The Sun King's Evidence

There was white snow falling outside the window, and the bright light coming from the glazed tiles of the palace shone on the emperor's face.

Karl-Franz was in a dilemma regarding the high elves' demands.

Whether it agrees or not, it seems difficult for the empire to completely remove itself.

Of course, not to mention that the empire has a population of 23 million (estimated by the Braunschweig court, not the real value), Emperor Karl-Franz’s Reich territory + the capital of Brunswick accounted for 7 million people in total (Braunschweig 1 million + Rick 6 million), if you really want to risk your life, it will not be a problem for the emperor to immediately arm 100,000 to 200,000 people with an order.

As mentioned before, the empire's army is divided into three levels. From top to bottom, they are the urban professional standing army, the semi-professional provincial army, and the local militia. Compared with the serfs from bottom to top, which Ryan has recently established with great difficulty, The system of infantry regiments-free folk regiments-Old Guards is undoubtedly more advanced in the empire.

But what is the point of high precision? What they specifically wanted was "a regular army of no less than 20,000 people."

The emperor didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Where can I find 20,000 regular troops for you? The total number of urban regular armies in the entire empire is only about 180,000, and they are scattered throughout the empire. The emperor's own regular armies number almost 50,000, and the rest are provincial armies and even militia.

As a very good politician, Karl Franz would certainly not be in a hurry to take a stand. Even if he could mobilize 20,000 people immediately, he would not take a stand immediately. He first fully expressed the current difficulties and the turmoil in the empire to the high-spirited envoy. , the endless spawning of Beastmen, the endless various actions of a large number of Chaos Cults, and the issue of the merchant princes of Marienburg hoarding and driving up food prices.

The result disappointed him. Tyrion sent a silver-helmeted knight, not a high-elite nobleman. He was just here to convey a message, not to negotiate. That was Teclis's style, not Tyrion's style. .

After the high-elf envoy went out, the emperor continued to read the report until Marshal Reik Heilberg came in: "Your Majesty, in the blood pine forest about 78 kilometers away from Brunswick, we found that the beastman tribe was fighting with the goblin tribe. Team Lin is paying close attention to the situation."

"What do you think, Heilberg?" Karl-Franz said casually: "How big is it?"

"The scale is not small, there are thousands of beastmen, and there are fewer greenskins." Helberg said to Karl Franz: "Now that the two sides have begun a decisive battle, we can enjoy their killing each other for the time being. Happy, but only temporarily, as long as either party wins, it will form a larger scale and attack Brunswick."

"78 kilometers, is it so close to Brunswick?" The emperor sighed and threw the document on the table: "What's your opinion?"

"Your Majesty, you should take advantage of the moment when both the beasts and greenskins are in harm's way, and send out your troops in one fell swoop to clean up everything." Helberg said, his mustache still as perfect as it was twenty or thirty years ago.

"I think so too." The emperor couldn't help but smile crookedly. He stood up, took a document from the table and handed it to Helberg: "Look, this is the army meal standard set by Ryan. .”

Heilberg took the document.

"Reference of Opinions on Food Standards for the Brittanian Army - Ryan Macado"

Category 1: temporarily recruited serf thugs, serf infantry regiments of major principalities, and serf archers.

Food standard per person per day: 3 copper coins.

Specific food reference: black hard bread, stewed beans, cabbage, wheat porridge, potato and corn stewed animal offal (one meal a day).

Second-category stoves: local urban infantry regiments, halberd infantry regiments, longbowmen, and combat pilgrim regiments.

Food standard per person per day: 5 copper coins.

Specific food references: barley bread, stewed beans, fried meat with cabbage, barbecue, meat pies, meat and vegetable stews, fish soup with broth, and beer.

Three types of stoves: elite infantry regiments of major principalities, infantry squires, musketeers, artillerymen, engineers, knights' retinues, and knights errant.

Food standard per person per day: 10 copper coins.

Specific food reference: buttered bread, stewed beans, vegetable salad, eggs, pork, mutton, beef, special smorgasbord (a super delicious stew of Brittany horsemeat sausage, Sinian preserved eggs, fart brains and other ingredients), Ration ale (or imperial beer).

Four types of knights: Old Guards, Kingdom Knights, Expedition Knights, Holy Grail Knights, and Pegasus Knights.

Food standard per person per day: 25 copper coins.

Specific food reference: wheat cheese bread, Tyrell noodles, macaroni, various meats including venison, fish, stewed chickpeas, fresh vegetable salads, candy, coffee, mead (or red wine), meals After fruit.

There are also a few appendices at the bottom: olive oil, refined salt, spices (cinnamon, cloves, pepper, saffron, mustard, vinegar, sugar and honey).

