Empire Calendar Year 2520, mid-October, Knight King of the Old World, Mu Xilon, Fontainebleau Palace.
Even though the Sun King had returned victorious and created another unparalleled military miracle, the duke's castle did not have the slightest bit of joy or joy. On the contrary, there were guards and troops everywhere.
This was because when Laing had just returned to Brittany, when a triumphant ceremony was held in the capital of Culona, when the knights proudly showed off their spoils of war to everyone, and when the Old Guard surrounded the Knight King and appeared on the Avenue of Triumph.
A well-planned assassination had happened.
The famous Tzeentech Cult had been planning this for almost a year.
The first thing that appeared were dozens of carts on both sides of the street. The carts were filled with kerosene and large iron barrels with bonfires. They rushed toward the formation together.
Then came the second floor of the buildings on both sides of the street. More than a dozen musketeers opened fire at the same time.
Then, dozens of executioners jumped down from the second floor, attacking the Sun King who was waving at the crowd on his warhorse.
Of course, these actions were not very useful. Laing was a peak Divine Domain expert in his original body. How could an assassination of this level be enough to kill him?
Then, a few grenades were thrown from nowhere, which was even more hilarious.
Laing only gently stretched out a hand, and all the bullets, bolts, arrows, and grenades that were flying toward him froze in the air. The Knight King clenched his fist and instantly exploded.
That was not the end of it. While Ryan was moving, an extremely fast Chaos assassin suddenly appeared behind Ryan from the void with a dark-blue dagger of the Demon Bird God's dimension stone, which was covered in a deadly poison. The dagger was aimed at Ryan, and the assassin attacked him.
Laing dodged in a flash. The next second, the Lake Goddess Witch Morgiana's magic hit the Assassin, turning him into white smoke and dying on the spot.
The assassination ended with a strong start and a weak finish. Laing ordered a city-wide search, and a small group of Chaos Cultists were caught. After confirmation, they were the followers of the famous Tzeentech Cult, "Red Crown" and "Colorful Flame Society". When they were still searching, all the Chaos Cultists suddenly burst into colorful flames and burned themselves to death.
Everything came to an end.
Even though only a few old guards and a dozen or so soldiers were injured in this incident, it still greatly affected the victorious atmosphere of the Great Expedition. Leon didn't say much about this. After holding a celebratory feast, he immediately ordered the army to be disbanded. He didn't plan to spend the winter in the capital, but rather to return to Mu Xilong's Fontainebleau Palace to spend the winter.
The inner hall of Fontainebleau Palace, the oval courtyard.
Suria, the queen of the Knight King, was wearing a luxurious queen's dress. She walked quickly into the palace with the help of two maids. Suria, who was also the head maid of the court, followed behind her.
"What happened to His Majesty?" Sulia asked somewhat anxiously. Her two slender and straight black silk legs were moving quickly.
"His Majesty is in a bad mood. He called for Lady Aurora and Lady Teresa from MI7, but did not speak to them. He just asked them to wait outside the hall, and so did the baron," Sylvia said anxiously to Suria, "His Majesty seems to know about the baron."
"Ah … Devenhill, he really …" Suria hurriedly lifted her skirt and walked inside.
As soon as the queen appeared in the outer hall, the two people in charge of MI7, Aurora and Teresa, who were sitting outside waiting for news, both stood up. "Madam."
"Mother." Devenhill stood up with his head lowered. Laing's eldest son looked very crestfallen. "Father asked us to wait outside. It's been two hours. Why is there still no news?"
"It's okay, Devenhill." Suria smiled and patted Devenhill's face. Then she looked at Teresa and Aurora, who were both nervous and uneasy. "It's okay. He's just angry. I'll go in and talk to him. You guys wait for a while."
"Okay." Aurora grunted unhappily. She bowed to Suria and sat down.
"Thank you, Madam." Teresa was very uneasy. MI7 was undoubtedly responsible for such a big assassination.
Suria nodded at everyone and then signaled for them to wait. She ignored the Old Guard on duty and pushed open the door to the room and strode in.
