The current Donglan Principality was no longer the poor and weak Northland country it used to be. It had new citizens, new armies, new religions, and far too many other changes that caused this country's foundational structure to change drastically.
The majority of its citizens were composed of the Northland humans and the grayblood elves. There were no specific statistics on the ratio between the two, but even though there was a large difference in population, there shouldn't be a large difference in overall power level. After all, the former Tassel Kingdom was the strongest of the four Northland elf kingdoms, far more powerful than the weakest Donglan. The elves' individual power levels were also far higher than the humans', and their high-level combat strength and foundational power levels were also incomparable.
In order to avoid the accumulation of conflicts from living together for a long period of time, I rejected all suggestions of convention and forced the two to live together.
Perhaps this would cause friction and trouble at the very beginning, but it was far better than living on our own and constantly accumulating conflicts due to misunderstandings and differences. Then, under the influence of ambitious people and schemers, these conflicts would accumulate until they exploded.
The People of the Mist were a product of many different ethnic groups. They were a cultural concept. Perhaps, as long as we dealt with this appropriately, it would be possible to achieve cultural recognition and form a single voice in the future.
The Northland Principality was probably the only country in the Northland that had so many different ethnic groups. However, what was even more special was the unique structure of the country and dukedom.
The original Donglan Principality was a dukedom rather than a kingdom because it had indeed borrowed the power of several mega-empires when it was first established. The previous king, Charles, was even the Grand Duke of the powerful Intanro Kingdom. He had even promised to become a vassal on the surface.
Charles would use the identity of a Pioneer Knight to establish a new territory for a major country in order to obtain financial and military support. After becoming the ruler of a territory, he would then become a vassal of a major country. This was a common development path for newly established countries.
However, Charles had an additional process. After Donglan successfully established itself, he tore apart the ten vassal vassal agreements. That's right, Charles had been lying from start to finish. He had actually simultaneously requested aid from more than ten countries and declared himself a vassal.
Of course, it was only later that they found out that those big countries had been fooled. But the result of the Shire stepping on more than a dozen boats was that under the mutual checks and balances, no one got any benefits. Instead, the Donglan Principality became independent. In fact, the process was extremely complicated and arduous. The geographical advantage of being remote and poor also played a huge role.
However, the side effect was that his reputation was ruined. Since the establishment of the Donglan Principality, it had not had a good reputation. Not only was it seen as a barbarian by the countries in the Central Plains, its credibility had also fallen to rock bottom.
This was also the historical reason why the rulers were all kings and not grand dukes. In fact, there were even two dukes in the Donglan Principality. However, the noble system in Donglan was basically unrelated to the Central Plains. It was not the first time that the Donglan Principality was treated as a "barbarian's house game".
However, in the feudal Knight Era, these nobles and domain lords had the heavy responsibility of protecting their citizens and territory. They were indeed the backbone of this country. But now, to me, in a way, they were obstructions.
At the very least, my political orders had been obstructed more than once or twice. I knew that these people were difficult to deal with. They had all sorts of reasons and excuses, and the conflict between the central government and the local governments never ceased. Especially when I was consciously trying to reform the centralization of power, I became the target of everyone's attacks. Every month, I would receive several complaints letters from the local domain lords to Renée, accusing her (me) of deceiving her and making life difficult for the people.
This time, I arranged for the elves to live in the new city, the royal family's territory, and the territories of the princes' nobles. This caused quite a few major nobles to complain. After all, everyone knew that compared to their artworks and magical artifacts, the elves themselves were a great source of wealth.
This was also why I didn't dare to completely disperse the elves. The ruler was far away, and the domain lords were the sky of their land. I couldn't expect every noble domain lord to have a high moral bottom line. If they caused a few more vicious incidents, the elves, who were already frightened by the mere twang of a bow, would become even more threatened. Any of my long-term goals would be ruined.
However, this type of situation where the domain lords were the most powerful couldn't be dragged on forever. Perhaps it was because I was in Yongye or the Underground World, so I was used to centralization of power. From the very start, I was quite dissatisfied with the feudal system.
Back then, simply allowing the citizens to freely move about caused a huge backlash and resistance. This actually made me determined to reform the feudal system.
