Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 354 Several joys and sorrows

The aftermath of the "Battle for the Land of Cracked Souls", the "Ominous Incident of Rock Creek City" in January 95 of the Imperial Calendar, when the major territories in the southern border of the Empire sent troops to attack Rock Creek City and tried to capture the traitor Duke Houston, finally came to welcome. Here comes the end.

However, in this case, there does not seem to be a real winner:
The major territories in the southern border, which were mobilizing troops, did not achieve the expected goals—according to the original plan of the coalition forces, they wanted to use the coercion of the army to extract the traitor Duke Houston from the castle of Rock Creek City;

But no one would have thought that the Duke of Houston died in a tower explosion!
The accidental death of the Grand Duke not only made it impossible to carry out a justice trial against the traitorous nobleman, but also made "how the Grand Duke sold humans to the Federation" an unsolved eternal case, and also made the southern lords who led the coalition army stand behind their backs. He was charged with the historical crime of "reckless action, poor planning, and Maoist rescue";

As for the territorial elites who were sent to the "Rainbow Six" team by the major territories, but unfortunately died in the castle of Rock Creek City, they will become wounds that need to be licked slowly by these southern families.

Compared with the bereaved southern territories, the Igor family, who had defeated the "Hammer of Purgatory" and headed north to lead the operation, was not much better:
Lord Elliot Igor, Duke of Frost Maple Ridge, his brand-new "President Southern Military Affairs" has yet to sit on his butt, and he caused such a bloody disaster within his nominal jurisdiction...

The bad record of dying as soon as he took office has made some commentators quite worried about the future political prospects of the young Duke of Frost Maple Ridge, and they also suspect that the Igor family's supremacy will bring about a new round of political turmoil in the south;
However, there are also news from the north claiming that His Majesty the Emperor absolutely trusts Eliot Igor, the hero of the empire, and will never hold the Igor family accountable for the "unlucky incident in Rock Creek City".

And the brothers and neighbors in the south, the Grand Duchy of Houston and Rock Creek City itself, are of course the biggest victims of this incident.

Rock Creek City, this ancient southern hub city, had not had time to recover from the civil strife caused by the previous succession, and it was hit hard in just a few months—both in name and in reality these days. The two leaders, the Grand Duke of Houston and the Black Priest died at the same time overnight, which also made Rock Creek City and the Grand Duchy briefly unclaimed;
Although the war council formed by the southern princes entered the town hall on the second day after the death of the Duke of Houston and temporarily took over the daily affairs of the entire Grand Duchy of Houston, the ensuing civil strife and the tragic death of the Duke of Houston still brought great pressure to the local people. Came a serious sense of insecurity.

According to a later report by the reliable media "What the Lord Eats Today", after the death of the Grand Duke of Houston, there was a huge wave of immigrants in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Houston——

——Except for those farmers who depended on the land for generations, many merchants, craftsmen, warriors, and intellectuals in the Grand Duchy believed that the rule of the Houston family had declined, so they dragged their families and left Rock Creek City to seek a new one. develop.

This kind of population migration actually happened once during the civil strife in Yanxi City last year-the bloody town streets obviously left a huge psychological shadow on the local residents;

However, different from the situation last year, in addition to going north and going to other southern territories, the people who moved out this time also found another good place for themselves:

That is the Frost Maple Ridge on the south bank of the Lionheart River, on the wilderness of the Land of Cracked Souls.

The shadow of war brought about by the Glorious Federation not only oppresses the front line of Yongsun City in the east, but also makes the entire central plains of the empire seem unsafe. The land of souls has been favored by some brave men instead;

In fact, quite a number of people chose to move to the south because of their trust in the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge and the Igor family. Standing in line, most discerning people know who will become the new overlord of the southern border of the empire and whose thighs they should embrace in the new era.

In the end, who should be responsible for all of this, all the losses and sacrifices?
All the parties, I am afraid they can only give the same answer with a wry smile:
"Black Priest" Bartholomew de Hashi, a necromancer whose strength is completely beyond ordinary people's imagination.

