Pirate Kingship

Kingston, the capital of the kingdom, is peaceful, and the battlefield intelligence hundreds of kilometers away has not yet been delivered here.

Of course, even if the intelligence is delivered, it has little to do with the vast majority of middle and lower-class citizens.

They naturally eat and drink, play music and dance.

Melrose Avenue, near the core area of ​​Ganquan Palace, where a "death stranding" accident occurred last year, is still as lively as before.

On the surface, churches, theaters, galleries and art centers on both sides of the street are lined up like oil paintings.

Secretly, there is never a shortage of customers in secret places that provide various exciting ways of playing for the upper class.

In another building not far from the last "monster party", a "masquerade" is in full swing.

It is not like the legend that there is no clothes on the body except for a mask.

But the play is still very colorful. Both men and women who come here to consume will dress up as the images of famous male gods and goddesses in stage plays.

The handsome and beautiful waiters and waitresses were dressed very coolly, offering the highest level of enjoyment to the great gods and fully satisfying their vanity.

Today's "masquerade" was paid for by someone at a high price, and was exclusively for a group of guests to enjoy.

In the "temple" with exquisite and beautiful decoration, more than a dozen "male gods" were hugging one or two beautiful female waiters or handsome male waiters and being unrestrained.

A group of people held wine glasses and toasted the "God King" in the center, who was served by eight beauties like a group of stars surrounding the moon.

"Let's toast to Mr. Hal Black.

It is because of your help and the United Bank of the Netherlands that our enclosure movement can proceed so smoothly.

You are also welcome to move your family to Kingston and develop the Hastings market."

"Baron James is right.

Ever since the great nobles forced the [Lost King] to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 of the Silver Age, and the "Merton Ordinance" promulgated by Parliament twenty years later in 1235, enclosure has gained de facto legitimacy.

After hundreds of years of accumulation, we, the new land nobles who made our fortunes by enclosure and wool industry, have become an important and powerful community of interests in Hastings.

Soon, we will occupy the Hastings Parliament with the support of Mr. Hal and the United Bank of the Netherlands, and use our economic advantages to seek our political rights!"

"Cheers!!!"

After a glass of mellow wine, the atmosphere in the field became more and more heated.

The occasional laughter of beauties made the land nobles here more unrestrained.

None of them cared about the battle situation in the Strait of Dover hundreds of kilometers away.

They were obviously very sure that no matter which of the royal party or the earl party won, they would not dare to harm their interests!

This shows their confidence in their own strength.

And the source of this confidence is what they call the "Enclosure Movement".

In the Kingdom of Hattings, except for those public lands, every piece of land had its own owner as early as eight hundred years ago. It can be said that "there is no unowned land".

What is the enclosure movement?

Before the Age of Exploration, the domestic industry of Hattings was mainly based on very backward agriculture. It was a pipe dream to want to make a fortune from agriculture.

At that time, the textile industry was still an ordinary industry in Hattings. Although the enclosure movement was legal, it did not form a scale due to the lack of economic motivation.

But with the opening of the new route of the "First Circumfluence Belt", the scale of international trade expanded sharply.

Especially in the Flanders region in the southern Netherlands, which is only separated by a North Sea bay, the wool textile industry suddenly flourished, and the neighboring Kingdom of Hastings was naturally driven to become its raw material supplier.

The rapid development of the wool textile industry has led to a sharp increase in the demand for wool, and the price of wool in the market has also begun to soar.

Unconsciously, this industry has replaced agriculture and become the national economic pillar of Hastings.

Hastings was originally a traditional sheep-raising country and did not have any transformation difficulties.

The motto of [Famine Hunter]: "Eat well! Dress warmly!" has also taken into account agriculture and animal husbandry from the beginning.

As sheep farming has become more and more profitable compared to agriculture, some nobles with a keen business sense have begun to decisively invest in sheep farming.

However, sheep farming requires large pastures, so the nobles have driven away the farmers who originally rented their land, and even demolished their houses, and then occupied the land where sheep can be raised.

