Old Argan repeated the conclusion given by Sherlock: "So that's it..."
He exhaled slowly, clenching his fists first and then gradually loosening them. It was as if he had finally let go of some worries and doubts, and as if he had already expected this... or maybe he had some regrets.
——Obviously, this was not the answer that the old Duke expected, or the answer that he feared.
"If my prediction is correct," Sherlock looked at Argon, his words were sharp and merciless, "The answer you want... should be to find the organization to which the man behind the scenes belongs.
"Whether it's the conspiracy of the Hawkeye organization, or the manipulation behind the scenes by a certain Grand Duke other than you... I think it might be more in line with your needs to directly report a person's name."
Hearing this, Aiwass was stunned for a moment, raised his head and looked at the old Duke.
He was the first to understand the hidden meaning in Sherlock's words.
The old Duke "invited" Sherlock to come here, I'm afraid... it wasn't as simple as wanting to get the answer at all.
——In other words, his need is not just to "know the truth", and the motivation that drives him to take such dangerous actions is definitely not curiosity.
"...What do you mean, father?"
Anne was keenly aware of the sudden change in the atmosphere, and she raised her head in confusion.
Yassen opened his mouth, but wisely closed it again.
As a son-in-law, he decided to give his father-in-law some face. After all, there was a big shot here who his "expensive father" could not afford to offend, so it was not his turn to say this.
And Aiwass spoke softly: "It's very simple. If there is a person behind this matter, and this person behind the scenes has obtained enough benefits from it... then after Sherlock sees through the truth and finds this person out...
…Are we sure that the 'Third Rebellion' itself is a conspiracy?
"People were used by the mastermind behind the scenes, which led to the end of the Iris Dynasty. But after the monarch left Iris, people's lives did not get much better.
"Although the nobles' fiefdoms were returned to the country, they were bought back by the nobles and wealthy businessmen; although they no longer had private soldiers, they had 'long-term mercenaries' from the security company; although the inheritance
The title of nobility no longer exists, but the status of parliamentarian is still passed down from generation to generation.
"The Iris people no longer have nobles, but the powers of the mayors and mayors that they already had have been expanded; even when people see the three grand dukes, they still have to salute them respectfully."
"——Perhaps the only difference is that the rich always had to talk down to the nobles in the past, but now they are doing much better than the old nobles."
Aiwass sighed and began to tell Anne the essence of the matter from the beginning.
What Iris experienced in the "Third Rebellion Period" was essentially no different from what Lloyd did in Avalon last year.
This is actually a necessary path. In the past, high-end technology was basically monopolized by alchemists and mages, and the role that ordinary people could play was basically farming, animal husbandry, fishing, forestry and hunting, and these required the permission of the lord.
But with the development of industrialization, the value generated by factories gradually began to exceed the former. Therefore, the status of workers gradually surpassed farmers, herdsmen, fishermen, and hunters... and the factory owners who controlled the machines gradually began to conflict with the nobles who controlled the land.
——After all, the population is only so large. If there is more here, there will be less there. But so far, the aristocrats will basically have a far greater advantage than the factory owners.
Until a certain critical point is passed...the things that money can buy suddenly increase, and the nature suddenly changes.
Although the nobles will suppress factory owners, they basically dare not eliminate them directly, because they also want to use cheaper and more reliable industrial products, instead of having to import at high prices from foreign countries those that are not that advanced but are very expensive to eliminate.
For alchemy products, you can buy some second-hand garbage at the same price as gold; but on the other hand, factory owners can be unscrupulous and even eager to control and even eliminate all nobles.
Thinking back, how did the knights of Avalon come to be controlled by Lloyd's, a merchant association with no real power or strength? They clearly knew that as long as they united together and used violence to control these merchants, there would be no risk.
to get the current benefits.
The reason is simple, because these knights are afraid of and opposed to each other, and the benefits brought by the merchants are not enough to feed everyone.
Just like the Knights of the Round Table will quarrel in the Round Table Hall, discuss every motion, and decide whether it can be passed based on their own positions. And these knights cannot reach the same conclusion on everything, so they will always have problems with each other.
