When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 896 - 847: Closed-Door Meeting

"Let's not mention the Red Knight anymore; let's discuss some closed-door matters."

After the meeting, where the high-ranking nobles gathered, Ginijis kept many people for dinner.

But before dinner, while accepting Raffel's apology, Ginijis ordered the conference room door to be closed.

At this moment, those sitting in the conference room were the core leadership of King Jiji.

Local high-ranking nobles like Duke Omes, rather than being vassals, were more like allies.

The people in the conference room were Ginijis's confidants, the most central decision-making group.

After several attendants left, two trustworthy royal barons took up the work of serving tea and water.

They dared not trust the servants at all.

The young king was the first to ask, "Has the Summer Green Fever been eradicated?"

"Speaking only of the Summer Green Fever, it has been eradicated in Xia Lvcheng, but other epidemics are still there. However, we've sealed the roads, so they can't get out." Count Alaric of Iron Forest Castle murmured.

Currently at the Leia Court, Count Alaric, as a courtier, is only twenty-five years old, being a court newcomer. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

His greatest advantage was that he was once Ginijis's sword-bearing attendant when he was a child.

Most former courtiers either refuse cooperation without violence or harbor ulterior motives.

"Very well." Ginijis said lightly, "Now let's talk about the next strategic plan...

The key to solving a problem is identifying the problem. Did you find the problem after being defeated?"

Raffel naturally pointed out issues with command and control inconsistency in the military.

Ginijis shook his head: "That's not the key issue. The key issue is—local nobles are overly authoritarian."

The nobles in the conference room immediately fell silent; this was a topic nobody dared to touch except Ginijis.

"...In this regard, we should learn from the people of Falan and Thousand River Valley, although the Thousand River Valley people are still too radical."

In Ginijis's view, his problem was taking too small of steps that hadn't been effective.

The biggest issue for the Thousand River Valley Holy Alliance was that their steps were too large, leading to failure.

On a bloodless winter night, the Saint's Grandson dismissed Autocratic Duke Moliat but left an ambiguous discussion space.

Simply put, the Saint's Grandson only incorporated the Thousand River Valley into the Pope's jurisdiction as a wartime regime temporary takeover.

The specific dismissal was either of Moliat personally or the Autocratic Duke title, which had always been an ambiguous attitude.

In other words, the Holy Alliance in Thousand River Valley has left a major problem: what position should nobles hold?

Horn drastically reduced nobles' legal privileges and revised the Great Charter using the victory at Malunpo.

So, what is the status of nobles and noble supporters in the emerging Holy Alliance?

They refuse to degrade to civilians.

They can't continue being nobles.

Horn himself maintains an ambiguous attitude towards nobles, on the one hand not saying to completely abolish the nobility; on the other, depriving nobles of power.

But on the other, those nobles engaged in commerce earned his approval and favor.

Gradually, there's a split within the noble community, with extreme views about Horn.

The most classic example is the Mountain Knights.

Nowadays, they not only ignore orders to receive intensive training but actually disregard Horn's orders and go to North Mangde County.

Under the guise of defending against enemies from the Shattered Stone Plain.

Forces meant for the Hotam County frontline suddenly decreased by nearly ten thousand.

"Haven't the nobles been thoroughly suppressed by Horn? Can they still make any moves?" Raffel continued to inquire.

Ginijis picked up a book from the table, a thick piece of analysis and investigation by Leia spies about the Thousand River Valley.

In the crevices of this thick book, it was filled with his densely written notes.

The young King Leia always believed that the premise for any action and plan is to have a sufficient understanding of oneself and the opponent.

After long analysis, he discovered long-standing internal division issues since the formation of the Holy Alliance in Thousand River Valley.

And the breach point is the census.

"At the founding of the Thousand River Valley, Moliat and Horn forcefully pushed for the Hundred Households District system.

So-called Saint Father Order monks held census records, registered household visits one by one, followed by military rechecking.

But did you notice, they only made strict registration for the census without registering specific land."

Raffel had seen the Holy Alliance's census records in Hotam County and had to admit, he had never seen such a complete and clear census record.

