Chapter 159 Bad Trouble

"Don't worry," said Essin. "Crio, you should know...the aristocrats in the country, big and small, had gone to the sea without paying taxes. But the little queen ignored those small and medium-sized aristocrats who were better dealt with, but directly announced the group...the more than 80 nobles were rebellious. Don't you think this approach is strange?"

"Ah...isn't it because their tree attracts wind?"

"Haha." Essin smiled. "After I heard this, I collected the information of these noble lords and studied it carefully. As a result, I found that although these people... are all great nobles, some of them are not very strong. For example, there are a few counts from the west... that are of the type without ambition. Although their territory is not small, they spend all their financial resources on extravagance and waste. In theory, such people should not arouse the suspicion of the little queen."

"this……"

"Finally, I studied it carefully and found out what common among these people. At first I thought it was because their territory was in a traffic jam... so the little queen wanted to regain control of these key positions. But then I found that this idea was wrong. Then I thought that these lords had strong family castles or residence cities... and then I found that this idea was not true. In the end, I thought it was because all these great nobles had been rebellious all the time, but this was also wrong. Finally, I finally found their common ground."

“What is it?”

"All of these people were enthroned by King Markremiz when he was founding. They were all... the nobles of the old kingdoms, even royal families themselves, such as Byron. They," said Essin. "all have unrestricted independent military power."

"military power?"

"Well, you can recruit private troops without restrictions," said Essin. "How many troops are only determined by their own financial resources and have nothing to do with other factors. In theory, you can legally have very powerful troops."

"Ah...this...but theory is theory, but actual restrictions still exist. The fiscal revenue that a territory can provide is limited after all."

"Under normal circumstances, it is probably the little queen... or Eshu Rufate, who saw the danger of this. This hereditary privilege will become terrible in some cases, such as our current situation... like Duke Byron, who relied on stealing the treasury and easily organized a large army of 30,000 people... an army of the same size as the Guards." Essin thought. "But from this point of view, the little queen's determination to reduce the vassal state this time is probably very firm... We don't have to worry about the constraints behind it... By the way, Cleo, there is another thing we must set off as soon as possible."

"What's wrong?"

"The Queen is going back to Hawk City soon."

"Why? What to do here?"

"The army stays and commands our Earl of Ashu Rufat." Essim replied. "She is going to rush back to the Eagle City immediately, because there is very unfavorable news from the north. The savages seem to be planning a full-scale invasion. The situation is urgent, and the Queen is going to go back to preside over the overall situation... If this is true, it means that the Queen will not give us too much time."

...

In Fornoros, Byron has received detailed reports of the fire.

This incident was so conspicuous. In the middle of the night, the entire warehouse turned into a pillar of fire that surged into the sky, and the fire illuminated the entire city. Fortunately, the construction of the warehouse itself took into account many factors, otherwise the fire might have turned at least half of the Fornoros into ruins.

Byron massaged his forehead vigorously. If you look closely, you can see blue veins blooming. Although Byron kept calm on the surface and he repeatedly told himself to cool down, it is really difficult to maintain emotional stability in this case. Especially Byron himself is the kind of person who is more emotional.

This report is completely nonsense. After seeing the sky-sky fire last night, a fool could guess that the entire warehouse had been burned out and there was no residue left.

"What is the cause of the fire?" Byron threw away the worthless report and asked the subordinate who was in charge of the investigation. He said this in a whisper, but it was more terrifying than a roar. Because everyone knew that when Byron spoke in this way, he was the most excited and angry.

No wonder Byron is like this. The warehouse in Fornoros City is over, which means Byron has lost the maximum capital for long-term persistence: food and grass. Of course, there are many private or chamber of commerce warehouses in the city, and ordinary residents also have a lot of grain reserves at home. However, these reserves are completely incomparable to the granary that Byron has accumulated painstakingly. For Byron, this incident is not so good as a dagger that pierces the heart from the back, which directly has a fatal impact.

"The cause of the fire is currently unknown..." his subordinate replied in fear.

