With a rhythmic rhythm, Mademoiselle Lola knocked on the door of the Benedictine convent of Langerena at night.

Guided by an elderly nun, they all came to the dean's office.

"My dear little Lola, why are you here? ”

"The army of the Kingdom of François is preparing to attack Charlot, which is guarded by my uncle!

"What! Well, I'm going to let him know as soon as possible. ”

"Dear aunt, it's too dangerous there, let's just go!"

"Oh, okay. At least take Fernanda with her, she might be able to help you!"

"Okay, let's call her quickly. ”

After a while, a young nun was taken to the abbot's office, dressed in a voluminous black robe, with a black turban covering all her hair, typical of Benedictine attire. For according to doctrine, women's hair is one of the sources of sin. However, her face is beautiful, and even bears some resemblance to Miss Lola.

"It's been a long time, Sister Lola, I know everything, I'll go with you to Charo to help my father!"

"Great, let's go!"

This Sister Fernanda was originally the illegitimate daughter of the abbot and the lord of Charo, and she stayed as an orphan in the convent as a trainee nun, and she must be the heir here in the future, although the discipline of the Benedictine Order is strict, but it cannot completely stop the infiltration of the feudal family.

After a brief introduction to themselves, everyone immediately set out on the road again, and through the secret passage under the dean's office, they came to the teleportation circle, and after a short time and space shuttle, another secret passage appeared in front of them. Passing through the secret passage is the castle lord's mansion.

"Oh, Fernanda, my darling, why are you here?"

"Dad, emergency military situation!"

The Count of Noel de Fronna, the lord of the city, Fernanda's father, and the brother-in-law and confidant of Curran, Duke of Porandi, was also stunned by the sudden crisis. However, he was a veteran after all, and he immediately regained his composure.

"Pass my order, light the beacon fire, and notify the soldiers of the surrounding villages to enter the city!"

"Miss Lola, I will send someone to report to Dirong at once, thank you for such important news. Bought us a day. ”

"Hehe, it's all up to His Excellency the New Mark Duke of the Divine Grace Empire. ”

"Thank you, Your Excellency. ”

"It doesn't matter, but Count Fronna, according to the information I have, Franços has at least five thousand men and horses. Salian said with some concern.

"Your Excellency, don't worry too much, I'm Charo Ke's western barrier to Bolandi, which has been in business for decades, and the walls and turrets here were designed by Palatio, the famous architect of Itcanlia, who was hired at a high price, and besides, I have just let all the soldiers stationed around me enter the city, so that there are a thousand guards. In addition, there was enough food, wine and water in the cellar to last three months. ”

"Yes, this city turned out to be the master's masterpiece, I must take a good look at it tomorrow during the day. ”

There are still a few hours before dawn, and everyone is tired after a long day, and there is nothing to say at night. At breakfast the next day, Makminus was impressed, and he asked Salian.

"Why is it that there have never been such large-scale territorial rebellions in centuries before, and now they are occurring one after another, not only in our Divine Grace Empire, but also in several other nations?"

"Your Highness, this should be seen from the overall pattern, something has its own particularity and independence, but it has its inevitability in history. Miss Lola, tell us a little bit about Grandi and Nilandus!"

"Well, at the heart of our Porandi is the fertile plain of the Rhône and the surrounding river valleys, an important wheat region and livestock base, as well as the most suitable grape varieties for winemaking throughout the Western continent. Originally a large swamp at the mouth of the River Lin, Nilanders was later built with dams and canals to drain the stagnant water and have its inhabitants. But it was just a backwood, so neither Franços nor the Empire of Divine Grace had her in their hands. It's just that for the last hundred years, the coast has been flooded with migratory herrings every year, and thanks to this God-given wealth, the population of Nilandus has increased. ”

Miss Lola took a sip of Grandi's red wine and continued.

"But it's not enough to fill your stomach with greasy herring, the people there want something different. The fishermen of Nilandes had boats, and when there was no fish to catch, they used them to transport goods, bringing furs from the cold kingdom of Beiting in the north, wool from the lords of the Isle of Three Kings, grain from Franços in the south, and even spices from the pagans on the eastern shore of the land sea, which were originally the business of the Itcanlians. These goods were not only supplied to their own people, but were also transported to the interior of the continent via the Lynn River route. In this way, the number of port cities gradually increased, and the people of Nylanders also tasted the sweetness of trade, so that they could make money without growing food. Later, they were no longer satisfied with only doing entrepot trade, and the greatly increased population also needed to work. The wool from Raja Sam Raja is no longer gone, but is processed into textiles by artisans and sold. In turn, iron ore brought from the mines of the upper reaches of the Lim River was made into weapons and armor by blacksmiths here, and then transported by ship to Raja Madja or other places where it was needed. Furthermore, in order to improve the ability to resist risks in trade and expand reproduction, the financial industry that borrowed money also appeared, concentrated in several prosperous cities. ”

"Very wonderful, Miss Lola, you really know the customs of the territory very well, and you will definitely become an excellent ruler in the future. We now know the situation in the seven provinces of Nylandes. Your Highness Max, can you talk about the current state of the Seven Mars states?"

