Anyway, I should visit Yuri.

Yuri lives in the home of a large merchant in Little East Lake City, who is said to own an entire street of shops in Little East Lake City. After the Romanovs captured the small city of East Lake, the merchant and his family were among the first to come and be loyal. With the support of the Romanovs, the family easily eliminated his rivals in the city of Little East Lake, and now, at the behest of Kalinin, the trade of the city of Little East Lake has been carried out to the various princely domains, and Ivangelrod is the headquarters of the family's inland trade. The house belonged to a tribune who had followed the puppet king to the west many years earlier and joined the rebels, after which the property was confiscated by the council and changed hands many times among merchants and nobles before being purchased by the merchants of Little East Lake City. As soon as I entered the front yard, I saw two drained pools, which are said to have been planted with Salander lotuses, and in the summer, the scenery is stunning. Now there was only a puddle of silt and some dried plant roots, and when the plague came, the Salander gardener who tended the pool died, and after that the pool was deserted, and the plants rotted and emitted a stench, so that the pool had to be drained and set aside for other uses. The merchant seemed to be preparing to convert two pools into two warehouses, and I saw some craftsmen carrying bricks and plaster bags at the same time.

Behind the pool is a courtyard, also Salanderan, with several stone benches for resting. It was filled with emissaries who had come to visit Yuri, each with a gift. Some of these emissaries came from the monasteries, some from small merchant families, and they all hoped to be nominated by the assembly of nobles. People know that. Yuri will represent the three Grand Boyars at the Noble Assembly, and he can nominate a total of ten to fifteen boyars. This means that Xiaodonghu City can make two civilians among the boyars this year with its own strength. That's a great power. Although the majority of the places of the Grand Boyars. They are used to nominate candidates for each other's allies, but the Grand Boyars will always have a few free spots in exchange for a large tribute, or the allegiance of certain individuals.

Since the death of the patriarch in a foreign land, bishops have generally been reluctant to nominate abbots for the rank of vicar in order to maintain their dignity. After all, the smaller the number of bishops, the greater the existing bishopric power. The Church also reached an agreement with the council that when a dean was nominated to be a vicar. The bishops had to nominate at least four of them, so that the affairs of the church would not be greatly influenced by the nobles. The bishop of Little East Lake was a bad precedent, and Kalinin resolutely appointed his own bishop despite the opposition of the church, and tried to press the church through the council to make the bishop recognized. The church dislikes Little East Lake even more deeply than it did in the past when Little East Lake City was preparing to convert to the Western Church.

I asked one of the attendants when I could see Yuri.

He said with an annoyed expression, "Victor. Don't mess with me at this time, there are too many people to arrange. Do you have to join in the fun? ”

"I've been here twice."

"It wasn't me entertaining guests at that time, what does it have to do with me, you helped me bring that merchant from Chude City to the backyard. Daddy Vladimir will receive him. Can I count on you? ”

"I'd like to ask Yuri-sama when he's free."

"How do I know?"

I knew there was no hope left for the day, so I took out a letter and gave it to the squire. "Help me get the letter to Yuri, and I'll help you bring the merchant over."

"A letter. Good. "The attendant took my letter and carried it in his bosom.

I led the merchant to Vladimir.

Vladimir had a colder attitude towards me. I can't help but think of Alexey. I said that the merchant had come to visit him, Vladimir nodded, told me that there was wine and bread in the kitchen next to me, and if I was hungry, I would find myself something to eat, and then he left with the merchant.

The merchant's servant carried three chests and led a horse, on which sat a young lady. This must have been a gift for Yuri-sama.

I had three bags of tattered luggage, a mule, and on top of the mule sat two Kugits. I thought sourly in my heart.

What the Romanovs promised me would generally not have come to fruition. However, the meeting of the nobles has not officially begun, and it cannot be said too absolutely until the last day. But when I think about it, I really don't have any good reason for the Romanovs to support me, because I made it too early to express my intention to return to the west, and if the Romanovs supported me, they would lose a nomination opportunity that could be exchanged for friendship. As for the benefits that I persuaded Kalinin at that time, it will not take long to see the real results. Kalinin could have said perfunctorily that in a few years, when the city of Little East Lake had profited from the Eastern trade, he would nominate me.

Now I have two bishops, and with the help of Copernicus, I have received a nomination from the town hall. That's a great place to start.

While thinking about the problem, I walked out to meet Iyu, who was waiting for me.

"Didn't see Yuri again?"

"No, he's busy."

