Chapter 1196, The Darkest Hour

The latest website: At the beginning of the year 2523 in the Imperial Calendar, an army of more than a thousand people came out of the snow-covered Athel Loren. Alaros, the chosen champion of the wood elf queen Alaier, was the commander of this army. , he was ordered to lead this army to Sylvania to rescue the little queen Alisara who was still trapped.

In all fairness, Alaros didn't want to do this. For the wood elf hero, Alaros, who had just made great contributions in the battle against Mogul, he just wanted to enjoy the peaceful life in the forest, and continued to think about it. How to please his goddess Lilith.

For Alaros, the eternal little queen Alarielle is indeed a top-notch little beauty, but she is not his favorite, and has nothing to do with him. He also dislikes high elves, especially his arrogance and the perception of Athel Loren as an overseas colony.

The arrival of the Eternal Queen Alarielle to Athel Loren really surprised Wood Spirit, especially since the two sides have not communicated for many years, and the Eternal Queen never left Ulthuan.

Isa's first choice saw Isa's true self. At this time, Queen Alaier's memory was a little confused. She only remembered that she was Isa sometimes, but she knelt down and begged the wood elves to save her daughter. At that time, Alaier still agreed to come down, and sent Alaros and a smaller wood elf army, more than a thousand people.

The Twilight Sisters' Alaier Army Front was left in Britannia to continue fulfilling the covenant with the Knight Kingdom.

In addition to the people of Alaros, the high-spirited trio who arrived in the empire a few days ago, Eltharion, Belannar and Etila also found the emperor, and Karl Franz felt very embarrassed about this— ——The empire is now in many disasters, and the surplus troops that can be mobilized are dispatched to the northern front. The emperor had to write to two people, Marius the Elector of Aviland and the Butcher King of Karak-Kadrin, requesting them Send troops to aid.

In fact, almost every force is pinning their hopes on the dispatch of the Bretanian knight army. In this dark age, only the Bretanians have won successive battles to keep their land away from corruption, plague, production reduction and all kinds of wars. However, an astonishing news spread in the old world. Everyone knew that the Kingdom of Knights might not have the energy to lend a helping hand.

Everyone expressed understanding, but also felt deeply disappointed.

Hubald, Duke of Carcassonne, told the news to everyone in the entire Knight Kingdom.

That's not a rumor, that's true.

The fairy in the lake is really Lilith, the goddess of the high-spirited moon.

At the moment when the rumor was heard,

I don't know how many knights and nobles wept bitterly, and how many young men who dreamed of being knights had a nervous breakdown.

The Duke of Hubald couldn't face all of this either. He couldn't accept that his family had persisted for thousands of years because of a scam. But similarly, what the fairy in the lake criticized also made him speechless, and he couldn't even make any rebuttals. .

Yeah, if there were no nymphs then Brittania wouldn't exist at all, how critical was the situation in Brittania? At the most difficult time, the number of Britannian knights and the number of greenskins was 1:300! Almost all the Bretons were desperate, most of the army was defending the castle, and the few remaining people were almost completely dispersed.

If it wasn't for Arthur, Landuin, and Silruf who received the encouragement, guidance, and glory of the Holy Grail from the Fairy of the Lake when they were in despair, and found the meaning, purpose, and courage of their own battles, the entire kingdom would have been over long ago .

So, what to do? Betrayal, or compromise?

The Duke of Hubald didn't want to do either, and the disheartened Holy Grail Knight announced that he would no longer obey the orders of anyone, including the Fairy of the Lake, including the Sun King, but he would continue to guard Carcassonne Castle until the end For a moment, as for the future, let his descendants make the choice!

Just when Duke Hubald was disheartened, Knight King Ryan officially announced to the entire Britannia:

"The Kingdom of Britannia will hold a Kingdom Knights Conference in the capital of Courona in early February, about the truth about the belief of the fairies in the lake, about Britannia's next national policy, about the future of Britannia, It will all be found here."

This is the first time that the Kingdom Knights Conference was held again after an unknown number of years. Only a small number of people still remember that the last Kingdom Knights Conference was held after John II defeated Badwater River.

Ryan appealed that no matter whether you are willing to continue to believe in the fairy of the lake, no matter whether you are willing to stay in this country, no matter whether you still plan to fight for the old world, any knight of the kingdom should come to Korona to participate in the knights of the kingdom conference .

Many people regard Ryan's actions as a threat. After all, the Sun King, as the champion of the Fairy of the Lake, is undoubtedly on the side of the Fairy of the Lake.

So is it possible that our Majesty the Sun King intends to gather us opposition groups and wipe them all out?

