"war."
The Queen pulled out a letter from an overseas spy and put it on the table, succinctly summarizing the problems that the Roland Empire will face in one word.
With the Alliance of Free Commercial Cities alone, they may not have the courage to openly attack Queen Roland in the peace talks. Once the apparent harmony between the two sides is torn apart, war between the two countries is inevitable. The fleet of the free commercial city is not enough to support such a huge war, but if the shadow of the Yager Kingdom is added behind it, things will become very different. The queen's spies had confirmed that the thirteen representative families of the Free Merchant Cities had indeed grown very close to the House of Jager in the past few months.
The Yager Kingdom has always made no secret of its ambitions for the Roland Empire.
In July last year, if it wasn't for the alliance between the Root Empire and Roland, and the death of King Tuva diverted Jager's attention, the fleet of King John VI of Jager would have sailed down the coast of the Sea of Heaven. Approaching Port Roland. Now the result of the election of the new Pope has made John VI feel the crisis. Once the Root Empire, the Roland Empire and the Papal State form a triangular alliance, the three crucial oceans, the Sea of Heaven, the Red Sea and the Sea of Mercury, will be in danger. To be shrouded in a new alliance that rejects the kingdom of Yager.
—Although there is an old enmity between Pope St. Trefus II and the Root Empire, as long as the interests are sufficient, even enemies may not have to dance face to face.
As long as Jager is not a real idiot, the Roland Empire will not let the Roland Empire rely on the two new regulations to sharpen its minions and reach out to the ocean.
"The governing hall of the Alliance of Free Commercial Cities voted that the bankers of the Free Commercial Cities refused to provide services to the royal family of Roland, and the wool merchants of the Free Commercial Cities will no longer trade wool and wool with Roland until the summer comes." Archbishop Rodrigues With a slightly low voice, they relayed the news they had expected to the Queen. The decision of the Alliance Executive Hall was actually a heavy pressure on both Roland and the merchants in the Free Commercial City.
This pressure is applied to the following war, and the losing party will bear all the economic losses of the war.
However, it is clear that the executive government of the Free Commercial Cities Alliance, which has reached an agreement with the Yager Kingdom, feels that its side has a higher chance of winning. The free commercial city has the most developed banking industry in the world, and its business and capital are far superior to those of the Roland Empire. The merchants in the free commercial city can afford to stop the trade during the war, but the Roland Empire cannot afford the consequences of losing the wool exporting place of the free commercial city.
"Start the plan."
The queen stared at the map and said slowly.
After the passage of the "Port Regulations" and "Navigation Regulations", the Queen's court has been operating day and night under her will, and all affairs revolve around the expected disputes. At the Queen's request, in the past six months, plans to deal with the war have been put forward one after another, and overseas spies have been collecting information about the Yager Kingdom and the Free Commercial City day and night.
"When Holy Spirit Day comes, I hope the Consulate will be satisfied with the gifts it has received."
The queen stood beside Archbishop Rodriguez, pressed one hand on the table, and looked down at him as he quickly wrote a series of instructions that were about to be dispatched.
Queen Roland can ignore her personal grudges and forgive those who have betrayed her—as long as they are useful to the empire, but in contrast, all those who are enemies of the Roland Empire will become her enemies. Those who are enemies of the queen will meet her cold and unscrupulous side. On the night of betrayal, the governing hall of the Alliance of Free Commercial Cities and the Capel family of the Papal State joined forces to assassinate the queen and destroy Roland's naval fleet... But maybe they should know one thing.
Before the ruling hall decided to assassinate the queen, the queen had already been planning actions against the free commercial city and Yager.
"League of Free Commercial Cities, Liberty."
Archbishop Rodriguez said "Freedom" twice, shaking his head with a little contempt—obviously he knew what the Queen had been planning for the past few months. It's not just Jager and the ruling hall that are seen in the dark.
The Queen smiled meaningfully, a beautiful but chilly smile.
…………………………
On the east side of the Sea of Heaven, Liberty Commercial City is located in a harbor in the Sea of Heaven, where the wind and waves are calm, there are many ports, and the coastline is winding. It is an excellent fertile soil for breeding commercial cities.
