Chapter 227 Kind Zhao Zhenzhen
The king of the Rhine Kingdom is, at best, a provincial-level official, but his abilities are not at all at the level of a provincial-level official - not only are his professional abilities unsatisfactory, but even his personnel (internal fighting) levels are very questionable.
For example, Zhao Zhenzhen couldn't understand why the Rhine royal family had always refused to show goodwill to the Bartles family, a new noble family that had risen for less than five generations. Instead, they allowed the five earls of the kingdom to trample on the Bartles family. The status of the five earls, who were great nobles for generations, was as stable as a rock. What good could it do to your royal family?
It is even more ridiculous to allow local nobles to raise private soldiers to defend their territory because of the financial constraints of the kingdom. The local nobles have soldiers in their hands, so would they be crazy to honestly provide full tribute to your king?
The United States, which has only been established for two hundred years, had no experience at the time and allowed the "founding fathers" to exercise state rights. As a result, state rights became too powerful to be eliminated, the central federation did not act like a central federation, the country's mobilization capabilities were so poor that they humiliated the world's status as a superpower, and they would fall flat at the slightest riot... The Rhine Kingdom, which has been established for thousands of years, has not even figured out this kind of experience?
More than a thousand years! The feudal dynasty has lasted for four generations!
This is not to say that this power-sharing system similar to the Jiedushi system of the feudal dynasties of China is completely useless. In the history of China, the Jiedushi system that monopolized local power lasted throughout the Tang Dynasty.
However, this model of power division was limited by the backward productivity and social structure at that time and was born to solve the social problems of the time. The vast territory of the Tang Dynasty was limited by communication technology and transportation conditions. It was difficult for the central government to accurately control the local areas, especially in places like Mobei and Turkic that were conquered in the early Tang Dynasty. If everything depended on the emperor's instructions, then the local officials basically had nothing to do and had to use all their energy to deliver and wait for letters.
But...how big is the Rhine Kingdom?
It is less than two-thirds the size of Inner Mongolia.
The straight-line distance from Innadri, the border of the kingdom, to the central capital is less than two thousand kilometers.
The productivity and technological level of this world are completely different from those of the Tang Dynasty. The Rhine Kingdom has all the magic steam trains that can reach a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour and an operating speed of 70 kilometers per hour, telegraphs, and wired telephones for instant messaging.
To sum up - wanting Zhao Zhenzhen to respect the Rhine royal family is even more ridiculous than asking players to respect Lord Yang.
The daughter of a great noble family and the supreme governor of the Earldom of Odysseus in front of her could make Zhao Zhenzhen respect her more than the King of the Rhine... This senior civil servant in the feudal society, whose pattern and vision did not transcend the times, at least had better professional ability than the Rhine royal family.
The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries before the cordial Zhao Zhenzhen got to the point: "The Bartles family has made contributions to Innadri. It was the Bartles family that put an end to the banditry that had lasted for hundreds of years in Innadri. During the Bartles family's rule, Innadri's population increased tenfold, and the city's flood drainage and waterlogging prevention construction was also very effective. The achievements of the Bartles family's ancestors must be given a fair historical evaluation."
First of all, it is necessary to make clear one's position: the new Innadri regime will never exterminate the Bartles family in order to eliminate future troubles.
Laying the foundation of one's own rule by completely denying and strangling the previous ruler is a trick only second-rate politicians would play, such as South Korea, which is a small country with a lot of demons, or the Qing Dynasty, which slandered the former Ming Dynasty to death - to put it bluntly, they just don't have the confidence.
Of course, acknowledging the ruling achievements of the first three generations of the Bartles family does not mean that the new Innadri regime will give Adela III a good face... From the perspective of the new Innadri, it absolutely looks down on the conduct of Adela III and his deceased father, especially Adela III's father. Not bringing him up for criticism is already considered "death is the greatest thing."
Phoenix smiled and nodded.
The Odysseus family did not have much friendship with the Bartles family, but it was necessary for them to stand up and express their stance in response to the numerous letters for help from Adela III. The brand of "responsible nobleman" could not be lost.
