"That group of people didn't come after me, and I didn't encounter the rogue navy that completely occupied Black Crow Harbor. I'm almost safe now."
Pleasant hugged the oar and lay tiredly on the boat. Almost half a day had passed since he escaped from the ship where the police officers were at Blue Pearl Harbor.
During this half day, he tried his best to avoid the shipping lanes where the navy might appear, and while ensuring his own safety, he headed for a foothold closer to Black Crow Port.
Until now, he could barely be sure that he would not encounter anyone from the navy for the time being and could take a break.
He was indeed tired.
"After three and a half years of hard work, I suddenly became a pauper. Why did I believe the lies of these two old bastards Macacius and Ikarnad in the first place?" Plisson touched his empty pocket and thought in his mind Scenes from the past three years flashed through the scene, and in the end only two images of middle-aged men wearing the unique knighthood medals of the Sky Eagle remained.
Earl Macacius of Blue Pearl Harbor, Earl Ikarnad of Catterall, the only two lifelong earls in Norton, the most powerful person in Norton besides the previous governors, the leader of the new nobility, and the leader of the Northern Territory. Well-known entrepreneurs, but also what Pleasant considers scum and scum.
Smuggling, slave trading, ignoring official laws, colluding with pirates, assassinating their business rivals and political enemies... In short, these two guys did almost everything that cannot be done in the Sky Eagle Law, and the final result One can imagine. They were brave enough and strong enough to gain both wealth and status, and even received the lifelong title of earl.
Tianying's title system is different from Canglan, an old empire that has been active since the Fourth Age. Since the founding emperor George I promulgated the "New Titles Act", Tianying has been accelerating in a strange direction in terms of the aristocratic system. Moving forward.
In addition to the male, son, uncle, marquis, duke, and duke, there are four grand dukes in charge of the four realms. The grand duke has the highest control over the territory under his jurisdiction and has a very high degree of freedom. His status is second only to Tianying. The emperor. Each noble title is also subdivided into life-long nobles and hereditary nobles based on whether the title can be inherited by the eldest son. Life-long nobles only have the title while they are alive, while hereditary nobles can inherit their titles after their eldest son dies... .....Up to this point, the aristocratic system of the Sky Eagle Empire has not gone astray. Except for the additional position of the Grand Duke of the Four Realms, which has checked and balanced the emperor's power to a certain extent, it is basically the same as that of the Fourth Age. The system was the same during the ancient empire.
However, an additional provision added at the end of this bill fundamentally changed the nature of the system of noble titles.
Only the titles of Marquis and above need to be entrusted by Emperor Tianying himself or the Grand Duke of the territory. As for the titles of Earl and below, they can be entrusted by the great nobles of the current district. Even the establishment of titles below Earl does not need to be done. Report.
At first glance, this regulation seems to be nothing. The height of the increase is that George I wanted to be lazy. However, in actual operation, it caused a serious problem, that is, the title of nobility, which once symbolized supreme honor, can now be used with capital. To measure, corruption and concealment of reports occurred from time to time, and nobles at the earl level and below were rampant in Tianying.
Two earls with roughly the same status stood together. One of them might be a veteran who had participated in the War of Independence with George I and had made great military achievements. The other may be an arms dealer who made a fortune by reselling supplies.
It is no exaggeration to say that if Pleasant hadn't still had a wanted order, he could have gone to another province incognito to buy a baron-viscount title for fun... The prerequisite was that he left it in his room. I still have all my savings over the years.
Therefore, this new bill obviously caused dissatisfaction among the old aristocrats of Tianying. Finally, under the joint petition of the Grand Dukes of the East, West and South, King George I made concessions.
The article added at the end of the "New Titles Act" is limited to life-long nobles. The establishment of any hereditary nobles needs to be enfeoffed personally by the Sky Eagle Emperor or one of the Grand Dukes of the Four Realms!
.........Even if it's just a stamp and a signature.
After the change of the plan, it did alleviate the anger of the old nobles to a certain extent. After all, those who were originally ennobled by Tianying were basically hereditary nobles, and widening the gap between hereditary and lifelong nobles can be considered to be in line with their needs. Mind.
However, the confrontation between the old aristocracy and the new aristocracy also began.
People often refer to those hereditary old aristocrats as old aristocrats, and those who use money to smoothen relationships and become lifelong aristocrats are called new aristocrats.
Although the old aristocrats basically outnumbered the new aristocrats in terms of status and status, they really couldn't handle the large number of people on the other side. Before a new aristocrat entered the upper class, he was likely to be a businessman, entrepreneur, or barrister who traveled around. Bankers, even adventurers and mercenary leaders, simply from the perspective of population base, the old aristocracy cannot be compared with them at all.
