Kingdom’s Bloodline

In the main hall of Lorenburg, Gilbert's pupils reflected the light of an unextinguished lamp in the distance.

"Baron Williams told me that a few days ago, His Excellency, Duke Cyril Falkenhauser, paid an unexpected visit to you."

the foreign secretary asked mildly but cautiously

"I think he brought you more than just a sword?"

Telston paused.

"He did talk a lot."

The young man swallowed the piece of meat, his eyes were slightly concentrated, thoughtful

"It also makes me very uneasy."

Gilbert's expression darkened.

"Associating with different people is always the most direct way to understand the world."

Gilbert's words were still gentle, but he was a little more careful and considerate

"But, Your Highness."

"Please make sure you never forget," Gilbert sat across from him, speaking with deep meaning

"Everyone shows you what they want you to see."

"Especially when your status is so special and your identity is so sensitive."

Thales stopped the knife and fork, silently lost in thought.

"What a coincidence."

"Not long ago," Thales said with a helpless and mocking expression

"Count Cromer said something similar."

Gilbert looked at him fixedly, hesitating to speak.

Thales continued to eat his dinner until the cunning fox of the star sighed

"Since you have seen them, Your Excellency the Duke."

"Then what kind of people do you think the nobles in Xihuang are?"

Thales' movements slowed down.

The nobles of the Western Wilderness...

what kind of person?

His thoughts went back to before, back to the moment when he met the three nobles Falkenhauser, Cromar and Bozdorf.

prince squints

"They're not stupid, they know you... know what we're trying to do."

"From Saber Camp to Enci Town."

Thales stared at the lights in the distance in a daze.

Gilbert frowned slightly, only to hear him clear his throat

"And how do they deal with, I mean... with 'us'?"

how to respond……

Thales fell into deep thought again, falling into what he had seen and heard in the West Wilderness.

"It's hard to say. From guarding the duke to the imperial earl, from the four-eyed skull to the crow and the black lion, from the new nobles to the old forces, it can be seen that their relationship is not good and they have different opinions."

Thales cut the meat steak that had been cut neatly and evenly by dd into irregular pieces, and frowned.

"I guess they didn't cope well."

In the light, Gilbert's expression became a little complicated.

"Is it."

Thales nodded, not without worry

"And we are bringing them together, step by step, against us, against their common enemy."

Gilbert hummed and asked suddenly

"for example?"

prince raised his eyebrows

"Like—Williams."

Thinking of this name, and thinking of the remains of the brazier on the sand, Thales felt that the steak in his mouth should be panicked.

Gilbert nodded suddenly.

Thales swallowed the food reluctantly, without waiting for the other party to speak

"Why him, Gilbert?"

Thales put down the knife and fork and turned to Gilbert with a serious and puzzled expression.

"Why is this... unreasonable guy staying in Xihuang, representing the Fuxing Palace and the royal family, and ruling the Saber Camp?"

Thales shrugged

"He can't even cooperate well with people from the Kingdom's Secret Division."

Gilbert's face changed several times

"Your Highness..."

But Thales didn't let him interrupt himself

"And based on what I've known about him in a short period of time..."

Thales raised his index finger and frowned fiercely

"Every minute that the Legendary Wing stayed in the Saber Camp, the local nobles in Xihuang became more desperate and uneasy, pushing the distance between them and the Fuxing Palace, and aggravating their conflict with the royal family until they went to the A desperate, desperate step."

"Don't talk about the wrath of the kingdom that is thick and subtle,

Compared with the mature and prudent Fortress Flower..."

The prince turned his head and looked at the complicated Gilbert.

"To put it bluntly..."

Thales sighed, searched for useful descriptions, and said helplessly

"Even the meteorite is better at being a man than him."

Gilbert frowned tightly and said nothing.

His eyes first fell on Thales, and then wandered to the meal plate that was eaten by the prince, and he was silent for a long time.

Just when Thales thought that the questioning was fruitless, so he had no choice but to turn around and continue to fight for dinner...

"You are as sharp and intelligent as you were six years ago, Your Highness."

Gilbert sighed slowly, his eyes sharpened

"But, my lord duke."

"I'm thinking, you may need to jump out, stand at the height of the kingdom, stand at the width of history, stand at our point of view, and then look at the situation in the West Wilderness."

The height of the kingdom.

breadth of history.

our angle.

Thales blinked, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Leaving aside the unexpected small and medium-sized nobles, as far as the three major families of the Western Wilderness you mentioned are concerned, they do have different attitudes towards the Fuxing Palace."