The news that Bartholomew de Hash kidnapped the Grand Duke and planned some kind of secret religious ceremony with the intention of summoning the "Grim Reaper" has been recounted and recorded by the parties involved in the "Rainbow Six" team, and sent to the Magic Association, High Church and Inquisition—

——As for the conclusions that this group of magic and religious professionals will draw to this mysterious incident, it is beyond the knowledge of the nobles and commoners in the south.

Of course, these are the afterwords in the months or even years after the incident ended.

In Rock Creek City in January [-] of the Imperial Calendar, the southern nobles who had just collected the bones of the victims in the "Ominous Incident of Rock Creek City" had to face a serious problem:

Now that the Grand Duke of Houston is dead, who should belong to Rock Creek City and the Grand Duchy?

This serious question has already triggered a civil strife last year that made those who heard it sad and those who saw it shed tears. It is brought up again at this time, which still leads to sharp contradictions:
The southern nobles who formed the War Council and temporarily ruled Rock Creek City can roughly divide them into three views on the ownership of Rock Creek City:

The first view is more traditional, that is, Leon Houston, the distant nephew of the Duke of Houston, will inherit Rock Creek City. Although the Duke of Houston has no close relatives and heirs, according to the traditional inheritance law of the empire, as long as the Houston family has not been completely extinct, the Grand Duchy should still Stay in the hands of this Old Southern family.

The second point of view, which appeared once during the civil strife last year, is to apply to His Majesty Basil III to allow Count Dimitri, the governor of the southern border, to inherit Rock Creek City and the Grand Duchy, and Count Dimitri's original fief Trout Fish Fort can be exchanged for Leon Houston as compensation;
Those who hold this point of view are plausible: it is unreasonable for the majestic governor of the southern border to only have a small earldom. Since the Houston family has committed treason, they should learn from the Igor family and change to a small land. It should be the fairest arrangement for the locality to be the territory and the right to be punished;
However, the aristocrats who hold such a view may not really be for the good of Earl Dimitri-the change of title will inevitably bring chaos and a vacuum of power, and those who want to exchange territories between the Houston family and the Dimitri family , perhaps just to take advantage of this opportunity to earn more oil and water on the three-acre land of the Grand Duchy of Houston.

As for the third point of view, it is more interesting:

This group of nobles believed that the city of Rock Creek and the Grand Duchy of Houston should be handed over to the great Lord Elliot Igor!As a hero who defends the empire and a great man who catches traitors, the Duke of Shuangfengling has the right to be rewarded for his bravery and loyalty!

——It can only be said that there will be no shortage of guys who follow the wind and follow suit.

In the few days after the "Ominous Incident in Rock Creek City", the major nobles in the south have been arguing over the following proposals in the town hall:
Although the succession of aristocratic lands is ultimately to be officially approved and authorized by His Majesty the Emperor and the Imperial Etiquette Department, the specific candidates are usually discussed within the family of the vassals of the land, or directly according to the wishes of the previous lord. Sure--

——And in the case of the sudden death of the Duke of Houston, the war council temporarily formed by the southern lords and the governor of the southern border, of course, have the power and responsibility to discuss the succession plan first and then report it to the imperial capital for approval.

And the settlement of this dispute finally fell on Lord Shuangfengling's head.

He has been absent from the war council for the past few days, and it is rumored that he is busy with his demon mixed-race female staff officer, the blond female swordsman guard chief, the hot girl assassin in Ruststone Town, and some unruly local noble ladies and ladies. The lord of the People's Movement attended the War Council without warning, and calmly pointed out to his noble colleagues that he supported Leon Houston's inheritance of Rock Creek City and the Grand Duchy.

In the parliament, the speech of the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge made many southern nobles look at this young man with admiration:

"Everyone, our Igor family's territory is on the south bank of the Lionheart River, in the Land of Cracked Souls... We have an entire wasteland to develop, and we have no time to lead and manage another huge territory... If Rock Creek City and the Grand Duchy, If it has belonged to the Houston family since ancient times, then let the Houston family continue to protect it and its people, the crime of the Duke of Houston alone will not shame this ancient family from now on."

