Denlenburg was still busy, spring ploughing had finally entered hygiene, the cultivation of farmland had slowed down, and the militia had begun training again.

Civilians who laid down their hoes were assembled for training by veteran instructors, and almost every resident of Denlenburg had experience of military training.

These battle-hardened soldiers who have survived the battlefield are definitely experts on the battlefield, and it is only fitting to teach these residents how to be a soldier.

In recent years, however, the militia system in William's domain has shrunk slightly, and the number of people trained each year has continued to decrease.

This is mainly due to the influence of the merchants, who of course need more and more manpower due to the increasing capital of the local merchants who need to produce more and more goods.

With William's permission, these original residents were attracted by the high salaries and threw themselves into the arms of the merchants, becoming workers who helped the merchants produce goods.

These merchants, due to the expansion of their capital, set up factories and workshops in various parts of Denlenburg, and because of William's mercantile policy, the local nobles had the right to modify and designate the fragmentary laws of their domains, but William's basic laws had to be enforced in their domains.

For example, the law of military service, such as the tax law, as well as the commercial law and the agricultural law, must be enforced to the letter in the domain of every vassal.

This has led to the unscrupulous expansion of those merchants, and there have been cases where some residents have been oppressed by merchants because they have sold their land and have no way out.

Because since they sold their family's land, working as a laborer for the merchants has become their only way, and if they lose this job, then they will really starve to death.

Moreover, the merchants also began to unite to oppress the workers by refraining from vicious competition.

Although this situation is not yet universal, it has appeared in William's domain, which is also a kind of cash withdrawal from commercial development, and a side effect of the wealth brought about by commercial prosperity.

It cannot be said that this is a terrible situation, but for the Renaissance period, all the way to the Industrial Revolution, this oppression of labor force did have some promotion for the mechanization and evolution of society.

Profit-seeking businessmen would keep workers' wages to a minimum, and eventually even expect to replace labor with machines, which promoted the development of technology.

And at that time, productivity will increase, and it will not be a problem to feed the extra people, and it will be possible to dump low-cost goods elsewhere, and master the local commercial market, and obtain huge profits.

However, for William now, it is not yet time, William's capital during the Industrial Revolution in his previous life has swelled dramatically, because the cost of road transportation has become much smaller, and merchants can sell goods farther to obtain higher profits.

Capital brings industrialization, and industrialization brings extremely high productivity, and the increase in productivity also represents the improvement of national strength.

However, there is a condition, that is, without sacrificing crop yields, a large number of labor can be liberated, that is, there must be a high level of science and technology in order to be able to develop capital on a large scale.

Now William is mercantilist, but capital can no longer multiply in his territory.

In the end, capital has to eat people, and the giant beast of capital may bring huge benefits to people in the early stage, but after developing to a certain extent, his fangs and claws will definitely appear.

When the time comes, the merchants will demand more rights from those in power, because they have more resources and capital in their hands.

The profit-hungry capitalists even do not hesitate to lose the interests of the state in order to make profits for themselves.

Is the tragedy of sheep eating people less common in the West? When the time comes, the oppressed workers will be overwhelmed and will revolt.

They don't know who brought them to this situation, they only know that the royal family, as the ruler of the country, makes their lives more difficult, or even unbearable.

Merchants and capitalists may live on, but royal rulers are not.

At that time, capital was able to develop because society was progressing, and they had the ability to develop capital.

But obviously, at this time, there was no breeding ground for them in the holy world, and the nobility and the church held all the power, and they could not go further under the heavy taxes, and they could not obtain greater benefits.

Therefore, until now, capital has not even appeared in a rudimentary form, and even the Republic of Tamoan, which attaches the most importance to commerce on the main road, has a lot of power in the hands of the parliamentary aristocracy, and the local lords, although tolerant of business travel, are still heavily taxed.

There were even regions that despised merchants to the point that if the nobles did business, their territories would be confiscated.

However, the merchants in William's territory were different, with William's encouragement, they developed too fast, the kingdom of Tskma, the surrounding kingdom of the White Rose, and the kingdom of Riborn, he relied on his fame and other connections to obtain a low tax permit, allowing the merchants to trade.

Even the tentacles of the merchants of Denlenburg extended to the kingdom of Astra, 3,000 kilometers away, and although these merchants were not as strong as the giants of the Industrial Revolution, they were much stronger than the other merchants at this time.

And in the last two years, due to the increase in capital on hand, they are even asking William for greater rights, and many people even hope to get a knighthood, even if it is just an empty nobleman with no territory.

But how could William allow it, it was precisely because of their appeal that William's vigilance against these merchants was raised to the extreme.

Although the aristocratic class was not liked by William, and even wanted to centralize power, he knew very well that this was not realistic.

All he could do was to keep the nobles in line with the basic laws he had specified, and to limit the number of their armies and the private wars between them.

This is already the limit, and if it is to be controlled, the betrayal of the previous lord is a lesson from the past.

Even William's grandson, the great-grandson's generation, was not necessarily able to implement centralized power.

But even so, he knew that the nobles were the basis of his rule.

It was far better for the land and rights to be in the hands of the aristocracy than in the hands of the merchants, who were only interested in profit and had no regard for the state.

The nobles would not oppose their feudal lords as long as their rights and interests were secured, but the merchants' desires would never be satisfied.

Therefore, William resolutely promulgated the original intended decree to restrict the merchants.

All the workers who sold their land were given a new piece of land, and in exchange they had to pay money.

He also raised the commercial tax by 10%, established a minimum wage for workers, and strictly forbade merchants from using noble colors, forbade merchants from using coats of arms, and prohibited merchants from arming, and promulgated tax rate adjustments.

The larger, more workers, and more capitalized merchants, the more taxes were levied.