Chapter 22 The Queen of Radiance (1)
"Queen of Glory" Katia was definitely the most controversial figure in that sin era. This is not only because she was a woman. Although there were not many active women in that era, she was not the only one. Her deeds passed down all showed her extremeness - she was both a tyrant and a wise ruler; she was both reasonable and arbitrary; she was fair and private. Historians had to guess whether there were two queens named Katia at that time. However, judging from the historical books unearthed later and the manuscripts left by Lord Sercy, Queen Katia was indeed such a contradictory combination.
The extreme contradiction to her is her extremely luxurious beauty. The reason why she described it in this way is that such beauty is too luxurious to be with a human being. The oil painting, which was once named "Goddess of Beauty" by foreign people, is recognized as not depicting one-tenth of the beauty of the queen. The scene when the Countess Siya met the queen, described in the epic: "Looking at how beautiful the rose in the dark night is so beautiful, but being so care for by the glory, it suddenly loses its bright brilliance, and is no different from other flowers." Queen Katia can make everyone surrender and obey her rule by virtue of her beauty alone.
——"The Women Who Shake History in the "Era of Sin"
The generals of Katina shouted as usual: "The people of Huangyan, today is the last chance! You have violated the covenant and deserve to be punished! Surrender! The king will forgive you!" The response was a rain of arrows. His horse was frightened and he walked a few steps with his head. He had to pull over the horse and shouted: "I have received your reply, and the king will punish you!"
He returned to the camp and turned over and dismounted. The soldiers on the side asked, "General De'an, have you still not persuaded to surrender successfully?" He shook his head and said nothing.
De'an quickly walked to the king's tent. The king's tent was exquisite and luxurious, extremely luxurious, and incompatible with the surrounding tents. The tent cloth was made of exotic silk, and the thin silk could not resist the cold wind of the wilderness rocks in the extreme north. Even if it was sewn with more than ten layers, it was the same, so thick animal skin was sewn on the innermost part. The brackets of the tent were ancient and huge dragon teeth, which were polished to be white and smooth, and the color was soft. The tent door was layered with shark yarn, with a flowing water texture. Two beautiful maids stood on both sides of the door, wearing jewelry, only strapless breasts and short skirts. In the extreme north, even in summer, there were too few such outfits. De'an couldn't help asking, "Are you not cold?" The maid replied, "Is it a mistake for me, and I deserve punishment." De'an shook his head and walked into the tent.
The ground is covered with thick velvet carpets, and countless gold and silver tassels are hanging from the top of the tent. There are huge incense candles burning in each corner, making the tent fragrant and warm to make people drowsy. This tent was built for pleasure, and it has no advantage except luxury.
"Have you failed to persuade surrender?" Katina's king lay on the side of the soft collapse. The maid in costume knelt on the edge of the collapse holding a plate full of fruits. The king picked up a cherry and put it in her mouth. Her eyes were low, and she could not see any emotion. De'an knelt respectfully before the collapse and said humbly: "Your power, I have not been able to complete the king's decree." "It's not your fault, Huang Yan has always been wary." Katia sat upright, only wearing a pure white and soft silk pajama, and her slender calves were exposed from the hem of her pajamas, which was bright and white.
She walked barefoot on the carpet, with long golden hair hanging behind her. Katia took the long bow and quiver held by the maid and walked slowly out. "Wang, are you?" De'an couldn't help asking.
"They don't want to surrender, so I will naturally send them a destruction." Katia looked down at De'an.
De'an opened his mouth and said carefully: "But, Wang, you only wear one pajamas." Katia looked at him with smoky eyes, her face was expressionless, arrogant and majestic: "What, can I punish them for dressing up?" De'an lowered his head and stopped talking.
Katia walked out of Katina's camp barefoot in her snow-white pajamas and robe, holding a long bow in her hand, step by step. Katina's soldiers knelt on both sides of the road she walked, not daring to look up.
The extreme north is filled with snow and rocks, and Katia is almost integrated with this snow. Katina's camp is on a cliff not far from the wild rock city, and is not easy to be attacked.
Katia pulled out a long arrow, put it on the bow, and shot it towards Huangyan. The arrow wrapped around Katia's magic and broke through the air. Huangyan's proud rock wall was vulnerable in front of it and turned into gravel. Katia turned around and ordered the guards who followed her: "Massacre the city." "King!" The guard was shocked.
