The bright winter sun makes the sky look extremely clear and clear. Although there are dead trees on the ground, it has a depressing beauty. Under the gentle singing of the breeze, a long team gradually appears on the horizon. Those people are wearing robes.
He wears the hardest armor in Notland, rides the best horses in Notland, pulls the strongest wooden cart in Notland, and wears the sharpest blades in Notland.
In the Kingdom of Notland, the palace guards are considered the most loyal and brave group of people. When a war is needed, they will join the ranks of soldiers and become the most powerful soldiers to repel the enemy as quickly as possible.
During the truce period, they were the most solid fortress of the palace, leaving no chance for the enemy to break into the palace.
Regardless of whether they are nobles or civilians, they can join the palace guards and receive the most rigorous training since childhood. When they grow up, they will be divided into top, senior, mid-level and low-level guards based on their strength value, with different divisions of labor.
Low-level guards usually guard outside the palace, mid-level guards generally guard every corner of the palace, senior guards are responsible for guarding important places such as warehouses and armories, and top-level guards are responsible for protecting the safety of royal members. When there are temporary tasks, the chief guard commander and
Guard commanders at all levels will assign different guards to complete tasks according to the task situation.
Due to the special training they received and the fact that they grew up in a royal palace, it is easy for people to mistakenly think that they are all from noble backgrounds.
Wile, who was lying by the window, turned around in surprise and said to Werther, who was reading a book and drinking coffee at the table: "Your Highness, the palace guards are here!"
"The wait has finally come." Werther put down the cup and book, smiled confidently, and began to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothes that were squeezed out by the table.
He walked outside the castle and greeted the guards.
There seemed to be hundreds of guards coming, and they were wearing four different styles of armor. One of the armors was exactly the same as that worn by the top guards who came last time. There were five of them, followed closely by thirty people. Visual inspection
They are senior guards, followed by another 40 people, who should be intermediate guards, and finally there are fifty junior guards.
Each wooden cart is pulled by horses by five guards. There are five guards at the front who do not need to pull the cart. The leader is the guard commander.
The leader of the guards stopped his horse and walked down, followed by the guards behind him.
"Your Highness, there are so many people here, probably because there are too many taxes." Wile said.
Werther nodded in agreement.
"Your Highness, we meet again." The guard commander who came over saluted Werther respectfully, looking neither humble nor overbearing.
"Your Majesty, Commander of the Guards, the taxes I want to hand over to my father are right here." Werther stretched out his hand towards the mountain next to him, with a bit of pride on his face.
When the guard commander saw the mountains of money and belongings, he opened his eyes in surprise, but soon regained his calm expression.
"Your Highness, you are so amazing. You actually prepared everything in one day." He showed an approving look, "I have said before that Your Highness is no ordinary man, and he will definitely be able to run Daybreak Town into the Kingdom of Notland in the future.
One of the busiest towns.”
"I hope I can lend you some good words." Werther smiled like a spring breeze and looked extremely confident.
"Then let's start counting these things and move them to the wooden cart."
"Please begin."
Under the not-so-warm sunshine, the more than a hundred guards began to get busy.
Wile asked Werther quietly from the side:
: "Your Highness, do we need any help?"
Witte waved his hand: "Of course not. This is their job, not yours. If you go to help, you may be suspected if something is lost."
"Then I won't help." Wile walked behind Werther and looked at them quietly.
At this moment, a luxurious carriage drove by, and Mrs. Alice got out of the carriage again.
"Big Prince!" She pointed at Werther's nose with her closed golden fan and yelled angrily, "You are a villain who is not worthy of being a lord at all!"
Werther turned his upper body sideways and raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Why do you say that?"
Mrs. Agnes walked towards him angrily. She almost fell down when she was not paying attention. Fortunately, there were several servants beside her to support her. She threw away the servants and walked to Werther, less than half a meter away from him. Her eyebrows formed an inverted eight shape.
, pointing at Werther.
"You have the nerve to ask me? These things placed in front of the castle were all moved by your people from my house!"
"But, didn't you agree, and you also signed to prove that you gave these to me voluntarily. What's more, these are taxes in the first place, and it should be given to the father. Don't regret it." Werther spread his hands and said,
The eyebrows become splayed and look a bit innocent.
"I regret it now!" Mrs. Agnes grabbed her hair and roared, "That monster took half of my savings. Hand over the monster and let me talk to the monster, and I will
Burn the certificate I signed! For the sake of you saving my son, I don’t have to tell my father about this."
"Who is the person you are talking about? I don't know him at all." Werther said easily, "I can't hand over the person."