"Did I raise a bunch of waste?" Byron said softly. "I can't even investigate this matter! Who is in charge of the warehouse guard?"

"It's Essin...captain." The subordinate replied tremblingly. "But he... had other important matters last night."

"He has other important matters..." Byron sneered. "Yes, he did have other important matters last night, but were all the soldiers guarding there dead? Oh, by the way, I can't find it. Such a fire... is basically burned to death. But those who are not on duty should still be there..."

"No human bones were found at this...at the scene." The subordinate replied.

"What, can't be found?" Byron was shocked. Such a fire... Could it be that he had escaped when he saw that he could not put out the fire? Wait, how could the grain warehouse have such a big fire?

"We also went to find the soldiers who were in charge of guarding the warehouse... but... they were all gone. No one could provide their whereabouts..."

"What?!" This time, Byron felt not angry, but something else.

"The entire team responsible for guarding the warehouse...the people in the independent team disappeared. We carefully checked in the army. There were two teams missing last night. There were also one team responsible for the city defense duty."

"How is it possible...you mean missing?" The city defense team? Did they escape at night and resign to the queen?

"This... no trace of human bones was found at the scene. Since the fire broke out in the middle of the night, no witnesses were found. We can only guess that the warehouse was not just food, but some other flammable things might have been placed."

"What..." Byron's mind was spinning rapidly, and a terrible thought appeared in his mind. Although he tried his best not to think in that direction, he couldn't help but feel a chill of cold hands and feet.

"I'll ask, when Captain Essing left last night... did he leave from the wall in charge of the missing city defense team?"

"It's true." The subordinate replied.

"Esing..." Byron repeatedly recited the name. He should be a loyal and reliable subordinate. If another person was changed, Byron might have some doubts, but Esing...

He had served Byron faithfully for several years in Eagle City, and often offered some good things, came up with some good ideas, or completed all the private tasks assigned by Byron. When he retreated from Eagle City, he took the initiative to cut off his rear and was loyal. When he was in Fouroth City, although Essin had repeatedly smeared Byron's intentions, it was motivated by loyalty after all. Recently, he had taken the initiative to take on dangerous scout tasks and showed his abilities.

In addition, since Essin, as the queen's personal guard, performed the task of arresting the queen, Byron always believed that Essin was the kind of person who was the least likely to betray. He and Byron were grasshoppers tied to the same rope! Maybe one day when Byron was at the end of his journey, others would be betray him, but Essin definitely wouldn't. Because the little queen could not forgive Essin, this should be the case.

How is it possible? Why Essin? Where is the mistake?

"Wait, go and see if Cleo is there?" Byron pondered and said. He knew that Cleo and Essin were very close, and he only knew about this after returning to Fornoros. In fact, this was what Byerheim told him.

"Creo?"

"Cailor Cleo," said Byron.

"Ah, Lord Duke," another subordinate spoke. "I heard from the finance department say that Cleo suddenly disappeared."

"Absent?"

"According to a neighbor next door, Cleo suddenly went out with his luggage last night, looking like he was going to go far, and then he didn't come back." The person who spoke was actually a little strange. Cleo was just a subordinate financial officer, why was Byron's turn to ask about it personally?

"How...maybe..." Byron murmured to himself in a voice that he could only hear. How could this happen?

The door of the chamber was pushed open from outside. According to Byron's latest order, the emergency military information needed to be sorted out and delivered to him. Although the person who came in was a messenger, this one was empty-handed.

"My Lord Duke, something is wrong!" The messenger who spoke ignored the gaze of the others around him and rushed to Byron, looking anxious and restless.

"What's the matter?" Byron actually wanted to stand up, but found that his knees were weak and he couldn't stand up.

"Emergency..." The messenger might be too panicked, or he ran over hurriedly, and seemed out of breath. "Our spies came to report the urgent news... Lord Baierheim was captured by Wang Jun..."

"What then?" Byron was shocked and angry, and he was even unwilling to investigate why the messenger had no written report.

"The Queen punished Lord Baierheim... in public!"

"Terminate with wooden stakes..." Byron felt dizzy. "Berheim..."
Chapter completed!