"He's busy, yesterday he took in three little girls, and today I saw another one go in, he's busy messing with a big woman's belly."

"You can't talk nonsense, he's courting an earl's daughter, and he won't mess around."

"How old is this Yuri? Thirty-five or forty? "You call him like a virgin, and that doesn't change the fact that he's a shriveled old pervert." ”

"yes, he's a shriveled old pervert."

Iyu laughed with me. I smiled and laughed at the thought of Mycella, and I couldn't laugh anymore.

When I returned to my accommodation, Copernicus soon learned that I had not seen Yuri again. We discussed the countermeasures, but we didn't know if the letter would be effective. In his letter, Copernicus promised that if the Romanovs kept the treaty, the pioneers would provide the city with a great deal of information and give priority to the city in trade. Among such promises, the intelligence component may be attractive to the Romanovs, but trade. It can only be said that it is dispensable, after all, the Romanovs know their value to the pioneers. In trade, it is not necessarily who depends on whom.

After discussing it for a while. I pulled out a list that Giovanni had written for me. He told Copernicus that these princes had some friendship with Giovanni, and that maybe they could try it with them.

"Friendship?" Copernicus was a little curious, "What friendship?" ”

"This Dragovich is Ivangorod's ** officer. When he was running for the ** office, he asked Giovanni to help him frame his three opponents, and Giovanni left the letter evidence of the ** official. I went on to say to Copernicus, "And this Kravchenko consul, in order to get his uncle's inheritance." Ask Giovanni to assassinate his uncle's two sons; And this General Steiner, a coward, abandoned his army and absconded in the Riverlands, leaving all his soldiers at the hands of the Burke cavalry, and in order to cover up his deeds, Giovanni testified to him that General Steiner fought until the end, and was finally eliminated along with the old count of Valankov, and finally heroically fought his way out of the siege alone. The last Mason, he was the Great Boyard of Ivangelodes. However, he often hallucinated, often publicly claiming that he had an angel of war by his side to help him fight, and many people accused him of heresy, but Giovanni helped him escape the Inquisition. ”

"''Giovanni calls this relationship friendship?'

"It's a hundred times more reliable than friendship."

"Nonsense." Copernicus frowned and pointed out, "A hundred times more reliable, why didn't you go to them in the first place?" ”

"I'm not stupid. Shall I go directly to the door and say to them? 'I know what you're up to, nominate me'? Then I guess I'll be stabbed with a dagger in the night. Then throw it into the stinking ditch and rot. ”

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." I said to Copernicus, "But Giovanni said." There are quite a few of his friends here, and they can be asked for help. ”

"Friends who pinch each other's handles again?"

"No, no, it's the kind of friends who drink and sleep with women."

"How do you find them?"

"Giovanni said there are in every tavern."

"It's still too dangerous." Copernicus said, "Even if you entrust someone else's hand, it is useless." As soon as you ask for it at the end, these big boyars will always find you'''Wait a minute, do these people know each other?'' Or do these people know from each other that Giovanni has pinched the handle of the others? ”

"They are both Ivangelode's Great Boyars, and it is certain that they know each other. But their respective handles are probably not known to others. I said to Copernicus, "If this kind of trick is known to others, they will be attacked long ago." They all have their enemies, and if this news leaks out, who will let go of such an opportunity and not attack them? ”

"In other words, if you threaten all four people at the same time, they will all think that they are the only ones who are threatened?"

"Exactly. And they will do everything possible to cover up this matter, once they are threatened, there are only two ways to go, the first is to get rid of the people who threaten them; The second is to admit it without saying a word. ”

"How many Valans are likely to be nominated this time?"

"What nominated Valans?"

"Are there any other Varan warriors and civilians nominated for boyar?"

"This "still needs to be investigated."

Then I, Copernicus, and Crucedel turned our heads toward Iyu.

Iyu was smoking a shisha and was startled when he saw that we were all looking at him, "What are you looking at me to do?" ”

Copernicus threw him another bag of coins, "I want you to get a list." ”

A quarter of an hour later, Iyu was once again counting the money and walking down the stairs, and I set off to look for the Varan lurkers inside the tavern.

There are many taverns in Ivangelod, but not many that sell spirits. I searched a few places, and found that there was only one tavern called 'Mountain Fern Roots' that sold spirits such as wolf shearing, and if the Valan Lurkers were to choose a place to base their stronghold, this would probably be the place to satisfy their appetite.

