Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 178



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Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 178

32-Post-war revival

“Then what about strengthening the Kingdom Guard?”

So what he meant was that instead of reinstating Jaran as the central bank governor, he should come up with a plan to strengthen the kingdom’s guard.

Arthur stuck out his tongue at that nuance.

Yay~ I have to admit that he has a strong determination to protect what is his own. Seeing that he didn’t show any regret, reflection, or guilt for fanning the flames of this war with his greed, I wanted to revolutionize him, but considering that it’s hard to dream of a world without a king in this day and age, I couldn’t help but endure it because I thought that King Rai wasn’t a complete tyrant. He’s not a tyrant who neglects state affairs and ends up ruining the country because he’s so obsessed with women.

“It’s difficult.”

When Arthur declared, King Rye kept his mouth shut and repeatedly clenched and unclenched his right hand as if he was rubbing it. It seemed as if his slap was itching.

But Arthur had to say what he had to say.

“Everything has its own precedence. Right now, we need to start by recovering the economy.”

If you have money, wouldn’t you be able to strengthen the kingdom guard or not?

King Rai countered that logic by saying:

“If not now, the nobles will oppose us later. So if we quickly expand the royal guard now, we can suppress their opposition that will hinder us from doing anything, and thus, wouldn’t the economic recovery you speak of become much easier?”

So what the king was saying was that as long as the royal authority remained, it would be easy to secure funds by oppressing the nobles. And the basis of that royal authority was ultimately the military.

It wasn’t a wrong statement, but Arthur clearly expressed what King Rai meant through his merchant’s eyes.

“In the world, that is what is called repaying a debt.”

If you have money, power will follow. If you have power, money will follow.

It may seem like a blatant lie, but if you look into the details, the nature is completely different. Establishing the economy by force? If this is not the principle of the three-generation hereditary military-first politics, what else is there? On the other hand, establishing force by putting the economy first can be seen as capitalism.

The former method of building a prosperous society was only possible if it did not become a world public enemy even if it was infinitely expanded and pillaged, and the moment expansion stopped, it would be difficult to survive beyond a single generation, and chaos and collapse would follow. Since they had been filling their own granaries and consuming by stealing from others, it was a very natural logical conclusion that they would perish if there was no one left to steal from.

But putting the economy first is difficult and hard at first, but can we maximize military potential? We can invest in the military, or we can invest more in the economy. The military-first politics could not keep up with flexibility.

It was like an early rush and a late rush. The king was trying to solidify his power through an early rush and to enrich the kingdom’s finances by sucking up to the nobles, but would the nobles really just let that happen?

“Hmm… … .”

The King rubbed his right hand at Arthur’s direct expression.

His palm looked itchy, which probably meant he really wanted to be slapped. If there hadn’t been someone nearby, he probably would have come closer and told him to bend down.

However, I was very thankful that he did not object or become stubborn, which meant that he was still holding on to his senses.

Arthur tried to console the king with a slightly backed down attitude.

“Please think about it calmly. In the current situation, there is no noble who would not interfere with the militarization of the palace guard.”

“Is that so?”

Half of the eastern granary was blown away. The royal lands were torn apart in chunks.

Even in this situation, Arthur’s words were not wrong when considering the intentions of the nobles who did not want to recover their country and wanted to stop the war.

I could understand the king’s impatience, but things didn’t always go as planned if you rushed. In fact, didn’t the more urgent the situation, the more you had to turn back?

King Rai asked with a sigh.

“So when are you going to reorganize your army and stop the invasion of that evil Jatra Kingdom army?”

Arthur was dumbfounded. Why would you ask a craftsman that? And did you screw up diplomacy? Why were you afraid in advance when you could have just used the neighboring countries that didn’t want the Kingdom of Zatra to swallow up the Kingdom of Skara?

No, it’s not that they’re scared, they’re just trying to use it as an excuse to strengthen their royal power! Anyway, look at this hostile symbiotic relationship.

Arthur gathered his thoughts and opened his mouth.

“We only think about the economy of the kingdom.”

We’ll just do that. You worry about everything else.

The king sighed deeply at Arthur’s words and said.

“Then how do you plan to collect collateral from the nobles who signed the agreement?”

It was a question that seemed to be a question of greed, but it was a question that could not be said to be free of regret. At the root of it was the belief that if the nobles resisted, the effect of the posthumous consent could not be guaranteed unless by force.

Arthur answered.

“I will try my best, but if it doesn’t work out, may I ask Your Majesty for help?”

“Huh! Who would listen to Jim’s words?”

Arthur consoled King Rai, who was speaking of the misery of a monarch without an army.

“Your Majesty, there are certainly loyal subjects, and their number and influence are not small.”

At Arthur’s words to trust him just once, King Rai looked down at Arthur and Jaran with an expression that made it impossible to read their intentions, and then opened his mouth.

“Okay. Give it a try.”

“Your kindness is truly infinite.”

I thought he would tell me to step down like that, but King Rai added this at the end.

“If you succeed, I will give you a great reward.”

Arthur answered with the nuance that if it wasn’t a big reward, it could be a big punishment.

“I will do my best.”

