"Locke, do you think His Majesty is behind all this? That illegitimate son, Earl Wyksas, was pushed to the front as a puppet? "Duke Kempis asked.
Now, Duke Laurist, Duke Kempis, Duke Filim, and Duke Shahin had all left the capital with their families and armed forces. They followed the national highway to Port Qilin, where they would board a ship to Sirovas Island to discuss countermeasures and avoid the summer heat.
What surprised Duke Kempis was that Laurist had turned against His Majesty so decisively. It could be said that he did not give His Majesty any face at all. If His Majesty announced that the Norton Family was a traitor, the Andinac Kingdom would once again fall into the flames of war. As the three major families of the four northern families, they had no other choice but to stand with the Norton Family against the entire kingdom.
Actually, you can stand with His Majesty and denounce Laurist and the Norton Family's treason. Duke Kempis said to Duke Shahin and Duke Filim.
We're not fools. This was Duke Shahin and Duke Filim's reply. Submit to His Majesty? It was not that Duke Shahin and Duke Filim had not thought about it, but based on their understanding of the second prince's character, they knew that as allies of the Norton Family, they would definitely become the first batch of cannon fodder to attack the Norton Family once they expressed their intention to side with him. Compared to His Majesty, they felt that it was safer to stand with Laurist. Even if their family's armed forces were destroyed, they would not have to worry about being annexed by the Norton Family. On the contrary, Laurist could even help their family revive.
"Yes," Laurist replied with a gloomy face. "You told me that last year, the Snow Salt Merchant Guild and the Ontario Merchant Guild had a competition for the salt market. You won against the Ontario Merchant Guild and caused them to lose nearly a hundred thousand gold coins. Think about it now. A hundred thousand gold coins is a huge loss for any merchant guild in the kingdom, and they might not be able to recover in a short period of time. But haven't you noticed that the Ontario Merchant Guild is a little dispirited now?
You have to know that the Ontario Merchant Guild is not one of the old merchant guilds in the Commerce Alliance. It is just a new merchant guild founded by that person's illegitimate son. Moreover, after it started, it provoked competition with the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce, intending to monopolize the entire kingdom's salt market. It didn't matter that it lost nearly 100,000 Gold Coins after failing. It was obvious that someone was paying for it behind the scenes. Moreover, after you won the competition in the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce, you were assassinated one after another by a Great Swordsman. Obviously, this was an act of revenge. Just as you said, your intuition told you that it was the instigation of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
Then we can easily conclude who the mastermind behind the Ontario Chamber of Commerce is. Do you think that an illegitimate son of a scoundrel who grew up in the streets would have the strategy and courage to plot against a Grand Duke like you? Did he even have the confidence to bear the consequences of losing the competition? Furthermore, he had sent a Great Swordsman to assassinate and take revenge. Did he have the qualifications to order a Great Swordsman to do so? It's obvious that only someone standing behind that illegitimate son is qualified to do so. Do we even need to guess who that person is? "
Duke Kenneth's face paled. Laurist's words made him shudder with fear, "But I don't understand. Why would His Majesty act against the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce and me? I'm just a merchant. I don't hinder His Majesty's hegemony, nor do I have the qualifications to threaten His Majesty."
"You think too little of yourself." Laurist laughed, "The war is over. Everyone knows that there will be a period of peace and rest. Now that the external threat has been dealt with, His Majesty will be thinking about internal problems. Do you think there is anything in the kingdom that His Majesty is more worried about than our alliance? No. If His Majesty wants to deal with internal affairs, he can't bypass our four families. That's why he urgently wants to break up our alliance.
I suspect that His Majesty has his eyes on your Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce because he knows that it is the link of interest between our four families. This is especially true for the Şahin and Filim families. They rely on the dividends they receive from the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce to quickly recover the vitality of their family territories. The strength of their families' armed forces also recovers quickly. It's only after the commercial competition failed that His Majesty targeted you. Without you, the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce wouldn't be a threat.
