dognovel Chapter 238 Running away
Chapter 238 Running away
After coming out of the palace, John immediately summoned all the White Wolf Knights. After returning to his apartment to pack up simply, he led the team to leave Windham, fearing that the king would do something to him again.
On the way back, John was thinking about how to deal with the political situation of Midland, where the king's influence was growing. Now there was no doubt that by gradually taking back the noble territories whose direct bloodlines had been cut off, in a few years, the king's control over the Midland Kingdom would reach the peak of his life.
Before the plague came, although the combined territory and human and material resources of the nobles from all over the country were far greater than those of the king, if you picked out one noble from among them and compared them with the king, there were really not many people who could match the king in strength.
This plague tested the strength of the nobles in all aspects. The nobles with small territories and weak strength could not bear it, and could only watch their family bloodline cut off and their territories taken back by the king; the nobles with vast territories and strong strength, although they lost many noble descendants and civilians in the plague, at least they managed to survive, and their territories did not need to be taken back by the king. It would take more than ten years for them to recover and return to their peak.
The biggest winner this time was the king. As the ruler of a country, the king not only restored stability to his direct territory with the help of people from all walks of life during the plague, but also immediately used funds from the national treasury to purchase food from the chamber of commerce and donated it to civilians at low prices or for free. He also established a medical system with local church organizations, which in disguise gave the church a part of the power to manage the secular world. It can be said that he won the favor of both the general public and the church.
The end result of this was that after two years of struggling, the king finally saw the dawn of victory when the treasury was about to be exhausted. Not only did he solve the problem of the plague, but in the following years he would use the law and his army to reclaim the territories of nobles who had no direct bloodline. As for those families with declining populations, the king probably didn't intend to manage their territories anymore, and would probably use coercion and inducement to make them give up their territories and become a court minister in Windham, which would be the best treatment.
At this moment, a White Wolf Knight came to the window of John's carriage and said to John in the carriage:
"Sir, there is a group of knights ahead heading towards Wendam. Judging from the flag, they should be the White Dragon Knights."
"The White Dragon Knights, they should be under the command of Count Juris now." John thought so and suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Yes, I was wondering why the funeral was so strange. It turns out that Juris was not in Windham at that time." John suddenly thought of this. As the king's younger brother, he did not attend the princess's funeral. If the relationship between the two brothers was not very bad, then the king arranged for Count Juris to do something in advance that he did not want others to know.
As John watched the white dragon flag approaching from a distance, he could roughly guess that the rebellions in various places had basically been eradicated. Juris left Windham with the King's Knight Guards, probably heading towards some nobles.
Finally, when the two knight groups were a certain distance apart, both sides stopped at the same time. John led several White Wolf Knights on horseback to the front of the White Dragon Knights, and Count Juris, who was wearing armor, also rode to the front of the team.
Although he was a member of the royal family, according to the law, John's only direct feudal lord was the king, so he did not need to dismount and kneel on one knee to Count Juris. He only needed to salute slightly on the horse. After riding a few meters in front of Count Juris, John took off his hat and said:
"Good day, Count Juris."
"Good day, Count John." Count Juris also returned the greeting, and then he asked:
"Have you seen the king?"
John didn't know how Count Juris knew this news, but he still responded honestly:
"Yeah, I just left the palace a few hours ago."
Hearing this, Yuris looked around first, then said to John with a heavy face:
"Earl John, can you please talk to me alone about the princess' funeral so that I can be prepared when I meet the king?"
After hearing this, John had a clear idea of his attitude towards Count Juris. If he was going out on the king's orders, then he could just ask other nobles in Wendam. This meant that Count Juris wanted to talk to him about something that could not be said in Wendam.
"Of course." John agreed and dismissed everyone, then followed Count Juris on horseback towards the hill nearby.
After reaching the hill, Yuris looked around again, and after making sure that no one was around, he asked directly:
"The king summoned you because of the job transfer?"
"That is true, but I am very concerned about the ability of the king's next official to succeed me," John responded.
