Divine Kingship

Chapter 584 Division of Kingdoms, Split of Land, King

After a few days of rest, Rand's vacation finally came to an end.

Today, it is Ellie, not Berlan, who is by Rand's side.

The roles of the two have now been reversed, and Ellie has been using Ellie's body for a longer period of time than Berlan has been using Ellie's body.

I feel that things will stabilize completely after a while.

However, after serving as the White Queen for a while, Ellie has developed a bit more of an aura of authority than before.

This was still somewhat novel for Rand.

Both of them attended the meeting.

The Conference on the Division of the Kingdom of Bolun.

The hunt for the new king of the Kingdom of Bolun is still ongoing, but for the people of the Frostmoon Kingdom, the Kingdom of Bolun is already considered to be destroyed.

The Kingdom of Bologna was no longer defensible.

In some chivalric novels, the Kingdom of Bolen may be able to be restored and its royal glory restored through a series of exciting stories.

Due to the hasty conquest, rebellions are now rampant within the Kingdom of Bolun.

The nobles formed a resistance army.

The countryside is teeming with bandits.

Towns that have already agreed to surrender are ready to defect at any time.

These are all things that need to be dealt with; they're troublesome.

Overall, however, the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom were full of confidence.

A war of annihilation, a war of annihilation between nations, has achieved its current results with such a small cost.

The problems that followed were no big deal to them.

"Then let the meeting begin." Marcus, sporting dark circles under his eyes, began to chair the meeting.

"Rand made the greatest and most outstanding contribution in this war to destroy the Kingdom of Bolen." Marcus was actually quite troubled by the issue of dividing the spoils.

He and Rand discussed it privately.

Marcus didn’t mind the entire Kingdom of Rand coming out.

After discussing with Rand, Marcus decided to support Rand in establishing a kingdom.

If Rand is allowed to retain his status as Duke of the Moon.

That would be disadvantageous for the Frostmoon Kingdom.

Because if Rand continues to stay in the Frostmoon Kingdom, it will become a huge political, economic, and cultural entity.

This will force the nobles of the restless Frostmoon Kingdom to consider their internal allegiance within the kingdom.

Indeed, there's Rand and Marcus, as well as the Bucks Marquess and the current Black and Brown Marquess.

They are close allies, and their alliance is unwavering with no disagreements.

But what the upper echelons think doesn't mean what the lower echelons think—Rand's, Marcus's, the Marquis of Bucks' and the Marquis of Blackbrown's vassals and relatives.

They all have their own interests and demands.

Because of their own interests, they will inevitably gradually influence the lords they are enfeoffed with.

Then political factions will form.

If Rand retains his title as Duke of Frostmoon Kingdom after gaining enormous benefits, then some nobles will inevitably side with Rand, hoping that Rand will gain even more benefits while other political factions will gain less.

After all, having a ducal territory that occupies nearly a quarter of a country's land area has a huge impact.

On the contrary, they supported Rand in establishing a kingdom...

This is beneficial not only to the Frostmoon Kingdom but also to the Thorn Family.

When Rand establishes his own kingdom, he naturally intends to seize the lands of the Moon Phase Duchy from the Frostmoon Kingdom.

However, the Frostmoon Kingdom will also gain a large portion of the Bolen Kingdom's land; it's not like Rand will take all of Bolen's land.

Compared to the land that the Frostmoon Kingdom obtained from the Kingdom of Bolen, the land that the Duke of the Moon Phase took away by Rand was nothing.

Of course, this is only in terms of area. In terms of quality, the quality of the Duchy of Lunar Phases is certainly far superior to that of other lands.

But these high-quality lands were built by Rand himself.

As for the investments made by other nobles on the land of Rand... Rand will not disregard those previous investments simply because it has established a kingdom.

However, allowing Rand to establish a kingdom was a bittersweet matter for Rand.

One reason is that Rand has difficulty gathering enough people to manage such a large area of ​​land for the time being, and another reason is that he can no longer force Marcus to go to work.