Contradiction and hostility. And because of the existence of these antagonisms, the knights actually don't know how many people have been manipulated, and they dare not reveal their intention of "not wanting to cooperate."
Of course they can easily control these businessmen with violence - it only takes five arbiters to kill Lloyd's without any injuries.
But the question is what happens after that? How are they distributed?
If the merchant's contribution is divided equally, then everyone will not have enough to eat; but if it is only provided to a small group of people, who can be sure that they will not be excluded from the group? If the five of them eat it alone, what will happen to the other knights?
Will they join forces to kill them?
Everyone has been poor before, and no one wants to go back to the hard days of the past. Now if the sponsorship is cut off, no one will be able to live well. Obviously there is another way to keep everyone fed - that is
Let the number of "high-level people" who share the interests equally be reduced to a small enough number.
Therefore, in fact, the powerful knights were manipulated by the weak merchants. In fact, the problem did not lie with the merchants at all, but with the knights themselves. What these corrupted knights were afraid of was not the merchants, but other knights - those who were also afraid of them.
Corrupted colleagues.
The problems faced by the nobles of Iris are the same.
The first rebellion and the second rebellion were complete failures. Because in this world where extraordinary power monopolizes knowledge, it is even difficult for extraordinary people to be born among pure, poor civilians.
They can't get a tantra book to start the inheritance on their own, nor can they learn a complete theoretical system from a specialized teaching institution. Even if they are lucky enough to become extraordinary, they don't have the money to start the promotion ceremony - they may not even know about promotion.
What is needed for the ceremony?
In this case, the rebellion from the civilians is impossible to succeed. No matter how powerful it is, the extraordinary can easily suppress it.
"-But the situation of the Third Rebellion was different, because their monarch died."
"……I see!"
When Aiwass said this, Anne's eyes widened and she blurted out: "Because they are scared!"
"That's right."
Sherlock nodded and picked up the black tea calmly and leisurely: "It's because the nobles don't know who is behind this incident... they can actually bypass the sentries of the Hawkeye Organization and the three Grand Dukes.
The Guards rushed to the palace, penetrated the imperial army, captured all the royal family members, and beheaded a large number of fourth-level extraordinary beings among them."
As he spoke, he pinched his throat and made a disgusting sound: "'Who on earth could do this?' Even His Majesty the King was killed, how could we resist? 'This is simply not possible.
It's not a rebellion initiated by the common people, but a coup launched by a big shot for the sake of dictatorship! "If we stand in the way, I'm afraid we will also be eliminated!"
"——So, they got scared."
Having said this, Sherlock couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a sarcastic smile.
Because this matter is so interesting - at least for him as an Avalonian, it is really fun. This is why the more he investigates, the more obsessed he becomes.
Although he was half-tied and half-cheated, he still enjoyed investigating the case. Not only because of his curiosity, but also because the case was really chewy and very satisfying.
If it weren't for the fact that it was inconvenient for outsiders to talk about this matter, he would definitely find a reporter to come over and make it public.
"...You mean," Anne said in disbelief, "In fact, these nobles...were all scared to death by themselves?"
"That's it."
Sherlock gave his own conclusion of the investigation: "From the beginning, there was no 'behind the scenes'. The nobles surrendered quickly and accepted the confiscation of their homes. The rapid surrender of other nobles also made those nobles who had not surrendered
They became more and more afraid.
"Just like when soldiers on the battlefield are defeated due to fear and are trampled to death by their comrades, the number of knights who are lost due to confusion is far more than the number that are actually killed. Except for the very few who take part in the battle.
, other people actually didn’t know what was happening at all. They were just being held hostage, and they couldn’t move forward even if they wanted to.
"—This was a dramatic rout."
"...But," Anne still found it incomprehensible, "didn't even one person stand up? The third period of rebellion didn't just take away the property of those nobles, right? So many people were hanged and kidnapped.
There are also those who were kidnapped and sold to Anxi as slaves...it can't be that they would rather accept this fate than dare to take action, right?"
Even among a group of pigs, there is always one pig who is extraordinarily brave.
Among so many people, is there not even one who dares to resist?
