Not just for the royal family to live in?
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat.
Following Louis V's gaze, she looked at the kingdom enfeoffment map on the wall.
As her eyes swept over the coats of arms symbolizing each noble family on the map, Charlotte had a strange idea in her mind.
"Your Majesty, from what you say, are you planning to invite the nobles of the kingdom to stay as well?"
she asked calmly.
Louis V smiled lightly and said with appreciation:
"Sir Castel is right. When building this palace, I do plan to invite nobles to move in."
With that said, Louis V stood up, looked out the window at the Royal Plaza, and sighed:
"In recent years, the kingdom has developed rapidly, and the population of Lutetia has also doubled in the past few decades. The land and housing in the city are very tight. Many poor people even have no homes to live in. They can only build simple buildings around the city wall. tent..."
"The nobles also face similar problems. Especially when the Central Committee is convened, it is even harder to find a room in the inner city. I think... Lord Castel should also feel this way."
"Not only that, every time the central meeting is held, the influx of a large number of nobles will put great pressure on public security. The competing purchases of mansions in the city by the nobles have further raised the real estate prices in Lutesia. Now they have reached a level It’s something that ordinary people can hardly look up to in their lifetime.”
"Under the high prices, forced buying and selling can be seen everywhere. There are more and more bankrupt citizens, but there are more and more domineering nobles and dandies."
"Although the royal capital is prosperous, under the prosperity, there are increasingly acute social conflicts..."
As he spoke, Louis V turned around, paused slightly, and said calmly:
"So, I built this Crescent Palace..."
"Crescent Palace is the largest palace in the history of Miria. The main palace alone can accommodate at least 8,000 people for daily life. If the surrounding ancillary buildings are included, it is more than enough to accommodate 12,000 people."
"Not only that, Crescent Palace has the most luxurious and comfortable environment in the entire kingdom, and the extraordinary facilities it is equipped with are far beyond those in Yunet countries, and can fully meet the daily needs of the nobles."
"In addition, the Crescent Palace also possesses the most advanced magic inscriptions in the entire Xiyonite. The magic circle it activates can even isolate the legendary detection, ensuring the privacy of the residents to the greatest extent..."
"Therefore, I plan to gradually ban the nobles' residences in the royal capital one by one. All the nobles in Lutesia will move to the Crescent Palace in the future."
"This Crescent Palace is not only the palace of the royal family, but also the residence of the nobles in the royal capital."
After listening to Louis V's words, Charlotte felt a stronger sense of déjà vu.
Looking at the most powerful king in the history of New Moon, she continued to say calmly:
"Your Majesty, when you say you want to ban mansions, do you also include vassals from all over the country?"
Louis V smiled lightly:
"certainly."
"The residences of vassals from various places in the royal capital occupy more than two-thirds of the entire inner city of Lutesia, and more than half of this two-thirds area is empty on weekdays."
"This is a huge waste and this situation must be improved."
"After this central meeting, I will issue a royal order that the area of real estate owned by nobles from various places in Lutetia should not exceed 200 square meters, and each family can hold at most one to three real estates according to their title."
"All properties that exceed the specifications must be banned. I will replace the residence status of Crescent Palace with the mansions of nobles."
Charlotte:…
She felt the sense of déjà vu getting stronger and stronger.
"Your Majesty, is this the deal you intend to make with the nobles?"
she asked.
Louis V glanced at her and said calmly:
"No, that will be the king's order."
Charlotte felt as if she wasn't surprised by the answer.
She knew what Louis V meant, which was to make the Crescent Palace a residence for nobles to move around in the royal capital.
The nobles live a luxurious life, and the mere 200 square meters may not even be able to accommodate the servants of the great nobles.
If Louis V forcefully implements this policy, in comparison, the nobles will most likely move into the Crescent Palace when the Central Conference is convened...
"What about the daily maintenance of the palace? To operate such a large and luxurious palace, daily expenses will also be a huge amount of money. Does Your Majesty intend to let the nobles pay for it themselves?"
Charlotte asked.
Louis V smiled slightly:
"Of course, I am only responsible for providing accommodation. As for daily expenses, the nobles are naturally responsible for it."
