"Welcome back, Your Majesty."
At the Royal Council at Calimport Palace, the political center of the west coast empire, Prime Minister Shaud Tarovan took the lead in standing up and bowing to the emperor sitting on the throne.
Although he was considered to be inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people to a certain extent, and was even considered to be able to exercise the highest decision-making power on behalf of the emperor himself, he always maintained a humble style without any bloat.
The reason is very simple.
This smart man who took the initiative to seek refuge with Shah En VII and assisted him in his successful restoration of the country knew very well that he was not the master of power, but merely an agent.
There is only one true master of power, and that is the emperor sitting on the throne - Zuo Si.
Only with explicit authorization can he have the power and status he has today.
But these things are like castles in the air without any foundation. If they can be given to nature, they can also be taken back.
The underlying logic behind it is also very simple.
It's not that you become prime minister after you have power, but you have the power after you become prime minister.
The most obvious example is that the reason why Shaud Tarowan was able to command and move those important officials of the empire was entirely because he exercised his power within the framework set by the emperor.
But once you try to step outside the framework, all the important ministers will unite to oppose or even ignore it.
Not to mention the imperial army, which only obeyed the orders of the emperor himself and could not be commanded even by the queen.
Finally, coupled with Zuo Si's own terrifying personal strength represented by a series of titles such as Hell Lord, Planeswalker, and Divine Power, you will have to live impatiently to feel that you can fight against it with just a little worldly power.
"Nothing big happened during my absence, right?"
With a smile on his face, Zuo Si glanced at the ministers he had promoted personally. They all seemed very easy-going from head to toe, without any trace of the majesty or imposingness of an emperor.
Because only a mortal monarch can rely on majesty, reputation, etiquette and other things to consolidate his status and power, and he no longer needs them.
Shaud Tarovan responded without thinking: "According to the latest news from the intelligence network, a chief of the red-robed mage was assassinated about a month ago. The atmosphere in Sere suddenly became tense, and something could happen at any time.
A full-scale civil war could break out."
"Oh? Is it because Sazastan finally couldn't help but start taking action?"
Zuo Si's eyes shone slightly, showing an expression of interest.
After all, this is one of the most important parts of the history of Faerûn.
It means that the Red Robe Mage has changed from the original parliamentary system to a dictatorship.
In addition, it also means that the influence of Bane, the god of tyranny, in the material world has been greatly increased.
"Sorry, we don't know yet about this.
But what is certain is that the other chiefs immediately returned to their hometowns and began to form alliances in private after electing new successors.
At the same time, the governors of various provinces were secretly recruiting troops to build up strength.
Even the red-robed mages, their business groups, and mercenaries operating within the empire are returning one after another."
Shaud Tallowan shook out all the information he had in one go.
Because he knew very well that in addition to the empire's official intelligence network, the emperor he was loyal to had several secret channels that were unknown to the public.
For example, the Zhentarim, the espionage organization led by the demon elf assassin Feid and the elite of the original Shadow Thieves Guild, and the ubiquitous infiltration of the Arcane Order.
In addition, some merchants in the West Coast Empire will also secretly undertake some functions of collecting external information.
The most important thing is that Xiaod Tarowen knows that all the Lords of Talisman have been taken under Zuo Si's command.
Therefore, Lagon, who is by Sazastan's side at the moment, is fully capable of telling his master what happened inside the red-robed mage.
"Other than that? Is there anything interesting or noteworthy?"
Zuo Si gently tapped the armrest of the throne with his fingers and continued to ask.
"Then there is news from the Moon Sea. The rapidly rising orc tribe in the Rongma Prairie is expanding at an extremely fast rate. According to reports from businessmen who have been there, the number of orcs gathered so far has reached more than 200,000."
While saying these words, Shaud Talovan raised his head and carefully glanced at the emperor's reaction.
He obviously doesn't know the plan against the orc gods, nor does he know that Thrall has been a pawn from beginning to end. All he knows is that this orc is the only lucky one who can escape unharmed after offending Zuo Si.
"Two hundred thousand? Are there that many orcs in the Rongma Grassland?"
Zuo Si raised his eyebrows in surprise.
