industrial lord

Chapter 689 Two Roads

Anything about Frederick, even if he caught a five-pound fish in the river, would spread quickly throughout the city of Hammer.

The nobles of the Forest and Ocean Map wanted to join the Duchy of Wessen, and this news soon spread throughout Hanma City through deliberate dissemination.

"It would be great if they were loyal to the royal family!"

Rudolph said this sourly and took a sip of his wine.

That place covers an area of ​​1.6 square kilometers and was once the homeland of the predecessor of the Rhine Confederation. If one directly pledges allegiance to the royal family of the Rhine Confederation, it will greatly enhance the authority of the royal family.

Count Rank thought so too, so when the delegation of nobles from the Forest and Ocean region arrived in Hanma City, he met with the delegation in person.

"It's difficult." Count Rank shook his head. "In the past three years, Wesson has invested a lot of money in building a road network in that land. Several important railway lines pass through there. The agricultural products purchased every year make everyone profitable."

"The massacre in Black Pine Town last year frightened many people. They were worried that the war would reach their homes sooner or later, so they sought refuge with Wesson."

After hearing this, Rudolph took a sip of wine and muttered, "I can protect them, too."

But he also knew that he was just talking. In terms of money, he was not as good as Wesson, and in terms of military strength, his reputation was not as good as Wesson's.

Count Rank didn't know what to say for a moment. The fact that Frederick had paid for them to build the road alone made him speechless.

You didn't show up when they were poor, but now you come out and say you can help them. Who would believe you?

From this, it can be inferred that Frederick's operations in Bohemia were also a routine.

But can Count Rank stop it?
If Frederick was another force, the Rhine Alliance would have a good chance of succeeding if it tried to stop him.

But Frederick was a member of the Rhine Confederation. If Rudolf dared to poach Frederick's people in the morning, the Rhine Confederation would have to be disbanded in the afternoon. No one wanted to be stabbed in the back by an ally.

Count Ranke suddenly thought that when he negotiated with Frederick, he made it clear that he would not leave the Rhine Confederation. Could it be that he had thought of this?
He felt that given Frederick's wisdom and foresight, this must be the reason.

Now that things have come to this, there is no point in saying anything. All we can do is watch Frederick become the largest prince in the Rhine League.

Compared with Rudolf, most of the nobles of the Rhine Confederation were excited.

The Rhine Confederation has been preparing to recover its homeland on the east bank of the Elbe River. At this time, there are still forest and ocean areas west of the Elbe River that have not been recovered. Many people are worried that they will be instigated and stabbed in the back at a critical moment.

If this land is incorporated into the Duchy of Wessen, the Rhine Confederation will have no worries and can focus on the eastward.

From another perspective, the continuous reclamation of farmland in the Forest Ocean region in the past three years is making it an important source of agricultural products for the Principality of Wessen. Now a lot of food for the coalition forces around Hanma City comes from there. If a war breaks out, it will be able to provide a large amount of logistical supplies for the army.

The minor nobles only regarded this matter as a topic of conversation, but the far-sighted nobles had realized that their chances of winning the future war had increased a bit.

As for the expansion of Frederick's power, they had no way to stop it, and even less reason to oppose it.

Led by the nobles of the Duchy of Mainz and the Duchy of Bavaria, the noble delegation from the Forest and Ocean region was warmly welcomed, and every day was either a banquet or preparations for the next banquet.

Frederick planned secretly for a long time before leading everyone to have this idea. At this time, he was not in the city, but in his own manor outside the city.

As the saying goes, the bigger the matter, the fewer people are involved in the negotiations. The person who talked to Frederick was Herbert, whom he had met once a few years ago.

Herbert didn't want to be the plenipotentiary representative, fearing that his identity would cause trouble for the negotiations.

Frederick talked to him in the wooden pavilion beside the wheat field for farmers to rest.

"How is Mrs. Mats' health lately?"