The tavern was full of people, most of them citizens who had come to rest for a while, and some soldiers chatted and bragged here. There was a strong smell of alcohol in the tavern, and a fat woman carrying a bucket of water used a mop to scrub the vomit off the wine table. Taking advantage of the woman's inattention, a drunkard pinched her fat breasts, and the woman picked up a mop and beat the drunkard under the table with several sticks, causing a burst of whistles and cheers.

Giovanni said to me at the time. I'm sure I know how to find the Valans'', but I don't know! I thought he would take the time to tell me, but I ended up walking too quickly to care. Moreover. I wasn't prepared to rely on these Valan lurkers in the first place, at this time. I didn't know what to do anymore. I sat for a moment, staring at the men around me who were drinking, and they all looked like Varan lurkers. I ordered a cup of shearing wolf fur and a roasted sheep's head, and ate it with a dagger as I cut the skin off the sheep's head while thinking about how to find the Valans.

Finally, a drunken man sat down next to me, "Boy! You must be a thief! ”

"What do you say?"

"As soon as you come in, you look around, what do you want to steal? This is the territory of the Dead Rabbits, if you know each other. Don't have any bad ideas! ”

I looked at him, and he looked at me, and I felt that this person took the initiative to come over and guess there was something else to do.

So I said tentatively, "Long live the Duchy of Valan?" ”

The man was drinking, and after listening to my words, he squirted out the wine in his mouth, then stood up and stepped back, only to tripped over the bench and fell to the ground. He stood up and fled as if fleeing the plague.

Damn it. Not this person.

I clawed at my head, thinking about what to do next.

A waiter with a plate, thinking someone was fighting, walked up to me with a few glasses of wine, "Holy. If you want to fight, go out and fight, don't make trouble here. ”

Well, if it's a Valan lurker. It's a good idea to disguise yourself as a waiter, and you can get all sorts of news. Can you take the opportunity to poison the enemy's wine, could it be this person? The squire appeared to be in good shape. If it's a Valan, it shouldn't be a strange thing.

I looked him in the eye and said cautiously, "Prince Giovanni will win?" ”

The waiter shuddered with fright, and several glasses of wine fell to the ground, and the wine spilled on the ground, and a dog came to smell the sound and lick the wine on the ground.

The waiter picked up the glass from the ground in a frenzy, looked at me one last time in horror, ran to the edge of the bartender, and exchanged ears with the bartender, glancing at me from time to time.

I scared two people away in quick succession, and the other men in the tavern became suspicious, and many of them began to look at me with strange looks. Some people don't know what's going on, but feel like it's not going to be a good thing, so they hurriedly check out and leave the tavern. The atmosphere in the tavern cooled down all at once.

At this time, it seems that we can only be more proactive.

With my glass in hand, I walked over to a group of bald businessmen and said, "Varankov persistent? "--- they ran;

Then I walked up to an old man who looked full of wisdom and whispered, "Hit the parliament, the principality is independent?" "--- old man's dentures fell out in fright;

Then I went to another civilian and whispered, "Execute the butcher Kalinin?" "--- the commoner huddled in a ball, and then took out a gold coin and handed it to me, and I looked at him suspiciously, and he found two more, and I looked at him, and he gave me all the money bags in a trembling manner, and then sped away like an arrow off the string.

The more people in the tavern were completely confused, and for a moment they all got up and ran around me. A citizen who had just come in saw a group of people rushing towards him, and he was so frightened that he turned around and ran.

Soon the cries of the citizens were heard in the streets, "The remnants of Valan have entered the city!" "Soldier! Soldier! Come and catch someone! "That tavern is a Valanwo!"

I immediately prepared to flee, and escaped from the tavern, and found that the citizens in the street had spread the word by the hundreds, and some of them thought that the Valans had been overwhelmed by a large army, and that the gates of the city had been broken, and that they were scurrying in the streets.

Finding an alley, I ran in. The alley turned around, but in the end it was a dead end, and when I turned back, I couldn't find a way out. As I was looking around, a strong arm almost lifted me up and pulled me into a hut on the side. Vaguely, I was dragged down a few long stairs by the man, and I felt like I was underground. When I finally saw the light, I realized that the person who had captured me was the woman with the mop in the tavern. It was a slum settlement under a bridge, surrounded by several gates that led to the bottomless beneath, and in front of me there was a bonfire and a group of men with unscrupulous faces.

"Who would be so stupid as to be so swaggering?" The woman puffed me and threw me to the edge of the campfire. "Who wants to find the Valans so much?"

"Varan lurkers?" I said curiously.

"What Valan lurkers?" A man said. "That sounds stupid."