Many knight nobles have this idea, headed by the new Duke Campbell of Le-Angulan and Duke Jihad of Lyonnaise from the "Free Britannia" faction. They don't want to participate in the Kingdom Knights Conference. What was wanted was a coup, a military coup.

On the surface, Free Britannia gave the Sun King Ryan 15 days of "preparation time", which seemed magnanimous, but in fact they also reserved enough preparation time for themselves to facilitate the call of the army.

What the Free Breton faction never expected was that this group of damned serfs refused to respond to the call of the knights! Refusing to go to Korona with the knight lords to seek justice, and even refusing to do anything to the temple of the fairy in the lake!

Inverted! Inverted! The serfs don't listen to the gentlemen anymore!

The knights were very angry, but this time it was different. No matter what they said, the serfs were unwilling to accept the call.

So are the serfs really stupid?

Not at all, in fact, the serfs made their calculations very clear.

Under the brilliant leadership of Lady of the Lake and Sun King Ryan, are our days getting better or worse?

Of course, the more the better!

So what did the Lady of the Lake do to us serfs?

Obviously it is also very good. The serfs don't know anything else, but they know the following three things.

First of all, the Church of the Fairy in the Lake announced a tax cut a few years ago, reducing the original tax of ten to fifteen.

Don't underestimate these points, these points are often the gap between starving, eating bran and drinking water, and barely having food and clothing! There are also churches that hold various activities all day long during New Years and festivals, such as donating cookies and liqueur according to household registration, serving porridge and organizing barbecues from time to time, as well as various worship activities, bards, circus tour performances, that But they are all very popular, especially in recent years because there is too much food, and the church occasionally offers a "tithe tax refund". The life of the serfs is much better!

Secondly, needless to say, how good His Majesty the Sun King Ryan is to us serfs? As long as His Majesty Ryan is mentioned, the first reaction of any serf is to give a thumbs up, and for the simple heads of the serfs, isn't the Sun King bound to the lady in the lake?

We are not against His Majesty the Sun King, on the contrary, we will blow the head of anyone who speaks ill of His Majesty!

In the end, the serfs managed to live a good life. They were most afraid of returning to the dark age of the past. You must know that the existence of the fairies in the lake also provided the Bretons with a 7-day statutory holiday every year. Holidays must be off. We don't believe in Ms. Huzhong anymore. Can we still let this holiday go?

As for whether the lady in the lake is a human god or an elf god? What does it matter? Aren't elves a model of noble civilization? What is it not to believe?

It doesn't make sense.

The knight lords found that they could not incite the serfs, and some knight lords planned to force them.

At this time, Ryan's method of planning many years in advance played a role.

Now, who are the petty bureaucrats, village elders, militia captains, free folk soldiers, rangers, owner farmers, small traders, and self-employed people who are filling the grassroots of serfs in Brittany?

Veterans! He fought the Great Crusade with His Majesty Ryan! Many soldiers even fought more than one Great Crusade! These veterans returned to their hometowns with glory and wealth, and soon became the group of people with the most status in the local villages and even towns. Where are the crotch pants?" Stories like that.

Who do these veterans recognize? Do you recognize His Majesty Ryan, or Lord Knight?

you guess?

The grassroots army can't be mobilized at all. At all, if they really want to mobilize by force, the knight masters have to send out troops to suppress this group of "mobs" first.

There is no time, and there is no way to do a military coup. A military coup will not work. We can only go to the Knights Conference together to see what Ryan has to do.

In this way, the knight lords belonging to the "Free Britannia" faction had no choice but to rush to Courona with their family knights and followers, and were forced to participate in the Kingdom Knights Conference.

At the beginning of February in 2523, inside the Korona Palace.

During this period of time, the city was full of knights and lords who came from all over the kingdom. The capital had entered the strictest military control, but there were still more than ten thousand knights, knight retinues, and noble private guards arriving in Courona.

The whole city was on the verge of an enemy, and at the center of the storm vortex, Ryan also hastily moved his court to Korona's side.

In the king's study, the bright yellow carpet that symbolizes royal power is flanked by red and blue tapestries. Ryan is sitting behind the desk, dealing with endless paperwork.

Tired, but necessary, Teresa and Aurora provided a part of the list of knights and nobles who entered the city, and Beria provided another part. Last night, Ryan and Suria stayed up all night to list these The list of knight nobles is divided.

According to statistics over the years, there are now 3,369 great nobles in Brittany.

There are 357 Holy Grail Knights (12 others are still missing).

There were 210 people who were awarded the title of Earl or above.

There are 1169 people with the title of baronet or above.

There are 4,655 knights of the kingdom, and the remaining 21,274 have the title of knight-errant.

