"There was boundless land and boundless wealth in the world, but it was all occupied by foolish Kings and High Nobles!"
"They were like a pack of greedy pigs, swallowing chunks of gold into their bellies!"
"Kill them, and I'll distribute their land, wealth, even their women, to you!"
Holding the King's paltry reward, Lancelot made his empty promises.
The Soldiers believed him easily.
Yes, in the Soldiers' simple minds, the King was unimaginably wealthy. His plates were made of gold, his chopsticks were made of gold, and even the throne beneath his ass was made of gold.
How could they know that Kings often borrowed money to maintain their extravagant expenses?
Many Kings died utterly penniless and had to keep borrowing money just to hold their funerals.
As for why that was?
It could only be said that appearances forced their hand.
They clearly could not afford it, yet they refused to cut back on the spectacle, so they could only borrow from merchants.
Those great merchants operated across several or even dozens of kingdoms. If you dared refuse repayment, they would rally other kingdoms to collect the debt by force.
They would seize your land and Farmers to repay the debt.
Many Kings had their bloodlines wiped out and their dynasties replaced in exactly this way.
In the end, Kings stood too high above the rest and had no direct contact with the Soldiers.
In the feudal era, those who truly controlled military force had to remain in regular contact with that force.
Just like Yuan Shikai. No matter how capable he had been, after becoming detached from the rank-and-file Soldiers and rising to a high position, he ultimately discovered that he could no longer command the generals under his hand. He became a second Manchu Qing and