Volume 4: How big is the heart, how vast is the earth Chapter 113 End of the Prince System
"This...?!" Tim was stunned.
"Can Carlisle completely end Anthony's political life in this confrontation?" Xiao Yun said.
Tim immediately shook his head. How could this be possible? It would be good enough if he could cut off Anthony's outstretched hand.
"It's understandable. Although Carlisle has risen strongly and won the support of the king, and has an advantage in the competition for the crown prince, Anthony has been the eldest prince for so many years after all, and he won't lose so badly after just one fight. After all, he has the support of the princes and dukes, and still has a lot of supporters willing to follow him... So in your and Carlisle's opinion, for now, all you have to do is hold your ground, cut off Anthony's hand that has reached into the fleet, and make him return empty-handed, right?"
"This...is there something wrong here?" Tim was very confused.
"The fact that you asked such a question is the biggest problem, Tim." Xiao Yun sighed, "Think about it carefully, who is Anthony?"
"...The eldest prince." Tim said stiffly.
"Yes. Although Anthony is a political enemy and a competitor with irreconcilable positions, you and Carlisle are still troubled and limited by his identity." Xiao Yun narrowed his eyes. "If another noble with status intervened and took advantage of Carlisle's success in three large-scale maritime trades and built up his base when the situation was booming, what would Carlisle do?"
Tim's mouth dropped open.
"Maritime trade is an important tool for Carlisle to revive St. Bridget. It is more important than his life. If someone attacks his life, what should be Carlisle's normal reaction?" Xiao Yun pressed further.
"...Kill him." Tim said stiffly.
"That's right." Xiao Yun slapped his thigh. "Then why are you so restrained when Anthony is the one who makes the move? This is not just about seizing Carlisle's financial resources, but also about destroying Carlisle's base, ruining his efforts, and ending his dream of revival. Anthony is also Carlisle's absolute political enemy in the competition for the position of crown prince. You are fighting against such an irreconcilable political enemy, but you only want to cut off one of his arms when you can? What are you thinking?"
"Only the absolute winner has the right to be merciful. If Carlisle can end Anthony's political career in one fell swoop, then there is no problem in leaving him alive as a sign of magnanimity. So... is Carlisle the absolute winner?"
Tim was sweating profusely and couldn't utter a word...
Xiao Yun stroked the water cup and waited for Tim to think slowly. It was not surprising at all that someone as smart as Carlisle and as shrewd as Tim would fall into such a misconception. On Earth, in 2019, the Japanese still regarded the emperor as their spiritual leader, let alone the aliens who had long been accustomed to the halo of their status.
Tim's expression changed again and again, and finally he could only smile bitterly and shook his head. Intellectually, he could understand what Teacher Ayun said, but...
Xiao Yun sighed, "The only way out for those who fail in the battle for the crown prince is to become a prince. I don't want to nitpick about the pros and cons of this system. Maybe it's fun for your king to put an irreconcilable enemy right under his nose to disgust him. Who knows?"
"Teacher Ayun..."
"There will be a lot of trouble. For the sake of overall stability and long-term considerations, these are the only excuses." Xiao Yun shrugged indifferently and brought the water cup to his lips. "Since you have this reaction when being used as a target, then Carlisle's attitude is predictable."
Tim was silent, his hands on his knees trembling slightly. He struggled for a long time before speaking out with difficulty: "What would you do if it were you, Teacher Ayun?"
"We, the warriors of the Snow Wolf Tribe, will allow herbivores to enter our territory, but we will definitely drive away or kill the monsters. To Carlisle, is the eldest prince Anthony a herbivore that poses no threat, or a monster that may bite him back at any time?" Xiao Yun said calmly, "The struggles between the nobles are always to the death, so why are they so reserved when it comes to the royal family? In terms of the intensity of competition, the royal family should be more dangerous, right?"
Tim lowered his head silently.
"In the history of the St. Bridget royal family, how many times has the prince hindered the king, or started rebellion or civil unrest?" Xiao Yun smiled slightly.
Tim suddenly raised his head and stared at Xiao Yun in confusion. After a long while, he gasped and trembled, "Teacher Ayun, do you mean... to end the prince system?!"
"Even among the adventurer teams in the Elf Port, there is only one leader in each team who keeps his word." Xiao Yun slapped his thigh in frustration.
