Chapter 482: The Wrong Opponent
Yang Qiu, who was still staying in the territory of Tachia, had just waited for the arrival of the "new tool man" of the national team to take over Creek City when he was greeted by the envoy from the royal capital.
"An envoy from the royal capital? Coming to surrender?" This was Yang Qiu's first reaction after hearing the letter.
"This..." The operator who came to the lord's mansion to deliver the letter wiped his sweat silently, "This... the other party didn't say it."
"Okay, the messenger specifically wanted to see me, right?" Yang Qiu got up from the sofa and straightened his clothes.
The Lord of Tachia had not yet found a suitable lord, and the royal family had sent an envoy but had no idea who to look for, so it was not out of the ordinary to ask to meet him.
"The other party seems to be a member of the royal family." The operator reminded, "The messenger claims to be an old acquaintance of yours and hopes to have a face-to-face interview with you."
Yang Qiu sneered, but did not expose the royal envoy's self-flattering words. He took a cloak, put it on, and went out with the operator.
Fei Fei, the newly appointed deputy director of the secretariat of Creek City, has a bad temper, but she is quite considerate in her work. She did not treat the envoys from the capital coldly, and accommodated all of them in a high-end hotel not far from the city hall. This hotel was originally the private property of Count Geketian's family, and is now the public property of Lord Tachia.
Upon meeting the envoy from the royal capital, Yang Qiu discovered that the man's status was quite high, and that he was actually acquainted with him... The envoy himself was the prince of the Rhine royal family.
When Prince Hood met Yang Qiu this time, his attitude was completely different from the arrogant one when they met last time in the palace (when Colson O'Neill was knighted). He respectfully came out of the suite to greet him and took the initiative to say hello. He also mentioned little Prince Andre who was "temporarily staying" in Innadri all the time, as if he and little Andre had a very close uncle-nephew relationship and there was no conflict at all.
Yang Qiu patiently exchanged a few polite words with the greasy prince, and then directly asked him the purpose of his visit.
Prince Hood then slightly restrained his hypocrisy and solemnly poured out the tragedy that had just happened in the royal family - His Majesty the King died suddenly of illness three nights ago.
"...sudden death?" Upon hearing the news, Yang Qiu's expression became strange.
The old king is indeed not young anymore. Considering the way he spent his youth, living a life of debauchery and reveling every night, it is impossible for his body to be in great health.
But the problem is that Cardinal Atwood of the Gold Coin Church is also in the royal capital.
With the strength of this prestigious cardinal not much inferior to that of Lowell, it stands to reason that even if a blood vessel in the old king's brain burst, he should be able to be saved as long as he seeks help from Atwood in time.
In other words...it is very likely that the old king did not meet the cardinal when he fell ill.
Yang Qiu looked at Prince Hood expressionlessly.
Prince Hood still had a sad look on his face, and he sadly took out a handkerchief from his coat pocket to wipe his eyes.
Yang Qiu watched his performance quietly.
Yang Qiu didn't care whether the old king died or died miserably.
If he hadn't been plotting to take over the court wizard who had been employed by someone else for many years, he would have wanted to hang the old king on the city wall... and the prince in front of him could have been hanged as well.
Don't say that all evil is done by the people below, and that the people above have clean hands and are as pure as white lotus - the history of the collapse of dynasties in China has repeatedly warned future generations that those who have clean hands during an avalanche are not necessarily clean at all.
But the old king's sudden death is indeed quite strange...
"...It's impossible that he knew that the matter of Tachia was too big to handle and died suddenly - the old man couldn't have such awareness." Yang Qiu muttered secretly.
There is no doubt that the Rhine royal family has an unshirkable responsibility for the problems in the Territory of Tachia (including the rampant hidden slavery in Innadri and the serious human trafficking in the Territory of Adler).
But if you say that the old king was in cahoots with Count Gekaterin and worshipped Guy Latoti hand in hand... that's not the case.
Less than half a year ago, he had just met the old king when he took Coulson O'Neill to the royal capital.
Thanks to the ancient god's tentacle that he had absorbed before, Yang Qiu was very sensitive to the evil god's aura; even if someone was only contaminated with a little aura and even the night watchmen could not detect any abnormality (such as old Master Gladstone), as long as he stood in front of Yang Qiu, Yang Qiu would find something wrong.
When the court wizards began to suspect the old king, Yang Qiu, who was right next to him, did not get involved at all. This was the reason... The old king did not engage in evil god worship, and Yang Qiu, who was extremely sensitive to the evil god's aura, could prove it himself.
Of course, he had no interest in explaining for the old king... As I said, he didn't care whether the old man who had lived a life of luxury and debauchery died or not, or how miserable his death would be.
As for the question of "cultivating one's character" that the court mages doubted, it was actually easy to explain. The old man had spent his whole life wasting time, and even drinking alchemical potions at his age couldn't save his hollowed-out body. This was really normal...
"Forget it. Whether it was a real sudden death or someone from the royal family did it, it doesn't matter."
After thinking about it for a while, Yang Qiu was too lazy to care about this matter and asked directly about Prince Hu De's purpose.
Prince Hood, who was a pretty good actor, put down his handkerchief and said earnestly, "His Highness the eldest prince blamed himself for not taking care of His Majesty and was unwilling to inherit the throne. The second princess and the third prince were also in grief after losing their father... After several discussions, the royal family believed that the fourth prince Andre should be the most suitable candidate to succeed."
Yang Qiu: “…”
Very good, you are worthy of being a royal family. You are more knowledgeable, interesting and discerning than ordinary nobles. You are really willing to humble yourself.
In terms of acting skills, Yang Qiu would not lose either. He immediately showed a surprised look and said, "It's really like this - I was presumptuous to take a crown prince of a country as a follower."
