"I agree that the robbery of the church should not be tolerated. ”

In the lounge behind the hall of the Red Blood Castle Palace, after listening to Loren's narration, Dalton Kander at the round table was the first to express his attitude.

Charlotte frowned slightly, obviously not very happy with Loren's rough approach.

But this time she didn't say anything—after the battle of Eboden, the countess was no longer surprised by the assertion of a certain dark-haired wizard.

"But, but that's the church after all. The Principality, Charles Grenwell, was still a little worried, and couldn't help but speak: "If you anger them too much, I'm afraid ......"

"I'm afraid of what?" The gray-eyed young man standing by the door with his arms crossed suddenly interrupted him and said coldly: "Encourage the cultists to riot, squeeze out Byrne and the Turin family, and non-violent and non-cooperative... What else?"

"Could it be that Lord Loren and Byrne are still afraid of these today?"

There was a subtle change in everyone's expressions, and the room was silent for a while.

That's right, if there was one thing that Byrne feared least after the re-establishment of the Principality Church, it was the threat from the Holy Cross itself.

Although the Byrne Church under Bishop Anson refused to accept the control of the Byrne court, it also ignored many instructions of the Imperial Capital Church, and always maintained absolute neutrality and did not interfere with the world.

Without the support of the local church, it is impossible for the church in the imperial capital to exert any influence on Byrne, who is thousands of miles away.

Of course, if the church really did whatever it takes, it is still possible – but after Anson's "church reform", the entire Byrne Church lost the power to manage and control the diocese at the cost of absolute freedom.

The entire management, and even the population and land they controlled, were taken over by Charlotte and the Council of the Round Table, leaving the church with only the local churches themselves and a small donation to maintain their daily expenses.

This is also in line with the original idea of the young priest Anson, which should not be used to bind the believers, but to allow the believers to voluntarily choose the church of prayer.

Even if the church can really be ruthless and beat Anson, who they themselves have put on the throne, and replace it with a new bishop, it is unlikely to cause much turmoil immediately, because he still has to take back the rule of the entire duchy diocese from Charlotte first.

And Charlotte is absolutely impossible to hand over.

"That's what I said, but, but that's the church after all!" Charles still couldn't put his mind at ease: "Even if they don't do anything, they can still secretly encourage the nobles of the imperial capital and Sackland......"

"If that's really the case, then the first one to stand up and beat them down is Emperor Conod!"

With a cold snort, Charlotte glanced at the other side, making the black-haired wizard who was staring at him shudder: "Right now, after the Battle of Ebolden, our Emperor His Majesty has long been unable to bear the disloyalty of the nobles, and is thinking of no suitable excuse to rectify them." ”

"Am I right, Lord Duke?"

With a cold snort, the countess asked angrily.

Loren, who has a "smile" on his face, what else can he say besides nodding?

"But the Church has a lot of resources, and if they want to deal with their enemies, they have enough means—for example, against wizards. Dalton Candle said in a deep voice:

"Ebolden and Corona are gone. ”

Charlotte sideways.

But Loren understood something: "Mentor Dalton, have you already received information?"

The black-robed wizard who didn't like nonsense just bowed slightly.

Everyone around the round table was immediately focused.

"In the imperial capital... Informants sent word that after the end of the Battle of Ebolden, the Church united nobles passed a number of executive orders against wizards. ”

What Dalton said was very vague, of course Loren knew it, and the so-called "informants", the Eight Achievements, were the night watchmen who had been preemptively "rebelled" by Dalton before Conod was co-opted.

Although they can't always be "woken up" in order to avoid being detected by Conod, it is still relatively safe to at least pass on this semi-public information.

"Property control, identity registration, and freedom of movement are restricted, and the Empire's parliament has passed a bill to enlist two-thirds of the wizards in the imperial capital into the army. ”

Dalton said with a blank face: "Nominally, it requires wizards to also join the army and accept the call of the Empire's 'General Mobilization Order', but in fact, it is to facilitate control, extortion and forcible confiscation of their property. ”

"How could they do that?!" Lusen's expression was incredulous: "The Imperial Cabinet... I mean, Master Albert, the advisor to the Royal Wizards, didn't he resist?"

