In the year 202 of the Bright Calendar, the Holy Alliance Empire suffered the heaviest blow in its history. Bird Fernando, who single-handedly established this powerful empire 200 years ago, never expected that such an embarrassing scene would happen today.
His Majesty the King was assassinated in a bizarre way, the Imperial Minister of State unexpectedly rebelled, the northern defense line Thunder God Fortress was captured by the orcs, the Clay tribe in the South Talon Grassland rebelled, and the southern lords were ready to take action. Even the royal tombs were plundered, leaving only countless holes. Fortunately, the tombs of His Majesty's kings were protected by powerful magic circles, so they escaped the disaster. However, in the past 200 years, the remains of almost all the holy knights in the empire have been stolen.
General Orlando never understood why someone would steal graves and dig up graves. Those holy knights were not buried with anything at all after death, but they wrapped the bodies in a shroud and buried them, but stole those bodies and disturbed them. What is the purpose of the rest of the dead
No matter how hard he tried, Orlando couldn't figure out the reason. He didn't have any extra time to think about it now. There was no way to change what had happened. But even though the empire's situation was quite critical, in this royal meeting hall, those who Officials are still arguing loudly about who should inherit the throne. Without His Majesty's orders, many things in the empire can only be delayed, but these officials don't care at all. They only care about their own interests. As for this country, And the people of the empire are just tools for them to pursue interests.
Luke walked up to Orlando who was sitting in the corner and patted the latter's shoulder gently. Orlando looked up at Luke in confusion. Luke made a gesture to indicate that he would come out with him. The two of them went one behind the other. He walked out of the noisy royal meeting hall and came to a secluded side hall.
This side hall is not very big. There are only twenty steps at most from one end to the other. It is the place where Luke handles official business. He has long given up on the group of bastards who are still arguing endlessly and works here instead. The layout of the hall is very simple, with a table, two chairs, and a bookcase, which is densely packed with various documents and information.
"Sit down." Luke pointed to a chair, then poured a glass of water and handed it over. Orlando nodded slightly to express his gratitude, then took the water glass and sat on the chair. Luke sat on another chair. I also poured myself a glass of water,
"I have given up drinking since His Majesty was killed." Luke said calmly: "There are too many things to do, but I don't have the time or mood to taste wine. Man, it is really contradictory. When I have time, I always taste the best Bordeaux. I feel empty in my heart, and I wish I had something to do. Wait until you get busy. Why do you yearn for the feeling of having nothing to do?"
There were only Orlando and Luke in this side hall. Orlando changed his confident face in front of others, sighed and said: "The situation is critical, but these bastards are still arguing. Don't they know that the orcs in the north are... We have obtained the supplies we have hoarded in the Thunder God Fortress and will soon be armed. The orcs originally had powerful single-unit weapons and underwent rigorous training. Now their equipment is on par with us humans. How amazing is this? What a terrible power."
Luke still looked indifferent: "Orlando, you can change many things, but why?"
Orlando waved his hand vigorously to stop Luke from continuing: "Stop talking, that thing is impossible."
"Why." Luke's tone was a little anxious: "The Clay tribe in the north has colluded with the orcs. The South Talon grassland no longer belongs to the empire. The lords in the south are ready to make a move. According to reliable information, they are likely to prepare to leave the empire. The rule of But my heart is far inferior to these guys.”
Orlando shook his head and said: "I know what you mean, but I can't do that. The army is the sharpest weapon of the empire, but this weapon must not have its own thoughts. If foreign enemies invade, we can fight them away. Those lords have Yixin, we can deter them, but once I mobilize the army to forcibly suppress these officials and control the power of the empire with you, it will set a very bad precedent for future generations. Internal and external difficulties may not happen every year, but the army must always be existing."
"Then just sit back and watch the empire slowly decline under the arguments of these bastards." Luke's words were full of mockery: "General Orlando, you really strictly abide by your oath, hehe, you will always be loyal. Fernando family, as long as the Fernando family survives, this empire has nothing to do with you."
