Chapter 696, Empire Heroes

PS: In today's first update, I saw a lot of people say that the last chapter was boring, that I was perfunctory and coping. What I want to say is that yesterday, in order to add more updates, I went back to the dormitory at night and started writing the second update until eleven o'clock. After finishing the second update, I was going to write today's update soon. I was so tired at the time I can’t even open my eyes, but in order to keep updating or procrastinating, I insisted on writing today’s first update until 2:30 in the morning. Furthermore, I planned to write such content a long time ago. It’s been a long time, I watched a lot of simulcasts and newsletters, and checked a lot of information. I understand that I don’t appreciate it. I also think that I am a little watery because I know that I am watery. But if I really perfunctory readers or have a bad attitude, I will Did you still desperately write the second update yesterday?

In the future, there should be fewer thankless things. I am already tired, and it is uncomfortable to sit for a long time.

In any case, let's add another chapter today, the emperor apologizes here.

……… I am the dividing line between the text and PS………

A melancholy, about forty-year-old elector, wearing an extremely luxurious elector's dress, a lot of gold and silver jewelry, and colorful hat feathers, stood in front of Ryan, his His face was full of arrogance and sternness. The silk coat was embroidered with patterns of the golden sun and the golden fleece. Obviously, this was the family coat of arms of the Elector family of Tuscany. There were two swords hanging from his waist, one The long sword is the imperial elector's holy sword, and the short sword is a dwarven rune-enchanted silver dagger. He is very handsome, but his melancholy expression and poker face destroy his facial features.

"Let me introduce, this is the new Elector of Tuscany, Grand Duke of Aviland and Count of Aviheim, Marius-Leitdorf." The emperor smiled and patted Marius's face. Shoulder: "The last Elector, Umberto Corleone finally decided to retire after serving as Elector of Tuscany for two hundred years. Marius is his fifth grandson, a legendary pinnacle When competing for the title of marquis within the family, he defeated all competitors with his two swords and stood out. I think you will have a lot of exchanges. Marius is the most steadfast member of our family. Political ally and military partner, the friendly relationship between Reikland and Aviland can be traced back to the noble friendship between Charlemagne and the first Tuscan Elector Sigurd two thousand years ago."

"It's an honor to meet you, Lord Ryan Malcador." Marius squeezed out a smile: "If there is a chance, I must ask you for sword skills."

"You are welcome at any time." Ryan reached out to shake hands with Marius, and the Crown Prince of Brittania hesitated a little: "Crazy... Earl?"

"Hahaha~" the emperor couldn't help laughing when he heard the word "crazy count", but Marius didn't respond, and he replied stiffly: "They asked for it."

Of course Ryan knew about Marius, and of course he was concerned about the change of the electorate in the empire. After Marius Leitdorf was elected as the first heir to the electorate, the first thing he did was to announce that Mutter could not lead Ai Weiling merchants impose a high "calf tax".

What is the calf tax?

In Mootland, the homeland of halflings, in order to protect the interests of halflings and prevent humans from occupying the homeland of halflings excessively, halflings will impose a "calf tax" on humans entering Mootland, that is, humans with a height of 1.3 meters or more Anyone who wants to enter a halfling town has to pay a huge tax. This tax was originally designed to protect the largest granary in the empire, Mootland, from being re-infiltrated by humans to regain the territory.

But as we all know, no matter how good the starting point of a tax is, as long as there is no follow-up and supervision, it will eventually become a tool for the ruling class to collect money. As the halflings continue to increase the calf tax,

Aiweiling, a large grain-producing province and one of the wealthiest provinces in the empire, couldn't stand it anymore. The first thing Marius did when he was selected as the heir was to lead the Golden Fleece Knights, Black Bear Knights and Aiweiling's unique foreigners. The recruiting army declared war on the halflings led by Mutt, asking them to lower their calf tax.

As a result, the halflings got a steam tank that was scrapped from nowhere. They added a trailer to the back of the steam tank and installed the famous halfling crucible behind the tank. Relying on this steam tank, halflings After a big battle with Marius on the border, Emperor Karl Franz came out to mediate, Aiweiling and Mutling signed an agreement, the halfling lowered the calf tax, and Marius withdrew his troops.

