XXVI. Aristocrats

It sounds like the people have completely lost their personal freedom, and they have no control over their own life and death, compared to the freedmen and tenants, but this is not the case. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Population, in the feudal era, is the most useful productive force, but also the source of wealth creation, if a nobleman has an empty territory but no population, then, the territory can only be vacant, can not create wealth at all. Therefore, in order to attract more freemen and tenants to join their own domains and become their own subjects, the general aristocracy will offer more favorable conditions, such as the right to lease a certain piece of farmland for a long time. They may also be allowed to pay very little rent, or so on, which is better than the terms laid down by the laws of the kingdom.

Although the people have lost their personal freedom, because this alien planet is very particular about the spirit of contract, thinking that as long as the contract is signed, it must be obeyed, if you can't abide by the contract, then, it means that your credit is bankrupt, and you will be spurned by the morality of the entire human society, so after the conditions prescribed by the nobles are formed, the people do not have to worry about the additional oppression of the nobles.

By extension, the people of this world take all kinds of contracts and oaths very seriously. For example, if A swears allegiance to a nobleman in public, then A can only follow the nobleman to the dark, and does not dare to betray him, because as long as he betrays his master, he will become a spurner of the entire human society, and no one will dare to use him in the future, let alone accept his allegiance. This is fundamentally different from the people on Earth who take swears as nonsense.

Of course, the oath of allegiance is not absolute, and if the superior first violates the promise to the oath-taker, then the betrayal becomes justified. For example, if A has sworn allegiance, but his master wants to kill him for no reason, then it is no wonder that he betrayed. If A violates the law, it is understandable to kill him, but if he wants to kill for no reason, no one can blame him for betrayal.

Because of the importance of contracts and oaths, ordinary people will not swear allegiance, and ordinary people will not easily violate the contract after signing it, which is the cornerstone of this world.

For this reason, after becoming a vassal of a nobleman, as long as the nobility does not break his promises, the vassal actually receives much more than the freedmen and tenants. If this nobleman violates his promise, then there will be a noble council of the kingdom to investigate, and the punishment will be light, and even the nobleman's status will be deprived of his status, which is definitely not a joke.

As for the nobility, their titles are from low to high, they are lords, barons, viscounts, earls, marquises, dukes, and princes, a total of seven ranks.

Lords, there are generally two sources, one of them, if the strength reaches a certain level, he will automatically become a lord. For example, if you are already a Magister, you will automatically become Lord of your country, even if you are not serving the Kingdom. Second, he made a certain military merit on the battlefield, or made a certain contribution to the royal state, but this merit was not big enough to meet the standard of being a baron, so he was a lord.

Although the lord is a member of the nobility, he can only be regarded as a quasi-nobleman, enjoying certain aristocratic privileges, but there is no way to own the territory, so the lord is generally attached to other nobles.

Baron, the lowest rank of nobility in the formal nobility. A baron can own a certain amount of territory, although the area is not large, under normal circumstances, it is only about ten square kilometers of territory. Moreover, it is possible to legally have a private army of fifty people.

The viscount is one level higher than the baron, according to the rules of the human aristocratic council, if you want to become a viscount, you must make considerable military achievements, so to speak, behead a thousand levels, or kill the strong person above the level of the demon master of the enemy country, this can obtain the title of viscount. The viscount can have a territory of thirty square kilometers and a private army of one hundred people.

Earl, the earl is already considered a high-ranking nobleman, and the average earl has to at least serve the whole family for the kingdom for many years and rise through the ranks. Of course, if you are a Dharma Saint, then you automatically become an earl. The Count could have a territory of three hundred square kilometers and a private army of five hundred. In times of war, the count generally becomes a military commander.

The Marquis, who is already a high-ranking nobleman, is eligible to enter the Council of Nobles and become a member of the Council of Nobles. Among the principalities, the marquis is the top of the country below one person and above ten thousand. Those who can become marquis generally hold important positions in the state, and they are absolutely high-ranking and powerful. The marquis can have a territory of 3,000 square kilometers and a private army of 3,000 people.

Duke, hehe, that's almost the top. The lord of the duchy is the duke, and in a kingdom, the number of dukes is at most so few, such as the Tiger Kingdom, where there are only six dukes. Another example is the Great Yan Kingdom, where there are only five dukes, so it can be said that the number of dukes is not much. Even in the Empire, the number of dukes is very small.

Duke, there are two situations, one is to set up a principality independently, of course, the principality established by himself is also a vassal of the kingdom, and many things are subject to the orders of the kingdom, but the degree of freedom will definitely be higher.

The other is to remain in the kingdom and hold the ********** position of the state, which can obtain an area of up to 30,000 square kilometers and a territory and the leadership of a private army of 10,000 people.

However, since thousands of years ago, dukes are generally not allowed to form independent principalities under normal circumstances, for the simple reason that there are so many human territories, and if the more principalities are divided, the weaker the kingdom will be. Therefore, unless the credit is too great to be greater, it is already a dream to become a principality in independence. In fact, for thousands of years, there were only five newly formed principalities.