The phenomenon of "converting agriculture to animal husbandry" by changing cultivated land to pasture can be seen everywhere.

In addition, although all the land had already been owned, public lands such as forests, grasslands, swamps and wastelands had no fixed owners.

Some nobles used their power to expand their flocks here, forcibly occupy these public lands that belonged to the country, which were theoretically state-owned resources belonging to the king and the country, and then nibbled away at the farmers' land bit by bit.

The pastoral estates in the hands of these nobles who became ranchers became larger and larger.

For a time, grasslands divided into pieces by wooden fences, hedges, ditches and walls could be seen everywhere in Hattings.

As for the farmers who were driven out of their homes, they became homeless wanderers and could only choose to enter the city to become extremely cheap laborers. Their situation was very miserable.

Some people commented:

"Sheep were originally very docile and did not want much, but now they have become very greedy and fierce, and even want to eat people. They want to flatten our fields, houses and cities."

So the enclosure movement is also called: "Sheep eat people"!

In this protracted movement, a huge new land aristocracy was born. The overall title may not be high, but the land they control is not small, and the total number has exceeded 20% of the land in Hattings.

You know, they can't spend energy to occupy barren land that can't be built into pastures, but all are good places with abundant water and grass, so this 20% is already a very shocking number.

The opposition of the royal family of all dynasties is useless, because it took away a considerable part of their power, and the parliamentary support representing the interests of the nobles, big businessmen and capitalists!

So this movement is even called "parliamentary enclosure".

From the perspective of means of production, this is an organized disguised hollowing out of national assets by interest groups.

Before this, there was no place in the world where they dealt with various traditional agricultural relations and farmers so mercilessly.

At least in the era of small farmers, there were still quite a few traditional feudal lords who wanted to be proud, needed to pay attention to their eating manners, and were responsible for their own people.

But they are different, they just want money.

"Hahaha, I'll toast to you all too. Thank you for your support for our Black family and all the Remit immigrants."

Mr. Hal from the Netherlands, who is also a Remit [banker], is very satisfied with the ambitions of the land nobles in front of him.

He is even more satisfied with the political ecology and power distribution system of the Kingdom of Hastings.

He told them his ambitions under the influence of alcohol:

"Hattings's Magna Carta is the weakest iron law of royal power in the entire Old World.

Although the country is not weak, the decline of royal power has lasted for hundreds of years, and the royal family has been giving in to traditional nobles and emerging commercial nobles.

It is not the king who really holds the core power, but the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

No matter which one of the [kingmaker] Warwick and Edward IV comes to power, as long as we completely control the two houses of Parliament, we will be the uncrowned king of Hastings."

He swept his eyes across everyone's faces:

"Even further expand the restrictions on the king's power in the Magna Carta, abolish ‘Absolute monarchy’, establish a new ‘parliamentary monarchy’, and completely deprive the monarch of the [title].

At that time, elect a prime minister to become the new head of state, and change the [title] to [title of prime minister].

From then on, the supreme power is no longer only passed on by blood. You! Me! He! Everyone has the opportunity to sit on that throne and wield the power of the fifth level at will.

Gentlemen, dear friends, Hettings has unique political conditions. Jin Quan will have unparalleled power here. It is the treasure land for us to show our strength.

We Remit people come here as if we have returned home, and we are not going to leave again. "

Buzz——!

There are not many people at the banquet, but in an instant it seems like thousands of people are reveling.

Everyone looks at Hal Black as if they are looking at a "godfather" who has shown them a bright road.

The latter also smiled and encouraged:

"Our 'Free Masons' are different from those 'Money Restoration Party' in the southern continent. Our goal is greater.

The purpose of the association is to establish a ruling power that transcends the country, nation and bloodline with multinational capitalists as the core, and become a true world aristocrat!

As long as you perform well, we will provide membership quotas as appropriate, and everyone can be a 'Remit' with 2,800 slaves in the future."

