After Becoming The Tyrant

"The black star is already in the main house, and it is connected with the authority and majesty of the evening star. The scythe of death in the horizontal human form is about to come. If they meet together, the dead fish will drown the illuminated continent" [1 ] The devil read such a cryptic and eccentric remark.

This reminded the king of the young man he met during the negotiations at the Moon River Fortress.

According to the oath knight commander, it was an astrologer.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The devil speculated on the king's thoughts, "This is indeed the prophecy of those astrologers. It foretells an impending disaster...you know what it is."

"It will come in four months."

The king pondered for a while, and expressed his judgment in a declarative tone.

The devil really wants to applaud the king, see how keen his nose is for all intrigues.

However, this is actually not difficult for the king to judge.

Because in the original fate line, Purlan was hanged before the Mun Tower in the fourth month after the assassination, and the original sentence was only exile.Although Purland is indeed a tyrant, but based on the analysis of Grand Duke Grace's personality of managing his image, he should be more inclined to imprison the former king tightly to show his magnanimity.

The original sentence of exile confirmed this.

A former tyrant living without power still has a lot of political significance for the new ruler.He can elevate his status in people's minds by constantly comparing himself to the former tyrant.When the purpose is almost done, the former tyrant can leave the scene without a sound.

One month is not enough to establish the image of Grand Duke Grace.

But what if there was a terrible plague that people could do nothing about?

And what better target for this crime than a violent ex-king?

"Besides you, can the astrologers also predict the Black Death?" The king grabbed a point, "Who are the astrologers working for?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The devil took credit for himself at the right time, "Do you still remember that crappy Mr. Astrologer? He once tried to spy on your fate, and then planned to tell his mentor. As your loyal knight, I I have already solved this little trouble for you—otherwise, by this time, dozens of monks from the Tribunal would have arrived like flies smelling blood."

"They serve the Holy Court."

The king passed judgment.

He pondered for a while.

Generally speaking, astrologers should belong to heresy, and they should be at odds with the Holy Court.And in his memory, from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, the Holy Court once launched a vigorous campaign to persecute astrologers—the scale was almost comparable to witch hunting.But in the middle of the fourteenth century the movement died down.

Judging from the devil's words, it seems that most of the astrologers chose to serve the Holy Court in order to survive.

This is really not good news.

If the new pope on the other side of the Abyss Strait is not brainless, he will definitely seize this opportunity to improve the status of theocracy.In the Black Death, a large-scale plague that people are almost powerless to resist at this time, the most likely to breed is nothing more than religious beliefs and various theories of guilt.

Legrand's most recent outbreak of the Black Death occurred in the fourth century.

Before that, the Qiangwei family's rule was stronger than it is now, and the Western Continent became the dimmest area of ​​divine splendor.But the Black Death changed the political landscape. Nearly one in nine people died in the plague, and the royal family was powerless to stop the change.The Holy Court took advantage of this opportunity to make a big publicity, because the Qiangwei family did not fear the Holy Lord, and the Holy Lord condemned it.

"God is a righteous judge, and a God who is angry with the wicked every day. If anyone does not turn back, his sword will be sharpened, his bow will be strung, and he is ready. It is the rocket."[2]

The king slowly read out the words that the Qiangwei family must remember.

The Black Death is God's judgment, and all sins stem from Legrand's contempt for the Holy Lord.

This accusation eventually became a riot as the death expanded, known in history as the "Return of the Holy Spirit Movement".Under the instigation of the holy court, people began to build churches spontaneously.In the end, the Kingdom of God on the side of the Abyss Strait expanded to Legrand.

From then on, only the king of the Qiangwei family needs to be crowned by the Holy Court.

Nearly 1000 years of enmity came from this.

The king sneered.

No wonder the pope would change his previous stance this time and suddenly send someone to intervene in Legrand's battle for the throne.It turned out that they had already budgeted for this disaster.

They seem to be taking this opportunity to replay the fourth-century clichés on the land of Legrand.Grand Duke Grace is just a puppet of them.

But damn it, the bubonic plague was deadly.

There were less than four months left before the outbreak of the Black Death, and the king did not think that these four months of preparation would be able to resolve an unsolvable disaster in this era.

"Hell would be more than happy to settle that for you, Your Majesty."

The devil bowed gracefully to the king.

"However, it depends on whether His Majesty dares to dance with hell."

The king looked at the devil who seemed to have a perpetual smile on his face.

"What about the conditions?"

"There are no conditions. Do you need any conditions to serve your own monarch?"

"I'm not going to go to hell with you now," the king retorted.