In the entire Grand Duchy, if you don’t want such a huge wealth, you don’t want it, and the noble character of the lord has become a good story for a while;

With the support of the Igor family, Leon Houston was also elected as the heir to the Grand Duchy of Houston without any suspense, and reported to the Empire Central Committee.

It stands to reason that the problem of Rock Creek City, which has been procrastinating for nearly two years, should be considered resolved from then on.

However, to the astonishment of many friendly nations, after the new owner of Rock Creek City was determined to be Leon Houston, this ancient southern city has undergone many new changes after all:

For example, Frost Maple Ridge swaggered to open the "Igor Family Office in the Grand Duchy of Houston" in Rock Creek City. a few centimeters taller;
For example, on the streets of Rock Creek City every Monday morning, there will be newsboys selling the latest issue of "What the Lord Eats Today"-except for the news announcement of the Land of Cracking Soul, and the serialization of Dongbingku's novels, "Dark-souls" In addition to planning idol letters and other columns, this newspaper has now opened up two new pages, which are dedicated to publishing current news in the entire southern border of the empire and the Grand Duchy of Houston, and it is likely to expand to occupy the entire southern border market in one fell swoop;

For another example, the "New Boston" chamber of commerce, with Rogge as the chairman and with a clear Frost Maple Ridge background, was quickly issued a franchise trading certificate by the newly appointed Lord Leon Houston, and became the official trading agent of New Rock Creek City—this This means that in the future, all official foreign trade matters of Rock Creek City will be handled by the chamber of commerce under Rogge, and "New Boston" has become the justifiable "Thirteen Lines of Rock Creek";
In the end, when Rock Creek City decided to hang the golden goshawk flag of the Igor family and the rocky flag of the Houston family side by side to show the good-neighborliness and friendship in the southern border, no one could tell whether the surname of the Grand Duchy was "Houston" or "Igor" is...

……

Compared with these dirty dramas of changing the king's flag at the head of the city, the Xiahou official who successfully solved the confidant of the Duke of Houston, was actually worrying about other important matters on the way back to Shuangfengling in the south——

— such as recruiting employees.

On the bright side, it seems that the Igor family did not take advantage of the "unlucky rock creek incident", and even lost part of their political prestige because of the death of the grand duke, but for some shameless lords , these so-called "political prestige losses" are actually nothing more than sprinkling water;
The most important thing is that he completed the mysterious mission assigned by the death brother and solved the old enemy of the Duke of Houston. This is the primary interest concern of the Igor family;
Even, there are unexpected gains——

The abilities and attitudes shown by the Igor family and the lord during the incident were in stark contrast to other southern nobles who were indifferent and only wanted to fight among themselves, and left a deep impression on the surviving members of the "Rainbow Six" team. deep impression;

Except for the female assassin from Ruststone Town who readily agreed to work for Shuangfengling because she was greedy for the lord's body, the other members of the "Rainbow Six" team are also receiving Xia Houyan's personal invitation. After the invitation, he was flattered and immediately agreed to join Shuangfengling.

Going to Yanxi City, Xia Houyan brought several high-level magicians, elite shooters, and warriors to the territory almost effortlessly:
There are so many new employees, although the number of them is not large, they are all elites from all major territories, and they are powerful existences who can take control of one side wherever they are placed—Shuangfengling is no longer poaching, it is completely doing Demolition!
Even those imperial knights who could not betray their original family and turned to Igor because of the knight oath, they all agreed with their chests that if there is a need in the future, they will definitely lend a helping hand as soon as possible. !

In fact, Xia Houyan is still a bit regretful:

Master Ramos and Master Buckingham, who died tragically on the tower of Rock Creek City, were buried by the original lord. Otherwise, Frost Maple Ridge would actually have two more powerful undead thugs.

However, what interests the lord the most is another talent discovered during this trip——

That was the lad who, along with the Duke of Houston, was ritually sacrificed by Bartholomew de Hash, John Summernen.

(End of this chapter)