My British Empire

"My God! Is this true? Ed!" Mary looked at her husband in surprise, her eyes full of disbelief.

"Yes! I think His Majesty values ​​me very much!" Ed, like his wife, had a happy expression on his face.

"I think, if I do more work for His Majesty this time, His Majesty will definitely remember me in his heart!" Ed said in a guessing tone.

"That's for sure! Just impress His Majesty the King! Your hope of becoming a nobleman will definitely increase!" Mary looked lovingly at Yi Na and Rodin who were swallowing bread.

"Our little angels will become nobles, so they don't have to work as hard as us!"

"Mary! I will definitely make our little angel a gentleman!" Ed said comfortingly, holding his wife's hands that were rough from doing housework.

"You will also become a noble lady, and often go to high-class banquets!" Ed looked at the pair of jade hands, his tone gradually became low, "I won't do housework by myself anymore!"

"Yes! Ed, I think God will bless us!" Mary said with emotion.

On this side, Edward and Andre slowly visited the castle, looking at the castle that was once used as a military base in a quite natural way.

As for sisters Luna and the guards, they had already gone to tidy up the room and put away their belongings, leaving only the big Xiao En to follow.

Climbing up to the watchtower of the castle, Edward saw the whole picture of Portsmouth.

There are a large number of naval ships parked on the left side of the city, merchant ships coming and going, and a medium-sized port. The soldiers of the ship and the sailors of the merchant ship disembarked one by one and walked towards a messy street near the port.

This is also the most prosperous place in Portsmouth. This street is full of taverns and brothels, two favorite places for soldiers and sailors, as well as fruit stalls, grain stores, and cloth stores that provide ship supplies.

Other than that, the rest are either natives or families of the navy, which is dull compared to the port.

According to Edward's visual inspection, the small town only accounts for one-fifth of the entire island, and there are almost no people in other places, and only a few villages provide food and vegetables for the city.

Watching the busy merchant ships shuttling between the ports, Edward couldn't help asking: "Andre, how many of those merchant ships belong to the Leo Shesley family?"

Andre didn't expect Edward to ask these questions, and he was asked all of a sudden.

"Your Majesty! I haven't counted this!" Andre said embarrassingly, and added quickly after a while.

"I heard from those sailors that almost one third of the merchant ships belong to the Southampton family, and one third belong to his dependent family!"

"Real merchant ships accounted for one-third of them, and I also heard from hearsay! Your Majesty!"

Andre carefully glanced at Edward's face, afraid of offending the ruler of England.

Why is His Majesty the King not as tempered as people say? On the contrary, he was very cordial, as expected, he was the representative of the legend.

Edward didn't care about Andre's small movements, and couldn't help being surprised.

He didn't expect that the Earl of Southampton already owned such a large merchant ship, which was almost one of the few withered nobles in the Tudor period.

Moreover, he was very enlightened, able to abandon the traditional aristocratic way of managing the land, and started to do business. At first glance, he was a member of the new aristocrats recorded in the history books in the future.

Edward's mind Andre can't know, Andre's little mind Edward has no way of knowing.

"Andre! Tomorrow, you ask that James Leo Shesley to meet me here!"

"Yes! My Majesty!" Andre imitated Ed's movements and saluted, but because he had not been trained, Edward felt very awkward.

After Andre left, Edward admired this city of his own alone.

Speaking of this, it is a bit embarrassing, the capital of the entire England - London, is not under the jurisdiction of the king, it is actually an autonomous city.

The majestic capital of England is not in the hands of the king, but is completely governed by a group of businessmen.

It is largely the work of William the Conqueror, Norman, who won the Battle of Hastings and was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in 1066.

It was he who built the White Tower, the core part of the Tower of London. At the same time, he also negotiated tax laws with businessmen, declared the independence of the city of London, and had the right to self-government.

The king has no right to collect taxes in the capital, and has no right to manage and appoint officials in London, which is unthinkable in ancient China. And Edward's predecessors in the past did not try to take back the management rights, but used the royal power to influence the operation of London, just lying down and counting money.

Therefore, the urban environment in London is so harsh, but Edward can't interfere with it. Anyway, those big businessmen won't pay for it.

But Portsmouth is different. This is a naval city. The entire city is almost managed by naval officers, and Edward is the loyal object of the navy. Portsmouth can be said to be his.

After lusting for a while, Edward went to rest, after all, he had been on the road for a few days.

Early the next morning, Andre brought James Leoshesley, who was dressed in noble clothes, to Borgast Castle.

"Good day! Your Majesty the King!" James saluted first, expressing his respect for the king.

"Good day! Major Leo Shesley!" Because James is not the first heir to the Earl of Southampton and does not have a title, Edward directly called him by his rank.

"Mr. Major! If you don't mind, accompany me to take a look around the port of Portsmouth!"

"Of course! This is my honor! It is the duty of a subject to serve His Majesty the Great King!" Major James agreed with great interest.

Although he didn't understand why Edward came to Portsmouth, James still had to work hard to cooperate.

Walking on the soft beach, Edward rubbed the sand on the beach leisurely, talking to James from time to time.

"Dear Mr. Major! What do you think of the present navy?"

"Your Majesty! I think the funding for the navy should be strengthened!" As soon as he mentioned his major, James became interested.

"Our navy in England can only protect itself! It is incomparable with Spain and Portugal!"

"It cannot be compared with the Netherlands (Netherlands)!"

Edward understands James' thoughts very well. The Navy has always been on the edge, with little funding and no one to care about.

Naturally, there is no meritorious service to be made. For the nobles, they can't inherit much property, and they don't have a title. They can only make a living by themselves.

Besides, his father helped him to the position of lieutenant commander, which was already interesting enough, and it was unlikely that he would use the power of the family to help him again.

Therefore, the ass determines the head, and the navy is strong and he is valued, so that he can skyrocket and truly stabilize the chassis.

Thanks: Gynecologist Xiao Nuannan, book friend 160520113042017, Tianyi Sword, the cute Hengheng, Mingshi Xinfeng, book friend 138xxxx94, Youdai Gong Jiayin, 56-leg Mao brother, ignorance is not wrong, Legolas~Windrunner , LancasterKoo, everyone's big support.