Chapter 370, Concluding the Covenant

The imperial parliament was held in the palace of Brunswick as scheduled. In the majestic dome of the palace, the electors and the most powerful people in the empire gathered together.

Participants are as follows.

Some people are very familiar with Ryan, so I won’t introduce more here (otherwise some people feel that the number of words is water).

These people are:

Karl Franz Friedrich, Emperor, Prince Reich, Grand Duke of Brunswick.

Elector of Wollrich, Grand Duke of Middenland (also Middenland), and Grand Baron of Middenheim Boris Todbringer.

Umberto Corleone, Elector of Tuscany, Grand Duke of Averland, and Baron of Averheim.

Gianni Bernardino, Elector of Brescia, Grand Duke of Wissenland, and Grand Baron of Wissenborg.

Elector of Wolfen, Grand Duke of Osterland Vamer von Zhukov.

Elector of Beccafin, Speaker of the Ostermark League, Wolfram Hertwig.

The owner of the electoral right of the Nord Kingdom, the direct son of Grand Duke Harald Frank of Nord, Grand Baron Theodoric Geisel.

The Archbishop of the Justice Church (also the Grand Priest), Vikmar-Beckman.

Archbishop of the Church of Life, Caslane.

Archbishop of the Church of Magic, Agrimar.

In addition, there are four holders of the right to elect the emperor, which attracted Ryan's attention.

Elector Herzig and Grand Baron of Hochland was Edbrand Ludenhof.

This elector is the only elector who does not concurrently hold the title of duke, because the territory of Hawkland is too small, it may only be one-fifth the size of Middenland, and the actual control is in the hands of humans The area is smaller, so the title of Hawkland has always been the Grand Baron rather than the Duke, and the Grand Baron only controls seven or eight barons.

Edbrand Ludenhof is a tall and thin middle-aged man with a horse face. He is surprisingly strong despite his thin body. It is said that the greatest hobby of this elector is hunting. He spends most of the year He spends most of his time hunting in the villa in the forest farm in the south of the Hawke Territory, and only returns to the capital Herzig in winter.

Helmut Feuerbach, Elector of Talabheim and Grand Duke of Talabek, also arrived. This Elector has been introduced in the previous article and will not be repeated here.

What is more special is the remaining two holders of the right to elect the emperor.

The first holder of the right to elect the emperor was a halfling. He was "Mut Elder" Esme Stuart. He was a halfling with a height of only 1.2 meters. This halfling was already very old. He entered the arena with the help of others and greeted everyone.

The Mut Territory is the most peculiar province in the empire. This place that looks like a province but not like a province is called the "Mut Dominion". In history, after the empire conquered the halfling's homeland of Mut, it separated Mut Merged into the Territory of Steele and the Territory of Avi, however, the struggle and uprising of the halflings lasted for thousands of years. In the end, the savior Ludwig accepted a huge donation when the army of order was approaching the food shortage and got the halflings to pay taxes on time As promised, the new empire returned the land of Moot to the halflings, and gave the halflings a right to vote for the emperor. Halflings can vote for the emperor of the empire, but halflings are not eligible to participate in the imperial government. Emperor time vote, and act as a mascot.

Mutland is known as the "Fairy Tale World". It is one of the most beautiful areas in the old world. Halflings multiply there, do not compete with the world, are satisfied with enclosure autonomy, and are protected by the surrounding imperial forces. The flames of war are fierce. Less involved here.

Esme Stuart was an eccentric, torn between Karl Franz and Boris Todbringer, the Emperor Karl Franz, on the advice of his courtiers, served a sumptuous meal A dinner, ten bags of oatmeal cakes, and twenty barrels of good malt dark beer bribed the elder Mutt, so the owner of the electoral right decisively voted for Emperor Karl after eating and drinking.

The last remaining elector was Albert Harpert-Andersson, Elector of Uterbad and Grand Duke of Stillland.

This Elector is the most special,

For he was the most powerful man of all the Empire present, the only great nobleman who wore a simple woolen shirt trousers and a fur coat, and did not wear silk clothes like everyone else.

Because Steele is really too poor.