Kathia frowned slightly: "I have given them a chance. They have repeatedly disobeyed the king's orders. So why should I continue to be magnanimous? I don't need to tolerate their mistakes."
The queen returned to the tent and ordered the generals: "I will return to the royal city first. The gate of the Huangyan city has been broken. Can you solve it? The government affairs that have been delayed for several days. I don't want you to have any more trouble. Yaleinte, prepare the carriage." The handsome young guards retreated and prepared the carriage for the queen. The generals also retreated timidly and gathered troops to prepare the raid in the chaos.
Kathia sat in the carriage, frowned at the document in her hand. Sitting opposite the queen and taking on the responsibility of guarding the queen, Yaleinte couldn't help but ask: "King, what's wrong?" "Viss Rainy reported the plague, saying that it was the plague and more than a thousand people died, and asked for tax cuts. If my king's memory was not wrong, this is his third time this year. He also filed twice last year? It's calculated that more than 20,000 people died in his territory? The total population of his territory is less than 5,000, so I'm afraid that the starving ants will count the starving ants." Kathia pointed the document with his finger.
Yaleinte said tentatively, "Then, do you need to execute him?" Katia shook her head and said, "No need. Didn't he worry about his people being infected with the plague all day long? Then give him a territory where he doesn't have to worry about his people's lives and death. Isn't there a desert in the south of Katina? Is this territory given to him." "How to deal with the original fief of Viscount Renee?" Yaleinte asked again.
Kathia thought for a moment and said, "Didn't the Knights of Neitas come over because of the defeat in the Battle of Atesta? Give him that territory and give him the title of baron. After returning to the royal city, you will tell them, there is no need to let them meet specially."
Aleint is about the same age as the queen. Since he was twelve years old, he has been the queen's guard, just like the queen's younger brother. He gets along with the queen like a sibling. Although his name is still clear, his tone is much casual.
When the people of the royal city learned that the queen had returned to the city, they carefully cleaned the streets early and sprinkled them with clean water. They squeezed on both sides of the avenue, waiting for the queen's return.
As he approached the city gate, Kathia suddenly ordered the coachman to stop. The coachman asked respectfully: "King, do you have any instructions?" "Leave the reins to me, sit behind me, I want to drive myself." Kathia ordered. The coachman was so scared that he rolled out of the car and knelt on the ground: "King, I really don't dare to sit on the side and let you drive!" "Then get out of the car and walk back." Kathia insisted on driving himself. The coachman dared not disobey the queen's orders, so he could only look at Yaleinth, hoping that he could persuade the queen. Yaleinth couldn't help but persuade, "King, it would be inappropriate for you to drive yourself, let alone in this situation, if there are assassins mixed in..." "What they want to see is my return of triumphant, not a carriage." Kathia pulled the reins and took a few steps on the spot.
Naturally, Yaleinte did not dare to get on the carriage. Not to mention the difference in identity, even if the Queen himself did not care about this little bit of usurpation, the ministers and nobles would definitely attack the family. He could only stand behind with the coachman and watch Her Majesty drive the carriage and leave.
Kura Lanyan was staying in the royal city of Katina. He learned early that Queen Katia had personally conquered the ancient city of Huangyan and went to Katina in advance to congratulate the queen on her victory. Katina's foreign minister naturally did not dare to neglect her and invited him to wait for the queen at the door of the palace. Kura Lanyan's guards were about to question, but the minister had already explained: "It's not that he disrespects the fourth prince, but he really didn't dare to place the fourth prince at will without the queen's permission. I hope Kura... I hope the fourth prince understands." The minister seemed to want to call Kura Lanyan's name at first, but changed his mouth because he was troubled. Kura Lanyan's name was taken by his mother from a foreign continent. For the Asmodian language department, it was really troublesome.
Cang Lanyan smiled and signaled that she didn't mind, and asked the guard to stand behind him with a gift that was ready to be presented to the queen.
The royal city of Katina is completely different from the imperial capital of Pilano. It is a hill-shaped shape, with a height difference of only a few dozen meters. At the top is a tall sentry tower. From the sentry tower, you can see the several cities and surrounding environments with the royal city as the center. There are four huge buildings around the sentry tower, namely the royal palace, the ruling office, the court and the warehouse. Among them, there is a heavy punishment prison in the court, which is specifically designed to detain criminals of heavy punishment. The ruling office is the ruling center of Katina. As the kingdom, Katina is more centralized than the empire of Pilano. The lords of each territory only have part of the governance power, and the army also needs to limit the number of people. Every year, they must go to the queen.
