(Today's two chapters are combined into one chapter)

Pertheus had nine children in his life, six of whom died in the Intraroyal coup 13 years earlier, leaving three remaining.

No, more precisely ... 5 died, and the whereabouts of the eldest son, the "Great Prince", are unknown, and 3 are left in the end.

Among these 3 heirs, leaving aside the young Solandale, the two princes, Andre and Burton, happen to be one and the same.

Bolton's deeds do not need to be mentioned, since he was a child, he studied under Sting, and now he has grown into a general who gallops on the battlefield, and where he is on the battlefield, the soldiers are like eating a reassuring pill, and no matter how dangerous the battle situation is, they can move forward bravely.

Andre and Bolton are just the opposite, his martial arts are very bad, he can't teach offensive and defensive demolition moves, he never won a fight with Bolton when he was a child, and his comprehension ability in military command is also average, to put it in layman's terms, it is not material for the army.

However, what the gods take away from you, they often give something else.

Andrei really has no talent in the military field, but he has read hundreds of books since he was a child, knows the world, and has developed a kind and easy-going style of treating people since he was a child.

At the age of 14, André was already able to sit beside Pertheus and attend meetings, putting forward his own opinions at the right time, and his opinions were mature and not immature at all.

Seeing that Andrei had such a talent, Pertheus began to entrust him with some simple tasks, so that his talents could be put to good use.

Andre is not expected by his father, and the things assigned to him by his father can be handled in an orderly manner, and while proving himself, the responsibility on his shoulders is also getting heavier day by day, but he always works hard and tries his best to share his father's worries.

This kind of willing humility and down-to-earth spirit of hard work are very rare in the flashy royal family, and many ministers appreciate Andrei's talent, and they do not hesitate to praise him every time he mentions, and ask their children to learn from His Royal Highness the Second Prince.

In the private sector, Andre often travels to various places, seeks truth from facts, investigates, solves problems for people everywhere, discovers talents for the kingdom, and is committed to improving people's lives.

Andre was born noble, but he attached great importance to the poor, and never looked down on people with low social status, and many children from poor backgrounds but with extraordinary talents were sponsored by him and got the opportunity to enter the school, thus changing the fate of himself and his family.

The royal ministers praised Andre incomparably, treating him as a kind and friendly nobleman, and the people spoke of him even better, and the commoners regarded him as a benevolent master to solve problems.

Hence the name "Prince Tzu".

This time, Danyu City made this kind of, and it may be difficult to end up with the best of both worlds, and it is necessary to send a person who has a good relationship with all parties, has a weighty speech, has a reputation, and everyone is willing to listen and cooperate, so as to deal with this mess.

And this man, there is no doubt Andrei, and Perseus naturally gave him the burden.

It was already evening after the meeting of the main hall, and when Andrei left the conference room, many ministers came to greet him:

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, you have bothered about the affairs of Danyu City, if you need help, you can just ask, I will definitely do my best to help."

"Second brother, when you arrive in Danyu City, you must teach the officials over there a good lesson, it's too unusual! Especially the derelict grain officer Kerry, not killing is not enough to make the people angry! ”

"Andre, you have a good rest tonight, and when you are ready, you can leave immediately, and you can't delay."

...

Andre responded to everyone one by one, relieved them, and then walked towards his mansion.

Tonight, the moon and stars are scarce, the royal city is not as good as Danyu City, the cold wind of winter is cold and biting, the vegetation in the palace has withered except for those evergreen trees, and only the bare dead branches remain, waiting for the arrival of spring in the bitter cold, and it is lonely.

After Andrei left the main hall, he dismissed the guards, did not let anyone follow, and walked alone.

He came to a fork in the road, and did not walk in the direction of the mansion, but quietly chose a remote path that led to a secluded place.

The trail was eerie and long, with lifeless dead branches, like the open minions of a demon, and the cold moonlight fell on them, adding a pale and eerie color.

André winds his way through the deep paths, and halfway through the way, he no longer walks along the main path, but steps into the grass covered with dead leaves, peeling off the staggered dead branches with his hands and squeezing them into the depths of the woods.

He seemed to be very familiar with the vast woods, and without any pause, he walked to the middle of nowhere, standing in a clearing covered with dead leaves.

