Imperial Crown

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While Archbishop Thomas was preparing to welcome visitors, the nobles gradually completed the work of sorting out their territories.

The huge losses made all the nobles frown, so much so that almost half a month had passed since the locust plague, and the nobles had not even held a cocktail party.

I really wasn’t in that mood.

Hyde is also one of them. He is only 23 years old this year, only 1 year younger than Raven, but his face is so haggard that he could be Raven's uncle.

He was sitting in the study, smelling of alcohol, looking at the numbers on the documents in front of him with a frown. Even his favorite drink of Angel's Tears tasted bitter.

The loss is too great!

Because he misjudged the speed of the locust invasion, all the food in his territory became food for the locusts before he could harvest it. A rough estimate showed that he lost at least 23 million pounds.

And this is only the superficial loss, not counting the food that will be distributed to the destitute serfs in the territory to prevent them from starving to death. This will require at least 28.5 million pounds.

Combined, the two amounts to nearly 52 million pounds.

Even in an ordinary year, this means the loss of tens of thousands of gold coins, and now is the year of great disaster after the locust plague!

Now on the market, the price of 1 pound of unground, the lowest aged coarse wheat has soared from 2 copper coins to 37 copper coins. Moreover, the price is not marketable, and it is rising at a jaw-dropping rate every day.

In other words, in terms of food alone, Hyde lost nearly 200,000 gold coins!

But if he had a choice, Hyde would rather lose a few more gold coins on food, because that was already the most insignificant loss.

What really hurts him is the loss of population.

Fortunately, there were soldiers in full armor delivering some food in the towns, and not many people starved to death.

But the serfs were in dire straits. They didn’t have much food storage to begin with. As soon as the locusts arrived and were sealed in their homes, they quickly stopped eating. Some died of starvation, some were forced to eat their family members and still starved to death, and some couldn’t help but go out hungry. Foraging for food only to be buried in the mouths of locusts.

According to statistics, 12,000 people were lost in this part.

Including the refugees who fled in advance, Hyde's territory lost at least 20,000 people, which is about 1/5 of the population.

Hyde's butler knocked on the door, pushed in after getting permission, and brought him a pot of strong tea and a few pastries.

"The past has passed, sir." The butler persuaded in a low voice: "You don't have to worry about these things. Just eat something and rest for a while."

"Yes, some things have passed, but..." Hyde smiled bitterly and pointed at the dozens of smoke pillars rising out of the window: "But aren't there some things that have not passed?"

The impact of locust plagues is not only reflected when they arrive, but also leaves huge problems when evacuating.

There are dead locust corpses all over the mountains and plains. They not only fall on houses, roads, and courtyards, but also float on every inch of water.

Hyde couldn't find a way to deal with them at all. Even if he organized people to salvage, collect, and burn them intensively, the efficiency was still extremely low.

So in the hot weather, the locust corpses quickly began to rot, contaminating almost every water source, and the plague broke out unsurprisingly.

The pillars of smoke outside the window that never stop day and night are burning the bodies of locusts and the citizens who died of illness.

The reason why Hyde was always drunk was not because he wanted to escape reality through his drunkenness, but because he always felt that the water in front of him was not clean, even if his servants swore that it was saved before the locust plague.

Seeing that his Viscount's face was getting more and more unhappy, the housekeeper thought for a while and said, "But don't worry, sir, we have already followed the methods of the five northwest counties and sent people to deal with the locust corpses..."

The so-called method of the five northwest counties is actually to collect locusts, cook them, dry them, and grind them. Lei Wen did not hide his secrets and published the method.

But this didn't make Hyde feel better, because his territory was located in Arag County in the center of the province, and the locusts left about 10 days earlier than Raven's side.

This 10-day gap is enough to cause the corpses of most bugs to rot and deteriorate. Now even if Raven's method is used, it will not have any effect.

At this moment, footsteps were heard, and a man wearing a black satin mage robe pushed open the door and entered: "Oh, let me see, who made the little snake of the Slater family unhappy?"

"Uncle Jon!" Hyde immediately stood up with a smile on his face: "Why are you here?"

Jon is a third-level wind magician supported by the Slater family, and is now preparing to be promoted to the fourth level.

His upper body is long, his lower body is short, and his facial features are slightly flat. He is the kind of person who would be hard to find in a crowd.

The most striking feature is the tuft of white hair on his forehead.