In recent years, the Netherlands has been one of the most important destination ports for the return of ocean-going fleets, and its commerce, handicrafts and finance have developed rapidly.

It has attracted a large number of Remit bankers who started out as usurers.

The elite among them have long regarded the Netherlands as one of their bases and have completely controlled this area. The Netherlands United Bank, the Money Restoration Party, and the Free Masons are all group products.

These Remit people are not only actively engaged in financial and commercial activities, but also single-handedly promoted the rise of manufacturing industries such as wool textiles.

Naturally, they have also established a close community of interests with the land nobles of Hastings who serve as raw material suppliers.

Moreover, the "Golden Power Restoration Party" on the southern continent is under siege.

Knowing that eggs should not be put in one basket, the Remit people have begun to select new "hosts".

The "Free Masons" learned the lesson of the former and did not advocate the priority of building a country, but waved the "golden power" in their hands to implement economic colonization on various countries.

The plan started with the Kingdom of Hastings, which is the second most powerful country in the sea.

In addition, in order to successfully obtain war loans from the Remit bankers, Edward IV not only recognized the country established by the Golden Power Restoration Party on the southern continent.

An agreement has also been signed to allow unlimited Remit people to settle and do business in the Kingdom of Hastings, but only restrict them from politics and joining the army (Chapter 511).

"You came to seek death yourself. It would be impolite for us Remit people not to take over your place.

The 'Free Masons' will also enter the stage of history from here."

The [Devil Lord] and [Death Pianist] Lorena obviously don't understand as well as the Remit people that Hastings has its own national conditions.

The will of the people is the basis of the iron law of the kingship. It is far more reliable and feasible to start a deep change representing a new interest group from the bottom up than to replace the upper class with the devil.

If they follow their established plan step by step, it is really feasible to get rid of the lives of all the kings of this era.

Ding!

The excited people toasted again and ate the food on the table.

Many precious ingredients were thrown on the ground without hesitation.

Then the waiter secretly picked them up and stuffed them into his arms, making them laugh.

[Banker] Hal Black grabbed a handful of silver coins from his pocket and stuffed them into the chest of the maid beside him, laughing:

"The enclosure movement not only gave us land, wool, wealth, and status, but also almost monopolized the grain trading market of the entire country.

Although the large amount of cultivated land "converted to animal husbandry" increased the country's fiscal revenue, it also no longer produced food and could only rely on our grain merchants to import, which was equivalent to handing over its own lifeline to us.

With us behind the scenes, how could the royal power not retreat step by step?

Since the enclosure movement reached its peak this year, coupled with the war Due to competition, the price of grain in Hastings has also been rising.

Now a standard Forl bread is sold for five copper Forl outside, but I believe that one day it will rise to fifty or even five hundred Forl!

At that time, the people's fire will be ignited, and it will burn whoever we let it burn!

I heard that the King Maker has a [Louisette Guillotine] in his hand, maybe it will be useful soon, hahahaha"

Hattings has no basic arable land red line, just a piece of land, and it cannot be used for farming after raising sheep, so naturally it cannot guarantee food output.

Now it is basically a situation where the poor eat potatoes and the rich eat imports, and more wanderers don't even have potatoes to eat.

In fact, there have been refugees everywhere in the country for a long time, but they were suppressed by the shadow of the throne war.

Anyway, there has never been a large-scale peasant uprising in the Dragon King's Court, and no one has ever taken them seriously.

Because they have no knowledge, no weapons, no organization, and no extraordinary abilities.

In addition, since my vassal's vassal is not my vassal, many people don't even know who their king is, and have no intention of attacking the capital to change the world.

The biggest appeal is to let the lord collect less taxes so that they can survive.

If the Remit people saw their fellow devils who were also trying to overthrow Hastings, they would probably laugh at them:

"Tsk tsk tsk, that's it?

You kill people mainly for soul currency and for food, but we don't, who dares to be more cruel than me?

The international financiers of the 'Free Masons' are the future masters of the world, and the devils have to stand aside for us!"

