March, Year 2522 of the Empire Calendar. Brittany's winter had just passed and spring had just arrived.
The return of Sun Wang Laing and Queen Suria sent the entire kingdom into an uproar. Just as the Lady of the Lake had said, Laing and Suria would return in at most three months.
After two months, the three factions that had been secretly plotting and contacting each other saw that Laing and Suria had returned. On one hand, they were relieved, but on the other hand, they were secretly sighing. As a political couple, the absence of Laing and Suria was a huge, fat piece of meat that everyone wanted to take a bite out of.
Unfortunately, the couple had returned too quickly. If there had been no news of them for a few more months, and they had tried all sorts of methods to save them, the conservative knights and nobles would have really made their move.
Laing was not surprised by this. As a transmigrator and the successor of Macado's thinking, Laing knew that the entire bureaucratic system he had built was enough to keep the country running for a certain period of time. Bureaucratic systems were inertial. The human Empire system established by Macado had kept the Empire running for three millennia before it collapsed in the war of the Rise of the Beasts. As his successor, Laing's bureaucratic system was naturally not weak.
Mu Xilon's Fontainebleau Palace. With the appearance of Laing and Suria, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Even Regent Lauen and Chief Minister of the Imperial Cabinet, François, who were far away in Culona, had rushed over. They were a little uneasy.
Laing's prestige was too high. This time, even Morgul, which the wood elves had spent thousands of years to deal with, had died under Laing's sword. If Laing blamed them for acting arbitrarily without instructions, then Lauen and François would have a lot of trouble to deal with.
Fortunately, Laing only briefly looked at the situation of the past few months and did not say much.
In the conference hall of the Fontainebleau Palace, Regent Laurent and his father-in-law, François, reported to Laing and Suria about the work of the past three months. Laing's two female courtiers, Veronica and Teresa, also arrived.
Laing found it interesting that Veronica's face was calm and relaxed. When she saw Laing, she was only happy. On the other hand, Teresa's face was full of grievances. When she saw Laing, she almost cried.
What was going on? Laing felt a little strange. He noticed that Morgiana had shrunk her body a little unnaturally. He wanted to hear the report first.
It was worth mentioning that due to Laing's disappearance, the Lake Goddess had lost her source of energy to stay in the mortal world. Naturally, she could not travel for long periods of time. Although the disintegration of the Great Maelstrom and the Great Guardian had given her more space to move, the goddess was still weakened. She had temporarily left Brittany for business.
Behind the long table in the conference hall, Laing and Suria sat side by side. Everyone had a feeling that after Laing and Suria had disappeared for a few months, their strength, temperament, and state had changed greatly.
As the regent of the kingdom, Laun reported three important things.
The first was that the Church of Justice's crusade against Sylvania had basically finished gathering in Brunswick. On the Brittany side, Cardinal Al- Frey had also led an army to Brunswick to respond. The army was estimated to be between 25000 and 30000 people. Because it was a crusade army, the number of battle priests, ascetics, and paladins in the army far exceeded the normal number. In contrast, the number of firearms and elite soldiers in the central army of the Empire was relatively low.
"It's worth mentioning that according to MI7, the Church of Justice has encountered great difficulties in military and logistics." Laun reported to Laing and Suria with a document in his hand, "There's also the army. The cost of large-scale mercenaries is very high. This has caused the Church of Justice, who was originally rich, to fall into a situation where they can't make ends meet."
"That's normal. The Battle of Martyrdom in Tarfjord happened less than four years ago." Laing nodded slightly, "The original organization of the army won't be so easy to restore. So, how does Archbishop Vicmar plan to solve this problem?"
"Archbishop Vicmar didn't focus on this aspect. He only ordered the major parishes and their chanters, cardinals, and regional patriarchs to solve this problem on their own." François stroked his goatee. His father-in-law took out a thick parchment from a stack of documents, "The subordinates of the Church are forced to do nothing by a short time and a very high amount of money. Under the situation where the results of fundraising are not good … Your Majesty, you know that the Empire's situation is not good recently."
"Yes, I know. So, what is this?" Laing took the parchment, glanced at it, and was instantly shocked.
The parchment was stamped with the Church's seal, and the words "Redemption Voucher" were written in black ink.
"In the name of Charlemagne, your sins are forgiven." The densely written words roughly described the Church's forgiveness for the sinner and punishment for his crimes, which were offset in the name of money.
