Chapter 426 The Three Queens
At this time, Wendy was in Sarleon City discussing national affairs with Amy and Alina.
It was indeed a matter of national importance - they were discussing how the Principality of Sarleon, the Principality of the Noldor, and the Empire of Bacchus could live in harmony in the future.
Governing a country is not an easy task, and these three queens are well aware of this.
The situations in the three countries are different, and the characteristics of the three queens are also different.
Amy is good at economics and people's livelihood, has a sense of the overall situation, and knows how to take advantage of human nature. She can even single-handedly instigate infighting between Firdsvain and Crowstern. But people who look at the overall situation often ignore the small corners, and Amy is like this. She is not good at considering and guarding against conspiracies and intrigues.
After all, Amy is a princess who has always been in the spotlight, a well-known and popular princess knight. Her upbringing has determined her thinking habits - even if she uses tricks or deceives others, she always uses open schemes, such as luring them with benefits.
But her Sarleon Principality implemented the feudal system of lords, which meant that "the subordinates' subordinates were not her own subordinates." There might not be any problem now, but there would inevitably be many plots from behind in the future, and Amy herself knew this.
Alina is just the opposite. Strategic planning and scheming are Alina's strengths. She is also good at discovering conspiracies from clues, and can even counter conspiracies with conspiracies.
But Alina is not good at inspiring the warriors, doesn't know how to win the hearts of the soldiers, and can't lead the troops to fight personally - she can't rely on Leon's help to defeat the invaders every time, right?
Moreover, she wanted to implement reforms as a dictator, that is, she would put herself in the spotlight to face everything and promote the reform policies left by Emperor Marius.
This is certainly a difficult challenge for someone who is used to making plans behind the scenes, and no matter how good the policy is, it must be implemented to be effective - her father Justus is good at thinking about policies, but it is difficult for him to help her with how to implement them specifically.
Wendy was very good at leading troops in battle. Her martial arts were top-notch in the entire continent . She also knew how to control the morale of the troops. She also knew a little about political intrigues - Li Ang had taught her this on purpose.
But Wendy is not good at strategic planning, and knows nothing about economics and people's livelihood...
Although the Principality of Noldor does not have many external enemies at present, the conflict between the Noldor elves and the Bacchus still exists. If it were not for Leon solving the people's livelihood problems and Alina's pressure in Bacchus, Wendy would have been overwhelmed long ago.
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, no one is perfect.
The three queens also complement each other perfectly - if they can work together.
Amy had called Wendy and Alina to Sarleon City just to work together.
"Alina, let me be frank. Whether the matter between you and Leon is a misunderstanding or not, it doesn't matter. Wendy and I both think that if Leon's third wife is you, we won't mind. So...you should get married, so that Leon won't be messing around outside..."
Amy was blunt with Alina.
"Amy, Leon is not having any affairs..."
Wendy was defending the man.
"But flowers and plants will definitely seduce him - it's the same for all of them. Alina, we have to hurry up, otherwise who knows if there will be another stunning beauty who will seduce him... then it will be really troublesome."
Amy spread her hands and shook her head.
"Amy, I know what you mean. But this is no private matter - this concerns the two million people of Bacchus, but also the future of everyone in Sarleon and the Noldor."
Alina held Amy's hand, just like she did two years ago when she helped Amy hold on in Sarleon City. They had been good sisters during the days when Leon was missing, so it wasn't awkward to discuss these things.
She was right. This was no longer a private matter. The marriage between the new King of Pande and Queen Bacchus would be directly related to the policies, tendencies and diplomatic logic of several countries. This would directly affect the lives of millions of people and even the future of the entire continent.
"You're right, so we have to hurry up..."
Amy nodded and held Alina's hand: "It's a bargain for Leon..."
"Wait... Amy, I have to be honest. I don't mind this matter, and I know this is the best outcome... But I can't marry Leon without him saying anything, right?"
