The house chief hurried into the king's study with the secret letter sent back from the southeast, and he was slightly stunned after walking in.
The king turned his back to him and stood in front of the glass window with the pattern of wispy roses. The sun made his outline bright and bright, and his shadow was drawn very long.
The House Chief's raised foot was suspended in mid-air, and his breathing stopped for a moment.
"Hawkins' letter? Bring it here."
The king did not turn around, but ordered.
The Steward of the House, more lightly than before, delivered the letter to the king.
The king unfolds the letter.
The letter was scribbled and crooked. It was not written by the professorial first mate Charles, but by the unspoken Captain Hawkins.
The letter contained only one sentence:
A customs blockade has been implemented.
The Chief of Internal Affairs waited for a while without getting any other orders, so he quietly withdrew.
"It's your turn, Mr. Devil."
The king closed the letter and said calmly.
"Hell is at your service."
A tide-like black mist surged in the room, and the devil came out of the thick darkness wearing a black dress as usual. He looked about the same as usual, his clothes were gorgeous and intact, and he had a mask-like smile on his face.
"I hope your lies will not appear in this operation." The king did not look back, he seemed to be thinking about something, "How long?"
"The plague is coming."
"It's not a plague." The king turned around, his icy blue eyes were quiet, "I asked how long it will be until the law expires."
The devil's smile solidified on his face, and his pupils shrank slightly.
The king looked at him calmly.
"Ah, what are you talking about?" The devil smiled quickly again, and he bowed to the king. "The order has always been there."
"The Holy Court began to intervene in the war, and Hell intervened in the Black Death." The king said unhurriedly, "Why didn't either of you show your traces so directly before? Because at that time, the forbidden laws were all over the world and bound Your strength is stronger. And now, both Hell and the Holy Court, are active. Why?"
The devil did not answer.
The king himself answered.
"Because you know that the decree will come to an end soon, and the world will once again become a battlefield for the confrontation between darkness and light, right?"
The king asked softly, but his tone was full of mockery.
The devil was silent for a moment, then raised his hand to applaud the king.
"You are too perceptive, Your Majesty," said the devil, smiling. "That's not a good thing. When did you start thinking about it?"
"Nether Ship."
The king answered simply.
The devil suddenly realized: "Have you started to talk since then?"
"How many years are there in a thousand years?" The king did not answer the devil's question, "What does the thousand-year kingdom mean?"
"What does the Millennium Kingdom mean?" the devil laughed, and he leaned over again, "meaning the return of the great being."
The great being is back.
The king chewed on the devil's words.
"The people of the Holy Court tried to kill me." The devil kept leaning over, and the king realized that he could not get any more information on the matter, and he turned to inquire about the events of the night, "Perhaps I should send you a message. An Iron Rose? Mr. Devil."
"This really teaches me to be flattered, my majesty." The devil straightened up. "You actually face up to my loyalty to you."
"What are they?"
The king ignored the complaints in the devil's words.
"The judges of the Holy Court, or you can call them the puppets of the gods - or the servants of the gods." The devil realized that something was wrong after answering, he looked at the king for a while, and pressed his forehead, "You are too cunning! You are too cunning! I don't even remember what happened that night."
Without a smile on his face today, the king said lightly:
"Now, let's talk."
"About the nightmare that will be forgotten by me, about the Servant of God."
…
Kossoya, the former headquarters of the Five-Port Alliance.
The royal family's rose badge replaced the original five-port alliance badge, which has become the headquarters of the "Free Chamber of Commerce" under the control of the king.
Mrs. Spider and Chief Dawson stood on the tower, overlooking the streets of the port city below.
"I finally know why His Majesty is so strict that all chambers of commerce must be registered uniformly." Madam Poison Spider said quietly.
"Who would have thought."
Patriarch Dawson also sighed.
They desperately completed the formation of the Free Chamber of Commerce a few days ago. This huge chamber of commerce, formed by the royal family, has been stricter than ever in its investigation. Ships in all ports, sailors and crews of all chambers of commerce must be registered in a unified register, and finally aggregated to the headquarters of the free chamber of commerce.
Originally, they still didn't understand why it was so strict.
until today.
The king's writ was personally announced by the mayor: the Black Death on the other side of the Abyss Strait has spread to the port city that has commercial relations with Legrand. In order to prevent the spread of the Black Death, from today, the southeastern sea area has officially entered a state of blockade. All ships are not allowed to go to sea, and all ships are not allowed to enter the port again.
Based on the "Southeast Port Ship Register" completed a few days ago, from today, all ships will be compiled in accordance with the master register, and each group of twenty ships will be in a group, and each group will elect a person in charge who will be appointed by the The city government formed a patrol team. The number of ships and personnel should be checked every day for each group of ships.
Once there are fewer ships and sailors disappear, the crew of the ship will be severely punished.