"...Of course it's impossible."
Sherlock's eyes were deep, the sarcastic smile on his face faded a little, and he looked at old Argon.
His words were cautious, calm and meaningful: "I think this is why the Grand Duke asked me to investigate this matter."
"——It's us."
Argan said: "The people who executed those who resisted came from our three families.
"The prototype of the Hawkeye Organization, the 'Stonemasons Brotherhood', has a close relationship with those people, and they have also blended into the ranks of the Third Rebellion... Therefore, it cannot be said that there are no extraordinary beings among them.
"The Minister of Military Affairs, Duke Harcourt, ordered the army not to move out at that time. He said that this was an order from His Majesty - Iris' troops cannot target the Iris people. Therefore, even if they killed His Majesty, the army was not allowed to suppress the rebellion.
"And I am responsible for letting those nobles that His Majesty hates take advantage of the opportunity to suffer misfortune. Anne, what you said before...the nobles who were hanged, kidnapped, and sold away...if you investigate carefully, you will find out
They used to be nobles who made big mistakes but were covered up because of their power, or they were just guys who ignored the monarch's orders and acted recklessly."
The old man's tone was calm, slow, and leisurely, but full of ruthless and decisive killing intent: "This is not an instruction from His Majesty... but when I realized that the entire royal family was killed without any movement.
...It's probably because we have a traitor in our midst.
"In this case, what I have to do is to send all the damned people to die - at least on the long table of the new government, I will not leave them plates and knives and forks.
"——I don't know who the traitor is, but I can at least prevent the most deserving and undeserving people from enjoying any power. In this way, even if they participate in the rebellion, they will not get any benefits from it.
"And I... I'm actually not very good at political struggles. I don't know if they have formed some kind of interest alliance secretly. Anyway, no one invited us to join. But it's fitting that our family's popularity is quite good.
.So many people are willing to help...it may also be because everyone dislikes those people."
"You mean..."
Annie opened her eyes wide.
"That's right, Annie," the old man said calmly, stroking a huge ring on his hand, "The people who did what you said...are members of our family.
"Royal power is not just a sword, it is also an umbrella. And what it covers is not only its own people...but more importantly, these nobles in the center of the umbrella. When the umbrella falls
, they are the ones who bear the brunt.”
"I noticed something very subtle."
Aiwass smiled relaxedly when he heard this.
He pointed out the detail: "Those nobles who disobey the king's orders are often the most unpopular. They are the guys who deliberately cause poverty and famine in order to cause trouble for the Swan King."
Although this seems to be a coincidence, it is subtly reasonable.
——A person who dares to resist even the king’s orders must have so much courage! If a person dares to bully even the king, won’t he bully the people below him?
"Yes," the old Duke nodded, "This is exactly retribution."
"That……"
Yassen couldn't help but be curious, and asked: "What did Duke Beaufort do again?"
Although the three Grand Dukes are all considered to be a state within a state, their specific powers, responsibilities and classifications are somewhat different.
Duke Harcourt is also known as "The Wolf Lord", he is a pure soldier; while the Duke of Vendôme is called the "Bing Xin Gong", the Vendôme family has a great influence on the literary and art circles - which means that he is basically
The high-end extraordinary person who indirectly controls the entire path of beauty has controlling interests in troupes and theaters across the country.
The Iris Theater Company that performed in Avalon received investment from the Vendôme family.
As for the Duke of Beaufort, he controls the financial power.
"The composition of the 'Citizens' Assembly' was proposed by the Duke of Beaufort."
The old Duke said slowly: "He organized the new government of Iris... He said that 'No matter how bad order is, it is better than chaos', he urgently demanded an end to this rebellion. In fact, what I doubt most is that
he."
"Now it can be proven that everyone is innocent...Isn't it great?"
Anne was very puzzled.
"It's very simple..."
Aiwass then spoke up and revealed the inner thoughts of the old Duke: "Because what my grandfather was thinking about was actually a war. A 'war to cleanse everything' to solve all the backlogged problems of Iris. That's why he was desperately trying.
Looking for a 'culprit'.
"—If I am right, he wants to overthrow the citizens' assembly.