Jon has been working in the Slater family since 20 years ago and has watched Hyde grow up. The relationship between the two can be said to be as close as that of father and son.

"My Lord Count is worried about the situation here, so he asked me to come over and take a look. I also sent a batch of food to help you support it first."

There was a touch of emotion in Hyde's eyes: "You must have told your father, right?"

"That's not true." Jon shook his head and said, "I don't dare to take away the Earl's love for you. He specifically asked me to escort it here personally. It's 8 million pounds, which should be able to sustain your territory for a while. ”

A sense of relief spread from his chest, and Hyde felt that the pressure on his shoulders was much less.

He poured a cup of tea for Jon and asked, "How is the family? There won't be any problem with giving me so much food, right?"

Jon took the teacup and sat down, smiling and said, "Don't worry, after all, the Earl is in charge of the overall situation. Although the situation is not too good, it is not particularly bad."

"How much is the specific loss?" Hyde asked.

Pursing his lips, Jon raised his right thumb and index finger.

"2 million gold coins!? So much!?" Hyde was shocked.

Hodges County, occupied by their Slater family, was originally the richest county in the province. Now that the locust plague has raged, it is reasonable that it has suffered a little more damage.

But he didn't expect that there would be such a huge loss.

This is the income of the Slater family for five or six years.

"Then these 8 million pounds of food are too much." Hyde rubbed his hands: "How about this, I'll keep half, and you can take the remaining half back. I still have some food in my warehouse."

Jon laughed: "Lord Earl, I knew you would say that, but don't worry, this amount of food is not enough to drag down the family, just keep it honestly."

"But..."

"Okay, don't frown anymore." Jon clapped his hands suddenly: "You are still young now, and you are so worried all day long. Sooner or later, you will age prematurely. What did I teach you in the early years?"

"Uh..." Hyde thought: "You said that if you are unhappy, go and see someone who is more unlucky than you."

Jon showed a teachable expression.

"But under the locust plague, everyone's losses are similar. How do you pick out the more unlucky guy?" Hyde was puzzled.

"You don't know this." Jon lowered his voice and pointed to the south: "The one over there is much more miserable than our Slater family."

Hyde was stunned for a moment: "You mean, Marquis Anthony!?"

Marquis Anthony, the governor of Nord Province, has been in a state of irritability recently, and he executes several servants and maids every day for trivial reasons.

Originally, the potion that needed to be taken every 5 days to suppress old injuries now has to be taken every day, occasionally in the morning, and a "midnight snack" has to be added at night.

No matter who it is, he has just taken office as the governor and has not yet shown his strength, and has received a gift like a locust plague, and he can't calm down.

What happened in Hyde's territory was almost exactly played out in Ferdoro County where Anthony is.

But the area of ​​Ferdoro County is more than 10 times that of Hyde's territory, and the population is more than 20 times!

During this period, Anthony did not think of a way. He organized the extraordinary people around him to hunt insect kings, and killed 7 insect kings in 10 days, but there was no visible effect at all.

Just as his personal alchemist said at the beginning, if you kill a insect king, another one will soon be born in the insect swarm.

And no matter how you kill, those locusts are endless and can never be killed.

It's not just the locust plague that gives him a headache. The hidden dangers that were buried before began to burst one by one.

After the locust plague, famine and plague began to spread, and then various secret cults sprang up like mushrooms after rain, recruiting believers, gathering people to make trouble, and even began to attack merchants and wealthy families everywhere, causing a large number of tragedies.

Even three knight families were uprooted.

On the other hand, many mercenaries temporarily changed their identities due to the loss of their livelihoods and became part-time robbers; even if they accepted the task, they might kill the host and run away with the money because they were dissatisfied with the offer.

Anthony's policy of "using mercenaries to fight cults" was shattered before it was implemented.

He had to ask his close friends to go out and mobilize the troops that originally belonged to the Fox family to provide disaster relief and suppress rebellions in various places, so that the already scarce food would be consumed more quickly.

Unfortunately, the two surrounding counties were suffering from disasters and there was no food to buy; now it was a war, and he could not write to His Majesty the King for support.

"Damn locusts!"

Anthony slammed the table, grabbed his old hair, clenched his fists slowly, and finally made up his mind.

"Come here, write a visiting card for me and give it to... Archbishop Thomas!"

Anthony was assigned this position as governor. In addition to dealing with Fox, he had to keep a close eye on the Church of Light, but now he was forced to ask the Church of Light for help.