Surrounded by trees, and the landscape is extremely similar, it is like a blinding ecstasy, and those who step into this place for the first time may not know how to distinguish the direction.

Andrei stood there and took out a jade from his bosom.

This piece of jade looks ordinary and is ordinary in the hand, but when it is put on the ground by Andre, mysterious lines slowly emerge on the surface, shining brightly, and the whole stone seems to be burning.

This is a piece of jade carved with runes!

The rune energy on the jade seeped into the ground, and with the jade placement as the center, a square area began to faintly glisten, and the dead leaves became distorted and blurred along with the earth, like the paint painted on paper was forcibly wiped away.

Under the surge of runic energy, the vague square area gradually disappeared, finally revealing a hidden staircase leading to the ground.

If someone from the Eric family is here, they will find out that it is a hallucinogenic soul-magic.

This kind of soul art can construct an energy barrier, and the illusions it generates will automatically blend with the surrounding scenery, making it imperceptible to the naked eye, and even if outsiders touch this barrier, it will not trigger any reaction.

If you want to break through the illusion barrier, you can only place the corresponding "Spell Solving Stone", and the jade that Andre just took out is this thing.

André walked into the passage hidden beneath the illusion barrier, and when the Spell Relief Stone was retrieved by him, the barrier reappeared, and the surface became seamless again.

He took a glowing stone from his bosom and used the stairs to go underground.

At the end of the stairs there was a wooden door, unlocked, slightly hidden, and there was a faint but faint sound of air flow from inside the door, and I don't know if it was the sound of air flowing, or the breath of some creature...

The thick darkness and eerie voice did not deter André, who seemed to be a regular visitor to the place, calmly pushing the door in.

Inside the door was a secret room, cramped and unremarkable, with only a table and two chairs, and no extra furniture.

At this time, a figure was already sitting on a chair, he was hidden in the darkness, his body and face were indistinguishable, only the constant sound of breathing indicated that it was a living person.

Andre put the lighting stone on the table, the light illuminated the other party's face, he sat down in another chair, looked at the other party and said slowly, "Lord Lan Xian, it's been a long time. ”

Lan Xian and Andre were not surprised by each other's appearances, and they should have made a secret appointment through some means.

The light of the illuminating stone fell on Lan Xian's face, and the outline of the shadow fluttered, and he said in a deep voice, "Let's end the conversation as soon as possible." You're in the limelight right now, and if you disappear for too long, you'll inevitably be suspicious. ”

Andre nodded, didn't say any nonsense, and got straight to the point: "The matter of Danyu City was beyond my expectations... I thought that there would be resistance to the implementation of the decree to replant the Blood Essence Grass, but I didn't expect it to be destroyed by the natural disaster in the end. ”

"Whether it's a natural disaster or not, it's still uncertain." A hint of fierceness flashed in Lan Xian's eyes, and his brows on both sides were tightly locked, "The south wind blows in winter, which is a very rare thing. ”

"The result? Danyu City not only blew the south wind, but the wind did not blow early or late, but the wind rose on the night of the Dragon Fire Festival, and it also happened to burn the relief grain in the eight granaries... Are you saying it's a coincidence? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. ”

Andre thought for a moment, squinted his eyes and asked, "When I go to Danyu City this time, in addition to pushing the executive order, do I want to find out the truth of this matter at the same time?" ”

"No!" Lan Xian simply shook his head and said heavily, "The task assigned to you by His Majesty the King, you must find a way to refuse. ”

"Prevarication?" Andrei was puzzled.

"Yes, I have to excuse myself." Lan Xian's tone did not hesitate, and his voice was very solemn, "We don't care whether the fire in the granary of the Dragon Fire Festival is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster for the time being. The situation in Danyu City now is-"

"The grain of the eight granaries was destroyed, and there was little surplus grain left in the homes of more than 6 million people, waiting for the upcoming harvest season, relying on the wheat that was about to ripen in the Danyu Plain to eat, but in order to ensure the supply of blood essence grass, those wheat stalks must be pulled out immediately."