"It's really good to eat." Marshal Rick Heilberg complained after reading it. The old marshal shook his head: "Your Majesty, the food in our empire cannot be like Britannia. Let's just talk about the current market acquisitions. , the price of a pound of barley is about 6 silver shillings, but if it is directly harvested and supplied directly from their manor in Britannia, the price of a pound of barley is only 2 silver shillings at most, the price is only As you know, Britannia is now the largest food producer and exporter in the old world. How can we compare with the guys on the other side of the mountain in terms of food? Not to mention the old world. An army like the Guards also has its own royal estate, and their food costs are really just ingredients."

It is processed directly after planting, without middlemen and transportation losses to earn the price difference.

"I know!" Karl Franz frowned when he heard that. The price of food on the market has skyrocketed. Since Reikland is a farmer and a middle-class leader, it is difficult to purchase military rations. The business princes of Marienburg are also talking to the empire. Officials said otherwise: "Heilberg, we're going to be in trouble."

"Trouble?" Marshal Rick still didn't understand. The emperor continued: "Someone, who didn't know what was going on, got this document, copied it in large quantities and sent it to almost all the military camps in Brunswick. Now, Many soldiers were dissatisfied, and some even started to go on strike, demanding that the food standards be the same as those of the Brittanians across the mountain!"

"What?" Marshal Rick Heilberg almost immediately reflected that there were Chaos Cult activities: "This must not be an accident, my lord, there must be something fishy in this."

"Nonsense, don't I know that this must be a conspiracy of the Chaos Sect?" The emperor slapped the table, and Karl Franz was furious: "But we all know that these are true, the cloth on the other side of the mountain is The food standards of the Retanians are like this. What should we do? Tell the soldiers who defend our country that you are not worthy? Or bury your head in the ground and play dead like an ostrich, or force yourself to keep up with the standards? This is a conspiracy, but There is nothing we can do!”

"I will handle the military affairs, Your Majesty." Marshal Rick immediately saluted, and the old marshal also risked his life: "Don't worry, the people of the Empire will always support Your Majesty, and the Guards of Rick will always support Your Majesty."

"Well, as for the Chaos Sect, we must also investigate it in detail." The emperor's face softened slightly and he nodded slightly. Just as he was about to say something, Lady Hawkswolf, the Minister of Finance of the Empire, came in from outside. Her face was very ugly. : "Your Majesty, we have bad news."

"The negotiation with Marienburg failed?" Karl Franz suddenly turned pale.

"The merchants of Marienburg refused to accept the grain purchase price we proposed." Mrs. Hawkswolfe lowered her head and said to the emperor with some hesitation: "They said that they would either buy it at a premium, or let His Majesty do it himself. Finding a way, and also encountering big problems in purchasing grain, farmers and manor owners are more willing to sell grain to Marienburg merchants than to us.”

After the victory in the Battle of Blackfire Pass and promotion to the Holy Realm, the emperor's prestige in the empire was at its peak. The Hawkswolf people no longer dared to argue with the emperor: "Even the merchants of Reikland faced us. Even acquisitions are embarrassing."

"What?!" Karl Franz stood up directly, the beard on his face trembling with anger, and he slapped the armrest of the chair hard.

"Hmph! Is there any country that is more tolerant to these business princes than our empire?!"

"Without the protection of the imperial army, how could these merchants develop and grow?"

"Now that something has happened, everyone is just sitting back and watching without knowing anything in return!"

After thinking for a while, the emperor had no choice but to stop temporarily: "What about Britannia? Do they still give priority to supplying Nuer?"

"Yes, after all, the special relationship between the Sun King and the Countess..." Hawkswall said hesitantly: "The Nuer side also warned us not to try to destroy the 'friendly relationship' between Rick and the Nuer people."

"Forget it, forget it, I don't want to hear this." The emperor shook his head, and he turned to his attendant: "Where is Wolfgang? Didn't he say he wanted to visit the zoo in the afternoon?"

Wolfgang Holsweig Abernauer, the grandson of Emperor Karl-Franz's uncle Maximian and the emperor's nephew, recently came to Braunschweig for a visit, and the emperor made an appointment to take him with him in the afternoon My nephew visited the Imperial Royal Zoo.

In fact, the emperor didn't like his nephew. He was neither talented nor learned, lazy and undisciplined. He almost never succeeded in the things assigned to him. He always liked to think of himself as the emperor's nephew. He behaved strangely and was arrogant. I don't know why he had to drag his grandfather with him. When he came to the capital for a visit, the emperor had no choice but to receive him personally. After all, his uncle Maximian gave up participating in the election of the emperor. After Karl Franz came to the throne, Maximian even moved to Talabheim to live there. Karl-Franz untied all restraints.

The emperor could not help but accept this sentiment.

"Let's go." The emperor indicated that time was almost up.

In the afternoon, it was still snowing outside the house, and the emperor was walking in the zoo with only one Rick guard and his nephew Wolfgang.

It was still the Winter Veil holiday, and there was no one in the Royal Zoo. Since this was a relative of the emperor, and Wolfgang made it clear that he hated too many people, he didn’t bring anyone else with him. As for the Royal Zoo, if there were assassins, Then Karl Franz should have died hundreds of times long ago. The emperor himself is also a strong man in the holy realm, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

The Reik Guard who followed was a native of Reik named Hermann Konrad von Radez. He was very much admired by the emperor. The thirty-year-old Reik Guard quickly praised him. A bowl of hot mushroom cream corn soup was delivered to the emperor: "Your Majesty, mushroom cream corn soup."

