Chapter 462 The Dilemma of the Royal Family 2
After struggling with his words, Rupert Walter finally asked the petitioning southern nobles and fled here with a thick stack of petitions.
Half an hour later, he appeared at the palace and went straight into the meeting hall of the palace.
"Ah, Rupert, everyone is waiting for you."
His Majesty the King greeted him sitting on the main seat.
Important officials at the center of the royal government such as the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Military Affairs, the Director of Intelligence, the Palace Manager, and the Director of Intelligence have already taken their seats.
Sitting on the right hand side of King Rodney is Her Royal Highness Princess Catherine.
"Sorry, Your Majesty the King, Your Highness the Princess, and all my colleagues, I am on the way..."
Before he finished speaking, all the ministers present looked concerned. Yan's expression.
Earl Morin, who serves as the head of intelligence, said: "Your Excellency, everyone understands that, to be honest, I came in today wearing disguise."
"Oh, I'm planning to dig a tunnel from home."
"Really, these lawless guys should be punished."
"There are many in the kingdom. A meritorious family that made great contributions when it was founded, do you dare to rule it?"
Others also began to complain.
“Ahem!” Princess Catherine cleared her throat and everyone fell silent.
"Ministers, the purpose of today's meeting, the first topic is to discuss how to appease the landless nobles in the south."
The princess was a little stunned when she spoke. Similar meetings have been held several times, but every time They can't come up with a complete plan.
The direct reason for this situation is that the kingdom's army did not completely defeat Giles in the south.
As the commander-in-chief of the counter-rebellion army, she felt that she had great responsibilities.
The meeting began. First, the finance minister worriedly explained the current situation to everyone: "Your Majesty, princess, ministers, according to the previous plan, we should use 1 million silver shields every year to make armor and weapons. Training knights and stocking up on food and grass to prepare for the next counter-rebellion, but after these southern nobles came, we had to squeeze out part of all expenditures to maintain their decent life, of which 150,000 were misappropriated from military expenses. , if we continue like this, it will greatly delay our progress in countering the rebellion. In addition, in the past, the annual income of the king's kingdom was about 5 million silver shields, but the harvest in various places this year is not good, and I estimate that the income can only be 400. Between 10,000 and 4.5 million, if you don’t reduce your expenses, you will have to borrow money from the private sector.”
(Note: Silver shield, the currency in circulation in the Kingdom of Aldo, is named after the shield pattern printed on it. A silver shield contains 23~25 grams of silver)
Is the situation so serious? I just learned that The ministers frowned at this situation.
"Your Majesty!"
Foreign Minister Earl Salifo Reynolds suggested: "In this situation, decisive measures should be taken."
Everyone will Eyes focused on Reynolds.
"First, take the guys who dance the most and take away their titles of nobility. Then we will imprison the others and lower their living standards until we regain the land in the south and then send them back."
Sir Benito Lacerda, the head of the Kingdom's Heraldry Institute, immediately expressed his opposition, "It is very dishonorable to use such harsh means to deal with those ancient and noble families. Your Majesty will be criticized by the nobles across the country, and there will also be rumors. Go abroad and become a source of information to attack Aldo."
"What do you think we should do?"
"In any case, we cannot treat these families harshly. Their ancestors have contributed to the kingdom. , in this rebellion, even if there is no credit, there is hard work."
"Oh, it would be better if they just die when the territory is captured."
"What are you talking about?"
Everyone was noisy and couldn't come up with a reason.
There was a banging sound, it was the king knocking on the table, and everyone looked at their monarch.
Rodney frowned and said: "Everyone, to be honest, I am ready to take several generations to recover the South." "What?"
Princess Catherine stood up. This was the first time even she knew about her father's "preparation".
"Your Majesty!" she shouted excitedly.
Rodney ordered his daughter: "Sit down, Catherine."
The princess sat down unwillingly. If she really couldn't regain the south when her father was in power, it would be a disaster for her. What a shame.
The king turned to Earl Merlin, who was in charge of intelligence, and motioned for him to speak.
The Earl nodded and explained to everyone: "According to the information we have now, there is a mysterious force behind Giles supporting him. All the strange and unheard-of things that happened during the rebellion are all related to this force. "It's about strength."
The mysterious fire in the granary, the assassination of the naval admiral by his loyal servant, the fireball appearing out of thin air during the invasion of Westport, the rebel soldiers who are stronger than the knights and more fearless of death, and possess the power comparable to metal. The simple leather armor with protective power...
Earl Merlin recounted these things one by one. In fact, everyone here is a high-ranking member of the kingdom, and everyone knows one or two of them.
“The news returned by our informants in the rebels also proves that there are indeed some mysterious people in the rebels, but their public identities are church priests.”
"Weird, this word can only be used to describe it. The weirdness of this power is beyond our knowledge and beyond common sense. We can't even guess what other weird things it can do. For This force and the people who represent this force, I can only temporarily call it..."
"Magic, and... wizards!"
"After all, I can't find a more suitable word to call them."
Earl Merlin's words silenced everyone, fear coming from the unknown , and they are facing the biggest unknown in human history...at least in the history of Aldo.
Magic and wizards are things that only exist in legends, but they are not on their side. They cannot be seen or touched.
The king knocked on the table and warned everyone: "We can only take the next step after we understand what kind of existence we are fighting. If we don't even know the true identity of the enemy and we attack rashly, sooner or later we will Suffer a big loss and lose more strength and honor.”
He glanced at Catherine, who lowered her head.
"Your Majesty!" the Minister of Military Affairs suggested: "Don't the Holy See hate wizards and the like the most? Can you ask for their help."
"Humph!" the king said disdainfully. : "The Holy See itself is still worried about the affairs of the Horn Bay. And..."
"We cannot give the Holy See a chance to interfere in Aldo's domestic affairs."
Count Merlin said : "In fact, judging from all aspects of intelligence, it is very likely that this force was involved in what happened in Jiaowan in recent years."
This was too arrogant, and everyone was extremely surprised. Aldo was a big country, and the Holy See was a stomping presence that made the continent tremble. What force dared to touch the butts of two lions at the same time.
But for now, it seems that at least Aldo is disgraced by it. Thinking of this, everyone felt depressed.
"Because I decided to understand them and get in touch with them..."
The king said in a deep voice.
“Learn them and own them even if necessary.”
The Lord's words surprised the ministers.
Practicing witchcraft has always been taboo, especially with the existence of the Holy See.
(End of this chapter)