Orlando looked embarrassed, and he said distressedly: "Okay, Luke, if you can make the empire better by saying this, you might as well keep saying it every day. The top priority now is to reorganize the army and prepare for war. There is no way the orcs will not come. We must fight this battle to attack the imperial capital, and we must win, otherwise"
"Win." Luke smiled contemptuously: "Fernando City claims to have a population of tens of millions, but actually it refers to the entire area of Fernando City. There is only one city like Fernando City within a thousand miles. If you want to defend yourself, you have to Huddled in this city, the entire Fernando City area has a population of more than 8 million. Do you think they will wait to die outside the city? Now more than 200,000 people flock to the city every day. Those orcs don't even need to come. Just these mouths can destroy them. Lost this city."
"The only solution is for His Majesty the King to issue a decree to forcibly collect supplies from various farms and pastures outside the city, and then allocate them uniformly, and destroy all visible food, shelter, and water sources outside the city. It is almost autumn. If Without His Majesty's order, do you think the nobles and common people would let you touch the food they are about to harvest? Moreover, those nobles have many private soldiers, and they must be recruited under His Majesty's order. The young and strong people among the civilians must also be recruited. We must gather together to form a reserve army, Orlando, so many things must be ordered by His Majesty, otherwise even if I am the Imperial Finance Minister, as long as I do any one thing, I can be punished as treason."
Orlando heard Luke say the word "treason", and a strange look suddenly appeared on his face. He suddenly said: "What happened that night? His Majesty was assassinated, and Chad rebelled again. According to common sense, Speaking of, Chad is already in a position beneath one person, how could he make these meaningless actions, and, since Chad intends to rebel, Luke, why did you end up in this position?"
Luke said displeasedly: "You doubt me, don't you still trust me as a person?"
Orlando looked at Luke and said: "People always change. There were too many things that happened that night and they were too unreasonable. Isn't it worthy of doubt? The most important point is that in the end, you got all the benefits. , that night you held military power, and the places where the nobles lived were looted. I'm afraid Chad's defeated troops were not so powerful. Moreover, these bastards are arguing non-stop. I'm afraid it is also the result of your connivance. You You should have already calmly grasped the situation in the imperial capital. Why do you have to involve me? Now you can just appoint a successor to the king. Those guys can only talk about it and have no power to object. In this way , can’t you just do what you just said in the name of the new Majesty?”
Luke's face suddenly turned red when Orlando said everything, and then he said seriously: "Orlando, I can swear that your Majesty's death has nothing to do with me. As for the current situation, yes, I was behind it." , but I don’t care about the high throne. I just want to do something for the people of the empire without being restricted. However, once I introduce a new king, everything will no longer be like this. The new king is young, I will definitely be charged with controlling the government. When the new king grows up, how do you want me to deal with it? Even if I give up power, my subordinates will not be willing to do so even if I have full wings at that time. On the other hand, if the new king If the king is over 30 years old and can be crowned immediately, it will be very similar to the previous situation where he was dictated by His Majesty."
"But your joining is different. As the leader of the Royal Knights and the highest military officer of the imperial capital, you control the military power of the empire and can restrict me in name. But in fact, you don't care about government affairs at all. It just allows me to show off my skills, Orlando. I owe Sophis a lot, and it’s too late to make up for it. I will never do anything to hurt her. As long as the two of us join forces, we can concentrate our efforts to resist the orcs in the short term, and in the long term. I will definitely manage this empire well. I don’t have a son. Even if I have ambitions, who can I pass them on to? Besides, haven’t you always been by my side to help me and supervise me?”
Luke stared at Orlando with his wide eyes, while Orlando lowered his head and remained silent. Luke's words indeed made sense, but the empire's decree and the oath he made when he became a Holy Knight made Orlando Nothing can be done,
The entire side hall fell into a strange silence.
After a long time, there was a rush of footsteps in the distance. The footsteps came from far away and soon came to the door of the side hall. The man shouted loudly outside the door: "Report, urgent document." Orlando looked up He glanced at Luke, who shouted, "Come in."
The side hall door was pushed open, and two royal guards came in with a man dressed as a civilian. The man dressed as a civilian had blood on his face, and his clothes were in tatters. He looked very haggard. When Orlando saw this man, He was shocked because he knew this man dressed as a civilian. He was the captain of a cavalry unit in Sunrise City. His name was Donald. He came to the imperial capital three years ago.