After passing the words, there was still no response from the high elf side. Ryan waited for another day. The War Council was still meeting intensively. Lothern had good weather as usual.
Little Sol Green-Iron Hammer sent someone to report to Ryan, saying that the ironclad ship has been repaired and can be used. Among them, the dwarf gun bullets and helicopter fuel, and the ironclad ship fuel have been almost replenished. Only the artillery shells, especially the triple
Shells for naval guns cannot be produced here.
In the previous sea battle, almost half of the armored ship's artillery shells had been used, and the rest could only be used sparingly.
Ryan has no other choice but to wait. I want to emphasize here that the concept of time between elves and humans is indeed very different. Waiting for one or two months for one thing may be considered very procrastinating for humans, but for elves
It's nothing at all.
Don’t you know what we are talking about? We just need to plan and think about it again.
After inspecting the situation of the ironclads and the training of the Old Guards during this period, Ryan expressed satisfaction on the surface, but the Knight King held back. The next night, Ryan and his Queen Surya prepared to go again
Make a surprise inspection of the Old Guard.
At night, Lothern was like spring all year round, and the refreshing sea breeze blew through the garden of the villa, where Ryan and Sulia set out.
Today, Sulia wore an Ulthuan Elion dark blue diamond princess sparkling dress, paired with ultra-thin gray velvet soft pantyhose. She was beautiful and beautiful. She held Ryan's arm and said enthusiastically:
"My dear, guess when will that piece of dog-skin plaster arrive?"
"I guess it will be soon... Huh?" Ryan looked at the bright moonlight above the dark blue sky. The Knight King looked up and found that standing at the door of the villa was another elf noble.
This elf nobleman looks very similar to Minister Charles, but he looks more haggard and not in good spirits. He has long wavy gray-white hair parted in the middle, revealing a big forehead. What's even more striking is that he also has
He was leaning on a cane, and his clothes were not very tidy. Although they were not shabby, they always smelled of shabby. When he saw Ryan and Sulia appearing, he hurriedly saluted in a panic: "Your Majesty, Queen,
Good evening, I'm in charge today."
"Who are you?" Ryan wondered why he was a different person: "Where's Arsene? I'm really not used to seeing him before."
"I am De Talleyrand Maurice Benister." The elf noble smiled a little awkwardly: "I am the cousin of the former Minister of Charles...if he admits it."
"Admit it?" Ryan asked with great interest: "Can you tell me about you?"
"I am an illegitimate child. I was born accidentally after a maternity party about a hundred and twenty years ago. I don't know who the father is." The elf noble said everything about himself very bachelorly: "I was born in Charis.
...In everyone's opinion, it is the home of lowly country bumpkins. When I was a child, my mother placed me in Charis's manor to grow up. I accidentally fell off a high stool and became disabled. When I grew up, she asked me to come to Lowther.
En went to his relatives, that's all."
"Then why are you sent here?" Ryan only felt that the high spirit in front of him had no arrogance at all, and was frank and enthusiastic. The King of Knights was also happy to say a few more words: "Where is Arsene?"
"Mr. Arsène has something to do. Oh, if you don't mind, your Majesty, please just call me de Talleyrand. I am only one hundred and twenty years old this year. If you calculate it according to Assur, I am much younger than you."
"The high elf noble gave up a smile. He did not put on the airs unique to high elf. He seemed sincere and even a little flattering: "Wherever you want to go, I will accompany your majesty and the queen. Just don't go too fast. I may
Can’t keep up.”
"De Talleyrand?" Ryan thought to himself. This name sounds familiar to me, but he didn't think too much about it. This high-elf nobleman has a very good attitude, which has caused him to be despised and all kinds of weird things by the high-elves for a period of time.
Ryan and Lidya Su both felt as if they had gained the right to breathe, and their impressions of him couldn't help but get better. This was probably the feeling of someone getting bigger inside.
In this way, de Talleyrand became the new guide. According to him, Arsène took two days off because he had to count his family's trade bills and imported goods. Arsène's family was originally a family that produced a large number of Lothern Tritons.
, but they now rely on business and ocean-going trade as their main source of wealth, and the number of family members serving in the military has been decreasing day by day.
Leaning on crutches, de Talleyrand limped step by step and said a little embarrassedly: "Sorry, Your Majesty, I am not a person qualified to know more things. If we use the situation at hand as an analogy, Mr. Arsène is responsible
The client’s department manager, and I’m just a negative person
The servant who serves the dishes. In Ulthuan, especially in Lothern, your birth determines whether you are the one who serves others or the one who is served. And I am the one who serves the dishes, and so will I be in the future.
