Chapter 742 Undercurrent
The first Tuesday of January, Besançon, the capital of the Kingdom of Burgundy.
After nearly a week of bad weather, the weather finally cleared up.
However, even though the weather is no longer as depressing as it was a few days ago, the residents of the entire city do not have the joy and laughter of the past. Since the news of the death of King Flanders came from the palace, the entire city seemed to have fallen into a dead silence. At first, many people thought that this was still a conspiracy of the Lombards, trying to disturb people's hearts again. However, when the palace clerk and his clerks posted the confession announcing Flanders' murder everywhere, the people finally reacted.
The moment the previous rumors became reality, people no longer regarded the matter as a chat after dinner, but instead felt an inexplicable panic about the subsequent change of power in the Hou Kingdom.
· Everyone has fresh memories of the battle for power that took place in this ancient city a few years ago. In just a few years, two monarchs have died one after another. There are even rumors that Besançon must have been punished by God and cursed by the devil. There is even a saying spread in the streets: Flanders Otto must have been cursed by the family of the former Marquis Ivrea.
As the news of Flanders's death gradually spread, the rumors about him plotting a rebellion to seize the position of marquis were mentioned again. There were even small-scale riots in some places, demanding that the Otto family hand over power and leave the court of Besançon.
When the heads of the rioters who participated in the trouble were ordered to be hung on the city wall by the local lord, no one dared to spread rumors and cause trouble.
A few days later, the nobles in the Besançon court who had colluded with Lombard spies to try to murder the monarch's son were sentenced to death by the court for colluding with foreign enemies and premeditated murder.
it is worth mentioning that two of them once served the former palace prime minister Baldwin, and one has some connection with the Bernard family.
The other one is an old kinsman brought by Flanders from Longxia.
No one would have thought that these seemingly hostile factions would now join forces to attack Flanders' family, which is really incredible.
Perhaps even Flanders himself would not have thought that the network of power he had tried so hard to maintain did not seem to be as strong as it seemed. Not long after the news of his death came out, the power struggle hidden in the dark depths of the Besancon Palace had begun to surface. Under the undercurrent, the battle for the position of the Marquis had already begun in the financial office of the Besancon Palace, the official room where Lord Galvin, the Finance Minister, was located.
Since escorting King Flanders back to Besançon, Lord Galvin has spent all his food and accommodation at the Finance Office, except for returning home the next day to pick up some documents.
Now that the news of Flanders' death has been announced to all parts of the princely country, the subsequent funeral matters have become a top priority.
As Flanders's designated palace finance minister, and as an existing elder of the Otto family, the responsibility for the state funeral for Flanders naturally fell on Galvin.
A few days ago, he drew up a list of the nobles from various countries who were invited to attend the funeral. After the order was sent, he summoned the middle- and upper-level officials of the Finance Office to calculate the huge cost of the funeral.
Although the Hou Kingdom experienced an unprecedented war many years ago, the people were in dire straits, trade was withered, and farming was abandoned. However, after years of careful governance by Flanders, the economic situation and national income of the princely state have been greatly improved. Even so, Flanders still asked the palace officials to economize on food and clothing and eliminate waste.
In order to comply with Flanders's usual thrifty style during his lifetime, the royal council agreed with Lord Galvin's suggestion that the funeral should be simple.
Putting down the quill in his hand and looking at the long string of numbers on the paper on the table, Galvin sighed. He rubbed his aching waist, then took a sip from the glass cup on the table.
After rough calculation, Flanders's funeral expenses were about 400,000 pfennigs. Half is spent by the state treasury and the other half comes from external borrowing. The reason for this arrangement is not because the treasury cannot come up with the money.
According to the rules and regulations set by Flanders during his lifetime, all treasury funds cannot be used for any large expenditures by the palace. If a natural or man-made disaster occurs in the kingdom in the future and money is urgently needed, the palace can deal with it calmly. Therefore, the treasury has always had sufficient funds.
Coupled with Burgundy's southern expedition to Lombardy, the palace will receive huge sums of money again in the near future. Although there is currently no Fenney entering the treasury, the financial situation of the Burgundy Kingdom will be greatly improved after the war.
As the finance minister of the princely state, and as a member of the Otto family, Lord Galvin always thinks of his family.
In the past few days at the Financial Office, he could barely touch the ground. When he was not discussing funeral matters with the ministers of the Imperial Council, he was dealing with the backlog of official documents. Coupled with the sadness caused by Flanders' death and his selfless devotion to staying up all night for days, he looked much older.
After getting up and walking around the office room for a few times, Galvin returned to his seat again. Just as he was about to take up a pen to revise some details on the funeral list, there was a sudden knock on the door.—
"Lord Galvin, the Minister of Public Security of the Palace wishes to see you." Outside the door, the guard reported softly.