Sylvia also wanted to follow in, but the Old Guard immediately put down his halberd and signaled for the head maid to stop.
The Queen walked into the room and saw that the entire walls and ceiling of the luxurious bedroom were decorated with gold, red, and blue leaves. The floor was covered with painted carpets, and the chandelier was sparkling and dazzling. The decoration could be said to be the culmination of hundreds of years of great achievements, splendid and elegant. The interior was beautifully decorated. The ceiling and wall were made of walnut.
The wall on the wall was divided into several sections by the door and pilasters. In the middle of each section was a large painting. There were reliefs in the form of skulls, swords, books, and so on. These reliefs were not only white, but also colored or gold.
It was late autumn. The fireplace in the bedroom was burning. The Knight King, Laing, was lying on the seat in front of the fireplace. He seemed to be asleep. On the small table next to the seat, there were rolls of parchment.
Suria looked at her husband and couldn't help but chuckle. The female knight walked to Laing and sat down. "Okay, get up, Laing. I don't know if other people are pretending to be asleep, but I can tell that you're pretending to be asleep."
"ZZZ …" Laing was still lying there without moving.
"Get up. They're waiting outside." Suria tidied her dress. The female knight secretly took out a pair of soft-soled slippers from under the table and changed out of her blue stilettos. After putting on her delicate black silk feet, she reached out and pinched Laing's face. "Stop pretending."
"…" Clayon opened his eyes and hugged Sulia's seductive and hot body into his embrace. Amidst his wife's surprised cries, he kissed her hard on the lips. It was a deep and wet kiss until Sulia's breathing began to quicken. Only then did he let go of her and said with a smile, "I really can't hide anything from you, my wife."
"We've been married for so many years. What do you think I don't know about you?" Suria pinched Laing's face and leaned on his chest. "Are you angry?"
"Of course I'm angry." Laing hugged Suria on his lap. Knight King was dissatisfied. "This is such a big thing, and there's no news at all!"
"Didn't MI7 get the information about the possible assassination two days in advance?" Suria reached out and brushed her husband's furrowed brows to calm him down. Knight King then said gently, "You were the one who insisted that you weren't afraid of the assassination and wanted to lure the snake out of its hole."
"Even the capital has been infiltrated by the cult. Morgiana sent back news that she found three of the cult's bases in Kurona. Isn't that enough to prove the problem?" Laing's tone was unpleasant. Knight King said, "What the hell is MI7 doing? What's the annual budget for them? "
"It's because you're too indulgent with them. It's fine if they don't want to go to war, but you also approved their funding." Suria continued to complain. "You're not even that good to your wife."
"Hehehe." Laing couldn't help but kiss Suria's cheek again. Knight King laughed. "To like is to be presumptuous, to love is to be restrained. To them, it's fine as long as they're fed. To you, it's different. Suria, you're my rose. You're my flower. You're the only flower in the world that needs to be carefully nurtured and watered."
"Seriously, how can you say something like that …" Suria couldn't get angry anymore. Knight King could only blush and say, "Devonshire is just a little anxious. He's been making a fuss recently about saving the little queen."
"It's fine if he's making a fuss. It's a problem if young people don't make a fuss. It's easy for them to be hot-blooded." Laing shook his head. "But no matter what, it's wrong for him to yell at his uncle."
"Yes, it's our son's fault." Suria would be biased, but she would never ignore right and wrong. Knight King could only admit, "Uncle Anglo treats Devonshire like his own son, but he actually yelled at his uncle because of the little queen. That's too much, really too much."
"That's right. That's why we need to leave these guys hanging for a while and take them down a little." A smile appeared on Ryan's face. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Sulia's waist, hugging his wife. No matter how hard or tiring it was outside, home was the best shelter. "You terrible wife. You can't bear to take care of your son, so you want me to?"
"But he's your son!" Suria said angrily.
"He's still your son!" Laing retorted.
The couple looked at each other and smiled.