This province is the poorest province in the empire, not one of them. The Nord country bumpkins are rich in ores and seafood. Hawke exports high-quality hardwoods and all kinds of fine cedar and oak. Ostland is prosperous. The excellent animal husbandry and animal skin trade ensured that the civilians in Ostland lived well, and the gold veins produced near Wolfenburg still had unfathomable reserves after hundreds of years of mining, and the output was astonishing. Hou hardly has to worry about money.

What does Steele have?

Nothing at all.

The province led by Steele is mountainous and forested, with barren land and very little output. The vast majority of Steele people struggle with food and clothing all year round. Famine is something that Steele people experience every year. Rock bread is very popular in the province (a small amount of couscous + bran + wood chips + a lot of rock powder). This kind of bread has a strong sense of fullness after eating, but it actually works...

At least Lane wasn't going to try.

Wine is the only product that Steelland can export. Unfortunately, Steelland cannot produce high-end red wine. Due to the barren land, planting grapes as a cash crop on precious arable land will often make more people hungry, so the local Wine cannot be established as a manor, so it can only be planted and sold separately, and most of the wines produced are low-end and mid-range wines. What is commendable about Steele wine is that people here never add water to the wine, which is really rare in the empire.

What's more terrible is that Sylvania is also a part of the stillland. At the end of the vampire war, Martin, the Duke of Steele, led the human army to completely wipe out Manfred-von- Carstein and his undead army killed Manfred, the last vampire count, and burned all the vampire castles in Sylvania. Since then, Sylvania has been incorporated into the territory of Steele .

However, Sylvania is more like a heavy burden than a gift. There is no grass in this land of death. Countless undead creatures wander in that cursed land. The dead will never rest in peace. A large number of border guards and sentries had to be formed, because scattered undead creatures would attack the border almost every ten days and a half months.

A poor place was forced to maintain a huge border guard, and the financial pressure almost bankrupted Steele.

Anderson, the Elector, is a really good man. He first chose Boris Todbringer, but when Karl Franz found him and promised to provide food aid to Stillland, the The elector, who loved his people deeply, "sold" his votes to Emperor Karl without hesitation, just so that no one of his people would starve to death.

Ryan felt that this incident illustrated two issues. The first was that the Elector Anderson really loved his people, and the second was that Rick was really rich and Steele was really poor.

The opening of the Imperial Parliament was first initiated by the emperor. The emperor himself reviewed the glorious history of the empire and the help of the high elves to the empire in the great holy war. Afterwards, the High Elf Safri Kingdom Hoth White Tower Magister Council Supreme The mage Teclis took up the topic, and he expressed his concern about the forces of Chaos to the electors.

If the empire cannot resist the invasion of chaos from the north, the realm of chaos will continue to expand, the earth will continue to corrupt and mutate, and the world is gradually being irreversibly eroded by chaos. Since the Great Holy War, the number of chaos believers in the old world has been increasing steadily rising.

The empire needs to unite to deal with the threat of Chaos. Teclis proposed that Emperor Karl Franz is an excellent general and statesman. When there is a large-scale Chaos invasion, the emperor should unite the forces of all the electors. , to fight against chaos together, instead of fighting alone.

Ryan found a seat behind the Imperial Council. He came to the Empire this time for an unofficial private visit. He could not represent Britannia or the Knights of the Holy Grail. He could only represent himself. So Ryan can only listen in.

Teclis' proposal plunged the Imperial Diet into squabbling.

"Your Excellency Teclis, we respect you. The savior Ludwig once taught us that a united empire is stronger than a divided empire. Great empires have been divided many times in history, but we have always stood firm on our They are all from the Empire." Elector Hertwig, Elector of Beccafin and Speaker of the Ostermark Alliance, spoke first, and the Elector said to Teclis without hesitation: "However, the elves should not interfere with the empire. Internal affairs, how we want to form an alliance is our own business."

"The elves will not interfere in the internal affairs of the empire, but the elves must also face the threat of chaos. We are here to remind our human friends, not to offend, from a good-hearted perspective," Teclis said calmly.

"Then this matter should be an internal meeting of the empire. I don't understand why you came to the Imperial Parliament specially for Karl Franz, Your Excellency Teclis?" Elector Boris said harshly, his The one-eyed stared at Teclis, and then at the silent Emperor Karl Franz: "Our Majesty is trying to tell us that he has a high elf ally? He wants us electors to be obedient Be obedient, or a meteorite will fall on our heads?"

