Chapter 25, The Empire in Nightmares (Part 2)
On a defense tower in the city of Italica, Princess Pinna, with her red hair hanging loose, held the crenel with her hands and looked down with a melancholy expression.
On the originally empty wilderness outside the city wall, countless large and small tents and shacks sprouted up like mushrooms after the rain, extending from the city wall to the fields in the distance where crops had just been harvested. Along with various noises, wisps of smoke curled up between the tents and shacks. Not far away, a group of demihuman refugee women were squatting by the river, washing their clothes and bedding. There are also some local vendors here and there, walking through the refugee camps, selling some cheap gadgets. In addition, there are many demihuman children with animal ears and tails, playing in the harvested fields while looking for straw that can be used as fuel, or ears of wheat left behind by farmers during harvesting.
As a medium-sized city in the pre-industrial era with a population of just over 10,000, Italica cannot naturally accommodate more than 30,000 refugees at once - in fact, even on earth in a modern industrial society, 30,000 refugees are A number that is enough to give any small or medium-sized city a headache. Therefore, among the 30,000 demi-human refugees who migrated long distances over the mountains and ridges from the imperial capital of Urabianka, only a very small number were allowed to enter the city walls of Italica and live in unused houses. After settling down, most of the remaining refugees could only camp temporarily outside the city.
However, for the demihumans who had already suffered a lot and were accustomed to suffering discrimination and oppression, this kind of life was barely bearable. After all, in this kind of slavery society, there is no concept of human rights and the Virgin Mary. When refugees encounter trouble, even women like Princess Pinna are never afraid of wielding a knife to kill people to establish their authority: But there is also a prerequisite, that is, they must at least have full stomachs.
However, even the most basic survival needs are difficult for the former imperial regent and now Princess Pinna to satisfy them...
"...In the past few days, are there still no grain convoys from major chambers of commerce coming to trade?"
After overlooking the situation in the demi-human refugee camp from the tower and thinking that there were no bad signs for the time being, Princess Pinna turned around and faced the skinny old man standing behind her, serving the lord of the city, Count Formal. the old housekeeper asked.
"...It's a pity, Your Highness, that no caravan has come here for more than a month. I heard that there are too many bandits on the road, and it's really not peaceful..."
The old housekeeper replied sadly, "...Only the nearby farmers brought two carts of barley and a few barrels of wine, as well as more than ten sheep and a group of chickens. According to your instructions, I have bought all these things. But this is not enough for everyone’s daily rations..."
When this matter was mentioned, Princess Pinna became even more depressed: the daily ration consumption of 30,000 demi-human refugees was a very huge number. Even if they were only allowed to live half-starved and half-full, eating porridge, at least two tons of grain would have to be used every day to make porridge and provide relief.
In addition, the Rose Knights under Princess Pinna are also large consumers of food. Not only do the knights and attendants have to eat better than the refugees, but even the horses under the knights need to be fed with concentrate mixed with a lot of wheat so as not to lose weight.
Under normal circumstances, the city of Italica, which had just passed the autumn harvest season, would not be so embarrassed. The problem is that due to the violent death of the previous old count and his wife, as well as the custody battle for the young heir, the administrative tax system of the Earl of Formal collapsed completely. More than half of the grain reserves in the granary were moved away by the two sisters of the countess. This year's autumn grain was only collected less than half, and before it could all be put into the warehouse, thieves had already appeared in the territory and were actually transported into Eta. There was even less food in Lika City...but the princess brought more than 30,000 mouths that needed to be fed. As a result, no matter how careful the princess was and tried to purchase from outside, the food in the city was only enough to last another month.
"...So, have you received any reply to the grain loan letters I sent to several nearby noble territories and vassal states?"
"...Ahem, Her Royal Highness the Princess, several counts, viscounts and barons who own territory near the city of Italica were also ordered to participate in the alien expedition on the Arnus Hill. Now they are all living and dying in the flood. I don’t know, their family is involved in a succession dispute, and I’m afraid no one can take the decision to give you an answer... At present, only King Duran of the Kingdom of Elbe has sent a reply, but he also rejected your request..."
The old housekeeper replied with a bitter look on his face, "...he said that the Kingdom of Elbe had just been attacked by the Yanlong and suffered a lot of losses. There are also refugees in need of relief. Moreover, the Senate had previously loaned a large amount of food to the Kingdom of Elbe. It is used for disaster relief in the imperial capital, so there is really no way to squeeze out more surplus food.”
