Chapter 502: The Queen's Journey
Prince Andrew the Young... No, His Majesty Andrew the Young's coronation went smoothly. Preparations began in late April and were completed in early May.
Of course... for little Andre himself, it didn't matter much whether the coronation ceremony was held or not, and whether he was addressed as His Royal Highness or His Majesty - as the nominal king, he still did not have real power.
The command of the royal capital's 40,000 garrison troops and 8,000 royal guards is in the hands of the eldest prince, the interior minister and the justice minister are also the eldest prince's men, and the finance minister who is in charge of the kingdom's finances is Prince Hood's man; the group of elders in the kingdom's aristocratic parliament do not have a clear position, but when they resisted Princess Harriet's coronation, these parliamentary elders were the ones who shouted the loudest... and it is unlikely that they would piss in the same pot with little Andre.
In other words, although Andre the Younger's "suffix" became "Your Majesty", he was still just an outsider in the core of the kingdom... He could only listen in on government meetings, and stamp the results of the ministers' arguments.
Little Andrei adapted well to this kind of treatment - his twenty-plus years as a transparent prince were not in vain. When he was in Innadelli "learning about local government affairs", few people treated him as a prince. There was no question of whether there was a gap in his current situation.
After wasting some time like this, before little Andre had any idea of his own, some speculators were already plotting against him.
"Your Majesty, are you willing to continue to tolerate those rude people?"
One afternoon in mid-May, little Andre was sitting leisurely in the flower hall drinking tea and reading the newspaper when a noble from the royal capital who came to visit him uttered these words.
Little Andre turned his head lazily and looked at the royal noble who seemed to want to bet on him.
He doesn't have any special strengths, but he has a good memory. Even commoners like Hal can remember him after seeing him again after many years.
After staring at this royal noble for a while, little Andre remembered this man's origin... If he remembered correctly, this man should be from Lipton Territory, and was related to the Barnard Witt family, a great noble family in Lipton Territory.
Innadri, Adler, and Tachia were the first to "fall", and the Odysseus family was colluding with the undead regime. It would be nonsense for the only two remaining territories among the six territories of the kingdom to say that they were not panicking at all.
Little Andre thought of this man's background. Even if he himself was not smart enough, he could figure out his intention... He just wanted to "make good use of waste" and gain some benefits from him, the king in name only.
"Am I really so stupid that anyone can think that they can use me to charge into battle?"
Little Andre was unhappy and complained a few words in his heart, but he did not show it on the surface; remembering his mother's teachings, he revealed a few complaints to the visitor and expressed his "feelings" about those "lack of vision" guys in the royal capital, saying "don't despise the poor young people", and had a pleasant conversation with the visitor.
At night, when he went to his mother's side hall, little Andre revealed his true thoughts: "The Barnard Witt family arranged for someone to come here, but they didn't go to find my eldest brother and uncle. It seems that they don't think highly of those guys either."
Princess Harriet nodded with satisfaction. Her son had grown up to be sensible. If little Andre really believed that the people from the second northern leader contacted him because they really wanted to bet on him, then Princess Harriet would be in big trouble.
"The royal capital has 40,000 garrison troops on the surface, but it's good enough if we can actually use half of them. Your brother wants the Minister of the Interior to follow his orders and win over those greedy government officials. He has to think of ways to spend more money." The princess said lightly.
"What?!" Little Andre was shocked when he learned about this for the first time.
"Lipton County borders the Rose Kingdom. The Barnardwit family must maintain military preparations to defend against the Rose Kingdom. Over the past decade or so, they have "purchased" a lot of military supplies from your brother, His Royal Highness Amilo. The Barnardwit family may know the combat effectiveness of the royal capital's garrison better than the ministers of the kingdom."
The princess sneered. She really had no access to power, but she was very close to it. After watching from the sidelines for so many years, she knew all the tricks. "If a war really breaks out, let alone defeating the army of undead, the king might lose faster than Lord Tachia. The Barnardwit family must make plans early."
The Church can hold its nose and befriend the Nightmare Butcher, so it is impossible for the great nobles to be more pretentious than the Church... If they can win Yang's "friendship" through little Andre and coexist peacefully with the Undead regime like the Odysseus family, the two northern lords will not only bet on little Andre, but will also acknowledge that Yang is the King of the Rhine.
"Brother Amilo is too bold! Isn't he afraid of getting into trouble if he is exposed?" Little Andre's brain couldn't work as quickly as his mother's or consider things as far ahead as possible.
"...It's because Prince Hood has been controlling the kingdom's finances for so many years." Princess Harriet said lovingly, "But this matter can be used. Little Andre, mother will give you an idea..."
In the following days, little Andre met with the Barnard Waite relative-in-law almost every day.
Five days later, under the "impatient" "urging" of His Majesty Little Andre, Little Andre met the people from the Barnardwit family who had quietly rushed to the royal capital from Lipton County.
