"Surrender." Viscount Moneo's answer was just as direct.

Carlos stared at his raised head with a gloomy gaze: "Do you seem to have forgotten that you are a plantagenet, or have you betrayed the country and become a lackey of the giants?" ”

Monio remained in a fixed kneeling position and did not speak. Although he is only a viscount, his identity is very special, he used to be in and out of the palace often, and he had frequent contact with the king, so he knows Carlos's temper and character very well, and the more he talks at this time, the more he makes Carlos feel angry, and the best way to deal with it is to remain silent, let the king calm down and calm down his anger.

This experience worked well in the past, but today it ...... The roar of the king echoed throughout the hall, which exploded in the ears of the viscount like rolling thunder, which lasted for more than half an hour.

Monio kept looking down at the ground, his knees aching, but he knelt there motionless. This isn't Rock City, and it's not the reasonable Giant Emperor on the throne. The viscount can understand Carlos's mood at the moment, if it were him, facing the defeat of the war and the loss of as many as hundreds of people, I am afraid that the reaction at this moment would be similar to Carlos, or even worse.

After a long time, the king's roar finally became less harsh. It's not so much that he's slowing down, it's that anger is draining a lot of energy. Carlos let out a heavy gasp and looked at the viscount who was kneeling in front of him trembling slightly: "Such a large army, such a good soldier...... You guys...... You, and Elken, give me back the army...... Give it back! ”

Carlos was hoarse, and his screams were distinctly crying.

Viscount Moneo raised his head cautiously, he suppressed his voice, and there was a trace of struggle in the depths of his eyes: "...... Your Majesty...... We, we've done our best. ”

"Because you are cornered, you surrender to the northern giants with your army?" Carlos said sarcastically, shaking his head in pain.

"Only by living can there be hope." Viscount Moneo took a deep breath and plucked up the courage to straighten his waist: "At that time...... If we refuse to surrender, all will die. The soldiers were young, and many of them were children. ”

Carlos felt the fear in the viscount's voice, his expression, his breathing, and the constant beating pulse in his temples, and there was no doubt that the Northern War had left Monio with too deep a memory of fear, and he was afraid of the giants, very afraid.

"So you've watched as many as a million Plantagenet become slaves?" The king never stopped laughing: "That's what you explained to me? ”

A wry smile flashed in the viscount's eyes: "...... Your Majesty, I am only a messenger. I confess that I am afraid of death, and that I have not fulfilled my duties as a general on the battlefield. But even if I kneel at the feet of the Holy Lord and confess, I still have to say that I have not betrayed this country, nor have I betrayed the royal family. I am a cowardly person, and not dying in battle is my greatest regret. The reason why I have lived to this day, kneeling before you, Your Majesty, is because of the struggle in my heart. ”

"I don't want to see more people die, especially in this country, in the Plantagenet Kingdom...... This is my hometown, and here is everything I have. ”

The anger on Carlos' face darkened slightly. He pursed his lips tightly, as if he wanted to see through Viscount Monio's body with his eyes.

After a long time, he asked in a hoarse voice, "What is the giant's request?" ”

The guards had previously searched Viscount Monio's body, but found nothing like letters.

"Surrender and become their vassal." Viscount Moneo's words were short, but the meaning was clear: "The giants of the north have built a vast empire, and they call themselves "dragons" and use this as the name of their country. ”

"So, they have an emperor?" Carlos asked in a mocking tone.

"Yes." Viscount Moneo did not deny it, recalling the time spent in the prisoner of war camps in Rock City and Roaring City: "They were strong, completely different from what we had imagined. ”

Carlos' eyes were gloomy: "You mean the army?" ”

Viscount Monio shook his head: "All aspects, all ...... It's not something that can be explained in a sentence or two. ”

Carlos did not ask more on this issue. He had no interest in it, more because the northern giants had taken over the city of London, and the Plantagenet spies lurking there had already sent back a lot of information, and Carlos thought he knew a lot about the distant and mysterious country north of Lockdragon Pass.

