In the Name of the Queen

The whole place was in complete silence.

Everyone was stunned.

Sif and Roland knew the result in advance, so they were not surprised.

Athos and others did not know the high-level policies of the empire, and they had never thought that the title nomination nominated by the queen herself would be completely rejected. They were all dumbfounded.

Athos was so excited that he almost stood up, but he calmed down as soon as his butt left the seat.

The queen and the governor were both here, so it was not his turn to shout and scream, so he had to stay calm.

He squinted his eyes and saw Roland's equally "shocked" expression from the corner of his eye, which made him even more frustrated.

Porthos' chubby face turned red. He was about to stand up and say something, but suddenly found that Athos had just stood up and sat down, so he had to suppress his anger.

Officials who had nothing to do with it whispered to each other or exchanged feelings with their eyes. Although the officials whose titles were reported and rejected tried to stay calm, their inner disappointment was written on their faces.

No one could stay calm in such a situation.

Tony, the executive deputy director of the Interior Department (former executive officer of the Val city-state), who sat on the left side of the first row, narrowed his eyes and looked at the people in the conference hall with interest, thinking.

Although he was responsible for many matters, his official position was low after all, so he did not get the reward of baron this time.

Royal Knights were not bad, at least they represented the recognition of the Queen and the Governor.

Tony was very satisfied.

After all, he joined in the middle, and he was once the leader of the independent faction of the Val city-state. It was not easy for Roland to reuse him.

Roland personally served as a senior official in the newly established Suwig Province, and the senior official was the former deputy executive of the Val city-state.

Governor Roland certainly would not condescend to govern a province in person, he was just a figurehead. The actual rulers of the Suwig Province were people from the old Val city-state faction.

Tony smelled something unusual from it.

The Governor was trying to maintain a balance.

The original three overseas provinces had a mature bureaucratic system. Although these officials also had internal disputes, they were generally considered a faction and were called the overseas faction.

In addition to these officials, the officials who followed the governor and the queen from the mainland, although they did not connect with each other, also formed their own faction and were called the local faction.

After the Val city-state was divided, a large number of officials from the old city-state joined the governor's jurisdiction, and Tony formed a team and formed a new faction, the city-state faction.

In addition to these two factions, people from various countries in Rodinia who were inspired by Roland's slogan "Only talents are used to employ people" became the fourth faction.

To be precise, the newcomers are not mature political factions. They have no leaders, no unified goals and action plans. Rather than factions, they are more like groups.

The biggest winner of this commendation conference is of course the overseas faction, which has the largest number of people who have been knighted.

The local faction is the second winner. They suffer from the fact that most of them start from too low a starting point. Although they rise quickly, they still need time to accumulate.

Although the city-state faction did not get the baron reward, it gained a few more royal knights and obtained the status of the actual ruler of the new province.

The more Tony thought about it, the more he felt that Roland's arrangement was thoughtful.

The overseas faction was awarded many titles and had unlimited glory, but its base did not expand. Instead, it lost some of its original territory because he was in charge of government affairs.

The local faction was promoted the fastest, but its foundation was shallow, and it received key support from the governor.

The city-state faction made a fortune quietly, which shows that the governor valued them. But while using them, Roland was also cautious to guard against them.

Power can be given, but the corresponding status is suppressed with reasonable reasons.

This can not only suppress the expansion of the city-state faction's power, but also reassure the old officials.

So what if Tony is in charge of government affairs? He is not as high as the deputy governor, and his title is even lower.

As for the new group, it can only be said that the future is promising.

Roland is carefully dividing the power cake of different groups.

The governor's jurisdiction is now in an upward period, and the base is constantly expanding. Civil servants can be promoted, generals can win battles, businessmen can make money, factories can also get government support, and even farmers can enjoy tax exemption in disaster years.

The bigger the cake is, the smaller the contradictions will be.

However, all this is not stable. As long as the prosperous situation changes, various contradictions will be exposed.

Tony is a little worried and curious. How will Roland deal with the current situation?

The Governor should be able to guess this result. Does he have a plan?

Thinking from another perspective, Tony really can't think of a solution.

The barons of the Sussex Empire are very valuable. They not only have privileges and status, but also real territories.

The empire is so big that many baronies are larger than earls in small kingdoms.

It is better to be a baron of a big country than an earl of a small country.

After all, a small country can disappear at any time. If the country is gone, it is hard to say whether the earl can be preserved.

Tony thought for a long time, and the only solution he could think of was for the Queen to confer a batch of non-territorial titles first.

Only a title, no territory, and cannot be inherited, this kind of title is jokingly called an empty title.

The value of an empty baron is much lower than that of a hereditary baron with a territory.

Who can accept the first prize becoming a consolation prize?

If it is not handled properly, the people's hearts that have been gathered with great difficulty will be scattered.

If the people's hearts are scattered, the originally united team will also be scattered.

Just when Tony was worried, the Magic Mirror Queen, who had been silent all the time, spoke.