Relying on this surprise and frantic screaming on the battlefield, his performance of charging himself, his rough manners and bad sense of humor, Marius Reiterdorf earned the nickname "The Mad Earl".

By the way, Marius Leitdorf's brother is Hans Leitdorf, who is the Grand Master of the Knights Templar mentioned above and Alfred's immediate boss.

As for how this scrapped steam tank came about... Ryan thought that it must have something to do with Emilia.

No way, during the previous Tamu Khan invasion, Aiwei’s army was busy guarding the Black Fire Pass and did not participate. The emperor also fought with the Chaos Gang in Hawkland and Brass Fortress. Nur was extremely dissatisfied with these two provinces , During this period of time, the two sides had a lot of friction, mutual hostility, and the relationship declined.

After introducing Marius, another very strong, bear-like middle-aged man stood in front of Ryan. He was wearing a bearskin coat and a lake-green cloak. Behind the cloak, a big man with patterns of sea ships and wind and waves also appeared By the emperor's side, his hair and beard are already grey, his eyes are wrinkled, and he has a long goatee that hangs down to his stomach. He is like a true northern warrior, stubborn, tenacious, warlike and fierce.

"I think you may have met this one, Theodoric Geisel, the current Grand Duke of Nord, the owner of the electorate of the Nord Kingdom, Grand Baron Sessenmond, the fear of Nord , you have all made great achievements in the process of fighting against the Norsca invasion, maybe you also have a lot to talk about." The emperor raised his wine glass.

"I met him." Theodoric Geisel (in order to prevent confusion with Theodoric, Duke of Berleon, collectively referred to as Geisel in the future) had a rough voice, and he was no longer young: "Ryan, who was just a knight-errant at the time, wandered around Nord, looking for opportunities for promotion."

"Is His Majesty Harald still in good health??" Ryan picked up his wine glass and clinked glasses with Geisel. If His Majesty Harald is no longer able to do so, the empire will lose another strong sanctuary who can control the situation.

"Great-grandfather is too old to deal with internal affairs. He is going to be 300 years old this year." Geisel said impatiently: "He has retired, and now it is our turn to young people."

Ryan thought you were over 50 this year, right? This is still young?

However, the strong in this world do have a longer lifespan, and whether it is the Elector of the Empire or the Duke of Britannia, they will pay more attention to strength when choosing their heirs. After all, the heirs must live long enough to stabilize the territory.

Incidentally, Geisel's daughter, Anne-Tayris, was the wife of Elector Boris Todbringer.

Geisel, like his great-grandfather Harald Frank, was a ruler who was obsessed with territorial size and especially liked to forge claims. After he took over the electorate, he publicly declared that he had inherited Marienburg from his great-grandfather As a matter of course, the Prince's title, the Marienburg City Council immediately issued a statement, listing Geisel as an unwelcome object in Marienburg.

"It seems that you are very familiar with each other." The emperor was a little surprised, and he smiled heartily: "Am I being presumptuous?"

"No, it's an honor, Carl, you actually brought such a luxurious delegation this time." Ryan felt the cold wind blowing through his body at night, and his attitude was very friendly: "I thought you would come, but I didn't expect...you That's bringing half the empire."

"No, it's an empire." Marius pointed at the emperor with an index finger: "He is the empire."

This untimely cold joke made Ryan twitch the corners of his mouth, and made the whole atmosphere instantly awkward. Karl Franz laughed twice, really not knowing what to say, Geisel protruded from his nostrils and snorted. He muttered "boring southerners" and walked away with his glass.

"..." The awkward atmosphere lasted for ten seconds. Karl Franz and Ryan looked at me and I looked at you, but they didn't know how to answer this question. Marius didn't care about his inappropriate humor. I didn't notice it, and I didn't intend to speak out to resolve the embarrassment.

