King
Chapter 104 - 104 93 The Worst Off Fish of the Year_1

104: Chapter 93, The Worst Off Fish of the Year_1 104: Chapter 93, The Worst Off Fish of the Year_1 After enduring Earl Piers’ “political class”, many nobles, including Hudson, felt like they had lived through a disaster.

The Governor knew far too much, and shamelessly spilled it all out directly in front of everyone without any restraint.

If it weren’t for the significant disparity in their status and power, almost everyone might have had thoughts of silencing him for good.

Initially, it was bearable, just having to endure criticism as long as they had thick enough skins.

Then everything would be manageable.

However, as the governor continued his tirade, it began to evolve into a major expose of past embarrassments, causing instant humiliation for numerous nobles.

This included Hudson’s private transactions with his neighbours.

Although specific details were not delved into, the transactions were indeed exposed.

Luckily, Hudson had always been discrete, having only conducted a few low-key trades, with not much scandalous past to dig into.

In the midst of this thunderous commotion, there were plenty of other scandals capturing people’s attention, enabling Hudson’s little issue to be swiftly overlooked.

Once again, the revelation proved the relativity of moral standards, contrasted by the deeds of others.

Compared to other scandal-ridden nobles, doing business with neighbours was nothing, even if the traded products were a bit unusual.

While the native nobles collaborated to impose a blockade on the northern aristocracy, Hudson had not participated in it!

By not participating, he could naturally not be accused of betrayal.

As a member of the Neutral Camp, trading goods with both parties was logically acceptable.

However, the actions of the scandal-ridden nobles were different as they often crossed the line.

Brutality, greed, and extortion were all taken for granted.

Betraying teammates was routine operation; instigating discord and having allies take the brunt was simply normal.

Secretly colluding with the enemies to betray teammates and even bribing enemies to attack allies, all these unscrupulous actions truly happened.

All these disgraceful scandals were revealed, rendering the nobles’ reputations completely in ruins.

One could argue that Earl Piers’ precise strike had hit where it hurts for many.

Whether they could recover or not depended on their individual capabilities.

However, while many problems could still be solved, the damage to their reputations was truly irreversible.

Betrayal, there’s either none or countless.

One can be immoral, but violating the rules would surely result in backlash.

As the ruler of the Southeastern Province for centuries, it was not surprising for Earl Piers to have access to this information.

What puzzled Hudson was why Piers played these cards that could be used as bargaining chips all at once.

Hudson did not believe that Earl Piers was genuinely intolerant of these troublesome circumstances happening in his territory.

If he really wanted to stop them, he could have done it from the start.

“Seems like it should calm down for a while.

Hudson, you seem to be having a good time recently!”

Hearing this familiar voice, it suddenly dawned on Hudson.

“Calm down for a while”, this meant that Earl Piers wanted peace in the provinces for some time.

If this was the motivation, then everything made sense.

Almost every noble with some power in the two provinces had faced some kind of punishment.

Many had their disgraceful pasts revealed to some degree.

Just dealing with their own mess, they would be busy enough to not meddle in other matters.

This approach, however, felt familiar to Hudson, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

After hesitating for a while, Hudson suddenly remembered.

It wasn’t merely familiar – it was a direct copy.

It was a similar strategy left behind by Caesar III in the Capital.

When he first ascended to the throne, the nobles caused a lot of uproar, and various pacification attempts were futile.

In his rage, Caesar III turned the tables, and brought the nobles’ scandalous pasts into the open.

The result was self-explanatory, with the nobles left dumbfounded, each busy cleaning up their own mess, naturally leaving no room to trouble the King.

Although this was treating the symptoms and not the cause, it was an effective solution.

The best way to stabilize the situation in a short time was to set everyone scrambling.

“Uncle Charles, I have matters to attend to, so I will take my leave.”

Without waiting for Baron Charles to retain him, Hudson turned and left.

Their relationship used to be solid until Charles showed signs during a banquet of wanting to marry his daughter to Hudson, causing their relationship to change overnight.

Hudson was prepared for a noble marriage alliance, but even if marriage was to be used as a transaction, he must at least marry someone pleasing to the eye!

Regrettably, Charles’ robust daughter did not meet Hudson’s aesthetic standards, leading him to avoid the situation.

Such problems became more frequent as Hudson’s territory began to prosper.

There were already ten or so nobles showing intentions of forging alliances through marriage.

They all followed the principle of marrying one’s equals, with no one trying to climb the social ladder or any princess showing any unusual favour towards him, a minor baron.

Baron Redman was quite satisfied with most of these families, if he didn’t have multiple potential engagements that made him hesitant to make a decision, he would have probably made it already for Hudson.

Hearing the news, Hudson immediately sent a letter to his father, fervently expressing his strong refusal, thus temporarily dispelling his father’s dangerous thoughts.