of Innade, such as protecting this territory from border bandits for more than a hundred years. This is an indelible contribution made by the ancestors of the Bartles family."
"However, the glory of the Bartles family only ends with Adela II." Yang Qiu did not hide his contempt at all, and said, "Adela II is an old-fashioned and conservative noble. Although there are many things he does not know how to adapt to, at least he will not give up the soldiers who fight for him."
When Yang Qiu passed by Innadeli, he did not cause any trouble in Innadeli.
Adela II, the Lord of Innadri at the time and grandfather of Emperor III, was relatively human if compared horizontally only by the standards of feudal aristocracy. At least a small noble like Baron Marcus, who made the flesh trade his mainstay industry, would have no chance of making a name for himself in the era of Emperor II.
Master Parker was silent for a while.
As aristocratic families like them, they have to learn and remember the family history of other noble families in addition to their own history. Master Parker certainly knows what the situation is like in the Bartles family.
In his grandfather's generation, the Odysseus family and the Bartles family were relatively close. But in his father's generation, the Odysseus family rarely interacted with the Bartles family... In his father's words, the Bartles family was "becoming more and more dishonorable."
It's not that the middle and upper class nobles are so moral, but nobles who are more particular must pay attention to the honor of their family - if they want to do something dishonorable, they have to conceal their shortcomings and not give others the opportunity to gossip.
Master Parker also doesn't like Adela III... Not only did this guy write a letter to mock his cousin Dart, but he also didn't explain Westram's situation clearly, causing him to suffer so much shock in just two days and be threatened by this terrible black magician in person!
If we can get the support of the church, we can solve the problem that Charlie Rex's status is too low and he is not qualified to start a territory war - then it seems that it would be nice to watch the fall of the Bartles family!
Imagining the miserable and miserable appearance of the Pighead III crying, Master Parker actually felt a little hopeful deep in his heart...
Of course, Master Parker, who was very politically savvy, would not give a clear answer, but said cautiously: "In this case...please allow me to take the news back, maybe my father will be interested."
This kind of polite words that left a lot of room for maneuver was considered as Yang Qiu's agreement.
Yang Qiu smiled and raised his teacup: "Then let me use tea instead of red wine to toast the friendship between Rex and the Odysseus family."
Master Parker wisely did not point out that the Odysseus had not yet decided whether to have any relationship with Rex, and smiled and raised his glass.
Master Parker would never be confused about such a major matter involving the family's interests: it doesn't matter if he just says it verbally, the Odysseus family will definitely not pay a single penny to support an illegitimate child who looks unreliable!
Yang Qiu was older than Master Parker's great-great-grandfather and had dealt with a lot of nobles. Of course, he knew exactly what this young master was planning...
Letting the young master, who thought he was tight-lipped, go back to his room to rest, Yang Qiu turned around and went to find Rex, who was busy counting the accounts of the autumn harvest and grain in the next room.
In front of Rex, Ji Tang, and several overtime clerks, Yang Qiu openly declared: "With the verbal support of the Gold Coin Church and an earl, you can legitimately launch a territorial war against the Bartles family, Rex."
Rex's hands shook and he almost knocked over the pile of account books on the table.
"You, you you, you said war? I started a territory war?!" Rex said in horror.
"That's right." Yang Qiu said happily, "Ms. Zhao is trying to win the support of the Gold Coin Church for you. It will take time for the young master of the Odysseus family to send the message back. Let's declare war after the autumn tax is settled. If we take down Innadri at this point in time, we can also make some money from the autumn tax that the Bartles family has just collected."
"Declare, declare war?!" The Rex people were dumbfounded.
"Of course we have to declare war formally. We can start a war in the name of the noble territory war. As long as we drive out the Bartles family, Innadelli will belong to us." Yang Qiu said as a matter of course, "If we fight without declaring a war, it will be considered an dishonorable war. Even if we drive out the Bartles family, we will still have to face endless security battles, and there is the possibility of a third party intervening. That would be disgusting."
In wars on Earth, no matter what the purpose of the war is, the initiators will try every means to gain a just cause for themselves.
America, the omnipotent country on earth, has fought against Vietnam, Panama, Somalia, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. Regardless of whether they are right or wrong, they dare to claim that they are the party upholding justice and that they are fighting a just war... Every president would have to be thick-skinned to do this.
The ancestors of the Chinese people have been engaged in political struggles for thousands of years, so they have no regrets about the American tricks that their ancestors have played to death... Anyway, the Chinese people see through it but don't say anything. Since they know what war is, they will insist on not firing the first shot no matter which country they have friction with, and will only fight a counterattack in self-defense.
The "righteous war" on Earth doesn't work well in this dimension. The world has a very long history that can be traced and verified, and there is no "one superpower and many strong countries" pattern. The bottom layer is ignorant, but the top layer is full of thousand-year-old foxes. The shameless practice of making up an excuse to fight a "just war" will not work.
So the people from this alien world simply stopped talking about the justice of war, and instead limited the "qualifications" for war - only kings had the right to declare war against kings, and only nobles had the right to declare war against nobles; commoners were not qualified to challenge nobles, and high-ranking nobles could not declare war on low-ranking nobles.
Only a war between equals is honorable and accepted by the world. Otherwise, a third party has the right to intervene and plunder the fruits of victory of the victor.
However, since Rex, an illegitimate child, is not qualified to initiate an "honorary" territorial war against the Bartles family, then let the "recognition" of the church and the Count of the Rhine Kingdom raise Rex's status and recognize him as a qualified lord who is qualified to initiate a noble war. Then, after driving away the Bartles family, Tarantan will have time to slowly digest the Innadri territory.
Seeing Rex's jaw drop in shock, Yang Qiu said dissatisfiedly, "What's your reaction? You don't think you can always be the lord of Westram? The Bartles family is not stupid . They are not in a hurry to drive you away this year. It's just that the autumn tax is coming soon, and starting a war at this time is not conducive to paying the autumn tax."
"The tax will be paid in October, and by November at the latest, before the end of the year, the Bartles family will definitely support a noble of equal status to you to declare war on Westram. If you don't take the initiative to eliminate the hidden danger, do you still want to wait for others to come to your door?"