The king, the king of the kingdom is the king, and some princes of the empire are also princes, but the princes of the empire rarely have much real power, at most they only own a territory with an area of 100,000 square kilometers, but the number of private troops is only 10,000, which is about the same as the duke. After all, no one who can be an emperor is not stupid, how can he give his brother too much power? Rebellion is a common thing, so in a certain respect, the power of the prince is not as great as that of the duke.

According to the rules of the human aristocratic council, the lord of the duchy has the right to be a baron, and he can be a baron whoever he wants, without the discussion of the noble council. But the viscount will have to be discussed by the noble council, and if the noble council does not pass, then the lord of the country will not have the right to make the viscount.

In human society, the aristocracy recognized the system with each other. The nobles of the Great Yan Kingdom will also enjoy the same privileges when they come to the Tiger Kingdom, and similarly, the nobles of other kingdoms will also be recognized when they go to other countries. In other words, as long as you are a nobleman, you will be recognized by all nations of the human race. This system of mutual recognition of aristocrats also led to the fact that aristocracy was not so easy to come into being. In particular, if a high-ranking nobleman cannot make great contributions and be recognized by the majority of the people, then it is impossible to become a high-ranking nobleman at all.

If the noble council of a country appoints a nobleman out of its own selfish motives, but the merit of that nobleman is not recognized by the other countries, then the other countries may deny the legitimacy of the nobleman. Once such a situation occurs, all the nobles of this country will be questioned, which is definitely a scandal of shame and shame to grandma's house.

Therefore, if a certain country wants to make an earl, after it is approved by the noble council, it will communicate privately with the representatives of other countries to the garrison, until everyone thinks that it can be approved, so that it will be announced to the public. If it is not recognized by the majority of the country, the nobleman will not want to become an earl.

Therefore, from the information he learned, Yang Siqi knew that although there are no human rights in this human world, from some aspects, the society is still orderly, at least not to the point of lawlessness. Of course, this is only what he has heard, in fact, how can politics not be dark? Some things just sound glamorous on the surface.

For example, the so-called aristocratic military merit system, people without military merit cannot be named noble, but some people spend money to buy military merit, this kind of thing, as long as it is not done too much, it will generally not be exposed. In fact, a considerable part of the aristocracy came in this way.

The aristocracy is not worry-free for a long time. According to the rules of the Council of Human Nobles, it is a posthumous demotion to inheritance. When an earl dies, his son can only inherit the title of viscount, but not the earl, which is called demotion succession. Of course, if the Earl's contribution during his lifetime is great, then there is no need to be demoted to inheritance. How to operate and how to define it depends on the performance of the parties.

The aristocracy enjoyed various political and economic privileges, but they also had to pay corresponding obligations. Whenever the country is in trouble, these nobles need to form an army and respond to the call of the country to go to the front line. Therefore, the news of a large number of nobles dying in battle can be heard from time to time.

Because of this, the component of a kingdom's military power can be divided into three parts. First, the regular army of the state, which is a military force under the direct control of the state. Second, the private armies of the nobles, which are the armed forces owned by the nobles themselves, will also be pulled up and formed into an army to go to the front when necessary. Third, there are some mercenary organizations. Those warriors who did not want to be soldiers and were unwilling to be loyal to the nobility would set up a free mercenary organization on their own, and these mercenary organizations were also quite a powerful force. In times of war, the state has the right to conscript these mercenary organizations to serve the state.

Aristocrats, all the commoners here want to be a nobleman, Yang Siqi also wants to be a nobleman, if you have a piece of your own territory, then, this territory is equivalent to your own private property, you can do whatever you want on it, you don't have to be so scared, but, is it so easy for nobles to do?

If he reveals his identity as a life magician, the Tiger Kingdom will definitely make him a baron, because, life magician, that is the guarantee of life, the guarantee of longevity, who doesn't want to live a long life? Those high-ranking members of the noble council also thought that befriending such a life magician was the guarantee of having a longer life, and only with a long life could they enjoy the power in their hands. But does he dare?

Yang Siqi didn't dare, not only didn't he dare now, even if it was a while later, even if he had reached the level of a demon master, he wouldn't dare, he couldn't guess the consequences. This has nothing to do with courage, but with future plans, once he becomes a royal life mage, his every move is all under the noses of others, it is inconvenient for him to do anything, for him with a big secret, it is to find death.

"Forget it, there is still no shortcut in this world, I will slowly get through the current period of time, and after my strength is improved a little, I will find a way to accumulate wealth, as long as I have enough wealth, and then it is much more convenient to do anything, let's boil it slowly, my daughter-in-law will always have a day to become a mother-in-law."

Yang Siqi can only think so helplessly, and can only comfort himself like this, but, big husband, who doesn't want to be happy and revenge, things can be done by their own temperament, and now they feel tied to what they do, it's really unpleasant, this feeling, this kind of nest, it's really boring.