The people of Xiaodonghu City are panicking.

There was black smoke everywhere, and there had been arson in the city all this time. Six spies had been arrested last night, the leader of which had been arrested, and the few remaining had been hung in iron cages above the square, and two had already been stoned to death by angry citizens before they died of thirst. It was said that the prince of Denia had sixty warships and three thousand soldiers in the East Lake. In fact, as far as I know, the prince of Denia had three warships and more than a hundred soldiers near the small trading island, and in the vicinity of the city of Little East Lake, there were about twenty warships, and if it was full, there were probably more than a thousand soldiers. The number of sailors is about more than 400 people, not more, even if the sailors are all armed, then the team of 1,500 people will not be enough to capture Xiaodonghu City. The city was surrounded by muddy swamps, and the soldiers could not directly attack its walls, and now that something as novel as a powder keg was not enough to deal with Kalinin's thickened walls, the city was besieged, but there was no mortal threat.

Yuri and his hundreds of soldiers were trapped inside the city of Little East Lake, and could only watch as the new settlements outside the city were burned down one by one by the prince of Denia. Every day, refugees flee to the city of Little East Lake, the streets are back to the mess they used to be, and many corners are filled with ragged refugees. Once caught by the city guards, the refugees were locked up in abandoned warehouses or church yards for fear of spies from the Princes of Denia.

Our boat first arrived at the shore of East Lake, and then went ashore to rest during the day and after nightfall. And then along the shores of East Lake, we kept going like this. Walked for almost a week until the last day. We ran into a small battleship in the middle of the night. There were only nine fleets in Little East Lake, and many of the remaining fleets were scuttled by the captains during Kalinin's attack on Little East Lake, or defected to the Burks and the Maharaja. The once most powerful fleet in the East Lake region is now a little powerless to defend its own ports.

After learning who we were, one of the soldiers who had seen me last time did not slack off and took us to the docks. But for half a day, no one came to see us, not a single Romanov appeared. While we were having dinner, a guard came to us. Announce that we have been arrested. The soldier who received me watched blankly as the guards took away my Romanov, a little confused. The Kugit and I obediently tied our hands, and the sailors of the pioneers were unlucky, repeatedly insisting that they were not in our company, only to be bound by the guards with strips of cloth. We were taken to the inner city of the Maharaja of Kalinin, where the stone gates had been completed and looked imposing. The inner city is now full of soldiers, and the number of soldiers patrolling the outposts has doubled. There were also a few guards who were on guard all night.

The sailors were thrown into the dungeon, and the Kujits and I were separated into separate rooms.

It didn't take long for Yuri to summon me.

He didn't have any nonsense, "You still dare to come back?" ”

"I've made good on my promise. The siege ended. I said to Yuri, "Now the Romanovs should make me boyar in parliament." ”

"You said you'd bring a cake, and you ended up bringing a rotten egg. In the end you ask for the same in return? ”

"The attack of the Maharaja of Denia has nothing to do with me," I said to Yuri. "Even without me, as long as the siege of Valankov is coming to an end. Then Denia and a whole host of people who oppose Little East Lake City will rise up at once. The council is afraid of the prince of the twin cities, and if Denia dares to attack Xiaodonghu City at this time, it must be instigated by the council. ”

"Oh, it's the council, how come I never thought of that." Yuri said sarcastically.

"Nikolai, under the arrangement of the Parliament, has pledged allegiance to the Maharaja of Denia."

"Nikolai? Allegiance to the Maharaja of Denia? ”

"I was almost killed by the Kalinin princes on the banks of the Ryazan River," I said to Yuri, "where Nikolai was attacking the soldiers of the city of Lesser Donghu and scattering them. Isn't there any connection between the council, though it was not shirtless, that a lord who defected to him and swore allegiance to another prince under its nose? I saw that Nikolai's soldiers were shrewd and capable, his horses were fat and healthy, and that during his days in Eastern Vecchia, Nikolai was treated favorably by the Parliament. I remember that you said that Nikolai was leading his army to the siege of Valan, and I think I saw many cavalry in the siege of Valan, but absolutely none of them were under Nikolai's men. Where was he at that time? It must be that the council has arranged an alliance to contain Little East Lake City, and once the siege of Valankov is over, these princes will tacitly begin to attack Little East Lake City. ”

"Nikolai's allegiance to the Maharaja of Denia? Is he going to tear up the agreement and marry Kaja to the children of the Maharaja of Denia? ”

"Nikolai has no such intentions, he still wants me to marry Lady Catherine."

"Wait a minute," Yuri said with a frown, "Nikolai saved you, and I hope you --- a little Romanov --- marry Catherine, and his efforts for this marriage are to jump on the thief ship of Denia and attack the Romanovs together?" Is Nikolai crazy or stupid. ”

"He has learned about my original family from my family master, and he does not consider me a Romanov."

