Chapter 36: Neglected Signs
In the luxurious guest room of the Earl's Mansion in Italica, Princess Pinna, who took over the place with the orders of the Knights of the Rose and the Imperial Senate, was looking at the scrawled writing on the desk with a pair of red rabbit eyes open for some reason. He wrote a brief letter and looked unusually haggard.
Since the shortcut through the Arnus Hills has been completely washed away by the flood, and other roads require going in circles and crossing mountains and ridges, it is currently difficult to travel from the imperial capital of Urabianca to Iraq even if you are riding a fast horse. Tarica City also takes twelve to fifteen days. However, since humans in this world have tamed pterosaurs as flying mounts, the transmission speed of at least some emergency messages has been greatly accelerated by "air mail". An Imperial Dragon Knight carrying mail could fly from the Imperial Capital to Italica City in just half a day - so, just three days later, Princess Pinna in Italica City received the mail. The battle report of the Eastern rebels led by the eldest prince Soshar and they invaded the imperial capital.
Of course, even after suffering such a disastrous defeat, the new emperor Diabo has not yet reached the end of his rope: he still has an elite and powerful central army with high morale in his hands, and he can still obtain almost the entire The strong support of the Imperial Senate - before the rebels laid siege to the city, most of the senators and nobles in the imperial capital had already fled, and at the same time they had almost emptied the empire's treasury...
The few days before and after the attack and defense of the imperial capital were naturally not enough to remove the century-old savings of the empire and the royal family. But in fact, given that the imperial capital was too severely damaged in the flood and difficult to repair, the Senate had already started to transfer the gold, silver and treasures from the imperial treasury and also began to relocate the flood victims in the surrounding areas of the imperial capital. There are various archival materials and rare books to prepare for the next move of the capital. Even Princess Pinna, who escorted the demihuman refugees to Italica City, was ordered to bring a large number of royal files and books in her luggage.
Therefore, even if Soshar, who captured the imperial capital, did not get an empty city, the wealth and influence he gained were far less than expected.
(Since he only robbed a fraction of the treasury, Saushar had no other way to reward the army except plundering the capital.)
Diabo, who lost the imperial capital, still has enough capital to continue competing with his eldest brother - currently, Diabo has rebuilt the Senate and the "Imperial Orthodox Government" in Rendel City, north of the imperial capital. The banner of rebellion was raised. Soshar ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in the dilapidated imperial palace, and called on the vassal states and provincial governors across the continent to send troops to follow him to "rectify the chaos"...
For a moment, the eyes of the entire Falmat continent seemed to be focused on the vast plain between the imperial capital and Rundel City.
However, Princess Pinna, who was outside the main battlefield, had already felt waves of despair before the decisive battle began.
——No matter who of her two brothers wins the final victory, the disintegration of the empire seems inevitable!
For many years, the militaristic empire has relied on brave legions and bloody wars to ruthlessly rule the vast continent of Falmat. In the eyes of the rulers of the empire, there is no right or wrong, black or white, only strength and weakness, life and death in this world! The weak will be beaten, the strong will take everything, invincible force is the supreme truth, the loser must surrender or die, it's that simple!
Um? Neither willing to surrender nor willing to die? It's really troublesome. It seems that I have no choice but to continue to raise my fists and beat you until you surrender, or beat you to death!
Of course, the imperial government still provides certain preferential treatment and benefits to the citizens of the empire, especially military dependents. However, if you are not an imperial citizen, you will not enjoy this treatment, and you will have to endure all kinds of terrible heavy labor and excessive taxation. The empire never cares about the thoughts of the conquered. The will of the empire is everything on this continent. All conquered aliens must endure it. If you can't bear it, please die as soon as possible...
Under such circumstances, the empire's strategy to rule the Falmat continent almost entirely relied on a large and capable army and brutal suppression. Even so, the empire's rule over a considerable part of the area was still only in name. Such a simple and crude ruling strategy made the imperial government's recognition very low in the minds of most of its subjects. It was only because they were afraid of the empire's powerful army that they had no choice but to endure it.
Not to mention those demi-humans who are considered aliens, even pure-blood humans from other races have very poor loyalty to the empire.
However, just in the past six months, this powerful army that maintained the existence of the empire was collapsing and disintegrating at an alarming rate - the destruction of the alien expeditionary force on Arnus Hill, the flood in the imperial capital, and the civil war among the royal family. Every piece of bad news is a devastating injury. To this day, the two most powerful armies in the empire are still engaged in a fratricidal war on an unprecedented scale under the leadership of the two princes!
And those vassal states that are unwilling to accept the decision, as well as the foreign careerists who have been dormant for a long time, are all eagerly looking forward to the self-destruction of the empire!