The greatest hope in life is to serve an elf prince."
Ryan felt a little sad when he heard this.
Are high elves really free and democratic? In fact, not necessarily.
In addition to the elves' contempt for humans and dwarves, the high elves actually have a chain of contempt for themselves. The inner ring kingdom despises the outer ring kingdom, the noble bloodline despises the ordinary bloodline, the city despises the countryside, the spell caster despises the ordinary people...etc.
A chain of contempt with more than ten links, from top to bottom.
And this de Talleyrand is an elf at the bottom of the chain of contempt. He is a country bumpkin Charis in the Outer Ring Kingdom. He is also a member of a farm, is not strong enough, and is a lame. Therefore, he is at the bottom of the chain of contempt.
As for the lower class, if he didn't have a reliable distant relative, he wouldn't have been able to come to Lothern.
"What is the current situation in the Kingdom of Charis?" On the way to the alien residential area, Ryan chatted with Mr. Talleyrand with great interest. De Talleyrand was somewhat flattered by the attitude of the King of Knights.
He didn't understand why the King of Knights disliked the learned Arsène so much, but liked talking to him.
"Not so good, Your Majesty." Talleyrand was leaning on a cane. He thought for a while and decided to answer truthfully: "Charis is an empty and forested kingdom, primitive and backward. That's why everyone thinks that Charis is
Charis is a place where a group of country bumpkins live, but now Charis has become the only way for the dark elves to invade.
, due to war and backwardness, the population there is getting smaller and smaller, leaving behind countless abandoned lands. Many ancient and historical towns and manors have been deserted, and many gardens and theaters have not been open for hundreds of years.
Yes, there are many castles built to defend against the dark elves, but most of them do not have enough troops to garrison them."
"Why did it decline so much?" Lidya Su frowned.
"In order to protect the safety of the Phoenix King, the most elite white lion guards of Charis were transferred to Lothern. In addition, those who had the means to leave have left. My mother has not liked my lame son since she was a child.
That's why I'm here." Talleyrand tried his best to say what he could say: "That's it."
"Since the population is small, why not have more children?" Sulia asked casually. The queen did not understand the ultra-low fertility rate of high sperm.
"For my mother, there are many things to do in a long life. Gardening flowers and singing songs is far more relaxing and comfortable than raising a child. One more child means another heavy burden and encumbrance. In Ulthuan,
The cost of raising a good offspring is very high." Talleyrand shrugged.
His face was full of self-deprecation: "I am very grateful to my mother for bringing me into this world, but I have been in foster care since I was born, and I have not met my mother more than a hundred times. I can't force my mother to see me more."
, I can only be myself, and she doesn’t like a lame son.”
The peaceful and welfare society of high elves! It is really fundamentally different from that of dark elves. For dark elves, more people bring more combat power, while for high elves, more people bring more burdens.
Ryan closed his eyes and shook his head. The King of Knights said nothing more, but motioned for Talleyrand to follow.
So Sanguinius's words gave Lion even greater inspiration.
There are limits to machinations, and there are limits to manpower. No matter how powerful the palace conspiracy of the high elves is, it is nothing more than dividing the whole cake into infinite subdivisions and eating as cleanly as possible, but it will still decline. No matter how powerful the machinations are, they can change the population.
What? Can you create money and food? No money means no money, and no people means no people.
Ryan understood better why he chose Fenubar, a navigator, to be the Phoenix King, because he was the only one who could make the cake bigger and pull the high spirits out of the mire. It was as simple as that.
About thirty minutes later, Ryan arrived at the Old Guards station in the alien activity area. The King of Knights deliberately wanted to find out what the Old Guards were doing. He thought about it, took out a few gold coins, and handed it to
To Talleyrand: "Do yourself a favor and tell the guard that you want to go in and have a look. If the other party doesn't agree, then use the money to ask the other party for convenience."
"Okay!" De Talleyrand didn't think much. He directly took the money from Ryan's hand and limped toward that direction.
Ryan also took a look at the prosperous streets nearby. The lights were bright here, and there were many soldiers from the Old Guard and the Ash Legion active outside. However, most of them were officers taking the soldiers out to buy supplies, and some went out to eat and drink.
.
Ryan noticed that two old guardsmen, their faces red from drinking, had just walked out of the alley at the corner of the street. They came out to tidy up their clothes, and then they looked satisfied and planned to return to the station. There were two people deep in the alley.
The beautifully dressed woman escorted them out. It was obvious what these two guys had just done.
"These guys!" Ryan frowned, and he said to Sulia: "How can..."