"I have absolutely no intention of that, Boris..." The emperor immediately argued: "I mean, the high elves are willing to help the empire, but they hope that the empire can unite..."

"Only the High Elves can defeat Chaos? I am FNNDP!" Helmut Feuerbach, Elector of Talabheim, said bluntly: "The High Elves still think they are the masters of the world? Are they living in a dream? !"

"..." Teclis is not a person who is particularly good at words. Facing the aggression of the electors, the Supreme Archmage is a little bit overwhelmed. If the words are too sharp, then the alliance cannot be negotiated. If the words are too low-key , not the style of the high elves.

"Calm down, everyone, we are discussing opinions and making suggestions, not about forcing everyone, please speak freely, and don't rise to racial and personal attacks." The emperor spoke.

Teclis' suggestion is in the interests of the emperor. Since he took office, Emperor Karl Franz has been trying to strengthen the emperor's authority and centralization. At present, because of his outstanding military talent and political strategy, the electors have temporarily abandoned each other. However, the emperor's order still could not go out of the Rick Territory. The electors carried out the emperor's order if it was beneficial (at least harmless) to themselves, and ignored it if it was harmful to them.

However, this is much stronger than before.

"That's right, maybe it's more beneficial for the emperor to unite us to fight against chaos, or the high elves will provide us with help in fighting against the forces of chaos, but what about other problems? The undead of Sylvania, the green of the evil land Pi, and the countless tribes of beastmen in the forest, will the high elves help us?" Anderson, the Grand Duke of Stillland, said worriedly: "If we can't protect ourselves, we have to How to unite against the forces of chaos?"

Anderson's movements were a little violent, and the fur coat tilted, revealing the patch on the wool shirt under the coat.

"Agreed." Umberto Corleone, the Grand Duke of Ivy and Elector of Tuscany, raised his hand.

"Second." Grand Duke Talabek and Elector of Talabheim Helmut Feuerbach raised his hand.

Gianni Bernardino, Elector of Brescia and Grand Duke of Wissen, hesitated for a while, and the Electors who were less than twenty also raised their hands at the signal of the courtiers: "I second."

Both the emperor and Teclis frowned.

Why did the electors of these provinces second the proposal?

Because they don't have to face the threat of chaos, in their view, they are not the first to attack when chaos invades, so they have little interest in joining forces. On the contrary, they each have their own considerations.

Everyone is aware of the threat of chaos, but it is one thing to be clear, and it is another thing to really wait for chaos to hit the door. Human beings, or mortals, always repeat the tragedy of history, until they really feel the crisis , Unless the fire is imminent, most mortals are always busy thinking about their own interests.

Well, the scars forget the pain! The emperor could only lament that humans are forgetful creatures, high elves have a long lifespan, and dwarves have books of hatred, but humans do not have these advantages. After the disappearance of the savior Ludwig, the electors began to be satisfied with self-government again. Live your life behind closed doors.

"Everyone! Only when the claws of chaos knock on the gate of the palace, will you wake up like a dream?" At this moment, the elector Boris spoke, and his remaining one eye was burning. Flame of anger: "All of you are only satisfied with your own rule, are you imperial people?!"

"The Empire must unite!" Baron Hawke and Elector Edbrand Ludenhof of Herzig also shouted loudly: "For Charlemagne, for the Empire!"

"The Empire lasts! The Empire is immortal!" Emperor Karl Franz stood up, his face in his thirties was filled with holy anger, and the emperor got up from behind his seat: "Enough, if you think this is all right , then vote! Tell me, subjects of the Reich! Are you united! Or are you divided and broken one by one? I, the Emperor of the Reich, Karl Franz Friedrich, awaits your answers! Don't forget Now, the scars left by the minions of Chaos on the land of the empire are watching you quietly!"

"Start voting!"

The electors were overwhelmed by the emperor's angry shouts. Like a defeated rooster, they lowered their heads and wrote their opinions with a quill pen.

Fourteen pieces of parchment (Mut Elder has no right to participate in the internal affairs of the empire) were sent to the Archbishop of the Justice Church, Vikmar.

"Eight votes in favor! Two abstentions, four against!"

"On behalf of Charlemagne and the God of Justice, I declare here that the alliance is established!"