In the Sky Eagle Empire, the old nobles headed by the Grand Duke of the Four Realms occupy the most primitive capital of this country. Under the rules they set, people with sufficient ability can rely on the accumulation of capital to climb to high positions step by step, and even become a leader. Governor of a province, a governor-general with jurisdiction over millions of people.
Macacius and Ikanad are the winners under this deformed and fair rule system. They are life-long nobles entrusted by the Duke of Golden Elk, one of the twelve Dukes of the Sky Eagle. They are old nobles in Norton. Because after the disaster ten years ago disappeared, they became the only two earls left in Norton. Without the restraint and jurisdiction of the governor, they are the high-ranking people at the center of power.
Macacius manages Norton's capital, Blue Pearl Harbor, and calls himself the acting governor. In the absence of a new governor, he has the highest say whether he looks at Blue Pearl Harbor or Norton as a whole.
Ikanad manages Cattrall, which is known as the "Trade Capital". Before taking this position, this Earl was once the largest slave merchant in the Norton underground black market, and also had a relationship with the "Secret Society" who believed in evil gods. There is a certain connection. In addition, he is also an awakened archmage and one of the strongest spellcasters in Norton, which is located on the border of the empire.
As the saying goes, the upper beam is crooked and the lower beam is crooked. Under the management of this former slave trader, Norton's emerging city of Cattrall has become the best place for pirates to sell their stolen goods.
The aborigines of the South China Sea Islands, the prisoners of war of the Canglan Empire in the Northern Territory, and even these slave trades that could only be carried out in the shadows can now be brought to light.
After the bizarre disaster in the former capital of Norton, Riggs, these two bastards took the lead in Norton for three years.
You can't expect what a marginal province that Sky Eagle doesn't want to do will become under the governance of black-hearted entrepreneurs and slave traders?
The reason why Pleasant serves as the leader of Black Crow Harbor, Norton's biggest pirate leader and horror story villain, is so infamous that almost just saying his name can scare children under the age of five into tears.
All this must be given by these two people.
In the past three years, these two people have poured dirty water on him, giving him countless scapegoats.
Even cases that the police departments in various places cannot solve or are too lazy to solve can be related to him.
He once sent people to the police headquarters in Blue Pearl Harbor to investigate some case files about him. Damn it, it would be better not to investigate. Once the investigation is over, he has done more than a thousand things, large and small, in the past three years. On average, one case is committed every day, and it can also span multiple places at different times on the same day. In the morning, he led people to participate in a fight at Blue Pearl Harbor, buried a body at Red Rose Harbor at noon, and went to Cattrall to set fire to a house in the afternoon. You can also rob passers-by in Dick Town at night.
He was really grateful to the chief sergeants of each police station. If it weren't for them, Plisson really didn't know that he would be a clone.
He was confused. Is it appropriate to leave so many cases to him alone? Firstly, he doesn't have any alchemy secret puppets, and secondly, he doesn't know how to clone himself. Instead of putting all the blame on him, it would be better to find a few more people to share these cases equally.
He has many candidates, such as Connor, Parker, Sea Dog, Iron Bull, and Old Snake.
Too many to count.
There is no need to forcefully package him as a heinous person. There is really no need.
Although he hasn't done anything good, bad things...he really hasn't done many.
The reason why he became a pirate in the first place was because he had no choice but to offend the local nobles.
As for the step-by-step development to today, becoming the leader of a port city where pirates gathered, and becoming so notorious in the current province, it was a situation that Plissen did not expect.
In fact, he is far from being as bad as the rumors describe him, and he is even said to have helped many poor people in Norton.
He and the captain of the No. 2 Fleet of Black Crow Port, Sea Viper Namiyi, once recruited a large number of poor fishermen who could not afford to eat to join Black Crow Port. His own main business was not robbery, but providing food to Delong of Beicanglan. Major General Riel mainly transports cargo. To a certain extent, he is also trying his best to change Norton's current inherent status quo...even if it is an extremely embarrassing identity and angle.
But his stereotype has been deeply ingrained into the hearts of the people of Norton by those free newspapers and scary rumors, and he can't change this.
He doesn't have any real friends. Those pirate captains who seem to have a good relationship with him, even in the best words, are just partners who seek common interests. Even basic trust is difficult to guarantee, so what's the point? What about so-called friends?
In this bad world, the only person he can trust and rely on is himself.
He... can only believe in himself.
