The originally harmonious atmosphere of the meeting finally went in the dull direction, until the end of the meeting, it may be that Augustus just changed the way to use moderation to cover up his essential dictatorship, or it may be that the next few issues are indeed no more painful to the lords than about finance and military power, no one will express any opinions anymore, even if Augustus is friendly and gentle, the lords will no longer believe in this hard-nosed liar, so when all the topics are completed, the dull meeting will be over, anyway, they still have time to think about it？

The lords, who had made up their minds to spend like this with the young earl, got up and left. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

But their abacus didn't even last until they walked out of the castle parlor when Augustus gently broke it.

Augustus, who was sitting at the front of the long dining table, got up and watched the lords leave, he suddenly smiled and said, "By the way, I believe that three days is enough time for you to give me a definite result." ”

3 days.

The lords' expressions were suddenly complicated, whether they were angry or depressed, what could they do, and what did they dare to do?

Huffling towards the door of the castle's living room, it took little doubt to guess that the lords must have begun to figure out how to deal with it.

However, as soon as they reached the door, Augustus behind him spoke again, and he said calmly and slowly: "Actually, you can think about it from another angle, Alfred has already handed over all the huge profits that smuggling can bring to you, so isn't it normal to pay a price?" As for the issue of the Knights, I can take a step back and follow my plan for the time being, and when Alfred is completely settled, I will not prevent you from rebuilding your own Knights, please believe that I sincerely hope that you can seriously consider it. ”

The lords suddenly stopped, and turned to look at their Earl, all with the same stunned expression.

Who would have thought that Augustus would offer to take a step back?

Although the lords knew very well that this step was no different from not retreating, and when Alfred settled down, it was unlikely that they would have the strength to resist their count, but at least psychologically they could accept it a little, especially considering the moderate attitude that Augustus had always maintained in this meeting, and then thinking that whether they accepted it or not, they could only accept it in the end, and the resistance of the lords unconsciously faded a lot.

In this process, even the most slick and cunning Baron Llorente did not realize that first making them desperate and then giving them hope was actually a small trick of Augustus that was not very clever.

For the grasp of people's hearts, Augustus was very skillful in playing with these small means.

......

Sending away his servants, Augustus, who basically solved one more thing, took a break, and did not think that it was easy to negotiate with this group of small lords in various towns, you know, the poorer it means that the more sensitive to wealth and power, it is too difficult to want them to give up the basic rights and interests of the aristocracy, and the moderate route chosen by Augustus is difficult in itself, on the one hand, it cannot be too gentle, and on the other hand, it cannot be too tough, so that Augustus must always pay attention to the emotions of the lords, and then adjust his attitude accordingly, saying that he is not tired, it is absolutely impossible。

Fortunately, the results were good, and Augustus had reason to believe that when his plan was officially implemented, there would not be much resistance.

Of course, if the nobles did bring him unexpected surprises, Augustus didn't mind the gallows outside his castle going back into operation.

Then, after resting for about a few minutes, Augustus looked up at the sky outside the castle, and when he saw that it was completely dark, he got up and went to the study on the second floor.

In the study, Elizabeth is still sorting out Augustus's meticulous work on the adjustment of the power structure, since it is necessary to unify the taxation, then the reasonable taxation undoubtedly needs Alfred to formulate it uniformly, this aspect is the work of Elizabeth, who is familiar with the situation of each territory itself, and is also good at dealing with these delicate and cumbersome matters, it can be said that Augustus grasps Alfred's steering wheel to move forward steadily, and Elizabeth is responsible for grasping the details of Alfred in all aspects, which is the core foundation of the Alfred brothers and sisters to control the Alfred family。

Augustus sat across from Elizabeth, and after the two siblings looked at each other with a tacit understanding and smiled, they went about their work at hand, and did not gossip much.

However, in the process of work, Elizabeth suddenly asked: "Brother, according to your idea, the establishment of a tax and financial department belonging to Alfred, plus all the knightly power in Alfred's territory must also be controlled by Alfred himself, have you ever thought that this is actually similar to the power structure of the imperial royal family? Do you want to make Alfred another royal court?"

Augustus was stunned.

He really didn't have such a consideration, and his current conception itself was based on the experience of his previous life, where did he think about the royal court.

But of course, he couldn't explain his experience of his past life to Elizabeth, and he was stunned and then he just laughed at himself: "It's not surprising, you know, we have the blood of traitors in our veins after all." ”

Elizabeth smiled, and she was clever enough not to ask any further.

......

