Great time travel

Chapter 24. The Empire in Nightmare
In fact, not long ago, the succession of the empire to the throne was not a problem at all, because Emperor Molt II had already canonized his eldest son Sausal as the crown prince as his legal heir.But the problem is that about two years ago, the crusade against the head-hunting rabbit tribe under the command of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Saushar, unfortunately, completely failed. captured.Such an embarrassing defeat was instantly made a laughing stock in the Farmat continent.And the empire that had just unified the mainland also suffered a sap head-on, and everyone from the emperor to the Senate felt ashamed.So, after negotiating peace with the headhunting rabbit and paying for the redemption of Sausal, the angry Emperor Molt II issued an edict to depose his crown prince and ordered the guards to escort Sausal back to his fief Confinement and introspection.

However, at the same time, Emperor Molt II did not appoint other heirs as the crown prince. It seems that he has not completely given up on his eldest son Sausal, but hopes that he can change his mind and grow through this lesson... Because the emperor His Majesty has been in charge of state affairs for decades, and has gained a lot of prestige, and his body is still relatively strong, and he doesn't look like he will die soon, so the nobles of the empire did not talk too much about this royal private matter.

This time, before Emperor Molt II left the imperial capital of Ula Bianca to tour Arnus Hill to supervise the battle, he appointed his third princess, 19-year-old Her Highness Pinna Ge Landa, as the interim regent.But in the upper-class circles of the empire, basically everyone knew that the title of regent was purely empty.The actual government affairs are completely managed by the emperor's confidants and the Senate, and the princess is at best qualified to be an observer.

The reason for this arrangement is that on the one hand, according to the custom, when the emperor leaves the capital, he must appoint a member of the royal family to act as regent.On the other hand, Emperor Molt II, who is still angry, has not yet forgiven His Royal Highness Sausal, who has humiliated the country, but does not want other princes or princes to serve as regents, lest he have unreasonable thoughts about the throne. The empress or empress dowager who was the most suitable to be the regent had caused hidden dangers of civil strife in his empire, and now he has passed away... In the end, Emperor Molt II chose to let his daughter, Princess Pinna, who was only the tenth in line to the throne, Staying in the imperial palace of the imperial capital, sitting on the throne, holding the scepter that he left behind, and serving as the regent of this purely nominal empire.

From the emperor's point of view, this expedition is not an expedition that spans half the continent. Anyway, Arnus Hill is not far from the imperial capital. When everyone was unprepared, the emperor died in the flood! !

What's more terrible is that Emperor Molt II didn't leave any will at all before his death!I didn't explain anything about the funeral!
So, when half of the imperial capital of Ula Bianca was still submerged under the monstrous flood, the once strong city walls were crumbling and collapsing section by section, and thousands of refugees were trapped on the roofs and trees at a loss, The upper class of the entire empire was blown up because of the vacancy of the throne.

According to common sense, although the crown prince Soshar was deposed by the emperor as the crown prince due to his defeat in the war and was driven out of the imperial capital, but in terms of blood and status, he is still the first successor to the imperial throne.Under such circumstances, recalling Saushar to the palace to ascend the throne seems to be a matter of course.But the problem is that when Saushar was kicked out of the imperial capital, his cronies were also implicated, and almost all of them were demoted or sent back to their respective fiefs during this period.However, Saushar's political opponents took advantage of the opportunity to gain power and grabbed many powerful positions and lucrative vacancies.

In this way, when the disaster broke out, Saushar and his supporters were not in the imperial capital, and not many people in the Senate were willing to speak and contribute to him. As a result, the current Senate was not very willing to let Saushar came back to be the emperor, and the reason is very good: Saushar is no longer the crown prince, but a sinner of the empire. When there are other options, how can there be any reason for a sinner to be the emperor?

——Because the empire enforced polygamy, there were eight legal descendants of Emperor Molt II, and as many as 15 if the illegitimate children were counted...

In addition, Princess Pingna, who is the regent of the empire, is legally the highest ruler of the empire after the death of the emperor. The princess herself is a direct member of the royal family with pure blood. The possibility of the queen—in fact, the recently deceased Emperor Molt II used this method many years ago to usurp the throne of his young nephew Kadi as the regent.

However, it is completely different from the situation in which the first emperor Molt II gradually managed and finally seized the imperial power. First of all, Ping Na's position as regent princess was purely a vase from the beginning, and no one took it seriously; second, because the flood broke out too suddenly. When half of the imperial capital was submerged in water, Princess Pingna had only been regent for less than three days from the beginning to the end, and she might not even be able to recognize all the faces of hundreds of elders. The so-called regent power was completely useless.