However, I also knew that forcefully reforming the feudal system would affect the interests of all the nobles and domain lords, which would be no different from starting a civil war. That was why I could only slowly cook the frog over a slow fire, killing it slowly with a knife.
The newly born Donglan Principality was a country that combined politics and religion. The God of Law, Wumianzhe, was the national religion. In name, there were two highest leaders. One was Her Highness Renée, who wielded worldly power. The other was naturally Bishop Xueti, who wielded divine authority … Just thinking about how the highest leaders of this country were actually a naughty brat and a bastard who was constantly chased by the Town Security, I felt like having a heart attack.
Yep, at this point, some of you probably already guessed how I intended to take back the local nobles' authority. The battle between divine authority and worldly power was endless, and the irresistible blade of divine authority could also make the local domain lords speechless.
Since Wumianzhe's church was the national religion, wouldn't it be too much to establish a cathedral and branch church in every domain?
Since the God of Law's teachings were recognized by the citizens, wouldn't it be too much to have the Judge, Justice Knight, and Incantation User spread their teachings all over Donglan?
Since the God of Law's church's job class members were humble and skilled in battle, and they were well-received and praised by society, then from a long-term perspective, it was necessary to expand the church's scale. It wouldn't be too much to recruit people in your own domain, would it?
Since …
With a series of "since" s, there would definitely be one result as the Church of Law's local influence kept increasing.
"Since the God of Law's teachings state that everyone is equal under the law, it wouldn't be too much to have your head chopped off since you, a noble, have committed a serious crime!"
At that time, I, who wielded divine authority, would naturally be able to take back most worldly power and complete the centralization of power.
In my plan, if the Mist Alliance was a gigantic giant, then Donglan would definitely be the giant's heart and fist. As the first country to recognize the God of Law as its national religion, as well as the headquarters of the God of Law's church, every change he made would be copied and copied by other countries. It would be impossible for me to not make it into the best model that I had in mind.
"With the development of new technology, civilian airships and engineering vehicles that travel between cities will become a reality sooner or later. Once transportation and transportation become convenient, then the mobilization of military forces will become convenient, and the suzerains' obligation to protect their citizens will be gone. Naturally, there will be no need for the system of one country per territory."
Of course, I was still far from the day when my plan would be completely realized, but at least I had something to look forward to.
All I needed to do was to sow the seeds and patiently wait for the day of harvest.
"Yep, it's definitely not that I want to slack off."
But from a certain standpoint, my status was quite awkward.
I was the nominal ancestor of Donglan. In that case, my status should be higher than that of the current ruler. Of course, this didn't include actual authority. After all, the previous emperors in history had all stopped doing anything. If they still wanted to do something major after they abdicated, then the country wouldn't be far from chaos.
That was why I was in a rather awkward position when it came to worldly royal authority. From a certain standpoint, any subject who pledged loyalty to me would be a traitor to the current ruler. Fortunately, Renée trusted me completely and even gave me the status of "Queen's Teacher". She also supported me in all aspects, so I wouldn't be too embarrassed when it came to royal authority.
However, this was still a problem. After all, people would change. Even if Renée maintained her trust in me, her subordinates would have their own thoughts and interests. Not only that, Renée would eventually get married and have children (you're overthinking things), and there would also come a day when she would abdicate. When considering the future ruler's attitude towards me, I needed to make plans as soon as possible.
At the very least, I had no intention of interfering with the internal affairs of the royal court. I also expressed that I didn't intend to get involved in this area.
And in terms of divine authority, my status was as awkward as ever.
I had the status of Wumianzhe's God Envoy, which meant that I represented Wumianzhe's will. However, I didn't return to the Divine Kingdom like the other God Envoys. Instead, I stayed on the surface. In a certain sense, my responsibilities overlapped with the highest bishop of the Church of Law. He was the highest leader of the Church of Law, the representative of the True God on the surface. I was also the representative of the True God's will. If there were two representatives … Fine, why was I always in such an awkward position?
But since I was the one who brought Xueti out, the current higher-ups of the Church of Law were all my people. At the very least, there wouldn't be any problems in the short term. As for when the higher-ups of the Church of Law were replaced … Due to my relationship with Wumianzhe, there wouldn't be any problems.
