The stars are shining, the moonlight is like water, and the shadows of the trees are slightly swaying and rattling under the night breeze.

“......”

Renee lowered her head, clenched her fists subconsciously, and snaked up the stairs with a complicated expression. Dark-brown women's leather boots step on the stone slabs, striking an inexplicably smooth rhythm in the silent night.

Directly in front of it is the Queen's sleeping chamber, with a tall spire-like vault reaching into the night sky, and the walls on both sides are circular and rearward, and the road leading to the entrance is led by a high platform and a stone staircase that stretches down.

The brilliantly lit arched stone gate and the continuous colonnade seem to lead to the unknowable other.

The sound of her own heavy breathing was heard in her ears, and the female lieutenant walked forward step by step, and saw the throne at the end of the colonnade—a huge seamless stone slab covered the ground, a flat and wide red carpet leading to the hall, and at the end of the neatly lined silver lampposts, the figure sitting on the throne was completely different.

On the throne of the Sun King, a young man with short black hair who changed into a winged robe cast his gaze, and after his eyes staggered, a slightly warm voice rippled from the main hall:

"Sister Rennie, you are so smart, you should know your situation, right?"

"I understand, although I don't know exactly what's going on, but Her Majesty lost to you. ”

Renee looked up at him, her gaze fluctuated slightly, and she said with a helpless smile on the corner of her mouth: "I am the queen's aide-de-camp, and I have always played the role of her right and left hand, and if you want to dismantle her power, you must solve me." ”

"Very well, since you know your situation, you should know why I summoned you at this time, right?" Ivan asked as he looked into her eyes.

"You want my loyalty, because with me, you can stabilize the Guards and further stabilize the Corona Knights. The female adjutant replied truthfully.

"It's worthy of being the right-hand man that my cousin has to rely on, and even in this situation, my thinking is still clear. ”

Evan looked at him with a smile in his eyes and a look of approval, but then he changed his words:

"Before you give me a satisfactory answer, there are some things that must be clarified in advance. I want kingship and domination, not mere killing, and that's why I think in the interests of the Empire. But that doesn't mean I'm going to allow rebellion, and all those who rebel will pay a terrible price!"

"What, then, is the point of my existence? God's will is manifested in the world through your power, and I am only an insignificant officer who can be erased by the wave of your hand. Her voice was calm and cold.

"You're right, I have enough power to make me ignore all obstacles, and it doesn't matter if you say yes or not. ”

Evan stood up from his throne and walked down the stairs step by step, his eyes couldn't help but become cold:

"But your decisions will govern my next actions - the new ruler of the empire, a benevolent monarch or an iron-blooded tyrant......"

In the last sentence, he had already walked up the last step of the ladder, stretched out the index finger of his left hand, and pointed to her eyebrows out of thin air:

"The choice is yours. ”

“......”

Renee looked at the figure of the other party close at hand, the burgundy pupils contracted into a little and then instantly dilated, the cherry lips pursed into a line, and subconsciously took half a step back.

"When people are afraid, their pupils dilate, their heartbeat accelerates, and their skin tightens unnaturally. ”

Ivan looked at her now, restrained his smile, and then released a cold chill in his gaze: "My perception tells me that you are afraid...... You're worried I'm hurting you!?"

"I'm not, I'm not!"

Rennie's face gradually turned pale, and she clenched her teeth, her fast-beating heart seemed to be about to split in half, and her white throat trembled slightly.

"Don't worry, how could I hurt you. ”

His tone suddenly softened, and the previous sword light and sword shadow became calm in an instant:

"I will not forget the fact that you tried to ease the conflict between me and my cousin during those dark times and helped me a lot. So don't be afraid, even if you don't cooperate, as long as you don't get involved in restoration or rebellion, I will still give you high-ranking officials. Sister Rennie, as long as you want, I will trust you like a cousin. ”

“......”

The mood of the female adjutant at this time was like a fallen leaf, one moment the cloak was blown into the abyss, and the other it drifted into the clouds. The figure in front of her kept changing in her eyes, and finally overlapped with the figure in the past, and with the familiar voice of 'Sister Rennie', the resistance in her heart also dropped to zero, revealing a relieved expression:

"I can listen to you for everything, but you must promise me one condition. ”

"Say, as long as I can do it. Ivan squinted his eyes for a moment.

