The palace hall of Besançon was extremely lively.
The Marquis of Ivrea, the ruler of the Count of Burgundy, has not held court meetings in the palace for a long time. All military and political matters of the Count are decided by the Palace Council.
The Palace Council is dominated by seven important palace ministers: the Prime Minister, the Minister of Military Affairs, the Vice Minister of the Palace (also the Deputy Military Minister), the Minister of Finance, the Chamberlain, the Palace Justice, and the Lord of the Seal. All daily important affairs of the country are discussed and decided by these seven important ministers. When encountering major events, the lords above the palace viscount level, the frontier counts (with fiefdoms, distinguished from palace counts), the county governors of direct territories and other dignitaries are summoned to rush to Besançon to attend the palace council.
However, because the Deputy Minister of the Palace, Baldwin, and the Minister of Finance, Bernard, are also the lords of the provinces of Yona and **, and are stronger than other palace ministers, they have a transcendent status.
The palace prime minister, who was old and frail and looked tired, was sitting on a leather armchair next to the iron seat in the main hall, looking listlessly at the quarreling ministers on the seats on both sides of the iron seat.
"Everyone, I have called you here today to decide on the promotion of three knights to barons. You should stop arguing back and forth over trivial matters." The Prime Minister of the Palace finally could not tolerate the endless arguments among the people and spoke out to stop them.
"There is nothing worth discussing. Sir Martinus should have been promoted to baron after serving as the bodyguard of the Marquis for so many years. And Charis has only served as the personal bodyguard of the Vice-Chancellor for a few years. What achievements are worth boasting about?"
"Not to mention that man named Art Wood Wells. That wild guy spent an unknown amount of gold and silver to get some of our important ministers to speak for him. I think that important minister was also in such a state of embarrassment because he was too short of money. If you are really short of money, you can borrow money from the palace taxes instead of collecting bribes to make a living."
Him Bernard, the palace finance minister, was eccentric, and he directly pointed at the deputy palace minister, Earl Baldwin.
Earl Baldwin shook his head and sighed, and replied calmly to Bernard: "God has given us a clever mouth, but some people use it to defecate. It is a pity~"
"Do you think so? Sir Bernard."
The palace military minister and the palace justice laughed.
Bernard's face turned red, he stood up and pointed at Count Baldwin's face and cursed: "Baldwin! Don't think that you can trample me under your feet by taking away my position. You have to pay the price for what you said today!"
Baldwin also stood up suddenly and said loudly: " The only price I have to pay is to spare no effort to eliminate the traitors in the palace, so that the country will no longer be harmed by those villains who hide under women's skirts." Baldwin's words were a bit serious, and they alluded to the young marquise in the inner court.
As soon as these words were spoken, the hall suddenly became quiet. Such words were too sensitive when a storm was about to come.
"Baldwin! Shut up, pay attention to your identity, and don't bring these alarmist remarks to the court meeting."
The old palace prime minister finally couldn't sit still. After sitting by the iron throne for ten years, he gradually became tired of the complicated struggles in the palace and only wanted to survive in peace and stability.
In recent years, the count has been beset with internal and external difficulties, and this old man who has served three generations of marquises has become increasingly unable to cope with it. However, he cannot tolerate the collapse of the entire count in front of his eyes, so he uses his last bit of prestige to try his best to knead the sand into a ball.
"Yes, Prime Minister~" Baldwin could ignore the face of his political opponents, but he could not make the palace minister airless, at least not yet.
"Omar, you are the Lord Privy Seal, and the Lord's promotion is under your jurisdiction. Can you tell me what you think?" The palace prime minister once again brought the topic back on track.
Omar has been in the court for decades, and has grown from a small frontier baron to a minister of the seal in charge of a country's national seal and in charge of promotions. He relies on his sophistication to play both sides. At this time, he doesn't want to offend anyone, and he doesn't dare to offend anyone.
"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, I think what the two ministers, Earl Baldwin and Earl Bernard, said are reasonable. As long as the several adults come up with a result after discussion, I will give my full support. I will do all the documents on my behalf. "
"Omar, the Prime Minister is asking you to express your opinion on the matter of being promoted to baron. You have to say something useful~" The upright Minister of Military Affairs is somewhat dissatisfied with the tactful style of the Minister of Privy Seal.