Anyone who goes out to sea without permission will be directly executed.
Anyone who tries to help those fleeing will be directly executed.
Anyone who tries to break the sea blockade will be directly executed.
…
Below is a long series of notices asking people to cooperate fully with the preventive actions of the "Plague Epidemic Prevention and Control Team" during the period of sea blockade.
At the end of the writ, is the king's autograph.
This writ from the Rose Palace suddenly exploded on people's heads like thunder.
At the port, the crew members who were busy loading the goods onto the ship were stunned. The cigarette rods in the hands of the merchants who were standing at the bow and instructing the sailors to carefully place the valuable goods fell to the deck with a click. The person who just sent their relatives out to sea for a long expedition looked astonished and did not understand what happened.
Everything came out of the blue.
The merchants who were unloading and loading goods at the port shouted, unable to believe their ears, but following the royal fleet that appeared at the port, the long sea blockade pontoon was opened, and the king who arrived on the street some time ago was fully armed. onto the street. City officials, like a flock of crows, roamed the neighborhoods, relaying the latest announcements.
By the time they realized this was true, the debate exploded like thunder, and the city staff who notified the news were surrounded by crowds in the streets.
"Why didn't you announce the arrival of the Black Death in advance?"
Looking at the family members of the businessmen who suddenly fainted, or jumped up to grab the city officials who read the notice, Mrs. Spider asked with some reluctance.
Their relatives just went to sea not long ago, and when the sea blockade was ordered, they were isolated outside the blockade and were classified into the category of "no entry".
"Because of human nature."
Patriarch Dawson was silent for a moment and said slowly.
"If the Black Death was notified before the lockdown was imposed, how many people do you think would choose to risk selling the goods before the Black Death? How many people would choose to go after their loved ones? How many Will people know that their relatives have gone to areas where they may be infected with the plague, but quietly pick them up ashore in private?"
Madam Poison Spider was silent, without a word to answer.
"If people are informed about the plague before the lockdown, the subsequent lockdown becomes a joke."
Patriarch Dawson took a deep breath.
He finally understood the king's series of actions on the southeast coast these days.
Disintegrate the Five-Port Alliance and establish a free chamber of commerce to master the information of ships in the southeast waters, laying the foundation for a strict sea blockade. The army that has been transferred and formed is stationed in Kossoa. Once opposition arises, the army can suppress it at the fastest speed, spend a huge amount of money to recruit and form a huge royal navy in the shortest time, patrol the entire coastal sealine, and pull up a long blockade. Wire…
The official notification was not made until the blockade had been completed quietly and silently.
At this time, no one can stop this big blockade.
Even Patriarch Dawson recalled that the number of ships returning home during this period became less and less.
- He didn't dare to think about whether those ships that went out to sea really hadn't returned, or whether they were sunk because of the plague and sank into the sea forever.
"Look."
Patriarch Dawson looked with some fear at the cavalry passing down the street below, and they dispersed the crowd that had gathered together.
"Legrand should be making noise again."
Legrand, December 1432.
The king issued the "Emergency Blockade Regulations on the Southeast Coast". On the same day in the ports of all sizes on the southeast coast, all ships failed to raise their sails, and the port fell into a deep sleep, with no ships going out to sea and no ships entering the port.
On the first day that the blockade regulations were issued, there were twelve ships trying to break out of the blockade in a single port city in Kessoa.
Twelve ships were all sunk.
On the pier, there are silent iron knights. The sailors who were struggling to swim from the icy water to the shore tried their best to climb to the pier, only to be greeted by unsheathed long swords.
Blood stains the red shore.
With his icy, iron-blooded wrist, the king announced that this was a great blockade that would never allow mercy.
The name of the tyrant added a thick blood color.
The king waited for a report from the southeast at the Rose Palace.
In the face of his new nickname of "Bloody Tyrant", he did not make any evaluation, as if he was not being blamed.
The sea blockade is just a prelude.
The real countermeasures come from hell.
…
In the middle of winter in December, the wind is howling and cold.
The royal government can only do its best to block the city, but the coastline is long, and the spread of the plague is not only human.
A boat bobbed from the sea with the tide and eventually ran aground. No one got off the boat.
Not far from the stranded ship, there is a small village.
"Here it is."
The devil in the black dress walked out of the night, and he opened the black umbrella with the sword hidden in the ribs. The sea breeze blew the tail of his clothes.
The devil walked briskly aboard the dead ship, which was littered with corpses. There were large or small pustules on the corpse.
The rustling rat escaped from the boat.
The devil snapped his fingers.
The black fire ignited silently, and a miniature version of the gate of hell appeared in the air.
Since the king took the knuckle, the devil's power seems to be stronger than before.
He bowed gently.
"Come on, gentlemen."
The gate of the reduced version of hell opened slowly.