To the south of Besançon, through a wide street running from north to south, then turn east and at the end of the city, you will come to the residence of Balwyn, the new prime minister of the Marquis of Burgundy and lord of the province of Yonah.

Previously, Balwin's mansion was reduced to ruins in the battle for the successor.

But after this battle, Balwin became the court prime minister of the nascent princely state of Burgundy. So, in his opinion, the original mansion was no longer worthy of his current identity. He simply "purchased" a luxurious mansion as his permanent residence in Besançon.

In order to reflect its status, this mansion is even more extravagant than the original Bernard's mansion in Besançon. The main mansion consists of five three-storey buildings in succession, with slightly lower floors on the east and west sides. On the stone walls, craftsmen were specially invited to paint, and the doors and windows were all made up of hollow patterns. Fuchu Gardens, Fountains, and Sculptures are all available......

There were more than fifty guards in the mansion alone, and counting the other miscellaneous servants, there were more than a hundred people in total. In addition, there are two ten-man patrols around the mansion, which are constantly patrolling the perimeter with weapons.

Of course, Balwin thought that these were all things that the prime minister of the palace should enjoy, and that the expenses were borne by the court.

Now, as the court prime minister of the Princely State of Burgundy, Balwyn spent most of his time at home dealing with people who came to visit the Princely State except for the rest of his time in the court. Either drink wine every day, be accompanied by beautiful women, and enjoy flowers and birds. After several years of war, it can be regarded as living a luxurious and comfortable life.

In addition, his own territories in the provinces of Jonah and Kodor are taken care of by his own subordinates, so he doesn't need to worry about it at all. All he did was go through the details of the income and expenses of the territory sent by the tax collector at the end of each month to see how many gold coins had gone into his pocket that month. Everything is going in order.

In the inner chamber of the mansion, Balwyn reclined comfortably on a chaise longue wrapped in fine mink. On the small table at hand were golden cups, filled with delicious wine, plus a few plates of sliced beef and mutton and large plates of rare fruits.

Several young and beautiful maids were waiting on the side, pinching their legs, rubbing their shoulders, and pressing their feet, none of them were missing. Balwin let out a snort from time to time, enjoying it extremely ~

Just as Balwin was about to fall asleep, the butler gently pushed the door and walked in. He whispered in his ear: "Lord Gongxiang, there is a merchant leader in the city who has come to visit you~"

Balwin slowly opened his eyes and came back to his senses.

Since he became the prime minister of the palace, the threshold of his home has been almost broken by the merchants and nobles from all over the world who came to "congratulate". But even so, Balwyn received them as always—after all, no one would have trouble with money.

In recent months, Balwin has received millions of finneys as "gifts" from visiting merchants. This is no slower than the capture of the war. The only thing to do is to use the power in your hands to fulfill the requests of those people.

These fellows either asked Balwyn to obtain a knighthood for his son, or hoped to turn a piece of land "unowned" into his own name for money, or for commercial privileges. For these things, Balwin even made a rule: anyone who wanted to do something with him, less than 20,000 pfennig, was not to be seen. If it is higher than 100,000 pfennigs, he will receive them personally.

"How much did he bring?"

Balwin asked in a low voice, his eyes slightly closed.

"Lord Hui Gong, gold coins worth 150,000 fennig."

The butler approached and whispered, with a hint of excitement in his tone.

"Oh?"

Balwin's eyes widened, and he turned his head to look at the butler.

"What's the origin of this man?"

"He is the leader of an influential trading house in the city, and his son is currently a leading knight in the garrison~"

As soon as the butler said this, Balwyn immediately understood the man's intentions.

"It seems that it is another role to spend money to buy officials, but it is no problem to buy a baronial title for 150,000 yuan~"

The corners of Balwin's mouth curled slightly, and his eyes narrowed into a line. The fat on the face is also squeezed into a pile due to the change in facial expression.

"Let's go, let's see~"

…………

After a few words, the caravan leader's mind was seen through by the old and serious Balwin. After some conversation, Balwyn fulfilled the guy's request, and by the way, he also "extorted" an additional 50,000 pfennig fees.

After the merchant left, he thanked him and said that he would immediately return and send someone to bring another 50,000 pfennig to the Balwyn mansion.

Looking at the distant businessman, Balwin smiled.

Not long after, the guards in the palace came to report: "Lord Gongxiang, a man who calls himself "Spider" outside the back door has come to visit. ”

Balwin, who was checking on Wence in the office, suddenly put down the quill pen in his hand.

"Spiders?"

Balwin said silently.

"Is it possible~" Balwin suddenly reacted, "Quick, bring him here to see me immediately!" ”

Before the battle for the successor began, Balwyn had paid a high price to hire a well-known intelligence dealer in the country at the time to investigate for him whether the palace guard who had an affair with the marquise was deliberately arranged by Flender.