"Yes, no problem. However, the seven states of Mars are far less prosperous than the United Province of Nilandes, each state is actually composed of a core city and its supply grounds, although nominally this mountainous and barren land has been ruled by the Rokenhausen family for hundreds of years, but in fact the secret alliance of several states has lasted for a long time, and the feudal lords such as barons have long been eliminated, and the governing power is the municipal council composed of wealthy commoners, craftsmen, and church people. ”

Miss Lola looked at Max and said, "It can be said that although the economic foundations of the two places are different, they are both centered on the city. ”

"Well, what they all have in common is that cities are very important, and agriculture is the foundation of their livelihood. ”

Salian was also very pleased.

"Your Highness, you are very quick to get to know. I remember that there was a wise man named Zhang Liang in the primeval East who praised his king in this way, and in the end this king established a dynasty that lasted for six hundred years. ”

After swallowing the hard bread completely, the Duke of New Mark continued: "We know the situation in both places. I'm going to talk about the old system now, because history is a mirror to know the rise and fall. In fact, the ancient empire was already a perfect centralized empire, the emperor could effectively control the central and local governments, the military, politics, and religion were separated, and although the military generals were in charge of the army, the procuratorial power and financial power were all in the hands of civilian officials, without the support of these people, the army would not even have a day's provisions. The basis of the emperor's control of such a large bureaucratic system was the taxation of trade in the land and sea regions. After the emperor received the money, he guaranteed peace with a professional army that had served for a long time, and invested a large amount of money in infrastructure such as roads and cities, and the two complemented each other and provided long-term peace and stability. After that, the great migration of ethnic groups, the spread of the Black Death, the division of the ancient empire, and the overthrow of the western empire by our Tutonians, at the beginning of our Tutonian states still used this method to control the country, and things went very smoothly. However, after the rise of the infidels in the East, they broke the trade laws that had prevailed in the entire land and sea world for more than a thousand years, and their untrustworthy behavior caused chaos in the whole world, and the Tutonian state, which had relied on trade for tax revenue, lost its economic base and disintegrated. When the Empire of Divine Grace and the predecessor of the Kingdom of Françose, that is, the Eastern and Western Kingdoms, rose side by side, the system of partition became the foundation of the state. ”

"Well, the system of mining has appeared. ”

"Yes, Your Highness, but have you ever thought about it, why did we degenerate from an advanced centralized system to a backward feudal system?"

"Why is that?"

"I have heard an answer from Auguste, because the king's wealth is insufficient, and the income from trade is reduced, and the army is not reduced but is fended off by the infidels. Then we had to learn the methods of our opponents, so that the large-scale centralized government that supported many civilian officials could no longer be wanted, and the king delegated the power in his hands to the localities, and the military chiefs in various places received military and political power, allowing them to support the army themselves, so that the financial burden on the central government was greatly reduced. But it also leads to excessive local power and too big a tail. The originally appointed officials concentrated too much power to oppose the central government, and eventually developed into hereditary feudal families, and these large lords divided their lands among the smaller lords who brought their own weapons and supplies. In this way, the magnates all went to their fiefdoms, and the number of officials decreased, so the administrative center where a large number of magnates and officials gathered declined. The commercial cities that lost trade disappeared and the localities degenerated into subsistence small-scale peasant economies. As a result, the central government will not be able to collect monetary taxes, and the maintenance of public facilities such as roads will be almost impossible, which in turn will reduce social circulation, and a vicious circle. ”

Max listened to Salian's explanation, and his mouth suddenly opened.

"I understand, although the Turde Empire is also a pagan country, at least it has a better business reputation than the past dynasties, and the trade in grain and spices has gradually improved, and since the end of the century-long war between Franços and the Three Kings, the large-scale wars on the western continent have decreased, so the strength of our western port cities has gradually increased, which is on the side of Nilandus. ”

Max thought about it briefly for a moment and continued.

"On the part of Mars, because of its location in the mountains, the agricultural base was already very weak, and the natural increase in population in the absence of major epidemics made life more difficult for the people here, so under the leadership of some brave men, or citizens and clergy, they broke the feudal system, grasped the real power, and relied on the city for development. Although it was landlocked, it was a meeting place for several large countries, which was convenient for trade and commerce, and although there were fewer wars, there were many small wars, and the peasants were no longer engaged in agriculture but became mercenaries, and they could also make money. This, in turn, led to the development of various related handicrafts in the city. ”

"Haha, Your Highness is really a genius, I have studied for three years to figure out the problem, and you can understand it all in one breakfast. ”

"Salian, so what does the redevelopment of the city have to do with their rebellion?"

"Because they want more freedom, feudal obligations, church organizations, ancient guilds severely restrict the development of the city, the population cannot move freely, the lords only need money and soldiers, and do not care about road construction and education, etc., so those people of insight in the city want to be independent and establish a centralized authority in a certain area. ”