Section 122 foreshadowing

The bell rang at the door of the room, interrupting the conversation.

"Come in. Byron frowned and shouted.

A uniformed officer walked in, Byron's butler and retainer named Turner, arguably one of Byron's most trusted men.

"What's the matter?"

"About the Magic Teleportation Scroll......" Turner said. "Lord Duke, I remember the last time I told you that there was a new 'Scroll' Chamber of Commerce that was now an agent, and they sold all the scrolls made by the Church on their behalf. ”

"I know. Byron replied. To be honest, it's really not a good thing that such a chamber of commerce has popped up, and the price of the scroll has more than doubled. "I remember asking you to make an agreement with them to make a large purchase. ”

Buying in bulk is always cheaper than buying in bulk, or at least not more expensive than buying in bulk.

"But, Lord Duke, we seem to have a better choice. Turner said.

"What do you mean? Didn't the church say that all the magic scrolls were represented?"

"That's right, the Reels Chamber of Commerce said, they have two shipments. Turner reported. "One is the kind of magic teleportation scroll we've been using in the past, and the retail price is a hundred Jewels. The other is much cheaper and costs half the price. ”

"Ah, for what?"

"It is said that the second type of scroll is flawed in its manufacture and is more prone to breakage. But they also assured that the scroll was exactly the same as the first one in terms of magical communication effects, and that nothing could go wrong. Those businessmen strongly recommended the second option to me. According to them, if there is no need to go long with the scroll, then the second option is much better. Lord Duke, we don't need to store this kind of thing for a long time anyway, so I recommend using the second one in the future. ”

"It's a little thing like this, you just have an idea. Byron replied. "It's just a small thing. ”

Now his spies in Eagle Falcon City every day send the latest information through magical communication, plus other aspects, the consumption of such scrolls is very large. Although it is said that the savings are small money, as the saying goes, mosquito meat is also meat.

Turner left, and Byron once again focused on the map in front of him. It's a map of the whole country, not the rough stuff that you see everywhere on the streets, but a real boutique. It is a masterpiece crafted by a master cartographer. The map is drawn on special paper with special oil paint, which is waterproof, fireproof and insect proof.

Small pieces of paper were placed on the map to clearly illustrate the situation of the various forces in the country.

Although Byron decided that the little queen was a rabbit's tail and could not grow, in fact she did not seem to have collapsed because of financial problems, but on the contrary, continued to expand her power. In any case, she is indeed the rightful queen of Gruny, a descendant of the Makremiz family, so her expansion can be said to be easy. Only those who have strong public opinion, or have the power of an independent army, can stop the Little Queen's White Eagle Banner.

By changing magistrates and demanding taxes and hostages from the little lords, the little queen's power has expanded around Eagle Castle. In addition to this, the western part of the kingdom is also fully supportive of the Little Queen. This is because there are no particularly powerful lords in this place. In the absence of a popular basis, the local officials in these places still obey the queen's orders.

Thankfully, with Byron's preparation (and it must be said, he was very forward-looking), these places could not provide enough financial support for the little queen. This is because he has already "pre-collected" enough money. If the little queen tries to get more money from these places, it will centrifuge the people.

As he pondered the question, Byron was actually a little confused. There was unmistakable news from Eagle Falcon City that Ashrufat did not know why he was not the prime minister, but the chancellor of the exchequer. Not only that, but he also left the city as Chancellor of the Exchequer, left this center of power, and ran to some other inexplicable place. He could understand it as the fact that Ashrufaat's political level was not high enough, or that he was young and lacked skills, or that the Eagle Falcon City was far from being as harmonious as it seemed, and there were great contradictions inside. But the question is......

That little girl seems to be able to handle everything on her own.

It's hard to believe that, at least when Byron was regent, he didn't see anything extraordinary about that little girl. It should be just an ordinary little girl, although she has inherited a noble bloodline, but she has nothing but a noble bloodline.

Is it a hoax? Or is this really the real power of that little girl? As the saying goes, fire knows real gold. Just like the great heroes or wise men recorded in some stories, he is usually not seen in the ordinary crowd, and only at a certain time will he show his side that is far beyond mortals?

Byron shook his head, throwing the already meaningless thought out of his mind. He has gone too far and everything is already irretrievable. Now he and the little queen have no chance of reconciliation, or the little queen has cut off this opportunity from the beginning. Now it's just a life-and-death struggle.

Besides, his capital is much stronger than that queen now. Likening it all to a gamble, he has already got the best cards for himself at the beginning of the game. In fact, in his plan, the little queen is not in trouble at all, and the real trouble is Rafa, who is located in the north at the moment and has a heavy army. If it weren't for that Ashrufat, even Rafa wouldn't be a problem.

