Chapter 139

"However, due to traffic reasons, many goods take too long to be transported, causing the original value to change and not adapt to the market. Therefore, the radiation of the city has a certain range. This is why the empire's The reason is that the capital cannot radiate to the whole country, and even the royal territories cannot cover it. "

"Well, so if you want to expand the size of Saint Laurent City, you have to change the traffic problem, right?"

"Yeah." Lite nodded and vomited. "Just like the distance from Antica City to Saint Laurent City, if you use magic, it can be shortened to two days or even less, but if it is transported by cargo carriage, it will take at least a week to deliver it."

"If it's bulk goods, it may even take a month if the road is slow."

"Yes." Odysseus nodded, and he agreed with this. "In this way, even if the price of agricultural products in the countryside of the Duchy of Antica is much lower than that around the city of Saint Laurent, the cost of transporting it on the road will be too high, which will lead to the price being very low when it is transported to the city of Saint Laurent. Come down. But at the same time, Saint Laurent City can also supply this kind of goods. There is no profit to be made from such goods, so naturally no businessmen are willing to do this kind of trade. "

“However, the excess production of goods required a distribution center, so primary towns appeared. Later, in order to communicate economic connections and commercial exchanges between towns, cities also

This is generated. "Li Teuk also added at this time.

"What you said is very good." Odysseus said, looking at Li Te with a look of relief. "At least, in my opinion, Lee Teuk, my finance minister would never be able to say what you said."

"Your Majesty is very pleased." Lite said and smiled.

"By the way, I heard you say before that Lucius was ill. What's the situation? Is it okay?"

"Ah...about this issue..." Liteuk became a little nervous.

Sure enough, what should be inescapable is still inescapable.

With this in mind, Liteuk explained: "That's right, Your Majesty, my father was injured in a previous assassination. Although his life is not serious, he has left some sequelae. He is currently recuperating. When the sequelae disappear, my father will be able to return to normal." Take care of business."

"Is that so..." Odysseus heard Li Te say this and expressed his understanding.

"Oh, I really didn't expect that someone would dare to assassinate the Duke of the Empire. Will I be the next person to be assassinated?" He said angrily.

"However, Li Te, you don't have to worry too much. You are handling the duchy well now. Lucius must be very pleased that his two children are capable of both civil and military affairs. One is in charge of the internal affairs and the other is in charge of the external affairs. Very well maintained.”

"Thank you for your approval, Your Majesty." Lite quickly saluted.

At the same time, inside the Duke's mansion.

Vivian was guarding the door of Lucius's room.

Li Te went out to meet Odysseus today, and Vivian was the only one left at home to take care of Lucius. With the experience last time, Vivian could not let Mary get close to Lucius anymore.

But having said that, looking at Mary appearing in front of her at this moment, Vivian felt a headache.

"Maid Vivian." Mary's tone sounded very serious. "I'd like to reiterate here again that the person inside is my husband. No matter what problems my husband has, I am his wife and I have the right to be by his side."

"I'm sorry, madam, but both Master Orson and Master Leeteuk have ordered me. My problem is more serious, so I should try to have as little contact with people as possible."

"In that case, I'll go in and take a look at him to see if he's still here, okay?" Mary's tone was anxious, as if she was really worried about Lucius.

"Madam...please don't make things difficult for me. Besides, haven't you met the master before..."

"It's just because we've seen each other before that I feel strange. Didn't we still have dinner with Master Mingming a while ago? Why has it become like this these days?!" Mary grabbed Vivian's collar and looked a little bit irrational. look.

"You kidnapped Randall and now you don't let me see the master. What do you want!?"

But Vivian's expression didn't change. She watched Mary perform on her own, unmoved.

"Noise, noisy, noisy!" At this moment, the door was opened from the inside, and Lucius appeared at the door.

Looking at the surprised two people, Lucius frowned.

"Why are you looking at me? Isn't there a banquet today? Let's prepare for the banquet."

Chapter 25: Testing

"Master? Your body..." After a brief surprise, Vivian was the first to react. "Master Li Te took care of me and asked you to stay in the room and rest well today..."

"Master, are you okay?" Mary also asked at the right time.

"What? You all want me to lie on the bed so much?" As he said this, Lucius frowned. "I'm not sick, I'm in good health."

Saying this, Lucius patted his chest to express that he was fine.