Wumianzhe was the core of my plan. How could I allow anything to happen to him?
As for military authority, my status was even more awkward.
With the establishment of countless new armies, the original system of Royal Knight Squadron and City Defense Army was obviously no longer suitable. Donglan established a new military department to coordinate the military affairs of the entire country.
Yes, the entire country, including the various domain lords …
There was no need to carry out these schemes that were bound to cause strife. Even in the current military department, my status was quite awkward.
In this generation, there was no such thing as a separation between the military and the government. The highest leader of the country's military was definitely the royal authority. Renée was the monarch, and the military department was an organization that served her. As the highest leader of the military department in name, I was also the representative of the royal authority.
Alright, I knew that it was troublesome to act as a representative, but the people of this generation loved to talk about such things. If it didn't conform to the laws and the unwritten rules between nobles, there would be no authority. Without authority, the people below them would play all sorts of tricks to disobey orders, and they wouldn't be able to do anything.
"That's why I hate these blockheads from the primitive era. They're so troublesome."
Cough, back to the main topic.
The situation of the military department was no different from that of the government. Renée was the one who held power in name, but because the newly established armies were all in the hands of the Knight Squadron under me, and I was her representative, all the generals had to listen to my orders. This meant that the military department was basically in my hands.
This was obviously quite abnormal, but what was even more abnormal was that everyone felt that this was only natural.
The final conclusion was that although my identity was quite embarrassing, from a certain standpoint, I was the number one person in Donglan. This was rather similar to Sulfur Mountain City back in the day. Adam and Little Red didn't do much, and Marguerite was already having a hard time managing the daily affairs. In the end, I, the prisoner, was the one who was truly in charge.
However, this type of system was obviously not what I wanted. I had many things to do myself, and there would be quite a few trips in the future. It was quite possible that I wouldn't be around for a long period of time. If they really developed some sort of dependence on me, it would be quite troublesome in the future.
That was why I had to voluntarily disappear in order to cultivate their initiative and sense of responsibility, to the point where it didn't matter if I was around or not.
"After saying so much, is it still just to find an excuse for yourself to be lazy? Since you know that you'll probably be quite busy in the future, can't you show off your rare diligence for now? Your office is already filled to the brim with documents, and the living room and kitchen are both full. Where did your sense of responsibility and initiative go? "
Since our hearts were connected through a magical pet contract, I would have to take this silly cat with me even if I had to escape. This was probably the source of my unhappiness.
Cough, don't listen to Heloise's nonsense. I wasn't doing this because I wanted to slack off. I … I was doing this to train my subordinates' abilities so that they could be independent as soon as possible!
"Train your subordinates' hide-and-seek and hide-and-seek abilities?"
"You still haven't found His Highness Roland?"
"The Town Security squad just reported back, but now he's gone again. Damn it, His Highness actually went to hide there. "
Now, another squad of Knight Knights had passed by. Hmph, they actually used a Royal Knight Knight on a personal mission to find Roland. This was using public power for personal gain. This was too ridiculous. I was definitely going to scold them when I returned.
"You actually have the cheek to scold others? If you obediently stayed in your office, how much administrative costs would you have saved?"
"Silly cat, shut up! Otherwise, I'm going to make every meal you have become dog biscuits. "
"… Do you believe that I'll find a chance to transform into your appearance and shout 'I'm Roland?' Then, I'll do a square dance while singing 'Little Apple'? It'll even be an old folk dance version. "
I instantly shuddered as I imagined such a frightening scene.
"I surrender. Please don't do it."
Considering how shameless Harloys was in no way inferior to me in shamelessness, the result would definitely be a lose-lose situation for both of us, so I immediately gave in.
"Hmph, that's more like it. Right, I think there's a merchant group from the Aris Kingdom in the southern part of the city. Their pickled cabbage candy is quite famous. Why don't you go and try it? Right, there's also an Asiluo Opera Troupe at three in the afternoon. Their ace singers and main dancers are all elves. "
Alright then, her intentions were quite obvious. She was basically asking for a bribe …
"Let's go, we're going to book the tickets right now!"
Wherever I went to slack off … wherever I went on vacation was the same. Since it was all the same, I might as well go along with her.
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