"Earl Slain, since you have spoken, you must have a lot of ideas, please tell me?" The Prime Minister of the Palace said to the sergeant minister who was wearing a military armor and a tall figure.
Slayin has led troops to fight abroad all year round. He has made outstanding achievements and has a high reputation and prestige in the entire county. He is also straightforward and not good at strategy. He is an impartial and hardcore person. However, in today's court meeting, he firmly stood on the side of Baldwin.
"My lords, my Lordship's promotion has always been based on military merit. This does not mean that I support the soldiers and officers in the army. Just imagine if there were not these soldiers and officers fighting on the battlefield to resist foreign enemies, how could you all sit in this hall and quarrel?"
“I think that both Charis and Art have made great achievements on the battlefield, and their merit books are the thickest on my official desk. Not to mention other things, just the two military exploits of regaining the lost land in Provence and recapturing Wallonburg from the Swabians are enough for both of them to be promoted to barons. I don’t think what we need to discuss today is whether they can be promoted to barons. Promotion of two people, but to discuss whether to grant the newly promoted baron a fief~"
"As for Sir Martinus, I can only say that he has found a powerful cousin."
The Minister of Military Affairs has a natural sense of identification with those who have achieved military merit. Moreover, as the Minister of Military Affairs, he is to cultivate a large number of elite soldiers and excellent commanders for this country.
How could Bernard give up? He sat sideways, picked up the wine glass on the wooden table next to him, took a sip, and sneered, "It seems that there are more than one ministers who have received huge amounts of money today. It is better to fight. As long as they dare to kill people and plunder, there will be enough money to fill those ministers." A hole in the stomach."
"Bernard, don't always say such useless words. If you have objections to the promotion of Sir Charis and Art, please give some real reasons." The Prime Minister was already a little impatient with the fighting between the two groups.
"Reason? Okay. I won't talk about that little guy Charis. He is a confidant of Lord Baldwin. Everyone can understand Lord Baldwin's nepotism and wants to install his confidants in the country. I agree for the time being."
"But who is that Art? Why can he be promoted to baron? Just because he fought a few favorable battles with the army? Just because he colludes with bandits to plunder everywhere? Just because he makes money as a profiteer? Just because he kills his fellow nobles?" Bernard listed Art's many illegal things in recent years.
"Bernard, don't talk nonsense, everything must be well-founded!" Even the Prime Minister felt that the accusation fabricated by Bernard was too big.
"Your Majesty, our words are well-founded. In July last year, several manors of the Dean family in Tyniec County in the south were suddenly attacked by a group of bandits of unknown origin. The bandits broke into the manor, killed many innocent civilians and looted all the property in the manor. Afterwards, someone reported that the bandits were ordered by the black-robed patrol officer."
“In the early winter of last year, a nobleman from Lucerne purchased a batch of goods from Provence for winter use. When passing through the border post in Ates, he was dissatisfied with being extorted and forced his way through the checkpoint. Those people actually colluded with a group of thieves. The bandits robbed the convoy, killed more than a dozen guards, and robbed a large amount of money."
"According to the subsequent investigation, all clues point to our Lord Art who is responsible for eradicating the bandits."
"As for the killing of innocent people, I think everyone still remembers the crime committed by the barbarian at Wincheston Manor two years ago, right? This is an inescapable fact."
"And according to local insiders, several squires in a village in Tynets County in the south resisted slightly because they were dissatisfied with being deceived by this guy named Art. As a result, these squires were killed as soon as the barbarian left."
"And Baron Baron's butler, such a gentle and kind old man, was actually killed in a dense forest not far from his home. Not long after the old butler was killed, this Art led people out of the dense forest. This is really a coincidence."
< br/> "As for plundering the source of goods, I think there is no need to say more about being a profiteer. It is no secret that a knight does not show off his chivalry and relies on the bandits and subordinates who secretly control to seize business routes and suppress opponents."
Bernard poured out all the illegal things he knew about in one breath. With these alarming charges, he did not believe that Baldwin could still achieve his goal.
Everyone in the hall was whispering to each other, feeling incredible.
