I'm not a lord

Chapter 178 Please confer upon Lynn the title of Governor-General of the Northern Frontier
When the clear female voice rang out in the hall, everyone in the hall, including King Maurice, looked in the direction of the sound.

In the past two months, with most of the court officials fleeing, the palace has essentially become Maurice's personal fiefdom.

But it didn't help.

His orders can't even leave Amber Harbor now.

He was more like a 'city lord' than a king.

Most of the nobles in the Crown Territory ignored him, waiting only for the Duke of the Swamp to be crowned before they pledged allegiance to the new king.

The only consolation for Maurice was that the citizens of Amber Harbor stood by him.

The autonomous status of the royal capital, Amber Harbor, was established over a hundred years ago, when the king voluntarily relinquished his daily governance over the city.

The main reason is that the demands of various forces in the city are too complex, and the officials appointed by the royal family are difficult to manage, often causing all sorts of big troubles. Therefore, the king delegated power to the city council.

Of course, there are also differences between autonomous cities.

Not all autonomous cities are fully autonomous, nor are all lords unable to exert influence over them.

In exchange for autonomy, the Amber Harbor City Council must have a permanent representative of the King, the mayor elected by the council must swear allegiance to the King, the council's books must be made public to the King, and the council must pay a certain percentage of its annual fiscal surplus.

At the same time, the king can also intervene in city customs and obtain substantial revenue from the import and export of bulk commodities.

After becoming a municipality, a large number of merchants from the South settling in Amber Harbor with goods and huge sums of money led to the city's rapid development and continuous population growth.

The city's annual tax revenue to the royal family far exceeds previous levels.

The advantage of urban self-governance lies in its ability to enable various forces in the city to reach a relative balance through parliamentary consultations, thereby relieving some of the oppression of the city by feudal forces.

So what's the cost?

The price was naturally the continuous expansion of the power of merchants and citizens, who began to fight against the royal family over taxation issues, and the conflict between the wealthy merchants at the top of the city and the lower-class citizens became increasingly prominent.

The royal family's solution was for the king to personally bring some daughters from wealthy merchant families into the palace as mistresses and lovers.

At the same time, representatives were sent to listen to the voices of the middle and lower classes, to try to mediate the conflicts between the two sides, and to act as an arbitrator.

This two-pronged approach has yielded remarkable results.

The king could both extricate himself from the power struggles in the city, exert influence over the city's major social classes, and enjoy the city's taxes and the huge donations from wealthy merchants.

Occasionally, when reconciliation fails, they are attacked with rotten eggs and stones by citizens.

Compared to the enormous, visible benefits, this small matter was insignificant to the king.

The current King Maurice's mother came from a wealthy merchant family.

His uncle was the president of the Amber Harbor Grain Guild, which monopolized almost all of the Northern Kingdom's grain exports.

Therefore, Morris naturally gained favor with the wealthy class.

In order to win over his base, he immediately took two daughters of wealthy businessmen as mistresses after his coronation, which made his foundation among the wealthy businessmen even more solid.

The Duke of the Marsh's brutal massacre in the city of Coron provided him with another boost, earning him the strong support of the citizens.

At present, Morris's orders cannot leave Amber Harbor.

But within the city, he was the true 'king,' and the small court in the palace obeyed his every command.

The crushing defeat in Cologne was not entirely a bad thing for him; at least it gave him some real 'power'.

But even today, in this tiny court, there is someone who dares to oppose him.

This greatly surprised Maurice.

But when he saw the slender, tall figure of his opponent, his anger vanished instantly, and a smile returned to his face.

"Chloris, state your reasons."

The opponent is Princess Chloris, the former king's youngest daughter, now seventeen years old, who is also the object of the Duke of the Swamp's attempt to marry his eldest son.

Logically speaking, with the passing of the former king, Chloris's title of princess should have also disappeared.

But Maurice really liked his little niece.

Or rather, almost no one in the palace disliked Chloris.

She was the youngest daughter of the former king and was deeply loved by her father, but she did not take advantage of his favor and was always polite to officials and servants.

She also possesses stunning beauty and a brilliant mind; her waist-length blonde hair is smoother than the finest velvet, and her bright eyes are more dazzling than sapphires.

More importantly, she is a direct descendant of the Urenis family.

Whoever marries her will gain a claim to the throne that is no less powerful than Maurice's.

This was also the main reason why the Duke of the Marshland wanted her to be his daughter-in-law.