Gilbert sat up straight with a smile on his lips, as if he had become the tireless educator six years ago

"One is moderate and conservative, the other is radical and dissatisfied, and the other is insensitive and ambiguous."

"How do you think it's going to be for us?"

Thales leaned back on the dining chair and rolled his eyes.

mild.

radical.

numbness.

A crow, a black lion, a skull, three different figures of old, middle-aged and young appeared in front of his eyes.

"Good thing."

Thales tried hard to remind himself that he belongs to the Canxing royal family and should speak from the right position

"The opponent—if Xihuang is our opponent—is divided and divided, and they are in a state of disunity, so they are more vulnerable, which is beneficial for us to plan separately and defeat each other."

He shrugged, disgusted

"But...Williams?"

Gilbert smiled at his exaggerated expression.

"Separate plans, break each one."

Gilbert looked at him like he did in class six years ago, with admiration in his eyes

"Just like what you did at Exeter six years ago?"

Thales paused.

He found that compared with the old crow's encouraging questions without preconditions and persuasiveness, Gilbert's questions were more specific, intentional, and pointed.

"Yes, like Exeter."

The prince frowned and nodded

"Unless we force them to stand together, let go of their past, and jointly fight against... against Canxing."

Thales swallowed hard the last sentence, "Thanks to a handsome boy with a double-headed gun".

Gilbert smiled while nodding.

"Please don't misunderstand me, Your Excellency, in fact, I appreciate your thoughts."

"But Your Highness, which strategy to adopt, I think it depends on what kind of opponent we face."

Thales also discovered that Gilbert preferred direct narratives compared to Puttilai's rhetorical questions full of sarcasm and personal mischief.

"Exter, it is the number one enemy of the stars since the founding of the country for hundreds of years. It may not be sure to overwhelm in the future, a fateful and powerful natural enemy."

The foreign minister seemed to be feeling something, and after a pause for a few seconds, he said quietly

"For us, a divided Exeter is naturally more in line with the interests of the stars than a unified dragon kingdom."

In the next second, Gilbert's eyes changed.

"But, Xihuang?"

"This is the territory of the stars, and its lords are His Majesty's vassals. They are just a corner of the chessboard. For us, everything is under our control and we must win."

Gilbert's gaze sharpened

"In this case, is the chaos and division in one corner of the chessboard really beneficial to us?"

Thales frowned in doubt

"How to say?"

Gilbert cleared his throat with a smile, first looked at the lights in the distance, and then spoke.

"More than two thousand years ago, the ancient empire at its peak spanned the continent, under the jurisdiction of Shuangling, five districts, and nineteen provinces."

It was only at this moment that Thales discovered a few traces of Old Crow and Putillai's storytelling from his tone.

"But among the twenty-six known places, the most troublesome thing for the Triumph Capital and the Pegasus Throne is not the mighty Northland, not the ancient chauvinism, not the precipitous barren mountains, not the complicated green heart, not the untamable Kiseli and the savage Neda, not even the sea of ​​flames where communication is difficult and the Far East beyond reach..."

Gilbert changed his voice

"Instead, it is the southwest of the empire, a remote and insignificant thorny land."

thorny ground.

Thales recalled the world geography he learned when he was born in the Northland. Fortunately, the Northlanders had nothing to hide about the Thornland.

Relying on his memory, the prince tentatively asked

"Because they are conservative and xenophobic, and never submit to outsiders, or even the rule of the empire?"

"I read in the books of the Northlanders the thousand-year-old proverb in the land of thorns, 'The sons of thorns are all born to resist'."

Gilbert nodded, with a sense of relief in his eyes that "Northern people are finally willing to study"

"Yes, Your Highness, yes, but more than that. The Sons of Thorns not only do not submit to the rule of outsiders, but they also do not submit to the rule of their own people."

Thales showed a puzzled look.

gilbert smiles

"Early before the rise of the empire, the small thorns were known for their division and chaos. Warlords sprang up, there were many parties, oligarchs appeared everywhere, and turmoil was frequent. Even the internal religious beliefs were difficult to unify, let alone find a leader who would convince the crowd. "

"And this brought trouble to the empire at that time. After the easy conquest, their subsequent rule was like a quagmire, making it difficult to move forward."

"If you want to win over Huairou, you can't find a reliable agent who can convince the public; if you want to deter and shock, every time you kill a leader of the rioters, there will always be his opponents or supporters Get out after a few years, and then mess up the thorns."

Gilbert snorted softly, with a hint of disdain between the words

"This feature of the Thorn Land has lasted for thousands of years, until the empire ceased, and it remains to this day."

