Chapter 378: Chapter 373: Centralization of Power Chapter 378: Chapter 373: Centralization of Power Noble Lords have the power to arbitrarily make laws and impose various taxes. In simple terms, once a Noble Lord paid the kingdom’s specified taxes, they could do whatever they wanted with their territory.

Theoretically, a lord could impulsively slaughter all their subjects within their territory. Of course, this would only occur if a lord was a follower of a demon or a devil or was mentally deficient. Even if the royal family ignored such an act, there would be many righteous individuals who would intervene.

Normally, Noble Lords would not murder indiscriminately, yet the commoners’ living conditions were generally not much better because Nobles wouldn’t treat their subjects as equals.

In fact, most nobles treated their subjects as livestock. The Nobility, naturally commanding extraordinary powers, and the powerless commoners were essentially two different species.

Aside from their human appearances, common humans and human nobles barely share any similarities, whether in appearance, stature, constitution, talent, or even lifespan. From the moment of birth, a noble is superior to an ordinary human in all aspects.

The offspring of nobles, no matter how mediocre, could at least become manor lords with extraordinary powers. The offspring of commoners were by and large destined to remain commoners. Only a very few had the opportunity to alter their fate, but their odds were incomparably lower than those of nobles.

This vast power disparity induced nobles to take their subjects lightly, not treating them as equals.

The commoners of the Lockman Kingdom were taxed about a third of their income derived from a common farmer’s yield, regardless of the harvest’s quality. Among the human kingdoms, this was a relatively friendly tax system.

Assuming they didn’t slack off and by relying on the extraordinarily fertile land, courtesy of the elemental energy, the commoners could maintain their family’s three meals a day after paying taxes. If they put in a bit more effort, they could even save a bit of money and afford meat during holidays.

However, life for commoners living in the demesne of some nobles was incredibly difficult. Every year, the nobles had to pay a tax to the royal family and this tax largely ended up being distributed amongst their subjects.

After aiding the nobles in paying taxes, commoners still had to bear the burden of taxation imposed by the noble Lords and their officials. Living under a benevolent Lord would result in comparable living standards to those under the Royal Family. If the Noble Lord had special mineral resources in their territory, their subjects could even live better.

Conversely, subjects under a strict or impoverished Noble lived a miserable life. Their painstakingly cultivated produce would be taken away by the Lord with only about a tenth leftover, scarcely enough to feed a family and keep them from starving.

Many Nobles who exploited their subjects as serfs were encountered by Mureya as he traversed the Osroni subcontinent. Every time, Mureya took action. He could not tolerate treating people like livestock.

“I wonder how many of these nobles exist in the Lockman Kingdom?” Muria muttered to himself. “Laws must be re-established, and the tax rates can only be determined by the royal family. Noble Lords should not have the power to increase or decrease tax rates.”

The system of the Lockman Kingdom was somewhat similar to the parallel system of counties and fiefs during the Western Han dynasty in Muria’s previous life. A lord who had the power to establish an army, make laws, and levy taxes was essentially a weakened king.

The nobles’ territories scattered throughout the kingdom were like independent kingdoms within a kingdom, beyond the control of the royal family. Naturally, the current ruler, Mureya, could not tolerate such a situation.

How could the power of the king be so decentralized?

“Summon all the ministers and all the nobles still in Scarlet to the council hall.” Mureya turned to Mia, a dragon girl with a lovely face like a young girl and a voluptuous figure like a young woman.

“Your command is my wish, Your Majesty!” Mia, the dragon girl in charge of all the palace’s internal affairs whom Mureya had summoned from the Titan Islands, obeyed with a heartfelt smile. She had just heard about what Mureya planned to do.

Quickly, under the command of Chief Steward Mia, hundreds of eunuchs set out from the palace to the homes of the ministers and nobles living in Scarlet, the Royal City, to convey Mureya’s summons.

The notified nobles and stationed ministers hurried to the council hall in the palace. This was Duke Mureya’s first summons since ascending the throne, so they had to take it very seriously.

Mureya’s formidable power at his ascension not only deterred the alien races but also the nobles and ministers. Of course, what deterred them were the three thousand cloud giants and six hundred storm giants. The legendary ancient dragon appeared in humanoid form and was not present at the scene. They could not feel the dragon’s prestige, which was enough to terrify even the most legendary beings.

…In less than half an hour, the magnificent and enormous council hall was filled with nobles and officials neatly standing in rows. The twelve cloud giant leaders standing on both sides were the most prominent, making the human aristocrats standing between them feel quite uncomfortable.

When Mia notified Mureya that all the noble ministers had arrived, Mureya appeared directly on the throne in the council hall using the Door of Choices, overlooking those below and speaking out directly without seeing who was there:
“I’ve decided to withdraw all legislative rights from the noble lords!”

As soon as these words were spoken, not only the faces of the human aristocrats in the hall looked bad, but this new ruling Duke hadn’t even warmed up the throne before starting to curb the power of the nobles.

But he was only curbing the real power nobles who had fiefs, so the problem wasn’t too big and wasn’t related to them. Most of those standing here were officials without even a title, and even if they had a title, most of them were nominal and didn’t have corresponding fiefs.

So, no one voiced objections in the council hall. Only the faces of a small group of people who owned fiefs didn’t look very good; they were the inextricably linked stakeholders.

“Starting from today, regardless of whether they are nobles, officials, or lords, all will be stripped of any right to arbitrarily impose tax laws. Only the king has the right to create or abolish tax laws.

In addition to the tax laws promulgated by successive kings, all laws and tax clauses privately set by Noble Lords are abolished!”

Upon hearing this, the expressions of all human aristocrats in the hall changed drastically, and they could no longer bear with it. Immediately, someone stepped forward to speak, trying to prevent Mureya from implementing this command.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read