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Nord Kyoto,

This is a majestic city surrounded by mountains, no biting cold wind, no ice and snow cover, a typical mountain basin climate, large green dense forests, like golden blue flowers, large areas along the towering mountains to the distance,

The whole city looks hazy in the morning mist in the autumn wind, and the pointed roofs are faintly exposed.

Round statues, white marble carvings, wide and straight streets, even the Nords who lack a sense of art,

There has been plenty of time in the past few hundred years to transform this small town, which was just a fortress in the mountains, into a luxurious Kyoto with 350,000 people and all kinds of drunken gold fans

Early in the morning, the carriage of Duke Harristi, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer of Nord, slowly came out of the gate of his mansion under the escort of several cavalrymen on white horses.

The axles of the carriage pressed against the paved and clean pavement, making a creaking and crisp sound, and the street moved at a uniform speed, and Duke Harristi, who was sitting in the carriage, lifted the curtain of the carriage,

Looking out from the open car curtain, there are few people on the street, it seems deserted, many of the upper shops are still closed, and the newly announced commercial double tax makes many shops have big words such as "closed" written on the façade, which looks bleak.

This situation made Duke Harristi's eyebrows frown slightly, and from the current situation, it can be known that this quarter's tax revenue will only be greatly affected.

As a Chancellor of the Exchequer, this is the most troublesome thing, there is no money, everything is in vain, the ever-expanding military institutions, all kinds of compulsory appropriations from His Majesty the King, and the adults below, one by one, with various reasons and justifications, have already emptied the last bit of money in the Nord treasury.

Taking the two newly formed legions as an example, the gold coins consumed by recruiting soldiers reached 690,000, and the consumption of weapons and equipment is even more difficult to calculate.

Nord is not a country known for its abundant production, there are only 3 places in the entire kingdom that can mine iron and stone, and in this era of basic manpower mining, the total annual output is only 60 tens of thousands of catties.

These limited quantities of iron need stones also need to be refined and forged by blacksmiths, and finally there is less than 400,000 catties of iron that can really be used as weapon materials, and 20 catties of a light infantry armor is just the number of 20,000 pairs of armor.

If it is heavy infantry armor with higher weight and quality requirements, its consumption is 4 times that of light infantry armor, and the annual output is only to equip a heavy infantry flag regiment.

This is still just armor, if even the wide-faced shield and infantry heavy sword are counted, the number will be greatly reduced, so even though the Nord infantry is known for being good at war, it has always maintained the tradition of using small round shields, at least it can effectively reduce some of the consumption,

Therefore, Nord has always been a big country importing iron, and now it is more difficult, the Falcon Dynasty in the north has begun the blockade of iron, if you want to be the saddest person on the continent now, then Nord's finance minister must be among them, because he not only has to face the external dilemma, but the internal constraints are also strict.

In order to quickly recover from the effects of the defeat, and to gather more forces to confront the Falcon Empire of the North, and to suppress the discourse of the merchants against the kingdom ·

Annoyed and angry, in the imperial council last month, announced that the Nord Kingdom will implement a double tax on commerce, the essence of this tax, to put it bluntly, a good must be taxed twice, buy in once, sell once, this new economic policy came out, the Nord merchants were undoubtedly a blow to the head, gloomy, were levied two heavy taxes, even the high profits are gone,...,

They sent 5 representatives to petition the king, but the answer to them was the sharp axe of the Kyoto city guards, and the heads of the 5 representatives are still hanging on the gate of Nord Kyoto, but in just over half a month, the prosperous Nord Kyoto has also fallen like this, all profits have been handed over as taxes, many merchants have been ready to roll up and leave Nord Kyoto, and occasionally people pass by on the street, and they also walk quickly with their heads shrunk silently,

In the distance, there was a crisp sound of horses' hooves, and it was a group of Kyoto Castle guards passing by on patrol at night, looking at everyone in the street with hostile eyes, as if they were all enemies with sharp blades

Harristy lowered the curtain in his hand, as an important minister of the kingdom, he did not have a good impression of these rough city guards, without merchants, what should be done with this year's taxes? What about the flow of goods in the market? What about the iron needed to forge weapons? These tools, which only know killing and suppression, are cutting off the last trace of blood in the Nord Kingdom,

A gust of wind blew through Harristie's curtains, I don't know why, he felt that this year's summer was a little cold, he couldn't help but tighten his clothes, but he still couldn't help but shiver, only felt the cold behind him,

"Hurry up, you cowards who can only escape!"

He heard a rough shouting outside the window, just in time to see a group of city guard soldiers escorting a dozen young men who were only thirteen or fourteen years old.

The boys were all drooping their heads, and some of them were still crying quietly, and a city guard soldier with a leather whip in his hand kept beating the last man, who was a scrawny teenager, too weak to lie on the ground and babble and scream, unable to move his feet in any way.