"Since you don't know me, then return my things to me. If you don't return them to me, I will tell the guards the truth."
"Is this the truth about you privately collecting double taxes for twelve years?"
Mrs. Agnes was stunned for a moment, but quickly came to her senses and said: "I said these properties were given to me by my father. As the lord of Duck City, my father was also the king's most capable assistant. His
That’s a lot of money.”
Then she walked proudly to the guard commander who was moving things and started to complain. He covered his mouth with a golden fan, but his voice was clearly heard by Werther.
"Your Majesty, Commander of the Guards, you are actually mistaken. The things you moved are all my property."
"Oh?" The guard commander looked at her in surprise and asked, "Then why is it in His Highness's hands?"
"This is a long story, but I think you should not give these things to the king. What should be given to the king should be taxes, not my personal money and belongings."
"But, His Highness said these are taxes, and you said these are your personal money and belongings. Who should I believe?"
"This question is simple. Think about how poor the people of Dawn Town look. It is impossible for the eldest prince to collect so much money and food from them in one day. So these must not be taxes. What I say is even more
Believable." Mrs. Alice smiled flatteringly.
"That's it." The guard commander lowered his head and thought for a while, and then said, "Why don't we go to the front and ask a few people."
"I agree." Werther smiled.
Although Mrs. Alice didn't understand what he meant, she agreed in a daze.
Werther, Mrs. Agnes and the guards
The commander walked forward for a while and saw several people plowing the fields.
The commander of the guards stepped forward: "Excuse me, have you paid taxes recently?"
The people replied in unison: "Of course, we pay it every year, and the tax doubled twelve years ago."
The commander of the guards said to Mrs. Agnes: "Madam, you see, they have paid taxes, which means you just lied. Your Highness's words are true. That mountain-like pile of money and goods is really the taxes of Dawn Town."
"
Mrs. Alice put her hands on her waist angrily: "But what they said was that there are taxes every year, and the eldest prince never came to Dawn Town before that. The taxes they said were not the same as the taxes the eldest prince said.
What’s going on!”
Witte looked at her seriously: "Then please tell me clearly, what exactly is the tax that the people say? In the past twelve years, there has been no lord, so who has collected double taxes from the people?"
Only then did Mrs. Agnes realize that she had let slip, and hurriedly covered the lower half of her face with a fan, looking at Werther in panic with her eyes wide open.
The commander of the guards whispered: "Madam, you and I both know in our hearts that what the king wants now is money and things. As for the truth, he doesn't want to know. Of course, he who loves Duke Duke so much doesn't want to know your scandal. If
If the king knows about your private collection of taxes, Duke Dak will definitely draw a clear line with you, and you will be the only one who will be executed."
Mrs. Agnes's eyes opened even wider. She kept fanning herself, gasping for air, and suddenly said: "These money and things are indeed taxes, not mine. You can continue to move. I'll do it first."
gone back."
She ran quickly to the carriage in the distance.
Only then did Werther realize that the commander of the guards had long known about Mrs. Agnes's selfish tax collection, and he had just been helping him out of the siege.
"Thank you very much, sir." Werther said gratefully.
"I'm not helping you, I just don't want to add trouble to the king. If you hand over the taxes, not only will the king be happy, but you will also be safe, so why not do it. On the contrary, if I give these money and things to Egg,
Lady Liz, although her goal has been achieved, the king is not happy, you will also be punished, and I, as a bodyguard who transports tax revenue, will also be implicated."
"You think so comprehensively."
The guard commander looked at the sky in the distance and smiled, and continued: "We guards must remain neutral in the court, otherwise the Kingdom of Notland will collapse. I do this all for the sake of the Kingdom of Notland and the king. Also,
One thing, I think I should tell you, Your Highness."
"Say what you say, my lord."
"The king favors Duke Darke. He cannot see Duke Darke's ambitions, but I can see it clearly. I think that someone must be able to check and balance Duke Darke, so that the king will be safe. Rather than letting other lords and ministers check and balance him,
He, it’s better to let you check and balance him.”
"Me? Why do you believe me?"
"Because I see your ability. It is precisely because I hope you can check Duke Dark that I will help you. Of course, the premise is that you are capable. If you are an incompetent lord, then I will think that you are an incompetent lord.
The useless person will not help you, and will give all the money and belongings to Mrs. Alice, and at the same time escort you to the dungeon in Frank City."
Werther took a breath. It turned out that the adult in front of him was so deep-minded, and it was rare for him to be so loyal to his father.