Chapter 678 Divorce
".—What? The Redeemer～""
"Yes, Your Majesty the Duke. This is the description in the secret letter from Santia City. The letter also said that the Earl of the North Land after occupying our city Instead of burning, killing and looting, they opened warehouses to provide food to the homeless and begged for help. Not only that, they also recruited a large number of refugees to repair the houses that were burned down by the war, and paid them according to the market price of adult labor. "Now~" The person who spoke was hesitant.
"What now? Say it!"
The figure facing the window in the study sternly scolded, accompanied by bursts of gasping sounds.
"Yes, yes, Your Majesty the Duke. I said, I said~ Now the Lombards in the areas occupied by the Burangdians have surrendered to the Northland Count, and some have even begun to publicly swear allegiance to him——"
The Duke of Lombardy is located in the study room of the Milan palace. The palace palmist raised his right hand tremblingly, wiping the thin sweat that continued to appear on his forehead.
As the prime minister of the Lombardy court, Zeng'er had great success. As the second-ranking figure in Lombardy, a powerful country in the southern continent, after Duke Witote, the Prime Minister of the Palace holds great power and controls the fate of countless people.
But since the beginning of the northern war, the continuous defeats and defeats have made him, as the Prime Minister of the Lombard Palace, run around without touching the ground all day long.
As the core figure of the palace, he not only has to keep abreast of the war situation in various places, but also coordinates the raising and allocation of supplies, weapons, food and other miscellaneous matters in the rear.
What's even worse is that since the Duke of Lombardy was defeated and returned to Milan, his temper has become even more irritable and irritable. As the palace prime minister directly responsible to Duke Witott, he was always facing abuse and reproach from the other party. If you don't pay attention, you will be killed.
Just yesterday, just because the servant delivered the food a moment later than usual, the Duke of Lombardy drew his sword and beheaded him on the spot,
and stabbed the unlucky guy dozens of times with his sword. It wasn't until the servant's limbs were in pieces and bloody that the Duke of Lombardy threw the sword aside.
This scene happened to be caught by the Prime Minister of the Palace who was planning to come to meet the Duke of Lombardy. So, the Prime Minister of the Palace, who had stood blankly outside the door for a while, walked out slowly with heavy steps and dragged his legs. Now, any unfavorable battle report coming from the front line would make the Prime Minister of the Palace feel uneasy. In addition to worries about the war, there is also the possibility of sudden scolding at any time when meeting the Duke of Lombardy.
"Your Majesty the Duke~" the Prime Minister of the Palace mustered up the courage to take a small step forward and shouted softly.
Silence, deathly silence—
For a moment, the lingering sound of words echoed in the wide study room. After a while, the palace prime minister felt that the only sound in the room was his slow breathing and the beating of his heart~
～
After a while, a long and feeble sigh came from the window. At this time, the Duke of Lombardy, who was wearing a brown nightgown, slowly turned around and faced the palace prime minister.
"It's really unexpected. In just a few days, Lombardy not only lost a large area of land in the north and dozens of towns and forts, but now it also lost people's hearts~"
The Duke of Lombardy's tone was calm, but his words were full of helplessness.
At this time, the Prime Minister of the Palace, who did not even dare to take a breath a moment ago, looked at the Duke of Lombardy cautiously. He was surprised to find that the Duke's face looked more haggard than in the past few days, and his already thin hair looked a bit messy, with a lot of white stubble growing between his hair. Those eyes that made people dare not look directly were covered with bloodshot eyes, and his sallow and dry skin made him exhausted.
“Forget it, this is not what we should be focusing on right now. As long as we can drive the northerners out, those untouchables will surrender to me sooner or later.” The Duke of Lombardy walked towards the half glass of wine placed on the wooden table.
"By the way, is there any latest news from Besançon?" After saying that, the Duke of Lombardy brought the wine glass to his lips and took a sip.
Faced with the sudden change of temperament of the Duke of Lombardy, the Prime Minister of the Palace was somewhat unable to react.
Hence, Besançon, yes, Your Majesty the Duke, I am about to report to you about Besançon."
Him The Prime Minister of the Palace reached out and took out a volume of secret letters from his waist, and slowly unfolded it. "This is a secret message sent from the north late last night. Please read it."
After speaking, the Prime Minister of the Palace handed the secret message to the Duke of Lombardy.
"Our people reported that the news of Flanders's death has spread around Besancon. The Duchy of Burgundy, the Duchy of Swabia, and Paris in the northwest will soon learn of the matter. I believe that the Besancon palace can no longer sit still at this moment." The Prime Minister of the palace gave a beard to the corner of his mouth, quite proudly.
For days, the news of Lombardy's defeat had been ringing in his ears, making him extremely annoyed. Now the news finally came. In any case, this can be regarded as giving Lombardy, shrouded in the shadow of failure, some hope.
"Hahaha——" The Duke of Lombardy held the secret letter in his hands and suddenly laughed loudly.