"However, compared to living in their own mansion, the cost of living in Crescent Palace for nobles is actually less. After all, they don't need to maintain such a large manor."
This is not necessarily the case.
Most aristocrats are luxurious and face-conscious, and their favorite thing is comparison.
On weekdays, when they don't live together, they are more like this than that. If they really live together, Charlotte can think about what will happen with her toes.
Nothing else, just an analogy.
If Louis V sets supply conditions of different standards and sets a ridiculous price for the highest-end products, even if it is to maintain dignity, many nobles will probably be embarrassed.
It's just like playing video games.
When playing solo, everyone plays their own thing, but if they can be connected online, then I guess they will start to compare.
In the previous life, in order to compete for the top spot in rubbish mobile games, rich people would choose to spend huge sums of money, let alone the nobles of Miria.
However, these are not the most important.
The most important thing is how long Louis V intends to let the nobles live in the Crescent Palace.
"Your Majesty, outside of the Central Meeting, after the Central Meeting, the nobles will return to their fiefdoms. How will the Crescent Palace be maintained at that time? How should the servants in the palace be arranged?"
Charlotte asked tentatively.
Louis V glanced at her and said matter-of-factly:
"Outside of the Central Meeting, the Crescent Palace is still operating normally. The nobles will naturally still have to pay the daily maintenance fees for the palace they live in, and they will be deducted from the nobles' contract taxes."
"As for the servants...except for the necessary personal servants who can be brought into the palace by themselves, other rough servants will naturally be provided by the royal family."
Charlotte's heart moved:
"You mean that Crescent Palace will always maintain a sufficient supply of servants in the future? Even outside the Central Conference?"
Louis V nodded slightly:
"This is natural. Outside of the Central Meeting, nobles can still stay in the Crescent Palace at any time."
After listening to Louis V's words, Charlotte fell into deep thought.
She had heard what Louis V was thinking.
This is not only to allow the nobles to have a unified foothold in Lutesia during the central meeting, but also to allow the nobles to live in the Crescent Palace for a long time.
If Louis V really planned to only let the nobles live during the central meeting, then he would probably only provide residences for the nobles, and would not allow the palace to operate normally outside of the central meeting, which would at least reduce the operating costs.
But Louis V's intention was to keep the Crescent Palace in operation, regardless of whether the nobles lived there or not.
Louis V was an ambitious king, as well as a strong and visionary monarch.
Spending huge sums of money to build such a huge palace is not simply to provide a temporary residence for the nobles, nor is it just to relieve the housing pressure in Lutesia.
Well, the answer is obvious.
This is still aimed at centralizing power.
It is obvious that Louis V is rushing to connect all the lords of the kingdom to live in the Crescent Palace in the future.
Perhaps now, it is only the nobles who move into the Crescent Palace during the central meeting, but once the nobles move in collectively during the meeting, in a sense, it will be the beginning.
All beginnings are hard.
Once you get started, it will be much easier to boil the frog in warm water.
Maybe it was a tough approach, maybe it was coercion and temptation, or maybe it was some other method. In short... it became a possibility for the nobles to live in the Crescent Palace for a long time.
Charlotte believed that as long as the nobles could live in the Crescent Palace, even just once, Louis V would always have a way to go further after this time.
Perhaps the nobles will resist fiercely at first, but as the strength of the royal family increases, this resistance will only become weaker and weaker.
Once the nobles adapt to life in the Crescent Palace, they will gradually separate themselves from their territory, and may even stop going to the territory for a long time. They will stage another version of being "captive" in the Crescent Palace.
This is very possible.
After all, not all noble territories are as wealthy as Castres, and the palace built by Louis V is indeed luxurious.
Once Louis V used various means to keep the nobles away from their territories and local centers of power for a long time, the relationship between the nobles and their fiefs would gradually weaken, and the royal family could better control and influence the activities of the nobles, and even exercise control over the nobles through the Crescent Palace. Management and monitoring.
In this way, the influence of the nobility will continue to weaken, while the authority and control of the king will be further strengthened.
When all the nobles of the Crescent Kingdom are gathered in the Crescent Palace, the quantitative changes will even lead to further qualitative changes.
