That evening, the maids were cleaning the meeting room, which occupied a room on the ground floor.
The head maid was directing the maids alongside Yira. Su Qin had already sent the head maid a private message: she would be leaving her position in a month!
To compensate her, Su Qin had promised to build a tailoring shop specifically for her on the estate. She would become its proprietor, earning one gold coin a month.
The head maid looked at Yira's face with some envy. She knew Yira would be her successor, the new head maid. The head maid of a territory actually wielded considerable authority within the lord's estate.
The maids left over after Yira made her selection could only follow her to the tailoring shop. Still, that was not bad. After all, they would have wages and could marry.
Directly opposite the meeting room was a balcony facing south. Many tables, wineglasses, and similar items stood along the southern wall. Numerous potted plants of unknown varieties adorned the corners, and the bluestone floor had been swept fairly clean.
Candle holders also hung from chains at suitable points within the meeting room, providing light for the evening meeting.
In the very center stood a large, red mahogany table. It was an enormous long table, positioned east to west, with the lord seated at its easternmost end.
A silver seagull adorned the lord's chair, made by inlaying silver wire into a seagull design carved into the chair beforehand! Three chairs stood to the right of the lord's chair, and three to its left, all neatly arranged.
Su Qin currently had three ministers: Master of Coin Telang, Guard Captain Aila, and Minister of Intelligence Kelun.
After instructing the maids to move the potted plants into place and clean the corners, Aila began ordering people to wipe down the table and chairs. Evening soon arrived. The Guard had notified the ministers that a lord's council meeting would be held that day.
They all treated the occasion with great solemnity. Telang put on his new ministerial robes, Aila donned new leather armor, and Kelun carefully had his wife pin his silver seagull knight's brooch onto him.
Su Qin wore a white woolen inner robe beneath a lord's ceremonial robe embroidered with silver-thread patterns. A silver seagull ring adorned the index finger of his right hand. The necessary displays of status mattered!
A seagull design was embroidered in silver thread on the back of his robe, and a baron's brooch was pinned to his chest. He entered through the eastern doors, followed by Luke, who also wore new leather armor.
Reaching the lord's chair, Su Qin slowly sat down. Luke stood guard nearby in his leather armor. Su Qin's eyes remained fixed on the mahogany doors to the west, as though he were pondering something...
Soon, the doors opened, and Master of Coin Telang, Guard Captain Aila, and Minister of Intelligence Kelun entered one after another.
Seeing them, Su Qin slowly rose and said, "Aila, sit on my left. Kelun, sit on my right. Telang, take the second seat on the right."
It was a simple sentence, yet it clearly revealed distinctions in closeness! The three exchanged knowing glances and walked to their respective seats!
Su Qin slowly sat down. Luke stood just inside the doorway, guarding the eastern doors behind him. Once the three were seated, Su Qin placed his hands on the table and announced steadily, "The lord's council meeting for the fourth week of March will now begin!"
He glanced at Kelun beside him and said, "Kelun, take notes on the important points of the meeting. There's paper and a pen on the table to the north." Hearing this, Kelun immediately rose and fetched them.
Once everything was ready, Su Qin continued under everyone's gaze. "The first matter: personnel changes!"
Telang's heart jolted. Perhaps Su Qin was about to act against him! Su Qin noticed his expression and gave him a reassuring smile. He immediately steadied himself. It seemed this was not aimed at old nobles like them.
"Aila is formally appointed commander of the Seagull Guard!"
"Telang will serve as Right Master of Coin. For now, you will be responsible for organizing household registers and handling the residents' everyday civil affairs in the four current subterritories. Bring any disputes you cannot resolve to me."
Telang breathed a sigh of relief. His heart had been pounding with anxiety these past few days. He had originally been only a deputy financial officer. His own fief was at Augustus Castle, but it had very few residents-just a small village of a little over a hundred households! He had stayed because he did not want to leave. He had never expected Su Qin to appoint him directly as Right Master of Coin, putting him in charge of the financial staff who remained.
