Under legal circumstances, when a noble lineage affiliated to the royal family is removed from the list, the royal family has the right to take back the property of the noble lineage and transfer it to others, and the lower-level vassals who were previously loyal to the noble family will deal with it under normal circumstances. The new lord swears allegiance - but this is not mandatory, but a "moral" and "customary" requirement. The king has no right to interfere with the vassal of the vassal. Therefore, whether the followers of the old lord will be loyal to the new master, It often depends on the skills of the new lord. In fact, being able to get the vassals of the previous lord to swear allegiance to oneself is an important criterion for measuring whether a noble has sufficient strength and prestige, at least, this is the case in Ansu.
The prestige of the name Gawain Cecil among the knights is unquestionable. His legendary personal strength and the current development prospects of the new Cecil Territory are enough to convince the old knights of the Kant Territory. They are convinced of their allegiance, but there is one last test before them -
That is whether they are willing to give up their old land privileges and obey the new order of the Cecil Territory.
The knights of the Kant Territory are no strangers to Cecil’s order. Although the traditional nobles are a somewhat slow group, the Cecil family has de facto ruled the Kant Territory for half a year. No matter how dull the people are, They will also notice the changes that have penetrated in, and those who are a little more thoughtful will inquire deeply about the "legal basis" behind these changes - after all, they have guessed that the Cecil family will become Kant's new masters sooner or later. People will not care about what they will face in the future.
After learning about the current system of the Cecil Territory, the Kant knights were already nervous, but no matter how nervous they were, they still had to face what they had to face - the king's canonization became a fact, and The knight Philip, who had always been in charge of Kant's affairs, brought the order summoned by the lord.
The knights of Kant responded to the summons in anxiety. On the seventh day of the month of resurrection, the "old knights" of Kant led by Walder Perici (the former chief knight of Viscount Kant) arrived. to the residence of Duke Cecil.
Everyone knew the purpose of everyone gathering here today, so they put on clean and bright armor, and also wore robes outside the armor. These mighty knights gathered in front of the lord with a little uneasiness. In the hall of the mansion, they communicated with each other in low voices from time to time.
The main content of their discussion was the unbearable "new order" of Cecil's territory, and how to fight for the privileges that they should retain and deserve from the new lords.
"I heard that everything under Cecil's leadership revolves around the 'Government Office', including tax collection and levy," a young knight said to his companions. , "The land only belongs to the nobles in name, but in fact the people who hold the land don't have many rights at all... they even have to listen to the arrangements of the Government Affairs Department."
Another knight seemed even more worried: "They All fiefs may be recovered - that knight Philip said that he has no fiefs."
"It is said that the fiefs will become 'domestic'.'In the future, we can only receive annuities based on the size of the territory, and we have no other rights. Even if people in the village want to work in the city, or go to open up wasteland for hunting, they only need to report to the Government Affairs Office, instead of the lord. Permission..."
A tall and thin knight frowned: "If we don't even have the power to restrain the civilians from running around, how can we maintain order on the land? As time goes by, those mud-legged people may not even bend down to pay tribute to us! "
The knights were worried, and someone whispered: "We should express our attitude-Duke Cecil is a great man, but his decree is simply nonsense and has destroyed the order of the land. Leave it to a group of busy clerks in the Government Affairs Office, and things will get messy sooner or later! "
Others nodded in agreement, and most of them focused their attention on the old knight sitting in the center: "Mr. Walder, what do you think? "
The old knight who was being watched was silent for a long time, frowning and shaking his head slightly: "...it depends on the situation, just take it one step at a time." ”
This answer was obviously not reassuring, so the knights gradually started discussing again, and the whispers continued.
All this, until the man wearing a noble windbreaker and having a majestic face , until the exceptionally tall and muscular man walked into the hall.
Their low-pitched discussion immediately stopped, and everyone involuntarily looked away.
Gawain walked into the hall. He glanced at the Kant knights in front of him: there were not many in number. There were only a few extraordinary people loyal to a viscount, and there were even fewer knights. There were only a total of "standard knights" with knight titles and real estate in front of him. There are more than a dozen people, and judging from the extraordinary aura exuding from them, only one of them is an intermediate-level person, and that is the gray-haired gentleman standing in the middle of the knights: the former chief military attache of Fort Conde, Walder Perry. Strange.
Gawain and Walder Perici met. After the nightmare incident at Fort Conde, this middle-aged knight was the first to rush to the main hall of the castle to stabilize order. One of the people, in Gawain's impression, Walder is loyal to the lord, but not very showy. However, he has been loyal to the Kant family for the longest time and has the strength of a mid-level knight, so among the Kant knights
While Gawain was observing these knights, the knights led by Walder also stood up and saluted, and the sound of metal friction and collision on the armor was heard. This time he accepted everyone’s courtesy and waited until everyone had finished their salute before speaking: “Ladies and gentlemen, you are very punctual. ”
There are not only men among the knights, there are also three women among them. In this world where extraordinary power exists, women have the same power as men as long as they awaken the relevant power. .