After acknowledging the merits of the first three generations of the Bartles family's ancestors and the tacit agreement between both parties on how to treat the Bartles family coldly (let him go away on his own), the next step was to correct the big hole left by Adela III and his dead father who allowed the local nobles of Innadri to do what they wanted.
Zhao Zhenzhen said seriously: "In the past few decades, Innadeli has taken a detour. The current path of strangling Innadeli's future is unacceptable. For long-term considerations, we must find a new way to meet the ever-changing livelihood needs of the people of Innadeli. After all, more than a hundred years have passed since the banditry. The people of Innadeli today cannot say that they can tolerate any social environment as long as there is no banditry."
This sets the tone for the future development of the new Innadri regime. We want to set things right and correct the wrong path, not to completely overthrow it and start over. Innadri will not be in chaos. Even if some noise occasionally arises, it will not affect the overall situation. The Odysseus family can rest assured to cooperate with the new Innadri regime.
As for the most fundamental concept of "for the people", it doesn't matter if the indigenous nobles cannot understand it. You can just think of it as us just saying polite words.
This confident attitude, on the Phoenix side, is a bit like "hearing thunder in silence" - the other party does not think that the local aristocratic forces can pose a threat to Charlie Rex!
This excellent indigenous elite civil servant was silent for a while, and silently reviewed the process of Charlie Rex's rise to power... She also had to admit that there was really no need for Charlie Rex to take the local nobles seriously.
At present, the greatest threat that the local nobles of Innadri can pose to Charles Rex is to create trouble for Innadri's financial (tax) situation.
The five counts of the Rhine Kingdom also banded together to challenge the royal family. The royal family had to have money to support the National Garrison, and supporting the National Garrison required the five counts to pay their share of taxes to the king on time. In areas not involving money, the royal family inevitably had to make concessions to the five counts.
But Charlie Rex is not like the Bartles family who raises a money-making beast like the city defense army.
His undead soldiers were immortal, which directly saved a large portion of military expenditure on war damage compensation; the undead did not need to eat, so military rations were saved by 100%; and judging by the undead equipment seen on the streets, these undead did not need to be equipped with lizard horses and military supplies.
In other words, if the local nobles wanted to force Charles Rex to do something by delaying the payment of taxes, there would be basically no chance of success - there was no need to invest a large sum of money in maintaining troops. The citizen taxes that could be directly collected were enough for Rex to confidently fight these local nobles.
Since there is no need to appease the local nobles, Charlie Rex is certainly confident that his undead archons can ignore the attitudes and positions of the local nobles.
Phoenix picked up the teacup and took a sip of the cold tea.
No wonder Charlie Rex was willing to join the notorious Nightmare Butcher. The cost-effectiveness of the Undead Legion was much higher than that of private soldiers!
Even Phoenix couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the benefits of being able to govern the territory as he pleased, rather than being forced to compromise for the benefit of someone else...
Putting down the teacup, Phoenix simply went straight to the point with the undead lady who chose to communicate directly: "Is Inadli going to give up the grain processing industry?"
"Of course not." Zhao Zhenzhen said calmly, "There are 40,000 workers in our factory area who rely on food exports for their livelihood. A hasty one-size-fits-all approach would undermine the stability of Innadeli, so we will not take the initiative to interfere with the existing food export industry."
Phoenix said approvingly: "This is a safe approach."
She was also expressing her stance. As long as Innadri could maintain normal trade with the Earldom of Odysseus, the Odysseus family would not care much about Innadri's "family affairs".
Ms. Sibel, who was sitting quietly next to her, adjusted her sitting position somewhat uncomfortably.
Xibel respected Ms. Zhao very much, and Phoenix's unconscious arrogance made her a little unhappy... She didn't care about being looked down upon, but she cared a lot that Ms. Zhao was not respected enough.
Zhao Zhenzhen didn't care at all whether the feudal nobles were too arrogant, and she still smiled happily: "What we hope is that Innadeli can develop industries other than grain processing. Only by having more legs can we walk more steadily."
Phoenix nodded in understanding. She had heard of the fame of the dead cloth. It seemed that Innadri would also develop the textile industry like the other territories.