In addition to the troubles in Eagle City, there is Rafa. After all the momentous things that had happened, Rafa remained the most stoic of silence. He remained to the north to this day, seemingly unaware of anything, at least not making any public statements. Of course, Byron knew that Rafa was waiting—but he didn't know what he was waiting for. Did Rafa think that little girl could win this battle?

But in any case, Rafa can wait, at least for a while. Because the budget at the beginning of the year did give priority to Rafa (and also paralyzed him), so that he did not have much financial problems for a year. In addition, if Byron's power wants to go north, he must control the falcon city, which means that he and the little queen will have a decisive battle.

Byron did not want a decisive battle, let alone give up such a great strategic advantage, and chose to fight on the battlefield. Time is on his side, and over time, both of his enemies will face difficulties because of financial problems, but he will not.

However, it is not an option to drag it out like this. The sooner things are resolved, the better, and if it drags on, things change.

"Lord Duke!" a call from his subordinates pulled him back from his musings.

"What's the matter?"

"Lord Duke, the Queen now controls a large area...... Moreover, according to intelligence, she often used methods such as changing garrisons, removing governors and other officials to establish her control. In this way, she may be able to establish her own rule. The subordinate reminded loudly.

"Well, it's a pity she's a little girl after all. Byron said. "I've heard that she always replaces the garrisons with the Guards Corps. In this way, on the surface, it seems that the rule is determined, but in fact it is to exchange the elite Guards regiments in their hands with second-rate garrisons in various places. This is typical of picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelon...... If it were me, I'd do it in a more clever way. I will rotate the garrisons between the regions, on the one hand, to ensure the combat effectiveness of the Guards Corps, and on the other hand, to consolidate the rule. ”

"However," one of his subordinates skillfully slapped a sycophant. "It doesn't matter what she does. Our little queen only gets a drop in the bucket from these cities, and she won't last long. Lord Duke just has to be patient. ”

Byron smiled. That's his favorite way to put it. Unconsciously, this strategy has become a basic idea for him, and it can even be said to be the spiritual pillar that allows him to maintain self-confidence in the face of all kinds of unfavorable information.

......

"Let's do it!" the little girl made a quick decision. After saying this, she looked around at the ministers present, and everyone already knew that this was a hint from Her Majesty the Queen to say that the meeting was over. So, one by one, they stood up and said goodbye to the queen.

Now, they looked at the little girl's expression without any contempt or arrogance. The bloodline of the Makrémiz family has not been lost, and the little girl shows insight and strength that is completely incompatible with her age. To be honest, being able to list almost all the big nobles in his country as traitors in one breath is not something that ordinary people can do.

Although at first, most people resolutely resisted the queen's order. Everyone knew how stupid it was to push all the neutrals to the enemy's side in this situation, but the little queen insisted on staying the course.

This was understood at first as a kind of childishness, a stupidity, arrogance and paranoia peculiar to girls of this age. Many people have even found a way back for themselves, waiting for the collapse of this newly built palace. But it turned out that the little queen was not at all stupid except for this, on the contrary, she was sophisticated, cold and cunning not at all like a girl of this age. Those tricks and tricks didn't work against her at all, and not only that, but those who tried to play tricks almost didn't end well.

In the eyes of these ministers, sitting on the throne at this time does not look like the rubber stamp of the past. Some even wondered if some demon had possessed the little queen.

At the meeting just now, the Secretary of State for Commerce had already received a stern warning from public for dereliction of duty. This is because he left a little selfishness for himself when he was in charge of dealing with the confiscated "traitor property". No one knows how the little queen knows the truth of the Dao, but she knows the truth of the Dao, and then reveals it little by little, brutally crushing the stupid and useless resistance of the other party. She didn't have the hesitation and vacillation that a girl of her age should have, nor did she have the bluntness that she debunked in one breath, on the contrary, she seemed to enjoy watching the other person lie and struggle.

Everyone saw the Secretary of Commerce sweating profusely on this not-so-hot morning. However, the final result was good, and the queen gave him a chance to change his ways, and gave him two days to put everything in order.

Although many predicted that the newly built court would be short-lived, as countless debts were destined to drag it to death. But facts seem to prove that this is a complete rumor. At least, so far, the little queen has not had any financial problems. Either the falcon city has a huge wealth hidden in the city that no one expected, or the debts owed over the years are far less than the legend says. In short, at least for now, there are no financial problems. Of course, no one knows the specifics, because Ashrufat has a firm grip on this. In the current Eagle Falcon City, except for a limited number of people such as the Little Queen and Eshurufat, no one knows what the situation of the Dao Treasury is.