Alina smiled bitterly: "My situation is different from yours. The Bacchus Empire can regard the New Pendor Kingdom as the suzerain of the alliance, and the people will regard Leon as the leader of the suzerain state, but Bacchus cannot become a subordinate principality of the New Pendor Kingdom. If the empire becomes a principality, there will inevitably be many martyrs like Agasson, and then there will be another huge civil strife."
"I know that... so I will, on behalf of Li Ang, offer you a betrothal gift that no one can refuse - one that is higher in standard than ours."
Amy nodded, she understood Alina.
The Kingdom of Sarleon was once a duchy of the Kingdom of Pendor, and originally was a principality. It is only natural that it has become a principality again.
The Noldor wandered to the land of the New Pendor Kingdom and settled in the forest. They were migrants who had lost their homeland. Giving them a piece of land where they could survive was the goodwill of the New Pendor Kingdom and a benevolent policy.
The history of the Baccus Empire is older than that of the Pendor Kingdom. They originally occupied the land in the south of the Pendor Kingdom by means of aggression. This was a conquest carried out by the strong...
The Bacchus can accept the New Pendor Kingdom taking back control of these lands, but will never accept the New Pendor Kingdom imposing any policies on the Bacchus.
In other words, they can submit to the New Pendor Kingdom, form an alliance with the New Pendor Kingdom, regard it as the suzerain state of the continent, and advance and retreat together with the New Pendor Kingdom.
But the Bacchus will not accept the rule of the new Pendor Kingdom. Even if they lose all their land, the Bacchus will still retain the same independent status as the Pendor Kingdom.
Therefore, before his death, Emperor Marius asked Arina to submit to Leon on behalf of Bacchus, but retain the country's independence. This was the bottom line that the Bacchus people could accept.
If Alina wants to marry Leon, it will also be a marriage between monarchs of two equal countries and must follow the logic of equality.
And it also has to conform to the logic in people's minds - Alina is the queen of an equal country, not Leon's subordinate, she cannot be the 'third wife' because it feels like being a concubine.
But if Amy and Wendy offered a betrothal gift on behalf of Leon that was beyond everyone's imagination, raising Alina's status higher than theirs, then of course no one would say anything.
"A higher-end dowry? Amy, the highest-end dowry in the world is probably the marriage between Leon and you... He gave all his territories as a dowry, including Sarleon and Noldor... He even gave Wendy the newly conquered Walven and Almera Castle, and he still owes you a Cliff Bay - can there be a higher standard than this?"
Alina asked in surprise.
"Of course."
Amy and Wendy looked at each other and took out a few coins: "Leon often said that what is more valuable than land is the human heart. And the human heart is on these coins."
There are several coins with different denominations. The largest denomination is the magic silver coin of ten dinars, and the smallest is the copper coin of one dirham.
These are the new currencies that Amy is preparing.
The ten-dinar 'Silver Deer' note has been transformed, with the portraits of Leon and Alina engraved on the front and back respectively.
A one-dinar silver coin with Amy and Wendy on the front and back, as well as the coat of arms of their respective principalities.
One dirham, which is one-tenth of a dinar, is a copper coin with only a horse engraved on it... That is Alice, the mare who has saved Leon many times and made great contributions to the solution of the Red Death.
As for the smaller denomination coin, 'Fier', there is no portrait on it because of cost control.
The new coins do not include the 100-dinar 'Golden Griffin' because the denomination is too large to be considered a common currency.
This is indeed a way to show status - at least in the eyes of ordinary people, the bigger the face value, the higher the status...
But the reality may not be so.
I'm afraid that Alice is the most commonly used currency that everyone, including children, can access.
The largest denomination of currency that ordinary people could use was generally just a silver coin of one dinar.
The ten-denar magic silver coin and the one-hundred-denar golden griffin usually only appear in the hands of big merchants and lords.
"You actually... Ha, this is really a good idea..."
Alina smiled. She certainly understood. This didn’t mean that Amy and Wendy acknowledged that she was of higher status. Rather, Amy used this method to give everyone a recognition that Alina and Leon were equal monarchs…
If this currency can be fully implemented throughout the entire Pande continent, then Alina will be able to become the dictator of Bacchus as she wishes with the help of Leon's prestige.