"Ahem~" The Prime Minister coughed and stopped everyone's discussion.
“Baldwin, is everything Bernard said true?”
Baldwin had already guessed that Bernard would bring up these things. He was not impatient and stood up slowly. “Bernard, check it out one by one. If you can produce evidence, ? You are an insider. Who is the insider? Is it the Dean family that sends a lot of money to your mansion every month to avoid business taxes? "
"You!" Bernard choked, pointing at Baldwin.
"What am I? Am I right? I won't say much about you, so let me talk about the charges you just accused Sir Art of."
"You can't provide evidence for the charges you framed for Sir Art, but I can provide evidence of the crimes of your confidants, the Dean family. Since you said Sir Art colluded with bandits, let's start with the bandits."
Baldwin took out a parchment document from his sleeve and slowly opened it, "Last summer, the Dean family recruited private soldiers to invade the garrison camp under the palace's southern border patrol officer and the border fief under the name of the palace guard knight Art. This was originally a private war between small lords, and it was of little value. There is more to say. However, when Pierre, the governor of Tyniec County, led his troops to mediate, they ran into a group of bandits attacking the patrol camp. Pierre led his troops to annihilate the bandits and captured several bandit leaders. This group of bandits was not easy. They were all hired by a noble named Dean~"
"Everyone, this document is the confession of several bandit leaders..."
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As dusk falls, Besancon, the capital of the Count of Burgundy, is still a lively scene.
In the Earl's residence in the west of the city, Earl Baldwin was having a secret conversation with Art in the official room.
"Charisse has been promoted to the rank of baron leading the army in the palace (with salary and no fiefdom). Your matter has basically been settled. But things did not go as smoothly as I imagined. That bastard Bernard has a strong influence in the palace, and he has the backing of the Marchioness. His opposition is particularly strong. Hard. Several ministers debated for a whole afternoon on whether to promote you to baron. "
"In the end, the palace agreed to promote you to frontier baron only after I revealed your true identity as the only son of a baron in the north of Lombardy and your deep grudge against the Lombardy Principality."
“Although the title is Border Baron, the palace is unwilling to grant you another fiefdom. The palace has decided to grant you the entire valley where your knight’s fief is located as a fiefdom. I also know that that place is a barren valley at all, and it is also at the junction of Lombardy, Provence and our Burgundy. The ownership of many places is unknown. Indeed, having a fief is better than having nothing at all."
After hearing this, Art was silent for a moment, stood up and bowed, "I am very grateful to you, sir."
"However, do you think you can allow the palace to expand my fief on the border of the southern wilderness~"
Baldwin waved his hands repeatedly, "No, I've already tried it. If that place is just a wasteland, it doesn't matter if it's sealed to you. But in just one year, you turned it into a border town guarding the border. Now Bernard has set his sights on your town and threatened to levy commercial taxes on that town~"
"How can that be done!" Art didn't want the palace to interfere with his territory.
「你放心吧，我已经言辞拒绝了贝尔纳，说如果要征收商税，就用他名下的两座庄园同你交换采邑。」
「这次除了一个边疆男With your status as a lord and a desolate valley, I also won you a military position as the military adjutant of the palace's Eastern Territory. You can lead the troops as the adjutant of the legion during the war. You have the power to recruit and assemble troops in the Eastern Territory, and you can also receive a military salary of two hundred pfennigs from the palace every month."
"Thank you, sir! I will do my best to serve you!" Art expressed his loyalty.
"You can peacefully wait in Besançon for the past few days for the letter of appointment from the palace to promote you to baron and the special favor of the fief. In addition, lords above baron are considered vassals of the palace. According to the regulations, you have to go to the palace hall to see the marquis. However, the marquis is sleeping in the inner court and has not participated in the court meeting for a long time, so he has to do so. The matter is also handled by seven important ministers. You have to visit several other ministers in the past few days. Forget it, you can't ignore the other ministers. Especially the military minister and the court judge. They really speak for you. "
"Thank you for reminding me, sir." Art replied respectfully.
Baldwin waved his hand, "Okay, you can step back. I'm tired after arguing with Bernard for a day. By the way, remember to tell Bishop Olof the good news about your promotion to baron..."