"There's no hurry. Let's leave them out for a while." Laing reached out and took a scroll. He asked Suria casually, "How's the grain storage this year?"
"It's a bumper harvest this year. The church's warehouses have added more than 33 million kilograms of grain, and the dukes' warehouses have also stored a large amount of grain." Suria picked the most important ones and said, "Our Mu Xilon and Zeon's warehouses have also added more than 40 million kilograms of grain. At the same time, more than 10 million kilograms of old grain have been released, including some that have started to have problems with insects. These old grain have been bought by the grain merchants in Marlin Castle on a large scale at a low price, and then sold to the Empire and the border princes at a high price."
"Yes." Laing nodded. The merchants in Marlin Castle had begun to smell something.
Unlike last year, the entire Old World's grain had begun to show signs of a large scale reduction. Other than the Brittany who still had a bumper harvest, the entire Old World's grain production had decreased by 10% to 15%.
In the past few months, the price of grain on the market had skyrocketed by 30% to 40%. According to the news from Schultz, the major grain merchants in Marlin Castle had all united together and held a 'peer discussion' to drive up the price of grain and hoard it. Suria had originally released three million kilograms of old grain to the Empire.
To be honest, this amount of grain was only enough for the starving people in the north of the Empire for a month.
The grain on the market had been emptied again. Other than the Nur who could buy grain from the Brittany through special channels, the remaining grain had all been bought by the major grain merchants in Marlin Castle. These rich merchants even shouted, "The Emperor's army can enter Marlin Castle, but the Emperor's decree can't enter Marlin Castle."
"It's in the nature of merchants to pursue profit." Laing sighed and shook his head. "Can't Schultz do anything?"
"Schultz can only manage the illegal and irregular activities. This is a legitimate business practice. Even if he's the Grand Duke, he can't act recklessly." Suria seemed very calm. The queen had grain in her hands, so she didn't panic.
"There will be a time to deal with them. Now is not the time." Laing nodded. The firelight in the fireplace flickered on Knight King's face. "The autumn harvest is still ongoing. Although the Old World's grain production has decreased, at least everyone has been harvesting. It's not the right time to act."
"Yes." Suria nodded. Knight King leaned back on her husband's chest and said hatefully, "Obien was very dangerous this time. Bodrick and Fedmond both deserve to die!"
"If they die, who will be the Grand Admiral?" Laing laughed. "Who will be in charge of the Sea God Fleet? Am I supposed to make myself the Grand Admiral? "
Suria rolled her eyes at Laing. She couldn't answer this question.
"Bodrick and Fedmond both have the ability, but they're still not used to the new military system after the military reform. They still think that it's like the vassal army in the past." Laing stroked his wife's back. "I've already warned them, and they've realized their mistake. We can't hope to get it done in one step."
"There's indeed no one else. Ever since the death of Grand Admiral Hood and Grand Admiral Henry, Brittany has lacked outstanding naval officers. Now, only Bodrick and his son Fedmond are qualified for this position." Suria could only admit, "The navy is different from the army."
"Yes, the navy is different from the army." Laing also smiled bitterly. As long as an army officer fought with him, he could quickly grow into a qualified general in a few years. Brittany now had many stars and talents, but the navy wasn't something that could be nurtured in a few years.
"About Gao Jing's envoys …" Suria continued to test her husband's thoughts.
When Laing wasn't around, Suria naturally oversaw everything. At this time, the female knight was the highest leader of the Knight King's Kingdom. After Laing returned, the queen had to discuss with Laing. She told Laing about Talleyrand's plan and added her own opinion. "What I mean is that we don't have to get involved in this mess. Gao Jing won't thank us. After returning from an expedition, even if we won a great victory, we've suffered nearly 15000 casualties. The kingdom needs to rest now."
"You're right. The kingdom needs to rest. We'll wait and see. Leave my son to me." Laing nodded.
Suria still wanted to ask something, but Laing glanced at the dwarf grandfather clock.
"Tell them to come in."
"Yes!"