Frederick startled Herbert as soon as he opened his mouth. Herbert knew all the legends about Grand Duke Wessen, but he didn't expect him to ask about his mother.

He replied nervously, "My mother is in good health. She has been raising fish in Bailo City recently. Her business is pretty good."

Frederick nodded. Herbert had a half-sister, who was now the illegitimate daughter of a deceased knight under Frederick's father. But the possibility that she was Frederick's sister could not be ruled out, otherwise old Franz would not have refused to reveal who the knight was who had accompanied old Wesson to go fishing.

Mats knew what she could and could not get involved in, so she kept silent about her daughter's biological father.

Frederick said: "Although your father, Knight Quandt, was killed by me in the city of Bailo, it was on the battlefield. I will not have any different opinion of you because of this."

A huge stone fell from Herbert's heart.

Frederick continued, “You should know that the political system of the Duchy of Wessen is different from that of other places.”

Herbert nodded and said, "We know, so we want to keep a small number of troops to protect ourselves."

Military power is very important to the nobles, but the army of the Principality of Wessen is too strong, so the local nobles think it is not that important and just want to retain an army to maintain their own dignity.

Frederick didn't care about this and said, "I agree with this in principle. Now you can listen to my thoughts."

"First of all, the Duchy of Wessen currently has a four-level system of duchy-state-city-town. You will form a new state."

"In terms of power, currency, military, diplomacy, borders, customs, railways, air transport, as well as interstate transportation, communications, and judicial matters are all managed by the principality, and economic policies are guided by the principality in general."

Herbert wrote them down in his notebook, read them carefully, and repeated them according to his own understanding. After Frederick understood them correctly, he said, "I personally think there is no problem, and I believe others will have no problem with it either."

They had studied the political structure of the Duchy of Wessen, and this was the superstructure.

The key point is that the nobles are local tyrants, and how power is distributed among the lower classes is what everyone cares most about.

Then Frederick dropped the political atomic bomb of the era: "I will grant the Duchy Parliament the power to legislate, and the state, city and other levels of parliament will have the power to legislate local regulations."

The parliamentary legislative power is only possessed by free cities. The parliaments in aristocratic territories are merely a channel for communication between the upper and lower levels, or just a showpiece. The parliament of the Duchy of Wessen only has the additional power of supervision.

Giving legislative power to Parliament was unprecedented among the landed nobility.

Frederick continued: "States enjoy autonomy in areas such as education, police, and transportation, and local governments can handle local affairs independently and retain the right to veto decisions made by higher authorities."

"In terms of taxation, the entire principality implements unified tax types and guiding tax rates, and local areas can adjust tax rates according to circumstances."

"Like other states, customs duties, excise taxes, insurance taxes, etc. belong to the principality; inheritance tax, gift tax, real estate transfer tax, vehicle and aircraft tax, beer tax, etc. belong to the state; business tax, property tax and local consumption tax belong to the towns; stamp duty, personal income tax, corporate income tax and agricultural tax are shared by the principality at 42%, the state at 42% and the towns at 16%."

"All this is based on the premise that the area is incorporated into the administrative system of the Principality of Wessen, and local people can run for parliamentarians at all levels, join the army, and serve as public officials just like people from other places."

"In addition, you can choose to pay feudal fees and exemption fees according to tradition. I will manage it according to tradition."

It took Herbert half an hour to figure out what Frederick was saying. He asked uncertainly, "Sir, do you mean that if I am willing to give up my original power, I can step onto the big stage of the Duchy of Wessen, but if I hold on to my original power, I can only stay in my own territory?"

Frederick nodded and said, "Indeed."

The core of this negotiation is the division of power, so there are two options: to be a local emperor on your own piece of land, or to enter the political system of the Principality of Wessen. It all depends on personal choice.

This is the best solution he can achieve at the moment, and it is also an attempt. If it fails, the righteousness will still be there, but if it succeeds, it will be the best demonstration.

(End of this chapter)