The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The nobles of Copper Mountain Territory had a rather contradictory attitude towards Linde. Most of them despised Linde, thinking he was a nouveau riche, but at the same time, they desperately wanted to curry favor with him.

This contradictory attitude is manifested in the fact that these nobles wanted to surrender, but were unwilling to lower themselves to do so. Even Linde's "Regulations for the Reform of Nobility" and "Land Distribution Act" were not the main reasons why these nobles were unwilling to surrender.

The real reason was that Linde's actions were too undignified; he practically didn't treat these nobles as nobles. In the eyes of these nobles, even if they were to surrender, they had to be different from ordinary people. Linde had to make a show of "inviting" them to surrender.

Moreover, they claimed that they had been living here before the Lars family arrived, and that the Grand Duke of Lars had to use honorifics when speaking to them. Why should they be stripped of their noble honors after surrendering to Lind?

So Copper Mountain Territory even fabricated a ballad to slander Linde, roughly saying that Linde was a nouveau riche with only a minor viscount title and that he had to bow to real nobles, in order to gain a spiritual victory.

However, as the front lines raced toward Copper Mountain Territory every day, these nobles were still quite fearful. After all, they weren't really stubborn; they just wanted to gain the so-called "due respect," or rather, to linger with Lind and get more benefits from surrendering.

It must be said that these nobles are quite capable; at least these songs are catchy and quickly spread throughout Doug's territory. Even in some areas occupied by Lind, people knew these songs.

But Linde didn't care. Although the bards were helping to control the spread of these songs, it was far from the level of a literary inquisition. They were more focused on debunking some of the rumors in the songs.

Having experienced the baptism of the domestic internet in his previous life, this level of influence was nothing to Lin De. It wasn't worth getting angry with these nobles. Lin De even wanted to investigate who composed these songs and thought that "inviting" them to compose children's songs might be a good idea.

However, the nobles misunderstood. Seeing that Linde didn't react even after being scolded, they thought Linde had an unexpectedly good temper and probably still had some sense of dignity. They guessed that Linde wanted to be a benevolent ruler and wouldn't indiscriminately slaughter nobles.

Although the Laurent family was dismantled after their surrender, most of them fared relatively well. The governor probably didn't want to go too far, which gave these nobles the illusion that Linde still had at least some respect for them.

This is actually a survivor bias. The root cause is that those abstract nobles were killed too cleanly, and no one spoke up for them.

So when the Ambrose family approached these nobles and said they had a good idea, the nobles readily agreed to meet them.

At this moment, Dian, wearing the magnificent robes passed down from his ancestors, spoke through magical echoes at the ball: "Ladies and gentlemen, as we all know, Governor Linde's army is about to reach his loyal Copper Mountain Territory, although Governor Linde has not been friendly to those noble families along the way."

Dian paused briefly, then put on a pained expression and said, "But has anyone considered why the benevolent governor, a descendant of the old empire, acts not like a nobleman, but like a nouveau riche?"

The other nobles were discussing it amongst themselves. Most of them did not accept the claim that he was a descendant of the old empire, since Linde himself was too lazy to admit it. However, most of them became interested after hearing Dian say this.

"Because the current governor's wife is a disgrace to the nobility! Doesn't everyone know what kind of character this current governor's wife, the eldest daughter of the Lars family, is? She is uneducated, ignorant of etiquette, and extremely vulgar! The governor has been influenced by such a woman, which is why he has become like this, not caring about the glory of the nobility and lacking the dignity of the nobility."

Then, fearing that these nobles might not be aware of Lena's past reputation, Dian gave them a brief explanation on the spot.

Soon, the image of a mean, uncouth, and rude woman slowly took shape in everyone's minds.

"So how can we save our governor and restore him to his former noble status as a descendant of the old empire?"

Amidst a grand display of magical fireworks, Lise, dressed in a gown, made a slow entrance, leaving many nobles in the audience stunned.

“That’s right. As long as we send my precious daughter, Lise, the precious daughter of our Copper Mountain Territory away, and drive that wicked woman away, the Governor will surely be able to become a true nobleman again, a noble descendant of the old empire!”

The scene erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers. Regardless of kicking Lena off the stage, the idea of ​​marrying a woman to Lind was indeed feasible in the eyes of these nobles.

Although the world advocates monogamy due to the Goddess Cult, the actual situation is very complicated. Keeping mistresses is no secret among nobles. Moreover, as the Goddess Cult is gradually becoming secularized, some people are taking this opportunity to legalize their already public mistresses.

In addition, Augustine III had completely suppressed religion back then. Although he only had one queen, he took the lead in marrying many wives, so it is quite normal for some high-ranking nobles to have several wives now.

The nobles immediately began discussing how to send Lise to Lind's side. As long as Lise could reach Lind's side, these nobles did not believe that Lind would not be captivated by Lise's charm. Even if Governor Lind had to save face and only took her as a mistress, that would be enough for Copper Mountain Territory.

With a spouse whispering in their ear, they might be able to save the land and property of these nobles in Tongshan Territory—at least that's what these nobles believe.

Moreover, these nobles believed that Lise could be more than just a mistress. How could that ill-mannered and uncultured Lena Lars possibly compete with Lise, who had been immersed in aristocratic education since childhood and was a socialite among socialites?

Some nobles even felt a little regretful that Lise had been handed over to Lind so easily.

Although some nobles believe that Lena has the power of the Lars family behind her, Lind is now raising the Lars family's banner, which may provoke the Lars family's dissatisfaction.

But these nobles didn't care. It wasn't like they wanted Lise to actually become the governor's wife. If they wanted to keep the Lars family in check, they could simply give Lena a title. Even they could think of this, so how could Governor Lind not think of it?

Moreover, these nobles are masters at stirring up public opinion; with just a little effort, they can give Lind many reasons to abandon Lena.

So, under the leadership of the Ambrose family, these nobles stopped slandering Lind and began to slander and insult Lena instead. This was much easier than slandering Lind, since Lena's reputation in noble circles was not very good to begin with.

Even when they directly insulted the governor himself, the governor didn't react. But when they insulted the governor's wife, these nobles felt that the governor didn't need to take it seriously.

Not only that, Dean also sent his youngest son, Dam, with a portrait of Lise to Gray Collar to meet with Lind under the pretense of surrender.