The first thousand one hundred and ninety-six chapters of the darkest hour
At the beginning of the year 2523 in the Imperial Calendar, an army of about a thousand people came out of the snow-covered Athel Loren. Alaros, the divinely chosen champion of the Wood Elf Queen Alaire, was the commander of this army. He was ordered to
Lead this army to Sylvania to rescue the little queen Alishara who is still trapped.
Frankly speaking, Araros doesn't want to do this. For the wood elf hero Araros, who has just made great achievements in the battle to annihilate Morgul, he just wants to enjoy the peaceful days in the forest and continue to think about it.
How to please his goddess Lilith.
For Aralos, the Eternal Little Queen Alarielle is indeed a top-notch beauty, but she is not his cup of tea and has nothing to do with him. As for the high elves, although they call her dear to her verbally, Aralos has nothing to do with her in his heart.
He also dislikes high elves, especially their arrogant attitude and their view of Athel Loren as an overseas colony.
The arrival of the Everqueen Alarielle in Athel Loren really surprised the Bodhisattva, especially since the two sides had not communicated with each other for many years, and the Everqueen had never left Ulthuan.
Issa's first choice god met Issa's true form. At this time, Queen Alaire's memory was a little confused. She only remembered that she was sometimes Issa, but when Alarielle knelt down and begged the wood elf to save her daughter,
At this time, Alaire still agreed and sent Aralos and a smaller wood elf army, more than a thousand people.
The Alaire vanguard of the Twilight Sisters was left in Britannia to continue fulfilling their alliance with the Kingdom of Knights.
In addition to Araloth and his group, the trio of high elves who arrived in the empire a few days ago, Elsarion, Belannar and Adira also found the emperor. Karl Franz felt very embarrassed about this -
-The empire is now in trouble, and all the excess troops that can be mobilized are deployed to the northern front. The emperor has no choice but to write to two people, the Elector Marius of Aiweland and the Butcher King of Karak-Kaderin, requesting them
Send troops to assist.
In fact, almost every force has pinned its hope on Brittania's army of knights. In this dark age, only the Brittanians can win consecutive battles to keep their land away from corruption, plague, production cuts and various
However, a shocking news spread in the old world. Everyone knew that the Kingdom of Knights might not have the energy to help.
Everyone expressed understanding, but also felt deeply disappointed.
Hubbard, Duke of Carcassonne, told everyone in the entire Knight Kingdom.
That's not a rumor, that's true.
The fairy in the lake is really Lilith, the high-spirited moon goddess.
The moment they heard about the rumor, countless knights and nobles burst into tears, and countless young men with knight dreams collapsed.
Duke Hubbard couldn't face all this. He couldn't accept that his family's persistence for thousands of years was because of a scam. But similarly, what the Lake Fairy criticized made him speechless. He couldn't even make any refutation.
.
Yes, if there had been no Fairy of the Lake at that time, then Britannia would not have existed at all. How dangerous was the situation in Britannia at that time? At the most difficult time, the number of Britannia knights and
The number of greenskins is 1:300! Almost all the Brittany people are desperate, most of the army is defending the castle, and the remaining few people are almost completely dispersed.
If Arthur, Landuin, and Silruf hadn't received the encouragement and guidance from the Fairy of the Lake and the glory of the Holy Grail in their desperate moments, and found the meaning, goal, and courage of their own battles, the entire kingdom would have been doomed long ago.
.
So, what to do? Is it rebellion or compromise?
Duke Hubbard did not want to do either of these things. The frustrated Knight of the Holy Grail announced that he would no longer obey anyone's orders, including the Fairy of the Lake and the Sun King, but he would continue to guard Carcassonne Castle until the end.
For a moment, as for the future, let his descendants make the choice!
Just when Duke Hubbard was disheartened, Knight King Ryan officially announced to the entire Britannia:
"The Kingdom of Britannia will hold a meeting of the Kingdom's Knights in the capital, Curona, in early February. Regarding the truth about the belief in the Fairy in the Lake, about Britannia's next national policy, and about the future of Britannia,
It will all be drawn here.”
This is the second meeting of the Knights of the Kingdom after an unknown number of years. Only a small number of people still remember that the last meeting of the Knights of the Kingdom was held after John II defeated Badwater River.
Ryan appealed that no matter whether you want to continue to believe in the Fairy of the Lake, no matter whether you want to continue to stay in this country, no matter whether you still plan to fight for the old world, any knight of the kingdom should come to Curona to participate in the Knights of the Kingdom Conference.
.
Many people regard Ryan's move as a threat. After all, the Sun King, as the chosen champion of the Lady of the Lake, will undoubtedly side with the Lady of the Lake.
So is it possible that our Majesty the Sun King is planning to gather those of us who are in opposition and catch them all in one fell swoop?