When reporting on the territory, you must apply to the Queen before you can decide when encountering major situations. Only titles above the earl are qualified to enfeoff the title privately. The laws of Katina are unified nationwide. The lord has no right to make laws and has no right to execute civilians privately. When encountering major criminals or criminals with noble identities, they will be handed over to the court to deal with it. The warehouse in the royal city is different from the warehouse inside the royal palace. It is full of dried food and well-preserved cotton, linen and carbon ores. Once a sudden flood or cold current occurs, food will be transported from the warehouse. A special team of magicians use magic to protect the things in the warehouse from deteriorating and rotting.
On the outside are some public institutions, embassies, libraries, royal city hospitals, homeless people's retention centers, etc. The remaining areas are divided into eight fan shapes by rivers, each with a square, and often there are parades from other places performing here. The center of the square is a fountain, and the outermost part is the residence of the guards in each area, with four floors in total, half on the ground and half below the ground, and are used to detain criminals. Those guilty people are in this almost open prison, and their sins are examined by people coming and going. Every three months, there is a large market on the square, lasting four days and four nights, trading goods from all over the place.
It was already dusk, and two of the three moons had climbed to the sky. In the legend of Plano, these are the three beautiful and gentle daughters of the queen. In the myth of Katina, it was turned into the earrings of Veralia, the wife of Duke Anka. The street lights on both sides of the road have been lit, and there are street lights on both sides of the Avenue in Katina, with exquisite designs and stable and bright lighting. Kura Lanyan couldn't help but ask: "Is this specially lit to guide the queen's return?" "Not that, there is a night market at night in the royal city, which is for those who go to the night market." The minister replied patiently.
The people on both sides of the road have been standing for a day. When they learned that the Queen was back today, the people of the royal city had been waiting since the morning. But there was no fatigue on their faces, and they were still filled with joy and expectation. Kura Lanyan couldn't help but be shocked by the Queen's amazing prestige in the hearts of the people. He had heard of the reputation of Queen Katia, her beauty was as famous as her tyranny and cruelty. Even if he was responsible for diplomatic duties, he regarded the Kingdom of Katina as his last destination out of fear. But as far as he saw now, the prosperity and order of the royal city was far better than that of any place in Palanno; Palanno is currently the fiefs of each nobleman.
They built high walls, alert to the possible wars that may occur one day in the future. Katina had no walls, but only built a Great Wall for security and reconnaissance on the borders of the kingdom. Katina's noble fiefs bordered each other, but there were special troops on the border to supervise the population entering and leaving. Each fiefdom had a central city. There were several small cities on the periphery of the city, and there were farmland orchards and smelters on the periphery; Plano only had a guard for the royal city and aristocrats, and each city in Katina had an army. Every man had to serve as a soldier for three years until he was fifteen years old. Katina called it service.
There are many things he has not seen, many completely different from the policies that Plano has always pursued. He questioned what to do if there were so many troops everywhere for a long time, and there were no walls or fortresses in the city, and if there were no local rebellions, the diplomats in Katina just smiled and replied: "The civilians will not suddenly want to make trouble when they are free of food and clothing. Everyone in Katina has a place to live, wear clothes, and eat food."
Cang Lanyan could not wait to meet this extremely alternative queen. She violated the principle of the monarch not interfering too much in the rule of fiefdom. She even interfered too much in the production and work of civilians. However, he had never heard of any major conflict in Katina.
Just as he was thinking about what kind of character this queen was, the cheers of the crowd came from afar, and the return of Queen Katia. The servants on one side quickly sorted out the long blanket and sprinkled rich dew on it. The crowd cheered and sprinkled the slightly wilted petals on the road.
Cang Lanyan looked up and saw a carriage running at an astonishing speed. What's even more amazing is that despite the terrifying speed, the carriage still followed the horse steadily. The carriage gradually approached, and he gradually saw the driving person.
It was a woman in a long white dress, her blonde hair shining brightly under the light of the street lights on both sides. Gradually, he saw the woman's face again and couldn't help but breathe.
He saw the brightest light, even enough to suppress the noon sunshine.
Chapter completed!