I Became the illegitimate son of a duke

71 – Disposition of Church Orders (1)

“Has the King of Carolingian accepted my offer to end the war?”

“Yes. He was slightly offended that you executed him in such a drastic way, but instead he said that if we continued the previous negotiations, we would do nothing.”

“Negotiation…”

Since it was a previous negotiation, it must mean exchanging funds and recognition from the kingdom of Rotaring.

It feels a little bad to give money to the enemy even after winning a battle, but Arras said it was just a walk anyway, so it doesn’t matter anyway?

Since I am grateful enough for the fact that you handed over the nobles to me in the first place, I think it’s okay to listen to King Carolingian’s words.

From nob le mtl dot com

Most of all, the money rots away, such as maritime trade, fertile farmland, reparations from Caroling, and funds obtained from cutting the pears of nobles who rebelled.

“Ugh, uh…”

What is this, why is he like this again?

At that time, Carolingian’s reaper, who heard my self-talk, suddenly shook his body and lowered his head. It’s as if you shouldn’t show your face to me.

‘Is that too much…?’

In the past, I had notoriety because I held an execution ceremony using a guillotine, but after the so-called pig slaughterhouse incident, the way people looked at me, both at home and abroad, changed a lot.

A typical example would be the reaper of Carolingian.

Obviously, until a while ago, he acted as if he had an equal position with me as he came as a representative of Carolingian with his back straight, but now he has his back and head bowed excessively. When my eyes met, I was startled and averted my gaze.

Umm… It’s definitely better to look scary than look funny… But what is this awkwardness?

“Yes, tell the King of Carolingian to continue the negotiations that were previously ongoing. This is the end of the war for my honor.”

“Okay, I see… Your Majesty.”

At my answer, Carolingian’s Reaper was visibly relieved and wiped his chest. It is a reaction as if he had managed to revive the knight after having his death in front of his eyes.

That’s right… Who would think I’m eating you?

Still, I don’t feel too bad.

…………

“Your Majesty, the civil war within the Holy Empire is intensifying. The informants dispatched to the Empire say that, excluding the crusade forces, the members of the Imperial faction and the Anti-Imperial faction risked everything in this war.”

“…Hmm.”

In a war in this era without the concept of total war, nobles on both sides throw soldiers’ lives into chips, and the side whose chips run out first loses and loses the stake.

If the betting is too much and the family property is in danger of being uprooted, it is common sense to just lose a little and die.

But… Those bastards are way past their timing to die.

The losing side dies in all fields: political, social, historical, and biological. If you die, there is literally only death, so the only option left for them is to pour their all into betting until the very end.

“That would be great for Rotaring.”

“Yes indeed.”

However, the more you do, the more you benefit from rotation.

Though the frequent battles threatened plunder and completely blocked the flow of civilians, the empire, which had become unable to self-sufficient due to an oversized army and the devastation of its territories, all of them, whether emperors or anti-empires, took supplies from neighboring countries at random. Because I started buying them.

All the factions within the empire each attached a huge escort to their wagons, and it became a daily routine to buy weapons and food from abroad.

The anti-emperor faction and the emperor faction, whom I met in Dijon before, had gone on a rampage to kill each other, but they calmed down after threatening to cut off all dealings with the person who caused it if the flames of battle spread to Korea.

Of course, there are not only good things.

“How is security going in the villages adjacent to the border area?”

“The number of people who do not speak Burgon has increased dramatically, and the majority of them are broke.”

The most serious of the bad things is, of course, refugees.

There is no chemical fertilizer, and most of the country is made up of fresh nature, so Rotaring can never accommodate that many refugees. Not only Rotaring, but other countries as well.

It is possible to use those refugees to reclaim the unexplored land dominated by nature, but that work is not to be done in just one year. Slashing is possible, but since we need wood for the factory, that’s not possible.

It will take a long time until farmland can produce stable crops, and until then, those refugees must be fed, clothed, and housed. We even need tools for the clearing.

“First of all, banish all those who don’t know the letters.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Above all, there are many simple manpower in Korea, so there is no reason to use a foreign labor force that does not communicate.

If you filter the refugees by whether they are illiterate or not, at least you won’t suffer any loss.

