At the same time as the emperor's coronation ceremony took place, something happened in both the Kingdom of Gilneth and the Kingdom of Lordaeron, and the timing of their occurrence was so coincidental that it was difficult not to wonder if there were really hands behind the curtain that were manipulating the situation in the empire, otherwise why would such an important thing break out at the same time.

And the timing is so consistent...

But the shadows that creep in the sun don't stop there, in the northern border of the empire, in the kingdom of Stormgard located in the dust swamp, there is also a big event happening at this important moment, but compared to the turmoil of the kingdom of Gilneth and the kingdom of Lordaeron, what happened in the kingdom of Stormgard is a little uneventful.

And if the final choice between the kings of Liam and Alsace was more or less intervened by external reasons, Garin. The decision that His Majesty Thorbain was about to make, perhaps more to the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Stormgard at this time.

When the Stormgard Kingdom migrated to the continent of Kalimdor, the settlement chosen was the Dust Swamp, which was not a suitable place to live, but because the territory of the empire was so large, even if the Stormgard people were unwilling, they had to live in this swamp for a long time, and compared to the intrigues within other kingdoms, the focus of the Stormgard Kingdom in recent years has been on pioneering.

With the help of the druids, the highlanders from the Arathi Highlands, using mud and masonry, like ants moving, transformed the ecological environment of the dust swamp little by little, they cut down the trees in the swamp, burned the earth with flames, and transformed the muddy swamp into arable land and pasture.

But that's not enough.

Because of the strange "baby boom" in recent years, the number of newborns in the kingdom of Stormgard is very large, and once the children grow up, then the existing land is not enough for them to live, so King Garin must continue to promote this ecological transformation of the country, so that his people have enough land.

The survival situation of the Stormgard nobles is basically the worst in the entire empire, because most of the nobles need to lead the people to pioneer, so the Stormgard nobles will secretly be disregarded as "mud-legged masters" by the pampered nobles of other countries, and in the past few years, many nobles who can't stand the poor environment of the dust swamp and the hard work of pioneers have moved with their families.

These wealthy fellows preferred to go to Lordaeron or Kurtilas to enjoy life, and Garin did not care about this, he was glad that the wise and complaining fellows would leave their lands, and then take advantage of the situation to take the territory abandoned by the cowards and reserve only one title for them, and in this way, now, a few years later, the fiefdom under the direct jurisdiction of King Garin has accounted for two-fifths of the entire kingdom.

This also made King Garin's influence and status in the country grow day by day, and the lords who remained in Stormgard were a little overwhelmed.

And the highlanders have a martial spirit in their bones, and when something bad happens, they prefer to speak with their swords, so after the news of Varian's imminent coronation as emperor, the lords of several counties on the border of Stormgard almost immediately rebelled, and they did not oppose Garin's rule, but simply wanted to use this act to express their will and force Garin to make concessions.

This sudden outbreak of rebellion made Garin, who was pioneering, a little anxious, but after reacting, the king of the highlanders immediately chose the most direct way to respond.

The Stormgard fleet anchored at New Rapids immediately headed north, and the king's most elite highland knights marched overland, Garin had no intention of negotiating with the rebellious lords, he only wanted to suppress this group of restless bastards by force, and the king's actions also won the support of the rough and courageous highlanders.

Everyone is struggling to make a living in this swamp, and as soon as you can eat enough, you have to jump out and do something, who can bear this?

The other lords who wanted to respond to the rebellion were also frightened by the king's decisive suppression, and Garin, who was on fire, also claimed in the noble council of New Rapids that if anyone dared to rebel again, he would immediately go to New Stormwind, surrender to Varian, and then take the emperor ** team to hang all the restless guys!

And judging by Garin's personality and his increasingly wild style of conduct in recent years, this is not impossible.

But in order to ease the nerves of the nobles and to avoid the recurrence of rebellion, King Garin, after consulting with the returning Archbishop of Stormgard, Madame Partris, convened a council of the nobles, at which the nobles of the highlanders came up with a very sloppy maneuver.

Several of the nobles claimed that they themselves did not know how to choose, and that the nobles in Stormgard were too few to represent the will of the people of the plateau as a whole, so they proposed to the king that a popular vote should be held throughout the country, and that the choice should be given to the people, and if the people felt that secession from the empire was a good choice, then Garin must obey the will of the people and break with the empire.

If the people thought it was right to stay in the empire and accept Varian's rule, then the nobles would immediately shut up! But King Garin and Lady Partris must also make a promise to the nobles:

Even if Stormgard submits to Varian, King Garin must protect the personal safety of the nobles, their property, and their family legacy.

That is, regardless of the outcome of this referendum, the nobles of Stormgard will not be harmed.

The way in which the people decide the future of the country did not conform to the way the nobles had always behaved, but this time, the nobles showed great understanding, and their deference surprised even King Garin, but after the king thought about it, he knew what the nobles were up to.

No one is stupid!

In the current empire, the national strength of the Stormgard Kingdom is the weakest, it is the best persimmon, just so hard against Varian, it is likely to become the emperor's first target, once the war breaks out, with the strength of Stormgard, even with the help of other kingdoms, it will be difficult for them to win, and compared to the war, with the current state of the Stormgard Kingdom, they are more in urgent need of material support from the outside to ensure the stability and inheritance of the country and their own family.

To take a layman's example, Lordaeron, Gilneth and Kurtilas were all rich men, and Emperor Varian would inevitably incur great revolts if he wanted to take wealth from them, but Stormgard was a real poor man, and he had nothing to lose.

If you accept Varian's rule in this way, then His Majesty the Emperor will also divide some of the wealth he has taken from the other kingdoms to the poor Stormgard.

Therefore, the emperor's accession to the throne was a real bad thing for the nobles of other kingdoms.

