Chapter 178: 178 Enfeoffment

With the end of the annual celebration and the Marquis's birthday banquet, nobles of all ranks from various regions were already preparing to return to their respective territories.

However, before officially departing, they were even more curious about how Wushan Castle would deal with Baron Leisen, and some busybodies even delayed their return to their territories because of this.

In the afternoon, nobles of all sizes gathered at Wushan Fortress.

Although they whispered in twos and threes, most were discussing the purpose for which the Marquis had summoned them.

Many speculated that this meeting was either related to Leisen or related to Luoning.

Among those present, perhaps only Luoning knew the purpose of the meeting, but he sat in his chair with his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart; even if someone tentatively came over to ask, he would not reveal a single word in advance.

Before long, Lulansi arrived, followed by the Great Archmage Milosilafu, as well as Buluoer, Princess Blanche, and Knight Mixi.

As they took their seats, the fortress hall quieted down.

Lulansi smiled slightly, "There are two main things for which I have summoned everyone here today."

"The first matter is the disposal of Leisen Sain."

The old Marquis paused and glanced at Tolu, who was sitting below; the other party had already prepared the testimonies of Leisen's attendants.

"After last night's interrogation, it has been confirmed that Leisen encroached upon the resources of Wushan Castle and attempted to murder Luoning multiple times, and he also has strong suspicions of participating in the assassination of Princess Blanche and Weijinsi."

"For such crimes, the laws of the nobility cannot protect him. Now I officially announce..."

Everyone focused their attention; although they already knew Leisen's fate in their hearts, they still wanted to hear it with their own ears.

"Strip the Sain Family of their hereditary Baron title, strip the Sain Family of the Zhaoze Town territory, and throw Leisen and his family into prison. As for whether he participated in the assassination of the Princess and Weijinsi, the Royal Family and Wushan Castle will jointly send people to investigate."

"But regardless of whether he participated in the latter two matters, once the facts are clear, Wushan Castle will execute Leisen by hanging to cleanse the crimes he has committed!"

Simply put, Leisen could not escape death, only the specific time of the execution would have to wait until the subsequent investigation was concluded.

Lulansi waved his hand, and Sir Tolu walked forward holding some testimonies.

"These are the results of yesterday's interrogation; anyone interested can take them and look. Whoever has objections to my verdict may raise them."

Immediately, many nobles raised their hands to see these interrogation results, including both Viscount Mawen and Earl Aosen.

They were not doubting that Wushan Castle was faking things; in fact, most people were just curious.

Next was the time for review.

Aosen carefully flipped through them for Along while, until he had finished reading all the testimonies, "I have no objections."

Luoning was somewhat surprised.

He had thought that Aosen would defend Leisen in an attempt to save the other party's life; he did not expect the other party to openly state that he had no objections.

At this time, more nobles had also finished reading one after another, and all expressed that they had no objections to the Marquis's verdict.

"Since everyone has no objections, the verdict regarding Leisen shall take effect from this moment."

Lulansi said, looking at Princess Blanche sitting in the lower seat, "If it is subsequently discovered that Leisen is related to the assassination incident, Wushan Castle will hand him over to the Royal Family for disposal, and will also assist the Royal Family in hunting down that group of assassins and the mastermind behind them."

Princess Blanche nodded slightly, "Buluoer, arrange for a knight to cooperate with Wushan Castle for the follow-up investigation."

"As you wish, Your Highness!" Buluoer respectfully complied.

The fortress hall was quiet for a moment before Lulansi continued, "After the Sain Family is stripped of their title and territory, Zhaoze Town will become ownerless land."

As these words fell, everyone perked up.

Nobles all hoped that their territories could be a little larger, and then a little larger; ownerless territory had no small attraction for them, especially this kind of territory with a foundation for development.

Although the various industries in Zhaoze Town were not great, and the population was not large, it had a specialty—the Black Water Buffalo.

This animal performed very well in farming, and Leisen could earn quite a few gold coins every year by selling cattle.

Whoever could take over this ownerless land meant they could take over the Black Water Buffalo industry.

Luoning noticed that the eyes of many nobles had changed; even Viscount Mawen had a burning look in his eyes, whereas Earl Aosen was relatively more restrained.

"In this assassination incident at the Colosseum, it was Luoning's protection that allowed Princess Blanche to remain unharmed."

"Luoning resolved the crisis for the Princess, establishing an indelible merit for the Auduin Royal Family! At the same time, he also avoided a disaster for Wushan Castle, and his meritorious service to Wushan Castle is even more undeniable!"

Lulansi looked at Luoning, "Now, as the Marquis of the Auduin Kingdom and Lord of Wushan Territory, I name the Sain Territory and the land to its north as 'Wubei Territory', and officially enfeoff 'Ronin Wushan' as the Viscount of Wubei Territory!"

Many nobles held their breath; Wubei Territory, what a vast area that must be, to be entirely turned into Luoning's territory?

This was simply too...

However, thinking of Luoning's performance, thinking of the merit of Luoning saving Princess Blanche, and thinking of Lulansi's mindset, they seemed to be able to understand.

Aosen frowned slightly.

In fact, he had long guessed that the Sain Territory would become Luoning's territory, but he did not expect Lulansi to play so big, actually giving the entire area to the north to Luoning.

The area of Wubei Territory, let alone a Viscount, would not be small even if it were considered an Earl's territory.

Of course, these were secondary; after all, Wubei Territory was extremely barren, had almost no population, and wanting to develop and manage it was an extremely difficult thing that required time.

Aosen was more concerned about this sentence from Lulansi.

If he remembered correctly, Luoning had already changed his surname when he became the Baron of Shanlin Town and no longer used "Wushan".

But in the announcement just now, Lulansi used the name "Ronin Wushan", which meant that Luoning had reused his original surname.

The implication was self-evident.

Aosen's hand under his robe clenched slightly, thinking to himself: "Lulansi, could it be that you really want to depose my grandson and re-establish Luoning as the heir?"

Stripping Luoning of his inheritance rights was easy, because Luoning's maternal side was all dead, and he did not have the support of other nobles;

But stripping Buleidun of his inheritance rights was not a matter of just one sentence; he, Aosen, would be the first to jump out and oppose it.

Lulansi let the discussion in the hall continue for a while before he asked with a faint smile, "Regarding this enfeoffment, anyone who has objections may also raise them."

Enfeoffing a Baron, or a Baron of a remote area like Shanlin Town, Lulansi or even Weijinsi could decide, because this did not hinder the interests of other nobles.

But enfeoffing a Viscount, and with the area of Wubei Territory being so large, this could cause dissatisfaction and resentment among other nobles.

In the noble world, vassals bear the obligation of loyalty to their liege, and the liege must also provide protection obligations to their vassals.

If the enfeoffment infringed upon the interests of other nobles, then the liege had not fulfilled their protection obligation, and the vassals under them could naturally raise objections.

So it was quite reasonable for Lulansi to ask this.

Many nobles glanced at one another.

Although they coveted a region as large as Zhaoze Town and even the Wubei Territory, they were not about to raise objections to this decision by Lulansi.

Because anyone with a discerning eye could see that Lulansi intended to support Luoning.

Seeing that no one raised an objection for the moment, Luoning secretly breathed a sigh of relief; he had not expected things to progress much more smoothly than he had anticipated.

But just as his relief had ended, an untimely voice rang out.

"Lord Marquis, I have an objection!"

(End of this chapter)