Chapter 118 Trouble

The two friends were drinking lightly in the tavern again.

This is a medium-sized tavern near the grain warehouse. In Fornoros, this tavern is already a top-notch place, mainly facing customers such as chamber of commerce staff.

This time, neither of the two people had the joy of meeting, drinking and chatting with normal friends, but maintained an abnormal silence.

"Berheim... will probably hate me to death." After a long time, Essin finally said something self-deprecatingly.

During the meeting this morning, Byron made public the errors in the food report and actual situations reported by Essin, and severely criticized his eldest son, Byerheim. At the meeting, the Duke of Byron was furious and scolded Byerheim for being so harsh. His tone was so harsh that it even made people feel that it was too much. After the scolding, Byron emphasized again that if such things happen again, he would severely punish him regardless of his closeness or alienation!

However, no matter how much he scolded, at least Byron's ruling was to "severely punish him next time" rather than "severely punish him this time". After all, Byerheim was the parent-child of Duke Byron, and he was not punished other than bowing his head and being scolded by his father. But the look he looked at Essin next was not ordinary hatred.

At the conference table, Essin and Cleo were sitting next to each other, and both of them clearly saw Byelheim's gritting expression when he looked at Essin.

"Don't worry," Cleo comforted. Although these words were unconvincing, it was better to say them than not. "Berheim was young after all, and he would be better when he was mature."

"Young..." Essin sighed. "Creo, how old are you this year?"

"It's twenty-eight," Cleo smiled bitterly. "My brother, one year older than me... my son can go out to hunt. Anyway, the inheritance rights are completely undesirable. Unfortunately, I... haven't won the right position, and no one is willing to marry my daughter to me."

Usually, aristocratic families get married early (the greater the aristocrats), but among the nobles, there are also some women who cannot marry and men who cannot marry their wives. The former is that they have no dowry, and the latter is that they have no fame. This is normal, mainly in the middle layer of those who are not high or low. These nobles belonging to the "middle layer" generally have only one noble title, and they usually have strong ambitions. It can be said that it is precisely because of the strong desire to climb up that Clio easily defected to Byron. However, due to the failure of the coup, Byron's initial promise to Clio and Essin is now unfulfilled, at least for the time being.

"Don't worry," said Essin, "this matter cannot be delayed for too long. To be honest, I really can't believe that our little queen would do such a thing."

What he said was the latest news released by Byron at the meeting today. The little queen had issued an order to require lords from all over the country to pay the taxes owed over the years within one month, otherwise it would be considered rebellion. Of course, how could anyone listen to the little queen in the current situation? It was almost the same when it was a joke! Everyone's orders were in the ears, and there were even a group of people waiting to watch the joke - watching how the little queen slap himself in the face and pour what he said back. Unexpectedly, the little queen was either too young and impulsive, or could not see the general trend, and actually declared all the noble lords a rebel.

This order really surprised everyone. Some people praised it with thumbs up, but more people cursed it as idiots. Because in this way, more than eighty lords across the country were declared rebellious, deprived of their titles, confiscated their territory and property. The total strength of these lords was as high as 40,000 to 50,000, and now they were all pushed to the enemy side of the little queen.

Among the three parties currently facing each other, everyone knows that the little queen who occupies the city of Hawks is the most vulnerable. Regardless of military strength, financial strength, and human resources, the most vulnerable side has done this behavior. In fact, according to a common view, the little queen's financial situation may not last this month.

She could have been able to survive the last month, which was an unexpected thing in itself.

"That Ashu Rufate..." Clio took a big sip of wine and suddenly said. "Essin, to be honest, I'm starting to feel the...intuition you used to be."

"ah……"

"Ashu Rufat is obviously not a fool, how could he do such a thing? Is he really relying on something? I don't know why, but I always feel very uneasy... Maybe the Duke's plan may not be successful."

"The little queen's debt is astronomical..." Essin replied calmly. "Although Essul Rufate is a real monument, but... this is a debt of a country. Even if he bets all his property, it is impossible for him to fill such a bottomless pit."

"But... hasn't that person taught us more than once? That time we both thought we were sure to win, and the little queen would definitely not be able to escape the palace... But he still fled the palace with the little queen. Next, we didn't think that the little queen would definitely not be able to escape the palace, but she still took her to escape. When we thought we could not do it even if we escaped..."