"In the history of the Empire, it is not a special event for two Sun Kings to fall into each other's hands, and one powerful person can completely seize power. But cannibalism and undying feuds are unusually rare, and I don't want to see such a tragedy happen between you and the Queen. ”

The female adjutant took two steps back with moist eyes, knelt down on one knee, and gave him a salute of allegiance with her left hand on her chest: "It doesn't matter whether you are under house arrest or deposed, my only request is to hope that Your Majesty will not hurt your wife!"

“......”

Evan lowered his head, looked at the red eyes intently, and laughed loudly for a long time: "I thought it was a request, get up! Anyway, my cousin is my blood relative, and I want her to give birth to the best heir for me, how can I kill her." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Renee breathed a long sigh of relief, and the heavy stone in his heart fell, and he suddenly stood up lightly.

"You will live in the royal court tonight, and early tomorrow morning, accompany me to the palace of the king to discuss politics. Ivan left a word and walked in the direction of the bedroom.

"Yes!" the female adjutant gladly accepted.

One by one, one by one

In the year 1457 of the solar calendar, the palace of the king.

In the early morning sun, sacred light floats on the exterior walls painted with religious reliefs, and rows of stone seats are distributed inwards in a retro-radiant pattern. The twelve-story arch pillars stretched upwards one by one, supporting the cascading arches immersed in sunlight, and the stone statues of the gods Menes stood in the backlit shadows, silently watching the noisy hall.

At the top of the vault, the eternal battle between the sun god Atum and the Void Serpent is depicted, the gods and the heroic spirits fight side by side to witness a bright future, the sacred green occupies the main part of the mural, but the evil red is distributed in the core. On three sides of the hall are elaborate arcades decorated with openwork of gold threads, and the roof of the gallery is supported by delicate white marble columns, which were originally gilded and later sold for financial reasons.

Sunlight casts through the circular skylight at the end of the hall and through the deliberately dimly lit part of the throne, carving the golden Sun Throne out of the darkness.

The ministers of the Dharma Palace, the Judicial Court, the Discipline Yuan, the Conquest Yuan, the Planning and Investigation Yuan, and the Buzhen Yuan occupied the front seats, the representatives of the major temples each occupied a sub-district, and the Ministers of Defense and Inspection of Ekhtatun City occupied a sub-district. Then there were the representatives of the governors from the provinces, as well as the senior generals of the Gyeonggi Military Region.

The seats closest to the throne on the left and right protruded outwards, each with a separate seat - the High Priest and the Crown Chief, respectively, and the High Priest's seat was vacant.

Almost all of the high-ranking officials in Ekhtatun were present, and most of them were talking to each other in low voices about the events of the previous night. The partition of the Hades Temple was even more crowded, and Xia Li, who was clustered in the center, covered her small mouth and pretended to be reserved, but the two eyes that smiled like a crescent moon had completely betrayed her mood at this time.

"Welcome Your Majesty!" accompanied by the shouts of the palace attendants, the palace of the king quickly fell silent.

Evan led Renny and a guard of honor into the palace of the king from the eastern arcade, and all the ministers stood up and saluted when they saw this, watching him ascend to the throne of the sun, no matter what they thought in their hearts, they all had a respectful expression on the surface.

Twelve cold statues of the main gods are spread on both sides of the space, and through the straight path paved with a scarlet carpet, the throne on the high platform is visible. The bright golden sacred and sublime but not losing the majesty of the forest, like a mirror on the ground reflecting the hanging sun, the pale golden light shrouded the throne, the rainbow light filled the hall, there is indeed a kind of momentum of dominating the world.

Walking up the steps, Evan sat on the large throne, bathed in the golden sunlight, and the awe-inspiring majesty suddenly filled every inch of space in the hall.

Looking down from his position, the power structure of the Menes Empire is clear at a glance, and the central seat facing the throne is occupied by high-ranking officials at all levels: the Court of the Crown, the Court of Justice, the Court of Discipline, the Court of Expedition, the Court of Planning, and the Court of Buzhen. The religious elite is in the first division on the left, and the chief of the royal capital is in the second division on the left. The representatives of the governors from each province occupy the first division on the right, and the senior generals of the Gyeonggi Military Region occupy the second division.

Finally, the two seats protruding outwards in the shape of horns are the positions of the High Priest and the Head of the Corona Knights.

One by one, one by one

Although he has never been in power since he ascended the throne, he has been exposed to it for more than ten years, and he still knows a lot about the official system of the Menes Empire.