Many knights and nobles hold this idea, led by the new Duke Campbell of Le Angoulan and Duke Jihad of Lyonnaise from the "Free Britannia" faction. They do not want to participate in the Kingdom Knights Conference.
What they want is a coup, a military coup.
On the surface, Free Britannia gave Sun King Ryan fifteen days of "preparation time", which seemed generous, but in fact they also reserved enough preparation time for themselves to easily gather the army.
What the Free Breton Faction never expected was that these damn serfs actually refused to answer the call of the knights! They refused to follow the knights to Curona to seek justice, and even refused to treat the Fairy of the Lake.
The temple takes action!
Rebellion! Rebellion! The serfs actually don’t listen to the masters!
The knights were very angry, but this time it was different. No matter what they said, the serfs were unwilling to accept the call.
So are the serfs really stupid?
Not at all. In fact, the serfs calculated their accounts very clearly.
Under the glorious leadership of the Lady of the Lake and Sun King Ryan, are our days getting better or worse?
Of course the better the better!
So, what does the Lady of the Lake do to us serfs?
Obviously it is also very good. The serfs don't know anything else, but they only know the following three things.
First of all, in the past few years, the Fairy Church of the Lake announced a tax reduction, reducing the original tax of 1 in 10 to 1 in 15.
Don’t underestimate these points. These points are often the difference between starving, eating chaff and drinking water, and barely having enough food and clothing! There are also churches that hold various activities all day long during the holidays, so why don’t they give away sweet cookies according to household registration?
Wine, porridge and barbecues are organized from time to time, as well as various worship activities, minstrels, and circus performances, all of which are very popular with the people. Especially in recent years, due to too much food, the church has also
With a "tithe tax refund", the life of the serfs would be much better!
Secondly, needless to say how good His Majesty the Sun King Lane is to us serfs? As long as His Majesty Lane is mentioned, the first reaction of any serf is to give a thumbs up, but to the simple minds of the serfs, the Sun King is not
Is it just tied to the Lady in the Lake?
We are not against His Majesty the Sun King. On the contrary, we will blow the head of anyone who speaks ill of His Majesty!
In the end, the serfs finally lived a good life. What they were most afraid of was returning to the dark ages of the past. You must know that the existence of the fairy in the lake also provided the Brittanians with 7 days of legal holidays every year. This
We must have a holiday during the holidays. We don’t believe in the lady in the lake anymore. Should we still have a holiday during this holiday?
As for whether the lady in the lake is a human god or an elf god? What does it matter? Aren’t elves a model of noble civilization? What does it mean to believe is not belief?
It doesn't make sense.
The knight lords found that they could not incite the serfs, so some knight lords planned to recruit them by force.
At this time, the method that Ryan had planned many years in advance came into play.
Now, who are the petty bureaucrats, village elders, militia captains, freedmen sergeants, rangers, yeoman farmers, small traders, and self-employed people who fill the grassroots of serfs in Brittany?
Veterans! Those who fought with His Majesty Ryan in the Great Crusade! Many soldiers even fought in more than one Great Crusade! These veterans returned to their hometowns with glory and wealth, and soon became the most influential people in local villages and even towns.
Those who like to brag most are stories like "When I followed His Majesty on the Great Expedition, you were still wearing crotchless pants."
Who do these veterans recognize? Do they recognize His Majesty Ryan, or do they recognize the Lord Knight?
What do you think?
The grassroots army cannot mobilize at all. Basically, if forced mobilization is really necessary, the knights must first send out the army to suppress this "mob".
There is no time, and there is no way to do a military coup. Military coup is not possible, so we can only go to the Knights Conference together to see what Ryan has in store first.
In this way, the knight masters belonging to the "Free Britannia" faction could only rush to Curona with their family knights and retinues, and were forced to participate in the Kingdom Knights Conference.
In early February of 2523, inside the palace of Kurona.
During this period, the city was filled with knights and gentlemen coming from all over the kingdom. The capital was under the strictest military control, but there were still more than tens of thousands of knights and knights' retinues, and the nobles' personal guards arrived in Curona.
The entire city felt like it was facing a formidable enemy, and as it was located in the center of the storm vortex, Ryan hurriedly moved his palace to Corona.
In the king's study, the bright yellow carpet that symbolizes royal power is flanked by red and blue tapestries respectively. Ryan is sitting behind the desk, processing endless paperwork.
It was tiring, but necessary. Theresa and Aurora provided part of the list of knights and nobles who entered the city, while Beria provided another part. Last night, Ryan and Sulia stayed up all night to compile these.
The list of knights and nobles is divided.
According to statistics over the years, there are now 3,369 great nobles in Brittany.
There are 357 Holy Grail Knights in total (12 are still missing).
There are 210 people who have been awarded the title of earl or above.
There are 1,169 people who have been granted the title of baronet or above.