"Originally, Wang Cheng sent 1.62 million tons of relief grain to Danyucheng, just to make up for the half-year food shortage caused by the change to blood essence grass. But now that the food is gone, the people can be said to have no food. ”

Andre pondered for a moment and asked, "Maybe you can try to transfer it from other places." ”

Lan Xian still shook his head: "Even if you find various provinces to borrow grain for adjustment, in a cold winter like now, the surplus grain in various cities is limited, even if you put it together and transfer some of it, it will be difficult to feed more than 6 million people for half a year." ”

"Then the question is, in this situation, do you want to follow your father's order, give up the small and take the big, ignore the people of Danyu City, and try your best to protect the supply of blood essence grass?"

"Or are you going to stand on the side of millions of people, delay the implementation of the decree, refuse to uproot the wheat stalks in the Danyu Plain, and ensure that everyone has enough to eat?"

"No matter how you choose, this situation will put you in a dilemma."

"If you choose to carry out the decree, your opinion will be higher in the eyes of your father than ever before. But at the same time, you will lose the hearts of the people, and everyone will think that you are a person who does not care about the life and death of the people for the sake of political achievements, and the image of the "Prince of Love" that you have worked so hard for so many years will completely collapse. ”

"If you choose to stand on the side of the people, the people will have the will and they will shout for you even more, but can you afford the consequences of disobeying the decree? Even if you bear it, what will your father think of you? Will he dare to hand over national affairs to you in the future? ”

Lan Xian's analysis sent Andre into a long contemplation.

Indeed, now he seems to be valued by his father, and when he is in danger, everyone is impressed, waiting for him to turn the tide like a savior.

But in reality, it's a bad job.

The heart of the father, the heart of the people, he can only gain one, and he will definitely lose the other.

Whatever he lost, it would be a disaster for him.

Where is this to push the executive order, this is simply to go to the catastrophe, and if you don't die, you will lose a layer of skin...

Andre had already stood up unconsciously, pacing back and forth in the narrow secret room, and his voice was very solemn: "However, whether this task can be accepted or not, it is not up to me to have the final say." ”

"My father asked me to do it, should I ask him to excuse me in private? If I refuse at such a critical moment, he will be dissatisfied and will snub me in the future... It's really hard to do. ”

"So, you have to come up with a way to pass this task on to someone else without affecting His Majesty's opinion of you." Lan Xian's eyes were hidden, he got up and came to Andre's side, his tone as deep as the sea, "I have already helped you think of this method." ”

Andre hurriedly motioned for Lan Xian to sit down, and said respectfully, "Please give me advice." ”

Lan Xian's fingers were beating regularly on the table, and he said slowly: "If you want to push off the task without affecting His Majesty's opinion, first of all, you have to make sure that you are doing practical things so that he can see your efforts." So the first thing you're going to do is-"

Lan Xian said in a deep voice: "Raise food." ”

"Raise food," André muttered.

Lan Xian nodded: "Yes, raise food." With the current grain situation in Doguland, there is only such a short period of time, whether it is to borrow from other provinces or spend a lot of money to buy grain from the Chamber of Commerce's grain store, it is not enough to scrape together millions of tons of grain again. ”

In other words, it is inevitable that there will be a famine in Danyu City. However, even if you know that you can't raise money, you can't do nothing, you must do your best to raise food. ”

"As long as you go to collect food, first of all, His Majesty the King will be very pleased to see that you are doing practical things, and he will secretly praise you in his heart."

"Secondly, whether there is enough food or not, it will be distributed to the people in the end, and they know that this is the food that His Royal Highness Prince Ci has raised with all his might, and when they eat this ration, they will think of you and thank you."

"Even if they go hungry later, they will only spill their resentment on the officials of Danyu City, and they will not resent you who have done your best for them."

"Therefore, even if you know that the food is not enough, you have to raise food, and you do your best to raise it, the more you raise, the higher His Majesty the King's evaluation of you, and the more grateful the people of Danyu City will be to you."

"Finally, and the most critical step, the grain is raised by you, but the person who transports the grain to Danyu City to push the administrative order must not be you, you must find a way to get out in advance, and you must not wade into this troubled water."

Lan Xian said this, and reached out to take out a pocket bottle from his bosom, the bottle was black all over, with a red stopper seal, and it looked like some kind of small medicine bottle.

Lan Xian put the medicine bottle in Andrei's hand, then took him over, and said in a deep voice, "Remember every word I say next. Before you finish raising food and are ready to leave for Danyu City, you have to do this..."