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"... Flame Dragon... Damn it! Has this monster that has tortured the continent for thousands of years appeared again?"
When Princess Pingna heard this, her eyes suddenly froze, but then she shook her head sadly, "...The most deadly disaster in the empire today is probably not the flame dragon or the great flood, but the cannibalism between humans. ! Gray, are there any new battle reports from the Imperial Capital?”
She leaned out slightly from the center of the crenel at the top of the tower and shouted to the middle-aged man who was walking up the stairs.
——This is a tall, muscular man in military uniform with a huge sword on his shoulder. He looks very powerful.
His name is Gray Alud, a candidate knight who has experienced many battles. Although he was only a commoner and had not even received a formal knight title, he was now the swordsman of Princess Pinna and the chief instructor of the Knights of the Rose.
——Princess Pinna's personal guard "Rose Knights", the backbone members are mainly composed of unmarried aristocratic women from the imperial capital and a few underage aristocratic teenagers. At first, it was just a group of powerful children playing a war game, and later it gradually became He formed a semi-formal organization similar to the "Noble Boy Scouts" or the "Noble Military Summer Camp", but he has never had any actual combat experience, and it was not even until recently that he left the imperial capital for the first time.
However, because the empire advocates military merit and the supremacy of force, Princess Pinna also does not want her Knights of the Rose to become a mere vase. Therefore, in addition to young noble men and women with no military experience, there are also other members of the Knights of the Rose. Some battle-hardened and experienced veterans serve as the core of the entire unit. The princess's swordsmanship master, the candidate knight Gray Alud, is the best among these veterans - in the empire's army, the path for civilian soldiers to become noble knights is very narrow, but once this path is cleared, then The official career is often smoother than that of a hereditary military noble. There are many examples of ordinary soldiers who accumulated meritorious service and were eventually promoted to generals.
Especially after being ordered to leave the imperial capital this time, due to her lack of experience in long-distance marches and management, Princess Pinna relied more heavily on Gray, almost to the point of obeying his words. The daily military affairs of the Knights of the Rose are largely handled by Gray, the alternate knight.
"...I would like to report to Your Highness the Princess that good news has come from the Imperial Capital. The rebel army newly summoned by the Senate has crushed the main force of the northern rebels. Your Majesty personally led the army to continue to pursue the remaining enemies, and killed the enemy chieftains at the foot of Rendel City, completely annihilating them. The territory of all the rebellious nobles in the Kinki region."
Gray saluted the princess and reported, "...Currently, peace has been restored in the areas surrounding the imperial capital, and they will no longer be attacked from both sides by the rebels."
However, when Princess Pinna heard the above-mentioned good news, she did not show a happy smile, but showed a slightly sad and confused expression.
"...Behead the enemy chieftain in formation... So, is the emperor's uncle already dead? Hey, how long will the royal family's bloody fight continue?"
——Similar to the feudal era on earth, the ruling families of various countries on the Falmat continent are also filled with all kinds of bloody and cruel fights. For example, Emperor Morte II, who had just died in the great flood, did not inherit the throne according to the normal order. Instead, he took advantage of the untimely death of his elder brother and the young age of his nephew Cady, who succeeded the throne, to use the power of his guardian. He became the regent with a reasonable and legitimate status, and then gradually cultivated party members, supported cronies, and cut off the die-hard loyalists left by his brother. Finally, he successfully deposed his nephew Kadi and ascended the throne of the emperor himself.
So, when Morte II died suddenly, in addition to the two princes Diabo and Sochar competing for the throne, he also had a younger brother who was named a prince, who was Pinna's uncle, and also wanted to learn from his elder brother. The role model during his lifetime actually secretly gathered a group of gangsters in his own fiefdom in the north of the imperial capital in an attempt to compete with his nephews for the throne. However, this reckless prince obviously misjudged the opportunity. The eldest prince Saushar, who had just raised the rebel flag, was still far in the east and could not contain the Imperial Guards in the imperial capital. The new emperor Diabo, who received the support of the Senate, quickly organized an elite crusade force and quickly broke into the base camp of the rebels. After several short battles, they successfully killed the emperor's uncle and put down the rebels. This was a small rebellion.
However, both the newly victorious Emperor Diabo and Princess Pinna in Italica knew very well that this small victory did not eliminate much of the current chaos. Whether they can defeat the huge rebel army summoned by the eldest prince Soshar in the east is the real decisive test.
