Hearing the loud noise underground, Huggins hurried over with his guards.
Everyone waved their hands to disperse the pungent smoke while groping forward in the dust haze. A few minutes later, Huggins saw the king in a mess, slowly walking out of the underground laboratory.
He opened his eyes wide and exclaimed: "Your Majesty, what happened?!"
Leaning against the door of the laboratory, Todd patted the dust on his body and coughed twice due to the smoke. When he looked at the smoky and tattered clothes on his body, he shook his head and smiled bitterly: "
It’s hard to explain in a word, but let’s ask the guards to seal the scene first. Also, don’t touch all the reagents and samples inside! I want to go to sleep first and wait until I wake up to talk about anything else.”
When Todd returned to the palace, he washed his body hastily with the water brought by the servant. With all his fatigue, he lay on the bed and quickly fell asleep.
When he woke up again, it was already nine o'clock the next morning. The warm winter sun penetrated the door, spreading warmth into the room, and also brought the voice of Huggins outside the door.
"Your Majesty, if you are awake, please come to the council chamber. Today is the day of the kingdom's weekly meeting, and all officials are waiting to report to you on government affairs."
Shaking his groggy head, Todd complained about the king's hard life, while using all his strength to climb out of the warm big bed.
Thirty minutes later, the King's Chamber.
Todd, who was neatly dressed, sat at the top of the long table, holding the report submitted by Emerson. The more he read, the more frightened he became: "The famine in the Holy Acropolis has become so serious?!"
Faced with the king's question, Emerson put on his newly-fitted crystal glasses and compared the reported data with his words: "According to the head of the mission, Gordon, the famine in the Holy Acropolis has pushed the entire kingdom to the edge."
On the verge of collapse, even the royal family has drastically reduced their daily rations, let alone the nobles and common people."
"In the past two years, as one of the conditions for participating in the war, the food and supplies of the Holy Acropolis came from the church. It was precisely because they no longer had logistical worries that they recruited and transferred a large number of young and middle-aged people from the farmland.
, and focus mainly on combat."
When Emerson said this, he sighed helplessly: "The cultivated land was left unattended and turned into wasteland; the treasury became an empty house because of the war. The people of the Holy Acropolis always thought that the outcome of this war would be peaceful.
It was the same as a hundred years ago. When the church coalition defeated the barbarians, all participating parties could share a large amount of loot. But no one thought that if this battle was defeated or turned into a meaningless tug-of-war, what would happen to the kingdom?
Where to go?”
Todd put down the report in his hand and asked: "There is a food shortage in the Holy Acropolis. Have you not thought of asking the Papal State for help?"
Cumberland folded his arms on his chest and said in a low voice: "They did it. They did that before the war was over. Not only did they ask for help, the envoy from the Holy Acropolis also ran to the Pope,
Speak loudly that their kingdom has paid a heavy price in this war and deserves the reward it deserves."
Todd gave Cumberland a confused look: "So, has the Papal State agreed to reward them?"
The old knight snorted from his nose: "The Pope gave them a letter of holy praise and agreed to award the Silver Ring City to the Holy Acropolis as a reward for their participation in the war."
Todd suddenly realized that this was how the official document from the Holy Ministry that transferred the territory of Silver Ring City to Holy Acropolis came from. But when he thought about it carefully, this so-called reward made him dumbfounded.
Just imagine, the kingdom is already in trouble. At this juncture, the allies refuse to provide food and money. They only send a banner for bravery, but they actually end up leaving a mess.
Anyone else would be furious.
Emerson added at this time: "It was precisely because of this episode that there was a rift in the relationship between the Holy Acropolis and the Papal States. In the later stages of the war, there was a situation of disobeying military orders between the two. In the end, the Holy Acropolis
They even withdrew from the war early, which was an indirect reason why the barbarian army successfully escaped with their treasures."
Todd tapped the table with his fingers and continued to ask: "How is the domestic situation of Holy Acropolis now?"
Emerson picked up the three silver water cups on the table, turned them upside down, first placed the two cups side by side, and then placed the third cup on top of the bottoms of the first two cups, forming a "pin"
shape.
