PS: In today's first update, I saw a lot of people saying that the previous chapter was lousy and that I was being perfunctory. What I want to say is that in order to add more chapters yesterday, I started writing the second update after returning to the dormitory at night and continued writing until eleven o 'clock. When I finally finished writing the second update, I was so tired that I couldn't even open my eyes. However, in order to keep updating or procrastinate, I persisted until two thirty in the morning before I finished today's first update. Furthermore, I had planned to write such content for a long time. I had watched a lot of TV broadcasts and articles, and I also looked up a lot of information. I can understand if you don't appreciate it. I admit that I'm lousy, because I know that I'm lousy. However, if I was really being perfunctory or had a bad attitude, would I have worked so hard to write the second update yesterday?
In the future, it's better to do less thankless things. I'm already tired, and it's uncomfortable to sit for a long time.
In any case, I'll add another chapter today. The Emperor apologizes here.
… I'm the dividing line that separates the main text and the PS …
A Kurfürst around forty years old, wearing an extremely luxurious Kurfürst suit with a lot of gold and silver jewelry hanging on his body and a colorful feather hat on his head, stood in front of Laing. His face was full of arrogance and harshness. His silk coat was embroidered with the pattern of a golden sun and a golden fleece. Obviously, this was the family coat of arms of the Kurfürst family of Tuscany. Two swords were hanging on his waist. One was the Kurfürst Holy Sword of the Empire, and the other was a short sword made of dwarven runes enchanted with silver. He was very handsome, but his gloomy expression and poker face ruined the lines of his facial features.
"Allow me to introduce you. This is Marius Leitdorf, the new Kurfürst of Tuscany, the Grand Duke of Aviv, and the Grand Count of Aviheim." The emperor patted Marius' shoulder with a smile. "The last Kurfürst, Umberto Corleone, has finally decided to retire after serving as the Kurfürst for two hundred years. Marius, as his fifth grandson, is an expert at the peak of legendary. During the competition for the position of Kurfürst in the family, he defeated all the competitors with the two swords in his hands and distinguished himself. I believe that you will have a lot of communication with each other. Marius has always been the firmest political ally and military partner of our family. The friendly relationship between the Rick Domain and the Ivy Domain can be traced back to the lofty friendship between Charlemagne and Sigurd, the first Kurfürst of Tuscany, two thousand years ago."
"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Laing Macado." Marius squeezed out a smile. "If there's a chance, I'll definitely ask you for advice on swordsmanship."
"You're always welcome." Laing extended his hand and shook hands with Marius. The crown prince of Brittany hesitated for a moment. "Mad … count?"
"Hahaha …" The emperor couldn't help but laugh when he heard the term "mad count". Marius, however, did not react at all. He replied stiffly, "They asked for it."
Laing, of course, knew Marius. He certainly paid attention to the change of the Kurfürst in the Empire. After Marius Leitdorf was elected as the first successor of the Kurfürst, the first thing he did was to announce that the Mute Domain could not impose a high "calf tax" on the merchants of the Ivy Domain.
What was the calf tax?
In the Mute Domain, the homeland of the halflings, in order to protect the interests of the halflings and prevent the humans from overoccupying their homeland, the halflings would impose a "calf tax" on the humans who entered the Mute Domain. In other words, any human over 1.3 meters tall who wanted to enter the halfling town would have to pay a high tax. The purpose of this tax was to protect the Mute Domain, the largest granary of the Empire, from being retaken by the humans.
But as everyone knew, no matter how good a tax was, as long as there was no follow-up and supervision, it would eventually become a tool for the ruling class to accumulate wealth. As the halflings kept raising the calf tax, the Ivy Domain, one of the wealthiest provinces in the Empire, could not stand it anymore. The first thing Marius did after being elected as the successor was to lead the Knights of the Golden Fleece, the Knights of the Black Bear, and the special expedition army of the Ivy Domain to declare war on the halflings in the Mute Domain and ask them to lower the calf tax.
