Chapter 352 [The retreating figure]
One month's time.
It only took a short month for the Luo Lin family's private army to be re-established. A large number of veterans returned to the army, as well as many retainers, warriors and knights who had been loyal to the Luo Lin family. After hearing the call, they all put on their uniforms again.
Armor, from all over the Luolin Plain, rushed to the army to report as soon as possible.
The abandoned military camps in various places regained their vitality, and the energetic soldiers practiced hard, and everything went smoothly. Later, the local officials and local garrison troops originally assigned by the empire evacuated the Luolin Plain one after another.
Just like before, Luolin Plain has almost become an independent small kingdom again, a "Luolin Kingdom".
Du Wei obviously underestimated the Luolin people's fanaticism and piety for tradition, and also underestimated the appeal of the glorious name "Luolin". Soon, all the 50,000 private troops were full, but there were no registration locations in each town.
On the street outside, the queue was still full.
At this time, Du Wei simply made a decision. Although the agreement with Prince Chen was for 50,000 troops, Du Wei was not an honest guy. With a stroke of his pen, he ordered the recruitment of another 20,000 reserves...
Well, the reserve force should not be considered the regular army.
Old Raymond was unable to do anything on his hospital bed, and his younger brother Gabri was still young. During this month, Du Wei almost assumed the important responsibilities of the patriarch.
After the local officials in the empire were removed, local governments in various places were filled by a large number of re-appointed members of the Luo Lin family. These Luo Lin people who were pardoned were naturally grateful to Du Wei. Du Wei spent a lot of time reviewing documents every day.
Of course, he did not forget his young brother. When he was handling these official duties, no matter how unhappy Gabri was, Du Wei forced this boy to stay with him.
When he was sitting in his study reading official documents, Gabri was watching nearby. Du Wei even didn't read some official documents himself, but asked Gabri to read them to him. Du Wei's intention was very clear, even though he was young and playful.
It's the nature of young people, but Du Wei still taught his younger brother many times: You are the future earl. But now the family's situation is special, and you don't have time to enjoy your innocent and carefree youth! You must grow up and mature as soon as possible.
!You must understand and become familiar with these things in a short period of time...
Looking at his younger brother's childish face, Du Wei felt a little soft-hearted, but he still worked hard to train this boy.
"Gabri, don't blame me...because I will be leaving Luolin Plain soon! The burden here will be on your shoulders in the future!"
In fact, even the small traders and carriage drivers on the Luolin Plain knew that although the nominal heir to the earl was Young Master Gabri, and even though the official documents were signed by Young Master Gabri, in Luolin Castle,
.The person who really makes various decisions is the Tulip Duke!
Anyway, Master Du Wei, the Tulip Duke, is also a member of our Luo Lin family.
The people in Luolin rarely use the name "Tulip Duke" when referring to Du Wei. Most people are accustomed to calling the two people in the castle "the eldest young master and the young master" to appear affectionate.
On this day, after the last official appointment document was signed, the handover of military and political power in Luolin Plain, which has a history of one month, has been completely completed. The one hundred and sixty Luolin people who served as local officials in Luolin Plain before the coup, except
A dozen people who were seriously ill or old were dismissed, and all other officers were reinstated. In the army, after convening a large number of old troops, Du Wei did not need to worry too much, whether it was senior officers or junior officers.
Du Wei is familiar with these armies, even far more familiar than Gabri...
Speaking of which, this is a bit disgraceful. After all, Du Wei once participated in the "football league" extensively in the army. For this reason, Du Wei's relationship with these officers during the year he was in Luolin Plain.
All are very good.
The last appointment was the chief of the family bodyguard. Uncle Alpha had followed him to the northwest, and the current position of the chief of the family bodyguard was vacant. Du Wei considered this candidate for a long time, and then Gabri proposed a candidate.
"Tu." Gabri said to his brother: "Although this guy is a little boring, he is also an old tribesman that my father trusts. Moreover, he has been with me for the past two or three years. He is very careful in doing things and has very good martial arts skills."
Du Wei immediately remembered the indifferent personal guard beside his brother when he first met his brother when he returned to the imperial capital, so he decided on this candidate with a stroke of his pen.
In order to rebuild the Luo Lin family's private army, Du Wei can be said to have devoted a lot of financial resources. After all, the Luo Lin family was once confiscated and has long lost its former glory. Moreover, the family does not have much remaining wealth. Although it can be recovered
He has obtained the territory of Luolin Plain, but the next tax will not be paid until next year. Now to rebuild the army, all these military expenses are paid by Du Wei. Anyway, the most important thing he lacks now is money.
He even took the time to send someone to Walker Port in the south to summon the waiter from the United Kingdom of Nanyang, who was brought back with Ruolin's fleet, for a meeting.
Those Nanyang people were already scared to death by Ruolin. When they saw Du Wei, they felt as if they had seen a ghost. Everyone was trembling with fear. Without any effort, Du Wei reached an agreement with them in private:
First, Du Wei let Lu Fike follow them back to Nanyang to become king.
The second article is that the United Kingdom of South Seas is willing to pay a certain amount of wealth every year in exchange for the support of Duke Tulip. Because the United Kingdom of South Seas does not have its own currency, and Du Wei does not need gold, it decided to use South Sea pearls, spices, ivory, etc.
The annual payment for Nanyang specialties (even Du Wei expressed his willingness to accept slaves) is equivalent to the value of one million gold coins in the empire.
As for the third article, Du Wei promised that he would use his identity and influence in the empire to try his best to influence the imperial regent and no longer launch an expeditionary aggression against Southeast Asia.