Maurice naturally refused the marriage proposal.

To appease his niece and to reinforce the legitimacy of the royal bloodline, he deliberately retained Chloris's title of princess, allowing her to continue living in the palace and receiving the same treatment as a regular princess.

Whenever there were royal council meetings, Maurice would have Chloris attend as an observer, and occasionally he would even take some of her opinions into consideration.

In the last two months, Chloris has provided Morris with several extremely useful strategies, including a scorched-earth policy for the outskirts of Amber Harbor and joining forces with the Duke of the Vale to deal with the Duke of the Swamp.

Her advice always hit the nail on the head and was approved by most of the officials, so Maurice trusted his niece more and more.

Although she spoke somewhat rudely today, the rather short-tempered Morris was still willing to listen patiently to her views.

Faced with the questioning gazes of the king and his officials, Chloris glanced around, nodded in greeting, and then calmly said:
“Your Majesty, my reason for opposing you is simple. I believe you should not only grant Lynn the title of Earl. In order to gain his loyalty, you need to give him more titles, such as Governor-General of the Northern Frontier, or even Marshal of the Royal Family!”

As soon as this statement came out, there was an uproar.

The Royal Chancellor of the Royal Council immediately jumped out to express his opposition:

"Frontier Governor? Royal Marshal? Lynn didn't dare reveal his background or identity at all; he was clearly just a bandit or mercenary leader who suddenly appeared!"
Granting a count title to someone who isn't even a nobleman is already a disgrace to the royal family, and now you're going to give him the titles of governor and marshal? Where is the dignity of the royal family?

These words expressed the sentiments of everyone present.

Although their origins were not high, at most they were sons of earls, and they were only able to sit in the hall because of their personal relationship with Maurice.

However, they were still able to proudly consider themselves nobles and look down on all commoners who were not of noble birth.

Of course, this excludes the wealthy class within the city.

The wealthy in Amber Harbor already belong to the category of urban aristocracy. Under the protection of the municipal laws, their status and wealth can be passed down from generation to generation, making them no less than the traditional aristocrats who control land.

Morris thought so too, of course.

He has now adopted the surname of the Urenius family and naturally considers himself the rightful king.

If it weren't for the fact that he was in a stronger position, and if he weren't hoping that Lynn could help him restrain the Duke of the Marshland, he wouldn't have been willing to grant Lynn the title of Earl.

Because it would be embarrassing to say it out loud.

This Northern Kingdom has been established for over two hundred years, and even including the Crown Territory and the three duchies, the number of earls it has issued is less than three digits. You, Lynn, were originally nothing, but just because you seized a relatively large territory during the war, I, the king, am going to bestow upon you the title of earl?

Where would that leave the King and the Royal Family's reputation?

The king's authority was thus damaged, so how could he command his ministers in the future?
The title of Earl is not so cheap!

Therefore, Morris's expression turned serious again: "Chloris, your suggestion this time is very inappropriate."

Seeing the dissatisfaction on her uncle's and the ministers' faces, Chloris simply sighed softly.

At this point, why are you still talking about the royal family's face?

Do you have that thing? Then let's talk.
From the illegitimate son inheriting the throne, to the disastrous defeat north of Coron, and now the Duke of the Swamp's army besieging Amber Harbor, the royal family has long since lost all face!

It's even cleaner than the statues of gods in churches that are wiped clean day and night!

Chloris thought that the crushing defeat in Coron City would teach her uncle a lesson.

Now it seems that he is no different from the useless ministers he has recruited; they are all good-for-nothings, incapable of achieving anything significant.

How can you conduct politics well when you're with these scoundrels?
How can the Northern Kingdom and House Wrynnis be made great again?
Yes, Lynn was originally nothing, perhaps just a mercenary bandit leader.

But he has now taken control of the Baihe River basin and is currently at war with Sanhe City.

Isn't this emerging local military force exactly what the royal family desperately needs?

Uncle Maurice, even if you do manage to hold off the Duke of the Marsh in Amber Harbor, what about the future?

You don't really want to rely on noble armies or mercenaries to reclaim lost territory, do you?

Those civilian militias seemed to have a lot of people, but they could only unleash their fighting power when defending the city. Outside the city, they couldn't even defeat ordinary bandits.

In your current state, do you even have the right to be picky?

Tell me, isn't Lynn your best target for winning over?

He has military power and an army, you have noble status and the title of king, you each have what the other needs most, aren't you a match made in heaven?

