Since returning to the Holy Capital after his last defeat, Luman couldn't wait to move into the palace, and he also issued orders in all areas under his control, declaring that the last member of the Empire's original royal family, the Xia Mai family,
He had been killed by the rebels of the Keda family, and he was appointed as the legitimate emperor of the Sbia Empire.
Luhmann then issued a second announcement, deciding to hold the coronation ceremony around January 10th, after the New Year.
In addition to the three provinces controlled by the Al Qaeda family, as well as the province abandoned by both parties, the governors of each province received Luman's personal documents. In the document, Luman explained to these governors in a very affectionate tone,
Everything in the past is in the past, and he is willing to put aside all differences and work with the governors to create a glorious future for the Sbia Empire.
The official titles of the governors of these provinces have all increased, and the property awarded by Luman has become even more abundant. At the same time, temples in various places are also sparing no effort to promote Luman's "orthodox" status. In addition, other divine kingdoms are the first to recognize him in diplomacy.
Status... The provincial governors finally unanimously and completely fell to Luman's side.
Of the eighteen provinces in the Sibia Empire, fourteen are gathered under the banner of Luman.
On the petition document supporting Luman's ascension to the throne, the fourteen governors signed their names and stamped their respective family crests, betting their entire family's fortune and life on Luman. From now on,
, if Luman is good, they are good; if Luman is unlucky, it means they are unlucky!
While holding this petition signed by fourteen governors, Luman looked up to the sky and laughed.
Although he was defeated in the last battle, he controlled all the governors who had a wait-and-see attitude. This battle was not unfair. Although there were less than 20,000 troops left when the two hundred thousand troops returned to the Holy Capital, these troops were not his
Luman's, he doesn't need to feel bad. Not to mention that this war has exhausted all the food reserves of the Keda family...
Luman plans to wait until the end of the year and before the first harvest before using troops against the Keda family. By then, there will probably be very few people in the Keda family's army!
As a local force, the Keda family is finished.
As for Luman's side! Although he has been losing battles at the hands of the Al Qaeda family, his foundation has become more and more stable. His direct army has not suffered much losses. Once the enthronement ceremony is over, "His Majesty" Luman can take him with him.
The army of his cronies wiped out the Al Qaeda family in one fell swoop and established his eternal merits!
Thinking of this, Luman, who was standing in the palace hall, felt relaxed and happy for a while, and his body couldn't help trembling slightly.
The prime minister, who had recently been named the head of the civil service by Luman, entered the hall. He was young and handsome, just like when Luman first entered politics. He and a large number of orphans were secretly cultivated by Luman more than ten years ago.
He is the most outstanding one among them and the most valued one. Even before Luman rebelled, this young man was managing the fiefdom and property for him.
"Your Majesty, we have received another letter from the governors."
"Oh!" Luman, who had already put on the royal attire, turned around and asked softly: "What are they going to say this time?"
"Well, judging from the letter, the governors' mentality is relatively complicated." The new prime minister said: "Some governors strongly request to participate in His Majesty's enthronement ceremony, and some governors are still hesitant."
Lu Man smiled lightly: "Who are they?"
"Nearly all the governors who want to come to the ceremony have supported His Majesty in the past." The prime minister replied, "The governors who have recently joined His Majesty are a little worried."
"I see, these guys who have recently surrendered are probably afraid that I will summon them to the Holy City and hang them!" Luman thought for a while: "Actually, this is not difficult to solve."
"Your Majesty, please make it clear."
"Pass this order, given that the entire empire has just emerged from chaos, hundreds of industries are waiting for prosperity, people's hearts are unstable, and the governors of each province are busy with their affairs." Luman shook the wine glass in his hand: "It is now decided that when the emperor holds the enthronement ceremony,
, the governors of each province can decide whether to attend in person. Those who cannot come in person can send representatives from their families and inform the minister of etiquette in advance to prepare."
"Your Majesty's handling is very tolerant." The new prime minister replied: "But I am worried that your majesty's tolerance will misunderstand some governors and cause them to despise your majesty?"
"You are despising me at this time? Haha, you are too worried." Luman walked to the throne in the main hall and stared at the symbol of the empire's highest power for a long time: "Who dares to despise the control of four-fifths of the country's territory, and then
I have the support of the temple and other countries?"
"Then, Your Majesty, do you have any other intention in doing this?"
"I just want people to win over me by doing this. The empire has been in turmoil for a long time, and the people's minds have changed!" Luman closed his eyes slightly and slowly sat down on the throne: "Although I sit in this position, I am the emperor of the empire.
He controls the life and death of everyone in the empire... If you want the empire to prosper, you must control the hearts and minds of the people."