This is also one of the only "fairness" in this world full of injustice.
"Salute to you, the great pioneer, the knight among knights.", the founder of Anzu, the sword and shield of the kingdom..." Walder started to throw out a series of titles. Apparently he had memorized this set of words many times before coming, "It is an honor for me to step into your castle - —We are happy that you can become the new protector and ruler of the Kant Territory, and that land will gain security and prosperity due to your presence. "
After Walder finished speaking this routine, Gawain raised a hand and said straight to the point: "I am a person who doesn't like to talk nonsense, so let's get straight to the point—— We all know the purpose for which I have called you here today.
"I have become the legal ruler of the Kant Territory. According to the custom, you should swear allegiance to me. I believe that your timely arrival is to show your attitude towards this matter, but before that, I should explain the new 'rules' that you will have to adapt to after you pledge your allegiance to Cecil."
Such a straightforward way of speaking is not like the ordinary nobles of this era - ordinary nobles do not have a few cadences after speaking. It is impossible to get to the point of an aria, but Gawain Cecil obviously does not have this style of painting.
The knights looked at each other for a moment, and then the atmosphere at the scene became tense and subtle.
But Gawain didn't seem to notice this. He waved, and several attendants came out and handed each knight a piece of paper full of text.
"I'm used to putting everything in writing, and an agreement written in black and white is more reassuring," Gawain smiled, "You can take a closer look."
Dangval After de Perici saw the provisions printed on the paper, an unexpected but conflicting complex emotion immediately emerged.
Abolish the fiefdom and change it to a territory, abolish the tax revenue, and change it to the government affairs department to investigate, calculate and issue annuities. Abolish the governance power and change it to the government affairs department or subordinate units. Knights can join the government affairs department, but they must cooperate with the government affairs department. Civilian secretaries are subject to the same assessment, and the position of "official" is not inheritable...
On a piece of paper, almost all land-based privileges have been erased.
This is only for knights who are only equivalent to "half lords". They are knights with limited privileges. If a viscount or even an earl is to be merged into the Cecil family, he will lose. How much power belongs to the nobility?
The old knight noticed that the people around him had become quiet. Without even raising his head, he knew that several pairs of eyes were focused on him, but what could he say?
What could he say to a duke?
But he had to speak, at least not without saying a word, so after thinking hard for more than ten seconds, Knight Walder raised his head: "Your Majesty, please allow me..."
"Don't worry yet," Gawain interrupted Walder with a smile, "these things on paper are just to let everyone understand what Cecil's 'order' is, but swearing allegiance is a very big thing. For serious matters, just understanding some legal provisions is not enough - I invite you to visit mecity, let everyone understand this land from all aspects, so that you can better judge whether the Cecil family is worthy of loyalty, right? "
The knights looked at each other, some looked thoughtful, but Walder Peric quickly nodded in agreement: "What you said is absolutely true. ”
The new lord may want to show off the territory’s economic and military strength in order to increase the weight of people’s loyalty. Everyone knows this, and this is also the best way for the new lord to attract followers. Commonly used methods.
So since Gawain wants to follow this "traditional process", the Kant knights don't mind cooperating, but cooperation is cooperation, and the rights that should be fought for still have to be fought for.
Everyone had their own plans and followed Gawain out of the Lord's Mansion, and started to visit this city that was still unfamiliar to them.
It was neat and orderly. In a city with wide and straight streets paved with unknown materials, bustling commercial streets and neatly dressed civilians everywhere, Wald was riding a horse, watching everything in front of him silently, but a little absent-mindedly.
These are indeed manifestations of the prosperity of the territory, and are a strong proof of Gawain Cecil's governance ability and wealth. To be fair, a place that was built less than a year ago can develop to such a level that it has even exceeded the "rapid development" The concept can almost be described as incomprehensible, but the Kant knights' current attention does not seem to be on this.
Gawain always smiled and silently observed the reactions of these old knights, but he did not. He didn't say anything, but signaled the team to speed up and walked toward the northeast exit of the city.
A female knight noticed the team's acceleration and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Your Majesty, Duke. Where are we going? "
Gowen said casually: "I see that you don't seem to be very interested in the commercial streets and residential buildings in the territory, so why not go and see what you may be interested in first. "
"What are we interested in? "The female knight became even more curious, "You are referring to..."
"It is something that you will definitely have to deal with in the future. ”