After the start of the war, Balwin was so focused on the war that he almost forgot about it. Now, the sudden appearance of this intelligence dealer has made Balwin suddenly a little confused.

At first, he was only skeptical, trying to find out what Flender really was behind him. At that time, he was suppressed by Bernard and urgently needed to find a backer to turn over. Flender's appearance gave him a glimmer of hope. But he also knew in his heart that if the truth of the matter was not what Flender said, then Flender, who had become the monarch of the Marquesof of Burgundy, would become a traitor who was crusaded against by the world, and this crime was not something that anyone could easily bear.

Now that the wood has been completed, he has also fulfilled his wish and become the court prime minister of the princely state of Burgundy. It can be said that under one person, above ten thousand people, the power is monstrous.

Even if the answer is known now, it doesn't make much of a difference to Balwin. After all, the ruler of the Hou State has changed. But he still wants to know the truth. It's not that he has justice in his heart, but he hopes to seize Flender's handle and grab more benefits for himself in the future. In addition, once the situation changes in the future, this will also become an important weight in his hands, so as not to attract death.

…………

“…… Lord Earl~ No, Lord Miya. ”

The intelligence dealer in charge of finding out the news flattered as soon as he entered the door.

Balwyn sat in a large mink chair and glanced at the fat man in front of him with slightly closed eyes.

After a moment, Balwin spoke, "What did I ask you to do?" ”

"Yes, Miya-sama."

The fat man looked proud.

"Let's talk about it."

Balwin leaned his hands on the armrests, his fingers tapping incessantly.

"Yes, Miya-sama. During the war, my people were able to investigate the matter after several twists and turns...... That's why I'm not reporting to you until now. ”

The fat man described the task as extremely difficult.

Balwin glanced at the fellow, then opened the drawer and threw a small bag of gold coins on the table.

"Take it~"

The fat man hurriedly went up and grabbed the gold coin and stuffed it into his waist.

"That's right, Miya-sama. The men I sent out had already had some eyebrows before the war began. But as the war began, many of the clues were broken. During this time, I also lost several right-hand men and had to temporarily suspend my activities. But as soon as the fighting was over, I immediately sent someone to investigate. It wasn't until a few days ago that my people finally investigated the matter clearly~"

"Speak quickly!"

Balwin leaned forward suddenly, desperate for the answer.

"Lord Miya, after many investigations, my people finally found a clue in the hometown of the dead guard. Before the guard was ordered to go to Besançon's court, he had a secret meeting with his mistress. and told her in person that he would go to the court of Besançon on the orders of Flender to do a great thing. When it happens, he will be rewarded by Flender. Unexpectedly, after a long time, this guard never returned. It was not until much later that the mistress heard that he had lost his life because he had offended a powerful person. The woman was worried that she would be implicated, so she hid and waited until the limelight had passed......"

The fat man explained the matter clearly from beginning to end.

"Where is this woman now?"

"Lord Hui Gong, I have already sent someone to keep her in secret custody."

"You've done a great job! Now, all you have to do is put that woman safely in my hands and you can receive the rest of the bounty~"

"Lord Xie Gongxiang, I'll do it right away~"

"Wait!"

The fat man stopped and looked back at Balwin.

"Remember, if anyone but me knows about this matter, you and all your men will have their heads on the ground!"

"Don't worry, Lord Gongxiang, since I eat this bowl of rice, of course I will abide by the rules of this industry~"

The fat man looked indifferent

After the traffickers left, Balwin paced back and forth in the secret room alone.

Now, the truth is revealed. At the beginning, the guard was a pawn arranged by Flender, who wanted to use the hand of the former Marquis Ireaf to get rid of his own son. Unexpectedly, Bernard protected Robert to the death, but Ireyaf eventually kept Robert and planned to pass on the title of Marquis to him. As a result, Flender's conspiracy was revealed, and the battle for the successor was born. If he hadn't won this battle, I'm afraid Balwin himself would have taken his own life.

Now, apart from Flender and Bernard, only Balwyn holds this shocking secret. He has already become the prime minister of the palace as he wished, so there is no need to add trouble.

As long as everyone who knew the truth of the matter was firmly in his hands, he would not be afraid of what Flender would do to him in the future.

Now that everything is settled, Balwin has to hide this matter for the time being, as a weight for him to fight for more benefits in the future. He also understood that if he used this to blackmail Flender now in order to obtain greater benefits, he would inevitably invite death.

Flender was by no means a trivia lord. Flender must have known about his tax arrears, but he didn't pursue it, which shows that he still relies on himself. As long as you don't touch the core interests of this ruler, you will be safe and sound as an old-school minister~

"Someone!" Balwin made up his mind.

