Just when Charles and Diana were hiding on the island and free, in Qiqiu City, the royal capital of the Bischberg Kingdom, an undercurrent touched the hearts of many people.

Outside the side door of Linda's house, many people were staring at the door, waiting for the "informant" inside to come out.

It's just that the side doors that used to have many servants in and out of were now tightly closed, and had not been opened since the sun rose.

There was not a single piece of news coming out of the mansion, which made the people in charge of inquiring about it particularly irritable.

By noon, there had already been four or five fights in the neighborhood caused by walking into each other and looking at each other too much.

If you can't report the progress of the brother and sister meeting to your master in time, they won't have any good fruit to eat.

Until the middle of the moon, someone suddenly came from the front door to the news that the carriage of the second prince Abt had left Linda's mansion, and the carriage of the eldest prince Abner was closely behind.

The Golden Palace was still brightly lit, and King Antoine II sat in a room in the basement, playing with a revolver in the dim light.

Since the Battle of the Full Moon, Antoine II has rarely appeared in the world, and almost all public events have been performed by his sons and daughters in turn.

Compared to the nobles and big merchants who were anxiously waiting, the king was naturally better informed than they were.

When the intelligence chief walked into the room, he was still wearing a black robe that had not changed for thousands of years, and he reported to Antoine II: "Your Majesty, the negotiations between His Highness Abt and Her Highness Linda have broken down. ”

"His Highness Abt and His Highness Abner left one after the other, and at the first junction His Highness Abner's carriage turned and did not go with His Highness Abt. ”

Antoine II only nodded slightly, continuing to study the rifling in the barrel of the revolver.

After a moment, he asked, "What about the third child?"

The intelligence leader replied, "His Highness Avis is still in the territory, and he plays with His Royal Highness every day. ”

Antoine II had a slight smile on his face, and it was the only good news he had heard.

Alan was killed by Charles before he could have offspring, Linda was not married to Charles, and his other three sons already had children.

It's just that the eldest and second are busy with their "careers" every day, and only the third Elves, who has a pair of twin daughters three years ago, spends most of his time in the territory to play with the children every year.

The intelligence chief returned after a short absence, bringing the latest news.

"Report to Your Majesty. The intelligence leader was a little hesitant this time, "Not long ago, three carriages drove out of Her Royal Highness Linda's house at the same time, and just now all these carriages were attacked, and all the vehicles were damaged, and Her Royal Highness Linda left Qiqiu City in a griffin later. ”

Antoine II's face darkened suddenly, and he asked, "Isn't there any news of Charles yet?"

The intelligence chief replied, "There has been no news of the return of the Earl of Maccaden since he was taken captive by the Demon God that day. ”

Charles Medivan's true identity is no secret to those who know him well, and the spies of the Bischberg Kingdom can easily find out.

The City of Knowledge is only halted by shipping, but the Magical Communication Bureau there is still working normally, and news of the island will soon be heard.

Antoine II motioned for the intelligence chief to leave, and when there was no one in the room, he threw the revolver on the table, leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply.

He never imagined that his country would be turned upside down in just a few years.

In recent years, a number of chain bridges and ziplines have been built in the mountainous kingdom of Bischberg, which has greatly improved the efficiency of material transportation.

For those where wool mills have been built, easy access means lower transport costs.

It's just that the thriving wool mills have made some people red-eyed.

Some aristocrats were reluctant to change their way of life, and they continued to live an idyllic life.

But this did not mean that they could not take advantage of the burgeoning textile industry to make a profit, and the lords who built chain bridges and ziplines in their territories charged exorbitant toll taxes to caravans transporting wool products, and those who did not have these two new things came up with different tricks to collect taxes, and some even pioneered the "horse manure tax" from caravans.

In a short period of time, the traders who sold wool products suffered heavy losses, and then they raised the selling price on the one hand and lowered the purchase price to the textile mills on the other.

The mills were also in trouble, with buyers pushing down prices and the Maccaden family raising the price of wool slightly due to increased taxes on transport.

The price difference between raw materials and products is reduced, and the bosses of textile factories have taken measures such as extending workers' working hours, increasing labor intensity, reducing or even eliminating workers' treatment and benefits, and even employing child labor to reduce production costs.

Even so, from the point of view of the poor common people, it was more attractive to work in a factory than to dig food on barren land.

In particular, in the textile mills where the Earl of Maccaden owned a 5% stake, the representatives sent by the Earl to the factories often argued with other shareholders for the minimum wage and working hours of the workers, and even threatened to purchase raw materials, which eventually made the workers in those factories slightly better than those in other factories.

In the past two years, more and more mountain people have fled their villages and entered the expanding factories.

As a result, the village lacked labor, the property decreased, and the landlords were horrified to find that their families were running out of food.

As a result, the contradictions between the two sides began to be officially put on the table on this day.

The second prince Abt, who represents the interests of the vast number of landlords, and Linda, the fifth princess, who represents the interests of the emerging bourgeoisie, were entrusted by their respective forces behind them to hold closed-door talks today in the presence of the eldest prince Abner.

On behalf of the landlords, Abner demanded that the factory repatriate the fleeing peasants.

On behalf of the capitalists, Linda demanded that the landlords drastically reduce the tolls.

In the end, the negotiation ended with Linda's carriage pretending to leave Seven Hills City being attacked.

Antoine II leaned back in his chair and thought for a long time with his eyes closed.

As a king, he could see that the two major powers in the country had reached a point where the contradictions could not be reconciled.

Or rather, he finally waited for this day.

Four years ago, in a confidential conversation with him, Allen mentioned that the rise of a wool mill would bring great changes to the country, but it would also be fraught with danger.

It's just that Alan didn't have time to talk about this danger, because the time to go to the First World War was up, and he thought that he could come back alive, so he planned to talk about it in detail after he returned.

Antoine II sighed deeply again, and he had a vague feeling in his heart that the country was about to descend into an unprecedented civil strife.