"Giovanni asked me to find his hidden friend Varan."

"So you're going around intimidating drinkers?"

"I don't know how to find you."

"It's a liar," a man rubbed his two daggers against a piece of coarse leather, "and he doesn't even know how to find the Valans." ”

"Giovanni didn't tell me."

"Kill him." A man in a blacksmith's apron said angrily.

"Who sent you?" The woman asked.

Giovanni said. I'm having trouble finding you in any tavern. ”

"Why are you looking for us in that tavern today?"

"Only there are spirits sold."

"It's somewhere else, too."

"That's all I've found so far." I pulled out a dagger that Giovanni had given me and threw it at the woman's feet. "It was given to me by the Prince."

Several men gathered together to look at the dagger, "Ordinary Valan military dagger." You can kill any of the Valan soldiers and you will get one. ”

"I fought side by side with the Valan soldiers in Varankov! Now Giovanni and Joy have gone to Creel together, and I asked for the fleet for him. ”

"The frog's belly that eats an elephant is not half the size of your boast."

"Giovanni will always contact you, and then you will know that I am right." I said to them, "At least six hundred Valans have seen me, I have served in the jungle barracks, I have been to the Riverlands with Giovanni, I have seen Giovanni in the Siege of Valankov. His command post was built underground, a converted wine cellar. Am I wrong? ”

"That's how the prince sent you?"

"I didn't plan to come here, but I did encounter some difficulties and needed your help."

"Since the siege of the city, Ivangelod's business has been confiscated, and we have no source of income. Some of our brothers were discovered by the parliamentary soldiers, some were arrested, some were executed. There are spies of the council everywhere, you come and tell me. Why should we believe in you instead of killing you? We have heard that Prince Giovanni has been arrested on the Ryazan River and will soon be executed in the city of Xiaodonghu. But you told us that the prince had fled to Creel? ”

"Yesterday at the town hall meeting, some Creelians heard that Giovanni went to Creel, and you were his friends. But haven't you heard of it? ”

"That's just a rumor."

"Cervanni's death isn't necessarily a rumor?"

There was a sound of footsteps. Behind the light and shadow of the bonfire, many figures appeared.

Here are some Valan men in tattered gear. Some of them have asymmetrical bracers, some of them have chain mail that looks like battle flags that have been burned by fire, and some have leather armor that has been bitten by rats. One by one, the Valan soldiers of the past, the current lurkers, emerged from the deep tunnels. I prayed that one or more of these people had served in the jungle in the past, so that they might have an impression of me, that I had written letters home to these people in the jungle, and that if they had come to me, they would remember me.

The men were looking at me from across the campfire, their faces dancing with black and red light.

"Who the hell are you?"

A man asked.

I took out Giovanni's brooch and his iron ring, dropped them at my feet, and then I pulled out a flag from Giovanni, the oldest in Giovanni's army. If these things don't convince the Valans, then I really can't prove myself.

"I'm Victor the Valan." I said to them, "Warriors of the Duchy, I need your help. ”

The next day.

The Valans in my bedroom listened to Copernicus's plan over and over again, and Copernicus told each of them to repeat their plan until they could all blurt it out.

"Well," said Copernicus, like a wise man, speaking the truth in his calmest voice, "the plan is all in your heads, and not a single thing is to be revealed." Anyone who buys you, kill him, and then you will be rewarded twice as much with me. ”

Some of the Valan Sleepers muttered something like 'The Valans will never be bought', but most of the Valan Sleepers nodded their heads, indicating that they understood what Copernicus meant.

A few minutes later. In the night, these varans lurked out of my bedroom. Went to the manor of Giovanni's 'friends'.

According to Copernicus' plan, the Varan lurkers would harass the estates of the Grand Boyars. They are required to nominate at least one of several Varan candidates to become a boyar. These varan candidates came from Denia, the city of Lesser East Lake, as well as Fort Ryazan and Ivangorod. Among these people, one was a Valan soldier who served the prince of Denia; One was a prince merchant from Ryazan Fort; One is the illegitimate son of Little East Lake City; There was also a knight of the Guards of Ivangelod. The Prince of Valan did not ask them to nominate a Valan, he only demanded that at the Council of Nobles, the name of the Valan must be nominated. Because Giovanni was the prince of the Valans, he would help his people in a foreign land, even if he was exiled!

