"It's been a hard work, Salian, and I'm lucky to have you in Schwartenen. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info Oh, forget those musicians!"

The Duke hurriedly turned back to his lieutenant and said, "Hurry up and let my pipers, drummers, and organists come, and make my guests happy, happy!"

While eating good food and listening to music, Sally thought it was ironic that the two things he had done for Ulrich had brought him a lot of benefits. The hunt in the Dark Forest allowed him to obtain the black dragon girl Hilda, and the magic crystal he used to hire the witch Teresa, as well as the short sword hidden in the leggings.

And the recent cave events have led Salian to encounter two secret organizations, his friends and enemies are clear, and he has also been given a huge force, although it is temporarily unusable, but there is always hope.

In the end, he spent 20,000 guilders to get a ballot that was not very safe, and Salian felt that it was worth it. Bishop Ulm is right, as long as he can become a key force in the election of the emperor, he will not let the 20,000 gold coins be spent in vain no matter what, this is an early investment.

At Aphroa's insistence, Salian left after the luncheon under the pretext that he was busy, and he did not mention anything about the election to the duke, knowing that Ulrich did not care about it at all.

On the majestic horse "Doroth", Salian carried Hilda at the front of the team. The little girl with black hair and black eyes said to him idly as she tapped her little hand on Salian's shiny breastplate.

"Daddy, when are you going to kill Ulrich, although human affairs have nothing to do with me, but our territory is full of poor people and beggars along the way, and Aphroa and I don't want to take over such a mess in the future!"

"Then it depends on whether we can assist Archduke Joseph to ascend the throne, hahahaha!"

Their current target is the most powerful force in the south of the empire, the Duchy of Wienria, which is ruled by the old Dukes of Hindfingen, whose borders are larger than the entire Schwartenn region, and is one of the five tribal principalities of the empire when it was founded, and has not changed lords since it was given to the Hindfingen family in the Third Dynasty, and is the oldest prince of the empire. Most of the principality is located in the high mountains and the Taibara region, where beer, pork knuckle and leather trousers are their specialties.

But before arriving in Vienria, Salian would meet with a number of people along the way. The journey from Vroburg to Vienria was not smooth, it was a region of many small lords, who were oppressed by the surrounding big lords, and who were unable to make ends meet due to the development of the commodity economy and the increase in population, most of them were living in dire straits, except for a few lords who kept up with the trend and changed their business models.

Salian just wanted to unite these forces through a visit this time, in his opinion, the basis of the empire is still these small lords and burghers, and there are too few outstanding people like Max among the big lords, and it is not enough to change anything now.

Knights and townspeople who were not only familiar with the suffering of the people, but also well-educated knights and townspeople were most likely to emerge with the same ideas as Salian, and only by enlisting their support could Salian's ideals be realized. Because in order to continue, this class can only rely on its own unremitting efforts.

Most of the uneducated nobles and the people at the bottom who can't receive a good education are temporarily unreliable, and only by relying on the elite class can they change the fate of the country, but unfortunately the patriotic spirit has not yet awakened in the entire empire, and Tutonia has not yet reached the critical moment of survival, lacking a driving force, Salian is considering finding an opportunity to let the Kingdom of Franços in the West or the Sun Cult in the East attack the empire, so that the sense of crisis can promote national unity.

Because Salian loved his country and people, he wanted to betray them.

In this way, he thought about Hilda in his hand, and in the afternoon he came to the valley of the middle reaches of the Vilun River. The Vilun River flows from south to north in the west of the empire to the sea, while the Vilun River flows from west to east at the confluence between the mainland and the other continents in the east, where there is a narrow isthmus, and now that the Sun-Seeking God Cult has established a bridgehead at the easternmost point of the continent, it seems that a full-scale attack on the continent is inevitable.

At this time, the first scout cavalry reported that he had entered the territory of Count Wolfgang von Passau, who was one of the figures that Salian was very eager to woo.

On a hill covered by a small forest, there was a small hidden castle, and when he got closer, Salian saw a silver coat of arms hanging from his modest gate, and a black mallet painted in the middle, and he knocked on the door, but the door was closed and there was no movement.

Because Salian had set up camp before entering the forest, he was now the only one wandering at the castle gates.

Unable to open the gate, Salian walked along the fence and watched. As he approached a low wall completely covered with beautiful vines, a man who looked like a gardener spotted Salian, wearing a worn straw hat, stuck his head out of the low wall and asked the young nobleman in the armor of the old boss.

