Realm of Power

The blond young man leaned his head on the sofa, his face full of exhaustion. His hand gently opened the curtain of the carriage. Outside the carriage was a beautiful city under the sunset, Lisbonto, the southern commercial center of the empire, the base camp of ocean trade, and the rumored empire. The land where one-third of the fiscal revenue comes from. If someone had previously proposed that this land The most prosperous city may be the capital of a certain country, the royal capital, or even the imperial capital, but now, all these are eclipsed by the magnificent city outline of Lisbonto, which is the first city in this continent with a population of one million. Cities, only by being in them can you understand the concept of a big city with a population of one million.

Before coming to Lisbon, the blond young man's understanding of the empire was mainly about the invincible performance of the imperial army in the continental war, and he never believed that merchants had much to do with the empire's strength. However, in the past few days, what he had seen with his own eyes was Everything he saw and heard connected the empire's power with merchants in his mind. Merchants provided a large amount of wealth to keep the imperial army well-equipped, and the imperial army's external The expansion brought enough returns to the businessmen. This mutually reinforcing model finally formed the current expansion posture that is like a snowball. "This country is Eero's biggest enemy. It was before, is now, and will be in the future..." I hope you will go and take a look on my behalf to see the secret of this enemy’s power.” The words Emperor Eero said when he summoned him before leaving echoed in the mind of the blond young man.

The streets of Lisbonto are like a chessboard grid. Countless people and houses are located in the middle of this grid. Eight urban areas expand outward from the core area, covering an area of ​​more than fifty miles. Except for the Imperial Capital of Central Asia, which once represented the pinnacle of Central and Eastern civilization, there is no other city that can surpass Lisbon. Even the Imperial Capital The sea city of Kyoto cannot be compared with Lisbonto. The wealth circulating here every day is an astronomical figure. The number of businessmen active in this city has reached tens of thousands. The wealth contributed is said to support one-third of the empire's finances. Taxation is like the master of this land, the Falcon Emperor, who despises the ambitions of the world, making all the emperors of the imperial capital ashamed.

"Haha!" The carriage stopped in front of a tall villa, and a middle-aged man in a black dress stood in front of the steps.

"Your Highness the Prince!" Seeing the carriage stop, the middle-aged man stepped forward.

"Lord Tucma, why did you come to Lisbon?" The blond young man got off the carriage and looked at the confidant next to Emperor Eero with a slightly stunned look on his face.

"His Majesty is very satisfied with His Highness the Prince's work. He specially asked me to send something, which has been placed in His Highness's room." The middle-aged man named Tukema said with a kind smile.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Your Highness will know after seeing it!"

The sun sets on the edge of the sea in Lisbonto. On the balcony of a high-rise villa in the ninth district of Lisbonto, an injured blond young man leans on the armrest of the balcony, gasping for air. His hand covers a bloody wound on his waist, which is red. Blood was squeezed out from between the fingers. The blond young man's blue and bright eyes were staring at a middle-aged man in a black dress who was walking slowly in front of him. He said sharply with unwillingness on his face, "Why, picture Kema, I have completed 30% of the order, why does Your Majesty want to kill me?"

"Your Highness, can't you see that the person who wants to kill you is not me, but Your Majesty?" A hint of sarcasm appeared on the slightly older face of the middle-aged man in black dress. He raised his hand and took out a long-awaited copy from his pocket. After writing the document, he said with a cold smile, "This is what your Majesty gave to the prince." Gift, His Highness Nikatek left the territory of Hérault privately without His Majesty’s permission, and used the name of the Hérault royal family to smuggle goods without authorization, causing damage to the reputation of the Hérault royal family. From now on, it is officially announced that Nikatek will be removed from the country. The royal family takes back all its identity”

"Why, what mistake did I make? Didn't His Majesty send me to Lisbon to take care of you?" The blond young man was so angry that his whole body was shaking, his wounds were affected, and he was gnashing his teeth like a wounded beast.

