There is no doubt that the internal chaos in the Kingdom of Cormyr is not so much affected by external factors as it is systemic problems caused by the internal feudal system.
After all, enfeoffing land to the great nobles, who then allocate it down one level at a time, and then completing the rule of a country with extremely low administrative maintenance costs, has its own very big drawbacks.
Especially when the royal family begins to decline or shows incompetence, the nobles who control the land, population, and army will not continue to choose to obey the central government as stupidly as the bureaucrats.
Instead, they will either choose to remain neutral and watch, or choose to obtain royal blood through marriage, and then find an opportunity to directly usurp the throne.
This is determined by the objective power structure of the entire country and is not subject to human will.
You must know that in a country that completely implements the feudal system, the royal family does not have supreme power like the monarch of a unified dynasty.
Quite the opposite!
If the feudal country is compared to a modern enterprise, then the royal family is only the chairman and largest shareholder, while the nobles are equivalent to other large and small shareholders.
If the chairman and major shareholder can bring everyone together to make money and protect the interests of shareholders, then it will naturally be good for you, me, and everyone.
But if there is a problem with the former, then the other shareholders will have various thoughts, and even privately kick out the royal family as the chairman and major shareholder, and replace them with a new leader.
Therefore, if you want to rule a feudal country well for a long time, you often have high requirements for the king's talents.
This is why an outstanding king can quickly make a kingdom rise and become powerful in just a few years or even more than ten years, while a mediocre king can bring a powerful kingdom to its knees in just a few years.
Even fall apart.
From the perspective of genetics and genetic probability, it is obviously unrealistic for the royal family to ensure that each of its successors is extremely intelligent and possesses superb political and military skills.
In addition, for the sake of stable rule, the Kingdom of Cormyr adopts the typical eldest son inheritance system.
That is, the first-born son has the highest inheritance rights. If there is no son, the eldest princess will be chosen.
So whether the King does well or not depends entirely on luck.
In its thousand-year history, the Obeschier family has been able to survive several crises mainly because of two points.
One is the excellent royal education acquired, and there are basically no faint kings or tyrants;
The other is the interference of the churches of the gods and various forces.
In fact, the feudal system of the Kingdom of Cormyr can be maintained for such a long time, even in Faerûn, a magical land full of magic, monsters, gods, demons, and devils, it is an extremely rare exception.
Looking at the records of the rise of the human race, as well as those dynasties and families that have disappeared in the long history, it is easy to realize that most countries that implement feudal systems will not live longer than three to four hundred years.
The shorter ones may disappear in one or two hundred years.
However, the problem is that a ruling system that has been forcibly continued for thousands of years must have huge hidden dangers and problems within it.
Not to mention anything else, just mediating the complex aristocratic factions formed by continuous marriages and resolving conflicts among various political forces has already put the ruler's skills to the test.
Not to mention the enemies who have developed a deadly feud with the Oberschier family, as well as the Zhentarim's endless infiltration and subversion.
If it weren't for Assan IV's successful cross-sea expedition that defied all odds and greatly enhanced the royal family's prestige, it's hard to say how many nobles would be willing to be loyal to the royal family now.
However, Yalusel's defeat and capture caused this prestige that had been built up with great difficulty to disappear instantly.
Kurremos and Ximenmen saw this precisely, so they wanted to split Cormyr from within and first win over some nobles to set up a banner against the royal family.
In this way, no matter whether the plan ultimately succeeds or fails, they can greatly consume and weaken the country's power.
After all, the cost of inciting civil unrest is much lower than spending a lot of manpower, material resources and money to launch an invasion.
In addition, once the seeds of this kind of civil strife and division are sown, it may have a negative impact on Cormyr for several years, even decades, or hundreds of years.
Of course, Zuo Si still doesn’t know about the little tricks these two old yinbi are doing in private.
But even if I know, I won’t care too much.
He didn't think that a country with a very high symbolic significance like Cormyr would be easily brought down by one or two conspiracies.
Otherwise, it would not have lasted for thousands of years.
The most important thing is that the Cormyr royal family has a very close relationship with the elves.
It is said that when the elves abandoned Cormanthor and left, they once cast an extremely powerful magic, which linked the national destiny of Cormyr to the original purple dragon.
As long as this purple dragon is still alive, no one can subvert or even destroy this country.
No matter how careful and foolproof the plan is, it will ultimately end in failure.