"Stop! he's just a kid!"

Harristy couldn't stand it anymore, the skinny boy reminded him of his thin son with Yang,

If someone dares to treat his son like this, he will definitely fight with him, he ordered to stop, got out of the car and asked

"What's going on? What are these children guilty of? If you were a father, would you do this to your own children?"

The officer of the city guard who took the lead clearly recognized this important minister of the kingdom. With a somewhat embarrassed face, he hurriedly straightened his body and replied respectfully, "My lord, these people are not children, they are all soldiers who enlisted in the city this morning, these filthy guys are all untouchables who were collected from the homes of residents in the city, because they refused to serve in the military and hid in Tibet, so their subordinates will tie them up with ropes."

"Military service again......" Harristy sighed helplessly, not daring to look at the longing children again, and slammed the door of the carriage shut, extinguishing the flame of hope that had just been ignited by those children

He pitied these teenagers who were not yet thirteen years old, and wanted to rescue them, but he did not have the power to meddle in the affairs of the military. Thinking that these naïve teenagers, who may not know what the real war is like, will have to accept the beckoning of death in the near future, he is indeed like a knife.

Because of the loss of 100,000 young men in the Southern War, and the number of qualified soldiers in the country was insufficient, His Majesty Yagrolk signed an order to expand the age of conscription from sixteen to fifty to thirteen to sixty, and all civilian men within this age group must perform military service.

These teenagers happened to be thirteen years old, and although their parents proved that they were not yet thirteen years old, the Kyoto City Guards, who were eager to show their attention, did not hesitate to order them to be the targets of unlimited conscription

In Kyoto, and in other places, not to mention, perhaps boys as young as eleven or twelve years old would also be forcibly conscripted to fill the vacancies in the army. There are more and more troops replenished in the rear, and there is even a strange phenomenon that the number of troops is several times more than before the defeat. ...,

However, who would believe that these forcibly captured teenagers can play a role on the battlefield? What else can they do besides using their own thin ** to resist the iron hooves of the Falcon Army? This war against the Falcon Dynasty is dragging the Nord Kingdom into the abyss

At the end of the road is the Nord Palace, dignified and solemn, the glorious and gorgeous palace exterior wall reflected in the rising morning light as if dyed with a faint golden light, which made Harristi's eyes squint slightly, I don't know why, he suddenly felt that the majestic and tall palace in the past seemed so thin and helpless today, and the solemn sword of royal power seemed to be crumbling

"Squeak!"

The carriage slowly stopped in the parking lot of the palace A Praetorian Guard officer wearing a black and blue uniform had been waiting there, and when he saw Duke Harristi's carriage, he walked up with a stern face, gently opened the door of the carriage, and said, "Lord Duke, Your Majesty is already waiting inside, please come to me!"

"How is your majesty doing today?" said Duke Harristy as he stepped out of the carriage and stepped on the thirty-six steps of the palace in front of him, and asked in a low voice.

"It's not very good" The Praetorian Guard officer hesitated for a while, and then replied briefly as he walked, "Your Majesty has been suffering from insomnia recently, and sometimes even sits in his study for a night, and the doctor said that it is because of the war on the border that it is difficult for His Majesty to settle down, so this situation has occurred, and if it continues like this, His Majesty's physical condition will get worse and worse."

"That's right, it's been almost a month since the Battle of Anruod, and there is no news yet!"

Duke Harristi nodded in agreement, looking very unoptimistic, and at this time, he saw several people standing at the top of the steps, the Minister of the Interior, Acais, and the Minister of Military Logistics, Thorges

"Lord Harristy has arrived! Lord Aikhas arrived, Master Thorges has arrived!"

The heavy palace gate had been opened in front of them, revealing the magnificent, wide hall like a small square behind it, and the sunlight was shining through the gate, and several palace maids were busy inside, sitting down in the council chamber, and the three of them quietly waited for the arrival of the king, His Majesty Yagrolk.

Due to the delay in the war on the front line, and the domestic economy has basically collapsed due to the problem of double taxation, the three of them are very heavy and silent.

Usually before the meeting, the three of them would simply exchange views on some important issues, but at this time, they were not in the mood to speak, even if they didn't speak, everyone knew very well in their hearts that this war could not continue, and the huge number of front-line armies was constantly destroying the foundation of the Nord Kingdom.

"His Majesty the King has arrived!"

There was a loud sign up at the door of the hall, and the pale-faced Yagrolc struggled to sit on his throne with the help of the two palace maids on the left and right.