The middle-aged man in black dress said with a serious face, "This is the choice His Majesty made for Aero. I hope His Highness can understand it. I'm afraid His Highness doesn't know yet. Just before leaving Aero, the Kingdom of Aden sent a secret envoy, because the full openness Relations in Central Asia, the Kingdom of Aden proposed to end the long war with the Aero Empire Relationship, you know what this means, it means that the 200,000 troops we deployed in the east will be able to be transferred back. Under the current emergency situation in the royal capital, the transfer of these 200,000 eastern elites will be a great help to the Ero Empire. It is of great significance. It can not only relieve the capital of the Kingdom, but also allow us to launch a counterattack against the Order State."

"It's the people from Aden who want to kill me!"

The blond young man's face was slightly stunned when he heard this, and he immediately reacted and killed himself, fearing that it was related to the negotiations with the Aden people. Although the Eero Empire suffered successive defeats under the fierce attack of the Order State, the strength of the Order State was compared to that in the east The threat to the Aden people is still much weaker, so no matter how urgent the domestic situation is, there are still 200,000 Aden border guards stationed on the border with Aden. And now, the Aden people take the initiative to propose peace talks, which is absolutely important to the Aden people. It's life-saving good news.

Sure enough, the middle-aged man paused, looked at the ferocious-looking blond young man, grinned, and said, "The additional condition of the Kingdom of Aden is that the two countries must marry. The Aden people's first choice for marriage is not His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." , but you, His Royal Highness Prince Nikatek, Aden said that when His Royal Highness the Prince was studying in the capital of Aden, he had contact with the King of Aden. The King of Aden admired you very much, but I don’t know if it is true.”

"Nonsense, I was the one who caused Aden's 300,000-strong army to be defeated for hundreds of miles in the Grand Oasis. The Aden people are obviously seeking revenge!"

A stream of blood came out of the corner of the blond young man's mouth angrily, and he said sternly, "This is obviously the hatred that the people of Aden have for me. When I was studying in the capital of Aden, I came into contact with many aristocratic children of Aden, and even some at the prince level. Inside, but it is absolutely impossible to say that I have had contact with the King of Aden and admired him very much."

The middle-aged man looked at the angry Prince Nikatek and glanced slightly at the corner of his mouth: "My Prince, I don't know whether to call you stupid or too naive. Of course, Your Majesty knows that it was the deliberate action of the people of Aden, but If you continue to stay in the country, the armistice agreement with the Aden people will not be signed. King Aero has reached the most critical moment. Even if he knows that the Aden people did it deliberately, His Majesty can only grit his teeth and endure it. Come down, and the ordnance orders you negotiated will be confiscated as contraband after arriving in Eero, because according to the current situation in Eero, we obviously do not have extra money to pay for these ordnance. If we do not want the empire to If we are to investigate, then someone must come forward to take the blame! Since His Highness the Prince is already a victim, wouldn't it be better to sacrifice more completely for the benefit of Eero?"

"You bastards!" Nikitek gasped for air. His spleen was punctured and he was short of breath. The feeling of being betrayed by the country made him feel like his whole body was burning from the inside.

"Your Highness, it is better not to struggle, at least you can suffer less pain." The middle-aged man raised his hand with a calm expression. Behind the middle-aged man, more than a dozen Eero warriors holding sharp swords walked towards the blond young man. If you still If there is a way, it is to jump from here. This is the fifth floor. Middle-aged people do not think that a person with a punctured spleen can jump over the fence. Even if he jumps from such a height, there is absolutely no possibility of survival.

"I'm not willing to accept it, even if I die, I won't be willing to accept it!" Nikatek struggled to stand up, roaring from his mouth, and climbed over the balcony fence with all his strength, dragging a long drag The sound fell towards the street below, bang, the sound of things being smashed and panicked shouts came from below

The middle-aged man leaned out half of his body and glanced down. Once a shining star of the Eero royal family, it had just risen and fell. Although from a considerable height, the death of Prince Nikatek could be seen. He couldn't die anymore. Nikatek's whole body was twisted into a weird bending angle, as if a hardwood stick had been stepped on from the middle. A large amount of blood stained the ground red, like a flower blooming. The middle-aged man turned back and saluted downwards with a complicated look in his eyes.

"Your Highness should feel fortunate that at least your death has brought hope to Eero." The middle-aged man in black dress whispered, turned around and led the people away. The darkness completely enveloped everything, and Lisbon entrusted the people with a length and width of dozens of miles. The outline of the huge city is reflected in the dense lights, like a long Milky Way falling on the earth.