Galvin put down the quill he had just picked up and said, "Invite him in."
"Lord Galvin~" The palace minister of security took the initiative to greet him after entering the door.
Galvin nodded slightly in return, and then motioned for the Minister of Public Security to sit on a chair nearby.
After a while, the servant placed the glass cup filled with wine on the tray in front of the Minister of Public Security.
"Lord Orgrith, what do you want from me?" Galvin asked after the servant closed the door to the office.
The Minister of Public Security looked embarrassed and said: "Well, it's like this, Lord Galvin. Since the time of the monarch's funeral was announced, a large number of people poured into the city of Besançon every day. The manpower of the Palace Sheriff's Department is really not enough to maintain the city. The previous order——"
"In recent days, the number of fights and thefts in the city has continued to increase, more than doubling compared to before. If this continues, I'm afraid there will be trouble sooner or later." The Minister of Public Security looked slightly anxious.
Galvin thumbed his gray beard on his chin, and after thinking for a while, he asked: "Why don't you go to Lord Criti, the Minister of War (full name Criti Ika, former first deputy commander of the Longxia Army, he was awarded the title of Earl of Longxia after the Battle of the Successor, and the Palace Minister of Military Affairs). You can allocate some soldiers from his Guards Corps to assist you."
The Minister of Public Security shook his head after hearing this. "As you know, most of the Guards have already gone south. The few hundred people who stayed in Besançon are responsible for the peripheral defense of Besançon and the security of the palace. There are no extra manpower at all. Just a few days ago, Kerry Mr. Ti also hopes that I will dispatch some security soldiers to help him strengthen the defense of the city——"
"What do you mean~"
The Minister of Public Security stepped forward and asked earnestly: "I wonder if I could trouble you to ask Baron Phoenix to allocate some soldiers to assist the Sheriff's Department in maintaining order in the city -
After the Minister of Public Security finished speaking, he still stared at Galvin motionless, expecting to get a positive answer from him.
After thinking about it, Galvin agreed to the Minister of Public Security's request and decided to temporarily transfer one hundred young peasant soldiers under Phoenix to the Sheriff's Department, and return to their original place after the funeral.
After hearing this, the Minister of Public Security immediately raised his eyebrows and stood up to thank him. Then he took Lord Galvin's seal and went to the station where Phoenix was located to mobilize troops.
Since Galvin and Phoenix returned to Besançon and gathered thousands of young soldiers in just three days to eliminate the few moths hiding in the palace with thunder, the important officials in the palace changed their previous attitude and became polite to Lord Galvin.
They absolutely did not expect that the finance minister, who usually seemed very friendly, seemed to be a different person after returning from the south.
·During the Flanders period, Galvin rarely expressed his political opinions in public. Now that Flanders has passed away, as the pillar of the Otto family, Galvin has no choice but to step forward.
On the day he returned to Besançon, he held an emergency meeting as regent and ordered Phoenix to mobilize more than a hundred elite soldiers that day to guard the Marquise and the two princes at all times. In addition, in order to avoid trouble, he also transferred fifty people from the Imperial Guard Corps to the original palace guards to be responsible for the peripheral defense.
Of course, although the important ministers in the palace were reluctant to be manipulated by an old man over fifty years old, due to the trust of the thousands of soldiers under Phoenix and the Marquise, they could only complain behind their backs.
".—Father! You are looking for me."
At night, Phoenix came to Lord Galvin's office in the Financial Office and saw a tired-looking Galvin writing at his desk, with a dull mind.
An hour ago, Phoenix, who had just finished his patrol, was found by a servant sent by Galvin, and was brought to the Finance Office on the pretense that Lord Galvin wanted to see him for something important.
Galvin did not look up, and the quill wrote the last letter on the yellowed straw paper. Gently pinch both ends of the straw paper and slowly lift it up, blow a few breaths on the ink that is not yet dry, roll the straw paper into a paper tube, stuff it into a special tube, and put it in the mezzanine of the bookcase next to it.
Galvin rubbed his tired eyes, turned around and said, "Stop standing, sit down and talk."
So Phoenix sat silently opposite his father.
"Have the affairs of the Minister of Public Security been arranged properly?" Galvin suddenly mentioned what happened during the day.
"Everything has been arranged according to your instructions."
"Tomorrow is the funeral of your cousin Flanders, and noble merchants from all over the world will come to pay his respects as scheduled. But it is also the most likely time to cause chaos. Remember, tell your soldiers to strictly check people entering and leaving the church square, and you must not let things like what happened at the funeral of the Marquis of Ivrea many years ago happen."