"He could, but he couldn't. After a little thought, Charlotte immediately understood the key: "Because the general mobilization order of the empire is aimed at everyone." ”

"And the wizard... In particular, the Alchemist's Guild in the Imperial Capital is known to be rich because of its connections with various chambers of commerce. Loren replied softly:

"The imperial capital is the territory of the Church, and it is easy for them to stir up the people's hatred of the wizards. ”

Of course, there is another reason, and that is that Connod is also in dire need of a batch of funds to maintain his 200,000 army and three times the cost of this logistics force.

Wizards have money, wizards can act as engineers on the battlefield, fighting wizards can calm the anger of the nobility and the church, and get more money and material support from them... So, why not?

With the loss of the "Wizarding City" of Ebden and the loss of the most powerful wizarding family and the leader of the Wizarding Tower, the wizards in the empire are now scattered and anyone can come up and step on it.

Burdened with the jealousy of the commoners and the envy of the aristocracy, once they try to resist, they will end up being regarded as "Azorean elf spies" and "traitors to the Empire", and suffer the most ruthless blows.

"As a royal wizard advisor, of course Master Alberd can't intervene at this time. Curling the corners of his mouth, the black-haired wizard said softly:

"But we can. ”

Charlotte's eyes moved slightly: "How?"

"Quite simply, among the Ebden wizards who have returned with me, there are two Wizard Tower Elders - one of them is the new heir, and the other... Well, the other one is still in a coma. Shrugging, Loren smiled and said:

"Two patriarchs, counting Mentor Dalton, Master Harlem Van Ashamai... Twelve Elders, there are four in the Red Blood Castle! We can take advantage of this to rebuild the Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower in the Red Blood Castle!"

Everyone's eyes involuntarily converged, each thinking or exchanging glances.

"It will be a signal for wizards from all over the empire to gather to Byrne. Dalton said coldly:

"But is it really sensible... At a time when you've become a thorn in the side of the Empire?"

"In the words of our dear Highness Brandon, they couldn't have hated me more anyway. ”

The black-haired wizard shrugged: "There are many reasons to target me, not this one." ”

"But if you can create a center of the wizarding world in Byrne... Referring to how Eberden rose, I don't need to describe it, right?"

"There are still three months left until the end of winter, and this is our last chance to accumulate strength - wait until the beginning of spring next year, the real imperial war will begin, and whether we can win or not will depend on how many hole cards we have in our hands!"

In the impassioned words, everyone at the round table either bowed their heads or looked at each other.

And after this moment of silence......

"The threat to the Church, and your great plans, please let them go;"

With a low snort, the president of the United Chamber of Commerce and the financial officer of the principality, Xiao Yode, said coldly: "Because there is an even more fatal problem at the moment, my lordship. ”

"What's the problem?"

"Question... The problem is that there is no money!" Standing up suddenly, little Yod angrily smashed the thick stack of ledgers on the table: "The speed at which you spend money is far from what I, a humble servant, can catch up with!"

No, no money?

Looking at Little Yode, the black-haired wizard smiled awkwardly: "How can there be no money, I remember my ......"

"The construction of new legions, the development of new alchemical weapons, the reform of the principality system ... There are also 100,000 legions gathered outside the Red Blood Castle, and this unprecedented feast to come!" Little Yod sneered, "How much money do you think Byrne can have for you and the adults to squander?!"

"As far as I know, there should be a lot of savings on the bill of the United Chamber of Commerce, and the vault of the Red Blood Castle is also very abundant. Charles frowned slightly, he was the governor of the principality, and he still knew a lot about these: "It's just to support the next expenses, and theoretically there shouldn't be any problems." ”

"You're right, theoretically!"

Little Yode sneered:

"But it's a pity, first of all, the money on the chamber bills can't be touched at all - we are now able to maintain normal expenses, which is to convince the merchants and nobles of the principality that we have money, and that there is money, and if there is any wind or grass in these fundamental savings, it will be a disaster in an instant!"