In other words, if Ryan desperately mobilizes the whole country, Britannia can burst out nearly 30,000 knights in an instant, which is already the limit for the current knight kingdom with a population of 9 million.

So, among the 4,655 kingdom knights (actually about 4,100 in Korona), how many of them firmly support Ryan and the fairy of the lake?

The number is small, only 21%.

So how many are of the Free Breton faction?

Not a lot either, almost 33%.

The most knights can be said to all maintain a neutral attitude. On the one hand, they cannot accept the fact that the fairy of the lake is actually an elf god, but on the other hand, just like Duke Hubald faced, it can be said that without the fairy of the lake, Without Brittany, most of the knights remained neutral amidst the tangle and pain.

So the next knight meeting is extremely important. It will determine whether Brittania will split, whether it will regroup and start again, or fall into civil war completely.

"Honey, the Duke of Campbell and the Duke of Jihad are frantically forming cliques." Veronica was sitting on the sofa not far from Ryan, and the female speaker was quite relaxed drinking a hot drink, and said lazily: "Why don't you rush to win the hearts of the people?"

"..." Ryan gave Veronica a blank look, and the Sun King shook his head: "That would be inferior, I am the king."

"Tut tsk tsk, my dear is the king." Veronica said sarcastically: "Tell me, Ryan, you have worked hard enough as a king, have you not slept for two days? Since you became king , Have you ever had a year of comfortable life? The whole day is war, internal affairs, foreign affairs, and endless official duties. I have never been a king, but I see that many nobles have never been as tired as you. You are half God!"

"People have to live for themselves, but people can't just live for themselves." Ryan poked his head out from behind the thick file, and then shook his head: "Forget it, why am I telling you this?"

"Then don't say more." Veronica put her hands on her hips, and the female speaker said imposingly, "Isn't your Royal Legion just outside the city? There are also the Coldstream Guards and the Old Guards! Transfer into the city! That Emmanuel land cruiser also drove in for me, crushing all rebels, dissatisfied, and those who dared to challenge your authority, and it's over!"

Ryan: "..."

The Sun King waved his hand annoyedly, signaling that if you don't understand, don't talk nonsense.

It is not easy to mobilize troops into the town to suppress these rebellious nobles, not to mention his royal legion, even if it is only him and the ten gray knight recruits, plus the magic knights of the son of Brittania directly under the fairy of the lake , is enough to suppress the rebellious nobles.

Then what? Didn't the 1,200 kingdom knights die on the way to fight against the enemy, but by their own hands?

What would the neutral knights think? What would the whole old world think? What would the common people of Brittany think?

Furthermore, these "Free Britannia" knights have come to the capital to hold the Kingdom Knights Conference, and they have agreed to go to the negotiating table with you. Ryan is going to use a knife, so is he Tzeentch or Khorne? Chosen?

This made Ryan also feel very entangled. Since she gave up the "New World" plan, of course the fairy in the lake can now tell the Britannians confidently that I am here to collect debts. You ate mine and used me. Yes, take mine, of course you have to fulfill your rights and obligations, the whole kingdom is given to you by me, do you really think that you don’t need to be paid?

It’s just that the goddess is enjoying herself, and the mess left behind must be cleaned up by Ryan. The 33% of the opponents are 1,300 elite knights of the kingdom who have undergone military training and proved themselves. If calculated according to this ratio, behind them are nearly 10,000 Britannian knights!

If they are all "suppressed", what will Ryan use to fight the next war?

There are also those neutral knights who are waiting for the Kingdom Knights Conference and Ryan's statement. Ryan can imagine why so many knights are neutral? Why is everyone not talking now?

It's not because of Ryan's prestige and strong strength that he is willing to wait for him to explain.

But now Ryan is also very distressed. He has repeatedly deduced many times, but he can't find a solution to this problem without bloodshed. He must not compromise, but he is not willing to slaughter these people, just like Duke Hubald Same, they are all good guys and shouldn't die at the hands of their own people.

So, what to do?

That night, in the palace, Ryan was sitting in his bedroom, thinking hard about a solution.

There was a knock on the door: "Lian, are you in?"

"I'm here, Surya."

The well-dressed queen came in, and she looked at Ryan: "Honey, there are guests."

"Guest?" Ryan asked subconsciously, "Madam?"

"No, it's His Majesty the King." Surya said softly.

"King? Your Majesty?" Ryan was puzzled: "Which King? Dwarf? Elf?"

"Neither, it belongs to us, Your Majesty the King." Surya laughed and went out.

Our Majesty the King? Ryan's pupils constricted.

The door opened, and a green shadow walked in.

"Sun King, I think today is a good time."

"I think we should talk."