More than fifty miles south of Sukh City, there is a meandering and rugged nameless stream flowing quietly, and a quiet and peaceful village is nestled among the mountains and forests in the green shade beside the stream.

In the northern part of the village, near the highlands, between the high walls of the upper part of the stream, an elaborate aristocratic manor house was built here.

This is one of the oldest estates of the Pedro family.

In the back garden of the manor, a century-old banyan tree rises from the ground, and its branches and leaves like a dense forest cover and shelter most of the garden's buildings. A man-made stream flows through the garden from a nearby stream, and three quaint wooden plank bridges are scattered over the stream.

On the east side of this artificial stream, on an observation platform made of insulated and moisture-resistant wooden panels, Woz Pedro is greeting his secret guests... Viscount Dempto-Bob, President of the Suker Plains Chamber of Commerce League.

Temple-Bob was now very comfortable lying on the comfortable suede cushion, squinting at the peaceful and peaceful village in the distance, and said, "What a nice place for you. ”

"Haha!" Woz-Pedro enjoyed the compliment, he walked to the edge of the viewing platform with a glass of red wine, and said with his hands on the fence looking at the endless stream, "This manor is older than the history of Suke City...", he turned his head to look at the giant banyan tree in the garden, "This banyan tree has been around for a longer time, and the crest of the Pedro family is this dense and ancient banyan tree." ”

Temple-Bob was stunned, and subconsciously looked at the noble badge on the collar of Marquis Woz-Pedro, and after looking at it for a few seconds, he said with some envy: "This is a good place." ”

Woz Pedro let out a 'haha' laugh again, his fat face full of smiles, "I can give it to you if you like." His tone was sincere, not like perfunctory.

"I should probably thank you for your generosity," Dempto-Bob did not take the gift, repeating, "It's a good place, but it's not what I wanted." He shrugged and teased, "If you think too much of the manor, maybe I can give it to you a little lover." ”

"You're the only one who would give such a estate to a woman!" Woz-Pedro shook his head disapprerovingly, then asked, "What do you want?"

Dempto grinned, took the wine glass on the small table next to him in his hand, and was silent for two seconds, then looked at Marquis of Woz-Pedro and said, "Stu Garra's reputation among the merchants of the Suke Plains is not something you can imagine, after the news of his departure spread, most of the merchants of the Chamber of Commerce Alliance asked me to negotiate with the emperor in the Lion Castle on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce Alliance. ”

He had a very serious expression on his face, "This is the knee-jerk reaction of the merchants, because they feel that even if the Empire's treasury can do without me, it can't do without Stu Gara!"

Woz Pedro nodded noncommittally and said, "If Stu Gara leaves the Imperial Treasury, the whole empire will become even more chaotic than it is now, and my opinion is the same as that of the merchants, and no one is more suitable for the position of Imperial Finance Minister than Stu Gara." He looked at Temple-Bob, "Don't think that if you are now the undersecretary of the Treasury and in charge of the reform of the empire's commercial tax items, you can get your hands on the decision-making power of the cabinet, and the cabinet has your seat is already the greatest tolerance for you." There was a warning in his tone, "The emperor will not support you, and no one in the upper ranks will be willing to support you." ”

"No chance at all?"

"Nope!"

"Don't look at me with the eyes of a careerist, I'm just asking. Dempto-Bob shrugged indifferently and changed the subject: "You're rooting for Earl Stu Garra?"

"Of course!" Woz Pedro nodded, "Our plans need stable imperial financial support!"

"But after the Lion Castle incident, you immediately hid in this country manor. Dempto-Bob said worriedly: "Our Imperial Majesty is not yet twenty years old, and it is extremely possible to do anything at this age, so don't you worry? You have to understand one thing, the empire is facing a powerful foreign enemy, the rebels, elves, and werewolves of the Elok are much stronger than you think, and the orcs and Karen lords in the north are waiting for us to make mistakes." ”

His target gradually became colder, "Or have you changed your attention and plan to find another master?"

"The Pedro family will always be loyal to the empire, don't speculate about our intentions, you don't understand the meaning of the five major military protectors. Marquis Wolds still smiled, "We may betray an emperor, but we will never betray the Empire." Although his tone was as pleasant as that of an old friend, a certain warning was more obvious, "Don't use your little wisdom to measure the wisdom of our ancestors for hundreds of years. ”

"Haha!" Dempto-Bob laughed, "but what I see is a careerist preparing to divide the empire, not a loyal courtier." ”

Woz-Pedro shrugged, "I wanted to say that my allegiance is to the Empire, not the Emperor. ”

"Leave your beautiful words to the goddess while you pray. Dempdor-Bob waved his hand, "Now let's talk about something a little more practical." He stopped the other party from continuing to talk about what was extremely disgusting to him, "Count Stu-Gara is in the process of handover, and there are very few people who can speak in front of the emperor at this moment, aren't you going to come forward and say something?"