The Varan lurkers threaten these big boyars that if they don't comply, then what they fear day and night will return. And overnight it reached the ears of all the nobles. At the same time, the Varan infiltrators had to convince the boyars that the prince had made an agreement with certain princes, and that if the Boyars did not comply, they would be happy to use the evidence in Giovanni's possession against them.

As a sign of determination, the Varan lurkers nailed a shield with a long iron nail to the gates of many of the Great Boyar's estates, on which were written the Valans' favorite words.

Early the next morning, at the meeting of the nobles. Angry nobles came to the council with some shields, saying that someone was making trouble in their estate. In the chaotic and noisy crowd, I carefully observed the expressions of the four great boyars, and one of them had the same face as usual. The other three had a sad look on their faces.

Privately, I asked Copernicus, "Why did you bring in other Valans?" ”

"These Valans come from various princely realms. In this way, it would be difficult for these great boyars to guess which prince was actually calculating them. Facing the four princes and the Grand Boyar with unknown attitudes. These people will not dare to act because they are afraid. ”

"Really?" I thought for a moment, "In case all the four big boyars nominate someone else." Then I'm not without anything. ”

"There's no one-size-fits-all strategy." Copernicus said, "But think of it this way, if only one of the four boyars chooses you, you will have achieved your goal." Moreover, the Valan lurkers mainly wanted to convince the nobles that this was nothing more than a demonstration by Giovanni. They were all very intelligent people, and they probably expected that Giovanni's real favorite Valans were hidden among these four people. These four nobles will instinctively resist, so they will never choose this man. After all, they were given the condition that if they chose a Valan, Giovanni promised not to shake out their details, and they tried to guess who Giovanni wanted to support. Kalinin's feud with Giovanni is well known, and for this reason, they may deliberately choose the Valans from Little East Lake City, that is, you. So, your chances of getting them nominated are greater than the other three. ”

"I'm a little dizzy."

"Those four big boyars are even more dizzy." Copernicus said, "The only pity is that for the sake of one of your nominations, four 'friendships' of Giovanni were consumed. ”

"Don't worry, Giovanni still has a lot of 'friendship' in his hands."

Copernicus: "''''"

Over the next few days, the nobles who had been harassed by the remnants of Valan quarreled with each other in the council, accusing each other of being lackeys of the Duchy of Valan, and political opponents insulting each other and even fighting.

However, the respected Judge Dragovich swept away the gloom of mutual suspicion and shouted for tolerance and consideration in the noble council.

"Is it because of the harassment of a group of Valans that we don't trust all Valans? It's like a wolf hiding in a flock of sheep, and after we have driven the wolf away, do we have to punish the remaining sheep? Valan, let me say that only ten out of a hundred people have listened to Giovanni's demagogy, and the remaining ninety are still good people! Why do we blame the Valans for the fault of ten people? Let's put aside our preconceptions, the Valans are our brothers! ”

At the nomination of the day, the once hard-line anti-Valanists, Officer Dragovich, in line with the principle of tolerance, nominated a brave Valan soldier from the city of Denia to become the boyar. This made the Valans and anti-Valans in the parliament very unaccustomed, and for a while, there was a confusion among the nobility.

Then, Archon Kravchenko said that the official's statement is very correct, the Valans are friends and brothers of the Vychians, and the saddest thing in the world is the wall of brothers, and in the face of the great enemy of the current Berks, Kravchenko called: "All the Vycians and the Valans!" Stick together! Against the Burkes! ”

Amid loud applause, Kravchenko nominated a decent businessman from Ryazan Fort to be a boyar.

Mason the Great boyard expressed disdain for the appeasement of the ** officials and the consuls. He believes that the rebellion of the Valans is a fact, and any nobleman with a conscience should not deliberately curry favor with the Valans, especially when the Valans are very rebellious, they should use iron and blood to make the Valans learn to obey! Mason Grand Boyard won a large number of supporters for such a statement, and he did not nominate any Valans.

Two days later, when General Steiner finally walked up the steps to speak, I closed my eyes and prayed.

General Steiner told several touching stories about how on the battlefield, Valans and Vecchian soldiers fought side by side, and that if there were no Valans in Eastern Wikia, many battles would have been rewritten. He reviewed the glorious history of the Varans, and also reflected on the injustice of the Vykians towards the Varans, saying that the old era is over, and the new era will come in the mutual support of the Varans and the Wikians.

"Let more Valan boys join our legion, such as a young Valan soldier, which I admire. The people of Valan should be proud of such a lad, and I nominated him to be the boyar. He is," General Steiner said after a pause, "Victor the Valanite of Little East Lake City." (To be continued.) )