Chapter 463 The Royal Family’s Dilemma 3

The king looked at the silent crowd. He knew what his subjects were worried about.

"You are all people I can trust. Your family has always been loyal to the kingdom, so I have nothing to hide from you."

"In my opinion, power..."

Rodney paused, then increased his voice.

"Power itself has no meaning between justice and evil. Killing with magic is a sin, but killing with a sword is noble?"

"The difference is the motivation for using force, and of course...perhaps the consequences of using force."

"To be specific, [magic] is not evil, [using magic to do evil] is evil, just as [swords] are not evil, [using swords to do evil] is evil."

"If magic can be used to protect the people of Aldo, isn't this a good deed?"

Rupert touched the beard on his chin and glanced at his colleagues present, but no one spoke.

Well, as His Majesty the King's most reliable minister, he has to say a few words.

"Your Majesty is right!"

The Prime Minister loudly agreed, "We cannot stick to traditional impressions."

The Foreign Minister asked worriedly: "What about the Holy See?"

Rupert responded: "Keep a low profile and never admit it if you are discovered, or find a few scapegoats to deal with it. As long as we don't openly promote heresy, the Holy See has nothing to do, and given the current situation, they have no energy. "

So after some discussion, the ministers reached an agreement on this aspect and swore to the king to keep it secret.

The king mused helplessly: "Since it may take us a long time to find out the opponent's trump card, the strategy against Giles must be adjusted. For now, the goal is not to eliminate him quickly, but to suppress him. He continues to grow. If ordinary force cannot resist magic, no matter how much we accumulate, it will be in vain. Therefore, preparations for the southern expedition can be temporarily slowed down, but the necessary deterrence must still be maintained..."

Catherine was still unwilling. She interrupted her father, "Your Majesty, please give me one more time...!"

The king looked at his daughter.

"Katherine, I understand your reluctance. As an elderly king, I am even more unwilling than you. But the kingdom really needs time. That unknown power may be a treasure or a poison to us, no matter what Whether it is treasure or poison, we need to find it, just like adventurers searching for treasure, this requires time and energy and cannot be achieved overnight. "

"Yes, I understand."

Catherine tried to calm down her mood and determined to find out all the cards behind Giles and find a way to restrain them.

"Since you want to suppress Giles' power, Your Majesty, I have a suggestion."

Count Naik Scarlet, the finance minister, said so.

The king nodded to him, "You say."

Earl Scarlet: "We should first cut off Giles' financial resources, focusing on the trade of several cash crops in the south."

The king asked: "What are they?"

Earl Scarlet replied: "First of all, it's tea. The south of the kingdom is mountainous and not suitable for growing food, but there are many tea trees. Every year, a large amount of tea is sold to all parts of the kingdom and foreign countries. We should ban Giles Even if there is no ban on the tea produced on the chassis, heavy taxes will be imposed to restrict its circulation. As long as the merchants lose money because of the tax, the tea in the south will not be sold. "

"The second is some precious wood that is a specialty of the south. The wood there is very popular. The nobles like to use wood from the south to build palaces and make furniture."

The king nodded, "Good idea. I think this can be effective. In order to prevent Giles from taking risks, let's use taxation."

He ordered the clerk to record the Chancellor's words.

Palace Prime Minister Rupert added: "Naik mentioned just now that the food production in the south is low, so I think merchants should be prohibited from selling food to the south. Moreover, all lords loyal to the royal family should be ordered to take measures against tea, timber and food. implement."

"Second."

"I also agree."

As soon as Rupert's proposal came out, all the ministers expressed their approval.

The city of King's Capital Jingyao is located on a piece of land called the Fengpeng Plain. As the name suggests, this large plain is densely covered with rivers and has abundant water resources. It is very suitable for growing crops. It is the largest food producing area in the entire Aldo Kingdom. It is somewhat exaggerated. Rumor has it that as long as the harvest in the abundant plains is good, people in Aldo will not go hungry. Firmly controlling the Plenty Plain is one of the important reasons why the Rodney family has been able to securely hold the throne to this day.

Catherine frowned, "Prohibiting the flow of food will affect people's livelihood. The south is still nominally the land of the kingdom, and the people there are also our people."

Rupert looked at the princess who couldn't bear it, and advised with regret: "Your Highness, no victory comes without a price. This is the price of defeating Giles. And if the people there are hungry, they will be the first to object. It should be Giles, which will help us regain the south. "

There is no mistake in every song, one post, one content, one 6 one, one book, one book, take a look!

Listening to the discussion of the ministers, the king thought again and again and said: "It is better not to directly prohibit it. This will damage the prestige of the royal family. Just like tea, it should be restricted by raising taxes."

The Foreign Minister asked, "Will the same measures be taken against the Veblen family who once helped Giles?"

Grand Duke Veblen, who jumped back and forth during the rebellion and finally jumped to Giles' side, shamelessly sent envoys to Jingyao to express his loyalty after the war.

The king was hypocritical to him, and for the time being, he could not do anything to the Veblen family. The family's territory was located in the Paradise Basin in the eastern border of the kingdom. It was extremely steep to enter and exit the mountain road. Guarding a few passes could stop the enemy army that was several times larger than the defending side.

But don't think about continuing the marriage with the royal family.

Hearing the Foreign Minister's inquiry, the king shook his head.

He expressed his considerations: "We should focus our forces to attack one enemy. Targeting only Giles can help to divide him and Veblen. If we deal with them both at the same time, it may promote the union of the two traitors again."

"And the southeastern border of the kingdom - the Cloudy Mountains in the south of the Paradise Basin, where the lords still remain loyal to the royal family. Once Veblen and Giles unite again, the Cloudy Mountains will be completely cut off from our contact. Let's let Veblen go for the time being."

Rupert said: "Now there is a problem. On land, we can blockade Giles, but on the sea, we are temporarily powerless. The kingdom's navy originally stationed in Westport was destroyed during the rebellion."

Intelligence chief Earl Merlin He said, "It's not a big problem. The trade between the kingdom's territories and Giles' territory is mainly through land, and the land trade route must pass through the king's territory. As for the Horn Bay, the merchants are busy converting their merchant ships into warships to cope with the tense situation, and my rebellion war will soon break out. The only thing to worry about is..."

Catherine looked at him, "Northwest Bay?"

Earl Merlin nodded and confirmed, "Yes, Northwest Bay. In recent years, the maritime trade there has developed very rapidly. It is no longer the desolate place it used to be. The merchants in the bay drive their oarless sailboats around. During the rebellion war, because of the royal family, the merchant ships of the Northwest no longer stopped at Giles' territory, but with the end of the war, merchant ships went there again."