"But that was because we underestimated his personal abilities, this time it was different," Essin said. The two friends had changed their positions. Essin had been worried, and Clio refuted, but now it became Clio worried, and Essin refuted. "Unless that Essus Rufate was a bit of a golden trick, or he could just write a letter to make millions from the Chamber of Commerce like the big liar in children's stories. Otherwise, this is unsolvable."

"When it comes to this, Essin, do you know the last time the little queen really appointed all ministers... what position did Ash Rufate hold in the end?" Cleo asked suddenly.

"General? Prime Minister? Or both part-time?"

"No, he served as the Minister of Finance. Both the positions of General and Prime Minister are vacant. This itself... reveals something wrong. Also, he manages finances very closely and does not leave any loopholes for outsiders to drill for."

"It means he knows that financial issues are a matter of life and death for the little queen..." Essin pondered for a moment. "But to be honest, I don't understand it very much?"

"I don't understand either. I don't think anyone can understand Asu Ruffat's true intentions." Cleo replied.

"It doesn't matter if no one can understand it," said Essin. "The Duke has sent someone to contact all the lords who have been declared traitors. Within three months, we will definitely gain a lot. At that time, even if Ashrufate suddenly appears with a little gold technique to solve the financial problems of the little queen, we will have three times more troops than him."

Indeed, during this period, the little queen has naturally tried her best to strengthen her control, but Byron has not been idle either. Especially in diplomacy, he has achieved many results and signed a large number of secret agreements. Now the little queen has made another trick, forcing her to rebel (or is about to rebel) a lot of lords, making the situation on Byron's side icing on the cake.

Now they know that during the years when Byron was the Regent, a private army that was completely loyal to Byron had been summoned in Fornoros City. This was an army with a total force that was not weaker than the Guards Corps. It was well-equipped and well-trained, and all the middle and low-level officers were people with combat experience who Byron had tried to transfer from the army. Byron spared no effort to embezzle the treasury and borrowed heavily in these years. The biggest result was to build this shining sword.

This is also Byron's ace - in his initial plan, if the little queen and the guards could be controlled through a coup, then even in the end, he would have the power to compete with Rafah even on the battlefield.

From this point of view, Byron's promise to Essin was indeed true. He could have held a position in this army (of course it does not refer to the current situation).

"By the way, the last time the messenger... you said, what agreement did General Berel's messenger... reach with the Duke?" Essin changed the topic.

"There is no substantial result. But General Beral gave a reminder that Groney's civil strife must end as soon as possible, otherwise... the danger of barbarian invasion is too great. Then other countries, including the church, will not keep watching as they are now."

"Ah...How did Lord Duke answer?"

...

Byron sat in his position. As mentioned earlier, this city was once a royal city, and the chair under Byron's butt was once a throne. So at this moment, he was sitting, and the other subordinates around him stood with their hands down, and that scene was nothing different from the king. Just as many people present thought, the difference between Byron and a real king is only time - in another year or two, Byron will be the king.

Of course, at this moment, it was not that Byron was sitting bored there, but that he was holding a meeting. Byron had a habit of holding such small meetings in addition to holding formal meetings. At such small meetings, few people attended, and they were not necessarily high-ranking officials, but all of them were the people who Byron’s most trusted and trusted. These two meetings were almost equally important, and the results obtained at the meetings were implemented.

When he was in the Falcon City, Essin and Cleo were often attending such small meetings (if they were free). But when they arrived in Fornoros, they were completely ineligible to participate in such small meetings. After all, Byron was an outsider to the Falcon City, and his confidants were limited, but Fornoros was his home court. The people here were all loyal ministers whom he promoted or served the Byron family for generations.

"...Duke Duke, this is the record of this month." Someone submitted a document to Byron. At this small meeting, Byron looked much casual and his attitude was not as serious as the formal meeting.

"Well... this is a problem." Byron looked at the numbers on the record list. This recorded the salary expenses over the past period of time, which was a necessary expense for every lord - but this number was indeed large enough.

Of course, this is not because the officials in Fornoros City were treated very well, but because Byron took away a large number of subordinates when he retreated from the royal city. The result of this was that the little queen formed the court from scratch, which was delayed and blocked for a period of time (as of now, it took the little queen nearly two months) to operate. But on the other hand, these people are also a trouble for Byron at the moment, because Fornoros City does not have so many positions for them at all.
Chapter completed!