To make matters worse, the princess regent herself had no mental preparations for fighting for the throne beforehand, nor had she ever attracted any strong supporters—unlike Sausal, who is the eldest son, Princess Pingna was only born to a side concubine , although theoretically also has the right to inherit the throne before marriage, but it should be ranked tenth in order (men first, then daughters, first concubines, first concubines, the queen's daughter and the emperor's younger brothers have priority over her).And according to the usual practice, she will give up her right of inheritance in a few years and change her surname to marry a foreign royal family or a big noble in China, so in the past few years, no big noble would treat her as a candidate for the emperor, let alone her. He will not join her under her command in order to gain credit for her support.Therefore, even the Princess Regent has no confidence in the fight for the throne... During the period when the throne was vacant, she was basically in a state of bewilderment.

In the end, the winner of this battle for the throne was Soshar's half-brother, Princess Pinna's elder brother, and the second prince of the empire, His Highness Diabo.Unlike Sausal, who is arrogant and rude, His Highness Diabo is quite modest and respectful. He has a close relationship with many scholars and civil servants, and has quite a few fans in the imperial capital.After the crown prince Saushar was deposed and rushed back to the fiefdom, Diabo became the most powerful contender for the heir to the throne, and used this time to manage a large number of personal connections and win the support of many elders and nobles. Or at least neutral.

More importantly, when the disaster struck, Prince Diabo himself was in the imperial capital, and as soon as he learned of his father's death, he contacted his party members everywhere, wooed the powerful, bought ministers, and created momentum , was finally supported by the Imperial Senate as the new emperor.

——Although it is actually a hereditary feudal dynasty, the current empire still retains some remnants of the republic.For example, theoretically speaking, each emperor must be elected by the Senate... and this is also a "system back door" left for usurpers.

Seeing that the deal was done, Princess Pingna, as the regent, had no choice but to go with the flow, handing over the scepter and the throne to Diabo without any other choice.

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However, even though he succeeded as emperor, what Diabo faced when he first ascended the throne was still a mess that couldn't be worse: the violent flood from Mount Arnus was still pouring, and there was no trace of it. signs of calm.Half of the imperial capital Ula Bianca was soaked in the water, and the remaining half of the imperial capital became an isolated island surrounded by floods, and the water level showed signs of further slow rise.Since the treasury of the imperial capital was mostly fed with fish and shrimp, and the wells were flooded and polluted, the food, fuel and clean water in the city soon became extremely scarce. Every day, hundreds of citizens suffered from drinking sewage or They fell ill from eating rotten food, and fought to death over food, fuel, and clothing.

In addition, the vast plains of tens of thousands of square kilometers around the imperial capital of Ula Bianca were also soaked and washed by the alien seawater that washed down from the Arnus hills, and all the villages, towns, and pastures were turned into flooded countries.And this area is the most fertile land in Kinki of the empire. It is not only a very important granary, but also the heart of the royal family's territory. In any case, it cannot be abandoned, and the subjects on this land will fall into purgatory.

Therefore, from the first day of winning the throne, even a registration ceremony could not be held, and Diabo had to devote all his energy to disaster relief.First of all, the imperial capital surrounded by salt water can no longer accommodate so many people, so the evacuation of the remaining residents must be organized to leave the imperial capital and move to nearby highlands that have not yet been flooded; There are many refugees without food and clothing.After some deliberations, the Imperial Senate decided to take a two-pronged approach. While urgently ordering various dependent countries and local lords to deliver food and supplies to the imperial capital, they organized long-distance migration of refugees from the imperial capital and scattered them to the surrounding aristocratic territories and dependent countries. ".

In addition, the Senate also sent people to inspect the terrain nearby and prepare for the construction of the new capital of the empire. If the turbulent river with Qiu as its source is still a "salt water river", then Ula Bianca city is now in such a miserable state that it doesn't need anything, and I'm afraid it can't continue to be used as the capital.And the fertile arable land near the imperial capital will soon be polluted into saline-alkali land, and crops can no longer be grown, so even the farmers and herdsmen in the countryside have to move away together.

In the midst of all the turmoil, Princess Pingna was also assigned an errand, which was to lead her personal guard "Rose Knights" to escort more than 3 refugees from the imperial capital, mainly "sub-humans", Avoid the monstrous torrent coming from the Arnus hills, cross the Romanian mountains westward, and go to the hereditary territory of the Earl of Vermar on the other side of the mountains, the city of Ita Rica, known as the "subhuman shelter", is resettled.