“In short, I think it is appropriate to place these lands under the rule of Duke Rand of the Moon Phase.” Marcus pointed out some of the marked lands on the map.

Nearly half of the land in the Kingdom of Bolun was distributed fairly evenly, with some good land and some not so good land.

Rand had no objection to this.

The ministers and nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom had no objections to this.

Actually, there were still a few nobles who were not very satisfied.

After all, not all nobles have the ability to think rationally.

In terms of contributions alone, RAND fully deserves so much land.

However, many nobles suffered significant losses during the war due to their own reasons or other causes.

Rand suffered almost no losses in the war, so some of them found it emotionally difficult to accept that Rand had gained so much.

However, these dissatisfied nobles dared not show any discontent at this time.

Because they knew very well that if they stepped forward at this time, they would be opposed by the vast majority of nobles, and even be resented by Rand.

And the consequences of being antagonized by Rand... would be something they could not bear.

So everyone can see that the land allocation is very reasonable. Since RAND did not take all the prime land, most people are very satisfied with the allocation result.

“Then it’s about the land allocation for the others,” Marcus continued, chairing the meeting.

When the discussion turned to the distribution of their own land and benefits, the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom immediately perked up, and the once quiet meeting room became lively.

In short, it's about some nobles who are usually gentle and refined, acting like aristocrats, suddenly becoming angry, even pushing and shoving each other, and starting to argue in order to fight for their interests.

This process is usually very troublesome and involves a lot of discussion and arguments.

It's the same this time.

By tonight, no conclusion had been reached in the discussion.

Then came the arguments and divisions on the second, third, and fourth days.

Everyone has their own interests and demands, everyone believes they have made a greater contribution and everyone hopes to receive more, but it is impossible to satisfy everyone.

In the end, such arguments usually come up with a solution that everyone can basically accept.

Then, after making a few minor changes to the plan, it was accepted by almost everyone.

The same thing happened this time. A week later, everyone had basically come up with a solution that was barely acceptable to each other.

Then it became big news.

The meeting usually ends around this time, and everyone goes back to collect their spoils.

As for the land they acquired, they should also carry out construction and quell rebellions as appropriate.

But today Marcus took out a piece of parchment.

"There will be another topic on the agenda this time, which is to support Lord Rand in establishing the Moon Phase Kingdom."

There was an uproar.

In fact, it wasn't that no nobles hadn't considered these political issues.

The nobles had no objection to Rand acquiring so much land.

But how will the Frostmoon Kingdom conduct itself after Rand acquires such land?

This is a very intriguing question.

However, during this period, the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom were busy fighting for their own interests, so they didn't have much time to think about what role Duke Rand would play in the Frostmoon Kingdom.
Now that the benefits have been distributed, it's clear that this was indeed a rather troublesome and difficult matter to handle.

However, it now appears that His Majesty the King has already considered this matter.

So, would you support Rand in establishing a kingdom?

This is something I never imagined before.

When the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom first learned of Rand, he was just an unknown infantry commander under the command of the Black-Brown Marquis.

At that time, Rand was accompanied by several plump women, and his soldiers were all dressed in rags, like bandits who had just turned out to be bandits.

At that time, no one thought that Rand could become a nobleman. In the eyes of the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom at that time, it was already a remarkable achievement for Rand to become a knight.

As for becoming a baron, that's an extremely rare occurrence, happening only once in a century.

Let alone now.

Rand became the King's Hand and the Duke of the Moon.

Some nobles in the Frostmoon Kingdom were resentful that Rand had received so much.

However, the nobles of Frostmoon Kingdom had no complaints about Rand's abilities.

If any of them were in Rand's position, they would certainly not be able to accomplish what Rand did.

Even though they didn't sense any extraordinary wisdom from Rand when they spent time together, they couldn't perceive that he possessed any extraordinary intelligence.

At most... at most, he's just an outsider with some novel ideas.

But it seems that this same Rand is now about to establish a kingdom.

So, should they express approval or disapproval?
Whether or not Rand establishes a kingdom, it will not make any difference to the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom in the short term, and it will not affect their interests in the short term.

