Section 118 trouble

The two friends were drinking in the tavern again.

Here is a medium-sized tavern near the grain warehouse. In the city of Fornoros, this tavern is already considered a high-end place, mainly for customers such as the staff of the Chamber of Commerce.

This time, both of them did not have the joy of normal friends meeting and drinking and chatting, but maintained a not-so-normal silence.

"Bairheim...... You're probably going to hate me to death. After a long time, Essien finally said something to himself.

At this morning's meeting, Byron made public the discrepancies between the grain books and the actual existence of the grain reported by Essien, and severely criticized his eldest son, Bairheim. At the meeting, the Duke of Byron was furious and scolded Byerheim in a bloody tone, and his tone was so harsh that it even made people feel that it was too much. After scolding, Byron emphasized again that if this kind of thing happens again, then he will punish him severely, regardless of his relatives!

However, scolding and scolding, at least Byron's ruling is "no loan for the next severe punishment", not "no loan for this severe punishment". After all, Bairheim was Duke Byron's son, and he was not punished except for bowing his head and receiving a scolding from his father. But the next look in his eyes at Essien was not ordinary hatred.

At the conference table, Essien and Cleo sat next to each other, and both of them could clearly see the gritted teeth on Bairheim's face as he looked at Esin.

"Don't worry," Cleo reassured, though these words were unconvincing, but it was better to say them than not to say them at all. "Bailheim is still young after all, and it will be good to wait until he matures a little more. ”

"Young......" Essien sighed. "Cleo, how old are you?"

"Twenty-eight," Clio smiled wryly. "My brother, who is a year older than me...... My son can go out hunting. Anyway, there is no hope for inheritance, but unfortunately I ...... I didn't get a proper position, and no one was willing to marry my daughter to me. ”

Usually noble families marry earlier (the more aristocratic the more so), but among the nobility, there are also some women who can't marry and men who can't marry wives. The former lies in the absence of a dowry, and the latter in the absence of a title. This is a normal phenomenon, mainly in the middle layer of those who are not high or low. These "middle-class" aristocrats generally had only one title of nobility, and they usually had strong ambitions. It can be said that it is precisely because the desire to climb up the mountain is so strong that Clio will easily defect to Byron's men. However, due to the failure of the coup d'état, Byron's original promise to Cleo and Essien is now unfulfilled, at least temporarily.

"Don't worry," said Essien, "it won't drag on for long." To be honest, I can't believe our little queen would do such a thing. ”

What he said was the latest announcement by Byron at the meeting today. The little queen had previously issued an edict requiring lords everywhere to pay the arrears of taxes for the past year within a month, otherwise it would be considered a rebellion. Of course, in the current situation, how can anyone listen to the little queen? When the joke is almost the same! Everyone is the little queen's order is the wind in their ears, and there is even a group of people waiting to see the joke -- watching how the little queen is going to slap herself and eat back what she said. Unexpectedly, this little queen was either too young and impulsive, or she couldn't see the general trend, and actually declared all the noble lords as traitors.

This order really blew everyone's mind. Some people give a thumbs up, but many more scold them for being stupid. Because in this way, more than eighty lords in the country were declared rebels, and they were to be stripped of their titles, confiscated their lands and property. The total strength of these lords is as high as forty or fifty thousand people, and now they are all going to be pushed to the enemy of the little queen.

Of the three parties facing off at the moment, everyone knew that the little queen who occupied Eagle Falcon City was the weakest party. This is true regardless of troops, finances, and manpower. But it was the weakest side that did just that. In fact, according to a popular belief, the little queen's finances may not last much for the month.

The fact that she was able to survive last month was an unexpected thing in itself.

"That Ashrufat......" Cleo said suddenly, taking a long sip of his wine. "Essien, to be honest, I'm starting to feel the kind of ...... you used to have Intuitively. ”

"Ah......h

"Ashrufat is obviously not a fool, how could he do such a thing? Is he really dependent? I don't know what Lu Dao is for, I always feel very uneasy...... Perhaps the Duke's plan will not necessarily succeed. ”

"The little queen's debt is astronomical...... "Essien replied calmly. "Although Ashrufar is a real tycoon, he ...... This is a country's debt. Even if he staked all his possessions, he would not be able to fill such a bottomless pit. ”

"But...... Didn't that man teach us more than one lesson? that time we both thought that the victory was in hand, and the little queen would not be able to escape the palace...... But he escaped from the palace with the little queen anyway. Next, we didn't all think that the little queen would definitely not be able to escape from the royal city, but she still escaped with her. We thought we wouldn't be able to do anything even if we escaped......"