Why not just swallow your pride and bestow upon him the title of marshal or governor?
Yes, these two titles were previously only available to relatives and nobles of the royal family. They nominally granted the privilege of overseeing all the rights of a large territory and were temporary high-ranking positions established only during wartime.

But isn't this wartime? The Duke of the Swamp is watching you from outside the city!

If you bestow a higher title upon Lynn now, he may reward you thousands of times over in the future!

You don't need to give anything in return; all you have to do is send an envoy to deliver some ceremonial items to him.

Those territories that come with those titles, don't they all belong to the Duke of the Marshland? They were never yours to begin with!
You still have any shame? Bah!

Oh, and you ministers here, you're all dressed in expensive clothes and wearing colorful hats, you do look quite aristocratic.

But if we go back a hundred or two hundred years, weren't your ancestors all of lowly birth?

Merchants, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, bricklayers, and even the lowest serfs and slaves.

If your ancestors hadn't followed the first King of the North in conquering the North, would you have the wealth and status you have today?
In your current state, you are in danger but still scheming for that so-called glory and title. What's the difference between you and a dog that only knows how to wag its tail and beg?
In a flash, countless swear words flashed through Chloe's mind.

But she maintained a restrained smile and continued softly:

“Your Majesty, it is true that I did not consider things thoroughly enough, but for you, Lynn, who comes from a humble background, is the easiest person to win over at present.”

The Duke of the Valley has already acknowledged his status as Earl of the White River, so I still suggest you give Lynn the title of 'Royal Northern Envoy' and declare the Duke of the Swamp guilty of violating the 'Treason Law'.

In doing so, you can nominally strip the Marsh Duke of his rule over his territory and allow everyone, including Lynn, to legitimately attack the Marsh Duchy.

The title of 'Royal Executive Officer' is also temporary.

Whenever a local nobleman violated royal laws or resisted royal orders, the king would appoint an executor to go to the area to resolve the dispute.

To empower the executive officer to resolve disputes, the king would typically designate an area where the executive officer could mobilize forces loyal to the royal family, including territories, estates, and cities.

This power often encompasses administrative, judicial, and military privileges, somewhat similar to the 'imperial envoys' of ancient Eastern times.

Of course, the power and status of the executive officer were certainly lower than those of the marshal or governor.

As for the 'Treason Law', it was a legal provision specifically tailored for the nobles by the first King of the North.

This law was specifically designed to maintain the king's authority and possessed the characteristics of 'unpredictable punishment and immeasurable power'.

The king could declare anyone guilty of treason at any time.

Any nobleman who violates this law may have their title and land stripped by the king, and in serious cases, may even be sentenced to death.

Of course, whether such legal provisions can be successfully implemented depends mainly on whether the reigning king has the power to enforce the law.

During the reign of the first King in the North, three earls were executed for violating the law of treason, including his own brother.

However, subsequent kings never possessed such strength and courage.

For Morris, the Law of Rebellion was nothing more than a piece of waste paper.

If he were to invoke this legal provision again to punish the Duke of the Marsh and other rebels, the nobles would only think he was joking.

Ultimately, however, he was still the legitimate king who was crowned at Amber Harbor Cathedral.

If Maurice had followed Chloris's advice and declared the Duke of the Marsh guilty of treason...

In name only, the Duke of the Marshland had indeed lost control of his territory.

This is the function of a 'name'.

As for the actual outcome, it depends on how many people dare to occupy these 'unclaimed lands'.

Chloris suggested that her uncle do this mainly because she wanted to give Lynn a stage to perform.

She didn't know what Lynn looked like, nor did she know Lynn's specific abilities.

But now that things have come to this, she has no choice but to try to believe in Lynn.

At least Lynn controlled a count's territory and possessed a certain military strength, making him a usable pawn.

At the same time, this move might also incite other ambitious figures in the Marsh Duchy, giving them a reason to raise the banner of rebellion against the Duke.

As for why Chloris was so hostile to the Duke of the Swamp, it was naturally because she truly did not want to marry the Duke's eldest son, László.

Due to the long-standing marriage alliance between the two families, the Duke of the Swamp should be considered Chloris's cousin in terms of seniority.

If she were to marry László, it would disrupt the family hierarchy and constitute consanguineous marriage.

More importantly, she had met László before and disliked the man's brute character.

Right now, all Chloris has to do is do everything she can to help her uncle defeat the Duke of the Swamp and avoid marrying László.

(End of this chapter)