Chapter 256

Mellon listened to Andrew's story silently.

The vassal told him about family honor, noble dignity and other things for a long time. In short, in his opinion, it was really a loss of dignity for the Garnad family to have the government council of Arda manage Bayerding.

"Andrew..."

The young earl put down his knife and fork and looked at his vassal. Now he was still quite relieved in his heart. He didn't expect that he still had such a loyal minister. From the tone of Baron Andrew, he could feel that the other party was not pretending. Since being betrayed last year, Mellon has learned to distinguish the true meaning of other people's words.

"The Garnad family is so lucky to have someone like you loyal to them."

"My Lord Earl, please don't say that. The Valen family will never violate the oath of their ancestors!"

"I am happy and thank you for your loyalty, but I don't intend to change the status quo."

Mellon's words did not exceed Andrew's expectations. He had guessed that this would be the result in nine out of ten cases, but he was still unwilling in his heart.

"Why? Are you just going to watch yourself being sidelined?"

"Haha, sidelined? Actually, I haven't governed the territory myself since I took the throne, right?"

Hearing his master say this, Andrew blushed. Although he knew that the earl was targeting the traitors Angelo and others, he also felt guilty. Although he was loyal, he was too obsessed with military affairs and paid too little attention to what happened in Butuya City. He didn't even notice that Angelo and others were quietly sidelining his master.

When he heard that others recommended him to fight in the south, he went there excitedly without even thinking about it. If he had been more careful, he wouldn't have to rely on outsiders to quell the rebellion.

Andrew bowed his head and said, "As a vassal of your family, I have a great responsibility. Please punish me, Lord Earl."

"No, Andrew, I don't mean to hold you responsible. After all, I was too young and was easily manipulated by Angelo and others."

Mellon shook his head and said, "Andrew, think about the current situation. In the past few years, Angelo and others have planted their own people in Bailding. After they were defeated, these people were arrested or ran away. If Alda hadn't sent people here, I'm afraid Bailding would soon enter a state of chaos and disorder. Besides, haven't you found that my subjects are living better than before in the past few days since you came back?"

Baron Andrew nodded slightly. From what he saw in the past few days, at least Butuya City is better than before.

Myron continued, "Moreover, the industry under the name of the Garnard family has not suffered any loss. On the contrary, it has increased a lot with the technical support of Bayerding. The profit has increased several times compared with before, and even exceeded the tax revenue in the territory in the previous year."

"Uh... then congratulations."

"Andrew, I advise you to invest in a factory as well, otherwise when more and more factories are opened, I am afraid that the money will not come as fast as it is now."

"Thank you for your kindness, I will consider it."

"And Paul respects me enough. Bayerding will ask for my opinion on any decision, let me review the tax situation every quarter, and let me know and agree to every tax expenditure. Think about those people in history who have similar experiences with me. Which one did not drive away the wolf and invite the tiger."

Andrew secretly complained that if you said "no" a few more times, I am afraid that Earl Graman would not respect you so much.

But he heard Mailon say: "And you, Andrew, go back to your fiefdom tomorrow. The fiefdoms of the four traitors have been confiscated. With my consent, Lake Heart Town has sent officials to these places to directly manage them. Only your fiefdom has not changed at all. It is still managed by your family, and no taxes or output have been taken from it."

This doesn't need Mailon to say, Andrew has confirmed this from the correspondence with his family.

"Yes, I am very grateful to Earl Graman for this, but..."

"Well, Andrew, you should be clear about the current situation. Not to mention that Paul and I are sworn brothers, the threats in reality alone force us to work together."

Andrew guessed, "Are you talking about the Kent family? If the infamous Martz Kent is allowed to take power, it will be a disaster for the northwest territories."

Unexpectedly, Mailon shook his head, "No, this is indeed an imminent threat, but in the long run, it is not just this one. Andrew, you went to the south, what do you think of the situation in the kingdom and even the entire continent?"

Mailon's words surprised Andrew a little. He didn't expect the earl to ask him such a "profound" question. This little adult is not yet an adult, and he is just a lower-level noble. It's a bit funny to think about two such people discussing the situation in the kingdom and the situation on the continent.

"My Lord, I... cough!"

Andrew coughed lightly to cover up his embarrassment. He went to the south just to fulfill his long-cherished wish to fight on the battlefield, and had not thought about this kind of question.

"Just tell me what you know. For example, how long do you think it will take to quell the rebellion in the south?"

Andrew frowned, as if he was hesitating, and said after a long time: "To be honest, I think the process of quelling the rebellion may... may be more tortuous."

"Why?"

"Not to mention that the Grand Duke Tanlang is powerful, when I was in the capital, everyone was privately saying that there seemed to be foreign forces behind the Grand Duke to support him. And there was a lot of bad news coming from the south, it seemed that those lords loyal to the royal family had been dealt with."

"In other words, the royal army will be in a stalemate with the rebels in the south for a while?"

"It is very likely that this will happen."

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"Even if the royal family gathered the loyal troops from all over the country?"

"There are many lords following Giles..."

After listening to Andrew's words, Myron tapped the table with his fingers, staring at the flickering candlelight, wondering what he was thinking.

"The most powerful force in our country has always been the royal family. His Majesty is the supreme arbitrator among the lords and the object of our common loyalty. In addition to the oaths made by our ancestors when they were enthroned, the sword and shield in His Majesty's hand are used to maintain this loyalty. His Majesty's sword is sharper than our swords, and His Majesty's shield is stronger than our shields. He controls the most powerful force in the kingdom."

"What do you mean?"

"If such a force is pinned down somewhere for a long time, it means that the country is about to lose order or has already lost order, because the power to maintain order is declining, even if this power is still the most powerful, but it is declining at a speed that others can see."

Andrew's eyes widened. Even though he had been on the battlefield, he was shocked by Mellon's words. This was really disrespectful, and it came from the mouth of a fifteen-year-old boy.

"Lord Garnard, are you saying... that Aldor will go to chaos?"

"I think so. Take the recent events in the Northwest Bay as an example. If the royal family is still as powerful as it was in history, would the two factions still fight each other? No, not a hundred years ago, would the lords fight each other when they had disputes? And the royal family's reaction would not be so slow. Even you know the news and return to the northwest, but there is no official attitude from the royal family."

Mailon stared at Andrew's eyes and whispered:

"The royal family is hesitating, the royal family is watching, and the royal family is worried that the existing power in their hands cannot quickly settle all this, further exposing their own weakness."

"So, Andrew, we need to stay with like-minded people to protect ourselves when the troubled times come. The closer we are, the safer we are."

The young earl's words made Andrew feel very emotional. It seems that his lord has grown a lot after encountering a big change. Regardless of whether his words are correct or not, at least he... uh... he didn't think of this level.

"Lord Garnard, what do you need me to do?"

"After staying in Lake Heart Town for a while, I had a hunch that my ally seemed to want to... seemed to want to establish some kind of "new order". Let's just use this term because I don't know how to describe it exactly. And we, Bayerdin, should make good use of our early advantages and occupy an important position in the new order."