This can be seen from the fact that the future Shade City returned to the material plane and announced that it would restore the glory of Netheril, but was defeated by the Kingdom of Cormyr.
This ancient human kingdom always seems to be protected by some inexplicable force.
Otherwise, in terms of hard power, Shadow City should be superior to the Kingdom of Cormyr.
Therefore, the cautious Zuo Si adopted a roundabout strategy to test, and Yalusel was an important chess piece prepared for this.
Ever since she lost her royal status and was exiled, the Iron Princess has been following Zuo Si.
Watch how he handles a series of complex and cumbersome matters including politics, military, power structure, urban planning and reconstruction, etc.
Then the Dragon Coast, which was originally broken into one place, and the towns in the West Hartland area were integrated into a country.
In Yalusel's eyes, this young man who is similar to his own age, or even younger, seems to have endless knowledge and wisdom in his mind.
No matter what kind of troubles and difficulties you encounter, you can easily and immediately provide solutions.
Especially Ximen, which originally showed depression and decline under the ravages of the Zhentil Fort army, returned to its former prosperity in less than half a month.
The giant airships floating in the sky were constantly transporting various specialties from the West Coast, attracting all the merchants in the Falling Star Sea to flock here.
The noisy markets and shops are open 24 hours a day.
The most important thing is that under Zuo Si's rule, Ximen, which was originally a mixed bag of good and bad, showed unprecedented order and security for the first time.
Whether it is theft, robbery, or other criminal acts, there is no way to hide in front of the newly formed law enforcement agencies. It can take a few hours at most to catch criminals and bring them to justice.
That kind of indescribable efficiency stunned all locals and outsiders.
Some people speculate that this must be the effect of magic, while others think that 80% of this is help from gods.
But one thing is certain, that is, both locals and foreign businessmen in Ximen recognized the ability of the new ruler and began to look forward to how prosperous the huge land under his rule would become in the future.
As for Yalusel himself, in just a week or two, under the comprehensive offensive of psychic suggestion, hypnosis and other magic, as well as a large number of words, actions and psychological techniques, he completely fell into a false narrative that he had made for himself.
In hallucination.
Under Zuo Si's instigation without leaving any trace, she can be described as being in love with her.
Even casual eye contact and physical contact between the two people will cause the princess to secrete a large amount of hormones, and often have uncontrollable fantasies and even erotic dreams.
It's as if the previously suppressed feminine characteristics were suddenly awakened.
But Yalusel didn't understand why, he had hinted and extended invitations more than once, but the other party always maintained an ambiguous posture of aloofness, neither agreeing nor rejecting.
What makes the Iron Princess even more unbelievable is that the more she is appetized like this, the easier it is for her to become sensitive, excited, expectant, and hungry inside, just like a beast in estrus.
That kind of complex and contradictory emotions made this young woman who had never had any love experience feel what pain and happiness are for the first time.
Obviously, all of this is an atmosphere deliberately created by Zuo Si by grasping the other party's psychology.
The purpose is also very simple, which is to first arouse Yalusel's lust, then deliberately not satisfy her accumulating and rising desires, and finally distort her mind, values ​​and world view, making her willingly become a puppet under her control.
In particular, long-term suppressed desires will lead to inevitable psychological abnormalities.
The identity and character of the Iron Princess determine that once she becomes abnormal, she will try her best to hide it and will never let any outsiders know.
At this time, whoever can satisfy her desire means that he can control her to a certain extent.
Of course, it is still far from enough to reach this state.
So Zuo Si pretended to be casual and reached out to pick up the documents on the table, but he "accidentally" touched Yalusel's arm.
Instantly!
The latter immediately shuddered uncontrollably as if he had been electrocuted. Then all the skin from his neck to his face turned red under the stimulation of the outside world, and his heartbeat and breathing suddenly accelerated several times.
"Ah, sorry."
Zuo Si quickly raised his head with an apologetic smile, and then asked with a very surprised look: "What's wrong with you? Is it very hot in the room?"
"It's really hot. I don't know what happened to the weather, but the temperature suddenly became so high."
Saying that, Yalusel quickly picked up the round lady's fan and fanned herself hard, then picked up the cup and drank all the water in it to cover up the strange reaction and the restlessness in her heart.<
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"Yes! I can't believe that even in this season, the weather is still so hot."
To be continued...