The royal city, Rorent, stands on a hill to the north of the capital, Li Yestije. It is a typical post-medieval castle-style palace, surrounded by towering walls and spires.
Although it is nominally part of the royal capital, it is actually an independent area located on the outskirts of the city.
It is similar to the Royal Palace of the Seven Kingdoms in A Song of Ice and Fire - the Red Keep. They are both built in the most easily defended and difficult to attack place in the area.
The steep hills and the protection of the city walls can be used as a final defensive base to fight against the enemy even if a war breaks out.
Its military value is almost as important as its political value.
Even if civilians come close to take a look, they will be expelled or even arrested immediately.
That is to say, in recent years, the kingdom has abolished the decadent and backward slavery system. Otherwise, in the past, there was a high probability that one would be demoted as a slave.
The area of ​​​​this royal city is not large, and the perimeter of the outer wall is only about 1,400 meters.
In the central area surrounded by walls and spires, there is an exquisite and luxurious palace called "Francia".
It is the place where kings, princes, and princesses live daily, and it is also the office where the nobles hold meetings to discuss state affairs.
There are not only exquisite and beautiful gardens, sculptures, fountains, and chandeliers, but also marble columns, arches and floor-to-ceiling glass windows inlaid with gold foil.
The ceiling is not ugly rock, but covered with murals and reliefs.
Even from a modern perspective, this place is countless times better than any of the top mansions owned by rich people.
Except for the lack of modern electrical equipment, the materials, decoration, and art style are all top-notch.
Zuo Si looked around with interest and commented in a slightly playful tone: "As a country that is going downhill and on the verge of division and collapse, isn't this palace a little too luxurious?
Didn’t it mean that the royal family only controls about 30% of the land, and the remaining 70% is in the hands of the nobles?
Then why do they still invest so much money every year to maintain this meaningless palace instead of using it to carry out a series of reforms in the primitive and backward politics, military, and economy?
At least it would be good to train and hire some bureaucrats who are loyal to the royal family."
Shane VII smiled and shrugged his shoulders and replied: "It's simple, because this country is rotten from top to bottom.
After more than two hundred years of peaceful development, the Vansef family, as a royal family, has lost its previous control over the nobility.
Among them, a few big nobles alone occupy as much land, population and army as the royal family, while the remaining nobles occupy the remaining 40%.
In other words, the nobility accounts for a full 70% of the country's main power, and it is already in a state of being too big to lose.
The current king, Rambusa III, is a typical mediocre monarch who is too benevolent and seriously lacks strong political skills.
Perhaps as an ordinary person or an ordinary nobleman, his kindness is a virtue.
But for a ruler of a country that is in decline, it is a very fatal flaw.
Under the indulgence of Rambusa III, his sons are fighting each other for the right to inherit the throne.
The nobles also took this opportunity to join the team, hoping to use the princes to benefit their families more.
In other words, this country is currently in the midst of a serious political division.
The only little princess Lana who has political talent and can provide a lot of correct advice, and even save the country that is heading towards collapse and destruction, has no qualifications to inherit the throne.
Even her suggestions, not many will be adopted.
But on the other hand, the rival Emperor of the Bahas Empire, Gilknifer, known as the Blood Emperor, was willing to spend a lot of effort to find out what Princess Lana said every day and what kind of things she provided to the kingdom.
Make suggestions, and then copy them and issue decrees in the empire you rule.
The result is that the empire continues to become stronger and stronger under Lana's advice, while the kingdom becomes increasingly declining.
This phenomenon is interesting, isn't it?"
There is no doubt that because Xia En VII was originally the monarch of a huge empire, and he also accepted many modern political thoughts and concepts from Zuo Si, he can be said to have a good understanding of the situation of the two human countries in the world.p>
To put it bluntly, the empire achieved centralization through ruthless political purges, power seizures and assassinations.
It also establishes an effective bureaucratic system through centralization, greatly improves social organizational capabilities, and then implements drastic reforms, ultimately completing the efficient use of allocable resources.
Looking back at the kingdom, first of all, the enfeoffment system will deduct big points in terms of resource allocation and organizational mobilization capabilities.
What's more, the royal family has lost control of the nobles.
The mediocre king only thinks about how to maintain this mess with Ni Ni all day long. He has no courage to reform even though he would rather shed a river of blood and kill all the nobles in the country.
Apart from anything else, the extent of his incompetence can be seen just from the fact that Warrior Captain Gazef was plotted against by nobles and foreign countries, and he did not get angry because of this and set off a political liquidation.
You must know that he is the supreme commander of the "King's Guards"!
The nobles are all trying to get their hands into the guards who protect the king. Any monarch with a little vigilance and political consciousness will realize the seriousness of the problem.
To put it mildly, this is to further increase the influence on the king;
To put it more seriously, this is an attempt to oust the king or even replace the royal family as the new master of the country.
What was Rambusa III's reaction?
He didn't react at all and just tolerated it as if nothing had happened.
Please!
You are the king of a country!
Even if the tethered dog is there, if it finds someone intruding into the territory or bullying its little brother, it will show its teeth and bark twice.
Thinking of this, Zuo Si's mouth turned up slightly with a playful smile and he sighed: "Yes, it is indeed very interesting.
I can't wait to see the expression on His Majesty's face when he discovers the true identity of his little daughter.
Shocked?
Fear?
Unbelievable?
He may never believe until his death that the usually gentle, sensible, and intelligent Golden Princess hides an extremely twisted, evil, and dark crazy soul under the mask of hypocrisy.
After all, as a monarch, incompetence is the biggest sin.
Compared with the indecisive and benevolent Rambusa III, the Blood Emperor who killed his brother, brother, mother, confiscated a large amount of noble property and land, and was also very keen on pleasure is a qualified king."<
/p>
"Hahahaha! I agree with your point of view. If one day I want to attack the empire, I will consider sparing his life."
Xia En VII couldn't help laughing.
The two of them walked freely in the palace as if they were in no one's land. No one around them, including maids, nobles and guards, seemed to have noticed them.
The reason is very simple!
These people have been unintentionally affected by spiritual magic.
Since the kingdom has a deep tradition and culture of knights, there is a deep-rooted martial spirit from top to bottom. It is believed that a real warrior is a warrior who rides a war horse and fights fiercely. He lacks the most basic understanding of magical knowledge and power.<
/p>
The entire country's ruling class despises the power of magic (mainly because it is difficult for humans to master high-level magic). Although there are institutions such as the Mages Guild, they have not formed their own official legion of spellcasters.
In other words, the entire palace is completely defenseless against those who master spiritual or illusion magic.
For spellcasters of the caliber of Zuo Si and Xia En VII, it is no different than visiting their own backyard.
Occasionally, when passing by, I can see some nobles hiding in corners to exchange interests, as well as some young and handsome knights, soldiers and maids making out.
In short, there is a very obvious lack of dominance everywhere.
It seems that no one pays attention to the old king who has ruled this country for nearly forty years.
There is no doubt that this is a completely irrefutable and huge failure.
However, as the two of them entered the palace of Golden Princess Lana, the situation finally changed.
At least the guards here don't dare to fool around with the maids, and still act loyal to their duties.
In the open space in the front garden, a young blond boy was standing at the gate wearing expensive silver full-body armor, looking straight ahead motionlessly.
"Loyal Dog" Clem, this is his name.
And protecting and guarding Princess Lana is the only meaning of his life.
Zuo Si has always felt that Lana's love for Clem should be closer to the twisted emotions between people and pets, rather than between people.
To be continued...