"Hello young man, is there anything wrong with coming to this remote place?"

"This uncle, I am Hohen Straiten, Count of the New Mark, who came from Schwartenn, and I want to visit Count Passau today, I wonder if Count is at home?"

"Hahaha, young Earl of the Borderlands, I'm Wolfgang von Passau, what's the matter with me, a useless old man?"

Salian said in surprise to the ordinary-looking man in front of him, dressed in simple overalls, with pruning shears in his hand.

"Oh, you're the Count of Passau, known as the 'Hammer of Justice', can we talk?"

Wolfgang von Passau was also an acquaintance with Salion's father, a nobleman who appeared to be in his mid-fifties, from a family of hereditary judicial counts, who had the power to lead the imperial courts and could decide appeals from other places. During the period when the emperor's authority was still in decline, it can be said that he was an important bureaucrat who held real power, but now that the state is in ruins, and the local lords have seized the judicial power that originally belonged to the imperial family, their rights have basically disappeared in name only.

As a young man, the Comte de Passau was known for his erudition and mastery of the laws promulgated by kings from the ancient empire to the Empire of Divine Grace. Salian's father would always ask them for advice on any legal issues, and he would always give them satisfactory answers. Because of the heraldic motif, he was vividly called the "Hammer of Justice", but unfortunately the current era did not give him more room to display his talents, and his ambition was gradually worn out.

"It's okay, I'll open the door for you, Earl of the Border District, I'm the only one in the castle now, and I'm thinking that someone can talk to me!"

In this way, Salian returned to the gate, and in a few moments the gate was opened from the inside.

"Come in, Earl of the Borderland, welcome to my castle, and go to the drawing-room, where there are still a few chairs. ”

When Salian followed the Count of Justice upstairs, he observed the interior of the small castle, although it looked very dilapidated, but it was clean, indicating that the Count of Justice himself was not only a good gardener, but also a hard-working cleaner.

After the guests were seated, the Count of Justice invited Salian to taste the specialties of his domain.

"Earl of the Border, I don't have any good things here, only this strawberry panna cotta I think it tastes good, you try it. ”

To be honest, although I don't know much about the art of eating, I am very impressed by the fine taste and beautiful workmanship. ”

"Hehe, this is my daughter's masterpiece! She is very good at her craft, and she happened to go hunting in the forest today, and she will come back to cook and cook a local lunch for you." ”

"Then I'll be looking forward to it, Count Justice. ”

However, Salian did not want to go on with the day-to-day issues, and he went on to the point: "Actually, I have come to talk to you about one of my ideas, which requires the help of our class, and you should understand what I mean by 'our class,' which you have raised with my father before, although he is skeptical of this view, of course, it is due to the limitations of his education. But my father told me about it, and a man who had fled to the empire from Itkanlia in the south taught me the philosophy of the ancient empire. ”

With that, Salian took a bite of the strawberry panna cotta on the table to observe the other party's reaction.

The Count of Justice also became serious when he heard this, he was not without ambition, but he had not been excavated for a long time, and now that the person who came had some special ideas, of course he was very interested.

"Oh, Earl of the Frontier, I see that you have some talents that your father did not have, and I will hear what you think!"

"You are an elder, I just have some very immature ideas, you listen to it first, maybe there is any better opinion. First of all, I want to nominate a suitable king as emperor, and then help him to regain the real power of the empire, so that he can put forward a resolution in the imperial parliament, that is, to establish a unified central organ of the state again, and I think that the king who has obtained power will never object, because the perfect state apparatus can strengthen his power, and who will form the state apparatus of the empire, it can only be 'our class', the generation of political elites like you and the generation of military elites like our father and son. “

The Count of Justice stared at Salian with wide eyes of astonishment, not knowing how this young man, who looked less than twenty years old, could have such a wonderful idea, though full of idealism and a very unpredictable prospect in his opinion. Pin all your hopes on an illusory and powerful Mingjun, and the risk is so high that it is not true. But these are all things that he could not have imagined when he was young, and this courage alone makes him admire.

"Does your ideal king really exist?"

"Now I have found a young Puyu, as long as the guidance is reasonable, with a little polishing, he can become the embodiment of enlightened imperial power!"

The Puyu called by Salian here is naturally the son of the innocent and cheerful Grand Duke, and he finally said the true ambition in his heart, that is, to become a "palace minister".

Makminus has a noble bloodline that he does not have, and Salian wants to achieve his political ambitions through this coat.