The Soldier King Becomes a Useless Little Girl-Chapter 904 - 902: The Distinction Between Monarch and Vassal

"Do you know about Tu Yuan Country?"

Xin Lin asked in return.

"I know a bit. My third brother has been to Tu Yuan Country. It’s a frontier sovereign state. Although its population isn’t large, it’s very strong, with formidable military strength equivalent to ten Longteng Countries. That’s why I’m curious about how you got involved with them."

Murong Ziyue said, half puzzled and half concerned.

"Speaking of it, I was just about to ask you, what is a sovereign state and what is a vassal state? I’ve heard you mention them many times, but I’m not sure what they actually mean."

Xin Lin had heard people mention ’sovereign state’ several times.

However, she’d searched through various books and those from Qingtian Academy, but found no relevant information.

"About sovereign states and vassal states, they weren’t around since ancient times but have gradually formed over the past three hundred years on the continent. These aren’t recorded in any official historical books; they’re customary agreements between countries."

Murong Ziyue hadn’t mentioned this before, not wanting to give Little Xinzhuo and Xin Lin too much mental burden.

But then she thought, Little Xinzhuo is the Seventh Prince of Longteng.

Earlier, while he wasn’t favored, it didn’t matter much.

But Little Xinzhuo has good talent, and his mother Shi Pin is gradually receiving Emperor Longteng’s affection. Soon, he will inevitably get involved in the core struggles of the imperial family, so telling them about the sovereign-vassal struggle early is actually good.

After Murong Ziyue finished speaking, she asked Xin Lin to help find a set of writing tools.

She held the pen in her hand and began drawing on the white paper.

"The continent isn’t only home to Longteng; there are over a hundred countries large and small. The whole continent is divided into five regions: east, west, south, north, and central. The different continents are connected yet isolated from each other. Longteng is located in the Eastern Continent, specifically at the northwest side of the Eastern Continent, which has 34 countries. The largest and strongest three countries are honored as sovereign states, or main countries. The remaining 31 countries or regions are referred to as vassal states." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Murong Ziyue’s brush strokes quickly sketched an outline of the Eastern Continent in front of Xin Lin and Little Xinzhuo.

Xin Lin sighed inwardly, truly the scholarly Ziyue, concise and clear. She glanced at the map of the Eastern Continent, noting that Tu Yuan Country is also part of the Eastern Continent and seems to occupy around one-fifth of its land.

The other two sovereign states are Holy Sun Country and Fuzhou; as for Longteng, its territory appears very small on the Eastern Continent, less than one-tenth the size of Tu Yuan Country. There are dozens of countries similar to Longteng on the Eastern Continent.

Murong Ziyue hadn’t explained yet, but Xin Lin roughly understood the status disparity between Longteng and Tu Yuan Country.

No wonder, the death of Chu Tianyi and his daughter was widely talked about in Purple Cloud City, and she even specially reminded Captain Yang.

But after a whole morning, there was still no response from the imperial palace.

Chu Tianyi and his daughter were unlucky; their deaths were probably in vain, but this also serves as retribution for evil deeds.

"The difference between sovereign and vassal is significant. On the Eastern Continent, sovereign states have very high status, while vassal states are lowly. Every year, vassal states must supply half their taxes to sovereign states. If they don’t comply, they risk annexation by sovereign states. The monarchs of vassal states, although monarchs themselves, are much lower when facing the monarchs of sovereign states. Not only that, even the citizens’ status in sovereign states is slightly higher than those of vassal states. This situation has persisted on the Eastern Continent for nearly 300 years."

Murong Ziyue stated eloquently.