"This is the agency contract I drew up yesterday. If there are no problems, just sign and fingerprint it."

Owen immediately took out an agency contract and handed it over, and ordered his servants to bring up the necessary tools.

After taking the contract, Kuros looked at it carefully.

The contract stipulates that the owner of Dongsheng Fortress is still Owen, and it is left to Kuros to manage it on his behalf.

During the agency period, Dongsheng Fortress needs to pay 30% of the monthly tax to the Border Guard Town, as well as various required materials, such as iron ingots.

"Huh?"

When he saw this material, Kuros looked confused and raised his head and asked: "Owen, isn't your Border Town rich in iron ore? Do you still need to ask for iron ingots from Dongsheng Fortress?"

"well--"

Owen sighed and explained helplessly: "It's totally not enough. The amount of iron ingots handed over every month in this contract is only a drop in the bucket. I also plan to import it from the western border where the ore production is high."

Although steam engines have been used in the mining area to increase ore production, they are still unable to meet the growing demand. Especially after the steam engine factories and military factories began to be put into operation, the rate of iron consumption increased steadily.

Today's Border Guard Town seems like a giant iron-eating beast that can swallow as many iron ingots as it comes.

"So exaggerated?"

After being surprised, Kuros leaned closer and asked softly, "Did you use it to make the strange weapons in the hands of the guards at the door?"

When he entered the castle, he noticed the weapons in the soldiers' hands.

To be honest, he couldn't imagine how Duke Eddie's army could lose to that group of soldiers armed with short sticks.

"Not all of them, but it does consume a lot of the iron ore."

In addition to muskets and steam engines, Owen also asked blacksmiths to build a batch of relatively advanced farming iron tools and rent them to farmers to cultivate more land.

"Oh, I see."

Without asking any more questions, Kuros continued to look at the contract in his hand.

After confirming that there were no problems, the two parties signed an agency contract, and Dongsheng Fortress was managed by the Youmu family.

After putting away the contract and list, Kuros asked another question before leaving.

"Owen, when Duke Eddie gathered his troops, the group of nobles from Border Guard Town who came to take refuge responded positively. I heard that you confiscated all their territories. Then will you suddenly also give away the territories of the nobles of Dongsheng Fortress?

take away?"

"That's what they brought upon themselves. They actually abandoned the lord and ran away without permission." Owen said with disgust.

After a pause, he continued: "As for the territory, you can rest assured that I will not attack the nobles of Dongsheng Fortress yet."

"at present……"

Owen made his words very clear, and of course Kuros understood the meaning behind them.

"In other words, sooner or later you will take away the land from the nobles, right?"

"That's right."

"The north of Bianzhu Town is a large desert, surrounded by mountains or forests. The livable area is not large, so it is not difficult to manage. However, Dongsheng Fortress and the vast land surrounding it are inhabited by people. Such a large area,

How do you manage it?”

Kuros questioned: "The common practice is to enfeoff the excess land to the nobles and let them manage it. It is the existence of the nobles in various places that has maintained the Kingdom of Dawn for hundreds of years."

If Irving had not met Winston, he would definitely agree with Kuros's idea.

Now, Owen is not optimistic about this feudal aristocracy system that has been in operation for hundreds of years.

"It's true that I can't manage it, but I can leave the land to capable people to take care of it."

"What's the difference between that and enfeoffment to nobles?" Kuros asked with a frown.

"The difference is huge." Owen took a sip of tea, "Listen to me slowly..."

Land was generally divided among brothers who were closely related to each other. At first, the relationship between the territories was indeed like that of brothers.

However, due to the existence of the hereditary system, as time goes by, the descendants of the nobles of the two places may not be able to maintain this relationship.

In fact, the Kingdom of Dawn also had civil wars of various sizes hundreds of years ago, and it almost succeeded in splitting the kingdom several times.

Confiscating land is almost equivalent to taking away the privileges of the nobility, and its most important significance is the abolition of the hereditary land system.

Later generations of nobles may not be able to manage the inherited territories well, and various factors lead to uneven development among different territories. The nobles generally only focus on their own territories. After all, it is their own little cake and they will hardly care about it.

What about other territories?

All of these have resulted in many land resources not being fully utilized and causing great waste.

Therefore, Owen wanted to centralize power, integrate all the land, send capable people to manage it, fully mobilize and operate the resources in various places, and make the cake bigger so that more people can benefit from it.

"...So, when I took away the territory, I was actually attacking the useless nobles who had no ability but occupied a large area of ​​land. I will definitely reuse the capable nobles, so that they can get more from a bigger cake than before.

Lots of benefits.”

After hearing what Owen said, Kuros fell into deep thought.

After a while, he raised his head and looked at Owen: "Do you want to abolish the hereditary aristocratic system that has been implemented in the kingdom for hundreds of years and implement a new system?"

"Yes." Owen nodded.

"This task is very difficult."

Kuros looked serious and continued his analysis.

"Although the big cake you mentioned sounds beautiful, it cannot be made big immediately, and the nobles may not believe you. Many nobles are satisfied with the current small cakes, and your approach will definitely lead to fierce resistance from them."

"So, I won't attack them for the time being, but will continue to accumulate strength and attract like-minded partners."

Owen looked calm and said slowly: "When I master the strength enough to defeat them, I will not hesitate to take action and kill all the opposition forces in one fell swoop."

"Is this okay? You told me, a noble, your thoughts." Kuros said coldly.

"Don't forget, I'm also a noble." Owen said with a nonchalant expression, "Moreover, you didn't object immediately after listening to what I said. Doesn't this just show that you are interested in the new system I mentioned?"

"Hahaha."

Hearing this, Kuros smiled and then said: "It's exactly what you said, Owen, I'm very interested in the big cake you mentioned, you might as well count me in."

"Then prove your ability to me and manage Dongsheng Fortress well."

"I will show you what I am capable of." Kuros said confidently.

Owen felt very relieved that his friend chose to side with him.

Of course, if Kuros is like other short-sighted nobles, then Owen may not become friends with him.
Chapter completed!