Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 344 - 343: The "Order" of the Cecil Clan

Upon hearing Gawain’s words, Sir Philip was momentarily stunned, not quite understanding what his leader specifically meant, until Gawain asked him a more precise question: "When the old Cecil territory was still around, how large was your fief?"

"It included two villages in the southwest of the old castle and a farmstead," Sir Philip replied, "...and a mill."

Within the system of the Anzu Kingdom, this was the standard fief of a relatively poor knight, and after the Cecil Clan’s decline, only such territories remained for the knights loyal to the family.

Gawain nodded: "You’ve been with me for some time now, you should be aware that, under the current land distribution system in Cecil, there is no soil for traditional land nobility to survive. Even though the concept of ’fief’ still exists, the privileges of land nobility have been greatly compressed."

Currently, Cecil has moved past the initial phase of establishment, and as more areas are developed, land distribution becomes a problem that Cecil’s rulers must consider. For Gawain, the development and construction of Cecil’s territory are not his entire goal. Ultimately, he aims to push the new order to the entire world, but he doesn’t want the new order he promotes in this world to turn into a progress-less "dynastic change." Therefore, when considering how to handle traditional land nobility and related systems, he’s spent quite a few brain cells on it.

Initially, he contemplated making reforms once and for all—completely erasing the concept of "nobility" and binding the governance of territories entirely to the Administrative Office. In the process of future territorial expansion, he planned to destroy all aristocrats standing in his way. However, during his trip to Gran Territory, he was awakened to something.

Being too aggressive could cause major issues.

Although Cecil’s situation is different from Gran Territory ten years ago, and although Gawain has already implemented educational and promotional initiatives to enlighten the citizens, and has his own armed forces and the productivity to support it, he must still face the fact that outside Cecil, the old social order that permeates the entire world is still incredibly strong. Even within Cecil, those officials, soldiers, and citizens who staunchly support him grew up under the influence of the old social system, and the reform he plans to carry out is much more intense and profound than that of Gran Territory ten years ago.

The old social order has long soaked into every person in this world and this era, his "once and for all" approach might lead to unforeseeable consequences.

Even if Cecil’s productivity develops swiftly, it’s still hard for him to complete the entire societal transformation and rebuilding while expanding in the future. First, capable civilians cannot appear from nowhere; most talents used to maintain social order have to be selected from the old aristocratic system. Secondly, excessively extreme reforms would provoke the global aristocratic system. Unless he can eliminate all opponents worldwide in a short time and replace them with a new system, sooner or later external enemies will form alliances and attack—most likely when Cecil is expanding significantly and is internally unstable.

Traditional aristocrats may be greedy, perhaps slow, but they are certainly not foolish, nor do they lack vigilance.

After realizing these hidden dangers, Gawain thought long and hard, also considering some situations in the eastern Typhon Empire, and finally came up with his future expansion strategy—namely, to retain the nobility but gradually dismantle the ground they rely on for survival.

Gawain will retain the title of "noble" and some honorific privileges, and even initially keep their right to levy tributes from the land. However, he will reclaim all over-spec rights of the bestowal of nobility, including legislation, maintaining armies, minting coins, setting taxes, etc. This will greatly weaken land aristocrats’ control over the land. At the same time, Gawain plans to eliminate the concept of "fief" and replace it with "territory" to sever the ties between the old "lord" and the land. Ultimately, he hopes to create this kind of situation:

A new aristocrat, who owns a piece of legally recognized "territory," can collect a certain percentage of tribute from the territory’s economic development as their "annual income," but besides this "dividend," they will no longer retain any control over the land and its population. They can keep the family castle, treasury, and various honorific titles, but that’s all they can keep.

If they want to gain more returns or more power, they can choose to compete for a position in the Administrative Office or invest in starting a factory or business.

This is not a complete reform, but Gawain knows even this level of reform will greatly provoke the traditional aristocrats, even more so than in the neighboring Typhon Empire, attracting stronger backlash—after all, in Typhon, at least the concept of "fief" is retained.

But it doesn’t matter; as long as their backlash is within the control range of Cecil’s "truth," then everything is not a problem.

After being hit hard, they will cooperate.