"You still haven't understood what our young emperor is up to?"

"Idiots can understand that the Emperor intends to abolish the Prime Minister's Office and personally lead the Cabinet!" Dempto-Bob smiled coldly, "It's childish ridiculous..."

"But sometimes the more naïve their ideas are, the more terrible they are, because they can't see the danger ahead, and if they don't see the danger, they won't be afraid of the danger, and they won't be afraid of the danger..."

"Not afraid of danger will do terrible things!"

Woz-Pedro shrugged, "So, we need to let the emperor understand the truth himself, not for us to convince him." ”

"I'm afraid we don't have time. "The commoner aristocrats of the Union Confederation are just a bunch of fools, they are making a fool of themselves at such a time, and the nobles who are attached to you, what are they thinking in their heads?

"You seem to be more worried about the battle of Tyre than we are. Woz-Pedro teased: "Are you worried that your own nephew will take revenge on you after his victory?"

Dempdor-Bob's face suddenly turned cold when he heard this, and he was silent for a few seconds before saying, "The problem we're talking about now has nothing to do with it! Besides, I don't think you can do any good by laughing at your allies at such a time." ”

"I'm so sorry, my friend, but I'm just talking about it. Woz Pedro raised his glass, "This glass of wine is my apology." With that, he threw his head up and drank all the red wine in his glass.

Demptop-Bob looked at the wine glass that was not left with a drop of wine, and his cold face stretched slightly, "When do you go to talk to the Emperor, your competitors are more competitive than you." ”

"It's not the two of us who should be in a hurry at this time, someone will be more anxious than you and me!" Marquis Wolds sat down on the log bench next to the fence, "McGonagall Tano has been walking with Stu Gara almost every day lately, and Stu Garra's logistical supplies need to be raised by Stu Garra, and our former Prime Minister, Duke Nick Reagan, needs Stu Garra even more. ”

"I've heard that Duke Nick proposed when he left office that McGonault take over as Prime Minister of the Empire. Dempto Borough frowned, "I bet McGonagall Tano and his Followers are jumping up and down right now. ”

"Let them jump as much as they want," Woz-Pedro said nonchalantly, "Duke Nick is always so high, but he stands too tall to see the scenery around him. He stood up and walked to the small bar next to him to refill himself, and he continued: "The appointment of the prime minister is decided by the emperor, do you think our young emperor can't see the problem clearly?"

Woz Pedro took a deep breath and sniffed the wine: "Marquis Nepdo-Quint, with the title of the Five Great Military Guardian Families, was canonized as the Imperial Marshal last month, and has fifteen armies in the town of Tyre, unless our Emperor His Majesty is a fool, otherwise he will not appoint the Marquis of Nepdo as the Prime Minister of the Empire, as for Magnauel Tano..."

He had a sarcastic smile on his face, "A man who lives in a dream, he may be a model of nobility and a model of knights, but he will not be the proper master of the Prime Minister's Office, and he and our emperor will never be able to talk to each other." ”

Woz Pedro raised his glass and looked at Temple-Bob, "If Emperor Sinda chooses Magnau Tano as Emperor, I will gladly accept such an outcome, because it will be better than if I was in charge of the cabinet myself!"

"It seems that you have a lot of faith. Dempto-Bob stood up with his glass and walked to the fence, looked at the busy serfs on the farm across the stream and said, "Anything can happen until the matter is determined, and at this time last year, when the orc army was overwhelmed, did we ever think that there would be such a situation?" Our Emperor can shout the absurdity of the dismissal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his study over a petty dispute of words, and he can likewise depose others because of his anger, or wield the butcher's knife of the Danediv family!"

Temple-Bob said in a slightly warning tone, "Have you forgotten what happened thirteen years ago?"

"You..."

"Step... Stepping on..."On the plank bridge not far away, I suddenly remembered the sound of dull footsteps.

"Your Excellency. The old butler of the manor looked at Woz Pedro, then at Demptop Bob next to him.

"Say!"

"An hour ago, Count McGonagall Tano had a quarrel with His Majesty the Emperor Sinda at Lion Castle!" the old butler swallowed, "The Emperor drew his sword and cut off Count McGonagall Tano's right arm!"