"You misunderstood me." The devil said so, but his tone clearly revealed a bit of regret, "then... well, a small condition, it is not difficult for you to do."

The king awaits the devil's next word.

"Mind multiple knights from hell? My dear majesty."

………………

The devil has an identity on the surface, and he has become a member of the king's oath knight.

However, the devil seemed to have other things to do, and after he got this promise from the king, he hurried away again.

After the devil left, the ex-templar captain quietly walked in.

"Your Majesty, you devil is very dangerous. I don't know why he is so humble to you, but his aura reminds me of the past. At that time, I was traveling with the temple. The team of that expedition I came across a monument, and I felt a similar atmosphere in the monument."

The ex-templar captain looked unusually serious.

"What was the situation?"

"Disaster. Your Majesty."

The ex-templar captain replied with an unconcealable pain in his tone.

"A mortal disaster."

………………

The devil bid farewell.

The king did not intend to pin all his hopes on a dangerous devil of unknown origin and purpose, he began to make his own preparations.

In the past two days, the king's finance minister sorted out the royal financial files that the king wanted.It is thick and complicated, and even the full-time staff of the Ministry of Finance will not be willing to read them.

The king frowned, endured the terrible recording method and the troublesome currency unit, read the part he was most concerned about, and then deeply realized one thing——

The royal family can be described as poor.

The annual income of the king himself is about 20 pounds. On the surface, this is definitely a huge sum of money.Because in today's Legrand, a person can be called rich if he can earn 3 pounds a year, and even the earl's annual income rarely exceeds [-] pounds. [[-]]

But these incomes of the king are used to maintain the expenses of the entire royal family and the operation of the entire king.

This is also the norm in royal families in most countries today.

They are always in a position to make ends meet.

The construction of castles with military functions also belongs to the king's financial expenditure.The construction of the royal castles in Newcastle in the north and Nordover in the west began at the end of last year. The construction of the castles takes a long time, but it is conservatively estimated that the entire construction of a castle in Newcastle alone already needs 4 pounds. [[-]]

It is only a matter of course that the Duke of Buckingham has no family background.

Anyone who maintains such a huge expenditure stall will end up extremely poor.

When the king finished reading the archives, just in time for the nobles of the New Royal Party to carefully submit the first ransom—the value of their own heads made them write down the amount that they could only do their best, so they could only submit it in batches .

At this juncture, the king looked at the sum of money he had collected, and thought whether he should just kill everyone.

All the money in the territory will be confiscated at one time, saving worry and effort.

The nobles who paid the money didn't know why they always felt that their necks were cold.

The amount of ransom is usually thousands of pounds, and the sum of each sum is considerable.When the nobles paid the first ransom, plus the inheritance tax collected before, the king almost had enough money to redeem the Duke of Buckingham's son, General John.

At this time, there was also news of the missing negotiating mission.

"We're talking as we walk? You've been in the room long enough, Your Majesty." The Duke of Buckingham put his robe on his arm, and he saw how many files the king had read during this time, "Maybe you would like to come with me take a walk?"

"Of course, I'd love to."

The king glanced at the Duke of Buckingham in surprise, and put down the quill.

It is now October and the snow is beginning to cover the ground thickly.The king and the Duke of Buckingham walked through long corridors, and saw that the forest trees of the castle began to be covered with crystal rime ice, and the sun shone magnificently and dreamily.

"Stayed in Tru Castle."

After listening to the Duke of Buckingham, the king was thoughtful.

"Baron Sean? He is indeed a bit courageous, and he is not too stupid."

While talking, the two had passed through most of the palace. The Duke of Buckingham stopped and looked out from the corridor. He looked at the stone pavilion on the left side of the tower not far ahead, and said with emotion: "There used to be no pavilion over there. , that was built by your father later."

The king also looked at the stone pavilion surrounded by rose vines.

It is conceivable that in the flowering period, countless strong red roses will decorate it into a beautiful scenery.

"Go and see?"

The king agreed.

They walked through the cold wind and into the snow.A tall black tower stood not far away, the snow fell on the tower, and quickly slid down again.

Heita remained silent.

It seems to be watching all this.

The author has something to say: [1] The original text is "If Who Knows" created by the Prague court poet Heinrich von Mughern around 1349-1355, and the original poem has been slightly modified according to the world background.

This is one of the many "literary disasters" produced during the "second pandemic" of the Black Death.

[2] Quoted from Psalm 7:11-13

[3] The data refers to the current situation of the monetary economy of Edward I

[4] It is actually the construction cost of Caernarfon Castle