"Your Giant Emperor has clearly miscalculated." The king sneered contemptuously: "Surrender? He thinks all the Plantagenets are cowards like you? ”

Viscount Monio did not react to this. His expression darkened: "You can humiliate me, it's your right." But as a Plantagenet, a person who has a deep understanding of the Northern Dragon Empire, I still have to say...... Your Majesty, you better make a decision early! ”

Carlos stared at him for a long time, and then suddenly he looked up and laughed without hesitation.

"Surrender...... Hahahaha, just by one sentence, you want me to surrender...... Hahahaha, that's ridiculous. ”

With a tremor caused by a maniacal laugh, the king held the armrest of the throne with both hands, pushed his whole body forward, and glared angrily at the viscount: "Monio, it seems that you have completely fallen to the giant?" ”

The viscount felt nervousness and hostility from the king. At this moment, a strong humiliation suddenly surged in his heart, and then turned towards anger.

Like all who have undergone a spore transplant, when Viscount Monio woke up in the vault of the palace in Rock City, he saw only a wound on the inside of his right leg that had been stitched with needles and threads, and he tried to recall what had happened with his residual consciousness, but he could not remember anything. Immediately afterwards, the attendant of the forbidden army brought a bowl of black decoction, and the viscount did not struggle or resist, subconsciously opened his mouth and drank it, and then closed his eyes and fell asleep all day.

The biggest difference between white spore transplanters and dragon spore transplanters is the concept of ethnic groups. It's something deep in their genes that has little chance of changing. The operation that Tianhao has performed on them can only make the transplant sufferer feel a sense of allegiance, rather than a fundamental change of identity.

The reason why Viscount Moneo knelt down to Carlos was because of his subconscious acquiescence to the royal power. This stems from a habit that has been cultivated over decades. But Carlos's intense hostility towards the northern giants spurred Monio into an equally strong sense of defence towards his current allegiance, the Celestial Tyrant himself.

"Do you think it's us who want to be captives? Do you know how powerful the northern giants are? They can use a thousand cannons in one war, and their shells will explode, not spherical solid shells like ours. They attacked in the middle of the night and destroyed everything with overwhelming artillery fire. I led the soldiers in bloody battles, but there was never a light of victory. ”

The king's face was ugly, he rarely had the experience of being accused to his face, but he knew that Viscount Moneo was not lying, so he snorted coldly: "That's because you are not brave enough to take the victory of the Plantagenet Kingdom as the highest honor." ”

"We don't know anything about the North." Ignoring the cynicism from the king, the viscount continued: "If it were not for the repeated claims of the Holy See that this battle would be won, we would not have sent the main force at that time anyway. In a strange land, fighting against an unfamiliar opponent, the odds of winning are already very low, but the Holy See ...... Bishop Somsen took most of the spoils when he captured the Dragon Pass, and he saw only gold and valuable giant captives in his eyes. The Duke of the Rhine was a good man and a good commander, he saw through the giant's way of fighting early on, even if Bishop Somsen strongly opposed and refused to provide logistical support, he still led the Rhine army to force out of the Lock Dragon Pass and go to the fortress of Shenwei. ”

"Wait...... Wait a minute! Hearing this, King Carlos was stunned, and then asked eagerly: "What the hell is going on?" Why was no one ever told me? ”

"So Your Majesty, you don't know anything about this?" Viscount Moneo used a flat tone to hide the sarcasm from the depths of his heart.

Carlos's slightly pale face suddenly rose a large flush, he clenched his fists hard, and the muscles on his face full of excitement twisted: "Holy See? Are you saying that all this is the fault of the Holy See? ”

Regarding the battle of the fortress of Shenwei, there is also the conflict between the Duke of Rhine and the bishop of Somsen, which is an important secret, and not many people know about it, plus a large number of white officers were captured in the first battle of the fortress, and the nobles who escaped from the encirclement by luck also belonged to different kingdoms...... Deliberate concealment from the Holy See, secrecy between countries for strategic reasons, all the reasons led Carlos to be the only king who had no knowledge of the truth about the defeat.