"Although the reputation of Cohen Keda has been ruined, the Keda family is a famous family that has been loyal and brave for generations. In terms of status, I, who was born in the temple, was just a humble citizen. So, how many people among the imperial nobles can have a good impression of me?
"
"Your Majesty, please do not belittle yourself." The Prime Minister hurriedly tried to persuade him: "Your Majesty ascended the throne for the sake of the people, and everyone heartily supports him!"
"The people are ignorant, and the nobles are snobbish. In fact, if I can recruit the Keda family, they will be a big help to me... Visu Keda has been an official for decades, and there are many nobles who have good relations with him.
." Luman sighed: "Some of these governors were bought by us with money, and some had to join me when they saw that the Keda family was gone. In fact, what is in their hearts! I think some nobles still hope that the Keda family will turn around.
Bar?"
"So we must treat these people with gentleness. We can use the army to seize and protect the imperial power, but we cannot rely on the army to govern an empire. If you are a tyrant, you will definitely be overthrown."
"Your Majesty said so."
"By the way, how are the provinces recovering?" Luman asked, "Have the people stabilized?"
"This is a big problem we are currently facing. Your Majesty, you know that there was too much chaos some time ago." The new prime minister replied: "Except for the Holy City, the security in other places has not been fully restored, and bandits are still rampant."
"The order goes on. No matter what we do, we must first stabilize the people's hearts. When deploying troops to encircle and suppress bandits, we must strictly prevent the troops from disturbing the people or colluding with the military and bandits." Luman thought about it for a moment: "Immediately allocate food to provinces that are short of food, and sea routes
, the trade route must be opened as soon as possible, and the necessary funds will be allocated by the Minister of Finance as soon as possible."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"In addition, our officials will have major changes after the new year." Luman added: "During the New Year, you have to work harder and work with the justices to do a good job in the affairs supervised by officials. The salaries of officials have been increased.
We must not allow things like corruption to happen again."
The Prime Minister looked troubled: "This will be very difficult!"
"Of course there are difficulties. I know the people I promote." Luman walked up and patted the prime minister on the shoulder: "The reason why I let you people take office early is to help me govern this country. In the past, those officials could only work in
It would be really embarrassing to take advantage of this in troubled times."
"yes."
"This New Year is their last chance. I will allocate another batch of bounties. If they get the money from me and continue to mess around, no wonder I, Luman, am ruthless."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Pass my order, and each household in the Holy City will be given five silver coins." Finally, Luman said with a smile: "Let everyone spend this New Year well and lively!"
"yes!"
After everyone dispersed, Luman fell into deep thought. He was speculating on what his opponent was doing at this time.
He would never have imagined that his opponent, Visu Keda, was still in the wild checking the progress of land reclamation!
Because wild cassava is a special plant that must be planted separately from ordinary crops; and because there are so many people who rely on this stuff to fill their stomachs, the Dark Province and two surrounding provinces mobilized all the manpower that could be mobilized...
...open up wasteland!
The troops who stayed behind in the dark sent several regiments of infantry into the wild mountains to collect cassava seeds. Horse-drawn carriages transporting cassava were constantly passing through the trade roads. Count Ivar Merlin first opened up a large piece of wasteland, allowing thousands of people in the college to
Students learned planting and maintenance techniques on the spot.
Because cassava fruits cannot be preserved, they need to be processed into food on site. Therefore, huge workshops for processing fruits and processing food are being built in every town... You will eat as much as you can when it is ripe, so there is no need for warehouse storage.
For the sake of their stomach, all the people are enthusiastic about growing cassava.
Each town calculates the area to be reclaimed based on its number of residents. Towns with smaller populations are fine, but places with many people and little wasteland are in trouble. So those who have been growing up under Cohen's guidance
The local magistrate got worried and issued some unbelievable orders while cursing...
As a result, they were planted on both sides of the commercial roads, inside and outside the city walls, in front of and behind the houses, in private gardens, in military camp training grounds, and there were even places where residents were ordered to move out their bathtubs and washbasins.
…
The three provinces of Darkness, Dark Moon, and Lisang have completely turned into a sea of wild cassava.
Of course, this unusual and massive "cassava planting movement" was immediately reported to the Holy Capital by Luman's intelligence system. Luman was very surprised and convened a special meeting for this purpose.
Several bags of cassava were transported by Pegasus, and people died for them.
No matter they were ministers in charge of internal affairs or generals in charge of military affairs, no one was absent. Dozens of pairs of eyes and hundreds of gazes were fixed on a plate of wild cassava in the center of the hall.
Can this wild thing really change the fate of the empire?