"My dear, not every soldier comes out with his wife and maid like you." Sulia's jade finger pointed at Ryan's eyebrow: "I have been out for several months, please be considerate to them, okay? You
You might as well ask if they are on vacation? If they are on vacation, it doesn't matter."
Lane stipulated that when the Old Guard was stationed outside, they would be given one day off every ten days.
"Okay!" Ryan thought, he shook his head mockingly, then his face became firm again, he strode forward and stopped in front of the two old guards: "What battalion are you from?"
"We? Ah? Who are you?" The two old Guardsmen had drunk a little too much and were quite unhappy when someone stopped them. But when they saw it was Ryan, they were so frightened that they immediately woke up and knelt down:
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty!?"
"Which battalion?" Ryan said sharply.
"He's...from the Halberd Camp." The two old Guardsmen lowered their heads and said tremblingly.
"Why are you here?" Ryan asked next.
"I have a day off today." One of the tall men said with some fear: "Finally it's our turn, so we decided to go out for a drink and do... that."
Hearing that they were on vacation, Ryan's face looked much better. The King of Knights nodded: "Okay, get up."
"Yes." The two old guards stood up quickly. They were completely awake after being frightened. Thinking that such a thing was unexpectedly caught by the king, they blushed and lowered their heads in embarrassment: "Your Majesty, Queen."
"Where is Commander Raymond of your Halberd Battalion?" Ryan asked casually.
"Batalion Commander Raymond is reading military books in the station. There are a lot of translated elf military books for sale here. The battalion commander has only been reading those books recently besides training." The tall man continued to answer.
"Do you often leave the station?" Lidya Su's tone was much gentler.
"Who among us dares? From Sir Bertrand and Sir Davout to every officer, they can only leave the station when they are on vacation or have something to do. Everyone has an early roll call and a late roll call every day. The military order is strict. We
I am on vacation from this afternoon until tomorrow afternoon, so I will be on vacation tonight and tomorrow
There is no need for roll call this morning, but there will be roll call tomorrow night." The tall man lowered his head and said forcefully: "Your Majesty, we were all serfs originally. If Your Majesty hadn't discovered us, we would have the glory and glory we have now.
Status, we don’t know where to farm yet!”
"That Engineer Thomas is the younger brother of Battalion Commander Raymond, and he only comes to see him on the days when the battalion commander is on vacation, to have a meal and go shopping together." The short man also said: "We are glorious elders.
Guards, we will always fight for the king and the kingdom, Your Majesty, please believe in us!"
"Hmm~" Ryan was satisfied now. The Old Guards under his command already had their own military spirit. In addition to salary and the hope of promotion, the sense of national pride and national glory also inspired these elites: "
very good."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty~" At this time, Talleyrand was panting and approaching with a cane, and the high elf gasped: "Guards, no matter what, they are not allowed in~ Huh~ Ha~ They said that even the Phoenix King's Court Sect
Neither can those who come.”
"Very good, let's go in." Ryan motioned for everyone to follow him and walked to the gate of the station. The black muzzles of five long-barreled fire guns produced by Nur were pointed at them: "Who... my
Your Majesty, my queen?!"
"Are Bertrand and Davout here?" Ryan nodded, still being cautious.
"The commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief are here, and they are looking at the map."
Ryan couldn't help but smile when he heard this. Since becoming the God of Tarr, Bertrand has become more confident and more confident. He is no longer a little envious and a little hostile to Davout like before. I don't know.
Why was he chosen by Tarr, but this was a good thing for Ryan, because Tarr didn't care about the human world at all, and naturally it was impossible to give Bertrand any strange oracle.
The moment the King of Knights and the Queen were about to go in and take a look, a bell suddenly rang from the direction of Lothern City.
“Dong~~dong~~dong~~~”
"Dong~~~~"
Ryan and Sulia were fine, but Talleyrand's face changed drastically as he stood aside. He quickly said to Ryan and others: "It's not good, Your Majesty, Queen, this bell is..."
"What is this bell?" Sulia asked immediately.
"This bell is the bell for the army to assemble!" Talleyrand hit the ground hard with his crutch: "This is the bell for the War Parliament to assemble the army. This can only mean one thing, that is, the war lord Tyrion
Your Excellency is gathering the troops!"
"But we haven't gotten the war council's combat policy yet...ah!" Sulia immediately reacted.
"Damn it!" Ryan stomped his feet hard. The king's face was full of anger and helplessness: "I keep pushing and pushing, and the War Council just drags and drags. Has this dragged out something?"
"Call everyone and enter the combat preparation stage!" Ryan didn't hesitate at all. He immediately shouted at the guards.
The Old Guards shouted in response and rushed into the garrison to summon the army.