Of course, many of these are plans in Gawain’s mind. Although many people in the territory have guessed that the ancestor is planning to wield the rolling pin and rough up the kids, Gawain, after all, hasn’t spelled it out yet. For those clever ones—like Sir Philip—at least, he can discern the place of land nobility in the "Cecil Order" from the current various systems in the territory.

"To be honest, when you initially announced the land distribution system, set up the Administrative Office, and transformed various lordly powers into everyday tasks of the Administrative Office, I did have a period of... resistance," Sir Philip, being an earnest person, didn’t hide his past thoughts even facing his idol of over twenty years and even spiritual role model, "Back then, I discussed with Sir Byron when you would remember to talk with us about the fief issue..."

Gawain looked at the honest-speaking knight in front of him with a hint of a smile: "And now?"

"Your wisdom has brought unparalleled prosperity to this land," Sir Philip said sincerely, "I never thought a land could become so prosperous in such a short time through factories and commerce, rather than relying on farming and tenant rents. If it weren’t for you abolishing those old systems that bound residents to the land, if it weren’t for you forming an efficient Administrative Office, then factories and commerce absolutely couldn’t thrive."

"Do you still long for your fiefdom?" Gawain continued to ask.

"A true aristocrat does not receive a title to rule over others or to gain personal benefits, but to protect the people, to ensure the safety of residents, and to make the land flourish. All his privileges exist to better fulfill this duty—this is what you said in Anzu Year 4, and I have it engraved on my shield," Sir Philip said earnestly, "Therefore, if your new order can ensure the safety of residents and make the land flourish better than the old privileged systems, then there is no need to preserve those privileges."

"Very well," Gawain said, nodding in satisfaction, "If only everyone could have your insight..."

Afterwards, he paused and instructed, "I need you to summon all the enfeoffed knights of the Kant territory—the time has come for them to swear allegiance."

All along, it was Sir Philip who was responsible for liaising between Kant and Cecil affairs, making him the ideal choice for this task.

The young knight bowed his head: "I will fulfill my mission."

After Sir Philip left, only Amber and Gawain remained in the study.

The half-elf lady circled around Gawain twice—strictly speaking, she circled the entire desk twice. Her actions prompted Gawain to speak: "What are you circling for?"

"I think you’re up to something big," Amber said seriously, looking at Gawain, "but I can’t figure out exactly what you’re planning."

"Not bad, it’s quite surprising that you can tell I’m up to something," Gawain looked at the half-elf, who usually knew nothing about fiefdoms, laws, or traditional aristocracy, with surprise. "How could you tell?"

Amber’s reply made Gawain want to smack her against the wall: "The thing I’m best at in life is stirring things up, how could I not recognize the same vibe in someone else?"

"You... Never mind, I didn’t expect you to understand anyway."

"Don’t say that, I can see a bit of the general idea," Amber immediately said, wide-eyed. "I know how you turned ’fiefdoms’ into ’territories,’ reclaimed how many privileges, and integrated those privileges into the control of the Administrative Office—earlier, apart from you, there was only Lady Rebecca and Sir Byron and Sir Philip in the territory. Back then, I was curious about who you were preparing this for. Now I see, whoever you target in the future is uncertain, but the old knights of the Kant territory are definitely the first to be cut down... Aren’t you afraid those knights will band together and resist?"

"The enfeoffed knights are ’halfway’ land nobility, their privileges are far less than those of a true leader. They have no legislative or minting power, and after submitting to the Cecil new laws, they just convert their land rent income into annuity incomes and lose their legal ruling rights over their fiefs. However, they can gain more benefits from the new societal order... Anyone with a hint of wisdom and foresight will know which choice to make."

"My God, you’re actually demanding them to have wisdom and foresight—things that are the most lacking in aristocrats!" Amber said in an exaggerated, cheeky tone. "What if they don’t have those?"

"That would be great; the saved annuities are enough for me to open several steel foundries in the Kant region."

Looking at the heartfelt smile on Gawain’s face, Amber suddenly recalled the "negotiation methods" Gawain had mentioned before.

She suddenly felt a bit cold...

"However, I think it’s more likely they will see the situation clearly," Gawain said with a smile. "As I said, they haven’t lost much in terms of privileges, so their resistance won’t be so strong, at least not to the extent of risking their lives—and once they witness the power of the Cecil order after this, they’ll realize just how correct their choice was."