In fact, according to the laws of the empire, although Du Wei is a duke, he is not an emperor after all. He has no power to sign any agreements with foreign countries. If he must be pursued, this is considered an act beyond his authority, and even a crime of colluding with the enemy in private! However,
Du Wei doesn't care about these things now.
On the one hand, Du Wei believes that the empire cannot be without him now. No matter who it is, if he wants to frame him, then the other party will definitely die. The empire is now in a state of desperation. It is impossible to plan any more expeditions to the South Seas, and even the navy needs a large number of troops.
"Return to the mainland", so selling an empty favor to the Nanyang people is nothing.
And going a step further... I have to say that Du Wei's psychology has gradually undergone subtle changes.
Ever since he learned that he was Aragorn, and Aragorn was himself, although he didn't really think so in his heart, a subtle thought came up in his subconscious:
This empire was originally built by "me"! Whatever I want, I will do it!
As for these envoys from the United Kingdom of Nanyang, on the one hand, they do not understand the situation of the empire. In their view, as long as the empire can stop its aggression, it is already a blessing. How dare they make any other demands.
And the others... Although there are one or two smart people among these envoys, they also feel that if an agreement is to be signed, it should be signed with the emperor of the Roland Empire. The Tulip Duke does not seem to have such great power...
However, Du Wei made a very casual move and left, scaring these guys into submission!
It's very simple: Du Wei pretended to have a dinner party to entertain these envoys, and then at the dinner party, Count Raymond, who was ill, walked out of the ward, came to the banquet, and showed his face. Although he only sat for such a short time
A short while was enough to scare these messengers out of their wits!!
Who is old Count Raymond? He is a famous general in the empire! He turned out to be the commander of the navy and the second-largest boss in the military... More importantly, he left an indelible and terrifying image in the hearts of Nanyang people! He is the leader of Nanyang.
The most terrifying butcher, executioner, and invader in people's hearts! The naval expedition led by Raymond was the one that caused the greatest harm and terror to the Nanyang people among all the expeditions in the past! The degree of fear in the hearts of the Nanyang people is stronger than that of Ruolin.
I don’t know how many times!
Seeing such a nightmare-like guy appear, these Nanyang envoys immediately lost all their last bit of courage.
The old butcher is the father of the Tulip Duke, and the female butcher is the subordinate of the Tulip Duke... God. What a terrible guy this Tulip Duke is!!
Soon, the agreement was signed without any further resistance.
After finishing all these things, Du Wei could finally relax a little. These days he was so busy that he was almost exhausted...
Although he was also in charge of the military affairs of a province in the northwest, when he was in the northwest, he had a good helper in handling government affairs, Philip, and that young man was a talented prime minister. As for military affairs, there were two hundred and fifty generals, Longbottom, and a group of defending generals.
Du Wei didn't need to worry too much. When had he been so busy? Now he couldn't help but miss Philip and others deeply. If he hadn't known that people were inseparable from the northwest, he would have thought of summoning Philip with an order.
At the same time, in addition to the fatigue of dealing with government affairs, Du Wei was not in a relaxed mood. His mood became heavier day by day because...
Father Raymond Sr.'s body seems to be getting more and more seriously ill every day!!
Old Raymond's illness began after he was deposed and returned to his hometown. Originally, a military commander like him who had practiced martial arts all his life had a strong body and would not get sick on weekdays, but if his body collapsed, it would
More serious than anything else! A small part of his illness is due to old age and frailty. The recurrence of old injuries in his early military career is nothing. The main reason for more than half of it is heart disease!
His mother told Du Wei that after old Raymond returned to the Luolin Plain, he saw that the former family territory had been handed over to the empire, and the Luolin flags that were originally hung in various places had turned into the King of Thorns and Flowers flag, and those who used to be hostile to him had
The people of the Luo Lin family, who were extremely supportive, responded with a complicated silence to Raymond's return!
This silence hit Raymond even more! He deeply felt that he was the historical sinner of the Luo Lin family! The glorious family was ruined in his own hands. When he came back, he had already prepared to be beaten by Luo Lin.
The Lin people were ready to curse and hate him, and even if someone threw rotten eggs or rotten tomatoes at him, he would feel better.
But there was not a word of curse. When the people on the entire plain heard that the former patriarch had returned, everyone remained surprisingly silent... This was a silence full of complex meanings, full of pain, indignation, and despair.
There are so many emotions inside.
But the kind-hearted Luolin people did not target their old patriarch. What even made old Raymond feel even more guilty was that some loyal Luolin people around the castle were even willing to pay taxes according to the old rules.
Hand it over to the family!
Although the local government officials had been replaced by people from the empire, thousands of these stubborn Luolin people drove carriages to the castle and demanded that their taxes be paid directly to the castle to show their respect for the Luolin family.
loyalty.
It was these things that finally defeated old Raymond! He felt guilty. He heard that one night, he suddenly vomited blood. After that, he couldn't get sick!
When Du Wei first came here, he was still optimistic about his father's illness. He believed that his father's physical condition was very good, and as for his mental illness. With the pardon he brought, he could revive the family.
The hope should make the father happy, and then the illness will naturally slowly recover.
But after a month, Du Weidi lost hope little by little!
Not only did old Raymond's illness not get better, but it suddenly became much heavier! Although he was lying on the hospital bed before, he could still get up and take a walk in the castle garden every day. But with the arrival of the good news of the family
After that, his illness became more and more serious day by day, and eventually, he couldn't even get out of bed!
Except for the time when he received the envoy from the United Kingdom of Nanyang, old Raymond came out once in order to help his son. He barely supported his illness. In the following days, he lay in bed all the time every day, and even spent half of his sleep time every day.
To be continued...