Prince Hood's mouth twitched, but he held it tight again and said respectfully, "It is an honor for Your Highness that Prince Andre can follow you. Everyone in the royal family is proud that Prince Andre has such an excellent guide like you."
Yang Qiu looked deeply at the old politician.
Obviously, the Rhine royal family made the greatest effort while they still had room to struggle... Rather than waiting until the capital was conquered by the army of undead and disgraced by the loss of the royal halo, it would be better to acknowledge the son of the second wife and try to keep the throne in the bloodline of the Rhine family.
If the old king were still alive, this would probably not be possible - someone who has held supreme power for decades will never be willing to give up the power in his hands unless it is absolutely necessary.
But now that the old king is gone, those who are higher in the line of succession are well aware that after they take over the throne they can only count the days to enjoy the royal power...so making some temporary sacrifices for the sake of long-term interests is not unacceptable.
Yang Qiu could guess with his knees that even though these royal family members were treating little Prince Andre as a lifeline and desperately trying to grab him, when little Andre could really help the Rhine family keep the throne in the Rhine family, these guys would turn around and unite to confront little Andre head-on...
But...these guys are obviously dreaming.
They totally got the wrong opponent.
The actual rulers could not possibly be the incoming king, but rather the group of veteran cadres from the national team ...
A bunch of feudal royal families banded together and wanted to confront those old foxes who had been tempered in the melting pot of China's officialdom head-on, and wanted to snatch power from them - that was really impossible, there was no way out.
Yang Qiu smiled and nodded, and his attitude towards Prince Hood became much more polite and compassionate. He said, "Since this is a royal family matter, I, an outsider, have no right to butt in. How about this, Your Highness, please wait patiently in Creek City for two days, and I will arrange for someone to bring the news back to Innadri, and little Prince Andre will make the decision."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Yang." Prince Hood secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but on the surface he was just as affectionate as Yang Qiu. "By the way, I went to ask Princess Harriet for her opinion before leaving. The princess was very excited and asked if it was convenient for me to pass on a message to His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince. The princess missed him very much."
Yang Qiu's smile became even more friendly: "Of course there is no inconvenience. I am very happy to serve you, princess."
Princess Harriet, who was smart enough to arrange a way out for her son early on, would never be "very excited" and do such a thing as asking someone to pass on a message... It is estimated that her freedom of life was restricted, and she used it to hint to little Prince Andrew to "consider the family more."
With such unpresentable "powerful" tactics, he still wants to play power games with the retired cadres and injured political commissars who are engaged in team building in the national team...tsk tsk.
Whether or not the capital city could be taken without bloodshed was not important to Yang Qiu. Even if a war really had to be fought, it would only be a matter of opening up a large-scale event for the players.
Of course, if you can avoid fighting, you can save some trouble... After all, continuously opening "battlefield activities" will lead to saturation of equipment circulating among players and depreciation of game coins. Players who meet their equipment needs will lose the motivation to play the game - this is obviously not conducive to a virtuous circle.
So... without the knowledge of all the "Another World" players, a large-scale event was ruined by Butterfly.
His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, who was squatting in Innadri, soon received the news that he would become the next king.
Of course Yang Qiu didn't need to send anyone to pass the message back to Innadeli. He could just use the magic network matrix to notify the operator closest to little Andre and have the operator run errands.
Less than half an hour after the "cordial conversation" between Yang Qiu and Prince Hood, two great actors, ended, an operator who was performing a mission on the central avenue of the west district of Innadri City hurried to the literacy school in the bar district.
"Is the prince here? Is the prince here?"
The operator, who still had a lot of things to do, ran into the school gate and shouted at the top of his voice.
Literacy schools for adult students only open at night and are very quiet during the day. When the agents stand at the school gate and shout, their voices can be heard directly at the back door of the school.
"Yes, yes!"
Little Prince Andre opened the window of the faculty office and shouted out in an unhappy voice, "What's the matter? Do you want me to help you?"
This prince...his appearance hasn't changed much, his face is still fair and clean, his neck and hands are still white and tender - he is a prince after all, and when Ji Tang was in charge of him, he didn't feel comfortable treating him like an ordinary operator.
Of course, although his appearance was fine, his temperament was completely different... His Royal Highness, who half-poked his body out of the faculty office, was only wearing a very simple stand-up collar shirt, with his sleeves "undignified" rolled up to his elbows, his fingers and wrists were stained with ink, and his nails, which were once carefully maintained, were cut close to the flesh, and there was not a single piece of jewelry on his body.
That's right, although Ji Tang and the people at Innadeli City Hall were embarrassed to use the prince as an operator, he would definitely be able to do the work that a clerk could do - after all, he had an above-standard educational level, and although he couldn't do big things, he could still be useful in helping out with light work.
Now, His Royal Highness the Prince is working as a substitute teacher at a literacy school, and is currently correcting students' written assignments...
The operator didn't even plan to enter the school gate. He just stood at the door and waved: "Mr. Yang asked me to tell you to pack up and take the cargo ship to Creek City this afternoon. There is something urgent. I have delivered the message. I am leaving now. Hurry up!"
"Got it!" Little Prince Andrei responded out of annoyance and habit at first, and then realized something was wrong. "Wait a minute, why do you suddenly want me to go to Creek City?"
"I don't know! Remember not to miss the departure time!" When the operator replied, the person had already run away.
Little Prince Andre stared at the guy's back as he ran away, then turned around and complained angrily to the other full-time teachers who were also working in the office: "What are you doing? I'm a prince after all. Not only do you treat me as a handyman here, but you also want me to go out on field work? That's too much."