——The city of Ita Rica, which has a history of more than 200 years, was once a border city in the west of the empire.At that time, the power of the empire had just expanded westward to the Romanian mountains, and the city of Ita Rica was the first frontier stronghold established by the empire at the western foot of the Romanian mountains.

The city, situated at the intersection of the Via Tissaria and the Via Appia, was an important point of trade and military traffic.When the empire was not as vast as it is today, the emperors of all dynasties had crossed the Romanian mountains many times, gathered a large army in Ita Rica, and marched westward.However, with the continuous expansion of the empire's territory, the city of Ita Rica gradually became farther and farther away from the border, and its military and political importance continued to decline, and this place had no special products, and finally became a city. An ordinary medium-sized commercial city was even rewarded by the royal family.

The current city of Ita Rica, as well as a large area of ​​rugged mountains nearby, are the hereditary territories of the imperial aristocrat Count Vermar

Among the imperial nobles who generally have the concept of "human supremacy", Colt, the former Earl of Vermar, is a relatively different person.It is said that compared to human beauties, Colt prefers subhuman beauties such as cat people, winged people, and Medusa tribes——among the humans on the Farmat continent, there are guys with similar curiosity-seeking habits. Not a lot, but in the eyes of traditional imperial nobles, this is a relatively degenerate expression.

In short, although Colt is still married to a pure-blooded human wife, he has a large group of demi-human mistresses, and even the maids in the earl's mansion are mainly demi-human.At the same time, in his Earl of Vermar's territory, the headhunters, cat people, wingmen, Medusa and other demi-human tribes who are generally abused all over the mainland are also tolerated and sheltered to a considerable extent. At least the illegal capture and trade of these subhumans is strictly prohibited.As a result, the orcs, elves, and dwarves from all over the mainland migrated to live near the city of Itarica, forming many subhuman villages.

——In the concept of humans in Farmat, the term "sub-human" is a general term for all non-human humanoid intelligent life in a broad sense. Dwarves, elves, orcs, demons, etc. can all be called sub-humans. In a narrow sense, the term "sub-human" can only represent non-human intelligent life other than dwarves and elves, mainly orcs and demons, who usually have the shape and most of the physical characteristics of humans, and at the same time have some But very obvious characteristics of beasts or monsters, such as cat ears, rabbit ears, tails, wings, hooves and the like.

After humans became the masters of the Farmat continent, most of the remaining demihumans have fully integrated into human society, and only a small part of demihumans are still active in the wilderness far away from human civilized society, in the form of tribes and clans carry on living.However, because of their bestial or demonic physical characteristics, except for the elves and dwarves, most of the demihumans on the Farmat continent are generally suppressed at the bottom of human society, suffering from all kinds of discrimination and abuse. Unjust treatment, it is difficult to obtain the minimum power and dignity, and a considerable number of demihumans have simply become slaves.In many places, humans regard it as a failure of the gods to create humans, and even openly discriminate and persecute demihumans in the form of laws.

And in the red-light districts and slums of the imperial capital, there were also tens of thousands of demihumans living there.Although the discrimination and persecution of sub-humans in the core area of ​​the empire is not very serious, for example, in the army of the empire, werewolves, foxes, demons and elves can be seen everywhere.In the government of the imperial capital, there are also a small number of demihuman officials and nobles.But the folk customs in other regions may not tolerate the existence of Asians so much.It was precisely in consideration of this special situation that the Senate arranged for the demihuman refugees in the imperial capital to eat in Ita Rica, a city known for "treating demihumans kindly", in order to reduce conflicts and troubles.

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But the problem is that a few months ago, the former Earl of Vermar Colt and his wife died suddenly due to an accident. There was no son left behind, and the Earl himself had no brothers. He and the Countess only left They have three daughters, from oldest to youngest: Ellie, Louie and Miyu.Except for the youngest daughter, Miyu, the other two older daughters have changed their surnames and married into other families to become noble wives.Originally, the earl and his wife planned to find a son-in-law to inherit the family business after their youngest daughter grew up, but unexpectedly, they passed away before they could make arrangements.

In this case, Earl Vermar's eldest daughter Ellie and second daughter Louie are already married to Earl Ron's family and Earl Mizner's family respectively, so they are considered members of other families.Therefore, their right to inherit naturally came after their unmarried youngest daughter, Miyu. This is the law of the empire and the practice of the noble class, and there is no room for debate.However, the youngest daughter, Miyu, is only 11 years old. Who should be her guardian before she becomes an adult?In other words, before she reaches adulthood, which elder sister should control the real power in Ita Rica City, so as to reap the benefits for herself?