"Even today after the War of the End, in the old land of thorns, no matter whether it is the kingdom of Allenbia or the co-governance of Tarundi, the royal family of the former has never stopped. Regularly timed."

Thales listened carefully to what the other party said

"You mean, the Western Wilderness is to us what the Thorny Land is to the empire?"

"It is difficult to maintain a stable rule?"

Gilbert paused for a few seconds, as if searching for some appropriate words.

"Not exactly, but..."

Gilbert looked at Thales seriously

"Tell me, Your Highness, if you were your father, who would you reward, attack, and win over the three Xihuang families who seemed to have different political opinions, each had their own ideas, and had back-and-forth positions, who were indistinguishable from friends and foes? Who do you attack, who do you support, who do you let go?"

This question stunned Thales for a moment.

"From what I've seen..."

He reviewed what he had seen and heard in the past few days, and carefully replied:

"Reward Chromar for being able to tell right from wrong and know the times?"

Gilbert didn't speak, but looked at him expectantly.

So Thales tentatively continued

"Hit Bozdorf, because they are arrogant and confrontational, with a clear attitude?"

"Win Falkenhauser, because they have not expressed their position for a long time, maybe they are up for sale?"

Gilbert's eyes lit up.

"Good, because that's what we thought in the beginning."

Hearing this weird tone, Thales frowned

"but?"

Gilbert smiled as expected, and continued Thales' words

"but."

"Just after the bloody year, Williams has not been knighted for several years, ranging from conscription, tax reform, land annexation, to rewards and punishments, canonization, appointment, no matter what kind of national policy is to be promoted in the Western Wilderness, what kind of law To be carried out in the Western Wilderness..."

Gilbert's gaze became sharp, just like his tone

"When the Fuxing Palace master is famous and follows the steps, such as the implementation of the "Timed Recruitment Act" and the emergency attachment of the desert war, conservatives like Cromar are often procrastinating and obedient;"

"When His Majesty is gentle and supportive, such as suspending the "Border County Development Tax Exemption Order" as a compromise and show of favor, stubborn people like Bozdorf will jump out and fight to the end;"

"When Eternal Star City decided to make a move, a thunderous blow, such as punishing the nobles who violated the "Central Tax Act", the unpopular Falkenhauser suddenly appeared again, making jokes, pretending to be stupid, and even disturbing the muddy waters of Xihuang To the whole country, let our plan come to an end."

What?

Hearing these specific affairs, Thales felt dizzy for a while, and his brows frowned more and more tightly.

This is……

Xihuang from another angle?

"Other small and medium-sized nobles stood in line one after another, with few exceptions."

Gilbert's words tinged with resentment

"No, it's not just a few years, and it's not just one or two generations, but in the past tens or hundreds of years, every time the stars have a king's order and a great government is about to be implemented, every opponent in the West Wilderness can always find what they want. A black lion with a tough attitude, or a one-winged crow that is submissive on the surface, or a four-eyed skull that has nothing to do with oneself but is shrewd."

The more Thales heard it, the more frightened he became.

"No matter what we do, there will always be one of the three parties who do not bite each other's strings. One party will be able to throw an unexpected trump card, play the rules of the game superbly, and respond freely, or dodge and move, or procrastinate, or take a blow, and destroy our plan. The countermeasures were taken by surprise, and the result was twice the result with half the effort."

There was deep fear in Gilbert's words

"They seem to be at odds with each other, splitting the Western Wilderness, but they can always be broken into pieces when facing the king's order from the Fuxing Palace, covering each other on the smallest front, using joint forces from different directions to build the most appropriate obstacle, cleverly Disintegrate our efforts in the Western Wilderness and in the entire kingdom."

The lights in the main hall were still on, and several royal guards came to change shifts dutifully, but they all kept a long distance wisely to avoid disturbing the conversation between Gilbert and the new Duke of Xinghu.

It took Thales a long time to digest the information Gilbert told him.

but……

"Gilbert, you mean..."

Thales turned his head in disbelief

"The three major families of Xihuang, what they showed us, the three-legged separation of Xihuang, are they colluding?"

"Is it on purpose?"

Thales thought of Falkenhauser's terrifying smile, Dele's heart-to-heart confession, and Bozdorf's aggression.

From Power From Violence to Warner of the Sword, from the history of Bounty to the jokes about Cohen to the star-studded nine-pointed flag...

At that moment, it was like...

It was as if someone had broken a mirror.

All that was left to Thales was fragments that reflected countless faces but could not be spliced ​​together.