A week later, order was restored in the city of St. Faralus,

Shops are open, theaters are back running, congested sewers are cleared, and the smell of gunpowder and blood in the streets is gone.

A postal ship departed from Valstad, crossed the ocean to the kingdom of Solan, unloaded the goods in the port, and then transported by land wagons to the city of St. Faralles.

The postal wagons not only included parcels of letters from soldiers and civilians, one of the postmen, who was under armed protection, also carried top-secret letters from members of the royal family.

In a letter to the Mother Empress, Crown Prince Constance Midknight wrote:

"Mother, I asked you a question in my last letter,

Why let the cowardly and mediocre Ingram Lafalette I be king, but the diligent and capable Duke Leclerc can only assist on the sidelines, why not put the kingdom of Solan directly into the hands of the best people.

Later, I finally figured out that you are doing this for the benefit of our Valstad,

It was because of such a mediocre king that he could ensure that the kingdom of Solan would not develop rapidly after the war, and the role of Leclerc the elder was simply to keep everything from going too far off the rails. ”

Empress Salantos' hand holding the letter trembled slightly, she raised her elbow and rubbed her reddened eyes, and she said to the eldest prince Mayer Onassis beside her:

"Look, how good your brother is, how well he has grown up, how smart he is, how he understands me,

He would be a good monarch, and I could leave with peace of mind. With that, she covered her mouth with a handkerchief and coughed, glanced at it, and quickly stuffed it into her pocket.

"Konstanz is the smartest of our brothers and sisters, he is the crown prince, and my eldest brother is also convinced."

Prince Meyer's keen eyes had already noticed the phlegm mixed with blood on the handkerchief, and he knew that the mother emperor's health was deteriorating and she was already terminally ill, and said uneasily:

"And, Mother, please don't say that...... You will live a long and healthy life, like the old birthday star Lord Condell, to be a hundred years old...... Oh no, a thousand years old! ”

Salantos stopped coughing, gently patted the eldest son's head, and said with a smile: "Silly boy, you treat me as an old monster!" Turtles live that long! ”

"Mother, the imperial physician of the palace has formulated a new treatment plan, you are suffering from overwork, mainly because you have been injured too much on the battlefield, and what you need most is rest compared to medicine and surgery."

"The emperor has no days off,

Good boy, my body, I myself know,

Be prepared to take over everything Valstad at any time after my death, Konstanz is studying government affairs at home, he will be in charge of the whole situation, your Uncle Dalí will continue to be the chancellor, you will be in charge of the economy of the empire, and Leopold will be in charge of the imperial army......"

The flesh on Mayer Onassis's cheeks twitched: "Mother! You are not allowed to say that! You're alive and well! Besides, I'm going to be angry! ”

"Alright, let's leave that aside for now, it's time to go to the new mayor's salon banquet, let Neule take the royal forbidden army to guard along the road, and order the snipers to occupy all the commanding heights nearby, I don't want anything to go wrong."

At the banquet, Duke Leclerc, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, could not wait to pay tribute to Emperor Valstad with his glass, in fact, he came to pour out his complaints:

"Your Majesty, the recent cabinet meeting is going to annoy me to death, the interests of the various parties are unevenly distributed and quarrelsome, I hope that you can use your influence to help my people to occupy a majority of seats in the parliament, then it will be much easier!"

The Emperor politely stretched over the cup and toasted to the Duke:

"It is inconvenient for me, a foreign monarch, to interfere in the domestic affairs of your country."

"Hey!" Leclerc sighed softly:

"I really can't help it! After all, our king doesn't care about anything, he only cares about messing around with noble ladies and even maids! And those ministers favored by the king patronize and accumulate wealth and do not do practical things! ”

"It's really pitiful, then I'll get an expert for you to help with the tricks, he's an expert in political games." As she spoke, she waved to the other end of the banquet hall:

"Hey! My Prime Minister, Lord Leclerc, has some questions for you! ”

Dali Ainfurt came over, listened to the complaints, and then suggested:

"Your Excellency, you need to maintain the balance of power in the council so that everyone has a voice,

The contradiction between the radicals and the conservatives urgently needs to be adjusted, and if one side gains too much power, it will get carried away, and the other side will become angry and wait for an opportunity to engage in conspiracies and undermine the stability and unity of the country. ”

"Hey! That's great! Leclerc clapped his hands excitedly: "Lord Marquis, it's really to the point!" So how do I do that? ”

"Simple, sweeten everyone, members of the noble senate, heads of great aristocratic families, representatives of the emerging bourgeoisie, representatives of trade unions and peasants...... The benefits of a penny are more practical than any words. ”

"You want me to go...... Bribe...... Pleasing them? Leclerc's face sank: "Let's not say that this is immoral, and there is no political funding at all, we have an empty treasury now, and we have to deal with voodoo, it would be good to be able to make do with this winter." ”

"Simple, since you don't have any money, then make empty checks, use state bonds to satisfy various political factions, print a lot of paper money to pay off debts, and once the currency depreciates excessively, take out some gold to alleviate it, and you can always fool the past by scraping together."

"You want me to lie?"

Disdain was written on the face of the proud old nobleman:

"Lord Marquis of Ainfurt, I originally thought you were a person of honor, but I didn't expect you to be so good at stealing and cheating! What if I use a bad cheque to pay a loan in your country? ”

"Of course not, the Imperial Army will become a debt collector."

"You're threatening me?"

Leclerc's face flushed; "Don't forget, Lord Marquis, our two countries are still allies, don't go too far!"

With that, Leclerc left in a huff and knocked down one of the waiters who was serving a drink.

The Emperor looked at the angry back and said in a relaxed tone:

"Dali, you are too realistic, how can you give useful advice, if you help Solan to restore his strength, you will pose a threat to our Valsta, and you will be a sinner at that time."

"Don't worry." Dali Einfurt took a sip of brandy;

"He's a stubborn, old-fashioned Solan nobleman who values honor more than life, which is both a plus and a disadvantage.

Old Leclerc will not follow my advice, the quarrel of the Council of Solan will continue, and he can rebuild the kingdom of Solan with enthusiasm, but it will not be able to revive to the level of its heyday because it is too pedantic and conservative. ”

"Yes, he alone can't do anything,

Consider that before we liberated St. Pharals, the Voodoo cultists sacrificed slaves and persecuted the commoners of the lower city, but the princes and nobles of Solan didn't care, what a bunch of fools, thinking that living in a mansion could sit back and relax.

If you allow the Voodoo Church to develop unlimitedly, sooner or later tragedy will befall you. ”

"At least for now, we still have to get on good terms with the Solans, and it won't be easy to say until the Voodoo cult is destroyed."

"That's right." The emperor asked his attendant for a glass of warm water, swallowed a few painkillers, and said to the prime minister:

"There are no eternal enemies, no eternal allies, only eternal interests."