Thus, the two married sisters began a hysterical war of confrontation in order to fight for the custody of the younger sister: at first, they pretended to be reserved, and then quickly evolved into ugly shrews scolding each other, and then developed into The farce of pulling hair and fighting in front of everyone frightened the younger sister, Miyu, who was at a loss and burst into tears, and the veterans of Earl Vermar's family couldn't persuade him no matter what.In the end, the two elder sisters even got their husbands' families involved—both Earl Ron's family and Earl Minaz's family sent private soldiers to forcibly enter Ita Rica City, and it seemed that a civil war was about to start.

When things got to this point, even the Imperial Senate on the other side of the Romanian Mountains was alarmed and was about to send envoys to mediate... However, the candidate for the special envoy of the Senate has not yet been determined. Then came the turbulent, and then came the earth-shattering events such as the death of the late emperor and the struggle for the throne. This small conflict in the Earl of Vermar's family was naturally forgotten and delayed.

It was only after the dust settled on the new emperor's candidate that someone finally remembered the matter of Earl Vermar's family again.Therefore, Princess Pinna, who was ordered to take [-] Asian refugees to the city of Ita Rica for resettlement, was told by the Senate that she had to be responsible for mediating and arbitrating the new appointment before leaving. The issue of the ownership of the guardianship of Miss Miu, Countess of Vermar.

As a result, when Princess Pinna finally arrived in Ita Rica after a long journey, she found that the headache of mediating and arbitrating household affairs had disappeared by itself, because the two shrew sisters who were fighting for the custody of the younger sister had already left. Already—the raging flood from the top of Arnus Hill also swept away most of the males from Earl Ron’s family and Earl Mizner’s family, leaving the married eldest daughter Ellie and second daughter of Earl Vermar Lu Yi became a widow and widow in the blink of an eye... So, in order to protect their children's inheritance rights to their husband's property and title, the two sisters, Ai Li and Lu Yi, had no spare time to care about the little things of their natal family, so they hurried away They each led their troops home to fight for power and profit.

But the problem is, even if the situation has developed to such a point, the two sisters Ellie and Louis did not forget to evacuate more than half of the treasury savings of the Earl of Vermar's family before leaving... So, with the official documents of the Senate and Princess Pina, who temporarily took over the city of Ita Rica with the Rose Knights, looked at the empty granary and treasury in the city, and immediately began to worry about how to fill the stomachs of more than 3 sub-human refugees in the imperial capital. .

In addition, during the chaotic period of the previous conflict over custody rights, the young and cowardly Countess Miu was unable to deal with the invasion of other noble private soldiers, nor was able to restrain her retainers. If the words are not right, the entire Earl of Vermar has fallen into anarchy. The corrupt officials who have lost supervision took the opportunity to extort money and enrich their own pockets, even if they provoke a civil uprising.When Princess Pingna arrived with the troops, the entire territory was already in a state of unrest, and the security situation also deteriorated sharply, entering a state of turmoil on the verge of rebellion.

To make matters worse, after the [-] Imperial Expeditionary Army on Arnus Hill was washed away by the flood, a considerable part of the surviving defeated soldiers became thieves, and began to attack Thessaly Avenue in order to obtain mounts, carriages, and rations to return home. and the commercial travel convoy on Appia Avenue, resulting in the paralysis of the commercial and trade operations of Ita Rica.It became even more difficult to raise food rations for [-] Asian refugees.

However, for Princess Pingna, who is in a state of desperation, all the disturbances mentioned above are not the worst nightmare.

In the second month of her arrival and taking over the city of Ita Rica, the real nightmare finally came from the east.

——The messenger of the imperial capital rushed across the Romanian mountains and sent an urgent battle report to the princess: her elder brother, the former crown prince Sausal, refused to recognize his younger brother Diabo's throne, and declared a rebellion in his private land in the east!Moreover, with the contacts and prestige accumulated during his previous years as the crown prince, Prince Saushar quickly won the loyalty of a large number of princes of dependent countries, imperial noble lords, and field army commanders after he raised his flag and raised his troops. An astonishingly large rebel army was formed, and it seemed that it was about to attack the imperial capital aggressively!
In addition, a younger brother of the late emperor, the uncle of Princess Pingna, also set up a rebellion flag near the imperial capital...

There are also several states that have just been conquered by the empire. After hearing the news, they are ready to move, and there is a possibility of rebellion at any time.

All of a sudden, the empire was in turmoil, and the torrential flood had not yet receded, and it seemed that the overwhelming flames of war were about to strike.

——Before the alien invaders set foot on the land of Farmat, the overlord of this land had already fallen into a nightmare of destruction...