It must be said that this is a wonderful irony.

But this is also a very normal way of thinking. Everyone knows that the Church of Light is a big family, and Anthony is not the only one who thinks of asking the church for help.

While most people were drafting letters and a few were still on the way, the person who had submitted the visiting card five days in advance had already arrived at the Church of Grace City.

He was wearing a brown robe, just like a clergyman in the church. He entered the church from the side door at night and came to Archbishop Thomas's study under the guidance of Savannah.

There was an oil lamp in the study, and Archbishop Thomas was quietly studying the "Record of the Holy Word".

Hearing the door open, he looked up and smiled: "Baron Raven, long time no see."

Taking off his hood, Raven saluted respectfully: "Sir Thomas, since we last met, I have always wanted to listen to your preaching of the glory of our Lord."

This sentence was impeccable. Even though he knew that Raven did not believe in the Lord of Light, Thomas' expression became softer and softer: "Please sit down."

Sitting down in front of Thomas, Raven took the tea cup handed by the nun and took a sip.

The door closed, the nun left, and the room fell into a brief silence.

Archbishop Thomas looked at Raven quietly with a kind expression, while Raven was sipping the tea with great concentration, as if it was the supreme delicacy.

After a long time, after finishing the cup of tea, Raven put the cup on the table, looked at Thomas and said, "Sir, you are haggard."

Unexpectedly, Raven would say such words. Thomas was startled at first, and then sighed slightly: "The locust plague is savage. How can I not feel haggard when I think about the suffering of my Lord's Lamb?"

Raven also sighed: "My heart is the same as yours. Seeing my subjects struggling with hunger and plague, I, the lord, feel deeply derelict in my duties and feel uneasy day and night."

"I have taken the liberty to visit you this time. Firstly, I want you to baptize me and lead me to feel the glory of the Lord of Light, so as to wash away the worries in my heart. Secondly, I hope you can take pity on the people in my territory and let them They won’t starve to death.”

Archbishop Thomas raised and lowered the corners of his mouth slightly, feeling a little funny in his heart.

He had long known that Raven came to ask for food, but these words were a bit too much.

Earlier, Thomas had received a letter from Herlind, the bishop of Snow Maple Town. Judging from the content of that letter, Raven was the most appropriate to deal with the locusts among all the nobles in the province.

Not only did the food crisis be greatly alleviated by eating locusts, but because the locust corpses were disposed of in a timely manner, although there were occasional epidemics in the territory, they did not cause large-scale plagues.

If Raven can't sleep day and night, then other nobles can find a rope to hang themselves.

"The Lord of Light will not reject any believer." Archbishop Thomas said slowly: "But as His evangelist, I will not force anyone to be shrouded in His light by threats."

“How much food do you want, I’ll try to help.”

Raven raised his eyebrows slightly.

Originally, Raven's condition was that he would set an example and openly convert to the Church of Light in exchange for Thomas's support.

This is a very fair deal.

But Thomas is obviously not satisfied with this. He hopes that Raven can be more deeply bound to the Church of Light.

The reason why Raven was not allowed to join the church publicly was to make Raven owe a huge favor.

"Your Majesty the Archbishop, your heart is enough to make the sea feel ashamed." Raven put his hand on his chest: "Then, I have the audacity to make my request."

Seeing Raven's approach, Thomas picked up the tea cup and smiled: "Well, Baron Raven, how much do you need?"

He already has a bottom line in mind, and he can give Raven up to 10 million pounds of grain, which should be enough to support the consumption of Raven's territory for about three months.

It’s not that he can’t bring out more, but that although Raven has potential, he is not yet an earl after all. The focus of Thomas’ win over is still on Earl Tyrone and Marquis Anthony.

But Raven's next words directly penetrated his bottom line.

Raven raised a finger:

"I want 100,000,000 pounds!"

"puff--"

Even though Archbishop Thomas was extremely well-educated, he was still so shocked that he spat out half a mouthful of tea.

He picked up a handkerchief and wiped the water drops on his chest:

"100 million pounds? Baron Raven, how can such nonsense come out of your sane lips?"

"Please get out immediately!"

"Oh oh oh, don't get excited, Sir Thomas." Raven spread his hands: "I don't want your food in vain."

As he spoke, he flipped his right hand, and a chilling aura of death spread out.

"This is..." Archbishop Thomas' eyes narrowed slightly:

"Holy Emblem of Death!?"

…