The next day, when Augustus, who was practicing and mastering his strength behind the castle every day, returned to the castle, Captain Katieeni, who had traveled frequently between the wasteland and the empire during this time, was already waiting in the castle living room.

Recently, counting the generosity of the second-tier family of the wasteland to Alfred, and the smooth operation of the gold mine, Augustus, who finally got rid of the food and material crisis, can be regarded as having some spare money, and since he has money, Augustus will of course convert gold into Alfred's power as soon as possible, the transformation process is very cliché, because the cold winter has not completely passed, and there are no new adventurers in the wasteland to appear in the taiga, Augustus told Katieeni to recruit in the Imperial Province of Noy, the requirements are not too much, but the hard condition is that it must have level 5 fighting strength, enough to enrich the backbone of the Alfred Knights。

On this trip, Katieeni brought back a total of 10 swordsmen recruited during this time.

In terms of quantity, it doesn't seem to be much, but considering the cost of raising knights, 10 is already the limit that Augustus can afford at present - according to the market price, the standard hybrid Caucasian war horse for a knight is about 150 Bourbon gold coins, not to mention the purebred, at least 500 gold coins are enough; weapons, as well as the high amount of money that must be paid in normal times, the cost of raising a knight is at least more than 500 gold coins, which means that with only 10 swordsmen, Augustus will have to lose 10 500 gold bourbon coins, which is a huge consumption.

Of course, there is a reward for paying, Augustus roughly calculated, at present, he has 41 members of the real knights, and the reserve knight members whose fighting strength is generally at level 4 are around 60 people, that is to say, he has initially owned a hundred knights, which may not be anything even in the wasteland, but for Augustus, whose strength was almost 0 when he took over Alfred, it is a big achievement.

More importantly, this is a descendant power that absolutely belongs to him and to Alfred.

After explaining these things, Katieeni handed Augustus a letter from Baron Rudolph in Ferry City.

Augustus opened the letter, and he frowned, who was in a good mood.

"Baron Obirah, who was supposed to face trial, suddenly disappeared. ”

Obilla actually ran away?

Thinking of the fat and shrewd Uncle Obilla, Augustus was shocked at the same time, but also suddenly realized that he still underestimated Baron Obilla, and it is likely that when he left the city of Ferry, Obilla knew that he would not let him go easily, but the question is, if this is the case, why didn't Augustus disappear when he left the city of Ferry? Was it just that he was lucky, until Rudolph's arrival made him realize that Augustus would not let him go after all, and he had to choose to disappear?

Augustus didn't think it would be that simple.

But the problem is, he has no clue how to figure out what Obilla really thinks.

He quickly began to analyze what negative effects Baron Obirah's disappearance might bring to him, fortunately, although the impact was unavoidable, but with the Alfred secrets in Obira's hands, it seemed impossible to overthrow Alfred, who had basically stood firm at this time, this was already the best news for Augustus, and what he urgently needed to do was to find Obira and stifle this hidden danger as much as possible.

Frowning and thinking for a moment, Augustus focused his eyes on the second message.

Sophia has returned to the imperial capital.

......

There was really no need to stay in Ferry City, Mass left a letter waiting for her in the imperial capital, and the salute that she had left at Alfred's castle when she left in a hurry was also delivered, and Her Royal Highness Sophia, who had been established as the first heir of the Constantine family, naturally had to return to the heart of the Constantine family as soon as possible to meet all that she had to bear.

The low-key and restrained carriage drove on the way out of Ferry City.

Looking at the salute she had brought with her at Alfred Castle in the carriage, Sophia's expression was cold.

The past, after all, is the past, she allows regrets, but she never allows her to indulge in regrets, these days, she has been trying to understand that everything is an impulse she once had, a childish impulse.

Although it still hurts occasionally.

She calmly picked up the dazzling lilac notebook on the salute and told her over and over again, one last time to be nostalgic, and one last time to reminisce......

Farther and farther away from Ferry City, and farther and farther away from the wasteland, Sophia gently flipped through the notebook in her hand.

The images of the past came back to her mind clearly, in front of her eyes.

Is it really just impulsive?

Her cold expression gradually became overshadowed.

And then when she turned to the last page, it was no longer possible to maintain her calmness, her coldness.

She looked at the handwriting at the bottom of the column, which was not unfamiliar, and raised the corners of her lips slightly, as if she was cursing, but it seemed to be only a whisper, although she did not say a word until the end, but her eyes were fixed on the row of handwriting, and she could no longer help but let the tears run down her delicate cheeks and fall on her neck, and also on the floor of the carriage.

"If I don't have a sword in my hand, I can't protect you, and if I keep a sword in my hand, I can't hold you tight. ”