There are 4,655 knights in the kingdom, and the remaining 21,274 people hold the title of knight errant.
In other words, if Ryan desperately carries out a nationwide mobilization, Britannia can instantly explode with nearly 30,000 knights, which is already the limit for the knight kingdom with a current population of 9 million.
So, how many of these 4,655 kingdom knights (actually about 4,100 in Kurona) firmly support Ryan and the Lady of the Lake?
The number is not large, only 21%.
So how many are from the Free Breton faction?
Not a lot, almost 33%.
It can be said that most of the knights currently maintain a neutral attitude. On the one hand, they cannot accept the fact that the Fairy of the Lake is actually an elf god, but on the other hand, just like what Duke Hubbard faced, it can be said that without the Fairy of the Lake, there would be no peace.
Without Britannia, most of the knights remained neutral amid the entanglement and pain.
Therefore, the next meeting of knights is extremely important. It will decide whether Britannia will be divided. It will decide whether to reset its pace and start again, or whether it will completely fall into civil war.
"My dear, Duke Campbell and Duke Jihad are forming a gang like crazy." Veronica was sitting on the sofa not far from Ryan. The female speaker was drinking a hot drink quite relaxedly and said lazily:
"Why don't you hurry up and win over the people?"
"..." Ryan rolled his eyes at Veronica, and the Sun King shook his head: "That would only make me inferior. I am the king."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, our dearest one is the king." Veronica said sarcastically: "Tell me, Ryan, it's hard enough for you to be the king. You haven't slept for two days, right? Since you became the king,
, have you ever had a comfortable life for a year? It’s all about fighting, internal affairs, diplomacy, and endless official duties all day long. I have never been a king, but I think many nobles have never been as tired as you. You are all half
It’s amazing!”
"People have to live for themselves, but people can't live just for themselves." Ryan poked his head out from behind the thick file and shook his head: "Forget it, why am I telling you this."
"Then don't say more." Veronica put her hands on her hips, and the female speaker said with great momentum, "Isn't your Royal Legion just outside the city? There are also Coldstream Guards and the Old Guard! Move into the city!
Let me bring that Emmanoli Land Cruiser in and crush all those who resist, those who are dissatisfied, those who dare to challenge your authority, and that’s it!”
Ryan: "…………"
The Sun King waved his hand with some boredom, indicating that if you don't understand, don't talk nonsense.
It is not easy to mobilize the army into the town to suppress these rebellious nobles, let alone his royal legion, even if it is just him and the ten Gray Knight recruits, plus the magic knights of the Sons of Britannia directly under the Fairy of the Lake
, enough to suppress the rebellious nobles.
What then? The 1,200 knights of the kingdom did not die on the way to fight against the enemy, but died in the hands of their own people?
What would those neutral knights think? What would the entire Old World think? What would the common people of Britannia think?
Furthermore, these knights of "Free Britannia" have come to the capital to hold the Kingdom Knights Conference. They have agreed to come to the negotiation table with you. If Ryan wants to use the knife, then is he the Chosen of Tzeentch or Khorne?
God's choice?
This also made Ryan feel very entangled. Since she gave up the "New World" plan, the Lake Fairy can now confidently tell the Brittanians that I am here to collect debts. You eat me and use me.
Yes, of course you must fulfill your rights and obligations if you take what I have. The entire kingdom is given to you by me. Do you really think you don’t need to pay for it?
It's just that the goddess has had enough of it, and the mess left behind must be cleaned up by Ryan. These 33% of opponents are the 1,300 elite knights of the kingdom who have undergone military training and proven themselves. If calculated according to this ratio, behind them are nearly
10,000 Brittanian knights!
If they are all "suppressed", what will Lane use to fight the next war?
There are also those neutral knights who are waiting for the Kingdom Knights Conference and Ryan's statement. Ryan can imagine why so many knights are neutral? Why don't everyone speak now?
It wasn't because of Ryan Potian's prestige and strength that he was willing to wait for an explanation.
But now Ryan is also very distressed. He has repeatedly deduced it many times and cannot find a way to solve this problem without bloodshed. He must not compromise, but he is also unwilling to kill these people, just like Duke Hubbard.
The same, they are all good people and should not die at the hands of their own people.
So, what to do?
That night, in the palace, Ryan sat in his bedroom, thinking hard about a solution.
There was a knock on the door: "Ryan, are you inside?"
"I'm here, Lidya Su."
The queen in full dress came in and looked at Ryan: "Dear, we have guests."
"Guest?" Ryan asked subconsciously: "Is it a lady?"
"No, it's His Majesty the King." Sulia said softly.
"King? Your Majesty?" Ryan was confused: "Which King is your Majesty? Dwarf? Elf?"
"No, it's ours, His Majesty the King." Sulia laughed and went out.