Free Commercial City is just a general term used to summarize the independent cities between the Yager Kingdom and the Root Empire. These city-states have a long history of self-government. As early as the ninth century AD, when the Papal States in the West fell into war with pagans, the independent cities united and purchased the autonomy of the city-states from the Pope. Later, in order to resist the pressure from the Yager Kingdom and the Root Empire, many city-states united to form an alliance.
The League's political body is called the Consulate, with representatives from thirteen guilds serving on the core committee, while the remaining chamber families each have their representatives in the Consulate.
Thirteen statues are placed on the square in front of the main entrance of the Executive Hall, each representing a different guild. Today the bull clock in the bell tower of the Regent's Hall is ringing almost without interruption. The low-pitched bells hang over the city, and it's named after a mythical bull. The bell rings, which means that the free commercial city has fallen into an unprecedented crisis. According to regulations, all adult male citizens who heard the bell must gather and follow the representatives of each district to the square in front of the city hall to form a "citizens' assembly". The thirteen consuls can form the Supreme Judicial Council only after their approval, and then they can deal with affairs involving all citizens. [1]
This eccentric "democracy" has always been the pride of the free commercial city. Contrary to this kind of freedom, the biggest danger here is not how many political opponents there are, but too much exposure to the public eye. In order to defend their freedom, the citizens of the free commercial city are notoriously distrusting and even distrusting those in power.
"The most dangerous enemy is the one who is trying to become a tyrant, and the most dangerous thing is to be thought to be trying to be a tyrant."
— This sentence is passed on by word of mouth in the free commercial city, and everyone knows it.
Whoever is judged by the public as trying to become a tyrant, trying to betray a free city of commerce, is doomed. At the least, they were exiled from the alliance, and at worst, the entire family was hanged in the square of the governing hall. It is worth "boasting" that the consuls hanged by the citizens of the free commercial city look at the whole world, and there is no other country that can compare.
"For God's sake! Are they crazy?"
The consuls gathered in a small room on the third floor of the city's governing hall, and their guards were downstairs to resist the surging crowd like a tide. The consuls in the room had cold sweat on their foreheads.
Not long ago, they rang the bull bell, and with the death of the Consul of Javelli as a catalyst, the Citizens' Assembly and the Supreme Judicial Council passed the "Free Commercial City Trade" that was directly opposed to the "Port Regulations" and "Navigation Regulations" of the Roland Empire. Protection Regulations. Now the crowd that was called by the bull clock flocked to the square in front of the city hall again, excited and indignant, and the air was filled with a trembling and menacing atmosphere.
A riot.
The cause of the riots was that the Consulate was accused of betraying the independence of the free commercial city, and the current consuls attempted to implement autocratic rule in the alliance.
"My God! These idiots!"
Stones were thrown from below, smashing brightly colored windows. A hapless consul had his cheek scratched by broken glass, and blood gushed out instantly. The crowd below was surging, clamoring for the consul to explain the vacancy of the alliance treasury in the past ten years.
The rage of the citizens ran wild like a tide, and while the madness shrouded the entire city, there were others who quietly hid in the shadows.
They are overseas spies of Roland and the new Pope St. Trefus II.
"It's terrible."
The Pope's emissary subconsciously shuddered as he stood in a tower of the city and looked down at the city from a height.
Behind the riots was the help of Pope St. Treves II. When he was Cardinal Luvis, Free Commercial City did a lot of things against the Luvis family in order to show favor to the Pope of the Capel family at that time. thing. On the second day after Cardinal Luvis won the Pope's election, the envoy of the new Pope secretly left the Holy City with a batch of documents and came to the Free Commercial City.
The envoy didn't know what kind of secret agreement the new Pope had reached with Queen Roland, but he had already seen the consequences of such a conspiracy with his own eyes.
What was sent to Agent Roland was the agreement reached between the ruling council of the Free Commercial City and the deceased Pope Capel over the past ten years. The many special regulations obtained by the consuls from the old pope were not without cost-they secretly returned the right to appoint and remove bishops in some alliance cities to the pope. In fact, in this agreement, the consuls played a clever trick.