"What do you think about this cassava?" Luman kept rubbing his heavy head with his fingers: "Is it true that wild cassava fruits cannot be eaten?"
"Your Majesty, wild cassava must not be eaten! It is poisonous." Someone loudly replied: "Even wild animals will not eat it."
"You can't eat it, you can't eat it." Luman clenched his fists: "Then why are these things even planted in the garden of the rebel base camp and the Governor's Mansion of the Dark Province! Someone tell me why!"
"Your Majesty...this thing may have other uses...or it may be a variant of wild cassava..."
"If you were the leader of the rebels, what problem would you solve now? The three provinces of Darkness, Dark Moon, and Lisang have over ten million residents, and tens of millions of people will go hungry!" Luman scolded with a sneer: "
At this time, as the leader of the rebels, will you ignore the stomachs of tens of millions of people and still have the time to plant this kind of cassava that may have other uses?"
"Your Majesty, if this thing is edible, our situation will be bad." A general stood up and said, "Then we have to attack in advance."
"It is not feasible to attack in advance." A civilian official objected: "Our preparations are simply insufficient, and the supplies required by the troops have not yet been shipped to the front line. Under such circumstances, how can we ensure victory in the battle? If this thing can really be used as food,
We just need to decide the outcome once and for all!”
Over this small, inconspicuous plate of wild cassava, civil and military officials divided into two groups and quarreled fiercely.
During the quarrel, Luman's face gradually turned pale... If the Keda family could find alternative food, then they could launch a counterattack against Luman. Luman knew better than anyone else that his army would be defeated no matter what.
It cannot be compared with the Al Qaeda army that experienced the war between gods and demons and returned victorious.
Perhaps because of this little cassava, the kingdom that Luman spent twenty years building will be overturned...
"Stop arguing." Luman stood up: "First of all, we have to find out whether this thing is edible."
"We are already checking." A civil servant replied: "We asked all the students and tutors of Shengdu College to go to the library to check the classics. In addition, we are also checking the older farmers with rich farming knowledge..."
"How could I be so stupid, how could I turn against Steve Lorenzo..." Luman muttered softly, picking up a cassava fruit and looking at it carefully.
At this time, the young new prime minister stepped forward and expressed his opinion.
"Your Majesty, don't worry, I think this is a vicious plan of the Keda family."
"Ah?" Luman raised his head and looked at the young man he had trained since childhood: "What's the basis for this?"
"The Kaida family is short of food. Tens of millions of people are short of food. This gap is so huge that it is almost impossible to fill it. Under such circumstances, of course they know that the day they run out of food is when our army arrives." The Prime Minister also picked up the food.
A cassava: "And they are planting this thing on a large scale at this time just to make us think that they have found food, so as to attract our army to attack in a hurry and start attacking before they run out of food..."
The officials were in an uproar. Of course, this possibility also existed.
"Well, when our army attacked, they sent out surprise troops to seize our army's supplies and put them behind the battlefield?" A general asked and answered himself: "Judging from Cohen Keda's military style, such a plan is very likely to be realized."
"So, whether you can eat it or not is the key to the whole thing!" Luman understood and loudly ordered: "Continue the investigation at the college and bring out all the death row inmates from the prison and give me cassava to eat!"
"Your Majesty, forgive me." The official in charge of the Holy Capital Prison was so frightened that he was trembling: "The prisoners on death row were released on the day of the turmoil in the Holy Capital..."
"Anyway, someone has to come to eat. If you can't find anyone, it's you." Luman looked at him and the Sheriff coldly: "Do you want me to come to eat?"
"No..." The Sheriff's mind was spinning quickly and he immediately replied: "Your Majesty, please give me half an hour, and I will bring people to eat immediately."
"Well, that makes sense." Luman nodded: "The more people, the better. Let's eat it in the square in front of the palace. Tell the chef in the palace to use all kinds of cooking methods to make cassava. Special techniques are also required.
Can."
"yes!"
The frightened Sheriff rushed to the city gate with his guards, guarded the city gate, and arrested anyone who came in or out with a foreign accent, indiscriminately.
Within half an hour, more than a hundred strong civilians were finally brought to the palace square.
The palace square was surrounded by soldiers and was heavily guarded. A large number of palace servants carrying wild cassava came in and out. Nearly a hundred royal chefs gathered together to discuss how to make this food delicious... But it was different from other things.
The preparation of the dish was different, and they didn't have the guts to take a bite.
The captured people sat on the square, with a fierce-looking soldier standing next to each of them. Each of these poor outsiders was so frightened that their faces turned pale.
His Majesty Luman, who was sitting outside the palace gate, also looked pale, and the civil and military officials on both sides were equally nervous... Whether wild cassava can be eaten and how it should be eaten is related to the survival of the "empire"!