This is indeed a higher-standard betrothal gift than Amy and Wendy's. For Alina and the Bacchus people, its value is indeed greater than the territory of two principalities.
"Then it's settled. You helped us plan our wedding. Now, we'll help you plan your wedding..."
Amy nodded and smiled. "Also, send all the gold, silver and copper that the three of us can gather to the headquarters of Pender Bank. I want to start full operation at the mint near Maixiang Territory. Together, the three of us will use money to conquer the entire continent. Don't let Leon go out to fight, lest he mess around outside."
Well, Amy is still Amy, she still thinks about having affairs...
"But what if Leon disagrees?"
Wendy tilted her head in confusion: "He has never admitted that he has any intimate relationship with Alina..."
"There wasn't any...really."
Alina complained weakly.
"It doesn't matter whether he agrees or not, as long as Alina agrees. He is the king now, and as a king he can no longer control his marriage. This is the fate of every king... Besides, with such a beautiful woman, why would he not agree?"
Amy shrugged and made the final judgment.
…
"I don't agree! This is impossible!"
Li Ang said this through gritted teeth.
"Don't agree? I'm afraid that's not up to you... I hope you can stay underground and don't go out..."
The voice that was talking to Li Ang was an elegant female voice.
Originally, Leon wanted to wait for Wendy to come back, let Wendy find a way to recall Maltis, and then try to communicate with Eunomia to see if the problem could be solved - he thought he could only communicate with Eunomia through the soul space.
But what he didn't expect was that not long after he locked himself in the bank warehouse, Eunomia took the initiative to speak.
To be precise, it was a sculpture that was speaking - a statue of the goddess of order on Charles' body.
It was a very small pendant, made of sterling silver.
It was common to use silver to make statues of gods in those days. Charles had been wearing this pendant since he was a child, and he still wears it even though he no longer believes in the goddess.
Because this was given to him by Count Oden, a relic of his father - Oden was a devout believer in the goddess of order.
In fact, the statue was not originally talking to Leon, but to Charles...
What she said to Charles was: "You've made a big mistake..."
If nothing unexpected happened, her so-called big mistake was because Charles believed that the goddess was the evil spirit - he thought it was the evil spirit disguised as Leon to deceive him.
But when Charles heard this, he immediately felt that this was probably the evil spirit trying to deceive him again...
No matter how big of a mistake it was, Charles felt that it would be a big mistake for the evil spirit to come to him again, and he would not listen to the 'evil spirit' again!
So Charles immediately tore down the statue and handed it to Leon.
Then, Leon began to talk to the statue again.
Leon is quite skilled at this. Kavala is like this, and so is Eunomia. He is indeed Eunomia's chosen one, and they are really of the same lineage...
The conditions that Eunomia proposed to Leon were the same as those she had given to Kavala - she asked Leon to leave the continent of Pendor.
She said: "Child, I made a mistake in your case, and I apologize to you. But this mistake still needs to be made up... I can't send you back to where you came from, but I hope you don't stay in Pendor... Go back to Barkley, you are from Barkley."
Of course Li Ang would not agree...
He had been through life and death in the continent of Pendor for so long and had finally built up such a large industry. Could he just give it up?
What's more, he has two beautiful wives here!
But judging from what Yunomia said, if Leon refused, she might take some coercive measures...
This Eunomia is a bit arrogant...
No wonder she couldn't reach an agreement with Kavala at the beginning. She must have been a god for too long and had forgotten what humanity was.
However, if Leon stayed in the warehouse of White Deer Castle, Eunomia would probably have no way to stop him, so she said, "I hope you stay underground forever and don't come out."
"Dear goddess, can I first understand what you will do if I don't plan to return to Barkley Continent?"
Leon planned to find out what Eunomia was going to do.
"I will erase everything about you."
After a long silence, Eunomia responded.