Not long after they returned the right to appoint and remove bishops to the Pope, they took advantage of the Pope's war against the New Gods and emptied the power of bishops. Later, when the War of Religion fell into a stalemate, the Capel family and the old pope became more and more dependent on the economy of the Free Commercial City, the agreement became a dead letter, and the Holy City never interfered in the election of the Free Commercial City.
It was originally just a small thing.
But after St. Trefus II took office, he dug out these documents and used this as an excuse to attack the governing hall of the free commercial city.
For the free commercial cities, they are most proud of taking back their political and spiritual freedom from the Pope. No matter how many reasons the consuls have, they have crossed the most sensitive boundary of the citizens. However, the reason why the situation turned into this is still to be blamed on Queen Roland's spies. They penetrated everywhere, collected the movements of the consuls, and bribed many poets and scholars.
The extremely provocative pamphlets spread throughout the free commercial city, and by the time the consuls turned their attention away from Roland and many major events, the city was already shrouded in an atmosphere of restlessness.
They had to face accusations of betraying the free commercial city, and even persuading the citizens' assembly to form an alliance with the Kingdom of Yager some time ago was interpreted as "they intend to sell the sovereignty of the alliance to the Kingdom of Yager for the second time."
For this point, Agent Roland must sincerely thank King John VI of Jager for his greed. His covetousness for the free commercial city is the same as for the Duchy of Tuva. became exceptionally smooth.
"Blessed for the resurrection of the Holy Spirit."
Agent Roland released the carrier pigeon amidst the noise.
Carrier pigeons flew into the sky, the gray sky was covered with lead-colored clouds, and the rioting crowd in the square had surrounded the city hall.
Some consuls ventured onto the terrace and explained loudly to the townspeople. But the citizens yelled back at him with the sound of "checking the accounts".
The consuls fell silent.
—Of course they don't have the courage to check the accounts.
They boast absolute loyalty to the Alliance, but they cannot deny their greed in the past.
If it is not profitable to become a consul, who would squeeze his head to become a consul? How much money they spent for the successful election will naturally have to be multiplied and multiplied to get it back from the governing hall. Loyalty is not at odds with earning something for yourself, is it? They simply don't believe that anyone in this world can truly serve a country selflessly.
Now, this unspoken rule that was originally acquiesced was pulled out by Queen Roland on the other side of the sea of heaven, and at a special time, it became a deadly knife.
… … … … … … …
While the free commercial city was drowned in bells and noise, Rose Strait was drowned in bells and shouts.
However, the meanings of the bells and shouts are completely different from those of the distant governing hall.
Thursday in the third week of February is the traditional religious festival of the Holy Ghost. On this day, large and small fairs, celebrations, parades and carnivals will be held all over the Roland Empire. On this day, the strict social hierarchy of the empire was allowed to break briefly. During the carnival, laborers could play the role of nobles, while the nobles tried their best to have fun with the people and endure everything with ease and joy. [2]
For the people of the Rose Strait, this year's Holy Spirit Festival is very different, because this year's Holy Spirit Festival will be spent with them by the Queen of the Empire, and this is also the last day that the Queen will stay in the Rose Strait.
During the time when the queen stayed in Rose Strait, people could see the queen in the port dock, commercial street, road to the church and other places.
While the nobles, terrified by the night of mutiny and subsequent naval reforms, saw the iron side of the queen and feared her, the people of the port saw a very different side. Her appearance became the most powerful proof of last year's miracle—except God's darling, who else could be so flawless? Her demeanor is elegant and dignified, but she is gentle and approachable to anyone of any age who asks her for advice. Under her auspices, the judgments made by the royal court can be regarded as a model of judicial justice in the past 30 years...
She won the sincere affection of the people of the whole port.
The queen's arrival cleared away the corruption and decay that had accumulated in Rose Strait for many years, and left them a vibrant and hopeful port.
This is a precious gift, and in return, the people of Rose Strait would also like to express their gratitude to their Queen on this festival.
The author has something to say: [1] Christopher Heber. The Rise and Fall of the Medici Family [M]. Beijing: Social Science Literature Publishing House. 2017.
[2] Dan Jones. Blood Summer [M]. Beijing: Social Science Literature Publishing House. 2019.