This is not a bad thing. The impact of Kenyan cloth on the textile markets of various countries is a very troublesome thing. The Rhine Kingdom loses a large amount of gold and silver every year because of this. If Innadri can afford to develop the textile industry, at least it can keep more currency in the country.
Zhao Zhenzhen thought the other party would ask what industry Innadeli was going to develop, but she didn't expect the other party to change the topic directly to the next one with an understanding look. She was happy to save trouble - it was not the Chinese style to show their cards to others in advance.
After finishing the topic of Innadelli's "family affairs", Phoenix intentionally or unintentionally asked Zhao Zhenzhen, who seemed very friendly and easy to deal with, for information about the black magician Yang.
It’s a pity... In this regard, Zhao Zhenzhen is professional.
If Phoenix wants to know the information about Charlie Rex, Zhao Zhenzhen will at least give him some useful information; but if he wants to target Lord Yang, he will be really desperate.
Not only did Phoenix fail to obtain the information he wanted, but Zhao Zhenzhen also found out a lot about the Earl of Odis...
After sending away the thirsty Phoenix, Zhao Zhenzhen said to Ms. Xibel, "This girl is really smart. If someone else came, she might have gotten . Be careful next time she comes, and don't let the big mouth hang around her."
Sibel nodded vigorously: "Master Parker is very different from his sister."
"A dragon gives birth to nine sons." Zhao Zhenzhen said a Chinese proverb that Xibel couldn't understand.
The next day, Zhao Zhenzhen came to Yang Qiu to discuss the bottom line of cooperation with the Odysseus family, and told him what she had learned: "It seems that our neighbor is preparing to go to war with someone."
"Oh? How do you mean?" Yang Qiu said.
Zhao Zhenzhen explained what happened when Phoenix came to her house yesterday, and said, "Phoenix accidentally revealed that the caravans of the Odysseus family travel to and from the Snooker Federation more than eight times a year on average. This frequency far exceeds the frequency of normal merchants in this world traveling on the same route. We are not trading in fresh seasonal vegetables , so it is not that frequent."
Yang Qiu put down the half-opened book on occult studies, stroked his chin and said, "Too close of a relationship, huh...what else?"
"And they're storing food." A gleam of light seemed to flash through the dark eye sockets on Zhao Zhenzhen's skull face. "It's not like the Odysseus territory really has such a big food shortage, but they place too much emphasis on the food import business with Innadri."
Yang Qiu nodded: "What else?"
"There is no more circumstantial evidence for now, but we can give it a try." Zhao Zhenzhen said with a sharp gaze, "If this neighbor wants to fight with others, it will definitely be more beneficial than harmful to Innadeli. How long they can enjoy the excitement over there is how long we can enjoy peace here."
Yang Qiu already knew how dark this national team member was underneath his gentle and friendly appearance. He didn't have the energy to shock Zhao Zhenzhen for saying such a thing, and asked with the same sharp eyes, "How do you test me?"
Zhao Zhenzhen said without hesitation: "Don't want to compensate the undead mercenaries for casualties."
Yang Qiu seriously considered the feasibility... but still shook his head with regret, saying: "It is not difficult to send out expedition missions, but without the endorsement of the Gold Coin Church, it will be difficult for the undead to move around in the area outside of Innadli."
Zhao Zhenzhen didn't say anything, but just looked at Yang Qiu with a look that was hard to describe.
Her meaning is very clear. What is the use of you, an unscientific magician? Isn't this a problem that you should solve?
Yang Qiu was no less thick-skinned than Zhao Zhenzhen, and he said calmly: "This is objective force majeure. It's useless for you to look at me that way. Magic can only fight against magic. It doesn't always work on those stubborn guys in the church."
It’s not like he hadn’t considered releasing the undead to earn money for building the wizard tower...but the Gold Coin Church didn’t agree!
The two Chinese compatriots, whose faces were as thick as the corners of the city walls and whose hearts were darker than the bottom of a pot, faced each other in silence.
At the same time, on the calm surface of the Barcelo River, a small passenger ship departing from Moses Port and sailing upstream was slowly entering the port of Newin Town...