"I remember, weren't there lands on the census records?" Raffel hesitated to say.

The middle-aged priest helping Ginijis handle affairs whispered, "Land varies in quality; one acre of fertile land and one acre of barren land yield entirely different, the tax should differ too.

The Holy Alliance census records only noted acreage, not quality; do you think it's because they don't want to?"

Ginijis sneered, "Moreover, those Hundred Households Districts, those Hundred Households Captains, are all noble servants and stewards in charge.

Except for the core area of the Saint's Grandson, the grassroots in Thousand River Valley runs well, based on Hundred Households Captains loyal to nobles, and nobles loyal to the Autocratic Duke.

That is dual leadership under the monarch.

Haven't you noticed, the bloodless winter night happened in Rapids City, the theological reform center of the Holy Path faction.

In other words, people here are naturally inclined toward the commoners, hence Horn appears popular.

Commoners are ignorant, short-sighted, and conservative; do you think they would prefer patching up their known old life or moving towards unpredictable new life?"

Ever since the establishment of the Thousand River Valley, due to dreadful external pressure, they had to swallow down the bread with glass shards.

Though they're fed, those glass shards in the belly can't be expelled for a while.

So, it appears as one Thousand River Valley, but actually, there are two Thousand River Valleys.

After the bloodless winter night, nobles were basically driven out from the upper levels of the Holy Alliance.

Being driven out doesn't equate to elimination.

If, like the Joan of Arc Castle days, nobles were mass executed, all the Hundred Households Captains below would rebel.

Many of these nobles returned to the local area, especially the manor nobles began bowing their heads, colluding with local forces.

"Previously, when Moliat was still around, they could convince themselves, but now?" Ginijis tossed the book on the table, "Do you know what needs to be done?"

Raffel immediately understood: "I'll contact those local Thousand River Valley nobles, have them write to family members in the Holy Alliance Camp..."

However, Count Alaric by his side didn't understand: "We were just saying Moliat is a fake Duke, so why are we supporting her now?"

Raffel chuckled, putting his arm around the stiff-minded Alaric's shoulders: "When Moliat is the Autocratic Duke, we urge Horn to take power.

When Moliat isn't the Autocratic Duke, we urge her to reclaim her position.

It's all about forcing internal conflict within the Thousand River Valley.

As long as the supreme leader keeps pulling back and forth, they have no choice but to divert much energy to deal with internal affairs."

Alaric quickly blinked his eyes and licked his lips: "How should we proceed?"

"It's simple." A courtier beside Ginijis stood up, "Either Horn restores the Autocratic Duke title, or we bestow the Autocratic Duke title to the Norn people!"

Previously, Moliat defaulted on a loan of tens of thousands of gold pounds from the Norn, leaving them quite dissatisfied.

Now Grand Duke is in this situation, provide them with an opening, and these hyenas can rush in.

Due to Horn acquiring royal power through religious authority, most nobles in the empire were displeased, mobilizing nearly one hundred thousand troops.

Under intense pressure, will these ambiguous grassroots Hundred Households Captains choose Horn or Moliat?

Unquestionably, some are resolute supporters of the Saint's Grandson.

This actually works in favor, as it leads to an internal grassroots split and counteraction.

Unless Moliat can restore her authority and reconcile with Horn.

Truly reconcile, not the kind merely maintaining surface stability.

In Ginijis's view, this is a minuscule chance in a power struggle where it's life or death.

Suspicion will escalate between them; even if they don't suspect, those below will suspect.

The bloodless winter night was a blunder that couldn't be avoided, creates almost irreconcilable gaps between the noble faction and the Saint's Grandson faction.

"Everyone here is one of us, so I'll speak bluntly that the massive army, the Holy War Treasury can't sustain for long." Ginijis coughed, "Attack from three directions, incite division, bring Norn people into the fray, continue advancing, we must defeat them before winter comes."

"Isn't this too, too, too..." Alaric originally wanted to say despicable, but couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Despicable? Ha, although that Saint's Grandson is a fraud by origin, yet there's one thing he said I completely agree with." Ginijis flipped the book to a particular page, "War is the continuation of politics!"