After stepping down from the throne, Jaran spoke to Arthur with a worried expression.

“What are you going to do?”

“If you tell me to do it according to the consent form, I won’t do it, right?”

“of course.”

It was human nature to have different attitudes before and after defecating. Furthermore, the nobles would not have expected to lose the war, so they would not recognize the validity of the consent form.

How did the king convince them in the first place? Didn’t he say that it would just be meaningless paper anyway?

So they had a clear justification for asserting that the consent was invalid.

“Let’s first convene the Scalon Issuance Committee.”

“Can we do it?”

“We have a 26% stake. We have the authority to call a meeting.”

The authority to convene a committee was determined by the bylaws, so it wasn’t impossible. There was even a provision that if you wrote a summons and sent it to the contact person of the Scalon Noble Committee, they would contact you and have you gather by the date of the summons.

The same goes for the palace. There is a courtier in charge, so if you contact him, either the king or his representative will attend.

“But what are you going to do with all this?”

“I intend to compromise.”

Arthur brainstormed with Jaran and worked out a plan. Jaran frowned, sometimes nodding and sometimes shaking his head.

We coordinated our opinions in this way and planned to make the most of the post-mortem consent form.

* * *

“So why did you gather us together?”

Count Blanc, with his stern demeanor, asked Arthur.

“As you all know, our kingdom of Skara was defeated in this war.”

It was a war that ended two years after the Kingdom of Jatra declared war.

“Huh? Are you saying it’s our fault?”

I wanted to reply, “Which nobleman’s words are you offended by?” but I held back and got to the main point, because if I did that, the meeting would go off in the wrong direction.

“It’s not because of that, it’s because of the way the consent form was handled that we all expected would be trashed.”

“Ha! Of course that’s invalid, right?!”

One of the nobles raised his voice. He seemed to think that raising his voice would frighten Arthur and make him retreat, but the queen, who had come out as the king’s representative, was present.

“I didn’t know there was etiquette that allowed raising one’s voice in front of the Queen… … .”

“you,”

“Stop it. Calm down.”

Count Blanc stopped the excited nobleman and looked at Arthur.

“None of us ever imagined defeat.”

Of course, I didn’t sign the agreement with any intention of its effect. I just signed it because I thought it would be better for securing Scala’s collateral.

Then why did you insist on a ceasefire? Arthur nodded his head in response, though he was taken aback.

“I know. And I also know that if we actually enforce the agreement, it would set a very bad precedent.”

A precedent that says that when a country is in crisis, it is okay to take away the nobles’ property. What’s the problem with that? Isn’t that noblesse oblige? Some people might think that, but Arthur could bet his balls that if they were asked to give up their property to pay off the national debt, they would froth at the thought of what the country has done for them!

And such rebellion tended to be more intense among the haves than among the have-nots. Or, to put it bluntly, the have-nots were weak and would have to be taken away if they tried to take it away, while the haves were more than capable of resisting.

The problem was after that. What if the country doesn’t protect me and becomes a thief trying to take what’s mine? Then everyone’s patriotism will be shattered. Loyalty is never free.

That is the bad precedent Arthur is talking about. If the agreement is enforced without any consideration and the nobles’ assets are taken away, their patriotism will be destroyed.

The king may have intended to suppress it with his strong royal authority. Then what about the ill feelings that result from it? The previous king had already presented a solution. It was to leave it to time. The royalist faction of the time became the aristocratic faction of today, and the aristocratic faction of the time became the royalist faction of today.

But it was impossible to implement the same method after the defeat, just like a patient who tries to bulk up in Hell would lose.

So Arthur proposed a compromise.

“So instead of giving effect to the consent form, we’re going to switch to a method we couldn’t do at the time.”

“Is it a bond?”

“Yes.”

At the time, the situation was so dire that even if bonds were issued, it would be difficult to raise funds by selling them.

Also, because the time was tight, the interest rate on the bonds had to be set high, so out of concern that this would be a significant burden after the war, scalons were issued based on a post-mortem collateral agreement.

But since the war ended in defeat, the posthumous collateral agreement gave the nobles an excuse to plunder their properties.

So Arthur suggested that they turn back time and change the situation so that instead of collateral, they bought bonds. Of course, since the pressure was not as severe as it was then, the bond interest rate would not be so burdensome.

This was a win-win situation. The nobles could amicably terminate the posthumous collateral agreement in accordance with principles and procedures, and the state could sell the bonds at a reasonable interest rate while eliminating the cost and time required to suppress the nobles’ opposition.

But since there were so many heads gathered together, there were some who tried to cause trouble.

“What if I can’t accept that agreement and can’t buy the bonds?”

“You mean you break your promise? I fear His Majesty the King may think that you might treat the vassalage contract in that way.”

“Huh!”

In exchange for loyalty, security is guaranteed. In exchange for security, the stability of the kingdom is contributed to. The essence of the vassal contract between the monarch and the nobles was ultimately a transaction based on trust and credit.

But he ignores the agreement he signed and the minimum compromise? Will he really keep his vassal contract when he has thrown even the minimum of trust into the trash can? What will the king think?

At a time like this, if you answered incorrectly, you could be branded a traitor.