He didn't get any useful suggestions from the Marquis of Oxtail.
Liszt's father's vision had been limited by the Knight system. His three views were formed and stable, and he couldn't see anything that needed to be improved.
It was still the usual system in the Legendary Continent — the King would manage the King's territory, and the nobles would manage the nobles' territories. They would fight together and divide the spoils together. Then, they would return to their homes and find their own mothers. The King wasn't like the King. He was essentially just a leader.
The advancement of this system was undoubtedly poor, but it was suitable for the current productivity conditions.
After the Marquis of Oxtail and his son left, Liszt leaned back in his chair, still thinking about this problem. When he had just transmigrated, he was ambitious and thought about changing the social system. He wanted to change the feudal system into a centralized system where all the power would be concentrated in the hands of the King.
However, the reform of the system couldn't be completed in a day.
If China did not have Emperor Qin Shihuang's grand ambition of "working hard for six generations, reinvigorating the empire and ruling the universe", it would also be difficult to centralize power. Moreover, in Liszt's current opinion, both the feudal system and the centralized system were backward.
He really couldn't tell if the feudal system was more comfortable or the centralized system was more comfortable. As a dragon rearing family at the top of the pyramid, and a family rearing many dragons, he would live comfortably no matter what.
"The people and I will not play with a better system. I can't be so fearless as to shake my own power for no reason." He shook his head silently. How could a person who had tasted the beauty of power let go of this feeling and display his noble sentiments?
After a while, he made a decision.
"There's no motivation for reform now. I'll copy the system of the Iron and Steel Ridge Kingdom and continue to maintain the feudal system … When the Fire Kingdom grows stronger and my personal strength reaches the peak, I can reform with invincible momentum if I want to centralize power. I believe no one will dare to stop me."
However, when he looked at the map of the Fire Islands on the table, he suddenly laughed. He felt that he had been worrying for nothing.
The Fire Islands were about five million square kilometers, and the Fire Island occupied more than three million square kilometers. This meant that even if he gave away the rest of the islands, his territory as the King would still be boundless. A third of the area of China was enough for his family to prosper.
Whether it was enfeoffment or centralization of power, it was all the same.
When the productivity of Blazing Island flourished under his development, even if Liszt did not take the initiative to reform the system, it would sprout on its own. Even if he continued to enfeoff people, the nobles who had been enfeoffed might cry and beg to stay on Flame Island to become officials after seeing the richness of Flame Island.
Furthermore.
If one day he could contract a fairy dragon and become immortal …
The next day.
On the 15th of July, Marquis Merlin's funeral was held in a light drizzle. There was no overly grand ceremony, nor was there any noise of gongs and drums. Many nobles rode on carriages and followed the Orders of Chivalry, who were guarding the coffin, to the cemetery of the Taro family.
The grave had already been dug, and the inscription on the tombstone had already been erected.
It was a square tombstone that wasn't too big. On it were the words "Marquis of Red Crab Island – Merlin Longtaro", "Glory year 71 April 18", "Glory year 154 July 3" in Serpentines. Glory was birth, and glory was death. The inscription on the monument was very simple. There wasn't even the name of the person who erected the monument.
But there was a line of small words below.
"To life, to death, give a cold glance, the Knight gallops past."
This was the epitaph that Marquis Merlin had thought of a long time ago. Before he died in peace, he had already ordered people to engrave this tombstone and bury it above the cemetery where he was about to sleep.
Liszt held a Tulip flower in his hand and stood in front of the tombstone, letting the rain fall on the frac Abier and wet his clothes. Thinking about Marquis Merlin's past, even though it had been more than ten days since his death, his mood was still bleak. If there were no accidents, he would have waited until this day to turn into white bones and accompany the yellow earth.
He once thought that he was not afraid of death, but at this moment, he was more eager to contract a fairy dragon.
Watching Marquis Merlin's coffin being buried in the earth, his desire grew stronger – he never wanted to be buried in the earth one day.
The atmosphere of the entire cemetery was very quiet. All the nobles did not make a sound, but quietly meditated and prayed. When the cemetery's servants filled the earth and placed pots of flowers, an old aristocrat at the scene coughed softly. He was Marquis Merlin's distant cousin, Memi Longtaro.
Although his title was only that of an ordinary Baron, he was old enough to be invited by Messillo to serve as the funeral master.
The old aristocrat waited for everyone to pay attention to him before slowly saying: "The Marquis of Red Crab Island, the pillar of the Taro family, Merlin Longtaro, rests here … The funeral has been completed. Next, I would like to invite all the guests to make a circle around the cemetery in order to offer flowers and bid a final farewell to Merlin Longtaro."
Flowers were a symbol of beauty. Many aristocrats used flowers as their surname. Offering flowers to the deceased was one of the few important parts of a funeral.
As the Dragon Knight and Archwizard with the highest status, Liszt and A Qi stepped forward together and gently placed the Tulip flower in front of the tombstone.
The Messillo couple and the Meopal couple, who were standing at the side of the cemetery, slightly bowed to the two with sad expressions on their faces to express their gratitude. Liszt and A Qi also slightly bowed in return, then walked around the cemetery and left the cemetery under the guidance of the servants.
Immediately after him, the noble guests offered flowers and then left the cemetery.
In this simple manner, Marquis Merlin's funeral was completed.
The rain was still pattering down.
Liszt refused the retainer Knight's action of holding an umbrella for him. He directly took the umbrella and held it by himself. Together with A Qi, they stepped on the soaked bluestone slabs and slowly walked towards Longtaro Castle. He did not walk too fast. Behind him, Anthony and the other aristocrats could only follow slowly.
No one rashly went up to disturb them, leaving ample space for Liszt and A Qi to chat.
The Dragon Knight's handsome face had a trace of disappointment: "If I can't get the method to form a contract with the Dragon Domain Lord, in a few decades, I will probably be lying in the mud in the darkness like Grandfather."
A Qi wrinkled her delicate nose: "But A Qi can still live for many years."
"Then live well and protect my family."
"No, A Qi wants to be with Big Brother, I don't want to be separated."
"Life and death are decreed by fate, wealth and honor are determined by heaven. People always have moments of sorrow and joy, just like the moon in the sky, waxes and wanes, growing and multiplying endlessly." Liszt said with a sigh. Although he was determined to form a contract with a fairy dragon, and even if he could not find one, no one could guarantee that the contract would be successful.
However, no one could guarantee that the contract would succeed. So many Kings had died, but none of them had succeeded.
So far, there were rumors on the legendary continent that the Emperor of the Unsetting Light Empire had been in power for more than 200 years. Obviously, he was a Dragon Domain Lord.
However, it was difficult to distinguish whether the news was true or false. The Unsetting Light Empire was too far away from the Grand Duchy of Sapphire, and there was almost no intersection.
Of course, as long as there was a trace of possibility, Liszt would fight for it.
At worst, he would ride the invisible dragon and rush into the palace of the Unsetting Light Empire and find the Emperor to talk about the contract with the Dragon Domain Lord.
In short, who would want to die if they could live forever?
A Qi did not know what Liszt was thinking, but she said very seriously: "Don't worry, Big Brother, A Qi will research the method to form a contract with the Dragon Domain Lord, so that Big Brother can also live for a few hundred years, until we don't want to live anymore."
Liszt smiled: "Okay, I look forward to it!"
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