However, in the long run...

The nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom were uncertain.

They cannot be certain what kind of impact this will have on the future, because there are too many unknowns.

What will Rand do if he retains his dukedom in the Frostmoon Kingdom? What will Rand do after establishing his kingdom and becoming king?
What was the international situation like at that time?

These are all things that are completely uncertain.

This left most of the nobles present at a loss for words.

They couldn't even be sure what impact supporting or opposing would have on them, whether it would be beneficial or detrimental.
Rand saw this.

He rubbed his temples and said, "Then, as the person involved, I'd like to offer some of my own opinions."

Rand really dislikes meetings, especially troublesome ones like this, but it's necessary to make things clear at times like this, otherwise it will only cause more trouble later.

Rand personally prefers to establish his own royal court. Rand has some very unique political systems and special races that belong exclusively to Rand territory. Doing so would allow for better establishment of a political system and cultural integration, and a more sound and better model of governance.

If Rand were merely a duke, he wouldn't be able to directly issue laws that completely defy common sense.

A lord has almost complete rights over his land, but enacting overly bizarre laws can still have some consequences. However, if Rand establishes a new kingdom, these consequences will be less pronounced.

Of course, even if Rand is just a duke, he can still issue decrees, but it would be much more troublesome than establishing a kingdom.

But then again, establishing a kingdom is itself a very troublesome matter.

Therefore, Rand was very hesitant about this matter.

But Rand still decided to move forward.

"Actually, everyone doesn't need to worry too much about what major changes will occur after I establish my kingdom. In essence, I will not change my alliance with the Frostmoon Kingdom, and the Moon Phase Kingdom will also stand with the Frostmoon Kingdom through thick and thin." Rand's words ended there.

Rand could have said more, but he didn't, since establishing a kingdom isn't an election, but rather a division of interests.

Rand could have completely ignored the opinions of the Frostmoon Kingdom and established the kingdom directly.

However, Rand did not want to abandon the friendly relations with the Frostmoon Kingdom, since with his current strength, he was not capable of supporting the size of a kingdom.

If they were to sever ties with the Frostmoon Kingdom, it would be far too difficult for the Duchy of Land Moon to rule over nearly half of the Kingdom of Bolen, and they would easily find themselves unable to manage both.

Moreover, Rand had no intention of severing the friendly relations with the Frostmoon Kingdom.

Rand was born in the Frostmoon Kingdom. Thanks to the attention of the old dark-brown Marquis of the Frostmoon Kingdom, Rand has a deep affection for the Frostmoon Kingdom, even though the nobles and kings of the Frostmoon Kingdom are actually quite abstract from generation to generation.

The old king died leading his troops in a charge.

The old king didn't know whether he died of illness or from being crushed.

The current king is even more abstract, but this king was chosen by Rand himself.

Honestly, there is no better king of Frostmoon Kingdom than Marcus.

Land also has a good relationship with the Black Brown Marquis and the Stag Marquis of the Frostmoon Kingdom.

Because Rand established a church school, many of the new generation of nobles in the Frostmoon Kingdom are actually Rand's former students and followers.

The bond between Rand and the Frostmoon Kingdom is actually very strong.

"That's all there is to it. There won't be any major changes, except that from now on you'll have to call me His Majesty the King," Rand joked.

Many nobles from the Frostmoon Kingdom laughed, and the atmosphere became more relaxed.

After a while, the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom discussed among themselves and gradually raised their hands in agreement.

Most of the nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom agreed to nominally support Rand in establishing the kingdom, and also agreed to provide a certain amount of actual support.

All of this support will be included in Rand's investments and will be repaid when the kingdom is established and produces results.

The nobles of the Frostmoon Kingdom were already somewhat familiar with this investment and return model, and they had already received a considerable amount from Rand's dividends.

End of the meeting.

Rand left the meeting room.

The golden sunlight of dusk fell on Rand's hands and hair.

Just like a crown and a scepter.

(End of this chapter)