A week later, under the "strong will" of His Majesty Little Andre, the other of the two northern lords also sent people to the capital...
Soon, the meeting process between our Majesty and the two northern leaders, as well as part of the conversation between the two sides during the meeting, were heard by Prince Amilo and Prince Hood through different channels.
Whether the two northern leaders were just planning to use Little Andre or chose to bet their political capital on Little Andre and speculate at this critical juncture of "national chaos", this matter was enough to anger these two...
They had to endure the fact that the son of the successor wife was in a high position and rode over their heads, and "bearing humiliation" to make plans for the future of the kingdom. As a result, the only two nobles left in their own plate could not sit still and wanted to move their butts to the enemy's side. How could they tolerate this? !
The eldest prince Amilo & Prince Hood were so angry !
Of course, although they were furious... these two would not confront the Second Leader of the North and force him to make a choice at such a precarious moment; as long as both sides have not played all their cards and both sides still have chips in their hands, there is always room for maneuver.
Therefore, these two "traditional politicians" in a sense quickly made responses that were in line with their "personalities": on the one hand, they actively contacted the two northern leaders to temporarily appease the two and not rush to change their positions; on the other hand, they spent a lot of money and tried their best to communicate with their good neighbor, the Nosk Federation, to borrow troops.
While the capital was bustling with fighting, the Odysseus family, one of the five territories of the Rhine Kingdom bordering the Nosk Federation, was also busy.
Phoenix, who led the regular army on an armed journey, was busy preparing for the "move".
Little Prince Andre entered the palace. No matter whether he was listed or not, or why he took the throne, in Phoenix's view, the capital and even the Rhine Kingdom were already in Yang's pocket...
"This guy actually managed to get this done in just a few months."
Phoenix didn't know that Yang was planning to use the remaining power of the royal family to "invite" the Nosk Federation to be guests at home. She only knew that according to the efficiency of the Undead Army, which would be unstoppable if there was no war, no one could stop it once the war started. If the Odysseus family didn't pack up their belongings quickly, it might be too late.
As the one with the highest industrial level among the six territories of the Rhine Kingdom, Odysseus has a lot of assets... Even if the real estate such as houses and fields cannot be taken away, the self-contained shipbuilding industry can be moved.
In May, when the coronation of His Majesty Andre the Younger was still being prepared, Phoenix began to organize people to dismantle the factory and move the machines.
By June, most of the Odysseus' shipbuilding industry in Moses Port had completed packing and loading the ships, which were then transported via a tributary of the Barcelo River to the no-man's land at the junction of Odysseus Territory, Lipton Territory, the Norsk Federation and the Rose Kingdom for temporary storage.
The capital and the two northern lords were busy with political struggles and had no time to pay attention to the movements of the Odysseus Lordship. The undead regime was very polite... Yang even sent a telegram to ask if Phoenix needed undead mercenaries to help her eliminate the horse thieves and water pirates roaming in the lawless area.
Phoenix, who received the telegram, grinned for a while... and chose to accept Yang's kindness.
In the alternate world, in June of the new calendar year 1033, the people on Earth had just celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival.
One year later (Earth time), I saw the NPC shops in the game selling mooncakes of unknown brands and the NPC civilians carrying all kinds of mooncakes. Players sneered at the game "Otherworld" for not being able to find a good meal and the sponsors were blind to spend money on promotion in the game... The game released a long-awaited online update:
"Online Patch Update 1.21"
"The world quest "The Queen's Journey" is now open."
"This mission is shared by all players and has no acceptance conditions."
"This mission is unique. The mission progress is shared by all players and will no longer be available after completion."
The players who had just mocked the production team of "Another World" for eating rotten, sour and expired food immediately betrayed the dignity of the players without any scruples, and happily ran to various teleportation points, running to the hot land waiting for the players to conquer...
The horse thieves and water pirates active in the lawless area were subsequently hit by a dimensionality reduction attack.
Yang Qiu, who was also working diligently to "find something for the players to do" today, appeased this group of idiots who would find ways to find things for him to do whenever they were free, and then shifted his attention to Ji Tang's national team squatting in the Principality of Shiga.
It has only been a few months since Ji Tang led his men to fight in the Principality of Shiga, and Brother Lowell's territory... ahem, hometown, has changed completely.
Of course, this was also due to Yang Qiu's silent support. Apart from anything else, Yang Qiu also distributed several containers of mooncakes on Earth, whose value plummeted after the holidays and whose prices dropped from gift boxes to those destined for feed factories.
Yang Qiu's generous support was, of course, not only because of his friendship with Rowell, but also out of consideration for supporting the work of the national team.
The group of experts that Ji Tang brought to the Principality of Shiga was naturally not only for the purpose of alleviating poverty and guiding political reforms.