"Well, my hard work in setting up this situation was not in vain. Once the palace of Besancon begins to be in turmoil, the Burgundian army will not be able to hold on for long.
At that time, it is the best time for us to counterattack. "
"Your Excellency, the Duke is brilliant!" The Prime Minister of the Palace lost no time in flattering him.
"Tell Lord Cote to seize the opportunity to get rid of Flanders's two bastard sons and that woman. Once this is done, the Milan court will have one more court leading count!"
As long as he can achieve his goal, the Duke of Lombardy will not begrudge the title of a palace leading count.
"Yes, Your Majesty the Duke."
The Duke of Lombardy wanted to raise his glass and drink again, but found that the glass had already reached the bottom.
The Prime Minister of the Palace hurriedly stepped forward, picked up the wine flask and filled the glass with half a glass of wine.
At this time, the Duke of Lombardy asked again: "Is there any news from Lavati?"
The Prime Minister of the Palace, who was about to pick up the wine glass and hand it to the Duke of Lombardy, suddenly stopped and replied hesitantly: "Return to your lord the Duke,
There is no news from Lavati yet."
「什么？」
「不过您放心，我已经派人前去打探了，相信这两日便会得知那里的情况。」宫廷首相急忙解释，生怕伦巴第公爵再次动怒，
hh "In addition, once I get the list of people who are going to Rawati to attend that bullshit autonomous meeting, I will arrest all these bastards immediately and confiscate all their property."
hh "Don't worry, Duke, I have already arranged this matter."
After this battle, military expenditures were huge, and the Lombard palace finances were once unable to make ends meet. If you want to continue the war, in addition to plundering the wealth from the lords' lands, the autonomous city-states are also an important source.
Coupled with the fact that Lavati united other autonomous city-states to fight against the Milanese court, the Duke of Lombardy had long made up his mind to get rid of these maggots attached to the bones. This will not only get rid of your own troubles, but also gain a large amount of extra wealth to support war expenses.
"Have there been any changes in the Burgundian Guards to the north of Sauronburg?"
"Back to your lord, the Guards remained stationary. They neither attacked the city nor retreated. Moreover, the defenses were tight and the military discipline was strict. The defenders of Sauronburg had several small-scale conflicts with them, but almost every time it was our people who suffered the loss~" The palace prime minister said with shame, and slowly lowered his head.
The battle with the Praetorian Guards led by Flanders put the Duke of Lombard on the wrong foot. Not only did he lose a lot of elites, he almost lost his life.
Although I had heard before that Flanders' Guards Corps was mainly composed of mountain mercenaries from the previous Longxia Legion, they were powerful, disciplined, and fearless of life and death. Only after real contact did the Duke of Lombardy have to admit this fact.
Now the Burgundian Palace Guards are entrenched to the north of Sauronburg, posing a great threat to Sauronburg. Coupled with the thousands of Welsh Legion soldiers around the city of Santia, one can imagine the great pressure Soronborg faced.
Although Sauron Castle is easy to defend and difficult to attack, based on the Duke of Lombardy's understanding of the Northland Earl, it will be a matter of time before Sollon Castle is conquered. If the enemy's attack cannot be disrupted before then, once the Burangdians break through the Sauronburg defense line, it will take less than a month to directly capture Milan, the capital of the Principality of Lombardy.
The Duke of Lombardy knew very well that he did not have much time left~
"No advance, no retreat. What are they waiting for?"
The Duke of Lombardy rubbed his hands and walked back and forth in the room, thinking about ways to defeat the enemy.
After a while, the Duke of Lombardy suddenly stopped in front of the palace prime minister.
"Yes, the Praetorian Guards!" the Duke of Lombardy roared, extremely excited.
"Regiment of the Praetorian Guards?" the Prime Minister of the Palace asked instead.
"Yes, the Guards. This is the army that Flanders relies on most, and it can even be said to be his sword. Most of the troops he brought from the Longxia Mountains, and they have followed him for many years, and they can be said to be loyal. The reason why they stand still is that they have not yet received the troops. Rand's order. As an elite division directly under Flanders, ordinary people cannot mobilize it at all. Therefore, I judge that the Guards Corps has no knowledge of Flanders' death!"
The Duke of Lombardy spoke faster and faster, his words full of excitement.
"What does the Duke mean to sow discord between the Palace Guards and the Northland Earl, so that they turn against each other, disrupt the enemy's deployment, and disrupt their attack?"
The Duke of Lombardy looked at the Palace Prime Minister and said with satisfaction: "That's it! Once the soldiers of the Palace Guards learn that Flanders is dead,
Their military morale will surely be weakened, and their will to fight will also collapse. When the time comes, they will be as fragile as a herd of goats without a leader. "
"So, Your Majesty the Duke, what should we do?" The palace prime minister hurriedly stepped forward and asked.
The Duke of Lombardy called the Prime Minister of the Palace to step forward and whispered in his ear: "In this case, you immediately send a group of troops to the palace guard camp secretly, bringing a secret message, and then"
"Yes, Your Majesty the Duke, I understand, I understand."