"Secondly, most of the savings of the Principality's treasury and the Chamber of Commerce are mainly gold and silver - if the money is spent immediately, it will be of no use at all except to raise prices, because food and supplies will not appear in a vacuum!"

Loren and Charlotte looked at each other.

"Since the beginning of the year, the United Chamber of Commerce has had to cut three of the five expansion plans, and four of the six new branches have to be cancelled -- which of them is not full of hard work, and which one is not promising; no, all of them! My heart is about to break!"

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Yode's expression was extremely painful: "When you asked me to be a financial officer, I thought that my biggest dilemma was to unify the financial power of the principality;

"I've worked hard to get enough of the military spending, but I've got to move the money to the research and development of the floating city, and when the floating city is built, Byrne will have to choose a new bishop!"

"After the election of a new bishop, the next step is the battle of Ebolden, the full mobilization, and the rebellion against Sackland......" gasped, and little Yode's eyes widened as he looked at the black-haired wizard:

"After careful consideration of my own practical abilities and your great ideals, I can only say - if you continue like this, I am afraid that I will have no second choice but to resign from you!"

"There's... So serious?"

Loren's expression was a little embarrassed.

"It's serious, it's not an exaggeration to call it the edge of life and death. Little Yode nodded matter-of-factly: "If it continues like this, I'm afraid it will be difficult to maintain the balance of expenses." ”

"Then with Byrne's current financial resources, how long can he hold on?"

"If you count the support for His Highness Brandon in East Sacland's rebellion... Up to one year. ”

"One year... Isn't there still some time, why do you say that life and death are on the verge of life?"

"I'm talking about myself!" shouted Yod Jr. hysterically.

"......" Loren Turin.

Sighing, Little Yod looked at Loren with a tired expression: "In short, if you don't plan to give up any of your next plans, then at least three things must be done." ”

"First, the Duchy's army must not be mobilized until the first wheat harvest of the coming year, and secondly, the rebuilding of the Wizard's Tower can make some noise, but the actual start of construction will be delayed;"

"In the end, no matter what method you use, whether it is extortion or expropriation, you must obtain a batch of Mithril and valuable ore from the Dwarven Kingdom to reduce the development cost of new alchemy weapons. ”

In this way, at least on the surface, Byrne was able to maintain a steady spending, and even send troops to fight across the border. ”

In this way, it is basically in line with Loren's expected goals.

The year ahead is a year for Byrne to accumulate strength and observe the battle situation - if the Azorean elves are strong enough, then this war may last for a long time;

But if it was just a bluff, Conod wouldn't have given Byrne more than any more feats.

"In that case, then the plans of the Wizard Tower will be slowed down for the time being. With a slight bow, the black-haired wizard said in a deep voice: "Then let's convince the dwarves first to see if we can achieve some offensives, and then ......."

"Knock Knock Knock ......"

There was a sharp knock on the door, and Charles, the court governor, immediately got up and walked to the door after making eye contact with the black-haired wizard and the countess.

"What's the matter?"

Pulling open the door, Charles, who had an unkind face, looked at the messenger who hurried over: "Didn't I tell you that the Duke is discussing important matters with your lords......"

"Sorry, but this is urgent news. The messenger turned his head and looked at the black-haired wizard and the countess with great embarrassment: "Lord Duke... And the Earl, who had said that if His Excellency Isaac Grantham and Ain Rand arrived at the Crimson Castle, they would come immediately!"

"Oh, they're back?"

"No, it's not already back. The messenger shook his head: "But they are already ......"

"Wedding... What kind of wedding? What kind of wedding is so grand, could it be that white swan-like countess... I said Charlotte was getting married?!"

Before the messenger could finish speaking, Isaac's shouting had reached everyone's ears.

"What, say it again? wedding... Duke... It's been arranged a long time ago... Well... Huh?!"

"Loren, you Holy Cross Ancestor Grandma come out for me, I'm going to eat you alive, a traitor!"

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