There are very few people who know letters among ordinary people, not nobles, and most of them are very likely to have other knowledge as well.

It is because commoners who are not nobles and have nothing to use in their daily lives, but are rare to learn letters. He must have learned letters for necessity, such as writing a ledger or reading a book, so he must be a high-class talent.

…………

“Your Majesty, I heard you found it.”

“Armand, welcome.”

After the policy for the empire was roughly decided, I called Armand for the next plan, church reform.

Without the cooperation of Armand, who oversees all the churches in the Archdiocese of Dijon, that is, Rotaring Kingdom, church reform will be very difficult.

“We need your help in the planned church reform.”

“Reform…You mean?”

“So, didn’t you always mention the need for reform?”

Of course Armand wouldn’t refuse.

Even before sympathizing with Jeanne, he was a person who realized the problems in his own way and tried to prevent corruption in the church.

“But… The timing is too opportune. If we try to reform the church at this time when the Holy War is in progress, the power of the Holy Spirit will—”

“No, rather, I have to do it now.”

Arman is now afraid that the blades of the temple forces will be heading this way, but even if this side goes a little way, there is a high probability that he will close his eyes because the empire will not be enough.

In addition, I felt that I had protested against the letter I sent from Seonghwangcheong as much as possible without going against my heart.

We must make the most of this opportunity, when the major event of the holy war overshadows the minor one.

“Is that so…?”

“Okay, don’t worry. First of all, what’s the status of the church spirits?”

“Hmm… I can’t explain all the details in words, but except for the area where Miss Jeanne once swept through the church territories, she enjoys unchanging prosperity.”

“Prosperity…”

That prosperity probably doesn’t mean prosperity in the pure sense. Above all, shouldn’t the church, which should be poor, prosper?

“Didn’t they learn a lesson from the case of Jeanne or the Empire?”

“Yes, they seem to have infinite trust in you.”

“That’s right… I’m glad to receive your trust.”

That is to say, churches in Korea are continuing to do what they were doing, believing only in the mighty Rotaring army.

After watching Jeanne and Empire, I expected that the churches would change, but it seems that the time for self-purification has already passed.

“Then you should act according to your beliefs. The land belonging to the Church’s territories should be properly distributed.”

“Properly…?”

“From now on, the land that can be owned by the church is limited to brewing wine for the church or growing crops to make bread.”

“…?”

At my words, Armand frowned and expressed a puzzled feeling.

Of course. I say this because it is exactly the same as the definition of the ecclesiastical decree in the present law.

If you say you’re going to reform, but nothing seems to have changed, you’d be suspicious.

“Armand, do churches abide by the definition of church decree?”

“Hmm… You can say that they are well protected. It is because they have a lot of fertile farmland under the pretext of drinking and bread.”

“No, no. They are not following the law. Church decrees are limited to the cultivation of crops for making bread or brewing wine for the Church’s needs… It means you shouldn’t own a plantation of crops that you can’t consume all by yourself.”

“That’s…!”

Hearing my words, Armand opened his eyes wide in surprise.

Of course, this is an over-exaggerated interpretation… But isn’t that sounding like a chump at all?

[Churches are breaking the law.]

[Hmm… It’s true that they’re too corrupt, but for now, they’re playing within the bounds of the law. We need to reform the church by amending the law.]

[No, the church should only own crops it can consume. This is also clearly stated in the law.]

‘Jane, indeed…’

How did you come up with this idea?

Obviously far-fetched, but it doesn’t make any sense at all.

Above all, it is less politically burdensome to reinterpret an existing law than to amend the law at all.

“Am I wrong? What justification does the Church have for a crop she can’t consume herself? They’ve been breaking the law ever since.”

“…You can see it that way.”

“In other words, in order to solve this problem, the land of excessive church territories must be divided and distributed to farmers. I will pay the price.”

As I said before, Rotaring currently has a lot of money to rot.

I have to confiscate all of them for a fee, make them my direct domain, and then give them to the farmers.

Of course, only the horses are tenant farming, but since I, the owner of the country, am the landlord, it is virtually no different from self-employed farmers.

Ah, it’s great to be able to foster independent farmers and reform the church at the same time.