"Follow the rules. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info" Under the gaze of Baron Cook, Luo Sheng replied calmly.

"What kind of rules?" Baron Cook was not satisfied with Rasen's vague answer, and continued to ask.

What Baron Cook is entangled in at the moment is not the internal affairs of the Cook family, in fact, although there is a vicious incident such as Kelly's rebellion, it is mainly the result of the deliberate design of the Holy See of Light. Within the Cook family, there is no centrifugal backbone and unstable grassroots. Baron Cook is still very secure in his control of his territory and the interior of the army. Although the internal ideas mentioned by Roson touched Baron Cook, they were not where Baron Cook's real anxiety lies.

What Baron Cook is really struggling with now is actually how to deal with the relationship between himself and the crown prince, and how to deal with the relationship between the Cook family and the Elson Kingdom.

In the past, in the face of external pressure, Baron Cook and the crown prince can be said to be concentric, with a high degree of consistency of interests and positions. However, after losing external pressure, serious differences have emerged between the positions and interests of the two sides. How to resolve this disagreement, or how the Cook family will deal with itself in the future, is what Baron Cook is really worried about.

"Of course, it is the rule of feudal lords and vassals. Between the king and the vassals, there was a balance of power and duty. Regardless of which side, you can't just make a profit and not pay. Luo Sheng said lightly.

"Balance of power and duty?" Baron Cook repeated in a thoughtful look on his face as he whispered.

"In the relationship between any force and power, there is a certain proportion between giving and receiving. It is certainly not advisable to only want to gain benefits like the Benson family, and not really contribute to the country. But blindly giving, but not getting due compensation, is not the way to balance. Luo Sheng replied calmly.

In Rasen's eyes, the biggest problem of the Cook family is that they have not established a relatively balanced relationship with the royal family. The connection between the two sides was largely based on the loyalty of Baron Cook and the king's trust in the Cook family. Once this trust is in question, the relationship between the two parties will crack or even disintegrate.

"Speaking only of power and duty, giving and returning, is loyalty worthless in your eyes?" asked Baron Cook with a hint of anger.

Baron Cook understood what Rason meant, but he couldn't accept it right away. The rise of the Cook family depends on loyalty to the royal family, so successive Barons Cook have taken this as the foundation of the family. Suddenly letting Baron Cook let go of his loyalty to the royal family and simply handle the relationship with the royal family from the perspective of power and duty is tantamount to making Baron Cook let go of his beliefs, which will of course cause a counterattack.

"Loyalty certainly has value, but the value of loyalty is also limited and cannot completely replace the interests of reality. Without the support of profit returns, loyalty is just a source of water and a tree without roots, even if it lasts for a while, it will eventually collapse. Only loyalty that can be reciprocated can be truly long-lasting. Rason was not affected by Baron Cook's emotions in the slightest, and still replied calmly.

In Luo Sheng's view, the so-called loyalty, in addition to a belief and concept in people's hearts, is also a special interest in the actual relationship between superiors and subordinates, which is related to reality, but does not directly exist in reality, only in the hearts of everyone, so it can be called 'psychological interests'.

The generation of loyalty undoubtedly comes from the interaction of interests in reality. No one is inherently loyal to another person, and loyalty can only be generated after both parties have established a realistic relationship of interest.

If the relationship between the lord and his subordinates is likened to a transactional relationship, then loyalty is some additional dividends that arise after repeated successful transactions. Or maybe one of the parties to the transaction pays a part of the benefits first, but does not use it immediately, and converts it into a kind of psychological savings, which is stored in the relationship between the two parties.

When there is no crisis, the relationship between superiors and subordinates will become more stable because of the existence of this part of the 'virtual interests'. After all, like the binding of interests in reality, loyalty, as a 'psychological benefit', can also bind the relationship between superiors and subordinates. Subordinates pay loyalty, superiors return trust, a harmonious system.

In the event of a crisis, when the superior needs to mobilize the strength of his subordinates, but is unable to give his subordinates enough realistic returns in accordance with the principle of balance of rights and obligations, he can advance the loyalty of his subordinates, that is, use this 'psychological benefit' to mobilize the strength of his subordinates to solve the crisis first.

For example, if a big family supports Keqing, it is natural to give rewards according to the task on weekdays, but if the two parties have cooperated for a long time and have more time to trade, they will naturally give birth to some loyalty. When suddenly encountering a crisis, the host family is temporarily unable to pay the remuneration, and if the situation allows, the guest secretary will generally contribute to the master's family first to solve the crisis, which is the basic embodiment of the use of loyalty.

Other subordinate relationships, such as between the army and the state, and between the retainer and the lord, the concept of loyalty is basically similar, although some will be more complex and will be given more meanings, but the essence will not change.