"Okay, Ryan, I heard that you hired a team of Erengrad sea soul guards from Kislev through the relationship of President Amancio of the Estalia Merchant Union. Tell me, what are you? How did you do it?" After thinking for a while, the emperor decided to change the subject, shrugging his shoulders, pretending to be relaxed: "Can we talk about it?"

"Come with me, I'll show you something." Ryan signaled the emperor to follow him, Karl and Marius looked at each other and immediately followed.

The three came to a small room in the palace, and Ryan carefully opened a large gold box, which contained five white enamel outer layers and golden eggs made of gold: "Look, Karl."

"This is... a Faberge egg?!" Karl-Frantz and Marius opened their mouths in surprise, "This... isn't this Kislev's national treasure? My God, Ryan, what are you doing?" Got it?!"

Ryan smiled and opened the first egg. Inside the egg was a small golden hen. Inside the golden hen was a miniature crown inlaid with diamonds and a miniature egg made of rubies. The forging skills are amazing to everyone. Only Karl Franz’s royal treasure house has the same egg. It is a national gift from the Kislev Kingdom to the emperor of the empire. As a symbol of friendship, each Faberge egg is different. , and a powerful protective magic is sealed inside, which can be recharged and used repeatedly.

"How did you get it? Some people need money, some people need things, and some people have channels. That's how we got it." Ryan looked at the five Faberge eggs with satisfaction, and said with a smile: "Amancio has a way, as long as With enough money, Kislev urgently needs funds to pay pensions and rebuild the heavily-lost army. Her Majesty Katarin's magic research also requires a lot of expenses. The kingdom can't provide so much taxation, and the finances that cannot make ends meet need money to fill. Easter eggs come in this way, and so do sea soul guards. There are some things we can’t do publicly, but privately, the Tsar’s royal family is willing to transfer their national treasures. As long as the price is right, there is nothing that cannot be sold. Amancio has a list in his hand .”

"Oh! Charlemagne is here, Helena will like this." Karl Franz understood, and the emperor smiled even more happily: "Helena will like this, I will tell Amancio, let him give it too I make one."

"I want one too, no, two!" Marius' eyes lit up, and only these five eggs were left in the eyes of the crazy count. Ryan thought that these are the ones I want to give to the lady and Suria, and What does it matter to you, so Ryan immediately closed the treasure chest again, and the three came out of the room. The emperor thought about it and asked tentatively: "So, your expedition to Bafeng Mountain is also for the endless wealth in it?"

"The knights always need a reason to go on an expedition." Ryan did not answer Karl Franz's question directly: "King Bellegar has a suitable reason and has helped us a lot."

"Black-hearted Lepp is the border prince you support?" Marius asked quite directly: "I heard his name more than once in Aiweiling. It is impossible for that mercenary boss to do it without the support of others, he now owns three towns and more than a dozen villages, and more than 3,000 swords."

"Littlebird? Maybe, who knows?" Ryan said speciously: "He may also come this time as enthroned, you can ask him then?"

Having said that, the emperor and Marius knew it well. Karl Franz thought for a while, and felt that the empire didn't have the energy to take care of the affairs of the border princes. He laughed a few times and stopped a man in a fur coat. The leader of Midden, wearing a felt hat, said to Ryan: "By the way, Ryan, I almost forgot, this time I want to introduce you to a hero of the empire, my right-hand man."

"The Marshal of the Imperial Hunter, Marcus Wolfhart!"

While the lively state banquet and reception were held in the royal palace of Korona, under the dark night sky, another group of visitors also approached the capital of the Knight Kingdom along the ancient road.

The Grand Duke of Marienburg, Schulz, led his personal guards and Marienburg's elite pioneer cavalry unit "Border Rangers", along the Korona Road, to the outskirts of Korona.

More than ten years seem to have left no trace on Van der Gouber-Schulz. He took a few very tall people on a small hill in the Korona wilderness, looking at the glorious The city of Korona, welcoming the arrival of the Emperor today, is brightly lit, like a beacon of civilization, illuminating the dark plains nearby.

"Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, we are here."

"very good."

()