"How come there is this?" Karl-Franz expressed surprise.

"This is specially prepared for Your Majesty by His Excellency Wolfgang. It is said that he spent two hours in the kitchen to prepare it." Rick Guard Herman said seriously: "He heard His Majesty I have a habit of eating something in the afternoon, so I prepared it carefully."

"It's rare that my nephew will have this habit." Karl Franz glanced at his nephew who was standing in front of a two-headed griffon, and couldn't help but shake his head: "It's a pity, my nephew is really He has no talent, and after not seeing him for many years, he doesn’t seem to have grown much.”

Hermann took a look at Wolfgang, who was only about 1.6 meters tall at most, with an ugly appearance, an oversized aquiline nose, and long messy hair. The Rick guards were not very willing to discuss this topic, so they could only He said: "Your Majesty, it's cold, drink it while it's hot."

The emperor, who had eaten before going out, looked at the snow on Hermann's armor, robe, and cloak. He thought to himself that he was loyal to his duties. He had been on guard all day today and had to go out after his shift. It was very hard, so he took the picture. He patted Guard Rick on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I'll reward you with this bowl of soup. I don't want to drink anything now."

"This...but this is what Wolfgang cooked specially for you." Herman hesitated.

"It's okay, I just feel his feelings." The emperor showed a standard smile with eight teeth: "Drink."

"Yes." Herman picked up the spoon clumsily, his hands wearing gauntlets were awkward. Seeing that the emperor didn't mind, he simply picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

At this moment, the two-headed griffin in front of Wolfgang noticed Wolfgang appearing in front of him. The griffin immediately showed a very disgusting expression and roared loudly. Karl Franz's attention was attracted The attraction passed: "What's the matter? Wolfgang, this two-headed gryphon was finally captured from the Roof Mountains of the World..."

"Uh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" Before the emperor could finish his words, Rick's guard Herman suddenly covered his throat with both hands. The warrior who had fought many battles let out a heart-breaking scream. He was in pain. Rolling on the ground, black blood flowed from his eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears. He struggled violently for a few times and stopped moving.

The jade bowl hit the ground, shattering into pieces, and the originally yellow-white soup inside gradually turned yellow-green.

"What? What's wrong? Hermann?" Karl Franz was shocked, but the scream that followed immediately awakened his instinct as a warrior, the first citizen of the empire and the warrior whom everyone expected, and the emperor immediately He reached out to the Ryker's Rune Tooth Dragon Tooth Sword at his waist. The sword was shining with the power of the ancient runes belonging to the dwarves.

In the eyes of the emperor, Wolfgang changed and turned into a complete monster.

His eyes fell out like slugs, with two long sarcomas extending outside. Huge bat wings stretched out from his back. Two long claws stretched out from his extremely swollen and deformed body. came out, and then flew directly towards the emperor: "Uh-huh~"

"Wolfgang!" The emperor subconsciously wanted to swing his sword, but he immediately realized that this man was his nephew. Karl Franz rolled sideways to avoid it and shouted eagerly: "Wolfgang , what’s going on with you?!”

"Die! Uncle, for the Red Crown, for Tzeentch!" Wolfgang spread his wings again and flew over, his claws shining with the reflection of winter.

"..." The emperor looked at Herman, a promising Rick guard who died suddenly on the spot, and then looked at the broken jade bowl and thick soup on the ground. He understood.

The two sides fought for two rounds. The emperor was hesitant at first, hoping to catch Wolfgang and seek help from the church or wizards so that his nephew could recover as before. However, after a brief confrontation, he saw Wolfgang's body began to mutate severely. Gang finally understood that his nephew was hopeless.

He most likely drank various potions to force himself to remain a normal person and enter the imperial court.

This was a premeditated assassination!

The emperor took a sudden step forward, attracting the completely mutated nephew to fly towards him, and then swiped back easily. The flaming sword pierced Wolfgang's right leg and cut off one of his wings. Wolfgang fell to the ground like a rag and hit a fence head-on, splinters of wood flying everywhere.

The Chaos Mutant still wanted to get up, but the Emperor had already appeared in front of him. The rune fangs penetrated his chest, and the power above gradually burned this guy to ashes in the flames.

The zoo was in a mess, and the guards and zookeepers arrived after hearing the sounds of fighting.

Holding the Rune Fang, Karl-Franz's heart was like the snow on the ground, as cold as frost.

Damn it! Has the corruption of the Tzeentch Cult reached this deep level? Even Uncle Maximian's grandson...

How many people in the empire are Chaos Cultists?

Reikland, Brunswick, the Royal Palace... How far has the Chaos Cult penetrated?

It's like walking on thin ice, like facing an abyss.

Updated, please vote!