However, the halflings got a broken steam tank from somewhere. They added a trailer to the back of the steam tank and installed the famous halfling crucible in the back of the tank. Relying on this steam tank, the halflings and Marius had a great battle on the border. After that, Emperor Karl-franz came out to mediate. The Ivy Domain and the Mute Domain signed an agreement. The halflings would lower the calf tax and Marius would withdraw his troops.
Marius Leitdorf, by virtue of this unexpected and wild shrieking on the battlefield, his personal charge, his violent manners, and his wicked sense of humour, received the nickname of "the Mad Count."
By the way, Marius Leitendorf's brother was called Hans Leitendorf. He was the leader of the Knights Templar mentioned earlier and the immediate superior of Alfred Frey.
As for how this broken steam tank came to be … Laing thought that it must have something to do with Emilia.
It could not be helped. In the previous invasion of Tarim Khan, the army of the Ivy Domain was busy guarding the Black Fire Pass and did not participate. The emperor was also fighting with the Chaos Gang in the Brass Fortress in the Hawk Domain. Nur was extremely dissatisfied with these two provinces. During this period of time, the two sides had a lot of friction and hostility toward each other.
After the introduction of Marius, another very strong middle-aged man, who looked like a bear, stood in front of Laing. He was wearing a bearskin coat and a lake-green cloak. On the back of the cloak, there were patterns of ships and waves. His hair and beard were gray, and there were many wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He had a long goatee that hung down to his stomach. He looked like a real northern warrior, stubborn, tenacious, and fierce.
"I think you may have met him before. Theodoric Geisel, the current Grand Duke of Nord, the holder of the Elector of the Kingdom of Nord, the Grand Baron of Northumberland, the Fear of Northumberland. You have all made great contributions in the process of resisting Northumberland's invasion. Perhaps you have a lot to talk about." The emperor raised his wine glass.
"I've met him before." Theodoric Gethel (to avoid confusion with Theodoric, Duke of Beleon) spoke in a hoarse voice. He was no longer young. "Leon was just a knight-errant at the time. He was wandering around Nord, looking for a chance to advance."
"How's King Harald's health?" Laing raised his glass and clinked it with Geisel's. If King Harald couldn't hold on anymore, the Empire would have one less powerful saint.
"Great-grandfather is old. He's almost three hundred years old this year." There was impatience in Geisel's voice. "He's retired. Now it's the turn of us young people."
Laing thought that Geisel was more than fifty years old this year. You're still young?
However, the strong in this world did live longer. Also, whether it was the Kurfürst of the Empire or the Duke of Brittany, they would also pay more attention to the strength of their successors. After all, the successor had to live long enough to stabilize the territory.
By the way, Gaither's daughter, Anne Taillis, was the wife of Elector Boris Todbringer.
Geisel, like his great-grandfather, Harald Frank, was a ruler who was obsessed with the size of his territory and liked to make false claims. After he became the Kurfürst, he publicly announced that he had inherited the title of Prince of Marienburg from his great-grandfather. Of course, the Marienburg City Council immediately made a statement that Geisel was not welcome in Marienburg.
"It seems that you're very familiar with each other." The Emperor was a little surprised. He laughed heartily. "Am I being a little presumptuous?"
"No, it's an honor, Karl. You brought such a luxurious delegation this time." Laing felt the cold wind blowing on his body at night. His attitude was very friendly. "I knew that you would come, but I didn't expect that … you would bring half of the Empire."
"No, it's an Empire." Marius extended his index finger and pointed at the Emperor. "He is the Empire."
The inappropriate joke made Laing twitch his lips, and the whole atmosphere became awkward. Karl-franz laughed dryly and did not know what to say. Geisel snorted from his nostrils and mumbled, "Boring southerner", before he walked away with the cup in his hand.
"…" The awkward atmosphere lasted for ten seconds. Karl-franz and Laing looked at each other, not knowing how to continue the conversation. Marius did not notice his inappropriate humor, nor did he intend to say anything to ease the awkwardness.
