Throne of the North.

Chapter 522: In the Name of Food, the Power of Noble Lords
Any ruler, from the noble emperor to the knight of the manor.

No one would be willing to take the initiative to admit and describe himself as a cruel and ruthless ruler.

Regardless of the truth, what the nobles showed to the eyes outside the territory were always beautiful words.

According to Ryan, these nobles would never accept the unkind results.

It was cruel to watch those slaves starve to death, but it was the kind-hearted lord who helped them through the difficult times.

To be honest, the nobles would not choose either answer.

So after Ryan finished speaking, there was still silence.

In the distance, Shaya looked at Ryan and couldn't help but sneer. Doesn't Ryan know what the nobles are like? He actually came up with this idea to let the nobles help the slaves survive.

It was a great favor to the slaves that the nobles allowed them to live.

Ryan was certainly aware of how the nobles exploited the people in their territories. Take his neighbor Baron Hatton as an example. This baron was kind enough among the nobles, but several people still froze to death in his barony in winter. Normally, the slaves and civilians were half-naked and looked haggard.

Baron Hatton seems pretty good because there are many noble lords who are worse than him.

The nobles would not say that they were cruel, because they still had dignity, honor and face, and they would not choose the second option. Even if Ryan forced them to give an answer now, they would not distribute the meat in the frozen land to the slaves after returning to their own territory.

Noble lords had absolute autonomy over their territories. Even the emperor could not reprimand a noble for his behavior towards the people in his territory, let alone other nobles.

When Ryan was about to say these words, he already knew the outcome at this moment.

Neither the two great nobles, Earl Winter and Earl Sauron, came, and even the viscounts did not come to the Frozen Territory, because they did not need Ryan to step in to solve the winter food crisis.

They might not face such a simple food crisis because they suffered heavy casualties in the previous war against the orcs, and the dead population saved a large amount of food rations.

This also led to the fact that in this informal meeting, after Ryan finished speaking, no noble was able to engage in verbal confrontation with Ryan.

So Ryan continued after the silence.

"I think that the nobles are not the first kind of nobles. We have inherited the noble blood of our ancestors. The glory we carry does not allow us to ignore the death of our people."

"But you all don't want to watch your subjects freeze to death or starve to death, but you can't do anything about it."

"You have no more food. The Southern Chamber of Commerce failed to send us food for the winter this year."

Ryan did not directly bring up the topic that the nobles had food but did not want to give it as he did in private discussions. Instead, he directly said that the nobles had no food and shifted the conflict to the southern land.

This is naturally to rally people's hearts, and everyone stands on the same boat, criticizing the Southern Chamber of Commerce for not sending them food.

"However, His Majesty the Emperor needs a victory in the war. We are not qualified to rebuke His Majesty. We should also thank His Majesty for not thinking of transferring food from the North Wind Province."

"In the war between the Empire and the Church, as nobles of the Empire, we cannot fail. We can be believers of light, but we can never be servants of the dawn."

"So this year, we have to survive the hunger and cold in the Northern Wind Province by ourselves."

Ryan finished speaking, waiting for the nobles to digest what he said, and finally said:
"The food problem is not difficult to solve. There is enough food in my territory to help you tide over the difficulties."

coming……

The nobles' eyes lit up, and Shaya also became excited.

That's right, this food crisis was secretly controlled by her. To be precise, it was not controlled by her, but after the previous food harvest incident in the swamp, Shaya passed the message to Meyers, and finally Chrysus Meyers, the future Grand Duke, came up with a response plan.

Since Baron Ryan is showing off his food, let him suffer more trouble.

Therefore, when the snowstorm came, the food problem faced by the Northern Wind Province itself was directed to the nobles to seek Baron Ryan for a solution.

This problem already existed, but Meyers deepened the connection between the problem and Baron Ryan.

And it is hard to say that the fact that those chambers of commerce did not send any food to the North Wind Province during the winter was not due to Meyers' influence.

After all, it has been two or three months since Ryan had a good harvest in the swamp and donated food to all the nobles, but the news that the Chamber of Commerce had no food delivered was only recently received.

Ryan didn't know, but Shaya knew it, and she needed to see how Ryan solved the problem.

Ryan's territory is the frozen land territory. Everyone knows that the frozen land territory can't grow much food no matter what, and the population of Ryan's people is already terrifyingly high.

What Shaya knows better than Ryan is that the result of this winter will be the same this year, next year, the year after, and many years to come.

No food is coming to the Borean Province.