"This family, whether it's Orson or Lite, it's not their turn to make the decision yet. Since the emperor wants to come to my place, as the master of the family, how can I make sense if I don't show up?"

"Anyway, hurry up and get ready to go." Lucius said. "By the way, no matter whether Orson comes back today or not, give him a place at the banquet. Don't lose etiquette."

"Okay." Vivian nodded after hearing this, and then gave Lucius's order.

At this moment, only Lucius and Mary were left.

"What? Madam, why are you still here?"

"Master, does your health really not matter? Orson and Lite didn't let me see you before..."

"How many times do you have to tell me that there is nothing wrong with my body?" Lucius was obviously a little unhappy. "As for why they didn't let you come to see me, that's what I meant. Don't get me wrong. I was in a bad situation at the time. I didn't want to

You saw my joke, that's why I let them do this, and made you worried, madam. "

"That's good." Mary nodded after hearing this. "However, if you still feel a little uncomfortable today, please don't force yourself. Your health is more important than anything else."

"Ha, of course I know that." Lucius said, smiling. "Of course I understand your thoughts, madam, and I also understand the thoughts of many other people. If I don't show up today, I'm afraid there will be problems at the banquet."

Mary was shocked when she heard this.

She didn't know why, but she always felt that Lucius meant something when he said this, as if he was trying to harm the family.

He then reached out and gently touched Mary's face.

"Madam, where is the attendant beside you? The man who usually follows you, why didn't you see him today?"

"Master, are you talking about Randall?" Mary suddenly remembered the purpose of meeting Lucius, and then quickly said: "Randall sent me a letter last time, and he didn't come back after that. I I suspected that he had been kidnapped, so I asked Leeteuk to help me mobilize the duchy's guards to find him, but Leeteuk told me that he still hasn't been found yet..."

"Oh?" Lucius frowned upon hearing this. "Then this is indeed something Lite did wrong. After all, he is such an important person to Madam, how could he not be found?"

"I'm afraid that Madam will be very bored these days when Mr. Randall is away."

Hearing Lucius speak like this, Mary's heart inevitably beat wildly.

"After all, Madam is the servant you named before you got married from the Duke of Orleans. With him serving Madam, I feel relieved. Madam must be very lonely these days when he is away. After all, there is no one to talk to. Servant."

"This is not possible. We must find him quickly." Lucius said this and clapped his hands. "After all, I am your very important servant, madam."

Mary stared at Lucius in disbelief with her eyes wide open.

Lucius almost pointed it out directly, but how did he know?

"Okay, madam, I will help you find Randall later. Don't worry. Now you just wait for the dinner." Lucius said this, patted Mary's shoulder, and then gently He hugged her gently.

"At tonight's banquet, we must set a good example to the nobles of the empire, madam." Lucius whispered in Mary's ear. Then, he let go of Mary, smiled, and walked downstairs.

Downstairs, a group of nobles had gathered at this moment. Unlike Odysseus, after they arrived at the Dukedom of Antica, they went straight to the Duke's mansion, wanting to reminisce with Lucius.

Of course, when they learned that Lucius was unable to chat with them due to illness, the nobles only expressed regret, and then gathered together in twos and threes to chat.

In addition to the original purpose of this kind of gathering of nobles, it is more to provide a social occasion for the nobles, so that the nobles can achieve their own goals in this social occasion.

Either completing an alliance, improving a relationship, or planning a conspiracy.

In short, the most favorite and most frequent social interaction among nobles is banquets.

And who knew who called Duke Lucius? The nobles on the first floor all looked up and saw Lucius coming down from the second floor, dressed in formal clothes.

"Duke Lucius." The first person to greet him was the Duke of Prussia, Lucius's in-law William.

He and Lucius had a pretty good relationship, and he was very worried after hearing the news that Lucius was ill.

"I heard that you are not sick? Is it really okay for you to come down now?"

"It doesn't matter." Lucius smiled and shook his head. "It's just a minor illness that I occasionally contracted. It's not a serious illness. I'm almost healed now."

"Besides, if I don't come down and everyone attends this party, the atmosphere will be less after all, right?"

"Haha, that's true." William saw that Lucius looked fine and looked good, so he smiled and nodded.

At this time, Giovanni, Duke of Naples, also walked up.

