"When the arena stands, Rome stands, and when the arena collapses, Rome falls, and the world collapses when Rome falls." （Quandiu-stat-Colisaeus， stat-et-Roma; quando-cadet-Colisaeus， cadet-et-Roma; quando-cadet-Roma， cadet-et-mundus.）

- St. Bade

When all the meetings were over, the King was left alone, and he was accustomed to be kind and easy-going in his receptions, which made it easier for others to speak, and the more the King listened and said, the more information he could get, and the more he seemed to be inscrutable. Edgar had long mastered the art of this domination, and only the poorest Jews or philosophers would say that a whole day was not too tiring.

But today, there is another reason for his silence, and the fact that Godfrey's capture made him realize that he felt like a house cat with erect fur under thunder, and that was that history was changing course. It's ridiculous to say that from the moment he appeared in this world, all the rules of the game have changed, and the world he destroyed is the one he came from, but at that time he has been struggling to survive, at most vaguely aware of what he is doing. All these years of struggle were to play a new identity, the identity of an orthodox Anglo-Saxon king, but he was never the prince himself, no matter how much he hid from others, he could not hide from the world.

The world had always shown itself to him in a way that he had once known, like a simple repetition of history, and how much did it matter that he had been comforting himself except for the part that had to do with his fate? To this day, such self-hypnosis can no longer continue, and he must respond positively.

This was probably the most cowardly response, Edgar laughed at himself, and he chose to rescue Godfrey, even if the other party went against his will and sent troops to help Henry IV.

But now that the world has changed, Edgar doesn't expect anything to be like Shakespeare's Henry VI – the predestined plot unfolds with the curtain, exactly as the script does. He must be prepared because fate is harsh and unforgiving.

In the short term, Edgar believed that he was safe, the Tower of London was not only a military fortress, but also a royal armory, and a considerable part of the royal family's bills were spent on the tower's material reserves, and the king needed to provide them with various equipment including steel helmets and new armor in addition to paying his guards, and the king was also responsible for providing replacement mounts if the knights who served the king lost their horses in battle.

At present, he can prepare three thousand sets of armor for a fleet at any time, including cuirass, shins, iron gloves and other parts, the reserve of bows and arrows is also very abundant, his stable has hundreds of excellent heavy horses, theoretically, he can arm an elite of more than two thousand at any time, and provide sufficient logistics for this army. But this was only theoretical, and the use of troops against Wales last year had made him aware of the kingdom's problems: the counties were rather underdeveloped, roads and bridges were in ruins, only basic transportation was maintained, swamps and forests covered more than half of the land, and in some parts of Mercia, thieves were even bold enough to attack the king's convoys.

In order to re-establish local rule, he worked tirelessly to build stone castles in various places, and appointed county governors to use these forts as a base to collect taxes and maintain defenses. But to develop the kingdom as a whole, Edgar needed to investigate more deeply, and the royal family needed to know the names of every mountain, ravine, river, and spring, demarcate the land, set up landmarks, and register the newly reclaimed wastelands and settlements one by one.

As for the transport problems in the west and the north, if they are to be completely solved, it is necessary to improve the road and canal system, especially the construction of canals north and south of the Offa Levee border.

It was an ambitious plan, and for Edgar, the meaning of the royal family's existence, and this huge plan required a lot of money and talent. It just so happens that England is now able to offer both: the King's College he funded was officially renamed Oxford University this year, with Christ's College, Eucharistic College, St Edmund's College and St Hilda's College, the first university in the world, with charters issued by the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury, governed by an independent council, and the rector being the representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed by the King himself.

Since the Greenwich Guild standards were followed, students in the academy were required to pass their respective professional examinations in order to obtain different levels of degrees, and this education system followed the Greco-Roman tradition, and the liberal arts were mainly trained in the seven arts, which were nothing more than the standard courses of grammar, rhetoric, logic (eloquence), arithmetic, geometry, music theory, and astronomy, and then more specialized courses, such as a student of architecture, who needed to study drawing, painting, law, and even philosophy, to complete the general education of the major. After that, he began his career, and he needed to take on the apprenticeship of a master and receive practical training. Students who study rhetoric travel abroad between the ages of 15 and 17, and if they come from wealthy families, they can even go to the Byzantine Empire to receive advanced training in rhetoric or philosophy. After that, there was the choice of career, whether it was a civil servant in the court or a teaching position, which meant a separation from the military. Because most of these students came from wealthy Saine families, if they did not get the corresponding positions, they generally began to join the king's militia at the age of 20, taking on some civilian positions in the army, such as maintaining logistics or building crossbow machines, after all, the militia is now a professional army, which needs to have the ability to build field fortifications and cross bridges in wartime.

It's time to give them new jobs, thought Edgar, for a hazel-filled kingdom full of birds and beasts, with magnificent public buildings, like the ancient Romans' basilica and the great aqueducts, the cavalry of the Guards in need of unhindered squares and parks for equestrian training, and Roman roads and bridges that need to be repaired or even extended. And on the most scenic hills, he will build marble colonnades and decorate these avenues with works of art.

"Edwin, get the horses ready, we'll go to Oxford now." The king commanded.

Oxford is a Saxon town whose land was donated to the university by the crown during Edgar's reign, and today the Norman destruction is not easy to see, but there is an abandoned Norman castle standing north of the university. Edgar was once made Earl of Oxford, but he did not build the castle. After the Normans evacuated, the English had no need to fortify it due to its location in the heart of Saxon territory, and now the atrium of the castle has been destroyed, the open space has been used for the construction of schoolhouses, and the main tower on the hill stands like a petrified troll.

On the banks of the river is St. Hilda's College, a women's college where the patron saint is the king's sister, Lady Christina, and the patron saint is St. Hilda, who is from the royal family of ancient Northumbria. Edgar was heading to the Silver Hall, across the bridge from the college, and the building got its name from its original purpose: the school's treasurer.

Today, the crimson brick-walled hall is filled with rulers and models, and Edgar found the person he wanted to meet from behind a spherical model marked with musical notes.

"Master Benedict."

"Shhhh Don't be silent. A rebuke rang out, and the king couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

The red-haired dean seemed to be calculating the changes in various scales, and he didn't notice that there was another person beside him, until the sun was setting in the west, and this middle-aged man, who was so strong that he couldn't talk about it, reluctantly raised his head, and a figure that was not unfamiliar came into view.

"Your Majesty, it's you!"

"Let the stars shine upon you." The king half-jokingly greeted that it was indeed almost time for the stars to shine.

Looking at Dean Benedict's bewildered appearance, Edgar explained his purpose: "If your Excellency is not going to continue to play with these toys here, then come with us, we no longer need you to write books on paper and ink, you need to write for us in marble and concrete for the glory of our time." ”