Chapter 81 - Oriman's Power

What exactly did Oriman want to do? Many people wanted to know the answer to this question. However, as someone close to Oriman, he had a vague understanding of what was on Oriman's mind. After all, this was also the change brought about by him. Oriman attached great importance to Chen Heng. This importance was not only shown in terms of military force but also in Chen Heng's abilities in other aspects. Therefore, in these years, the two of them often had discussions that covered all aspects, including the system of the Kingdom of Kutu. The system of the Kingdom of Kutu was a typical feudal system. The whole kingdom was headed by the King of Kutu, and then the King of Kutu would enfeoff his subjects level by level, forming lords one after another. In fact, the Kingdom of Kutu was not a complete country at all but a military alliance headed by the King of Kutu. Except for the territories directly under the royal family, the other lords didn't have to pay taxes to the royal family at all. They only had the obligation to send troops for assistance and respond to calls. And even such obligations couldn't always be fulfilled. When the Kutu royal family was powerful, the many lords would naturally be obedient and wouldn't do anything out of line. But once the Kutu royal family became weak, these lords might not be so obedient. At that time, it would be good if they didn't cause trouble for you. How could you expect them to be loyal to you? Although having many lords saved the cost of governance, it also increased potential risks. When the royal family was weak and unable to suppress the many lords, the lords would annex each other, and finally, perhaps a new and huge power might emerge and even turn against the royal family. In fact, there had been many such examples in the past of the Kingdom of Kutu. It seemed that the current Kutu royal family was also established in this way. As a transmigrator, Chen Heng could clearly see the huge hidden risks under this model and had told Oriman about all the possibilities. It wasn't strange that Oriman, influenced by him, would have the idea of weakening the lords and depriving them of their territories. In fact, every King of Kutu in each generation would do similar things after ascending the throne. After all, expanding one's own power was the instinct of those in power. However, even so, what Oriman had done was still too excessive and her means were too violent. Just observing Oriman's actions, Chen Heng couldn't help frowning. There was nothing wrong with wanting to weaken the lords and deprive them of their territories. But the prerequisite for doing so was to find suitable reasons and excuses and at the same time have absolute power to suppress them. Without proper reasons and excuses, it would arouse strong反感 and fear among many lords and even their hostility towards Oriman. And without absolute power to suppress, it would easily lead to further changes. Things would turn against one when they reached an extreme. In this era where lords controlled their territories, the power of those lords was very powerful and definitely should not be underestimated. Once they were really pushed to the limit, the power they erupted with would be unimaginable. Oriman didn't have suitable reasons and excuses. Otherwise, it wouldn't have developed to the point where even Chen Heng frowned when seeing it. As for absolute power. Chen Heng couldn't help falling into thought. The power that Oriman possessed mainly came from three parts. First, it was her original territory. This was the territory enfeoffed to her by the previous King of Kutu. After being managed by Oriman for many years, it could be regarded as her base and was relatively stable. Second, it was the royal power obtained by inheriting the throne of the Kingdom of Kutu. This part of the power was also very powerful and belonged to the accumulations of the past Kutu royal family. The last part was the power of followers and vassals like Chen Heng. This part of the power was mostly composed of the nobles who had followed Oriman and supported her to ascend the throne at the beginning. However, as time passed, this part of the power following Oriman was gradually disappearing. This was due to many reasons, but the main one was that they didn't get enough rewards. The reason why these people followed Oriman and supported her to become the King of Kutu was naturally that they wanted to get rich enough rewards. But after Oriman became the king, she didn't meet their demands. Except for a few people, most of them were granted territories, but they were enfeoffed in the border areas close to the desert. Chen Heng was the same. Wasn't his fiefdom, Soda, a barren land close to the desert? Although in the past five years, Chen Heng had gradually developed Soda through his own efforts, others didn't have such good conditions and abilities as him. Most of them were struggling hard in this area, and quite a number of them even died in the wars against alien races. Those who survived probably wouldn't be too grateful to Oriman because of this. The pioneering territory proposed by Chen Heng at the beginning was actually implemented very well by Oriman in this way. Thinking of this situation, Chen Heng couldn't help having a headache and rubbed his forehead. When he proposed the pioneering territory at the beginning, he suggested that Oriman let those landless nobles or the second sons of nobles who had no inheritance rights go to the North to pioneer there. These people originally had nothing, and they would be satisfied just to get a territory. Moreover, going to the North was their own choice. Even if they died, they couldn't blame Oriman, and it had nothing to do with Oriman. But these followers were different. These followers followed Oriman to fight battles. Undoubtedly, they had achievements. On Oriman's way to victory, they had also made a lot of contributions, so they naturally had their demands. And their demands and expectations were obviously not to obtain the barren land in the North but more prosperous territories. However, what Oriman did undoubtedly disappointed them. In the past five years, Oriman had been constantly eliminating opponents and confiscating the territories of lords, but the obtained territories were not distributed to those followers but put into her own pocket instead. As for these followers who were loyal to her, they were sent to the North to pioneer on the unexploited territories again. No matter who it was, facing such a situation probably wouldn't feel good. So this last part of the power composed of followers had actually gradually dissipated in recent years. Moreover, if Oriman didn't change what she had done and continued to maintain the current trend, sooner or later, she would completely drive these people away and make them become part of her enemies. As for Oriman's own territory and the power of the royal family, they were still relatively stable for the time being, but problems would also arise sooner or later if things continued like this. After all, in Chen Heng's opinion, Oriman's rule was rather crude. Thinking of this, Chen Heng couldn't help sighing. Then he turned around, picked up the letter in his hand, and began to write.