I don't have any evidence to prove that His Majesty sent a great swordsman to assassinate you. It was only a guess and suspicion at first, but I found out that the illegitimate son bullied the kingdom's nobles who came to attend the ceremony. His newly established chamber of commerce was able to pull out guards led by a Gold-tier swordsman. My suspicions deepened. Without His Majesty's support, how could the Ontario Chamber of Commerce have such a strong guard force? Your Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce only has Silver-tier guards …
Especially when I slaughtered the guards of the chamber of commerce and destroyed the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Do you still remember how angry His Majesty was at me? He was like a child whose favorite toy was destroyed. He was so hysterical that he didn't even care about the right or wrong of the matter and asked me to give him an explanation. This made me sure that he was the one behind it. Now that things have come to this, what else can I say? Why should I care about his face? Of course, I turned against him and left. "
Duke Filim, who had been listening by the side, nodded. "Locke, your analysis is very reasonable. But what do you think His Majesty will do next? Will he declare us traitors? "
Count Şahin, who was next to him, said, "I don't care whether we are traitors or not. Anyway, even if our four families face the entire kingdom's military forces, we can guarantee victory. I believe that other than the Fisablun family, the other nobles are not so stupid as to be willing to risk their lives for His Majesty. The last time they listened to His Majesty's lobbying, they fought a bloody battle with the Trade Union for three years. More than half of the kingdom's lords have yet to recover. Moreover, His Majesty's promise at that time has not been fulfilled. Who will listen to his orders?
What I'm worried about now is whether His Majesty will cast aside all pretenses of cordiality and send the Royal Guards to chase after us. To him, it might be a good idea to hold our families in his hands and use them to threaten us. If we return to our families' territories, he won't be able to get rid of us even if he declares us traitors. He knows that the Royal Guards and the White Lion Legion cannot defeat the four families' armed forces. Why don't you let the Imperial Guards kidnap our families and bring them back, then slowly bargain with us … "
Duke Şahin's words left everyone speechless. Now, the four families' armed forces combined did not even have five thousand people, while the Royal Guards numbered 45,000. It was almost ten times the number of soldiers. If what Duke Şahin said was true, then His Majesty would declare the four families to be traitors while sending the Royal Guards to besiege them. Even if Loriste was a sacred swordmaster, he would not be able to withstand the attack of an entire legion. Especially now that the families of the four families were together, this was indeed everyone's weakness.
Loriste muttered, "If he does this, then he will not rest until one of us is dead. This is practically gambling the future and fate of the Chrison Royal Family. I believe that he will not lose his rationality. He should understand that the consequences of doing this will be to force the other nobles to our side. No one will be willing to listen to the orders of a king who does not trust his words. Moreover, will he really be able to do this if he wants to?
We have just left the imperial capital, and it will take us two days to reach Port Qilin. I have already sent people to keep a close eye on the Royal Guards' barracks and city gates. If he really sends the Royal Guards to chase after us, we will be the first to receive news. All of the carriages have been reinforced, and they will be able to travel for two days. When the time comes, Kemus, Felim, and Redi will escort our families ahead of us. Shahin, Roth, the Ferocious Tiger, and I will stay behind with our families' armed forces to stop them.
Even though the Royal Guards outnumber us by ten times, I believe that we should be able to stop them for a day or two. We do not need to defeat the Royal Guards, we just need to slow them down so that they cannot catch up to our families. As long as our families board the ships at Port Qilin, they will be safe. As for the garrison at Port Qilin, they are under the orders of our family. They will not care about His Majesty's edict. "
Kemus heaved a sigh of relief, "I knew that the Norton Family would not allow His Majesty to do anything to the market that they set up in Port Qilin. The garrison is one of our own, and the road ahead will be unobstructed. We will do as you say, Locke. The pursuit of the Royal Guards alone will not be able to stop us. As long as we return to our family's territory, we will establish our own kingdom with Locke as our king. We will separate from the Andinac Kingdom, and we will slowly settle the score with them in the future … "
Kemus's plan was that if His Majesty declared the four families to be traitors, the four dukes would establish their own kingdom after returning to their family's territory. They would elect Lolist as their king and attack the Andinac Kingdom with the Andinac Kingdom as their enemy. He believed that in less than two years, the four families' armed forces would be able to conquer more than half of the Andinac Kingdom's territory and gain the support and support of the nobles. They would then trap the Emperor of Resurgence, who thought that he could revive the Crimson Empire, in the capital and continue his dream of reviving the Empire.
