Heart of the Castle

Chapter 659 Prepare for a rainy day, guardian of the western region

Levi brought the joyous atmosphere in the hall to its climax with an impassioned speech. Countless arms were raised high, "Long live the North", "Long live the Kingdom of Arthur" and "To Her Royal Highness Princess Fleisher and Li Weishi His Excellency the Regent of Dunton salutes" shouts one after another, and the vaguely eerie aura just now dissipated.

Afterwards, countless male and female servants with trays in their hands filed in from both sides of the hall, and the head of the court, Bamilian, announced in a high-pitched voice that a sumptuous banquet to welcome the Griffin Lord would be held in the hall of the Green Castle.All the nobles and knights who came to the Green Castle were willing to give up the opportunity to have lunch with Levi Stone. Fortunately, this ancient castle had gathered thousands of refugees in the past, so there was a large enough banquet The hall can fully accommodate hundreds of noble lords and well-known knights from the royal capital and northern counties.

A long pine table ran from one end of the hall to the other, covered with a bright red cloth, and covered with large wooden and tin plates holding thin slices of hard cheese, Marinated pork and chicken char siew, steaming fried eggs, salads of boiled potato crumbs mixed with vegetables, and uncut whole nut bread and pillow-shaped bread thicker than the average man's arm; Everyone has a cup made of horn, inlaid with a brass or silver hoop, and iced red wine or brown ale is rippling in the cup, and transparent water droplets are slowly condensing on the outside of the cup wall take shape.

There is no lack of famous chefs who cook for the king and the duke in the kitchen of Greencastle. However, since the Kingdom of Arthur is still in a precarious state, according to the decree jointly issued by Princess Fleischer and the Regent, His Excellency Levi Stern, those nobles in the royal capital The extravagant and flashy dishes that were once favorites are all banned.Then the main course served by the servants can be said to be mediocre: although the skin of the roast pig is roasted golden and crispy, it is just right, but the size is a bit too big, obviously it is not a suckling pig, but can only be regarded as a small pig. Pig; the other main dish is pig blood enema with sizzling oil on the surface, although it is fragrant, but for many nobles in the royal capital, it is a country bumpkin food that tastes out of place; the third The main dish has a stronger northern style. It is a whole roasted huge leg of lamb. The color is blood red, and the fat drips down the skin. The smell of roasted leg of lamb mixed together, filling the whole hall with a mouth-watering aroma.

However, for most nobles participating in the banquet, this is a more difficult dish to deal with than the first two. Although the roast leg of lamb is delicious, it has not been cut into small pieces in advance, and it can only be cut with a dagger when eating. Bloody water can easily stain the cuffs.And the meat is tougher, making it difficult for those delicate throats used to eating lark pie and chicken chicken.Fortunately, tasting delicious food was not the purpose of these nobles who were born in the capital. After the first few rounds of toasting, they tasted the food on the table, but they were always paying attention to every move of the Griffon Lord, keeping their eyes on each other and listening to what he said. every word spoken.

Levi Stern and Princess Fleischer sat side by side in the deepest part of the banquet hall, which was the place where the regent's throne was placed when the court meeting was called.The 'throne', built in the northern style of solid pine and inlaid with smoked jade, bronze and steel, had been removed and replaced by a solid oak dining table.But the huge griffin tapestry survived.The mighty golden griffin on the tapestry spread its wings and looked down at the hall with sharp eyes. It seemed that it was ready to rush out of the wall at any time, and tear anyone who dared to have evil intentions to pieces with its steel pecking claws.

The food presented to His Excellency Prince Regent Leviston and His Royal Highness Princess Fleischer by the royal attendants was no different from that of other people, except that the tableware on which the food was served was more exquisite and luxurious.However, it is also luxurious in terms of the simple style of Northern County. In fact, those are just gold-plated knives and forks, carved silver plates, and ivory wine glasses. No surprises.

For the nobles who were born in the royal capital, those foods were simply hard to swallow, but for Li Wei, they were long-awaited delicacies.When the knife cut into the crispy skin of the roasted pig and made a crackling sound and the hot oil came out at the same time, he took a deep breath of the tempting aroma and felt his whole body cheered up.

During the time he was in the Moon Whispering Forest, Li Wei was fed up with those exquisitely cooked but bland elf-style food. Trying to cook dishes that suit the appetite of Li Wei and others, but the damn aesthetic point of view soaked in their bones is still lingering.Li Wei had to try his best to control his emotions almost every time he ate, so as not to overturn the table rudely, or put the food together with the plate on the head of the elf waiter closest to him.

