Chapter 741 the prelude to the reform

A few days later, Medel took his last breath, and Simon took the opportunity to hold a cabinet meeting.

At the meeting, Simon said with a straight face and a calm tone: “I am very saddened by the death of Prime Minister Medel, but the cabinet is in charge of the daily administration of the country, and there cannot be no prime minister, so I decided to appoint Grand Duke Gaseppe as the What do you think of the new Prime Minister?”

Grand Duke Gaseppe is the youngest son of the fifteenth king. His seniority is very high. He is an ancestor-level figure of the Silver Moon Kingdom, and as the leader of the royal family’s collateral nobles, he has a very high reputation.

Therefore, regarding the appointment of the new prime minister, the ministers really couldn’t find any faults.

Seeing that no one objected, Grand Duke Gaseppe smiled and put on the prime minister’s brooch, sat on Simon’s right hand, and began to formally perform the duties of prime minister.

Simon continued to say with a blank expression: “In addition, from now on, the Royal Chamber of Commerce will be reorganized into the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, which will be responsible for coordinating the commercial activities of the Silver Moon Kingdom. Sir Ilsa, the former chairman of the Royal Chamber of Commerce, will serve as the minister, and he will join the cabinet as the Minister of Discussion. .”

Mike’s father, Simon’s old acquaintance, Sir Ilsa who is a bit fat, got up from his seat with a smile and greeted the ministers.

Regarding this, the ministers did not have any objections. Mike’s family is an old family in the capital itself, and almost every generation will serve in the cabinet.

Since Mike’s grandfather, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, retired, Sir Ilsa entered the cabinet, in their opinion, it was only a matter of time.

After Sir Ilsa sat down, Simon went on to say: “In addition, I think all adults are aware that due to years of wars and the blockade of the empire, our domestic supplies are extremely short, so from now on, the Silvermoon Kingdom will implement a temporary economic system.”

A minister asked: “What does the temporary economic system mean?”

Simon explained: “From the beginning of next year, private business activities will be prohibited within the Silver Moon Kingdom, and material rolls will be distributed to the people according to their hair. Only by holding the material rolls can you buy various materials in the Ministry of Commerce.”

The ministers thought about the pros and cons in their hearts, so that they could indeed distribute the materials reasonably to the maximum extent.

Although many merchants are supported by nobles, the prohibition of private business activities will definitely cause all merchants and some nobles to fall apart.

But this does not affect the interests of them, because the Ministry of Commerce will monopolize the country’s material trade because private business activities are completely prohibited.

And the Ministry of Commerce and Trade is under the jurisdiction of the cabinet. I don’t know how much money there is in it…

A minister with a conscience frowned and asked, “What should the merchants do? Let them farm the land?”

The Department of Commerce and Trade’s monopoly on the commercial activities of the Silvermoon Kingdom is forcing the merchants of the Silvermoon Kingdom to die. If there is no solution, there will definitely be troubles.

Simon continued to explain: “No, it’s just a ban on domestic private trade. The Ministry of Commerce and the Navy fleet have opened up a sea smuggling line. As long as those merchants are willing, we can provide them with smuggling ships and protection, and exempt them from all tariffs. They smuggle!”

It is absolutely impossible for a country to be closed for a long time, so the Silver Moon Kingdom can only be unilaterally closed to the outside world. People outside cannot come in, but people inside can go out.

Merchants pursue profit. Although this kind of smuggling activity is risky, the profits obtained are extremely astonishing. Therefore, there must be many merchants who are willing to take risks.

As for the Silver Moon Kingdom, the smuggling of these merchants can also greatly alleviate the domestic shortage of supplies.

As for those businessmen who are not willing to take risks, just go back and farm obediently. They don’t even have the courage to take risks.

Simon said with a cold face: “In addition to the temporary economic system, I also plan to completely abolish the slave system in the Silver Moon Kingdom at the beginning of next year. All serfs must redeem themselves. Remember! It is necessary! As for the conditions for redemption, yes Consecutively hand over within five years, except for rations and grain harvest in the coming year.”

