Lord: Marry the villain's daughter at the beginning?

Chapter 252 Pressing forward step by step

Although it was announced to the public as a coronation ceremony, Lind had clearly stated in previous correspondence that he would not become the Grand Duke of the North.

After all, Lind himself has been constantly weakening the influence of the nobles in his territory, so it is impossible for him to ask the king for a grand duke or something.

Of course, he still has to continue to hold the position of governor. If he resigns from this position, Wang Du will probably be furious.

Lena actually didn't quite understand why Linde was unwilling to become the Grand Duke of the North. After all, this was the hereditary position of the Lars family, but Lena chose to believe in Linde.

In fact, many people in the family hope that Lind can take over this position.

When Linde and Lena's child is born, this position will eventually be inherited by someone from the Lars family.

However, these voices were suppressed by Lena. Linde must have his reasons for doing this.

When the people in the family saw that Lena did not object to Lind's approach, they all fell silent.

It's okay to offend Lind. Although the Governor looks fierce, he is still good to his own people. Even if he points at your nose and scolds you, at most he will check your performance under the performance appraisal system first.

But if you offend Lena... the Lars family will expel you first.

"The first is about the southwest border."

Nora found the familiar feeling when she presided over the meeting. She took out the documents and handed them to Lind by the attendant. She said, "Governor, I believe you are as concerned about the situation on the southwest border as we are."

Isn't that a concern? The correspondence between Linde and Alberto was never deliberately hidden, and everyone knew that the Governor of the North and the King of Anjou were chatting happily.

"Now, the firearms of the Kingdom of Anjou are more powerful than our previous firearms, so we hope that the North can provide weapons assistance to the capital and the southwestern border."

Nora then added, "Governor, the King of Anjou is ambitious and has always wanted to marry Your Majesty. This is simply treasonous! The southwestern border is in danger now. Governor, please put the overall interests of the kingdom first."

But Lind asked with some disdain: "What does this have to do with the North?"

Nora was a little stuck for a moment. Although she was mentally prepared, she didn't expect the other party to be so straightforward.

Judith said, "Governor, the defense of the southwestern border has gradually begun to collapse. The old-fashioned artillery is completely unable to fight against the Angevin cannons of the Kingdom of Anjou. The southwestern border is also part of the kingdom. Governor, you cannot ignore it."

Judith was a little puzzled. Aren't Her Majesty the Queen and the Governor in the same group? Why is the Governor of the North so cold? Even if he is acting, it is a bit too much. And if the southwest border is really rotten, how can the glory of the old empire be restored?

But Lilith, who was in the middle, was not too worried. Lilith had roughly figured out the thinking of the Northern Governor. The other party did not care much about the southwestern border, but he cared more about other things.

Sure enough, Lind did not refute directly, but said: "I can understand the feelings of the Prime Minister and the Duke of the Southern Territory, but you also know that the Northern Territory has just fought a war and has just been unified. Even if we are asked to support them, we are willing but unable to do so."

Simply put, it requires money.

Nora was in a dilemma. No one knew the current financial situation of the royal capital better than him. Although the royal palace had some surpluses since the beginning of the reform, all of these surpluses had to continue to flow into the capital chain, and there was really not much cash.

If this continues, the palace will be sold.

Judith does have some wealth, but it's only good for some small-scale arms deals. If she really starts purchasing on a large scale, the capital will become extremely sensitive.

Lind also knew that the capital didn't have much money right now, so he took a contract from the servant and said, "Of course, I also know the difficulties of your majesty and the capital, and the previous transaction of the capital exchanging materials for weapons with us was very successful, so I thought about it and decided to continue this model in the future. The capital can also use other things to exchange weapons with us."

"Mutual benefit is the only way to win together."

What Linde said made a lot of sense, but when the contract was handed to Lilith, her face turned pale.

In contrast, when Nora saw the contract, the expression on her face was much more relaxed, but not much better than Lilith's.

Linde’s request was simple. Although the royal capital was extremely poor, the capital and its surrounding areas were populated.

The contract clearly states how many people are exchanged for each weapon, and Lind's requirements are quite broad: as long as the population is healthy and has no special diseases, they can be included.

However, the royal capital is also responsible for safely transporting these people to the northern border. Although it is cheaper than buying weapons directly, the cost of the journey is not low.

It was obvious that the North had estimated how much wealth was left in the capital, and was almost strangling the capital to extract every last bit of cash.

And the trouble with population migration is not limited to this. In fact, there are many noble territories in the central region around the royal capital. These people are loyal to the king on the surface, but because they are close to the capital, their power will be slightly concentrated.

But no matter what, these nobles are real land nobles, and the population is the productivity of these nobles' territories. Although they don't have this concept, no noble would allow the population in their territory to be lost for no reason.

You have to know that the population and serfs in the territory are also the lord's wealth. If Lilith wants these lords and nobles to support exchanging their own population for weapons, she has to give them enough benefits in exchange.

Lilith felt overwhelmed when she thought about this.

It was really too ruthless. Lilith looked up at the indifferent Northern Governor across the table. A weak capital was a good capital for the North, but this capital could not be too weak. It had to squeeze out the last surplus value to prevent Anjou's attack from going so smoothly. At the same time, it had to continuously transfer population and funds to the North.

"Although these lords are quite loyal, the serfs on their territories are also part of their wealth. Even if I am the queen, I have no right to forcibly seize their wealth. So, Governor, can we discuss this matter again?"

Although there is a way, that is to give up interests, distribute or sell some of the weapons exchanged for population to these lords, but is this really a good thing?

Lilith felt numb from this kind of checks and balances.

"There is nothing to discuss. Your Majesty knows that our northern border has lost a large number of people because of those monsters of the demon clan. We are in urgent need of people now. Moreover, these are low-level people with no value at all. Your Majesty can't even do such a thing, right?"

Hard, Lilith's fist was hard.