Tai'an King City, the imperial capital, was built by King Christen II using nearly 100,000 slaves and spending countless resources and eight years. It was named Tai'an King City, which means peace for the country and the people. However, Tai'an means it in the ancient elf language, and it is easy to hear it in the common language. Therefore, the later emperors of Christen were very taboo about this word, so they ignored the official name and replaced it with the imperial capital in official documents and conversations. For two or three hundred years, when asked about the imperial capital, most people knew which city it was referring to, but when asked about the name of the imperial capital, many people did not know.
The imperial capital has triple walls, and the royal court is in the center. The earliest Tai'an King City had three walls, the center of which was the seat of the royal family of Christen, and of course it is now the residence of the royal family of Antinac. Inside the second city wall are the residences of various departments and ministers of the empire, known as the inner city. The residents of the imperial capital are protected by the third city wall.
But Cresson II, who built the imperial capital, did not expect that the imperial capital he designed to accommodate 100,000 people would expand tenfold in the next hundred years. The Great Tailu Plain around the imperial capital was gradually occupied by people who came to settle. The fields became residential areas, bustling commercial areas, racetracks, arenas, colleges and workshops.
During the 30 years of the reign of Kings V and VI of the Krissen Empire, the imperial capital was once the largest city in Galintia, with a population of almost one million. However, after the establishment of the Ford Business Alliance, Morente City came from behind and won the reputation of the largest city in Galintia in one fell swoop. The imperial capital has been going downhill, especially the seven-year civil war in the empire, which has made the imperial capital even more depressed.
The fatal blow to the imperial capital was at the end of the civil war. The eldest prince divided his troops into two groups, and he attracted the main force of the third prince. He dispatched his subordinates to attack the imperial capital, burning, killing, and looting. The two sides fought in a large residential area and commercial area outside the city, and the scuffle lasted for three months. After the Second Highness wiped out the enemy, the outside of the triple city wall of the imperial capital had been turned into nothingness, more than 200,000 residents of the imperial capital had died, and the business district had been tossed into ruins.
Even after the civil war was stopped, the empire was split into three kingdoms and seven duchies, but the residents of the imperial capital were still displaced. Peace did not bring them the stable life they wanted. On the contrary, there was no previous support for the imperial capital, such as offerings and food. , the imperial capital began to fall into famine. In addition, the third prince offended the merchants from the Ford Business Alliance and was subject to a material embargo, which added fuel to the fire. Not only the imperial capital, but even the entire Antinac kingdom was in turmoil.
Later, with the help of the Norton family's northbound convoy, the Second Highness stabilized the situation in the kingdom and took over the ruling power. The population of the entire imperial capital was less than 70,000, which was less than one-tenth of the empire's heyday. His Royal Highness reorganized the inner city and outer city, abandoned the residential and commercial areas outside the triple city walls, recultivated the fields, and streamlined the kingdom's administrative departments. Five years have passed, and the imperial capital has once again glowed with vitality.
On September 18th, Lorist led five hundred soldiers from the armed guard battalion and a group of knights to the south gate of the imperial capital. The news he heard was very unfortunate. The Second Highness went to the front line to inspect the troops. Come back at the end of the month or early October. In this way, Lorist will have to wait for more than ten days.
The polite squadron leader of the city defense army guarding the city gate rejected Lorist's request that his five hundred families be stationed in the city with armed forces. He said that His Royal Highness had ordered that the armed forces of the noble family could only camp in the designated garrison area in the west of the city, and the nobles could only bring ten armed guards into the city at most. This is the new rule of the imperial capital.
So Lorist and his party turned to the west gate of the city, registered in the garrison area, occupied a small camp, and rearranged the guards and sentries.
Lorist, who was staying in the room, was thinking about what to do for the next ten days, and Dolles came in happily: "My lord, look who is here..."
A man wearing the standard armor of the Royal Guards appeared behind him. Lorist laughed when he saw it, and stepped forward to hug him with open arms: "Karitoq, long time no see, how are you doing now?"
Karitoke, one of the thirty-six students of Chenxi Academy who followed Fatty Shi and Terman to form a convoy to the Northland, is also an elite member of the Swordsmanship Club, with a fighting spirit of three silver stars. However, when the northbound convoy was blocked under the city of Nadgas, he and many of his companions were not optimistic about the future of the convoy's northbound journey. In the end, he was poached by the Second Highness and became one of the seven veteran students who took refuge in the Second Highness. out of the convoy.