He originally thought that Thrall would need at least a few years of development time to pull some of the orcs out of the barbarism and chaos, but now it seems that this process is much faster than expected.
After all, no matter what you do, the hardest part is always going from zero to one.
Once the foundation is laid, the rest is snowballing expansion and development.
Coupled with the fact that all orcs are soldiers, except for women and children, all other male members are qualified warriors.
How can a population of 200,000 raise an army of about 30,000 to 50,000?
This is already considered a quite terrifying force in the relatively small scale of the Faerûn continent.
As the overlord of the Moon Sea region, Zhentil Castle can only raise a professional army of about 5,000 to 8,000 people at a time.
Shaud Tarovan explained with a serious expression: "It is true that there are not that many orcs in the Rongma Grassland, but there are many small tribes of hundreds of people in the Land of Pain further north and on both sides of the Palauville River.
Similarly, the Galena Mountains have always been one of the areas with the most frequent orc activities.
Therefore, as long as you have the strength, it is not difficult to gather 200,000 orcs in a short period of time.
The real difficulty is how to feed so many mouths and ensure that those energetic and ambitious guys don't stand up to challenge the current chief.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In addition, in addition to orcs, this chief also recruited a large number of barbarians, nomads, goblins, kobolds and other other races.
Some even started calling him King or Khan.
You must know that in the North, an orc chief with thousands or even tens of thousands of tribesmen can already claim the title of king."
"Interesting. So it must be very lively over there now?"
The corners of Zuo Si's mouth raised slightly, as if he had seen Fuzuo Er Qianberry's anxious and furious state.
After all, the area around the Moon Sea has always been regarded as his own backyard by this "tyrant". Even after Bane's death, he did not give in to Cyric's crazy pressure and persecution.
One can imagine how uneasy it would be to find out that such a powerful force suddenly emerged from the Rongma Grassland.
And as a chosen one, this guy should know very well what Thrall's act of eliminating the faith of the orc gods means.
"It's more than lively. It's like a huge powder keg. It only needs a tiny spark to explode immediately. It's hard to say whether Zhentil Fort can maintain control of the areas around the Sea of ​​the Moon."
There was naked and undisguised schadenfreude in Vera's tone.
As the controller of the empire's financial power, the biggest difference between her and Prime Minister Shaud Tarowan is that she is younger and more enterprising, and believes that the powerful west coast empire should not stop here.
Although Zuo Si made it clear again and again that he would not continue to expand his territory as long as he took the Northland into his hands.
But there are still some people who feel that they can use a series of means to establish vassal countries that are politically and economically dependent on the empire like supporting Cormyr and Sambia, or even let the emperor himself "work" a little to do more.
Make a princess or something, and then send the heir born to the throne.
At that time, the empire can rely on this connection established through blood ties to bring the entire continent of Faerûn under its control.
But Vera obviously didn't know that the emperor's heirs were not economical.
At present, except for the Dark Prince Graia, who is quite obedient and sensible, the others are more difficult to deal with than the last.
Especially after little Annie has grown up out of childhood, not only has her character become more and more unpredictable, but she has also shown a rebellious tendency similar to that of a mortal teenager.
If Vera really followed Vera's idea and replaced all the countries and regions in Faerûn with Zuo Si's heirs, there would only be one result - war.
These little things with god-like powers from birth don't care about the life and death of mortals at all, but regard them as tools and consumables in their hands to compete with other brothers and sisters.
Maybe in the end, all the gods and even the god Io will intervene.
This is not the result that leftists want to achieve.
Seeing the ambition revealed in the eyes of the woman who was the finance minister and the next prime minister, Zuo Si smiled and warned: "Don't touch the Rongma Grassland, and don't try to control the surrounding areas of the Moon Sea, because you are not qualified to participate in this.
In a game.”
"Not qualified?!"
Vera suddenly caught a key word.
After all, she is a genius with extremely high political sensitivity and can understand the meaning behind this sentence, that is, "mortals are not qualified to participate."
Not only her, but the imperial ministers also realized something instantly. Some began to lower their heads in thought, while others exchanged glances with others.
To be continued...