The personal guard officer pushed the door open and entered the secret room.

"Do you remember the appearance of that person just now?"

The personal guard nodded.

"Send someone to follow him, and when this is done, he should disappear completely~"

…………

At the court of Besançon, Flender was in the office to review the budget for the next month, which Galvin had personally delivered.

Galvin, who was sitting on the sidelines, took a sip of the wine from his glass from time to time, quietly waiting for Flender's reply.

In the middle of the day, Flender signed and sealed after review. Wence was then returned to Galvin.

Galvin took Wence and turned to leave, but suddenly stopped.

"Uncle, is there anything else you can do?"

Flender put down the quill pen in his hand and moved his muscles for a moment, but still in good spirits.

"I~"

"But it doesn't hurt to say it!"

Flender said decisively, as always.

Galvin walked up to Flender and whispered, "Lord Marquis, I heard that many powerful people in the Duchy of Burgundy have asked you to release Bernard and Robert. How do you plan to do so? ”

Galvin asked politely as he looked at Flender. I'm afraid that I'll ask too much about things I shouldn't ask.

Earlier, one of Galvin's business partners in the Duchy of Burgundy had come to Besançon to do business and meet Galvin, who was the chancellor of the Houghwa of the Exchequer. During the conversation between the two, this person mentioned that some merchant nobles in the Duchy of Burgundy were pressuring the Duke of Burgundy, asking him to send someone to communicate with the Besançon court and release Bernard as soon as possible. Now that Flender had become the ruler of the Princedom of Burgundy, there was no reason to continue to detain Bernard and others.

"Uncle is also very well-informed~" Flender looked Galvin up and down. continued: "That's right, the Duke of Burgundy sent someone to communicate with him before, hoping that I would release Bernard. I just asked him to tell the Duke that I would not do anything to Bernard, and that when the time came, he would naturally let them go. ”

"Are you really going to let them go?"

Galvin was puzzled.

"Uncle, once I release Bernard and the others, won't that be a return to the mountain?"

"And you've been imprisoning them like this?"

Galvin asked rhetorically.

"No, after a little while, when everything is stable, Bernard and my nephew should go where they need to go~"

Flender lowered his voice, a hint of murder in his eyes.

Galvin was shocked. But he knew that Flender had made up his mind, so he did not dissuade him.

"If the Principality is to blame, how are we to respond?"

Flender got up, picked up the wine on the table, and drank it down.

"Uncle, you may have forgotten that we no longer have anything to do with the Duchy of Burgundy~"

Galvin nodded in agreement, "Bernard and Robert must die!" Once they disappear completely, those people will slowly shut up~"

…………

"Let me out! You bastards, who gave you power? I am the Count of Burgundy! Let me out! Ah......h

To the west of Besançon, from a small house in a deep compound, there was a burst of angry scolding and roaring from time to time.

The guard standing at the doorway was unmoved. According to their experience, the guy inside naturally quieted down not long after venting, and he didn't need to pay attention to it.

The man who roared inside was none other than Bernard, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer. This is the third time this month that Bernard has been secretly transferred. And with each transfer, the guards are replaced. They themselves can't leave this place even half a step, and their food and drink are brought by someone. The guards were all brought by Flender from the Midsummer Legion.

Looking through the crack in the door, Bernard was curled up in the corner beside the bed, his hair disheveled, his face yellow, his lips chapped, and his body trembling. The clothes he wore had long since become tattered. The house was littered with broken ceramic shards, and the food on the ground began to mold~

No one could have imagined that the man in front of him was the former Chancellor of the Exchequer of Burgundy and the lord of the province of Saône.

In the battle of Thorne City, overnight, this once powerful man of the power became a prisoner. He was locked up in the courtyard of the deep house all day long, calling the heavens unacceptable, and praying that the Lord would not work.

Having learned that Flender had become the Marquis of the Duchy of Burgundy, and that Burgundy had seceded from the Duchy and become a domain of the Kingdom of France, Bernard no longer had the luxury of looking for an opportunity to win the game. Since then, his temper has become more irritable, and he roars and scolds from time to time. As if this was the only way to vent the resentment in his heart.

It's no wonder that from being an important minister of the country to a prisoner, anyone who changes will be unhappy.

"Hey, why didn't this guy keep quiet?"

One of the soldiers guarding the door muttered to himself. Then peek inside through the crack in the door to prevent the guy from dying inside.

Bernard slowly got up and shuffled towards the door with heavy steps. As he approached the door, his dim eyes suddenly noticed someone looking inside.

"Flender~Flender~"

Bernard muttered.

"Yate~Yate! I'm going to kill you! ”

Bernard slammed down on the door, causing the guards to retreat in a cold sweat.