They didn't notice that on the second floor of this fake "temple", there were two genuine fourth-level mythical creatures watching them silently.

Especially there was a real [devil] inside, who heard their conversation clearly.

"Five copper fuls for a standard ful bread? This body of mine seems to have recalled some unpleasant memories."

Leonardo, the [Hell Painter], had already escaped early under Byron's help when his partner, the [King Maker], was defeated.

He had not been exposed to the eyes of the devil lord and could continue to be a double agent.

He was temporarily conscripted by Byron and sent to the succubus Therese to let them cooperate with each other to prevent the financiers behind the two parties from absconding with money like the Lancaster Party did in the past.

But he accidentally discovered this scene.

Before being possessed, Leonardo, the [Hell Painter], was just a failed student of the Vinaya Academy of Arts. He had no talent and talent, and naturally he was used to living in poverty.

He was very sensitive to the price of basic food, and he couldn't help frowning deeply when he heard about the five copper ful bread.

It was just because the copper coin itself had value, no matter how much food shortage and inflation there was, it would never increase to the level of 5,000, 500,000, or 500,000.

But instinctively knew that the fivefold increase in food prices was enough to cause a big problem.

These people were like placing a bomb in the heart of the kingdom.

[Hell Painter] turned his head and looked at the incarnation of the succubus Therese, who was also the host of this "masquerade".

"Ms. Therese, do we need to take them down and make them spit out everything they ate?"

Since the succubus arrived in Hastings last year, it has established a new "Sisterhood of Joy Feast" among the noble ladies and socialites.

It secretly controlled a large number of similar places of entertainment with its own followers.

The incarnation who managed the masquerade was also a gorgeous beauty with white skin, just like the succubus itself.

She was almost naked, only wearing a black leather jacket in key places.

There was a pink succubus mark on her white belly, holding a black whip in her hand, wearing open-toed leather boots, and her toes were painted in a gorgeous color that could attract men.

Between breaths, she exhaled a sweet and greasy mist, and her charm seemed to condense into substance.

She had already learned the outcome of the war from her original body, which also meant that her "usurpation" ceremony had been a smooth win.

Previously in the Sun Empire, she had no idea how many sons of the Sun God she had absorbed with the [Blood Cup]. With the addition of this ritual of Hastings, she could sense that her promotion was only a matter of time.

Next, she just had to continue to help Byron gather the royal power that had been scattered outside. The faster she gathered it, the shorter the time it would take for her to be promoted.

Hearing the words of the [Hell Painter], the succubus, whose interests were highly tied to Byron, raised a charming smile at the corner of her lips:

"This is the land gentry class that both the royal party and the earl party need to win over. In the words of your majesty, they are the owners of most of the means of production in the kingdom.

No matter who wins, they will have to hold their noses and co-govern the kingdom with them.

It is of course easy to kill a few people, but can you make this entire class hand over their land obediently?

In addition, Edward IV allowed the Remit people to immigrate on a large scale. The immigrants are not only people, but also the assets they transferred in. What a good opportunity this is?

If we kill people now, how can we trick other fat pigs in to kill?

We just need to make sure that these financiers will not escape.

Even if they flee for fear of crime, thousands of pirate ships in Anchor Bay and Black Sail Harbor have been ambushed around Hastings. Our task is to tip off and seize all their movable and immovable properties.

[King of the Wild Hunt] Your majesty is professional in connecting the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and not letting go of a single copper coin."

The traditional land nobles are completely different from the business nobles. Their wealth comes from the land, and their favorite thing to do is hoarding.

The war was won, but the family's wealth accumulated over hundreds of years: gold, silver, spices, antiques, and other movables were taken away from Hastings, which Byron could never allow.

At this time, some of the royal party and earl party diehards in other places who had received the news in advance had indeed begun to flee one after another, but most of them were stopped by pirates.

Just as the group of land nobles below were full of wine and food, pulling up the handsome men and beautiful women around them, preparing to do some after-dinner entertainment.