"The Order State acted really quickly. Nikatek died on the street. He fell to death from a high place. The Sheriff has now treated it as a suicide." The fat man was eating breakfast while A report transferred from the Governor's Palace in Lisbon was handed to Sokutus Stellan opposite. At this moment, an official from the Ministry of Intelligence came to the door in a hurry.

"What's going on?" The fat man looked at the intelligence officer

"Your Majesty, someone from the Order said that Prince Nikitek is dead," the intelligence officer said cautiously with a strange look on his face.

"I know, the Sheriff has already taken care of it." The fat man frowned slightly. According to the Sheriff's report, Prince Nikitek had died yesterday evening, but the Order State only reported it now. The strangeness made him vaguely feel that something was wrong, but what, he couldn't say for a while.

"The Order State said that they could not kill Prince Nikatek. They searched all night yesterday and thought the target had escaped. Unexpectedly, they only learned about the target jumping off the building this morning." The intelligence officer took a deep breath, and the air around him was... One meal. This matter is really strange. Who but the Order State would kill Prince Nikitek? When he heard the news, even the fat man was confused, and the intelligence officials had sweat rolling on their foreheads. There was no one in front of them. After finding out the identity of the prince, he was scolded by the emperor. Now that the prince is dead for no apparent reason, the intelligence department has not even touched the wind.

"How is the investigation going? How many arms contracts did Prince Nikitek sign in Lisbon?" The fat man hesitated with a serious face and asked in a cold voice. He always felt that the death of Prince Nikitek was related to the arms trade. related,

"The number on the surface is 30,000 to 40,000 sets, but according to our investigation, the real number is at least 200,000 sets!" the intelligence officer said.

"It's only been a few days, how come there are so many?" This number made even the fat man stand up from his seat in fright. Two hundred thousand sets of ordnance is not a small amount. It is impossible to get it without millions of gold. He doesn't I believe that the current Eero Empire can come up with so much money at once. If Eero still has such financial resources, he will not be deceived by Duke Putao for purchasing cheap ordnance. It is precisely because he knows the Eero Empire’s He has very little financial resources, so the fat man feels that the problem here is too big.

"The other party adopts the method of cash on delivery, with a certificate issued by the Hérault royal family. The price is more than one-third higher than the current market price. It also claims that for the first ten arrivals, the purchase price can be increased to twice the current price. The arms market has been suppressed for more than a month. A large number of arms have been hoarded, and storage costs are also a heavy burden. Many arms merchants have They are eager to ship goods to recover losses, so under such conditions, it is difficult to resist such temptation. In addition, everyone now knows that the Erot mission came to the empire to discuss arms trade, so there is no doubt about anything, and for After receiving the reward, a large part has been sent to the port of Lisbon," the intelligence officer said with a pale face and a trembling voice.

"When the person dies, the goods are shipped, is that what it means!"

The fat man's face turned livid, his hands slammed down on the table, and he snorted with a heavy nose. Thinking of the death of Prince Nikitek, he was basically certain in his heart that Eero was going to swallow these ordnance. Such a large amount, With millions of imperial gold involved, the biggest danger is that once Eero is swallowed up without a certificate, These 200,000 ordnances were not only a heavy blow to the arms trade in Lisbonto, but also set a very bad example for other countries that trade in ordnance. If everyone adopts this shameless method to embezzle the empire's ordnance, then The arms market that the empire spent years building would completely collapse.

"Immediately order the Imperial Navy to strictly block the waters of the Eero Empire and intercept any ships transporting ordnance to Eero." Fatty can only make up for it now. He also knows that the effect of this order is not great. How much effect can it have? God knows

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's inappropriate to do this. After all, we are not in a state of war with Eero. Blocking the sea area without authorization will only arouse hostility towards us from the south," Sokutus Stellan said hesitantly. "And Eero has a sufficient coastline." It is three to four hundred miles away, and if the other party is prepared, they will not choose to deliver these ordnance on the Hérault coastline, so relying entirely on the Imperial Navy blockade will not have much effect."

"Your Majesty, the Erote Mission has just stopped negotiations." The news brought by the imperial foreign affairs officer turned a crystal bottle on the table into crystal clear fragments all over the floor.