The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

Chapter 1463 422: Conflicts Won't Disappear, But Can Be Shifted (Part 2)

"I think your idea is quite good and worth a try."

"It is my honor to serve you!"

Seeing that the Duke truly listened to his advice, the Baron excitedly bowed.

Saint Sis above!

Fortunately, their Majesty is a person of wisdom and does not indulge in his capricious sister's antics.

She always talks about putting power in a cage, but she doesn't realize she's the one who most deserves to be caged.

Today, with just one word, she can destroy the commercial freedom of Thunder City; tomorrow, she will bind the future of the Duchy with a rope!

Perhaps feeling a bit elated, as the Duke was so agreeable, he couldn't help but speak out again.

"Your Majesty, if I may speak frankly... While harmony within the Royal Family is something we subjects are happy to see, perhaps you've been a bit too indulgent with Princess Erin? She seems not to have considered your opinion much."

As soon as the words fell, the study suddenly became silent, as if the sound of a pin dropping could be heard clearly.

Noticing Edward looking at him sharply, the Baron felt his hair stand on end, and cold sweat rolled down his back.

No matter the issue, the affairs of the Duke's household were not for him to meddle in.

He realized he had overstepped a bit...

However, being a wise Monarch, Edward Campbell did not make things difficult for him.

"Baron Richard, I understand your advice, and I will speak with my sister about this matter."

The Baron breathed a sigh of relief, quickly taking the opportunity to withdraw gracefully.

"Praise your enlightenment, Your Majesty, please believe I meant no harm... I only did it for our Duchy."

With that, he hurriedly took his leave.

…

After the Baron left.

The advisor standing quietly to the side finally spoke, sighing softly.

"Your Majesty, these nouveau riche are becoming increasingly disrespectful. While kindness can indeed rally wavering supporters, occasionally you should appropriately display your authority."

"Can't blame them, they are, after all, newly wealthy, and adapting to high society's etiquette takes time."

Putting the newspaper aside, Edward continued expressionlessly.

"We need their strength, and only by allowing the emerging class to grow can we use them to balance the conservative forces within us."

A feudal Kingdom is not a monolith, and small Duchies are naturally the same.

Although he is the nominal King of this country, his vassals do not always align with him and occasionally oppose him.

Just like now.

Those great nobles who already own much land are extremely disgusted by the ongoing movement in the Duchy.

In their view, those minor nobles are devouring public lands like mad dogs, altering genealogies and traditional laws like graffiti, exploiting every loophole they can find, then driving the farmers from their lands to neighboring territories.

The farmers driven away by these people either become vagabonds or turn into bandits and thieves, causing great trouble for their territories.

An overburdened population has never been good for the nobles; they wish these people were fewer, maintaining just the right number, living neither affluent nor impoverished lives.

This is the easiest to manage.

Apart from this, those great nobles also have significant disagreements with him over the grain import bill.

That is another of Edward's governance policies.

To prevent famine due to a decrease in grain production, he vigorously developed industry while promoting a bill to subsidize grain imports with industrial tax revenue.

This was essentially a good thing, as cheap bread benefited the citizens of Thunder City.

However, for the three Earl Domains relying on grain revenues, this bill undoubtedly destroyed their wallets.

Of course, those conservative nobles would find a seemingly legitimate reason. For instance, the grain produced by the Campbell Duchy is just enough for the Campbell people to eat, and using industrial tax revenue to subsidize agricultural imports is equivalent to hanging the farmers protected by the castles.

Edward naturally sneered at this, having never seen any Earl show a glance of concern for the farmers on their lands; now these people suddenly pretended to care.

In reality, reasons abound; ultimately, the industrialization wave of the Ryan Kingdom has affected their purses.

Frankly speaking, Edward is very much hoping those great nobles also join the industrialization wave, but the actual situation is far more complex than imagined.

The Campbell Duchy has only one Thunder City and can only have one Thunder City.

All other lands adhere to the most traditional feudal etiquette; all rights are distributed downwards step by step, totally unsuitable for complex production relations.

This is why the same person can be a worker in Thunder City but can only lie in the haystack sunbathing when returning to the North Stream Valley Earl's Territory. This has nothing to do with laziness, and it's unrelated to intelligence levels.

Every time he thinks of this, Edward feels a burst of irritation.

The rise of the Campbell Duchy depends on the support of those emerging nobles and merchants, yet Erin's actions unconsciously align with the conservative nobles' camp.

Even though he knows his sister has no ambitions for usurpation, her impractical kindness can't withstand becoming a tool in the hands of those with ulterior motives.