The previous lordship system created a large number of serfs without personal freedom, which greatly restricted the development of the Silver Moon Kingdom, so it had to be abolished.

But the free amnesty of the serfs would definitely make the free people feel dissatisfied, so he formulated this redemption bill referring to the serfdom reform of Blue Star Maoxiong.

The ministers nodded after listening.

The Silvermoon Kingdom had abolished slavery a long time ago, but it was only because the abolition was incomplete that the embarrassing status of serfs who were neither slaves nor freemen appeared.

And in the final analysis, serfdom arose because the lords wanted to exploit more of the harvest.

Now that the feudal system has been abolished and all the land in the Silvermoon Kingdom has been taken over by the king, there is no need for serfdom to exist.

Or to put it another way, everyone in the Silvermoon Kingdom has become serfs of the king, the biggest lord!

At this moment, a minister suddenly thought of something, frowned and asked, “Since slavery is to be completely abolished, what should the foreign slaves do?”

As soon as these words came out, the room suddenly became silent, and all the ministers were secretly looking at Simon.

In the lord’s era, this was the largest alien slave owner. Now, 90% of the alien slaves in the Silver Moon Kingdom are in the original Xinfa territory.

Since he proposed to abolish slavery in an all-round way, Simon naturally thought about this issue, and replied calmly: “Give them the status of temporary residents and be protected by the laws of the Silvermoon Kingdom, but they will not enjoy the welfare benefits of the people of the Silvermoon Kingdom.” .”

There are 200,000 to 300,000 foreign slaves in the Silver Moon Kingdom. It is absolutely impossible to kill them directly, and it is definitely not acceptable to rashly incorporate them into the public system, so a compromise method can only be adopted.

Only when the time is right can we deal with it further. Anyway, it can’t be just because of a rat droppings, his good porridge called comprehensive reform can’t be ruined…

Speaking a little dry, Simon took a sip of black tea and continued: “There is a third key issue in this cabinet meeting, which is to implement the new law early next year, Mike, I will show you the three bills for your emulation. ”

As the king’s clerk, Mike stood up and put the Civil Code, Criminal Code, and Basic Law of the Silver Moon Kingdom in front of everyone.

The ministers flipped through the three legal codes, with the expressions I expected.

After Simon became the king, the nobles had a deep understanding of him, especially those families attached to the royal family.

Therefore, they all understand the new law implemented by Simon in the new law.

After all, maybe one day, the king will implement the new law on a sudden whim across the country, and knowing it in advance will also allow them to prepare early.

The ministers flipped through the thick civil code and criminal code, sometimes frowning, sometimes soothing.

Compared with the original Kingdom Law, these two codes are quite strict, covering almost every aspect. In the future, even the nobles will not be able to act as they please.

But fundamentally speaking, this did not violate the fundamental interests of the nobles, so it can be reluctantly accepted.

Putting down the two heavy legal codes, the ministers glanced at each other and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, then rubbed their eyes and opened the thinnest Basic Law.

The Basic Law stipulates the political system of the Silvermoon Kingdom and the distribution of power, so it only has a few pages, which seems quite frivolous.

But just by glancing at it, all the ministers were startled and almost screamed.

In other places, it is roughly the same as the Basic Law of the new legal period, with only slight changes and little impact.

The most terrible thing is that two paragraphs have been added to it.

The first paragraph: [Ruling on the status of nobles, only those who have the title of nobles and the nobles can be called nobles. Those who are adopted by nobles are no longer recognized as nobles. 】

What does it mean?

Take the Hawke family where Simon belongs as an example.

Simon’s father, Valéry, is the head of the Hauke ​​family. He has both a fiefdom and a noble title, and he is considered a real nobleman.

As for Simon’s mother, Hina, although she is the daughter of Marquis Kim and the wife of Earl Hauke, she does not have a title and is not a nobleman at all, but she still enjoys the status of a nobleman.

In the same way, the same is true for Simon, who did not have a title when he was a child.