Compared to when he announced his invasion of southern Vicia three months ago, Yagrolk is now completely old, haggard, desperate, with a bloodless pale face, a body that looks like nothing, and a dull look

The three important ministers all felt very regretful in their hearts, as if there was a sore and painful feeling lingering in their hearts, which was very uncomfortable, but they couldn't eliminate what they wanted to say, and they couldn't find the right words to describe it.

All along, the three of them were Yagrolk's favored and important ministers, and followed the great king on his conquests all his life. Although the internal structure of the traditional samurai makes it difficult for the three of them to play a decisive role in the national policy, the kingdom has come to this point, and the three of them naturally have an unshirkable responsibility.

This is the sorrow of a monarch! Looking at the old Yagrolk and several important ministers on the throne, a trace of sadness flashed in their hearts, and His Majesty was still old,...,

If Yagrolk was willing to be a king who could get by and even get drunk and dreamed of death, he would definitely not become what he is now, but.

On the contrary, Yagrolc is definitely one of the most powerful Nord monarchs

In the previous twenty years, if it weren't for the same generation of heroic Ryordian Lion Haraus to fight against him, the powerful Nords might have unified the Ika continent like the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves.

He wanted to achieve what the previous ten kings had failed to achieve before he succeeded to the throne, and that was to defeat the Ryordians and make himself the most prominent king in the history of the Nord Kingdom.

For this purpose. He spent a full thirty years of reckless military force, military expansion and warfare, and finally defeated the Ruierdian people, seized the Suruo region, and reversed the century-old passive defense of the Ruierdian people in one fell swoop.

However, the rapid rise of the Falcon Army completely shattered Yagrolk's dreams and severely frustrated his ambitions. Under the blows of the falcon army, first the Kujits, then the Dongting people, and finally the Ryordians, all of whom they regarded as opponents and targets for conquest, all fell under the claws of the falcons without exception.

In just a few years, the balance of the once three-strong Ikadivar continent was broken, and even Harauth, the Lion of Raldian, who was regarded as his lifelong enemy, finally did not resist the final blow of the Falcon army.

The Battle of Starros, in which the army of 200,000 Ryerdian was wiped out, was shocking. The once powerful continent is now only left by the Northern Falcon Dynasty, the Dorok in the eastern mountains and the Nords in the south, the weak Dorok people can't be counted on, and the scars of the defeat in the south are still in a painful struggle.

But he was not willing to admit defeat yet, and this was the source of his suffering, and Jude never admitted defeat to the monarch, not before, and not in the future.

"Is there a battle report from Anrod's side, and the two sides are still deadlocked?" Yagrolc asked in a trance,

"It should be the same, the latest battle report is also 3 days ago," Duke Harristi hurriedly got up from his seat with a solemn expression and said, "I heard that there are some problems in the southern Rua region."

"The local garrison has reported that the refugees who have moved in from the southern coast have been robbing the local villages recently due to food shortages, and I have sent people to check on the Rua area to investigate what is happening, but so far there has been no news. Be cautious. I built yì local garrison to take certain measures against the Rua area······"

"Those refugees are indeed a problem, and now it's good to say, once it's winter, how to settle is a big problem!" The Minister of the Interior, Ekes, and the head of the logistics department, Thorges, both nodded in agreement, the flow of refugees has always been a headache for the kingdom, and the Rua area, which houses a large number of refugees, is only about 2 days away from Kyoto, and once a riot really breaks out, Kyoto will also be impacted

"Is there just a few?" Yagrolc on the throne reacted unexpectedly, and he didn't seem to feel anything wrong with the anomaly in the Rua region. On the contrary, it seems that I feel a little fussed, and when I hear Haristy build yì, there is no obvious indication at all.

"Akaith, let's talk about this quarter's taxes!"

Yagrolk was obviously not in the mood to listen to the gloomy news, and he muttered weakly in the hope of getting some good news, if only a little bit of good news, from the Minister of the Interior.

"This quarter, we earned 1.28 million gold coins!8 times more than last quarter," Aykes adjusted his thoughts slightly, replying to the best of all the news

"Oh, so we can support it for another month!"

The glazed-eyed Yagrolc Buddha could no longer see the three ministers' savings, and he seemed to only have those gold coins in his heart, and he nodded indifferently when he was alive.

His demeanor made the three ministers very skeptical that their report was not necessary, and with his current state of mind, I am afraid that even if he did, he would not know what the other party had said.

This qiē shows that the king, who is already sixty years old, is obviously at the end of his life, and it is not an exaggeration to describe him as dying, and the reason why he has not yet left is simply because of something that has not yet been decided.

Seeing this situation, Duke Harristy and the other two important ministers glanced at each other tacitly,

Everyone knows in their hearts that His Majesty is waiting for the final result of the decisive battle of Norde, whether the final victory of the battle of Anruod can belong to the Lord! For this reason, he did not hesitate to take the whole kingdom on board!