After all, not just anyone can appreciate the dishes cooked by an elf chef: for example, a plate of dyed beef mince inlaid in rose, rose and tulip petals; or a pot of dozens of ingredients and sauces. A group of salads reminiscent of palettes or other similar things; or a bowl of emerald green soup with a few pink frogs pressed from a mixture of chicken and fish floating on top, and gathered Dozens of small balls made from oat pulp.These dishes can be described as fresh in appearance, bright in color, and beautiful in appearance, but people can't eat them, and even if they look at them a few times, they will make their stomachs churn with sour water.

Whenever they saw dishes like this being served on the table, the members of the kingdom missions would gnash their teeth neatly, and the veins on a strong arm were bulging.This kind of scene can be seen almost every day, so that several important figures in the elf royal court once privately asked Marquis Osiris whether the appearance of gnashing teeth and bruised arms belonged to some kind of dining table in the human kingdom etiquette?
Li Wei didn't know how the Marquis of Osiris answered at the time, but from the look of the green leaf singer Simon Golden Tongue who was sitting at the bottom, gnashing his teeth and clenching his fists fiercely when every dish was served, it should be the green lion for the sake of both sides. To save face, I told some kind of white lie.

Several richly dressed royal nobles came forward holding wine glasses and toasted in a humble and elegant tone to the "invincible commander and guardian of the whole kingdom". ivory goblets, wondering what was really going on behind those smiles, those courteous greetings, and warm wishes.

There are quite a few nobles in the royal capital who can be used by Li Wei. Now about two-thirds of the leaders of the new villages and camps in Beijing County are served by these well-educated noble children.However, if you carefully screen, you will find that most of the village and town leaders are small and medium-sized nobles from the royal capital or the children of offshoots, and the families with titles above the viscount basically all stay in Greencastle, struggling to regain their lost power. Hard work.

From this point of view, even aristocrats from the northern border cannot be completely trusted. Time has passed, and the weak side has become a strong one. Li Weilian knows a little bit about what they can do to protect their vested interests. Neither is interested.

"The matter in Xifeng County must be dealt with immediately. It will be too late when the army returns triumphantly and the news spreads." Li Wei said to himself secretly, while scanning the audience, especially paying attention to every piece belonging to own face.

The great victory at the Moonlight Grove outpost really came a little earlier. If they could accumulate strength over several years, it might be within easy reach to regain Xifeng County, but now it has become a very big trouble.The whole territory of Xifeng fell into the hands of the devil, and all the nobles and lords were not spared. They were either executed or demonized to become the devil's accomplices.Now that the army of demons that originally entrenched there has been completely wiped out, it is easy to recover the land, but if you want to rebuild the important towns in Xifeng County, and at the same time gather the refugees and wipe out the demon stragglers, you need at least a few hundred people who are educated in government affairs. There are specialized talents, and the protection of three to five thousand elite troops is required.

Beijing County is developing rapidly and urgently needs all kinds of talents, especially those who are specialized in government affairs. They can't send even one, let alone hundreds.Troops are even more of a huge problem. Currently, there are no more than 3000 elite troops in Beijing County, and they have to guard a border line that is hundreds of kilometers long.Although the situation on the Qianli Ice Wall facing the extreme northern ice field is relatively calm, at least a fast cavalry force of [-] people needs to be retained just in case, and a large number of ranger patrols should be sent north to Heihe to scout for signs of demon army activity.

Calculated in this way, with the current military strength of the Griffon Knights, it is already quite difficult to maintain the defense network of North Border County. If we rashly shoulder the huge burden of West Wind County, the development of North Border County will inevitably come to a standstill. There are a large number of fatal loopholes in the defense.

To solve this problem, one must plan ahead before the news of the Moonwhispering Forest victory comes.However, after scanning the venue several times, Li Wei found sadly that there are too few talents in his hands who can stand on their own.Of course, Mr. Dish and Sir Rodriguez cannot be sent. Flame Wheel Knight Wilps and White Wolf Earl Cedric all have heavy responsibilities on their shoulders. It is the key link to maintain the confidence of the lords of the northern border county.As for the sniper archer Sir Grace and the steel fist knight Dragoons, they can be regarded as excellent generals, but they are definitely not qualified commanders, let alone maintain stability under the complicated situation in Westwind County. situation.

"If Marquis Osiris is here now, maybe he can be persuaded to take on this important task." Li Wei thought so, and then sighed deeply. "However, the shot of the Burning Dragon King Dariga caused him serious injuries. Although Dariga had recovered the original power of the flames attached to the Elf Queen and Marquis Osiris before leaving the Moonglade outpost, the two still needed to It takes a while to recover...wait a minute, if the sky knight can't do it, maybe there is another person who can?"

"Karmos' bloody roar Wakao." Li Wei raised his voice, suppressing the noise like a sharp knife cutting through frozen yogurt, "There is an important task that I think only you can complete."