By then, the Crescent Palace will become the social and cultural center that nobles strive for.
By that time, it would be easier for Louis V to strengthen centralization.
For example, he formulated a series of strict court etiquette and regulations, requiring the nobles to abide by his orders and regulations in the court, thereby strengthening the authority and restricting the freedom of the nobles; another example was holding political gatherings and meetings in the Crescent Palace to control and supervise the nobles' Political activities…
This change may even become a two-way change.
The Crescent Palace will also become a platform for nobles to communicate with each other, compare, display wealth and status, and a place to directly express opinions and requests to the king. Even the status of the central meeting of the nobles will be greatly weakened.
Even those nobles who are not willing to live in Crescent Palace for a long time will have to travel frequently between their territories and Crescent Palace, weakening their local influence.
Over time, the connection between the nobility and the fiefdom will become weaker and weaker.
At the same time, the royal family will have the opportunity to intervene in local affairs, and even go one step further, gradually completing local penetration and control, and even controlling local finances through the transfer of contract taxes.
In the end, the nobles will even evolve into empty frames with territorial titles but no actual control over the territory.
This is very likely to happen, and Charlotte is almost certain that this is most likely Louis V's future plan!
Otherwise, why would the other party spend huge sums of money to build such "wonders" as the Crescent Palace?
As for why Charlotte thinks of so many things, it can only be said that there is nothing new under the sun. In the history of previous lives, there was also a similar monarch who did similar things.
Moreover, the name is the same as the Crescent King.
That was Louis XIV, the "Sun King" who built the Palace of Versailles in French history.
As for the difference between the two sides, it is probably that the French feudal aristocracy at the time of Louis XIV had begun to decline, but in the Crescent Kingdom, the local feudal forces were still strong.
But Louis V also had his advantages.
That is, this world is an extraordinary world, and the Crescent Royal Family is the most powerful extraordinary force in the Crescent Kingdom. He himself is also the most powerful extraordinary person in the secular realm of the Crescent Kingdom.
The authority and reputation he accumulated through war and national salvation were far beyond what Louis XIV could match.
Thinking of this, Charlotte couldn't help but look at the king who was called "the great one" by the world again.
The king summoned her, he couldn't just chat with her.
Charlotte has memories of past lives and can think of so many things at once.
But in fact, even without the memory of her previous life, she could still detect Louis V's unspecified thoughts by relying on the political sense she had developed during the two years of time travel.
Introducing the Crescent Palace in such detail and explaining so much, the implication is already obvious...
"Your Majesty, you...should not only want to talk to me about the future of Crescent Palace, right?"
Charlotte raised her head, looked into Louis V's deep black eyes, and asked calmly.
Louis V looked at her with admiration:
"Sir Castel, I know your deeds in the North. In my opinion, although you are very young, you have far more vision and skills than other nobles."
"Like your parents, you are both very outstanding nobles. If your father was still alive, I'm afraid I should have granted him a higher title, made him a direct vassal of the kingdom and joined my cabinet. Bar……"
"The same goes for you. I have seen many advantages in you. I appreciate the various policies you have implemented in the North, especially the suppression of restless elements. In just six months, you have completed the control of the territory and been able to It was truly outstanding to defeat the combined forces of the two principalities.”
"I'm sorry about Philip. This matter is not over. I will give you some compensation as the royal family's apology to the Castel family..."
Charlotte was quite surprised after hearing what Louis V said.
She didn't expect that the other party would speak so highly of her and have such a sincere attitude.
She smiled slightly and asked in a neither humble nor arrogant tone:
"Your Majesty, please allow me to ask, are you trying to win over me?"
Louis V glanced at her:
"You can think so."
"Of course, I am also expressing the attitude of the royal family, and... I believe you have heard what I mean."
As he spoke, Louis V looked directly into Charlotte's eyes, and his whole aura became majestic in an instant:
"Sir Castel, no one can change my will to strengthen the central government, not the nobles, not the church... nor can I."
"From the end of the Star-Moon War, the number of actual dukes and theocratic territories in the kingdom can only be reduced, but cannot be increased."