After noticing that John's words were full of dissatisfaction with the king, Count Juris raised his lips slightly, revealing an expression that he had known about this for a long time, and said to John:
"I guess Earl John is also dissatisfied with the king's order. In this case, I have a good idea that may help you deal with this problem."
"Oh, then I'd like to hear your opinion." John knew that Count Juris might not agree with the king in his heart, and that this result was probably caused by the power of the head of a country that could impress everyone.
As John expected, Count Juris's next words directly exposed his true intentions to John:
"You see, now that the princess has passed away, the king only has Princess Charlotte as his child. If he doesn't marry another princess and give birth to a male heir to the throne, I'm afraid the king's line will be extinct."
At this point, Count Juris whispered in John's ear:
"Although this is only a prediction of the future, Earl John, you should also make plans early. If something unexpected happens to the king in the future, I might be elected as the king by the nobles. By then, your appointment will only be a matter of a word from me, right?"
John pursed his lips. He just wanted me to support him to be the king. He was just painting a rosy picture for himself. Who knows what would happen when he really came to the throne.
Of course, he knew that Count Juris would never become king until his death. Whether in terms of influence or ability, Count Juris was slightly inferior to the king, not to mention the subsequent plot killings. So in John's view, no matter how fantastic Count Juris' words were, in his opinion, it was all nonsense.
However, John also had a doubt in his mind, that is, what confidence supported Count Juris to do this. At present, he had no territory openly, and the only thing he could lead was the White Dragon Knights. If he said that no one was secretly instigating or supporting him, John would not believe it.
"What Count Juris said does make sense." After Count Juris finished speaking, John first affirmed what Juris had said before, then changed the subject and shook his head and said:
"I'm afraid you don't have the strength to compete with the king at the moment."
When Count Juris heard this, he snorted coldly, knowing that John looked down on him, so he said to John:
"Although you didn't participate in the struggle between the court faction and the local faction, you must be aware of the power of the two factions of nobles."
John was confused by this question, so he followed up with his question:
"I have long understood the intensity of the struggle between the two factions of nobles. How come you are also involved in it?"
Count Juris laughed triumphantly, and then told John a fact that shocked him:
"You may not know that this noble struggle is actually controlled by the king, who asked me to secretly provide assistance to the weaker court faction in order to consume the nobles' resources and allow the royal family to secretly expand."
"Wow, that's a big job." John thought to himself. Seeing John's slightly shocked expression, Count Ulysse continued:
"The Count Milo before, who is now the Count Milo who has passed away for almost a year, was the leader of the entire court faction on the surface, but secretly he was just my glove. Not only that, the reason why Jules in your family was able to become the vice-leader of the White Lion Knights was also with my approval."
At this point, all the problems that had been in John's mind had been resolved. On the one hand, he lamented that the king was so shrewd that he could divide the nobles and profit from it when he just came to power; on the other hand, John really began to be wary of this king.
"But what does this have to do with you? After all, you are just working for His Majesty the King." John did not stop talking with Count Juris, but instead raised another question.
Seeing that John was very interested in this, Count Juris was happy to tell him that in his opinion, his status in John's heart had already risen to a certain level. As long as he added some more fuel to the fire, the other party might turn to him.
Thinking of this, Count Juris further tempted John:
"It's a pity that Count Milo has passed away, and his successor obviously can't help me any more. But if you like, it's not impossible for you to be the leader of the court faction. When I take the throne, you can also serve in the palace. By then, not only will you be successful, but the Hohenzollern family will also become a famous family."
Seeing Count Juris finished speaking, John just smiled, and then said briefly to the shock of the other party:
"Can't do it, thank you."
A week later, John led his team back to the Earl's Castle. Looking at the pile of documents, John said to himself as he flipped through them:
"It seems like it's time to find some people to help me with the work."
In the summer of 1451, following John's order, the Black Watch mercenaries returned to their base and resumed their mercenary business. Several trade routes to Midland were also restored, and the economy of John's territory began to show signs of recovery.
In the winter of the same year, a large number of refugees and rats carrying the virus who were infected with the disease and had nowhere to hide were frozen to death under the ravages of the winter wind. At this point, the plague that swept across the entire continent was completely over, and the history of the entire continent entered a new chapter.