"Yes." Viscount Moneo would be happy to pour dirt on the Holy See at such times. He looked sad and angry, and his eyes were full of hatred: "The Holy See told us that we would win this battle, and Bishop Somsen asked us to attack the north with all our might, claiming that there was "no longer a large army of giants", and if it were not for his words, the situation would not have turned out at all. ”

"I came from the north, and the entire northern forest area has been ruined. Everywhere there was smoke and traces left behind by the burning. The fire spread to the surrounding area, killing more than 100,000 people. Almost all the crops in the fields were burned, especially the wheat of this season, and I am afraid that not even a tenth of the harvest could be harvested. When I was passing through Hakata, I boarded in a small town called Polac, which I wouldn't have been able to enter if it weren't for the fact that a few of the veterans there knew my family crest. ”

"Why?" King Carlos was curious about this.

"The situation in the north of the kingdom has become chaotic." Viscount Moneo said bluntly: "I know that Your Majesty, in order to alleviate the various problems caused by the forest fires, you have allocated a large amount of grain to be transported to the northern counties, and you have also sent additional officials to accompany you. IMHO, this is not enough...... Take the small town of Polac, which I just mentioned, where the forest fires burned for more than two months before they gradually went out. The crops in the fields were lost, and many local farmers were forced to become robbers. It was the source of the riots that formed by the aggregation of entire villages. There are hundreds of people, thousands of people, and even more than 10,000. They had no food, so they attacked nearby settlements and snatched all the food stocks, even the potatoes that were not yet ripe in the fields. ”

The corners of Carlos' eyes twitched, and he felt like a lot of things in his body were being drained. I tried to hold the sides of the chair with both hands to straighten my upper body, but I didn't have the strength.

“…… That's impossible...... I, I've sent a lot of people to the north...... I mean, the food shortage has been brought under control and the problems caused by the forest fires have been largely solved. The king was muttering to himself.

"That's not the case at all." Viscount Monio said seriously: "In Pollac, the people there organized the town convoy. They had less than thirty arquebuses, as well as halberds and knives capable of arming two hundred. With these weapons, they were able to fend off several bands of bandits. ”

"Why didn't they call the local garrison for help?" Carlos immediately thought of a countermeasure.

"It's more than thirty kilometers from the nearest county town to Pollack, and I went there later, and the local county guard didn't want to take care of it, but he couldn't take care of it." Monio's face was gloomy, and he seemed to have some sad expression: "The forest fires caused a large area of dust, and during that time, the sky was completely dark and gloomy in the northern part of the kingdom, and even if you stayed at home, you could smell the smell of burnt from far away. In Hakata Prefecture alone, as many as 160,000 people have fallen ill. And that's two weeks ago. Plus other counties affected by the fires...... Your Majesty, many people will die this winter, and for us it is another war, another disaster. ”

"As for the food you sent to the north for disaster relief, as far as I know, a lot of it was withheld in the middle of it. Large-scale harvests were the best time for merchants to make money, especially the nobles of the feudal lands, who were now thirsty for food more than ever. In Hakata County, for example, food prices have risen sevenfold compared to the same period last year. ”

"No, it's impossible, it's impossible!" Carlos stood up from his throne suddenly, his eyes almost bulging out of his sockets in horror, and a furious roar echoed through the room, the word "sevenfold" thrust into his mind like a sharp knife, making him feel a heart-rending pain, as if his nerves had been torn apart by despair.

Food prices are directly related to the stability of a country. If you can't eat enough, even the mildest sheep will be crazy and irritable, let alone human.

Viscount Moneo continued in a steady tone, as if describing the tragedy of another world: "A shilling can only buy four hundred and fifty grams of black bread. In order to raise food and keep the price down, Hakata Gunmaru tried his best. When I left two weeks ago, the price of food was still rising, and at that terrible rate, I estimate that the price of food there is now at least ten times higher than it was before the Northern War, if not more. ”

：。 ：m.x