Chapter 1064: The Stubborn King Saiqi
At the warm-up banquet before the opening of the grand auction, the tragic life of the Kingdom of Lulucia was being played out on the sky screen, and the cruelty of King Sezi's family was fully displayed in front of the world.
"This is slander! This is defamation!"
"My country is good, I treat the citizens well, and I have never lent money at high interest rates."
King Sezi began to deny three times in front of everyone. The princes and nobles who gathered around him all had mocking expressions on their faces, watching a funny clown in impotent rage.
Everyone knows in their hearts that what each member country does is similar, the only difference is that your interest rate is higher and theirs is lower.
If we don't collect money from that group of untouchables, how can we pay the celestial gold to the Celestial Dragons? The protection fee is increasing every year.
Instead of squeezing some of the people's money at home, do we have to ask the nobles to pay for it themselves?
The princes and nobles themselves, under the pretext of paying the gold from heaven, levied a payment on a per capita basis in the territories under their jurisdiction.
The wealth collected was often several times the amount of gold paid into heaven, and in some cases the amount collected was ten times as much.
Most of the member states pay protection fees to the member states and keep the remaining portion for themselves and their families to enjoy a prosperous life.
Only the destroyed country of Alabasta collected very little tax, and in the eyes of outsiders, it really deserved to be destroyed.
Without this outlier among the allied countries, everyone is in the same boat and they all plunder the people together without any burden in their hearts.
There is no one of the same class who can stand on the moral high ground and criticize everyone. It is better for the Alabasta Kingdom to be destroyed!
The Sand Crocodile has not killed the former king yet, but has locked Cobra in a room without sunlight, bringing him water and food on time every day, trying to keep him alive for the time being and not let him die.
Killing Cobra was just a thought of the new king. Crocodile believed that the former king still had value and might be able to control Princess Vivi in the future.
With hostages in hand, he is very confident when talking to the Straw Hat Pirates. The strength that Zoro showed in the sky dome is completely different from that in reality.
"Seeing your defeated generals become so powerful in the future, don't you have any ideas?"
Faced with his boss's question, Mr. 1 lowered his head and fell silent. He regretted that he did not kill Zoro on the spot on Drum Island when they first met.
Mr.1, the killer, has killed a swordsman who has not grown up many times. He has no psychological burden in killing geniuses, but he regrets doing it too late.
"Next time I see Zoro, I will do my best to kill him and get rid of this threat for Baroque Studios."
Crocodile was very pleased when his number one subordinate lowered his head to show his loyalty. He patted Mr. 1 on the shoulder and comforted him to improve his strength quickly.
A talent like Gardino can become famous in the future, so why would Mr. 1 be buried?
Crocodile has always refused to admit that he has wasted his third brother's talent. He does not know how to expand the domain of the devil fruit and cannot teach Gardino more knowledge.
Now Crocodile still keeps Gardino by his side. One of his purposes is to let the third brother learn the ability of field expansion from Buggy the Clown. Then Crocodile will learn the ability of field expansion through the third brother's channel.
After his strength rose to a certain level, he led the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to challenge the position of emperor of the sea. Crocodile's ambition has never stopped, and he also witnessed the demise of the Whitebeard Pirates with his own eyes.
They must find a way to seize the territory left by the Whitebeard Pirates and fill the power vacuum left after Whitebeard's death. Crocodile also wants to have a bite of this big cake.
He still had some doubts in his mind, that is, why he turned into a woman in the sky. Appearing in the image of a woman would undermine his dignity as a king!
Fortunately, other people seemed to have forgotten this incident, and the princes and nobles who drank with him did not mention the ugly incident of the sand crocodile.
As for what people think in private, Crocodile has no mind-reading ability, so he doesn't know what the people who drink with him are really thinking, whether they are making fun of him or flattering him.
While King Sezi's family was enduring the humiliation, they were also worried about their future. If a powerful swordsman like Zoro came to their house, would they tear down the palace in anger?
Zoro's temper and strength cannot be underestimated. King Sezi already has the worst-case scenario in mind, and it is possible that his future self will be killed in the Sky Dome.
In the eyes of this group of powerful people, apart from the loss of face and disgrace, there doesn't seem to be much substantial loss.
After thinking it through, King Saiqi's blush gradually faded. Even if his future self was killed, what did it have to do with his present self? He couldn't lose a single piece of flesh.
Princess Kemani was laughed at by her best friends. Women sometimes cannot hide their thoughts and say offensive words in a hurry, which made King Sezi's daughter very angry.
She almost spilled the wine in the cup on the other princess' face, and Kemani was pulled away by her father to prevent his beloved daughter from causing trouble.
The relations between the member states cannot be broken, and the trade between them cannot be interrupted. Moreover, there are many intermarriages, and if you trace back two generations, everyone is a relative.
The upper class will certainly not share the wealth inherited through blood with the untouchable class. They will only play with the untouchable women and will not be responsible for these women.
Under normal circumstances, a woman of low status who gives birth to a child will not become an heir, let alone be favored. At most, she will be slightly higher than a household slave.
Commoner children with royal blood will become butlers when they grow up.
They help brothers and sisters of nobler blood and deal with trivial matters within the kingdom. These people flatter their superiors and bully their subordinates, but will not betray their own class.
In the sky, Zoro held his creditor at knifepoint and had a smooth journey. Common people did not dare to stop him, and he did not even encounter a single kingdom guard on the way.
The degree of lax security in the Kingdom of Lulucia is evident from this. There is absolutely no external defense. Under such circumstances, if there is an external invasion, the entire country will be overthrown.
Since the death of Whitebeard, it has become the norm for some pirates for small pirate groups to gather together to form the Pirate Alliance and go on large-scale robberies in member countries.
Because the pirates have realized that the common people along the Grand Line have no money, and only the rentier class above them has countless gold, silver and jewels hidden in the treasury.
As long as you succeed in robbing something, you won't have to work for the rest of your life. The money you get from the robbery is enough to last you a lifetime. Afterwards, you can find a place and become a rich man. You don't have to live a life on the edge of a knife at sea.
As for where the soldiers who guarded the country went, the royal family of the Kingdom of Lulucia should bear the main responsibility, thanks to King Sezi's "benevolent rule".
Without King Sezi committing suicide on the throne, the Kingdom of Lulucia still had a certain ability to protect itself. Now the defense work has become a decoration.
There are tax farmers for the royal family everywhere in the country. They will maintain basic public order for the royal family. The two sides will cooperate for mutual benefit and jointly exploit the lower classes.
The Lulucia Kingdom today only needs a revolutionary spark to completely ignite the entire land.