"Fine, Laing. I heard that you hired a team of Örengrád Sea Soul Guards from Kislöw through your relationship with Mayor Amansi of the Estalian Merchants Alliance. Tell me, how did you do it?" Thinking for a moment, the Emperor decided to change the topic. He shrugged and pretended to be relaxed. "Can we talk?"
"Follow me. I'll show you something." Laing signaled the Emperor to follow him. Karl and Marius looked at each other and immediately followed.
The three of them came to a small room in the palace. Laing carefully opened a large golden box, inside which were five golden eggs with white enamel outer layers. "Look, Karl."
"Are these … Faberge eggs?!" Karl-franz and Marius both opened their mouths wide in surprise. "Aren't … Aren't these Kislöw's national treasures? My god, Laing, how did you get them?! "
Laing smiled and opened the first egg. Inside the egg was a small golden hen with a mini crown inlaid with diamonds and a mini egg made of rubies. The craftsmanship of the egg was amazing. Only Karl-franz's royal treasury had the same egg, which was a national gift from the Kingdom of Kislöw to the Emperor of the Empire. As a symbol of friendship, every Faberge egg was different, and a powerful protection spell was sealed inside, which could be recharged and used again.
"How did you get them? Some people need money, some people need things, and some people have channels. This is how you get them." Laing looked at the five Faberge eggs with satisfaction. He smiled and said, "Amancio has a way. As long as there is enough money, Kislöw is in urgent need of funds to pay pensions and rebuild the army that has suffered heavy losses. Her Majesty Katarina's magic research also needs a lot of money, and the kingdom can't provide so much tax revenue. That's how we get the eggs and the Sea Spirit Guards. There are some things that we can't do openly, but privately, the Royal Family of Tsar is willing to sell their national treasures as long as the price is right. Amancio has a list."
"Oh! Oh Charlemagne, Helena will like this. " Karl-franz understood, and the Emperor smiled even more happily. "Helena will like this. I'll tell Amancio and ask him to make one for me."
"I want one too, no, two!" Marius' eyes glowed, and the Mad Count only had the five eggs in his eyes. Laing thought that he was going to give them to the lady and Suria. So, Laing immediately closed the treasure chest again. The three of them came out of the room. The Emperor thought for a moment and asked tentatively, "So, your expedition to the Eight Peaks Mountain is also for the endless wealth in it?"
"Knights always need a reason to go on an expedition." Laing did not answer Karl-franz's question directly. "King Belega has a suitable reason, and he has helped us a lot."
"Is Reppu the Blackhearted the border prince that you support?" Marius asked rather straightforwardly. "I've heard his name more than once in Avel Hill. He seems to have a stable and sufficient source of soldiers, and he can get a lot of goods from the Sea Gate at any time. That mercenary leader can't do it without support. He now has three towns and a dozen villages, and more than three thousand swords."
"Litebald? Maybe. Who knows? " Clayon said ambiguously, "He might come to the coronation this time. You can ask him when the time comes."
Karl-franz thought for a moment and felt that the Empire did not have the energy to care about the border prince's territory. He laughed and stopped a man from Midden who was wearing a fur coat and a felt hat. He said to Laing, "By the way, Laing, I almost forgot that I'm going to introduce you to a hero of the Empire. He's my right-hand man."
"Marshal Hunter of the Empire, Markus Wolfhart!"
While the state banquet and party were going on in the palace of Culona, under the dark night sky, another group of visitors approached the capital of the Knight King's Kingdom along the ancient road.
Grand Duke Schultz of Marlinburg led his personal guards and the elite vanguard cavalry of Marlinburg, the Border Patrollers, to the outskirts of Culona along the Culona Road.
More than a decade of time did not seem to have left any trace on Vanderguber Schultz. He led a few tall men to a small hill in the wilderness of Culona, looking at the glorious city in the distance. Today, to welcome the arrival of the emperor of the Empire, Culona was brightly lit like a beacon of civilization, illuminating the dark plain nearby.
"Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, we're here."
"Very good."
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