One person attains the Tao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven, and the family members of nobles are also nobles, enjoying the treatment of nobles.

Although this was the case in the past, it will no longer work in the future. Only the person in the family who has both the imperial guard and the title of nobility, commonly known as the head of the family, can enjoy the treatment of nobility.

Also take the Hawke family as an example.

Simon is the eldest son of the Hawke family, and he can inherit the family title and fief when he grows up, while his younger brother, Christine, can only inherit a knight title and a lifetime knight estate.

After Christine’s death, the lifetime knight manor will be taken back by the Hawke family. Christine’s eldest son can only inherit a knight title and become a collateral branch of the Hawke family.

This kind of family offshoot, or some declining nobles, is not much different from ordinary people except that they have an empty title, but they are also regarded as nobles and enjoy the treatment of nobles.

But from now on, it won’t work anymore. If there is no nobleman, he will be deprived of his title of nobleman and become a commoner of the Silver Moon Kingdom.

In the former Silver Moon Kingdom, the population was close to four million, and there were about 20,000 people with aristocratic status, and among the 20,000 people, most of them were the above two types of fake aristocrats.

Deprived of their aristocratic status, there are no more than a thousand nobles left in the Silver Moon Kingdom, and the entire aristocratic class is basically cut down.

This is not over yet, there is a second paragraph: [Nobility enjoys preferential treatment, see the appendix for specific policies, but no longer enjoys administrative and judicial powers, prohibits the formation of private armed forces, can hold public office in the state, but is prohibited from exceeding authority! If you break the law, you will be punished! 】

What does this passage mean?

For example, in the past, the mayor of a town died. If there is no replacement, the nobles can directly become the mayor without reporting to anyone, even if it is a fake noble with only a title, because this in itself is the power of the nobility.

If after the death of the mayor, the sheriff, the tax collector, and the captain of the militia also die, and there is no one to replace them, then the nobleman can still hold several positions, exercise judicial power, collect taxes, and even form a private armed force until the king Or the lord sends new town officials.

In remote areas where there is no magistrate, or if a magistrate cannot be found for a while, if there is a dispute between the public and a crime, the nobles can also directly make a judicial ruling.

And if a nobleman sees a commoner as unhappy, he can beat him to death directly, and when the magistrate comes, the nobleman can use gold coins to atone for himself.

Of course, it is more likely that the magistrate will not come to this nobleman at all.

These are the powers of the nobility.

But from now on, it is not allowed. Only after being appointed by the state can one hold a national public office, and only with a national public office can one exercise the power allowed by the public office. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

Nobles who break the law must also accept legal sanctions, and they can no longer be perfunctory like before.

If the above passage was only aimed at the scale of the aristocratic class, then this passage directly cut at the lifeblood of the aristocracy.

Can nobility be called nobility without political and judicial privileges?

After reading this thin Basic Law, all the ministers were restless.

A more impatient minister even slapped the table and stood up: “Your Majesty, I think the Basic Law you enacted is a bit too much?!”

Simon looked at him with cold eyes, then looked at the ministers, and said coldly: “I am not discussing with you, but asking you to implement it! As I said when I abolished the enfeoffment system, you either shut up Execute, or launch a rebellion directly! I don’t want to have meaningless arguments with you!”

The disgruntled ministers were immediately choked. What’s more, the military forces of the aristocracy were all in the hands of the lords.

Now that the lords have been abolished, and the military forces of the whole country are in the hands of the king, what can they use to launch a rebellion?

In the past, the lord was the eldest brother of the aristocratic class, who held the absolute right to speak. Including royal ministers like them, nobles with false titles without fiefs had to act according to the lords’ faces.

So when the king overthrew all the lords, they were the ones who laughed the most, because the power of the Silvermoon Kingdom would be concentrated in their hands from now on.

Fortunately, the lords were abolished, and the king directly slashed at the entire aristocratic class, but the aristocrats didn’t even have the ability to resist.

Now, they, who were still gloating at other times, couldn’t laugh at all…