The end of autumn is not yet over, and the cold weather is beginning to arrive.
A low-level official in the Prime Minister's Office of the Palace of the Marquis of Burgundy was arrested by the Palace Minister of Security. He was accused of lying after drinking and torturing a bartender in a certain tavern to death.
For Besançon, the capital city where casualties occur every day, this is really not a big deal.
If the owner of this tavern called "Moulin Rouge" hadn't been very smart, maybe the guy from the palace prime minister's office would have just gritted his teeth and paid a few large silver coins to settle the matter.
Humistically, the tavern owner Emery is a serious person, and he was sent to jail with just one complaint.
With a fine, a prison sentence — and even a beheading to pay for his life—it didn't matter. However, the sheriff responsible for the interrogation was a nosy person, and while interrogating this "manslaughter" charge, he asked for other evidence.
As a result, several other mid-level officials in the palace prime minister's office were exposed for embezzling funds allocated by the palace for post-war reconstruction and corruption. The amount was not large, but the circumstances were very serious.
The palace justice came forward and sent five officials from the palace and prime minister's offices to prison.
The matter was far from over. On the third day after the corrupt officials were arrested and imprisoned, the tax auditor in the Palace Finance Office, based on reliable information, "suddenly" discovered that two county magistrates in the Soone Province, which was directly under the monarch's jurisdiction, had just taken office less than a year ago. They had concealed the land population and agricultural output value of the county. In the past six months, they had evaded state taxes and various taxes that should be handed over to the palace, amounting to a hundred thousand pfennigs.
Hence, the palace finance minister was alerted, and the matter was brought to the attention of King Flanders.
The king was very angry, and Baldwin was panicked...
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Besançon, the inner court of the palace.
Count Baldwin, the Prime Minister of the Burgundy Kingdom, could not kneel down. King Flanders tried to pull him up several times but failed.
"Mr. Palace Prime Minister, why are you doing this? The chief judge has already made it clear that those bastards' interception of funds and omission of national taxes were just actions they did in private without telling you, and they have nothing to do with you!"
"Your Majesty, Marquis, those bastards did these things without telling me, but they were always promoted and appointed by me. I have sins that are unknown to anyone. Please punish me, Your Majesty." Baldwin started to wipe away tears when he mentioned the painful part.
Flender was forced to have no choice but to sigh, "It would be great if the noble officials in the entire princely country could be like the Prime Minister."
Flender said "Okay, Sir, I will confiscate five thousand pfennigs and suspend your salary for half a year."
Five thousand pfennigs and half a year's salary were hardly a punishment for Baldwin, but Flanders raised his hand to stop him without waiting for Baldwin to speak, "The Prime Minister is not guilty in the first place. If I punish you seriously, it will chill the whole kingdom."
Baldwin compromised, " Thank you, Marquis!"
"Your Majesty, those bastards in the palace minister's office deserved their death, but the two county chiefs were deceived by money, but they were both meritorious ministers~" Baldwin was still kneeling on the ground, still thinking about interceding for his confidants.
Flender suppressed the killing intent that flashed in his eyes, leaned over to help Baldwin up, and said gently: "I know that they are all meritorious officials who have followed the palace minister for many years, and they also made contributions in the battle for succession."
"Let's do this. We will remove the two county chiefs from their posts, collect the withheld national taxes, recover some of the fiefdoms, retain the title, and be imprisoned for half a year. They will be released after half a year to perform meritorious service. As for those guys in the palace prime minister's office, in order to do their best for the palace prime minister and the princes, their corrupt property will be confiscated and sentenced to one year in prison. I hope they will live up to the kindness of the palace prime minister."
Baldwin nodded gratefully. He expressed his stance and vowed to make those bastards return the stolen money...
Watching the satisfied Baldwin walk out of the inner court hall and disappear from sight, Flanders grabbed the silver cup with wine beside him and smashed it to the ground...
Baldwin left the inner court. He became more and more confused about the things that happened frequently recently and couldn't see the reasons.
King Flanders already had a grudge against the old-school powerful men, and Baldwin himself knew it. He once suspected that the recent frequent incidents involving people around him were the precursors for Flanders to attack him.
But it happened that Flanders confided in him and had no intention of taking action.
Three days later, the people who had been dismissed one after another in the previous days were dealt with one by one, but just as Flanders promised, the stolen money was recovered, the land, gold and silver were confiscated, and the chief judge sentenced him to imprisonment ranging from several months to a year.
This punishment is too light, so light that even Baldwin himself would be embarrassed.
Another week has passed, and the palace prime minister's office, which had been disturbed by uproar, returned to its usual calm, and nothing seemed to have happened.
Calmness lasted for three days, until one afternoon when the sun was still setting, Baldwin, who had just finished the court meeting and was returning to the palace prime minister's residence, was besieged by a group of masked men who suddenly appeared on the street. Strangely enough, the group of masked men who seemed to be planning to assassinate Baldwin suddenly stopped and evacuated after knocking down three guards, leaving behind the palace prime minister Baldwin in a cold sweat and panic-stricken civilians running around in the street.
The Prime Minister of the palace was almost assassinated, and the city of Besançon was filled with storm.
The First Infantry Regiment of the Palace Guards (the backbone of which was part of the former Longxia Regiment) immediately blocked the city of Besançon, sent four teams of armored soldiers to search for the assassins in the city of Besançon, and immediately dispatched more than a hundred elite generals to protect the Palace Prime Minister's residence at all levels to prevent the assassins from committing another attack.
The palace guards are not only extremely brave in fighting enemies, but they are also excellent at chasing down murderers and catching thieves.
Less than two hours after the assassination in the palace, a group of people of unknown origin were arrested. After a surprise interrogation, those guys quickly revealed their origin - the Province of Yona.
It's a big deal. Someone in Yona Province actually assassinated his own lord. This move is tantamount to treason.
The king is angry!
He put on his old war robe, picked up a sharp sword, and personally led a hundred inner court guards to the palace to protect Baldwin.
The next morning, after learning that traitors from Yona Province had already sneaked into the Prime Minister's residence as a hidden assassin, Flanders immediately ordered all the guards and servants in the Prime Minister's residence to be imprisoned, and brought Baldwin and his family back to the inner court for strict protection...
The palace magistrate and the palace justice showed unprecedented efficiency. It only took half a day for them to investigate the entire matter.
At noon, earth-shattering and sensational news came from the palace - some lawless people in the princely country planned to murder Count Baldwin and colluded with the Swabians to invade the province of Jonah.
Three people become a tiger, no matter how bad words are, they can't stop being spread all over the sky.
侯国出现危机，宫廷军事大臣下达了全境戒严令，宫廷禁卫军团两个步兵分团一千精锐以及驻扎在贝桑松城外的宫廷禁卫军团骑兵团五百骑兵进入战备状态......
勃艮第侯国瞬时进入凛冬。