His greatest fear had been that Su Qin would simply strip him of his post. He had not expected Su Qin to refrain from replacing him with one of his own people.
Su Qin nodded, then looked at Kelun. "I appoint Kelun as Minister of Intelligence. Do either of you object?" Aila and Telang glanced at the man who had been a prisoner just days earlier. Although they had some reservations, neither spoke.
"Then Kelun is the new Minister of Intelligence!"
After speaking, Su Qin instructed Nack and Luke to pour everyone some wine while they waited for Kelun to finish writing. Once Kelun finished, he passed the notes to Su Qin, who examined them for a while.
After reading them, Su Qin nodded and handed the paper back. Then he moved on to the second matter. "The second matter: wages!"
The three immediately raised their heads and listened attentively. This was important. Su Qin smiled and said, "For now, each of the three ministers will receive one gold coin a month."
The three ministers nodded in unison. Some small villages might not even bring in ten gold coins in an entire year! They were merely small families entrenched in their local areas, and most of their subjects were members of their own clans.
Seeing that the ministers had no objections, Su Qin continued, "Each subordinate official under the Master of Coin will receive five silver coins a month."
The Master of Coin nodded. That was very good. Ordinary subordinate officials had previously received around three silver coins, and in bitter winters with poor harvests, that could fall to a single silver coin.
"For now, each member of the Guard will receive five silver coins a month. Each militiaman will receive three." The Guard captain nodded. That was one silver coin more than the Earl had paid. What surprised him was that even the militia would receive three silver coins. Three silver coins were worth a great deal. A person could survive on just one silver coin a month!
Seeing Aila's satisfied expression, Su Qin nodded, slowly rose, and poured himself a glass of wine. Then he sat back down with the glass in hand. Looking at Kelun, he said, "Kelun, I'll allocate five gold coins to you each month. First, find ten people to establish a basic intelligence network. Will five gold coins be enough?"
Kelun raised his head. Allocating funds to him outright-this was trust! He hurriedly replied, "Baron, it will be enough. I will train intelligence personnel for you and ensure they are utterly loyal to you."
After waiting for the notes to be finished, Su Qin considered how many people there actually were here and whether the households should also be surveyed. He spoke to Telang again. "Right Master of Coin, give me a report on Gulltown's residents." After all, a local would know the details better.
"Yes, my lord Baron." Telang began his report.
That night, the meeting lasted until the day's twenty-second hourglass, and Telang's loyalty rose to around 60. A score above 60 meant he was barely usable. Pushing too hard might be detrimental to Su Qin's rule.
Su Qin also distributed the gold coins Yaron had provided him, along with part of March's income from the lord's assets. All the ministers went home carrying gold coins.
But now Su Qin had only fifteen gold coins left in his pocket. After giving some to the head maid tomorrow, he would have ten gold coins left from his net income for the month.
Was that a lot? Not at all!
It was a great deal to commoners, but to great nobles, Su Qin was the poorest of the poor, no different from a roadside beggar. The Vale of Arryn's annual income alone could frighten the current Su Qin to death.
The income of great nobles was unimaginable. When Robert died, he owed the Iron Bank and several nobles millions of gold coins. Millions of gold coins! How much did the king of an empire need to spend in a year?
Ordinary nobles did not dare imagine it, much less an outsider like Su Qin, who had no industries of his own.
Because Gull Territory had once suffered devastation from a dragon, its original port had been destroyed. The ruins of the old Seagull Port still stood at a natural harbor thirty kilometers to the northeast. For over a hundred years, Gulltown had had to rebuild its population from scratch. Building a new port, in particular, required enormous sums of money. Several generations had already passed, yet the territory still had not developed. It fell far short of the former Seagull City.
That city alone had matched the development of a top-tier earldom. Now, the population of the four Gull territories did not amount to even a fraction of its population. Historically, Seagull Port had been one of the most important ports in Westeros, but now it had become a setting sun that had already sunk behind the mountains.