northernbook Chapter 250 One more step
Chapter 250 One more step
Autumn 1452
The fields outside Mont-de-Marsan are covered with endless golden color. The villagers living in the nearby villages get up early at dawn and come to the fields in groups to harvest the crops on their own land.
"It's good to live in the south. There's plenty of time to harvest the crops. If it were in the north at this time, the crops in the fields would have been cleared out long ago."
John was standing with a telescope observing the harvest outside the city, and after comparing it with his own territory, he spoke casually.
"In fact, it is not like that. Some crops here are harvested twice a year. In addition to a series of farming tasks such as land cultivation and clearing the water in the fields during the rainy season, the villagers still have a tight harvest time."
Thomas on the side explained, and at the same time he glanced at the newly arrived governor out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know what John was planning in his mind.
Although the southwest region, including Mont-de-Marsan, had never had a governor before, Thomas, as the mayor, had witnessed the coming and going of several previous mayors. They came from different backgrounds and had different purposes for becoming mayors. They had also issued many policies with high spirits, but most of them did not end well. In just over a decade, the mayor had changed five or six generations, which made him see through the most basic truth that without a backer, any policy would be useless.
But this point obviously does not apply to a young and energetic man like John. Now John is more like an old official who does nothing in the office every day and is always waiting to go home. On the first day in office, he pushed all the things to himself and those managers. He even ignored every meeting in the city hall. He just stayed in the embassy every day and occasionally came out for a walk when he had nothing to do.
Thinking of this, Thomas couldn't help but advise John:
"Mr. Governor, although Mont-de-Marsan has a great deal of autonomy as a free city, you are, after all, the king's representative in charge of the entire southwest region. If you are dissatisfied with any of the resolutions of the Mont-de-Marsan City Council, you can raise such issues."
Hearing Thomas say this, John put down the telescope and responded to Thomas in a slightly bored tone:
"Mayor Thomas, I'm not a child. If I propose a policy that has no benefits to the city council, I think those managers won't listen to me. They will even accuse me of being an outsider interfering in their Free City and infringing on their rights. I won't do such a time-consuming and useless thing. I have my own things to do."
After saying that, John picked up the telescope and continued to observe the situation outside the city. At this time, he was also full of worries.
On the way to the Governor's Territory in the Southwest, John had already figured out how to manage this territory with a complex environment.
Since John built up the Forest Governor's Territory bit by bit from scratch through the system, no matter what policy John promulgated in the territory, the people under him would be able to implement it immediately and strictly.
However, this management model is obviously not applicable to the Southwest Governorate, which has many local forces. If John directly manages the territory as before, and if he promulgates policies that hinder local forces from gaining benefits, then opposition and varying degrees of resistance will follow.
Of course, John could choose to use force to suppress the rebellion, but doing so would undoubtedly increase the cost of governing the territory. Not to mention that the Kingdom of Lana in the southwest had already officially declared war on Midland, and John did not want to waste his precious soldiers in endless security battles.
In John's plan, the first thing he had to do was to ensure that his military camp could continue to operate under the jurisdiction of the Governor of the Southwest. After all, in this unfamiliar place, the army was his only support, which was more useful than the king's commission.
Secondly, with the army as the center, he trained, won over, and bribed a group of local talents to provide various services for John and his army. These did not require superior status or wealth. Whether it was building bridges and roads or assisting the army in local military operations, as long as they were capable and could loyally handle the tasks assigned to them, John would take them all.
The last and most crucial step was that when John and his subordinates infiltrated all aspects of the Southwest Governorate, John had the option to influence local policies, and then used the benefits generated by this power to continue to expand his influence until he surrounded the entire Southwest Governorate.
However, John's plan has only just begun, which is to station the army in the camp where the standing army led by Earl Hawes lived before. If the army is to truly gain a foothold in Mont-de-Marsan, it is necessary to have a way to continuously obtain local food and taxes.
Under John's order, the food and money carried on this march were enough for the army to survive the winter and to pay the soldiers on time. However, if the local food and taxes could not be received by winter, John would have to send people to transport them from Franche-Comté. This was why John ordered his troops to the royal territories in the southwest before reaching Mont-de-Marsan. In addition to protecting the safety of the villagers, it was more important to count the food and taxes that could be paid locally and supervise the collection of food and taxes to ensure their smooth progress.