"He made an alliance with the Romanovs."

"He thinks he's making a covenant with my family."

"Ha," Yuri's eyebrows raised, "then, Mr. Viktor, or rather, Mr. Timmy, you are here to marry Kaja on behalf of your family, and then get rid of the Romanovs and run your home in the Riverlands with the support of Nikolai's soldiers and the Maharaja of Denia?" ”

"Then why should I come back?"

"You want to tell me that you really only want a boyar title?"

"What the Romanovs promised me, of course I will take."

"Other than that."

"Nothing else."

Yuri was so clever that he turned to me and asked, "You see me." I guess there's something else to say. ”

"Yes." I replied to Yuri, "But after I told you what Nikolai thought." I think you should know all the thoughts of the council, Denia, and Nikolai by now. What to do next. You should be able to think the same as I did. Nikolai is right to think that he made a covenant with my family, but his covenant is written on the Romanovs, so it makes sense. His only anger came from the fact that the Romanovs had divided the land of their family in the Riverlands without permission, but it was better to have these lands than not to have them. To fight the machinations of the Parliament, you need to weaken the Princes of Denia; To weaken the Crown Prince of Denia, you first need a wedding. You should immediately arrange the wedding of Ekategarina and the Romanov family in accordance with the covenant. ”

"Wedding." Yuri said heavily. "At this time?"

"Otherwise, when." I said to Yuri, "Nikolai has now found out that I am missing. The pioneer wouldn't tell him where I went, because the pioneer himself didn't know. Settlers will throw them to the Denian army on the trading island. Nikolai is a rock, and if he can't find me, then he will think of the worst, and he will think that I am dead. At this time, he is likely to renew his marriage to the prince of Denia as the head of the family. What about the attitude of the nobles in the parliament? Will they support the continued sprinkling of the heirs of the Little East Lake City to the Riverlands, or will they approve of the marriage between Denia and the newly annexed Nikolai, thus curbing the Maharaja of the Little East Lake City --- a prince of the Two Cities? Catherine's father, the Maharaja de Denia, if you emphasize that he is a puppet of the Romanovs. A lot of evidence will be found. ”

"You are cruel to Catherine."

"It's really cruel for me to marry her, and her family will probably fall because of it."

"Nikolai really wants to make this happen."

"He was a man of integrity, and everything he did was based on justice and justice. He kept telling me that he loved his family. If this was the case, he should have persuaded the prince of Denia to divorce his wife and marry Catherine, instead of letting a western nobleman marry her from nowhere. Nikolai loved his own justice more. ”

"Teasing every word. But say as if you have great respect for Nikolai. ”

"Nikolai would have been one of my most respected nobles, not him. You and I may not survive today. ”

"I don't need you to remind you."

"I know, sir. Right now. Even as a sign of appeasement and respect for Nikolai, you should start arranging your wedding right away. Stop messing around with bastards, Catherine is your first step to victory. Find a genuine Romanov, a Romanov without a single stain, to marry Catherine. Even if it's an illegitimate child, I don't think it's too difficult to legalize an illegitimate child. Let the priest legalize an illegitimate child in the morning, marry them at noon, and send an emissary to Nicolas boyar in the afternoon. ”

"Since Denia has the private support of the parliament, the power of one Nikolai will not affect anything."

"But it will give Denia a loss of face and a drop in the morale of the army. One of his new vassals, while on the way to war, became a relative of the enemy because of his marriage. Besides, didn't the Romanovs have a baron of their own clan in the Riverlands? Find a way to contact him and ask him to go to the land of the Lepnin family, announce the marriage to the peasants, the townspeople, and the soldiers and nobles, and recruit the soldiers and troops there to go to the city of Little East Lake. Does Denia really have the strength to fight against the reinforcements of Little East Lake City and Riverland at the same time? ”

"Vidor," Yuri said with a smile, "if you were a Romanov, you would be the ideal candidate. ”

"I see what you mean." Yuri's words made me feel relieved, and when he said this, he showed that the Romanovs had completely lost hope of my return. "As long as it's a Romanov, anyone can do it."

"That's true."

Yuri had the servants arrange for the accommodation of the Kujits, but he did not ask the sailors who had brought me, and did not seem to be prepared to entertain them. So he took me to a circular tower on the left side of the hall, and the staircase in the middle of the tower spiraled up, and at the top there were two circular rooms, and the walls were full of bookshelves, which were stuffed with all kinds of books and letters. On a few comfortable tables and chairs stuffed with soft cushions, several elderly scholars were reading with relish under the candlelight, unaware of the approaching of the acting lord Yuri, or rather deliberately displaying the posture of such scholars.

