After Becoming The Tyrant CH 145 Legrand's Knights
The midsummer of 1433 came amidst the flames of war that had not yet been completely extinguished and the intensified demonstrations and petitions.
The Head of the Households reported to the King about the nobles dispersing the parade and expelling the bards, and asked him if he wanted to intervene.
"No, no need."
The King replied.
He was flipping through the archives of the last parliamentary meeting, reading the speech records of each councilman.
The "Wartime Emergency Act" was on the King's desk. It was not difficult to understand why most nobles refused to sign this bill. The nobles of Legrand have always regarded the parliament as their sharp weapon to control the king and compete with the royal power.
If the king wanted to recruit troops outside the military service period, he must obtain the consent of the parliament. For a long time, the nobles have been accustomed to taking this opportunity to force the royal family to make concessions when the king needed an army, and hand over more local autonomy and more privileges to them.
Once the "Wartime Emergency Act" was passed, they would lose the powerful weapon of the parliament. On the other hand, the continuous concentration of power in the royal government over the years was enough to make the feudal lords feel uneasy. They worried that the Wartime Emergency Act would make the royal family's authority grow ever more.
Because of this, most of the nobles behaved extraordinarily tough in this meeting, as if they would never give in.
The previous standstill was a means of their demonstration.
When the petition intensified, the nobles began to expel the procession.
"What about our tariffs?"
While reading the records of the meeting, the King asked the Head of the Households.
The answer given by the Head of the Households was within the King's expectations——the tariff should be the most pitiful in the past thirty years.
The impact of the Black Death was too great. The economic depression was not limited to Legrand, and both sides of the Abyss Strait fell into a deep trough.
If one took a closer look at history, one would often find that behind many continuous wars and conquests, there were hidden shadows of catastrophes. Whether it was floods, droughts or plagues, natural disasters destroy the economic foundation of a society and sharpen the conflicts that were originally concealed by prosperity. This sharpness may turn into war at any time. At this time, if the government of the country did not want to end itself, it must find a target to transfer the hatred.
In the Holy Court, it was people called "witches" and "warlocks" who acted as targets of oppression and hatred.
And in Legrand, after the rebellion, the King pushed the nobles into this dilemma.
"I made Legrand a free country, not so that they can point their blades at Legrand's heart at will."
The King said lightly.
He closed the record and looked out the window at the blooming roses.
………………
Clinging to the old law in front of the King, the nobles who refused to give in began to find that the situation was getting worse.
Even the Black Death was not as deadly as the public's anger. When they came to their senses, things had already become bad enough, and the King had already pushed them to the opposite of the wave of public anger.
The story of "knights slaying dragons" spread more and more widely, and subconsciously, people have begun to regard the crusaders who drove the "evil black dragon" into conquest as unjust invaders and shameful rebels. The previous banner of "persuading the King onto the correct path" played by the head of the Inquisition Bureau was completely forgotten.
As the refugees left Putton County, they also spread their pain and anger at the destruction of their homes. During the destruction of the town, everyone could clearly see that the local nobles, the lords who were obliged to protect the safety of the people in the territory, ignored the rebels and hid in their castles. It was their inactivity that caused towns to be sacked by the notorious Baliner mercenaries and villages to be burned by the black dragon flying across the sky.
The more glorious the royal family was in this war, the more the nobles were contrasted as weak and incompetent.
The nobles regarded commoners as dirt to be avoided, and rejected them as if they were snakes and scorpions. But this time, they had to correct their previous perceptions.
Facing the intensified mob, the nobles had no choice.
Either pinch their nose and bow their heads to the King, or they must suppress the voices.
They always thought that the King was just a young lion, but now they discovered that there was a coiling poisonous snake hidden under the lion's skin. No wonder the King did not punish or persecute them when they were in a deadlock. He was only waiting to burn them on the fire of public wrath.
The nobles cursed in private, and the most determined group of nobles formed a secret alliance. The Holy Court was about to cross the sea, and the head of the Inquisition Bureau had occupied Herrid County. The King was more anxious than them. As long as they did not provide the King with soldiers, the King would not be able to summon soldiers for even a single day.
The nobles thought that if the stalemate continued, the King would bow his head earlier than they would.
"He's too arrogant."
An old noble from the secret alliance commented so.
"He will surrender."
However, the King's concession he predicted had not yet appeared, only for the public anger to erupt first.
The anger was first vented in taverns and public places.
Wednesday, first week in June, Yoringshire.
The sheriff led a group of soldiers to kick open a tavern called "Grey Sparrow", dragged out a middle-aged man who was talking loudly with his companions, and stuffed him into a cage.
"I did not commit a crime!"
The bewildered blacksmith Martin shouted loudly.
"Unfortunately, sir, you are charged with viciously and immorally slandering your lord, and eagerness to conspire with your partners to pose a threat to the lord's personal safety," said the sheriff, reminding the blacksmith, "just three days ago, you were here to commit this horrific crime."
"...That was just a joke!" Martin's eyes widened in astonishment.
Three days ago, after drinking heavily in the tavern, the blacksmith Martin slapped the table and began to complain loudly: "...When the head of the Inquisition Bureau arrived, Baron Salford, who so eagerly joined the Pligney camp, was a wimp who was less promising than a woman. Now Hereford and several other ports are still in a state of occupation. The baron must take responsibility.... After the Battle of Putton, any dignified nobleman should immediately take up their swords and go to crusade against the enemies who invaded Legrand, instead of fighting against their king, and preventing their king from raising an army to protect his people."