"Your Majesty, it's ready." The palace steward came to report: "There are a total of one hundred and forty people, and every twenty people are divided into teams to taste the cassava cooked in different ways. Then the knowledgeable temple priests will judge the difference.
."
"Well, let's begin!"
"Your Majesty orders, serve the food!"
There was a lot of excitement in the palace kitchen, and there was an endless stream of waiters carrying plates and dishes.
"The royal dinner dish, prawns stuffed with abalone sauce and balsamic wine—no, prawns stuffed with tapioca sauce and balsamic wine for twenty portions!"
"The royal dinner dish, pearls hidden in crabs - twenty portions of cassava hidden in crabs!"
"The royal dinner dish, Canghai Yueming Fresh Shell Soup—no, twenty portions of Canghai Yueming Cassava Soup!"
"Royal dinner dish, the best red wine roasted pork - ah! Twenty portions of the best red wine cassava roasted pork!"
"The royal dinner dish, steamed ice jade mixed with ten fresh vegetables - what? Steamed ice jade eleven fresh mixed vegetables? Okay! Twenty portions of steamed ice jade mixed with eleven fresh vegetables!"
Following this sound, plates and dishes of dishes were brought to the square. These dishes were made with fine workmanship and were perfect in color, aroma, taste, shape and meaning. If it were not for the cassava, these dishes would not be perfect.
Common people should never talk about eating in their lives, and they don't even want to see it.
His Majesty Luman nodded his head, and the Sheriff shouted: "Eat!"
Under the coercion and coercion of the soldiers, the "eating army" of more than a hundred people began to eat lavishly. It was useless to try to resist... they would be force-fed.
From noon to afternoon, these more than 100 people had no other problems except their round stomachs, which made all the ministers and His Majesty Luman frown.
"Are there any adverse reactions?" In the evening, His Majesty Luman asked the temple priest: "Is there any poisoning?"
"So far, such a situation has not happened." The temple priest replied: "But there are also many poisonous plants that will not cause symptoms immediately after being eaten."
"Thank you, Lord High Priest." His Majesty Luman turned around and ordered: "Continue to feed them dinner, midnight snacks, breakfast... until they are poisoned or unable to eat."
"yes!"
"Where's the college? Are you still checking?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, they have been checking it."
Luman turned around and looked at the ministers behind him, feeling extremely depressed.
The next morning, His Majesty Luman, who had not closed his eyes all night, received the latest news - no one in the square was still poisoned. He finally couldn't stand it anymore, took out a dagger studded with gems, and cut a piece from a cassava fruit.
.
"I'm not willing to give in, I'm not willing to give in. The Kedar family actually found food, a variant of wild cassava..." His Majesty Luman babbled like this, while throwing the piece of cassava into his mouth and chewing hard: "I don't
I am willing, I am not willing, I am not willing..."
At this moment, the new president of the Royal Academy, holding an ancient book in his arms, rushed towards the palace of His Majesty Luman with his eyes full of joy.
"Your Majesty Luman, Your Majesty, we have found it." Every word the dean shouted was filled with sincere joy: "Wild cassava is poisonous - and there is no non-toxic variant!"
"Your Majesty is very lucky, the empire is very lucky..." The dean rushed to the door and paused.
With a "thud", the cut piece of cassava in Luman's hand fell to the floor.
"I, I," His Majesty Luman stood unsteadily and his whole body was crumbling: "I have already eaten..."
That day, the Governor's Mansion of the Dark Province.
The Prime Minister of the State, Visu Al Qeda, the Dean of the House, Tif Lorenzo, and several Internal Affairs Superintendents, were also smiling and eating food made from cassava in the garden.
"Count Ivar, you still say this is unpalatable." Kelly took a bite and immediately shouted: "But this is such a delicious snack!"
"Haha, how can this be the same! What the ladies eat is made by me according to royal standards." Count Ivar replied with a smile: "If it were eaten by the people, it wouldn't be like this, as long as it is filtered
Don't waste it. Otherwise, it will taste very rough and astringent."
"That's right!" Prime Minister Visu Kedar asked with a smile: "What if it is eaten raw or eaten without processing? What will be the consequences?"
"Ah... that's a stupid thing to do!" Count Ivar played with his cane and said: "Depending on the strength of the body, the milder person will have vomiting and diarrhea for three to five days and be bedridden for half a month. If you eat boiled
If you pass, the onset will be delayed by one day, and if you eat raw food... it will onset immediately."
"So." Dill Merlin looked at his father: "Is that why you couldn't afford to be sick on my birthday?"
"Haha." Count Ivar said haha: "The past, the past..." (To be continued)