"You are free to express your opinions."

To the officials, this sentence was equivalent to the Queen allowing them to rant.

How could they tolerate this?

Bordos was the first to stand up.

He hadn't been a big mouth in a formal meeting for three months, and he was almost fainting.

Now he is being ordered to criticize, so of course he will not be polite.

"This is deceiving the emperor, and even more so betrayal, naked betrayal!"

When Bordeaux said this, everyone else was stunned.

Wait, isn't this tone a bit too high? He put two big hats on him right at the beginning, and he has finished speaking, how can others follow?

Bordeaux's words shocked the audience.

This is the effect he wanted.

Clearing his throat, the senior official of Serin officially started the legal trolling mode.

"Everyone, I want to ask everyone, what is the relationship between the nobles and His Majesty?"

Everyone knows this question.

"Your Majesty is the master of the nobles."

Bordeaux nodded with satisfaction and cast a thankful look at the person who answered the question.

"Subjects should be loyal to their lords, do their best to share their lords' worries, assist their lords in ruling their territories, and help their lords achieve their predetermined goals."

"What is law?"

Porthos swallowed the vulgar adjective "shit" when he was about to say it. Just as he was thinking about what words to use to describe it accurately, Roland said it for him.

"Law is a tool to maintain rule."

Porthos' eyes lit up.

As expected of a governor, he speaks so accurately.

"That's right, the imperial law must safeguard the interests of His Majesty the Emperor. The nobles must consciously safeguard the interests of their lords."

"But what did the masters of the imperial capital do? They played word games and racked their brains to find clauses in the law that were unfavorable to His Majesty. This is betrayal!"

Roland smiled with satisfaction at Porthos.

That's right, this is betrayal.

There are so many legal clauses. Except for the indisputable serious crimes such as murder and arson, the legal provisions involving politics are often vague, leaving room for manipulation.

If the masters of the House of Nobles want this report to pass, there are a hundred ways.

They could declare the Suwig province as part of the mainland and give it to the nobles.

They could declare the Suwig region a colony and give it to the nobles.

However, they did not do so. Instead, they tried their best to pick out the obscure laws that were about to mold from the corners of the heraldry law and rejected the report.

No matter how high-sounding the reason for rejection is, it is still a rejection. No matter how absurd the reason for approval is, it is still approval.

The local nobles are a bit crooked.

With Roland's affirmation, Bordeaux opened fire and criticized the local nobles, and he was well-reasoned.

Bordeaux's eloquence is amazing.

With his analysis, the officials present all recognized the true face of the local old nobles.

However, although it was fun to criticize, it had no practical meaning.

After scolding, we still have to face reality. What should we do?

The officials present were better at scolding the old nobles than each other, and it was no use asking them to give advice.

After the queen slowly said "What countermeasures do you have", everyone was discouraged.

The Queen cast her eyes on Athos and motioned him to speak.

Athos was depressed and didn't want to say a word, but he had to answer the Queen's question. After thinking for a few seconds, he sighed:

"Your Majesty, I suggest that you first confer the title of Baron without territory, at least to solve the noble status."

People are always willing to compromise.

If Athos was directly given the title of Baron without territory, he would definitely not be happy, and even felt that the Queen and the Governor were too stingy.

But after the report on the title was rejected, he could accept it.

This is basically the bottom line of the recipient.

First solve the level (title), and then find a way to solve the actual interests (territory).

The Queen looked grim and did not express her opinion immediately, but continued to ask others.

Several barons agreed with Athos's opinion.

You can't eat meat, but at least drink some soup.

The Queen finally turned her gaze to Sif and asked softly, "Lord Sif, what do you think?"

Sif stood up and swept her eyes across the room. Her clear voice was particularly pleasant, but her words almost froze the officials' blood.

"I disagree."

The officials and generals who were waiting to be conferred the title of baron were all the Queen's confidants, and they knew that Sif was the Queen.

If Sif disagrees, the Queen disagrees.

They all bowed their heads, but their hearts were bleeding.

They never dreamed that the Queen would be so unkind.

Thinking of the fact that they had consciously given up entertainment activities, restrained themselves, and often took the initiative to work overtime in the past few months, all their plans had come to nothing, and their mentality was on the verge of explosion.

Although they felt wronged, they did not dare to resist.

How dare they confront the Queen's authority.

However, they all lost their desire to pursue progress and prepared to start messing around after the meeting and continue their previous chic life.

Seeing the frustration and loss of these officials from the corner of her eye, Sif's lips slightly raised.

The officials' reactions were all calculated.

First raise expectations, then hit the bottom, and finally give a satisfactory result, which will bring more joy than giving the highest expectations directly.

Is this what Roland calls PUA?

His words are always so interesting.

Count Sif coughed lightly and said slowly: "I plan to divide a few baronies from my territory, the Earldom of Tyrone, to make up for everyone's losses. Please approve it, Your Majesty."