Yuri led me to the very top, on a long table. There is a map of Eastern Vekia, next to him. Several young men were poring over some of the dossier, after seeing Yuri. The young men didn't care about anything like the old ones, and they stood up tremblingly and saluted Yuri.

"What is this?" I couldn't help but ask Yuri.

"The wealth of Little East Lake City." Yuri said.

The map is densely marked with the names of the merchants stationed in each region, the local products, and the locations of trading posts that specialize in salt, skins, amber, and other things. Many of those dossiers are the letters of authorization granted by the council to the small East Lake City for the monopoly of goods.

"It is mainly for these riches that the princes are hostile to Little East Lake City." I said to Yuri, "The council is wiser enough to know that salt can always be bought, but the Princes of the Two Cities are even more terrible. ”

"That's right." Yuri snapped his fingers, "Trading post in the Ryazan River valley." It has been transferred to the Ryazan Fort. This is a port and several settlements on the north shore of the East Lake, and we are asking the wishes of the Maharaja Chud. We have inherited a lot of forests and watchtowers from the Riverlands, which are of no use to us, but they are still somewhat attractive to the princes of the Riverlands. Maharaja de Nia, erect a monument to his dead nephew or something. ”

"There's no way he's going to accept this, his dead relatives are just an excuse for him to send troops." I say.

"Don't shake your smarts, Vidor." Yuri was stunned for a moment. "Oh no, it's Timmy." Of course, the monument is to be built. In addition, we are ready to give the Princes of Denia a monopoly on salt for the next fifteen years. ”

"What?!" I was taken aback. "Are you really going to give?"

"Nothing, nine of those years of monopoly have been transferred to the Pioneer and Jill. Let Denia ask the Pioneer and Jill for money. That future money has now been exchanged for food, armor and weapons. Obediently in our warehouse. ”

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to understand." Yuri flipped through a scroll, rolled it up and tossed it aside. took another one, "Even if these martial artists have monopoly rights, they won't make much money, but they will discredit themselves." Their first thought was to make huge profits, and such delicate toys as commerce could not be manipulated by the will of a few princes, and the merchant group of Xiaodonghu City would get these things back little by little. There are many things that people need besides salt. The pioneers seemed to have gotten a lot of new goods and were anxious to find someone to sell, Jill was at odds with them, the pioneers' merchants couldn't sell even a single thread in Nord and Vekia, and in Rhodok, they couldn't compete with Rhodok's native merchants, and Svadia was a mess and couldn't trade normally. There is a great possibility that the pioneers and we will cooperate. ”

"What's new?"

"Countless spices, cheap cloth and, of course, the most amazing thing is sugar. It is not uncommon to have snow-like sugar on the continent, but the price of sugar transported by the pioneers is much cheaper, and once the citizens accept such a seasoning, Xiaodonghu City can make a profit. ”

"You're under siege, how do you think about these things."

Yuri raised his eyelids and glanced at me, "Little East Lake City is in trouble, but trouble will always pass, and this time it's not too big." Burned settlements can be rebuilt, occupied trade islands can be redeemed, and Varankov will eventually be returned de jure terms. None of the troubles are fatal, the difference is only how much Xiaodonghu City needs to sacrifice. ”

"Well, you have listed so many monopoly rights that are ready to be transferred, aren't you ready to sacrifice?"

"Timmy," said Yuri, "if these things were given directly to the Maharaja, they would never be satisfied, and would ask for more in the future." Therefore, these things will not be directly used for negotiations, we must first achieve victory, and then use victory and these rewards to pull the princes down to the negotiating table, and it is meaningless to simply sacrifice. ”

"I see, sir."

"And your boyar title, I will agree to the nomination." "When the war is over, when Kaja gets married, when the princes move their butts home," Yuri said, turning his head into my eyes, "Romanov will make this happen." The Romanovs will never break their promises, and what they promised you, they will definitely give you. ”

"Yes, sir."

"Now, tell me what you have seen in the Riverlands," said Yuri, "and tell me all that you have seen since you left home." Tomorrow is another troubled day, but tonight, I want to hear a good story. ”

He gestured to the stool next to him and motioned for me to sit down.

"It's been a lot of trouble lately," he said, "and the pioneers are hard to please, and they're all odd-tempered fellows, and they're in conflict with the townspeople in the city, so they must come to me and ask me to order the townsfolk to apologize." Pioneers are such a spoiled bunch of people who don't know any politeness. However, now is the time to ask them to be careful in everything. Every day I worry about whether the pioneer falls while walking, and it will be counted on my head. However, it is also good to be so cautious, and there have been no major misunderstandings so far. Otherwise, I really don't know how to explain it to those weird pioneers. Hey, Victor, why are you looking at me like that? ”

"Uh" "Why don't you let a few people out of the dungeon first?" (To be continued.) )