The administrative system of this ancient empire is still in a state of aristocracy and sacrificial participation in politics, and it can be said that the high-ranking officials of the major departments are nobles, and they are basically hereditary monopolized by large families. The Sun King is nominally the master of the empire, but the interests of these great nobles cannot be easily shaken even by royal power.

Under the royal power, the power of the six halls is the largest, namely the Fawang Yuan (equivalent to the Ministry of Officials), the Judicial Court (equivalent to the Ministry of Punishment), the Discipline Court (equivalent to the Ministry of Rites), the Levy Yuan (equivalent to the Ministry of War), the Planning and Investigation Court (equivalent to the Ministry of Households), and the Buzhen Yuan (equivalent to the Ministry of Industry).

Without exception, the chief officials of the six courts are hereditary nobles, and the rest of the soup and water are almost divided among the middle and lower nobles, as for the commoners, in this civilization where there is no imperial examination, the only promotion channel for the commoners is to join the army.

"Let's talk about politics as is customary. Ivan glanced at the vacant High Priest's seat, then looked at the Commander of the Corona Knights, Delru, who was full of awe, and said with a calm expression.

After a moment of silence, Xerxes, the minister of the palm print of the Buzhen Courtyard, stood up, bowed, and said respectfully: "Since the circuit of the royal court has been laid, I ask Your Majesty for permission to lay the circuit around the city, so that the people of the royal city can also use electricity. ”

"Is the Surveyor rich?" asked Evan asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, in recent times, demonic disasters have broken out frequently, wars have continued, and the Institute of Planning and Investigation has no money to use. A plump lady wearing a shoulder-tied gauze skirt hurriedly stood up and replied.

"And how much money does the Survey House have?" Ivan wrinkled his eyebrows.

"Back to Your Majesty, there are still 500,000 Deben. The lady said cautiously.

"That's all there is money left? Forget it, we'll discuss the matter of the ring circuit later. Evan waved for them to sit down.

"Yes. ”

"Yes. ”

The two Palm Seal Ministers sat back one after another, and no one noticed that after confirming the Sun King's attitude, the six Palm Seal Ministers breathed a sigh of relief almost at the same time.

"Your Majesty! The lizardmen of the southern border have repeatedly violated the border, and the local people are like falling into hell, so I implore Your Majesty to send troops to eliminate this wave of cold-blooded beasts. Garnis, the Minister of the Seal of the Expeditionary Academy, stood up and said in a fierce voice.

"Well, just what to do, it's up to you to decide what to do. Evan nodded.

"Yes!"

"Your Majesty, there is a great drought in the Ganze region in the north, and I hope that the royal court will reduce or reduce taxes. ”

"That's right. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, the slackening of armaments in the province of Sinai has led to the plundering of the border city by the Sea Clan, and hundreds of people have been killed and wounded. I also ask Your Majesty to issue an edict to remove the local Nomarch from his post and escort him to the royal court for questioning!"

"Investigate things clearly and follow the rules. ”

"Yes!"

......

Three hours later, Ivan came to a successful conclusion of his first political meeting since his seizure of power, during which his most frequent speeches were 'yes' and 'according to the rules'.

In fact, this seemingly calm discussion of the monarch and ministers was the first temptation of Evan and the great nobles.

In the face of this new king, who single-handedly overthrew the princess, the great nobles showed an attitude of obedience, but they were also testing his political intentions. Evan, on the other hand, carefully observed the factions of the aristocracy, and at the same time expressed his conservative attitude: do not toss, do not rush, respect the objective law of things, and focus on maintaining stability.

The reason why Ivan did this was because he understood a truth - Menes's broken ship could not withstand a big toss, and if he wanted to toss, he needed to be mentally prepared to rebuild a new ship.

Neither in terms of power nor material foundation, he does not have the strength to launch a comprehensive reform, and the most important thing at the moment is to consolidate power. Moreover, before the popularization of compulsory education for all, the political operation of the aristocratic elite was better than the political operation of the common people. After all, in this era, only nobles can reserve and inherit the knowledge of governing the country, and the royal power also needs these people to consolidate, so there is no need to turn against them for the time being.

However, not turning their faces with the nobles does not mean that they do not turn their faces with the big families, especially the families that monopolize the Six Great Halls, they must be allowed to change their blood. Otherwise, these bunnies will unite to deceive their superiors and subordinates, and they will not become deaf and blind!?

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