——When this battle is over, no matter who wins or loses, most of the legions that the empire depends on to intimidate the four sides will be wiped out. Rebellions and uprisings across the continent will also follow. No matter how outstanding a general is, it will be difficult to reverse the decline in a short period of time, because too many citizens of the empire who can serve as soldiers and officials, the pillars of the empire, have died in this series of disasters.
After all, a country is made up of people. Without a group of people who love or at least identify with this country, no country can last long. And once there is no reliable and sturdy army to act as a guarantee of force, the empire's hegemony on the mainland will become illusory.
Therefore, the glorious empire that had just unified the continent not long ago is now on the verge of death. It is like a decaying ship whose deck has been flooded by sea water. The sides of the ship have been cracked, the keel has been broken, and the mast is collapsing. , no matter how majestic and admirable it was in the past, now it is just a pile of wreckage about to sink.
Of course, the empire has not experienced such level of setbacks and heavy losses in its long history. With the country’s tenacity and tenacity, even this current disaster, according to the opinions of knowledgeable people at home and abroad, will most likely end in the end. I can still get through it. Perhaps many years later, the empire that has regained its strength will have another chance to rise from the ashes and make a comeback... However, at least within a generation, the empire's powerful troops conquered the entire continent of Falmat, and all countries in the four directions were conquered. The short golden age of surrender is destined to end early.
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In fact, there are not a few wise men in the empire who have seen through this hidden danger, but in the face of such a situation, no one can do anything. Princess Pinna, who was in an embarrassing situation, could not even save herself. She was in trouble with both sides in this civil war - even if her second brother Diabo won the victory and secured the throne, what follows? Maybe they would also look at Princess Pinna, who had been the imperial regent, as an eyesore and regard her as a potential threat, and then quickly send her to some remote and backward barbaric vassal country to have a marriage alliance. If it were her arrogant and violent eldest brother Sochar who had won the civil war, she might have been held accountable for the crime of handing over the scepter to Diabo without authorization as an empty-headed regent princess, even if she was exiled or executed. possible!
Even if you don't consider these things, your father's body is still cold. The fact that the brothers had started fighting each other, and the whole country was bleeding like rivers, already made Princess Pinna, who was sensitive and innocent, feel so sad that she couldn't help herself.
Therefore, after thinking hard for a long time and crying bitterly, Princess Pinna, who had no choice but to use alcohol to anesthetize herself at the moment... Thinking of this, she couldn't help but grab the wine bottle and silver cup by the table and give them to herself Once again, he poured a large glass full of the magnificent purple-colored wine.
This is one of the few specialties of the Earl of Formar, a rye beer steeped in wild blueberries and cherries. The local brewer poured the fermented fruit slurry mixed with the fruit pieces directly into the barrel, thus dyeing the rye beer a beautiful purple color. Even after a year of cellaring, the original attractive sweetness of the fruit is still preserved. You can feel the strong fruity aroma as soon as you drink it... Just like that, you can fill a large glass of blueberry beer without any hesitation. It fell into the princess's intestines smoothly. The aroma and luster of the contents in the cup tempted her to continue tasting it boldly.
After several drinks in a row, the alcohol suddenly became stronger. However, smelling the wonderful smell of alcohol, wheat and fruit, Princess Pinna could not resist the temptation and continued to drink glass after glass. He continued, as if he wanted to get himself drunk.
At the same time, behind her, the chief instructor of the Knights of the Rose, who came to ask for military instructions, and the princess's swordsmanship master Gray Alud just pushed the door open a crack, peeked inside a few times, and then lightly He closed the door softly and stepped out again with the lightest steps.
Although as a veteran of many battles, Gray understands that drinking too much can harm the body and cause trouble, but as Princess Pinna's master and elder, he also understands the melancholy and sorrow accumulated in Her Royal Highness's heart at this time... Even if she was allowed to get drunk like this, let her vent, and sleep comfortably, it would still be better than keeping everything in her heart and holding it back. More
"...Anyway, there is nothing important. Captain Portes Go. Balesti of the Yellow Rose Team, two female knights, and twelve attendants went east along Appia Avenue yesterday to investigate the flood. I just couldn’t come back on time..."
As Gray walked out of the Earl's Mansion silently, he muttered to himself, "... I have led a team to sweep the area to the east several times in the last month, so I don't think there is any danger... ...Perhaps they went hunting somewhere on a whim, so they wasted their time? Oh, it’s really not like that. When they have time, they should clean up the military discipline..."< br>
However, what this experienced middle-aged warrior never expected at this moment was that the female captain of the Yellow Rose Team, Miss Posais, whom he was talking about, and the entourage who followed Posais on the tour, would all He had been knocked down in public and was lying on the ground tied up...
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※P S: I finally returned the Xiaomi mobile phone that suffered a lot of damage. It really took a lot of effort. I will never buy cheap or discounted products again.