But for Stormgard, it's actually a good thing.

The nobles in this country who like to do things and boast about other things have long since migrated, and the lords who stayed behind are willing to do practical things, they don't really care much about any glory status, and those vain things are simply meaningless compared to real interests.

In this case, the "referendum" of the Kingdom of Stormgard, to put it bluntly, is actually a trick of the nobles to borrow a donkey to go downhill, Garin and Ms. Partres realized this, so they agreed to this "referendum", which can be regarded as giving the nobles a step down, and the deadline they chose is also very interesting.

It was precisely the day before Varian became emperor.

At this point in time, once the result appeared, whether King Garin wanted it or not, he had to carry it out, and the nobles simply did not give the king time to dispose of it...

"Pass!"

"Pass!"

"Pass!"

"No!"

"Pass!"

“...”

In the Church of the Holy Advent at New Rapids, the silver priests, Lady Partreis, and Garin. King Torbain sat in the chapel on the left and right, and in front of them, the king's clerk and the witnesses sent by the nobles were opening 13 sealed envelopes of the referendums from the 13 counties of Stormgard, which were collected and delivered to the king by the local lords.

In other words, no one knows if any of these results have been tampered with by the aristocracy, but anyone who knows the inside story knows that it was actually just a formality, and the results were already there when the nobles proposed a "referendum".

Watching the clerks nervously count the results of the vote, Garin. King Torbain leaned back in his chair, and as he shook the wine in his hand, he said to the Archbishop of the Diocese of Stormgard, Lady Partrius:

"These are the aristocrats, ma'am, allow me to describe them in rude terms, but they are actually a bunch of guys who like to take off their pants and fart, and they always like to engage in these meaningless procedures to put a coat of procedural justice on their actions, and they like to find all kinds of great slogans and reasons, even if they want to sell themselves, they seem so twisted."

The king's face was no longer as handsome as it once was because of the bad climate of the swamp, and Garin was now more like a weathered warrior than any other king.

He faded away the youth of his body and the restlessness of his soul, and dedicated his will and youth to the land under his feet that was not gorgeous and fertile, but really belonged to the plateau people, he learned to no longer speak easily, learned to judge the situation, learned to accumulate strength, and also learned the balance between power and politics.

Garin. Torbain was not as glamorous and sincere as Alsace, nor as vacillating or painful as Liam, nor as stubborn and eager as Drake, who lived far away.

He was the most low-key of all the kings of the empire, and like his Stormgard, he lived his life in silence.

But he is also the most king-like of all kings.

In the midst of the wind and rain of Kalimdo, this once impulsive and reckless young man became more and more like his father, Soras. Thorbane, the only old fox in the former alliance who could respond to King Terenus's powers.

Now, for example, when the other kings were faced with difficult choices, all Garin had to do was sit comfortably, drink wine, chat with the beautiful priest, and wait for the predestined result.

His subtle means of getting the results he wants are beyond the reach of Arthas, Liam and Derek.

"Your Majesty Garin, what a rude person to say this in front of a lady!"

The silver priest, Lady Partris, looked at the king beside her who was no longer young with some speechlessness, and in the face of the reprimand of the beautiful priest, a strange smile flashed on Garin's swarthy cheeks, and he said:

"Yes, I did it on purpose, Partris, I just like to see you angry... What do you think? Do you want to have dinner with me tonight? ”

"No, I refuse!"

The silver priest had a straight face, she knew what Garin was thinking, but she couldn't accept it, because she was a full 12 years older than Garin... Although Lady Partris looks younger than Garin because of proper maintenance and the blessing of the Light, in fact, this Lady Priest has already passed the age of 40 years, although this is just over half of the life of the average human in Azeroth of 90 years, but Garin is a king after all!

"You shouldn't say no."

Garin put down his glass, and in full view of everyone, he reached out and took the hand of Lady Partrius, and said earnestly:

"In a few hours, I'll no longer be king, Varian may give me a title like guardian of the north, or archduke, and I'll still rule the land, but I'm not king anymore... You have to remember that Paltris and Varian's goal is not to eliminate the entire aristocratic class, he just wants to complete the reform of the empire, as long as the nobles do not stand in his way, as long as the nobles think that the new generation of the empire dedicates their strength, they are not the only way to die. ”

"But the collapse of this system is doomed, at the moment of the birth of the Federation, the demise of the aristocracy is doomed, I have resisted that future, but after you appear, I am more willing to see that result, which means that all the rules and regulations that bind us will no longer exist..."

Garin lowered his head and kissed the back of Lady Partris' hand, he looked up at the silver priest who did not refuse, and said:

"Forgive me, there's a lot of politics mixed up in this, but there's also a part, well, a small part, because I've been lonely for so long, and I wish someone could be there for me..."

"But... But I'm a clergyman, I can't..."

Garin's words were not romantic, but they tugged at the heartstrings of the silver priest, she was no longer a young and ignorant little girl, she knew how many factors a ruler like Garin had to consider when making a decision, not to mention that it was a major event that would determine the future of the kingdom of Stormgard, and the fact that she and his relationship could have a little more in it already proved the importance of this relationship.

But Paltris was at a loss for Galin's sudden confession, and as a woman who wanted to dedicate her life to the faith, she didn't know how to respond.

And Garin laughed, and said with a hint of the domineering that a king should have:

"Don't be stupid! The next pope had a wife and children, Chaldeans. Morgan, I know him, and since your pope can have a good marriage, why can't you? ”

"So be it, Partris, now join me on behalf of the Kingdom of Stormgard for Varian's coronation, and on the day I remove the King's crown, you will be my wife!"

"I'll let Varian and Chaldea marry, they won't refuse, trust me!" Fupin Chinese