"Oh, Duke Lucius, congratulations. Your child has become a great person and can take care of himself, while my untalented child is still spending my money. From the perspective of being a parent, I really envy you. ah!"

"That's great, Duke Giovanni. Your son, Mr. Donny, is also very good."

"Hey, I'm still not as good as you." Giovanni said this. Although he was praising Lucius, it didn't feel like he was praising him, but rather he was being irritated. "But, Duke Lucius, your health really doesn't matter.

? "

"Of course." Lucius nodded.

"Well, Duke Lucius, do you still remember your and my rankings when we entered the Imperial College in the same class thirty years ago?" Giovanni said with a smile.

"After all, it's very nostalgic. Among the dukes in the empire, you and I are the only old classmates now, and this time has only passed by thirty years..."

"Imperial Academy ranking..." Lucius said, with a trace of doubt in his eyes.

He wanted to answer Giovanni, but for some reason, he couldn't remember it in his mind.

Speaking of which, when did you enter Imperial College?

Why can't I remember...

"Duke Lucius?" Seeing that Lucius did not reply to him, Giovanni was stunned for a moment, and then pretended to be surprised: "You must have forgotten, right?"

Chapter 26: The banquet begins

"Ah... uh, this..." Lucius froze on the spot, a little at a loss.

At this moment, William walked up in time.

"Duke Giovanni, please don't test Duke Lucius's memory here. He has been in the army for half his life and his health is much better than that of old men like us. How could he not remember it?"

He smiled like this, and then continued: "Moreover, Duke Lucius was number one when he first entered school. There are many geniuses in the Stranik family, and everyone is number one. It's really enviable. "

"Indeed." Giovanni nodded, and the smile on his face faded. "If Duke William could change your nosy character, you wouldn't have two children ranked second in school."

"Is second place bad?" When William heard this, he was not angry. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Giovanni with a hint of provocation in his expression.

"No matter what, the second place is still higher than the rank of Mr. Tang Ni? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. Tang Ni's current ranking is meaningless. After all, he has been expelled from Imperial College. That’s it.”

"Ha." Giovanni heard this and smiled nonchalantly. "Yes, my son doesn't live up to expectations, so I can only fight for it myself and pave the way for his future."

With that said, Giovanni no longer said anything to William, but turned back and continued to join in the chat with other nobles.

This is how a noble's conversation works. Although there is always something in his words when he speaks, it seems that he won't stop until he chokes the other person to death.

But if your emotions are really aroused and you make some rude actions, you will really fail.

On the second floor, Vivian saw Lucius' current situation. She assigned the work to others, then hurriedly walked downstairs and followed Lucius.

Now she has to follow Lucius every step of the way and try to ensure that Lucius doesn't have any problems at the banquet like he did just now.

Lucius greeted the nobles who met downstairs one by one. This time he did not forget the names of the nobles.

Then, he came to the William family.

This time, accompanying William to the Duchy of Antica were his two daughters, Olivia and Lianka.

Olivia had returned to the Duke of Prussia for a while due to an urgent matter. When she came with her father this time, she was planning to come and see Orson. Unexpectedly, Orson was not in Antica at the moment because he was dealing with affairs in the desert. Duchy.

Not seeing Orson, Olivia was naturally in a bad mood, but when she saw Lucius walking towards her, Olivia took the initiative to greet him.

"Uncle Lucius, I haven't seen you for a long time. I wonder if you are in good health?"

"It's nothing serious." Lucius shook his head.

For his future daughter-in-law, Lucius only had satisfaction in his eyes.

You must know that as the daughter of a duke, there are not many people who can make her let go of her stature, and the various details she showed during the time she lived in her own home are enough to explain her feelings for Orson.

Not only was this marriage a perfect match, but the two of them liked each other, and there was no hint of accommodation. Lucius was satisfied, and he felt less guilty about forcing his children to enter into a marriage contract.

"Well, Uncle Lucius...night...good evening." Lianka also came to Olivia's side and said hello to Lucius.

"Good evening." Lucius nodded.

Then, he suddenly felt dazed and his eyes were dull for a while.

Fortunately, Vivian discovered this situation in time and gently patted Lucius on the shoulder.

"Master, it's getting late. In a moment,

Your Majesty is coming back. Can you rest for a while? "

Vivian didn't know when Lucious's illness would attack, it was like a time bomb, but at least it wouldn't allow him to communicate with others for a long time.