"Yes … His Majesty allows you to come in." Raymond and Berliat, the deputy commander of the Old Guard at the door, answered one after the other.
Aurora and Teresa from MI7 entered first, and the eldest son, Devonshire, followed behind. Devonshire's eyes lit up when he saw his father holding his mother's hand and sitting side by side. However, he immediately saw the warning in Suria's eyes and quickly lowered his head.
Aurora, Teresa, and Devonshire all knelt down and bowed.
"Please rise and have a seat." Laing raised his hand towards Aurora and Teresa, indicating that the two witches could sit. Teresa and Aurora weren't surprised.
Devonshire saw this and quickly got up.
"Who said you could get up?!" His father's voice was like a storm and lightning. "Kneel!"
Devonshire was frightened by Laing, and his little face was filled with tears. He subconsciously looked at his mother, but Suria closed her eyes and didn't look at him.
Devonshire knew that things were serious. He regretted what he had done to Uncle Anglo, but he didn't care.
Devonshire quickly knelt down and bowed his head to the ground.
Aurora and Teresa were also shocked. Laing was no longer the same as before. The Knight King's every move was as unpredictable as a thunderstorm, a spring breeze, a summer sun, and a winter snow.
However, the mother and daughter still had someone to rely on. Laing ignored Devonshire and smiled at them. "It's none of your business. How's the thing I asked you to do?"
The mature and beautiful witch tidied her long skirt and took out a long scroll of parchment. "This is the result of the investigation you asked us to do, Your Majesty."
Laing took the parchment and motioned for Suria to read it with him.
Ten minutes later, the Knight King let out a long sigh. "Well done, my dear Theresa and Aurora. You have done well in this matter. I should reward you well."
Without waiting for Teresa and Aurora to thank him, Laing took the parchment and laughed. "Good guy, I'm a good guy."
On the parchment were the results of many years of investigation by MI7.
After many years of investigation, the Cult of Chaos, which had more than 30,000 people (including peripheral members) in the Empire, had been counted, including their main areas of activity and possible headquarters.
There was a long list:
Scarlet Skull Order.
Brass Sisters.
Axe Brotherhood.
Wounded Veterans Brotherhood.
Scarlet Oath.
Nur Brotherhood.
Dark Purple Hand.
Red Crown.
Wheel of Shattering Order.
Colorful Flame Order.
Esoteric Sect.
Children of Misfortune.
Rotten Stomach Followers.
Nurgle Carnival.
Tobias Butcher Association.
Prescott Medical Symposium.
Entertainer Association.
Gucci Art and Costume Association.
Emerald Scepter.
Wester Fine Members Association.
And the "Yellow-tooth Cult" that believed in the Horned Rat, which was specially marked by Aurora.
The Yellow-tooth Cult, a large Cult of Chaos, was so arrogant that a few believers openly killed several demon hunters and battle priests on the streets of Karonburg and then committed suicide without being found out. Because all the attackers were killed or committed suicide, the identities of the dead had been erased. The local nobles investigated for several weeks and found no clues. They could only think that it was a vendetta.
"There's one more important thing, Your Majesty." Teresa continued to report, "In Nur, Baron Frey Derick recently found an altar of Khorne in the secret underground tunnel of the Armoured Nur barracks! It shocked the entire Nur City. "
"What?!"
"In addition, the wife of the White Wolf Elector, Boris Todbringer, was recently found out that she was actually a believer of perversion and a core member of the Mildenheim Perversion Cult – Emerald Scepter," Aurora also reported, "Annie Taillis is the daughter of the Grand Duke of Nord, Theodoric Geisel. After Elector Boris learned and confirmed the truth, he was extremely grieved. He ordered his second wife to be killed with poison and announced to the public that she had died of illness. He is now extremely depressed. All the military and political affairs have been handed over to the palace ministers, and he has shut himself in."
Laing was speechless.
"Very good, a hundred flowers are blooming and a hundred schools of thought are contending. Some people are already starting to get restless and want to welcome their master to the South."
"Let's do our best first!"
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