This redemption voucher came from Rick Hill of the Empire, and the price was 30 silver coins each. It was stamped with the Church of Justice, Helmgarth, and the crime was drunkenness and petty fighting.
How did they even come up with redemption vouchers? Laing was both angry and amused, "The people of the Empire believe in this? Isn't it obvious that this is a scam? Isn't it too much to treat the people as fools? "
Laughan and Francois smiled bitterly when they heard this. Sulia took the voucher and couldn't help but frown after looking at it a few times. The female knight covered her forehead with her hand, speechless.
"Facts have proven, Your Majesty. Under the very bad situation and various threats, the upsurge of faith in the Empire is even more fanatical than before." Laun spread out his hands, "People are rushing to buy redemption vouchers, just to seek redemption and to have Charlemagne forgive their sins. Many people believe that this can be redeemed. You underestimate the desperation of people in this dark age. They will try to grasp at any life-saving straw."
"But this trick can't fool everyone." Laing said speechlessly. The Knight King almost wanted to curse, but when he thought that this was not his kingdom, nor the kingdom's god, he could only endure it.
"Yes, some of the Church, including Cardinal Al- Frey, and some of the nobles of the Empire, including Emperor Karl-franz, have expressed their dissatisfaction either openly or secretly." François nodded, "But almost all the civilians have expressed their support for this. The Empire and the dissatisfied factions in the Church can't say anything. Now what the Empire needs is stability. Moreover, as a compromise, the Church's redemption vouchers will be taxed by the Empire, which is a lot of money."
"Some people even came to our door and asked when the Church of the Lady of the Lake will sell redemption vouchers. They can't wait." Morgiana, the Witch of the Lake Goddess, interjected, "I asked the Lady, and she didn't support it, but she didn't oppose it either."
"Let's move on to the next thing," Laing said helplessly.
"The second thing is that after the previous battle, the Wood Elves have all retreated into the forest." Laun then reported the second thing, "Your Majesty, the military alliance we signed with Aleil seems to have been unilaterally annulled. Currently, the Wood Elves have promised that the Aleil Army is now stationed in the Chalon Forest. Fortunately, the Twilight Sisters have reaffirmed the rule of mutual protection … But this is obviously not a military alliance."
"This is normal. This is the aftereffect of defeating Morgul. Our strange neighbors probably think that they can completely shut themselves up." Laing said in a deep voice, "This matter doesn't matter. Just send someone to inform the Wood Elves that I'm back. I'm sure the attitude of Aleil and Aleil Army will change immediately."
Everyone present felt a chill in their hearts.
Is this Laing? His prestige alone is enough to make the group of isolationists change their national policy?!
This matter was settled. Then Laun said the third thing.
The three Brittany Crusade Army and the Expeditionary Army in Araby reported.
The Nicohalla Desert was awakening. According to Kalida's news, the Immortal Emperor Sytra had ordered all the King of the Tomb Legion and all the war machines to wake up, as if preparing for an unprecedented war.
"Pay close attention to the movements of the Tomb Kings. Try not to clash with them head-on. If you can't, ask Queen Kalida for help, or withdraw directly to the mainland." Laing then ordered, "At this juncture, we'd better not suffer any more huge losses."
"Yes!" Laun and François both expressed their understanding.
After the three matters were dealt with, Laun and François immediately proposed the idea of "returning the government". The Kingdom's Regent and the Chief Minister of the Cabinet hoped to return the power to Laing, but unexpectedly, Laing refused. "I need to go into seclusion at Fontainebleau. I need to go into seclusion to break through to the demigod realm."
"Your Majesty, there's a new breakthrough?" Laun suppressed the shock in his heart and asked, "Did you find it in the subspace?"
"Sort of. I need a few months of seclusion, and Suria will be with me." Laing nodded. "During this time, I'll have to trouble you to continue to govern, just follow the existing square formation."
"Yes." "Understood." Laun and François had no objection.
In the next few months, Brittany would continue to operate according to the previously set up bureaucratic system.
The only difference was that Laing was back.
The Sun King spent three days arranging a lot of things, including letting Talleyrand accept most of the diplomatic affairs, letting Berliat be in charge of military and supervision, and arranging a series of national policies. Then he was ready to go into seclusion with Suria.
