The bloody scene at the Marquis's funeral soon spread throughout Besançon, and early on the third morning, rumors spread through the streets that the black-robed men who attacked the prince Robert in the temple of Besançon Cathedral were the killers bribed by Earl Balwin, the vice-chancellor of the court.

It is well known that Balwin was at odds with the Inner Court, but the world could never have imagined that Balwyn would buy a murder on the day of the Marquis's funeral, and that he would do so in the presence of many powerful and prominent people and many commoners. At first, many people didn't believe it, and even the most stupid people would not kill people by such shoddy means at that time.

However, on the same night, a makeshift tribunal composed of Bernard, the Marquis of Odo of the Duchy of Burgundy, and a number of envoys from friendly countries, openly tried the black-robed men who had been caught, and they could not bear the torture and confessed.

The black-robed man is a newly formed assassination group, they were bought by a powerful person who called himself **, according to the confession of the captured black-robed man, the palace guards found *** in a cellar west of Besançon, but his neck has been cut from behind him with a sharp weapon.

After investigation, this ** was originally just a small vendor in Besançon City, but since this spring, this small vendor has suddenly changed his identity and has become the owner of several southern goods shops in Besançon City, and has become one of the leaders of the Besançon South Goods Guild.

There must be an anomaly for such a sudden rise, and the temporary court headed by the Count of Bernard showed extraordinary efficiency in the investigation, and it only took them less than half a day to find out the true identity of ** - he was the brother of Count Balwyn Qíng Fù.

The provisional tribunal did not conclude that Balwin had assassinated his son, but combined with the sudden departure of Balwyn on the day of Bernard's assassination and funeral several weeks earlier, as well as the indictment that Balwyn had sent to the Duchy of Burgundy, there is reason to believe that Balwyn was behind all this.

On the fourth day of the bloody funeral, the special envoys attending the funeral had just left Besançon, and a letter jointly issued by the Marquise and the prince Robert came out of the inner court.

Proclamating Balwyn as the murderer of the king, he would petition the Duchy of Burgundy to strip Balwyn of his title of earl and recover the province of Jonah. All those who continue to support and harbor Balwin will be punished for treason, those with titles and fiefs will be stripped of their land, and all the troops who follow Balwin will be treated as rebels and rebels and enemies of the entire kingdom......

Fortunately, Balwyn had already killed the enemy at the back gate of the Temple before the gates of Besançon closed the city and retreated to the 3rd Regiment of the Praetorian Guard with his guards. By the time the palace court found Balwin's brother, Balwin, who had a premonition that something was wrong, had already led hundreds of soldiers of the Third Regiment of the Praetorian Guard Regiment to the border of Jonah Province in the east.

Balwyn retreated, but the rest of Balwin's faction were not so lucky, although the court officials and the ministers in charge of the seals were noble earls, but they only had a few earldoms near Besançon, and they did not have actual power such as military power and financial power, so they could only sit back and wait for the sudden crisis.

But fortunately, they also have the title of earl shining, and Bernard will not directly attack them for a while.

However, the petty nobles and wealthy merchants who followed Balwin were unlucky, and early in the morning of the fifth day, the 1st and 2nd regiments of the palace guards and the Janissary Infantry Regiment and the cavalry regiment entered Besançon, and the whole city was declared in a state of war, followed by the purge of the army in the city......

Why did the Praetorian Legion become a sword in Bernard's hands? That's right, the military minister of the palace "betrayed the festival".

As early as two years ago, when the marquis was ill, the military minister who originally belonged to Bernard's faction began to ride on the wall to watch, he had a premonition that the marquis's time was short, and he became more and more interested in getting closer to Robert, the prince's son, and although Balwin was a military vice-minister, he manipulated military affairs everywhere in the name of the palace vice-minister, and even the Praetorian Infantry Corps, which originally belonged only to the military minister, was brutally taken away by Balwyn, and the Praetorian Guard was regarded as a ban by the military minister, and he would not allow others to peep at it no matter what......

When Besançon was turned upside down, Balwyn had already returned to the province of Jonah with his army, and he also issued a proclamation in the province of Yona, denouncing Bernard and the Marquise for mutilating loyal ministers, and revealing the true identity of his son Robert to the world for the first time in the name of the vice-chancellor of the court and guardian of the East, he refused to recognize Robert's marquis succession, and said that the Marquise and Bernard were the real culprits in the assassination of the Marquis of Ivrea, and Balwyn declared that Besançon no longer had a monarch and that the court had been shattered.

On the same day, all the military lords of the eastern province of Jonah declared their rejection of the rule of the court of Robert and Besançon, and more than 1,500 eastern troops appeared in the border area of the province of Jonah in an instant......

............

Art had an urgent secret letter from Lucesen in his hand, he didn't expect it to turn out like this, it wasn't what he expected.

The people around me are still arguing.

"Earl Balwyn sent someone to assassinate the prince at the funeral of the Marquis? How is this possible? Who would believe such a thing? Even if he really wanted to assassinate Robert, he wouldn't choose that time. In the hall of Wincheston Manor, after hearing the news that Ron brought back from the north, Robert shook his head again and again, he had lived in Besançon for many years, and had heard a lot about the deeds of the palace magnates, although Balwyn was not the most powerful and conspiracy person in his eyes, but he would never be stupid enough to do such a thing, otherwise he would not be able to become the deputy minister of the court and the military deputy minister step by step.

Ron, who had just returned from the Northlands, stood up and said to everyone in the hall, "I didn't believe it at first, but we saw the scene in the temple of Besançon Cathedral with our own eyes in Besançon, and the black-robed assassin was indeed going for Robert, the son of the world. ”

"I also thought that it was the one sent from the southwest, but soon the court found the brother of Count Balwyn Qíng Fù, and Count Qíng Fù admitted that his brother had said not long ago that he would do something earth-shattering for Balwin."