Lolist shook his head in confusion, "I don't think that's the time yet. If we take the initiative to establish our own kingdom, people will think that His Majesty's declaration of us as traitors is a crime worthy of the name. I think that when we return to our family's territory, other than strengthening our defenses, we should not take the initiative to provoke them. We can only wait for His Majesty to launch an attack on us and declare our independence after we win. That would be better …"
Duke Filim let out a long sigh, "Locke, it's not that I want to criticize you, but you are still too indecisive. Don't worry too much about the Norton Family's unparalleled loyalty. It is His Majesty who is forcing us to rebel and slandering us as traitors. At this moment, we should take the initiative. If we establish our own kingdom, we will not have to worry about His Majesty's safety on the battlefield. Otherwise, if anything happens to him on the battlefield, we will have to bear the stigma of killing a king … "
A rider galloped over from afar, finally stopping the messy discussion.
"Your Highness, His Majesty has caught up." The rider was a guard that Lolist had stationed at the city gate.
"Has the Royal Guards been mobilized?" Lolist asked anxiously.
"No, the Royal Guards have not made a move. His Majesty has only brought a dozen men with him," the guard replied.
Lolist and the rest looked at each other. What was the second prince up to?
"Perhaps His Majesty is here to delay us so that the royal guards have enough time to chase after us …" Duke Gammus guessed.
"Hehe." Lolist laughed coldly, "Let our families and troops continue forward. We will wait here and see what His Majesty has to say."
Soon, the second prince arrived with a dozen or so guards on horseback.
"Brother Locke, how could you turn around and leave without saying anything? It's all my fault. I just investigated and found out that you are not to blame for what happened today. It was my rascal who went too far and offended the dignity of the Norton Family. You were right to kill him. I shouldn't have thought that you didn't give me face by starting a massacre on the main road of the Imperial Family, so I lost my temper and blamed you. It is my fault, and I hope you can forgive me. After all, there are only two days left until the coronation ceremony. I am very anxious and worried that something will go wrong. That is why I lost my temper under the provocation … "
The second prince approached and grabbed the reins of Lolist's horse. With a sincere smile, he apologized sincerely for his outburst of anger two hours ago. He repeatedly begged Lolist and the other dukes to return to the capital and not leave just like that.
Laurist and the others tried to decline again and again, but the second prince still held onto the reins of Laurist's mount tightly. Half an hour later, Grand Duke Fisabulon arrived with a group of nobles of the kingdom. At the same time, they tried to persuade Laurist and the others to stay.
It was only when night fell that a few guards who were monitoring the Royal Guards' encampment arrived and quietly reported to Lolist that the second prince did not send the Royal Guards to pursue them. Only then did Lolist change his mind. After a discussion with Duke Kenneth and the rest, he finally agreed to the second prince, Duke Fisabulon, and the other nobles' request to stay and return to the capital.
But at the same time, Laurist rejected the second prince's request for the families and armed forces of the four dukes to return to the imperial capital. He used the excuse that their families were already frightened and did not want to stay in the imperial capital. They would go to Syrovas Island for a summer vacation to soothe their frightened hearts. If they insisted on returning, Lolist and the rest would also refuse to go to the capital.
The second prince had no choice but to agree to this request. He allowed Lolist and the other dukes to bring less than a hundred guards back to the capital to participate in the coronation ceremony in two days. At this moment, be it the second prince, Laurist, Duke Fisabulon, Duke Kaimus, or the other nobles of the kingdom, everyone knew that there was a deep gap between the second prince and Laurist. In the future, the two of them would no longer be able to cooperate as closely as they did with the trade alliance. Even if the Krisen Empire was restored, the future conflicts of the empire would still be between the Norton Family and the royal family …
… …
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