"But that was because we underestimated his individual abilities, and this time it was different. Essien said. The two friends don't know when Lu Dao changed his position. It used to be Essien's concern, and Cleo retorted, but now it has become Cleo's concern, and Essien retorted. "Unless that Eshurufat has a bit of alchemy, or if he can be like the big liar in those children's stories, he can write a letter and get millions from the Chamber of Commerce. Otherwise there is no solution. ”

"Speaking of which, Essien, did you know that the last time the little queen really appointed ministers...... What position did Ashrufat hold in the last place?" asked Cleo suddenly.

"General, Prime Minister, or both?"

"No, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. Both the posts of General and Prime Minister are vacant. This in itself ...... Something is wrong. Also, he manages his finances very firmly and does not leave loopholes for outsiders to drill. ”

"It means that he knows that the financial problem is a matter of life and death for the little queen......" Essien mused. "But to be honest, I don't understand?"

"I don't understand either. I don't think anyone can understand Ashrufat's true intentions. Clio replied.

"It doesn't matter if no one reads," Essien said. "The Duke has already sent someone to contact the lords who have been declared traitors, and in three months, our side will definitely have a lot to gain. When the time comes, even if Ashrufat suddenly comes up with an alchemy and solves the little queen's financial problems, we will have three times more troops than him. ”

Indeed, the little queen has naturally been trying to strengthen her control during this time, but Byron has not been idle. Especially in diplomacy, he achieved a lot of results, signed a large number of secret agreements. Now the little queen's side has made another stupid move, forcing (or about to rebel) a large number of lords, making Byron's situation can be said to be the icing on the cake.

Now they knew that during Byron's many years as regent, the city of Fornoros had gathered a private army that was entirely loyal to Byron. It was a large army that was no weaker in total strength than the Guards Corps, well-equipped and well-trained, and all the middle and lower rank officers were men of combat experience who had been transferred from the army at Byron's behalf. Byron spared no effort to embezzle the treasury and borrow heavily during these years, and the greatest achievement was to build this shining sword.

This is also Byron's trump card - in his original plan, if he can control the little queen and the Guards through a coup d'état, then even in the end, he will have the strength to compete with Rafa on the battlefield.

From this point of view, Byron's promise to Essien was indeed true, and he could have held a position in the army (not in the current situation, of course).

"By the way, the messenger last time...... You say, that messenger of General Bayrell...... Did you make any agreement with the Duke?" Essien changed the subject.

"There have been no tangible results. But General Berrell gave a hint that the civil strife in Gruny must end as soon as possible, or else...... The danger of a barbarian invasion is too great. No other country, including the church, will remain on the sidelines as it does now. ”

"Ah...... How does the Duke answer?"

......

Byron sat in his place. As mentioned earlier, the city was once a royal city, and this chair under Byron's ass was once a throne. So at this moment, he was sitting alone, and the other subordinates around him were all standing with their hands down, and the scene was no different from that of the king. As many of those present believed, the only difference between Byron now and a real king was time – in another year, or two, Byron would be king.

Of course, this moment is not Byron sitting bored, but having a meeting. Byron had a habit of holding such small meetings in addition to formal councils. In such small meetings, the number of participants was relatively small, and not necessarily high-ranking officials, but all of them were Byron's closest and most trusted people. Both meetings are almost equally important, and the results of the meetings will be implemented.

While in Eagle City, Essien and Clio were often present at such meetings (if they had free time). But when they arrived in Fornoros, they were completely disqualified from attending such a meeting. After all, Byron was an outsider to Falcon City, with a limited range of cronies, but Fornoros City was his home turf, and the people here were all his favorites or loyal servants of the family for generations.

“...... Lord Duke, this is the record for this month. "Someone handed over a document to Byron. In this small meeting, Byron seemed much more casual, and his attitude was not as serious as that of the formal meeting.

"Hmm...... That's a problem. Byron looked at the numbers on the slip. It records the amount of money spent during this time, which is a necessary expense for every lord - but it is a large enough amount.

Of course, this is not because the officials of Fornoros are particularly well paid, but because Byron took a very large number of his subordinates with him when he retreated from the royal city. The result of this was that the little queen had to form a court from scratch, which had been delayed for a while (which had taken the little queen nearly two months so far), but on the other hand, these people were a problem for Byron at the moment, because the city of Fornoros did not have so many positions for them.

At present, everyone is paid according to the treatment of the past, which is also an important source of this large number.