Although many people in the convoy scolded those who chose to join His Highness the Second Highness, they were even more worried after discovering that they had suffered casualties under the Second Highness's command. I remember that when His Royal Highness led an army to besiege the fortress castle of Liechtana, the defenders fought desperately to break through overnight. Although they blocked the enemy's impact, two veteran students and several silver knights who had just joined His Royal Highness were killed on the spot. Holding the corpses of two veteran practitioners, weeping and crying, very sad.
Calitok was hugged tightly by Lorist and burst into tears: "Master Locke, I miss you so much, I miss the team at that time..."
The seven veteran students and nineteen Silver Knights who defected to the Second Highness in the convoy back then are now only fourteen people left. In the great victory that won the Second Highness fame in the Battle of Liushuichuan, there were three veteran students and four Silver Knights. In addition to the two veteran students and three silver knights who died under the castle of the Liechtana Fortress, almost half of them were lost.
"At the beginning, there were only me and Sunder among the seven veteran students. Although we have become royal knights, we are not happy at all. Now that the Second Highness is preparing for the battle to unify the empire, I don't know if I can survive. Until the day of victory..."
Karitok was disheartened, and briefly described the situation of them leaving the convoy and defecting to the Second Highness.
"What is your role now?" Dolles asked.
"The captain of the First Battalion of the Second Heavy Armored Regiment of the First Royal Guards. He is currently stationed outside the east gate of the imperial capital and is responsible for cleaning up the ruins of the business district. I just wandered around to the south gate. I heard that Earl Norton from the Northland is here. Then I came to see you." Karitoke replied.
"Hey, you were the captain when you were in the convoy, how come you are still in this position after joining His Highness the Second Highness?" Dolles said bluntly.
Karitoke shook his head: "Second Highness really trusts those old subordinates who have followed him for a long time, and now the six legions formed with 300,000 horsemen can stand on their own are all his old subordinates or nobles who have taken refuge in him. Commoner knights like us are obedient to command and charge into battle. Now I really regret why I left the convoy... "
"You can come back..." Dolles said.
"I'm ashamed to go back, and as a knight, I can't be half-hearted. Since I chose this path, I can only go on..." Karitoke said from the bottom of his heart.
"By the way, Karitoke, you said just now that you are responsible for cleaning up the ruins in the business district. Isn't your First Royal Guard Corps the main force? Why do you still do such trivial things?" Lorist asked strangely.
"Hey, you don't know!" Calitok patted his thigh: "There is a Marquis Reid next to His Royal Highness, who is deeply trusted. He gave His Highness an idea, saying that although the business district is in ruins, then Many merchants habitually hide their goods in underground warehouses. The houses above collapsed to save these materials. Although it has been a long time, many materials can still be preserved. Getting these materials can reduce the burden on the national treasury. Therefore, the Second Highness ordered Our First Legion guarded the entire business area, and we had to work hard to dig it out. It really made the Marquis Rede right, he dug up several underground warehouses, and the useful materials added up to a value of 100,000 gold. Only a third of it has been excavated."
"Isn't it very authentic to do this? These materials should belong to those merchants. How can they excavate them privately and take them as their own?" Dolles commented.
"Marquis Red believes that it has been so long since the end of the civil war in the empire, and if these merchants still haven't come to clean up the ruins, it means that they have given up these materials, so His Highness can justifiably collect all the materials into the national treasury. In fact, when the ruins were first excavated, there were indeed a few people who claimed to be descendants of the merchants, but Marquis Red issued a series of fines, requiring them to pay for the cost of cleaning up the ruins and the land occupied by the ruins for such a long time. In the end, those people gave up their right to ask for materials and ran away, and no one came to ask for repayment of materials.” Karitoke said.
Dolles sighed: "It's too rascal to do this. Originally, the royal family was incompetent and allowed the enemy to break into the imperial capital, causing such great damage to the merchants and residents. As a result, not only did they not pay compensation, but they even intensified their possession of the merchant's private property. Go down and lose your heart!"
"I thought so too, but after I said a few words in the legion, I was reprimanded by the head of the legion. The second highness doesn't care about people's livelihood at all. He only wants to unify the empire now. Don't look at the noble knights talking loudly. After the unification How and how in the war, how to make meritorious service and become the lord class, in fact, I know the soldiers below very well, they don't want to fight, and their morale is very low.
Regardless of the fact that the Royal Guards annexed the Storm Legion and expanded into three legions, in fact, many people privately disagreed with the Second Highness's approach. For example, those soldiers who were originally from the Storm Legion thought that His Highness the Second Highness deliberately did not send troops to rescue them, and watched the Golden Knight Nedrum, the head of the Storm Legion, and five thousand elites die in battle. ’ Calitok grumbled.