In Princess Pinna's view, under normal circumstances, Diabo, the second brother who has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, has the support of the Senate, and controls the central government, the imperial treasury, and the royal guards, would be vulnerable to any domestic rebellion. You can be sure of victory. But the problem was that a huge flood washed down from the Arnus Hills, forcing Diabo to provide disaster relief and suppress the rebellion at the same time, which greatly evened the balance of strength between the two sides.
It is currently impossible to judge who will win and who loses in the following civil war... And what makes Princess Pinna even more worried is that no matter who wins or loses in this royal internal fight, as long as the time is delayed a little longer, it will be impossible. It is tantamount to destroying the weak foundation of hegemony of the empire and royal family.
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——In the thirty years since the bellicose Emperor Morte II came to the throne, he has always regarded the supremacy of force as his purpose, made conquest and war of aggression as his national policy, and frequently launched one foreign war after another. Whether dealing with the empire's traditional enemies, vassals who rebelled and surrendered, domestic aristocrats with ulterior ambitions, or barbaric tribes who were ignorant and tyrannical, Emperor Morte II always relied on force to intimidate and suppress them.
In the face of the absolutely overwhelming military power of the imperial royal family, no matter which force was involved, they could only express obedience - those who did not obey were eliminated.
However, in recent times, the empire that had just nominally unified the continent has suffered heavy losses continuously: first, it encountered a huge flood coming from the opposite side of the "Gate" on Arnus Hill, and one hundred thousand people who were originally planning to plunder the alien world. The Imperial Expeditionary Force collapsed. This expeditionary force is the most elite legion in the empire, including battle-hardened veterans, powerful magicians, and excellent commanders. Their losses are a serious blow to the entire empire.
Next, this great flood washed away the imperial capital, destroyed the ruling core of the empire, and drowned tens of thousands of imperial citizens, as well as a large number of administrative and judicial officials who maintained the operation of the central government. The loss of these high-quality talents cannot be easily replaced.
Now, surrounding the throne of the empire, a tragic and bloody civil war is ready to start. In Princess Pinna's view, if this civil war cannot be decided in a short time and evolves into long-term chronic bleeding, it is very likely to directly sound the death knell of the empire!
——Although the Falmat continent has been unified on the surface, the empire at this time is actually just a large platter composed of many territories of different sizes, different beliefs, different races, different cultures, and different political systems. A considerable number of territories that nominally fly the imperial flag still have their own governments, parliaments, and laws. The only link that connects these territories and their people is the empire's invincible and huge legions, as well as the fear and fear of the above-mentioned violence. Surrender. It is not difficult to see that once the military power to maintain hegemonic rule is lost too much, the huge impact will cause this empire full of internal contradictions to be shattered into pieces. Most territories with centrifugal tendencies will quickly break away. And those defeated vassal states that had a deep hatred against the empire would even take the opportunity to counterattack and try to deal a fatal blow to the empire!
However, even after seeing such a nightmarish and terrifying prospect, Princess Pinna could not come up with any countermeasures. She could neither ask her second brother Diabo, who had already ascended the throne, to abdicate and hand over the crown, nor could she ask her eldest brother Sochar, who had been the crown prince, to kneel down and surrender to his younger brother calmly. She could not even intervene in this civil war-before, in News of the rebellion has just spread When she came, she tentatively sent a letter to the Senate asking if she was asked to bring the Knights of the Rose back to join the war. The reply she received was: "No need to worry! Take those young masters and ladies as far away from the battlefield as possible." The better!”
Obviously, the Senate still regards her Knights of the Rose as a group of children who are bored and playing war games, and believes that these young men and ladies going to the battlefield will only cause chaos... In addition, at the moment At this sensitive moment when rebellions in the royal family are rising, the new emperor Diabo, who has just seized the crown, may be somewhat wary and wary of her sister, who has been the regent of the empire for a few days...
"...It seems that there is nothing we can do about the war in the east! Gray! Keep thinking of ways to collect food! Resettling this group of refugees and maintaining the stability of this city is the only thing we can do right now It’s over. I hope this nightmare ends soon!”
After thinking for a moment, Princess Pinna shook her head with a wry smile and sighed, then turned her face again and continued to overlook the scenery outside the city. That bright red hair is flying in the autumn wind, like a dancing flame, looking particularly dazzling and eye-catching...
——Unfortunately, judging from the current situation, her wish is destined to fail. Because, a small group of carefully disguised uninvited guests were quietly sizing up the city of Italica at her feet in the woods not far away.