However, this could not satisfy John. As early as after receiving the king's order appointing him as the governor of the southwest, John knew that Hows had lost the battle on the border, and the king began to pay attention to the southwest border. Most of the nobles with military merits were fighting with Yoda's army in the south, and the only one who could show off was John who was fishing in the northeast. Therefore, it was highly likely that after a while, John would take over the position of marshal of Earl Hows and lead his own army to the southwest border. When the war broke out, the consumption of military rations and money would be incomparable to now.
Therefore, the most urgent thing for John is to find a way to obtain gold coins in a short period of time in the southwestern territory. Apart from imposing taxes, which only the stupidest nobles would do, the only way is to find someone who can obtain gold coins and provide John with the gold coins.
However, exploding gold coins is also a technical job, which will definitely involve some shady behavior. Although John doesn't care about the nobles verbally attacking him or framing him to the king, it would be great if someone could take the blame for him.
"I'll go back and rest first. Mr. Mayor, you should go back to the meeting as well." After saying this, John went down the city wall, took a carriage back to the embassy, and returned to the soft velvet bed.
"As expected of the room of the King's special envoy, the bed is quite comfortable." John lay down on the bed without taking off his clothes.
Looking at the ceiling of the embassy, John was thinking back to the list given to him this morning by the White Wolf Knight in charge of the Veterans Office. Various names on the list flashed through John's mind one by one, and finally stopped at the name "Jacques". The reason was that under his name, the White Wolf Knight made a very detailed report, so that John had a certain impression of this person he had never met.
In a tavern in the civilian area of Mont-de-Marsan, Jacques, who had just finished his night shift, was having dinner with several of his former army mates who now came to the city to make a living.
As the wine and dishes were all served, everyone drank and talked about their lives after retirement.
"I originally wanted to go back to the village and continue to be a tenant farmer for the noble lord, but I haven't been back for a few years. The land I was responsible for was given to other tenant farmers to cultivate, and even the farmhouse and some things I left at home were taken away." A retired soldier complained after taking a big sip of wine.
"You're still lucky. That piece of land was originally mine, but that useless nobleman said that I didn't pay him taxes in recent years and directly mortgaged my land to pay the taxes I owed. How can I pay him taxes when I've been serving in the army these years?" another retired soldier complained after hearing this.
"Jacques, your armor looks great. You are the best among us." A retired soldier said enviously as he looked at the city defense armor on Jacques.
"I'm not doing well at all. I was beaten up by a gangster named Bob a few days ago. If the knight from the Veterans Office hadn't found me a job in the city defense force, I would have starved to death in the slums."
"These scum only know how to bully ordinary people. When we were in the army, they wouldn't dare to say a word. Now they dare to hit people!" An irritable retired soldier slammed the table when he heard this, causing the surrounding drinkers to look over here.
"We can't just let this go. We fought on the battlefield. If we lose face in this matter, how can we, the retired soldiers, stay in this city in the future? If it really doesn't work, we brothers will beat him up or just kill him and throw him in the ditch!"
"I think this is a good idea, Jacques. Take us to his doorstep quickly. When he comes out, throw a few bricks at his head. When he falls, we tie him up and interrogate him."
After listening to the words of the brothers around him, Jacques shook his head, motioned for them to be quiet, and then expressed his thoughts:
"It's useless to just beat this guy. If we beat him today, he will find someone to beat us tomorrow. By then, let alone survive, we will probably die if we don't leave here. As for killing him, that's even worse. He's the boss of this place after all. Besides, one life for another. If we kill him, we'll have to go to jail, and we might even be sentenced to death."
"And I've also come to understand that in this society, fighting and struggling won't get you anywhere. To get by, you have to rely on your power and your backers. As long as our backers are big enough and our power is strong enough, we can kill people without being sentenced."
"So, Jacques, you have found a backer?" a retired soldier asked after hearing what Jacques said.
"No, not yet, but I already know who I'm going to find as a backer. The same goes for the rest of you. Change your clothes first, then go to the Veterans Office in the Noble District to find a job. We'll contact each other after I find a backer."