"What... What are you planning to do?"
"You can’t be thinking of gathering all the nobles together, and then..." Mansa seed to have thought of sothing. The Elder Mage shivered, an incredulous look on his face as he spoke.
It seed the Elder Mage Mansa had envisioned a very grim scene.
Mansa looked at Fang Zhen and said, "My lord, I must remind you, you absolutely must not consider using *that* kind of thod to solve this problem."
"Although the current system of nobility isn’t exactly rational, and there are many diocre individuals among them, the world can’t function without them."
"If you were to do such a thing, the entire world would fall into chaos. Not only would you be affected, but all the common people would lose all sense of order, and your rule would be in jeopardy."
Fang Zhen glanced at Mansa upon hearing this.
Fang Zhen had a good idea of what the Chief Mage was thinking.
Perhaps the impression left from his duel with Tarrenno was too strong. To Mansa Mage, Fang Zhen was a violent and powerful Martial Artist, and the way powerful Martial Artists solved problems was usually just to cut them down.
And strictly speaking, that really was Fang Zhen’s style of problem-solving.
Mansa probably thought Fang Zhen was going to gather all the nobles and then wipe them out—kill them all in one fell swoop. That’s why the Elder Mage was so terrified.
Fang Zhen looked at the Mage, sighed, and shook his head slightly. "Is that the kind of person I am in your eyes?"
Mansa said nothing, but his eyes seed to say, ’Yes. You are exactly that kind of person.’
’Stereotypes are a killer,’ Fang Zhen thought, shaking his head.
He, too, believed the system of nobility was a backward one. He also felt that many nobles were rely useless placeholders who had governed the world into a complete ss.
If he had the choice, he would love to fast-track the Zambein Kingdom in this Naless World into an industrial society, or into an even more advanced system—one with which he was most familiar.
But to paraphrase a great man whom Fang Zhen deeply respected, one must be down-to-earth and seek truth from facts.
Moreover, there is a law of history: the relations of production must match the forces of production.
Fang Zhen did want to reform this world for the better, but the world was at its current level of productivity.
The system of nobility, for all its flaws, was a relatively suitable system of governance given that level.
Rushing to make a "great leap forward" would not only fail to achieve his objective, but it would also lead to mistakes.
Besides, a large part of Fang Zhen’s current authority ca from the army he now commanded, and the hierarchy within that army was itself an aristocratic structure.
Although Fang Zhen was the Commander-in-Chief of two armies, he wasn’t responsible for leading the troops in person.
The ones truly responsible for leading the troops were the Knights and Knight’s Squires under him, who ford the aristocratic officer corps and combat units.
If he were to dismantle the system of nobility or betray it, his own n would betray him in turn. Then the world would truly descend into chaos.
Fang Zhen was a firm believer in leaving a good na behind, like a wild goose’s cry that lingers in the air. He didn’t want the Zambein Kingdom to fall into chaos, nor did he want to watch so many innocent commoners suffer.
"I’m not as reckless as you think," Fang Zhen said.
"I’m summoning these nobles simply to discuss so business with them. At the sa ti, there are a few things I need to tell them," he said.
He had actually only ntioned one of the two thods he had prepared. The first, a more amicable approach, was to bind the nobles to him through shared economic interests.
The nobles’ territories were actually quite vast. Combined, they were at least the size of a province in Xia Country, and they should be rich in resources.
Fang Zhen planned to propose a profitable business deal to these nobles. If everyone could make money and benefit, their relationship would naturally beco more harmonious.
These dealings would involve more than just gold and silver, but the details required further planning.
But this was only one of Fang Zhen’s two strategies. He had another, more surefire thod to ensure the nobles wouldn’t betray him.
He needed to stabilize the nobles to secure a stable rear for himself. However, this second thod could only be implented after the nobles arrived, so there was no need to ntion it yet.
Hearing Fang Zhen’s explanation, the shocked expression on Mansa’s face slowly faded, replaced by calm.
The Elder Mage had been thoroughly frightened monts ago and was only now regaining his composure.
"As long as you understand," Mansa said.
Fang Zhen nodded slightly.
"My lord, what about the matter of military supplies?" Ottis, who had been walking behind them, suddenly quickened his pace to catch up, raising the issue again.
"Rest assured, I’ll handle it," Fang Zhen said calmly.
Seeing how composed Fang Zhen was, Ottis didn’t press the matter.
In truth, while the issue of military supplies was a difficult problem for others, it wasn’t much of a challenge for Fang Zhen.
In modern society, what supplies couldn’t be bought with enough money?
And Fang Zhen was very rich.
Moreover, if he could unify the two duchies here and establish a stable rear, wealth would pour in from all directions—more money than he could ever spend.
"My lord, Mansa Mage just raised a critical issue: your identity."
"It may not seem too serious right now, because you can still be confird as a descendant of the Augustus Sword Saint."
"But as the Mage said, your identity has not yet been formally recognized by the Kingdom’s laws or the King. This is a latent issue that could erupt in the future," Viscount Keton said just then.
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