This was a siege and blockade by Meyers to express his dissatisfaction with the power center of the Northern Wind Province.

How much extra food could Ryan have? He definitely didn't have much.

How we handled it this year must be handled better next year. If we can’t do it next year, Ryan’s prestige will suffer a more serious blow than this year.

Meyers will regain the voice of this land.

That's what they want to see.

However, the next moment was something that Shaya, a political layman, had not expected.

"I can sell you food to get through this winter, but that's fine for this year. What about next year? What about the rest of the year?"

"The food in the Frozen Territory cannot sustain the entire population of the Northern Province."

"The conflict between the Empire and the Church began more than a hundred years ago, and hundreds of wars broke out in that period of more than a hundred years."

"This conflict has lasted for hundreds of years, and no one can be sure whether it will last for another hundred years."

"Our Majesty has been crowned as a believer of light. He is the honorable Grand Pope of Light. So whether for the sake of the empire or for the faith of light, he will never stop his war against the justice of the Dawn Church."

The level of the topic was suddenly elevated to the level of belief in gods.

"He will certainly maintain the war, so the land of the South will not be at peace."

"This winter can be the winter of every year in the future."

"The food in the frozen land can help you for one or two years. Can it help you for a hundred or two hundred years?"

If Ryan simply said that it could be done this year but not next year, it would undoubtedly weaken his authority and show the emptiness of the Frozen Territory's lack of foundation. However, if he said one or two hundred years, then failing to do it would become a natural result.

"Because the Northern Chamber of Commerce has brought us more wealth, there has already been a conflict between our money bags and the Southern Chamber of Commerce. No one can guarantee that if there is no food entering the Northern Wind Province this year, there will be food next year, right?"

No one knows how long the war will last, or the empire will collapse, but this is not the result the nobles want to see, they are the nobles of the empire.

Either the Empire defeated the Church of Dawn, and Light replaced Dawn. However, this was even more absurd and something the nobles could not even dream of. How many years had the Church of Dawn ruled the Norris Continent? I'm afraid we have to keep records from the beginning of human civilization.

Therefore, the war is likely to be long.

War requires a huge amount of resources, which is something the nobles are aware of. They themselves have experienced wars lasting several years against different enemies.

Then what happens this year may happen every year thereafter.

Ryan never doubted this result, because when the emperor ordered the empire to transport grain to the south, he did not ask for the Boreal Province.

Is it because the emperor is merciful and knows that there is little food in the Northern Wind Province?

No, that is absolutely impossible. He will definitely treat everyone equally and ask the nobles of the North Wind Province to contribute to the war in the South.

If the North Wind Province has no food to support it, then it can use more expensive iron ore to support it. There are a lot of iron ore here, right?
But he didn't.

This made Ryan even more suspicious of Meyers' purpose in this land.

There could only be one reason why the emperor did not demand the Northern Wind Province, and that was the influence of Grand Duke Meyers, a top noble who was one of the pillars of the empire.

The emperor has gradually made clear his attitude and wants to cut power with the North Wind Province. Of course, this will still be the land of the empire, because this is the merit of the emperor. During his reign, the Flor Empire expanded its territory, and he will not lose his own merits.

But other than that? That’s really all.

However, in such an obvious situation, Ryan still could not find Meyers' purpose and interests in this land. He urgently wanted to force Meyers to reveal more.

So Ryan revealed his true intentions at this meeting.

"We can't guarantee that every year from now on won't be like this year."

“So we need our own food.”

"The North Wind Province has a lot of wilderness. Our ancestors opened up noble territories on this land. What they can do, we can do as well."

Ryan looked at each noble with an extremely firm gaze.

"We want our land to grow food that can feed the population of the Northern Province."

If it were before, few nobles would care about Ryan's words.

but……

“I have done that.”

Ryan said with a smile that he had been waiting for a year for this killer move, and of course he would use it today.

"You have received the gift from the swamp, right? You have seen the frozen swamp that you had to pass through on your way to the Tundra Territory."

"I can make that swamp grow golden harvest joy, which will make my territory no longer suffer from hunger. It is no longer like the past few years when we had to worry about food even during the war."

Ryan spoke frankly about the past of his territory. It was not a shame, but the way he came.

"I can sell enough food to each of you nobles, but I have only one request. That is, next year, I hope that when we meet again, we will not be arguing over food, but celebrating the joy of the harvest. How can noble nobles be helpless over such a small matter?"