A country that is unable to properly supply its army with food and pay basically does not need to count on the loyalty of the army. A lord who can't repay his retainers normally won't really get the allegiance of his retainers. On weekdays, there is a system to maintain the relationship between the upper and lower levels, but it is not obvious, and when there is a crisis and the authority of the system declines, the relationship between the upper and lower levels will easily fall into disintegration, so loyalty is very valuable.

However, although loyalty is valuable, and can even replace great practical interests in certain situations, it is also a 'psychological benefit' after all, and it has part of the attributes of interests.

That is to say, although loyalty can be advanced in advance, if you want to maintain the value of this loyalty, after the advance, the sovereign must give his subordinates enough, or even more, compensation in order to maintain this loyal relationship, which includes both material and psychological compensation, such as more trust. Otherwise, the reserve of 'psychological benefits' will be reduced, and the sense of loyalty will be weakened or even disintegrated. In serious cases, it can even become a source of resentment.

The problem for Baron Cook at the moment is that he has become accustomed to 'dealing' with the royal family through the 'reserve interest' system of loyalty. When the royal family was facing a crisis, out of loyalty, the Cook family spent their strength, life, and interests to solve the problems for the Elson royal family, and paid a huge price for it.

Originally, according to the original 'loyalty trading system', after the crisis was resolved, the crown prince should give more trust and rewards to the Cook family, pay the loyalty advance in advance, and maintain this loyalty trading system with loyalty as the medium.

But what Baron Cook didn't expect was that because of the appearance of the White Tower of the Nine Rings, the crown prince no longer trusted himself, and he was no longer ready to maintain this 'loyalty trading system' that had been maintained for hundreds of years. Although he was ready to repay the Cook family with a reward, he no longer gave Baron Cook enough trust. This change made Baron Cook confused, and he didn't know whether to continue to maintain the original 'loyalty trading system'.

"But after all, the previous king was kind to the Cook family, and I really have no second heart for the Elson royal family!" Baron Cook said a little unwillingly after being silent for a long time.

As a powerful nobleman who can survive in the aristocratic circle, Baron Cook is definitely not a person who has insufficient brains and only knows how to be loyal. The previous hesitation and anxiety were just because the Cook family had upheld the tradition of 'loyalty' for hundreds of years, and Baron Cook could not accept this change for a while.

"If the first Baron Cook said this, of course King Elson would believe it, but now, even if there is no matter of the Nine Rings White Tower, I am afraid that the crown prince will not really trust the Cook family completely. After all, the strength of the Cook family cannot be ignored by anyone!" Luo Sheng said lightly.

In the days of the first, and even second, Baron Cook, the royal family certainly trusted the Cook family very much. After all, the Cook family at that time was just a small aristocracy that had just established itself in the desolate land, although they had military and military talents, but their roots were weak, and they were completely within the control of the royal family. At that time, the royal family was not afraid of the Cook family's two hearts, so it was naturally easy to trust the Cook family, and was willing to establish a stable 'loyalty trading system' with the Cook family.

But in the days of the current Baron Cook, or even the previous Baron Cook, the Cook family has already laid a solid foundation in the Cook Domain. The strength of the Cook family has surpassed the limit of the title, although it is not yet the level of the top power of the Benson family, but it is definitely not worse than some old marquis families. Coupled with the service in the army of Baron Cook in successive generations, his influence in the kingdom's army has been increasing. In this case, even if the Elson royal family didn't want to, they had to secretly guard against the Cook family. Suppressing Baron Cook's elevation and sending spies to the Cook family are all manifestations of this mentality.

And this incident of the Nine-Ring White Tower has greatly increased the fear of the Elson royal family towards Baron Cook, and Raymond is a little lacking in open-mindedness, so he directly revealed this jealousy and suspicion, and is unwilling to maintain the 'loyalty trading system' between the two sides.

"Then what do you say I should do?" Baron Cook sighed, then turned the subject back to Rasen.

"You don't have to do anything deliberately, just maintain a normal relationship with the crown prince. The Cooks will remain loyal to the Kingdom of Elson, and may even surrender some of their military power, but they will be rewarded for their achievements. For so many years, the Cook family has fought bloody battles for the Elson Kingdom and sacrificed a lot, so it is time to upgrade the title and seal the territory. Luo Sheng said very calmly: "This reward is not only the needs of the Cook family, but also the needs of many retainers. ”

Although he knew that after he opened his mouth to ask for the title, he would change from a private minister of the royal family to a real local nobleman, but thinking of Kelly and the current situation, Baron Cook finally nodded.

"Okay. I listen to you. ”