Lorist handed him a cup of tea, and gently persuaded him: "Caritoque, Dolles, you are both studying in the Ford Business Alliance like me, so the principles of freedom, equality and the inviolability of private property are deeply Affect our ideas. But don't forget, we are now in the former Krissen Empire, and I am the lord, so I still have the confidence to carry out my ideas in the family territory. And you are just a knight, and those It's normal for imperial aristocratic contacts to feel out of place.
The nobles of the Krissen Empire never looked down on the common people. They were high above them. Even if the empire collapsed, they still regarded themselves as masters, just like the Second Highness. I don't know that once he fails, he will have no place to turn around. No one likes a king who is full of militarism. He is now relying on the nobles, and the nobles are the most unreliable, Karitoke, I just hope you are smart, if the situation is not good, get out as soon as possible, don't put yourself in it, it's not worth it... "
Calitok finally got drunk at Lorist's place, and Dolles sent him back with two guards.
The next day, Lorist took Schwader and others to visit the imperial capital, and found that the cheapest goods in the imperial capital are books, and most of them are books collected by noble families. Arty books are now useless, inedible and useless. When the convoy went north, Fatty Shi led his family to sweep across the three provinces of the Antinac Kingdom, and hanged two-thirds of the kingdom's nobles. And these nobles basically had their own residences in the imperial capital, which were later confiscated by the Second Highness and made state-owned.
Now His Royal Highness is plundering property everywhere in order to raise soldiers, and sells the collections of those nobles at a low price. Weapons and armor are hot items and cost a lot. And the residences of these nobles basically have a study room, there are more or less hundreds of books, and these books are all sold, and the large quantities of books suddenly set the price of the book market in the imperial capital from the sky to the ground. , and it can't be digested for a long time.
Thinking that in Morente City, one Kingford book can be bought for only two or three big silver coins, Lorist has mixed feelings. And Shi Huade is also a book lover, so the master and apprentice spent every day in the book market looking for treasures.
He had just returned to the camp that day, but he saw Dolles and Karitoke standing at the door waiting for him furtively.
Lorist asked them what's the matter? Then they were dragged into the room by two people and closed the door.
Dolles said, "My lord, Karitoke is here to borrow money..."
"How much?" Lorist was a little surprised, why borrowing money is like a ground worker's joint.
"A hundred goldfords," said Dolles.
ah? Lorist was a little surprised. Karitoke served as the captain of the Royal Guards, and his monthly salary was very low, only ten silver coins, and only six goldfords a year. Now that I want 100 Jinford, what do I want to buy
Dolles quickly explained: "My lord, Karitoke has received an invitation. If he wants to go to the appointment, he needs to dress up and buy some new dresses. Originally he wanted to borrow ten goldfords, but I thought he would If you still want to go in the future, you can make up your own mind and borrow a hundred gold blessings from your lord."
"Okay, I'll borrow it." Lorist brought 10,000 gold credits when he came to the imperial capital this time, and he spent about 2,000 gold credits on books these days. But he came out of curiosity: "Can you tell me, why is the date so expensive?"
Dolles laughed: "My lord, since you have borrowed the money, we will take you there to see and see. An invitation can take two people. Let Karitoke take us there then."
Karitoke said: "That's right, do you know Princess Kerry, my lord?"
"Princess Kerry?" Lorist shook his head, "I don't know."
"Princess Kerry is the only celibate daughter of the deceased His Royal Highness..."
"What did you say? His Highness has passed away?" Lorist was taken aback.
"Yes, His Royal Highness, who was claustrophobic two years ago, suddenly vomited blood in the middle of the night, and was out of breath in less than an hour. It was said to be a sudden illness, but many people suspected that it was the Second Highness's manipulation. But we are only guessing privately. No one knows the truth."
Lorist pondered for a while: "Go on, what's wrong with Princess Kerry."
"Princess Kerry is twenty-five years old this year. She looks very glamorous and is known as the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. However, she is dissolute by nature and has numerous courtiers. It is said that she believes in Michira, the goddess of desire and joy, and organizes I organized a Paradise Party, and there are many children of the nobles of the kingdom who believe in Michira. She organizes a Paradise Party every month. I have heard colleagues who have been there before say that it is really a paradise, and you will get the best enjoyment. Although not What fee is needed, but you can’t reward less than one goldford each time, which is unaffordable for most people, so I came to ask the adults for help.”
Dolles said: "My lord, let's go to see each other tomorrow, okay? I haven't seen a gathering among the nobles of the empire yet. Let Calitoke take us there to open our eyes."
Lorist rubbed his chin and thought for a while, then said, "Okay."
…