"Perhaps you are worried that the stewards in your territory cannot complete your orders to open up the wasteland. It doesn't matter. As a friend of Beifeng, I, Ryan Clayton, will spare no effort to help you gain more wealth."

"This is a war between us and the South, and a war between humans and the land. Just like every war in the past, I, Ryan, will never accept failure."

Does Ryan have any personal charm? Apart from being a bit handsome, he doesn't think he has any innate charm.

All personal charm comes from what we do and from the hard work and cultivation that we undergo after birth.

For example, when it comes to war, no noble would doubt Ryan's ability.

When something involves war, Ryan is the only choice in the minds of the nobles.

Even though this war sounds a little unfamiliar, they have obtained the promise of Baron Ryan.

If we sell food to them through the frozen soil leader, the price will probably not be high.

"Food can be grown in the swamp, and your territory will only grow more food."

Everything was because of the swamp. Ryan sent gifts to all the nobles to remind them of the good harvest in the swamp, and no noble would complain about having more food.

Food is the most important thing for people, especially in this era of slavery.

The Festival of Divine Grace was over, and Shaya, who was confused, returned to Thundercloud Mountain. What surprised her was that when the result of this matter was told to Chrysostom, the Grand Duke's heir showed a more inappropriate reaction than any previous time.

Shaya didn't understand, but Chrysos didn't tell him in the letter. Instead, he went directly to find his father, the noble Grand Duke of the Empire.

"Father……"

Chrysostom fell silent. He didn't know how to deal with the baron from the north.

I can only tell this Grand Duke father what happened to the North Wind.

After reading it, even Grand Duke Meyers remained silent for a long time.

The Grand Duke raised his head after a long time. He had never met Baron Ryan because he did not take him seriously. He thought that Earl Clayton was more worthy of his attention than Earl Clayton's offspring.

He looked at Chrysostom and asked:

"Did those nobles agree to this?"

"Yes, they seem to trust Baron Ryan and believe that he can make the land grow food."

"That swampland...did grow food, but it didn't have much influence, and it didn't have any divine origin."

The nobles were all sure of the truth.

The Grand Duke and his son fell silent together. It didn't matter whether Ryan could solve the problem or not. They didn't even care how he solved it.

But what really touched them this time?
It is absolute sovereignty.

Even the emperor of Flor could not influence and change the power of a noble over his territory.

To put it simply, within a territory, there is only one lord who can do whatever he wants.

But now, in the land of North Wind Province, Ryan did it. While he was the lord of a territory, he began to influence and control the land belonging to those nobles as an outsider.

Although there is no intuitive feeling from the result, it is essentially like this. Ryan's power extends into the territories of those nobles.

Don't the nobles realize this? The nobles of the Northern Wind Province are so stupid.

What Shaya saw was that Ryan solved the political struggle caused by the food problem, but what the Grand Duke and his son saw was that Ryan was gradually becoming the real master of that land.

He will control all the nobles' territories.

If he really did it, then no matter what Ryan did in the future, the nobles would lose the confidence to confront Ryan because he allowed the nobles to have food.

That is the lifeblood of survival.

According to ancient legends, humans can only obtain the gift of food if they believe in gods, and Ryan gave it to them.

"That's the territory you conquered."

Chrysos was somewhat angry and unwilling. The North Wind Province, which was conquered by Grand Duke Meyers and the Nightmare Knights, was now going to be separated from them and become Ryan's property.

As long as Ryan succeeds, he will not be afraid of any noble in the empire in the political arena of the empire.

Because he will have a provincial reserve behind him, and he will have the power to declare war with all the nobles in the province.

Once an incident involving the entire empire occurs, Ryan's presence cannot be ignored.

"Those nobles would never agree to what Ryan did."

Chrysostom said that even his father found it difficult to do, so how could the Northern Baron possibly accomplish it.

The Grand Duke responded in a gloomy tone:

"Unless he really was just bringing food to those nobles?"

"You can't imagine that the baron would solve the food problem in the Northern Wind Province in this way, so you can't imagine his real purpose for doing so."

"Of course those nobles will not allow him to make decisions about their territories, unless Ryan really only brings them pure benefits."

Why did he do that?

Neither of them really thought that Ryan could control a noble's absolute power over his own territory. That was the bottom line that a surname and a bloodline could not tolerate, but...what was Ryan's purpose?
Just like Ryan couldn't understand what Meyers wanted to do in the Northern Wind Province, now Meyers couldn't understand Ryan's purpose in the Northern Wind Province.

(End of this chapter)