The orc king Karmos, who had always been buried between the leg of lamb and the roasted pig, raised his head with a bloody roar, his eyes looked a little confused, "Master Li Wei?" The pig bone was broken between his sharp teeth, and he uttered "" Gaba” sounded, and then Kalmos spat out two pieces of broken bones, and wiped off the grease on his sleeves with his fingers. "Please tell me, I and the [-] orcs in East Gulun are willing to work for the strong who kills the plague lord!"

"I hope you can serve as the guardian of the western border of the Kingdom of Arthur, command all the existing kingdom troops in Westwind County, and cooperate with the elves of the Moonwhispering Forest to fight against the invasion of demons." Li Wei announced loudly.His words immediately caused an uproar in the banquet hall, many nobles and knights couldn't help but looked at each other, and then whispered to each other.

"Guardian of the Western Territory? Sounds like a mighty and domineering title." Kalmos groaned bloodily and stroked the thick beard on his chin. He learned this action from Mr. Dish, and according to the idea of ​​the Beast King, That should make his choices seem more deliberate, but to others it's just a beast contemplating what to eat next. "It seems that there is nothing wrong with it. Anyway, we East Gulun have been living on the Yueyu Prairie in Xifeng County hundreds of years ago. It is a matter of course to protect our hometown. But we orcs have been free since ancient times. People, you can’t do what human knights swear allegiance to.”

"Your Majesty Regent, Li Weiston, I would like to draw your attention to one thing." An elderly-looking noble from the royal capital abruptly stood up, and said in a strong voice, "The guardian of the western region of the Kingdom of Arthur has always belonged to the kingdom. An important minister can only be held by a well-known noble lord."

"Then, Governor Kalmos, will you betray the Kingdom of Arthur and turn to the devil or other evil forces?" Li Wei's eyes flickered, ignored the nobleman who spoke, and continued to ask the orc king.

"My God, Gogmaoya, only the goblin's puppets go to the devil!" Karmos replied in a rude tone, and at the same time grabbed the huge battle ax and swung it around his head, "I All of you great orcs mean what you say, and you can use your spittle as gold coins, and I will never put this ax down until I kill those demons to pieces!"

"Your Excellency Leviston!" The old nobleman blushed with anger, and said sharply again, "You are destroying the centuries-old tradition of the Arthur Kingdom!"

"The former guardian of the Westlands of the Kingdom of Arthur was a famous robber sir, Clemennon Gregor, Earl of the Magic Mountain, whose vicious reputation could make even the kindest and kindest people frown and shake their heads; Stilwell is a traitor through and through. The Lightning Knights he led had been infiltrated by demon forces long before the disaster, and most of the knights had fallen into demons; the former Guardian of the East came from the Serre family, but this The family had been split decades ago. The Earl of Great Serre and the Earl of Serre each announced that they were the sole legal heirs of the Serre family. There was constant friction with each other. Support one soldier and one soldier." The new king's important minister and red-robed old scholar Master Sujiade concluded with disdain. "My lords, with all due respect, if this is the tradition of the Kingdom of Arthur for hundreds of years, it really needs to be changed."

"In my opinion, the promise of the Beastman King is much more trustworthy than the oath of some nobles." Cedric, Earl of the White Wolf, said succinctly.

Then other important officials of the kingdom and noble lords also spoke one after another, and the voices of support and opposition were overwhelmingly superior.After all, in many people's minds, Westwind County is still under the clutches of the demon army. It doesn't matter even if it grants its guardian power to a barbaric orc. The orcs are ferocious and good at fighting, no matter how they calculate this account, it is quite beneficial to the kingdom.

In other words, except for a few stubborn old guys, most of the kingdom's nobles supported this proposal by Levi Stone.Even without a formal vote, the authority of the Guardian of the West fell to the hands of the orc king Kalmos Bloodscream.

However, only four days later, when the cavalry troop returned triumphantly brought the news of the victory in the Moon Whisper Forest, they regretted that they had missed this great opportunity to seize power.

However, it was too late.The position of Guardian of the Western Territory has been owned by the orc king Kalmos Bloody Roaring. This position is nominally equal to any important minister of the kingdom, and at the same time holds the military and political power of the entire West Wind County.The nobles who advocated that they should immediately march into Westwind County and recover the lost land of the kingdom found helplessly that the object of their petition was a rough orc who was difficult to deal with.Just the carnivorous beast-like smile that Kalmos showed would make it difficult for the timid nobles to breathe. When the orc superintendent began to speak the words of the orc strong with his thunderous voice, Nobles who can keep their trousers dry are considered courageous.

(End of this chapter)