Bang!

The palace door was pushed open from the outside, and the personal servant of [Banker] Hal Black rushed in, tumbling and crawling, and said in panic:

"Sir, the Strait of Dover has decided the outcome!"

The banker frowned and scolded:

"Let's decide the outcome, why are you panicking? Did Edward IV, who I funded, win, or did the kingmaker I funded win?"

The Remit people funded almost every war in the Old Continent since modern times.

This time is the same. This [banker] and the Netherlands Union Bank behind him funded both the royal party and the earl party. No matter who comes to power, they must return their investment!

Let him continue to use agents to expand his wool business and even occupy more land.

Learn to hedge risks. As a banker who is good at investment, they will never lose money.

And with the banker's professional ability [investment contract] as a certificate, no one can cheat.

This is the confidence that others can live and die without stopping them from living a life of drunkenness and dreams.

But the servant shook his head desperately:

"Sir, neither of them is. The winner is the [Wild Hunt] Byron Lancaster who suddenly broke in!

According to the intelligence, he has become the new fifth-level [King], and the intelligence personnel have seen the long steps of ascension straight into the sky, as well as the terrifying mythical form.

I'm afraid, I'm afraid, his life... is longer than the life of this country!"

The servant repeated the intelligence as quickly as possible.

A group of land nobles who were just imagining the bright future of the "parliamentary monarchy" suddenly felt black in front of their eyes.

Some people remembered their drunken remarks about sending the king to the guillotine, and they couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Even if they didn't know much about black magic, they at least knew that gods meant immortality!

Death by drowning, chronic lead poisoning, aphrodisiac excitement, bloodletting, and quack doctor's mistreatment were all useless to him.

To be an enemy of this non-human, you must be mentally prepared that after your grandchildren's grandchildren die of old age, the other party will still be able to tap dance on the grave.

Just when a group of people were looking dejected, [Banker] Hal Black laughed three times:

"Hahaha, there is no outstanding talent in this world that we Remit people have not invested in!

My brother Steele Black is a shareholder of [Sea Hunter] Western Express (Chapter 353), and the Bantaan District he manages has a special grant to support [Sea Hunter].

Since [Sea Hunter] and [Wild Hunt] are the same person, we are still the sponsors of the new king!

What are you all standing there for? Keep playing music and dancing!

Tomorrow morning, come with me to the port to welcome the new king and let him see the simple folk customs exemplified by the gentry of the kingdom."

It's just that he forgot a piece of history when he was so proud of himself.

"Two hundred years ago, in the Silver Age of 1272, Edward I was on the throne.

With his bravery, he was awarded a series of very positive titles and royal titles, such as [Hammer of Hattings] and [Conqueror of the Isles].

But few people know that he was actually the earliest and most comprehensive instigator and executor of the expulsion of the Remit creditors from Hattings and even the East Coast.

He once ordered 17,511 Remit people to leave Hattings before November 1 of that year, otherwise they would all be sentenced to death.

In the following two hundred years, those kings of various countries who borrowed high-interest loans from Remit people and could not repay them, and finally had to reluctantly kill their creditors, were just his followers and imitators.

Note from "A Family History of Lancaster": It was indeed painful. The Remit people lost a life, but we lost our golden reputation, which was very painful for us."

So "Knife! Knife!" is actually a traditional art of the Lancaster family, and it does not bring any psychological burden to Byron.

After all, these are all ancestral rules!

"I have decided that the Kingdom of Hattings will rule the world with 'filial piety' in the future. I can't make a decision that goes against my ancestors!"

The next morning, when Byron and his fleet gradually approached the capital.

The Kingston Daily, which prepared two pages of newspapers to publish the Kingmaker and Edward IV's victory, was still caught off guard and had to print an "extra" specially used to announce major events:

"Welcome His Majesty to his loyal Kingston!

The people of Kingston, who have suffered under the rule of the tyrant White Rose family, will always be loyal to the great Red Rose!"