Emerson explained: "The nobles of the Holy Acropolis have different opinions on how to solve the food crisis and are divided into three different factions."
Pointing to the two cups below, Emerson said: "One group hopes to negotiate with the church. In order to obtain its assistance, it is even willing to transfer part of the kingdom's interests if necessary. This group we will call the church group for the time being; the other group hopes to
The country gets rid of the influence of the church, obtains relative independent power, and mediates with other forces to solve the food crisis. We can call this group the independent group."
Using the knuckle of his middle finger, he pressed the bottom of the top cup. Emerson pondered for a while and said to Todd: "The last faction is neither biased towards the church nor willing to take the risk of independence. They only listen to the Holy Spirit."
The order of the king of the Acropolis is the so-called king's faction."
"The current relationship between these three factions is like this. The King's faction is suppressing the Church faction and the Independent faction. The latter two are evenly matched. They are seeking assistance from everywhere for their respective political views. Gordon, who came to Muxi Kingdom this time as an envoy, is from the Independent faction.
.The royal party has neither objection nor support for this mission, but is just waiting to see how the situation develops."
"It seems that the structures of these three factions are relatively stable, but in fact there are big problems."
"The two cups below now seem to be the same size, with balanced strength..." Emerson gently lifted one of the cups below, and the entire character structure suddenly collapsed: "... as long as there is one faction
If it becomes bigger, it will break the current balance of the situation in the Holy Acropolis and overthrow the king's faction above them."
After listening to these analyses, Todd took a deep breath, leaned against the seat behind him, and asked Cumberland and Emerson: "So in your opinion, we should be asking for food help from the Holy Acropolis.
Agree or refuse?"
Emerson and Cumberland looked at each other, a look of embarrassment appeared on both their faces.
Emerson first said: "From a diplomatic purpose and the kingdom's strategy, we should provide food aid to the Holy Acropolis. This move will help divide the church's power and strengthen relations with neighboring countries, but..."
Cumberland touched the beard on his chin and picked up the topic: "But it is almost winter now. Even if the Holy Acropolis sows successfully next spring, the harvest will not be harvested until next autumn, so this kind of long-lasting assistance is not feasible.
.Moreover, the population of Muxi City has been increasing, and the agricultural development plan has just begun. We don’t even have enough to eat ourselves. If we want to provide food to the Holy Acropolis, we can only buy it at high prices from the south."
Thinking of the abundant water system and rich resources in the Holy Acropolis, Todd asked: "Can't the Holy Acropolis provide any property or resources in exchange for food?"
Cumberland shrugged: "I also asked Gordon about this matter. He said that the treasury of the Holy Acropolis has long been empty, and the most valuable things in it are the rats that burrow everywhere. Last week, the royal family
To celebrate their birthdays and hold a humble dinner, members had to borrow money from wealthy nobles. Even this time when they went on a mission to the Muxi Kingdom, the entire mission could only borrow two or two dollars here and there.
Ten silver moons."
Todd nodded. He believed Cumberland's words and the dinner scene that day were the most convincing evidence.
"The coins are gone. The only thing that can be exchanged in the Holy Guard City is a pile of leftover materials after the war." Cumberland counted them one by one with his fingers: "Sealed weapons, discarded
The armor, the broken crossbow, the crippled war horse..."
Hearing that these materials were almost garbage, Todd couldn't hide the disappointment on his face and asked Cumberland: "Is this all left?"
Cumberland spread his hands and nodded: "These are the only things they can exchange for. Gordon said that as long as Muxi City is willing to provide food, there are as many of these things as possible, and Saint Acropolis can be responsible for them.
We don’t charge a single copper penny for the transportation of all supplies.”
When Emerson heard this, he sneered: "Don't say I don't charge for these things, even if I pay for them, I don't want them."
Seeing that Todd was silent and deep in thought, Emerson asked strangely: "Your Majesty, you..."
Standing up from the throne, Todd suddenly said to Cumberland: "Tell the Holy Acropolis envoy that within its capabilities, Muxi City will assist the Holy Acropolis with a certain amount of food. In addition, about those abandoned wars
Mu Xicheng received all the supplies as ordered and paid a reasonable sum of money in addition to the food aid."