Sure enough, as soon as Llane returned, the wood elves' attitude immediately took a 180-degree turn. Queen Aleil personally sent a message, reiterating the military alliance and trade agreement between Exilorun and Brittania. She even kindly stated that Exilorun and Brittania had a friendly strategic relationship, that the history between the two sides was a friendly history, and that they were close friends. Queen Aleil also sent a letter to His Majesty the Sun King and Queen Suria to express her gratitude and best wishes for their destruction of Morgul.
The Twilight sisters' Aleil army also expressed their willingness to follow Laing and Suria's orders.
But Laing was now busy in seclusion and had no time to pay attention to this group of pointy ears.
In addition, in three days, Laing also did a major thing, and that was to once again order the Old Guard to retire from the army. Among them, more than seventy retired from the Old Guard, and thousands of free infantry regiments were forced to retire. Among them, the most outstanding ones did not return home, but entered Laing's palace as bureaucrats and continued to hold positions. Their loyalty and ability were tested, and after many years of experience in the army, they were also proven to be excellent managers.
Since then, the "military transfer" system that Laing had carefully planned for more than ten years was officially established.
Three days later, Laing and Suria entered the training room of the Fontainebleau Palace for seclusion.
On the way in, Suria was still laughing with Laing about what had happened before, about the conflict between Morgiana, Teresa, and Aurora.
What happened in Laing's backyard? In fact, the problem was very simple. Morgiana didn't like Teresa and Aurora's way of doing things from the bottom of her heart. After Laing and Suria disappeared, the first thing Morgiana did was to seize Teresa's title and fief.
Yes, Morgiana immediately ordered the Knights of the Holy Grail to seize Teresa's full set of Countess clothes, seal, and crown, and also temporarily seize the fief. With this arrangement, the title and fief of the sorceress were frozen on the spot.
Teresa and Aurora felt wronged. The sorceress was so angry that her face turned pale. She immediately questioned Morgiana, saying that this was clearly the title and land that Laing had given to her. How could she take it away?!
Morgiana said that she didn't take it away. The Lake Goddess Witch naturally said that it was just that there was no precedent for a witch's title and land before. Laing also didn't talk to her about it, so Morgiana said that they just needed to "discuss it and study it". After the study and discussion were done, they would naturally return it to her.
Teresa then looked for the regency group headed by Laun and François. However, the knights and nobles also didn't have a good impression of Teresa and Aurora. Naturally, they wouldn't support her at the risk of offending Morgiana.
In this way, Teresa's title and fief were seized. Veronica smoothly took over the title and fief and began to exercise her power as a Countess. However, Teresa was still stuck here and couldn't move a step. When Laing finally came back, the sorceress was in tears. She quickly seized the opportunity to complain to Laing and asked him to uphold justice.
Laing found Morgiana, and Morgiana took out a series of evidence, including evidence of Aurora's "embezzlement of intelligence funds for personal enjoyment and overpricing of many palace procurement projects."
Laing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Didn't he know about Aurora's problems?
Of course, he knew. He knew better than many people. However, seeing that the mother and daughter were his female courtiers and Xi'er, he turned a blind eye to it.
However, Morgiana brought this matter to the light, and Laing had to punish her. He first settled Morgiana with the price of "15 days", and then he gave a stern warning to Aurora and Teresa. In the end, the title was conferred.
That was the end of this matter.
"Speaking of which, so many retired officers have entered the palace. Is it really okay?" Suria asked a second question. The female knight sat opposite Laing in the training room. "I remember … Father didn't agree with Brother Kiriman's idea and never left a place for these people in the Human Empire and the Supreme Council of Tara."
Laing needed to digest the sub-space substance, the Four Gods of Chaos, and the power of the Elven Gods' avatars that Morguer had devoured.
Suria needed to digest the power of the Elven Gods' avatars, as well as a small part of the power that the Emperor had given her.
Laing couldn't help but smile. "I am father's successor, but this doesn't mean that I have to follow all of his policies. I have my own considerations. My dear, do you know where our Brittany's real weakness is compared to the Empire on the other side of the mountain, Karl-franz's Empire?"
"?" Suria was puzzled.
"Let me put it this way. The structure of a regime is like a pyramid. The top is the sacred value, the middle is the organization, and the base is the basic governance." Laing nodded slightly, and the gray knight spoke softly.
"And the solution to this problem is to establish a bureaucracy."
"And the core of our bureaucracy is to change the military!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
