A Treacherous Courtier Manages the Empire Well

16 – Touching a Small Landor Makes It a Cock

There is a term called reverse tourism.

And I really liked that term.

“Your Majesty! Please consider revoking the Peasant Emigration Rights Act! It is an evil law among evil laws!”

“It is an act that undermines the food production responsibilities of the Western Granary District! Your Majesty!”

The satisfying results brought by the Emperor’s fiery seal were delightful. The seven nobles who belonged to the Empty Yard Party and controlled the Western Granary District hurriedly came to the capital, raising a fuss in the Royal Palace, just like bullets.

Thirteen nobles from the capital who sympathized with them also raised their voices every day.

“The heinous Landor has created a law that takes our peasants out of our territory to fill his own pockets! Your Majesty! You must abolish it!”

They raised their voices every day, but as expected, the Emperor pretended not to hear anything.

“It is a bill personally brought by Marquis Landor. He wouldn’t propose something wrong to me.”

“Your Majesty! Are you intending to destroy the empire?!”

“Please consider revoking it!”

The people from the Felling’s Duke faction shed tears every day, voicing their demand for the repeal of the bill. Unfortunately, the aristocrats from the Adran faction, who had a firm grip on the administration, legislature, and judiciary, did not remain silent.

“Don’t make absurd claims! Do you think we wouldn’t know that you have been extorting heavy taxes from the peasants all this time!”

“Do we not know that when the fall harvest comes, 90% of the profits from the produced agricultural products are looted and go to give prosperity to those who starve to death in the end?!”

“The peasants should have the right to refuse a lord who extorts them and seek a lord who guarantees better treatment! Your Majesty! This bill is for that purpose! Please consider revoking it! Marquis Landor’s proposed bills are not evil laws!”

“Shut your mouth! Are you youngsters going to ruin the foundation of the empire, which is agriculture?! How absurd!”

“It’s actually the other way around, you know!”

“Your Majesty! Please listen directly to the words of the peasants!”

The Adran faction was truly cunning. They had passionately requested me to bring the peasants who had been in the territories of the nobles belonging to the Empty Yard Party, who had escaped to the Porto Commercial Zone and the Elond Territory, to the capital. It wasn’t a difficult request, so I used the Dragon Courier to swiftly bring 30 peasants to the capital.

Because it was my first time riding the Dragon Courier, I felt nauseous and had a pale expression, but the peasants who had sharper expressions than anyone else entered the Royal Palace.

“Lorandor, Lord.”

They bowed their heads with a respectful expression as they looked at me, and I shook their hands one by one before pointing to the Emperor.

“There is nothing much. Just report to the Emperor exactly what happened to you.”

“Yes, understood.”

With the anger pent up inside them, the peasants began to vent their frustrations to the Emperor. There was no need for me to prepare a speech. What could be more natural and powerful than the anger that arises from life itself?

“When we barely manage to harvest in autumn, they take away 90% of it! 90%!!! We have no food to eat and survive throughout the winter!!! They don’t even let us have finely ground white bread. If we try to make and eat roughly ground black bread, they also tax us!!!”

“They say that bread production tax and harvest tax are different things!!!”

“That’s right!! That’s right!!!! Many of our neighbors starved to death when winter came. It’s not about surviving!! Your Majesty!!!!”

“There were even people becoming bandits as a result!!”

The corruption of the Binyard party members poured endlessly. It was at a point where I had to intervene and cut them off. The Emperor, weakened by old age, couldn’t listen to such a long story. So I summarized it in one sentence.

“In short, Your Majesty. The Peasant Redemption Act is the minimum right that peasants have to avoid being plundered. It is by no means an unjust law, but rather a bill that allows peasants to go to better territories and produce more. They shouldn’t starve to death, shouldn’t they be able to work on the land next year?”

“It’s a lie!! It’s a lie!!!!”

“Your Majesty! This is an unjust law!!! It is just a wicked scheme by the evil Lord Lorandor to empty the grain-producing areas! Your Majesty!!!!”

A remarkable scene unfolded as the Binyard party members shouted.

It was the sight of the nobles of the Adran faction supporting me.

“Lord Lorandor is right!! Your Majesty! This is by no means an unjust law!!!”

“It is a precedent that recognizes the rights of the peasants!!!”

The peasants also chimed in.

“That’s right! Your Majesty! We are happy in the territory of Lord Lorandor!! We are given new farmland and hardly any taxes! Please let us continue to live where we are!!!!”

“Shut your mouths!! What do these dirty peasants know!!!!”

“You better shut your own mouth!! What are you sticking up for, acting like you’ve done something great!!!!!!”

In the end, it exploded. As the noise grew inside the royal palace, the Emperor waved his hand to calm the chaos.

“The law will not be abolished.”

“Your Majesty!!!!!!!”

“Didn’t Lord Lorandor speak the truth? Is there anything wrong with the opinion of guaranteeing the rights of the peasants?”

The Emperor blinked his eyes as if he were annoyed.