"Just two days ago, when I was returning from my journey south, I received an urgent message from Kuaima that the Eastern Army had appeared on the border three days east of Besançon, rumored to be 3,000 men, and some were rumored to be 5,000 men, but according to our Eagle Eye, the Frontier Army was about 1,500 men, and should be the vanguard of the Eastern Army. In addition, only one infantry regiment of the Janissary Regiment of the Court left Besançon with the Earl of Balwyn......"

“......”

"My lord, how do you think we should deal with the crisis?"

"Your Excellency?" Otto woke up the contemplative Art.

"What did you just say?" Art didn't hear Otto's question clearly.

"My lord, how should we deal with this situation now? Now the situation is too complicated. ”

The officers in the hall didn't know what was behind the whole thing, and the crowd was talking loudly.

Art slapped the secret letter on the wooden table, got up and scolded everyone in the hall, "What's the panic!" ”

Everyone is not panicked, but suddenly become a villain and may be treated as a traitor and a rebel, the people who have always regarded themselves as palace troops are a little difficult to adapt, and more importantly, they are currently in a weak position, Bernard is in control of the prince, although he has not yet been canonized by the Duchy of Burgundy, but the world is all with Robert as the marquis and the successor to the rule of the county, this concept is not something that Balwyn can shatter with a piece of paper.

Seeing that everyone was quiet, Art slowly paced around the long table, "You are all people who have been killed by the civilian border patrol officers with me, which battle is not a battle full of broken bones and flesh?" Are a group of people who have taken their heads as weapons afraid of being falsely accused of being so-called rebels? ”

"And I can tell you with certainty that the so-called prince of Besançon is not the concubine of the Marquis of Ivrera at all, he is just a wild seed under the inner court and a court attendant!" When Art said this, he no longer had a burden in his heart.

"The son is not a descendant?"

"Wild seeds?"

The officers exchanged heads, many of whom were unaware of these shocking secrets.

Art waited for everyone to slowly recover from their shock and continued to say in a loud voice: "That's right! Robert was not the son of the Marquis, the Count married three ladies, the first two of whom had no children, and the court physician had said that the Marquis could not have children. ”

Everyone nodded, many of them knew that Ivrea had not been able to give birth to an heir for more than ten years, and had not even heard of an illegitimate child.

"The so-called "monarch" does not have the right to inherit the title of marquis and the kingdom at all, so we are not traitors. ”

The mentality of the officers gradually stabilized, Angus took the lead in getting up, and said loudly to the people at the wooden table in the hall: "My lord, since we are following you, don't say that the one in the palace is a wild seed, even if he is really the so-called monarch, we will not shake your decision!" Over the years, you have led your guys to fight a bloody path, and it is you who have given us dignity and glory. The Marquis of Ivrea had given us a foothold, but the old Marquis had passed away. The lord's lord is not my lord, we only know you as a feudal lord, we will fight whoever you let us fight, and we will rush wherever you let us go! ”

Odo, Kazak, and Ron also stood up and shouted, "Swear to follow your lord!" ”

The rest of the officers also stood upright, chanting to follow him.

Art turned his head to look at Robert, the military priest who had been silent, and asked, "Father Robert, you are not my vassal, and I will not embarrass you." ”

Robert's face was calm but his heart moved slightly, "Lord Art, I am a man of God, and I should not be involved in worldly affairs, but God sent me to you, and I must have given me a mission of the Holy Spirit, and I would like to accompany you under God's guidance." "Robert is a clergyman, and he will not name it when he takes the oath of allegiance.

"Herald! The Legion of Wales and the Barony of Wales entered a state of war, with all armies ready for battle. ”

"Yes!"

…………

At the end of June, the Count of Burgundy began to break up.

On the fourth Wednesday, the whole province of Jonah in the east was mobilized and declared to be free from the rule of the court;

On the same day, Flender, Count of Longsummer, did four things. First, he submitted a request to the Duchy of Burgundy to be granted the title of Marquis of the Count of Burgundy and to inherit the ruling power of the Count, and to change the name to "Flanders?" Otto"; secondly, in the name of the prince of Burgundy, Robert was declared the murderer of the king, and deprived Bernard and all his lords of their titles and fiefs; Thirdly, the court of the Count of Burgundy was temporarily moved to the city of Jonah, and the palace of Midsummer was established, and all the troops of the Count were ordered to take an oath to Flanders? Otto I pledged allegiance and killed Bernard's faction; Fourth, it was declared that all neutral provincial nobles could retain their lordship and military power, and that neutral armies would not be pursued by Jonah's court.

On Thursday, the three autonomous cities of the Count of Burgundy declared their neutrality;

On Friday of the fourth week, the province of Codor declared its neutrality, recognizing neither the court of Besançon nor the court of Jonah, and they declared that they were awaiting the ruling of the Duchy of Burgundy;

On the fourth Sunday, the province of Lucesin declared neutrality;

On the same day, Viscount Pierre, the magistrate of Tignets, who was a fief of the Marquis of Ivrea, declared neutrality.

Tignets was the first marquis to declare neutrality, but on the same day Tignets removed the Barony of Wells from Arte......

At the beginning of July, the whole territory of the Saône province of Bernard was mobilized, and 2,200 troops were assembled and marched to the city of Besançon to join the army of the palace guard, and another 1,000 western border troops went to the south to the border with the province of Kodor to guard against the army of Longxia;

At the beginning of July, Balwin's Jonah was assembled in all his territory, and a total of 1,800 soldiers were stationed on the border of Jonah Province, and another 1,400 soldiers remained in the city of Jonah;

At the beginning of July, the Wells Army received an order from the Jonah court to assemble in the city of Jonah.