The reason why he was so angry was because his blacksmith shop was lootes by Baliner mercenaries before. But their lord hosted a banquet in the castle for the mercenary leader.
"...Give me a shovel and I can smash the baron's head with it!"
At the end of the drunkenness, the blacksmith uttered such a bold statement, which was echoed by everyone in the tavern.
"The lord's court has pronounced your guilt, sir."
The sheriff said grimly.
He was stuffed into a wooden cage, and the cage was dragged by horses, rumbling all the way forward. Every time the cage jolted, Martin would bump into it. By the time he was dragged to the intersection that was always used for trials, he was already covered in bruises.
Baron Salford, who was in a carriage behind the prison cart, waved his hand, and the blacksmith was dragged out of the cage.
The crowd gathered around, everyone whispered, and many people had unbearable expressions on their faces.
The noose was put around the blacksmith's neck.
Seeing that he was about to be hanged and his spine broken, the blacksmith's son pushed through the crowd and rushed out. The burly young man rushed to the rack wielding an axe, swearing at the baron for his cruelty, and hacking at the sling.
"Hang him too!" The satisfied smile on Baron Salford's face disappeared, he stood up suddenly, and pointed with trembling fingers at the blacksmith's son who was cursing at him, "I want to see his head hanging under the road sign!"
The knight behind the baron pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword, and did not immediately step forward: "My lord, I think you can confiscate their blacksmith shop. This is more serious than directly killing them. They don't deserve such a happy death."
"Are you disobeying my order?" The baron turned his head and frowned.
The blacksmith had already been released from the noose by his son, and the soldier in charge of pulling the rope waved his sword in a perfunctory manner twice before retreating to the side.
"Catch them, including those two guys." The baron pointed at the soldier who didn't stop the blacksmith's son, "Don't forget who you are loyal to."
"F**k you bastard." The knight drew out his sword with a clang, and he kicked the baron over. The veins on his forehead bulged. "I've had enough of you idiot!"
"What are you doing?!" The baron was shocked and angry. "Are you going to break the knight's oath? You want to do something to your master? The Holy Lord will send you to hell!"
"Going to hell is better than entering the Kingdom of God with a traitorous rebel like you!"
The knight spat in his face, then stepped on his stomach twice.
"I'm Legrand's knight, and I know what I should do! I've had enough of a pig like you!"
He raised the sword in his hand high, turned his head and looked at the crowd around him: "Gentlemen! I am a knight of Legrand, not a knight of traitors! Are you going to kneel down and lick the boots of such a despicable person?"
"No! No! No!"
The crowd burst into shouts.
"I am Legrand's knight, not a traitor's knight! I am loyal to His Majesty the King, not a fool! Get out of here!" The knight kicked the baron, "Traitors are not worthy of staying in Yoringshire!"
"Get out! Traitor! Get out of here!"
The blacksmith snatched the axe from his son and swung it vigorously.
The anger of the crowd gradually rose.
The sheriff, the baron, and some other respectable guys fled across the long street, being chased by the angry crowd.
They even rushed into the county court and burned it clean.
Similar things kept happening all over Legrand.
The first nobleman couldn't hold on anymore.
After hundreds of angry peasants broke into the manor and burned his house, he practically rushed to the palace, crying bitterly to confess his mistakes and express his loyalty to the King.
Then the second, the third... The secret alliance among the nobles quickly disintegrated.
………………………
When the Head of the Households conveyed the requests of the surrendering nobles, the King was opening and reading the letter from Legrand's First Pathological Research Department.
The head of the Department of Pathological Research, pharmacist Duna, wrote a bunch of letters to the King one after another.
——It was worth mentioning that the black dragon that was beheaded by the alchemist knights that day was almost immediately sent to the Lunatic Academy for research.
For now, the majestic black dragon seemed to be preserved very well. Every piece of dragon scale, every piece of flesh and blood, every bone was coded and numbered.
Yes, it was dissected very simply and thoroughly.
The witches who had been there for some time had been pulled into the ocean of madness by their mad colleagues, and they seemed to be swimming very happily. With the help of the witches, they sketched out an extremely detailed dragon anatomy chart at an incredible speed, and gave it to the King as a gift.
Normal people were likely unable to present an anatomy chart of a pile of bones to their Majesty as a gift.
However, a King who welcomes a group of lunatics to serve him didn't seem to be a normal person anyway.
He readily accepted the gift, and incidentally rejected the doctors' request to study the alchemist knights.
Another thing, the military heavy industry department of hell finally heard the story of "knights slaying dragons" after a while. The group of military designers wrote one letter after another to the King, urging him to grant their request to also study dragon scales and dragon claws.
It was a good thing that his scientists were so active and diligent, but there was only one dragon.
The King thought for a while, and wrote a reply to both parties.
He asked the military designers and doctors and witches to work together to study the principle behind the black dragon breathing fire. See if they could imitate it and make a new weapon.
AN: King: It is the tradition of dragon slayers to make the best use of the dragon clan.
Dragon bone castle, dragon bone weapons, etc.