Living and living.

I knew how to make use of the Emperor’s incompetence.

“I will simply maintain it. I will not listen to any further objections. If this matter is mentioned again, severe punishment will be imposed, so keep that in mind!!!! That’s all for today!!”

After saying that, the Emperor stood up and returned to the palace, flustered.

The Yard Party members at the empty yard were looking at me with completely disdainful expressions, and I smiled at them mischievously.

From Noble mtl dot com

“If you feel wronged, either guarantee the benefits of the peasants or stop looting and oppressing them!”

Is it because I am here? A swollen peasant shouted.

Thirteen members of the Yard Party and their supporters, the capital nobles, walked away with furious expressions. And that was all they could do.

What can I do?

The words the peasant just said are true.

The news that had spread from the royal palace seemed to have reached many peasants in the Portu Commercial Zone and the Earl of Eland. After returning to the Earl of Eland and the Portu Commercial City, the 30 peasants I had brought with me became excited and started talking.

“So!!! I reported all the bad things those bastards have done for the past! I was so angry that I grumbled like a pig, but I couldn’t do anything more than that!! hahahahaha!!!”

“So what? What happened then?”

“Many noble people in the capital supported me! Lord Randor even joined in! hahahahaha!! It couldn’t have been more thrilling!!! Nothing can be more thrilling than that!!!!”

The rumors spread quickly.

And as the rumors spread and transformed, it shook the hearts of many peasants and had one effect.

“Lord Randor made a law for us?”

“Lord Randor stood up against the nobles of the Yard Party for us?”

The already high support rate of the peasants towards me began to skyrocket.

The word “vertical rise” was not enough to describe it.

The peasants didn’t forget what I had done for them. Allowing them to borrow money from the bank at a low price to provide settlement capital, developing agricultural land so they can farm and earn profits.

Giving them a very high income salary so that their wives and extended families don’t starve.

They remembered it all.

Plus, when the rumor spread that I had fought against the Yard Party members in the capital and persuaded the Emperor to make a law for the peasants, the support rate could only go up.

“Lord Randor!”

“Hail the Earl!! Long live the Lord!!!!!!”

To the point where I couldn’t even walk down the street without every peasant rushing towards me, bowing and showing respect. I smiled and received all their greetings.

To become this popular. It was somewhat unexpected, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

And I kept my promise to the Adran faction officials.

I started building elementary schools in the Portu Commercial City and the Earl of Eland on a large scale.

And I persuaded the peasants using my skyrocketing popularity.

“Send your children to elementary school. They will learn basic subjects such as arithmetic, literacy, history, and science here. Knowledge is power. The nobles have been playing with you because you couldn’t read or learn. You need to learn at least some basic knowledge.”

It was at the peak of my popularity. The peasants, who could even pretend to die if it was my words, started sending their children to school.

But there were hesitant peasants too.

“Our children should help with farming…”

“Why teach them things like reading and studying when they can just help with farming?”

There were people who, based on traditional thinking, did not want to send their children to school. But I had a powerful means of persuasion.

“Sending children to school will result in a lack of labor, right? I understand. In households that send their children to school, I will provide a workhorse to assist with farming free of charge.”

“…”

“If it’s a household that sends their daughter to school, I will provide an additional workhorse.”

The Karamba Empire on the western continent did not have much land suitable for agriculture. Therefore, it was a country where animal husbandry was more developed than farming. It was possible because they could import large quantities of livestock at a low cost.

A young child and two workhorses.

It was obvious which one was more beneficial even without looking.

Parents who couldn’t send their children for fear of labor shortage listened to my words and immediately started sending their children to elementary school.

The enrollment rate was tremendous.

When I contacted the Adran faction officials, they soon sent young teachers with great passion to my territory.

They came to the school with well-organized textbooks and curricula, even though I didn’t ask them to.

“Education is power!!!!!!”

They started educating the children passionately. I provided them with generous treatment and a comfortable salary.

Was that all? I also started constructing an academy for the commoners in the capital.

A significant amount of money went in, but I didn’t consider it wasteful at all.

If this could win the favor of the Adran and Seleene factions, it would be an extremely cheap investment.

And most peasants needed to be able to read for a new market.

Printed materials such as newspapers and booklets had been the exclusive property of a small number of elites. It had to be spread to many peasants for the typographic and book market to become active.

“Damn you, Rendor!!!!!!”

Quality jobs.

There were amusement parks in the Marquisdom and theater and circus groups in the Porto Commercial District. There was an abundance of entertainment.

Moreover, when we mentioned that education would be provided free of charge, even more peasants flocked to the Marquisdom of Elond and the Porto Commercial District, which resulted in the nobles of Vinyard Party being infuriated.

But oh well.

What can I do?

Now, even legally, the mass migration of peasants was no longer a problem.

The plan of the Vinyard Party members to manipulate me with rumors was thwarted by this satisfying reverse tourism.

And a few days later.

The first three films in the Empire were released in theaters.