Chinese people on the planet start learning history in elementary school and learn ideology and politics in middle school. The cycles of order and chaos from ancient times to the present, both at home and abroad, in the textbooks have repeated one fact countless times: only a strong centralized power can lead a group to new historical heights. On the contrary, the more people who speak in a group, the faster it will disperse. When the Zhou emperor was weak, the chaos of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period came; when the Han Dynasty declined, the chaos of the Three Kingdoms came… Even in modern Europe, where there are two houses of parliament, the House of Commons is purely to make up the numbers, and the right to speak is in the hands of the hereditary House of Lords.
A group can only have one dominant will, this is beyond doubt, and talking about mercy in this struggle for team dominance is simply a huge joke. Not to mention political struggles, those women in palace fights will kill their opponents with blood if they get the chance. Why would they keep their opponents around for dozens of episodes? Is this dragging the show?!
Xiao Yun treats St. Bridge as his own "retreat". If by any chance the Snow Wolf Clan has to move to St. Bridge to live, and Carlisle has no say and there is a prince talking nonsense, then what is the point of all this trouble!
"The comprehensive strength of a country is reflected in many aspects. It's too broad to say, but one thing is correct. The emergency response capability and organizational mobilization capability in the face of emergencies are the most obvious manifestations of a country's comprehensive strength. When a crisis occurs, do you think it is better for Saint Bridge to have only one voice and one will, or multiple troublemakers? Does Carlisle want to revive Saint Bridge, or continue to repeat the boring things that the previous kings did and just get by?"
"There's actually no need for me to tell you these truths. There's nothing new under the sun. History books have answers to everything that's happening right now and will happen in the future." After a pause, Xiao Yun said sarcastically, "It's just that... the only lesson people have learned from history is that people can never learn lessons from history."
Tim was silent. After becoming an alchemist, he was naturally qualified to access the "secrets" of the upper class that the lower-class commoners were not qualified to access. The struggle between the current king and the previous Prince of Hilbott continued until the prince's death, and the king's nephew took over the prince's title... From this perspective, even Tim began to feel that the prince system was simply unbelievable. (Note 1)
"...Teacher Ayun, I admit that I am convinced by you, and I believe Carlisle will also be convinced by you, but it is not easy to do this...the cost is too high." After a long silence, Tim hesitated and gritted his teeth to speak the truth.
What he said meant that he was really considering killing Anthony... The young man also had a temper.
Xiao Yun laughed. The so-called price was just to see whether the chips of interest were valuable enough. With a kind smile, Xiao Yun stretched out his index finger and hooked it at Tim.
Tim moved his butt closer, and Xiao Yun leaned over to whisper in his ear.
“…” Tim’s jaw gradually dropped and his eyes widened.
One day later, Elf Port.
Darren woke up early in the morning and watched people clean the deck of the main ship and arrange the cabins. Bottles of fine wine priced in gold coins were taken out and placed on the integrated bar. Seafood from the deep sea and delicious monster meat were sent to the kitchen, cooked into exquisite dishes by the chef. Singers and dancers were arranged for performances, and invitations to the nobles on board were confirmed... This greatsword warrior was so busy with so many things that he was sweating all over his forehead.
It was finally noon when Darren had some free time to sit down and take a breath. He hadn't even wiped the sweat off his head when a noble young master came up to him hesitantly and made eyes at him, asking if he could have a beautiful elf girl as his companion at the evening party...
"The elves in the port are all warriors. An impolite look might lead to them drawing their swords and chopping you down." Darren, with veins popping out on his forehead, smiled with the greatest self-control in his life.
The young nobleman walked away with a gloomy face.
The cocktail party was held on all the main ships of the royal family. The participants included the nobles on board, the elves stationed in the port, and officials of the Adventurer's Association. It was not large in scale, but all the necessary details had to be paid attention to. After all, it was a cocktail party held in the name of the two princes of St. Bridget, and it could not be careless.
Finally, the venue was set up, and Darren felt that he had shed at least two kilograms of sweat...
Asking the guards to keep an eye on the venue, Darren hurried out of the main cabin and headed for Carlisle's room. As soon as he opened the door, his eyes almost fell to the floor: "Tim?!"
Tim, who had already changed into a formal suit and was adjusting his bow tie, smiled at Darren when he heard this.
"Now that you're back, why don't you come to help? Do you know how tiring it is for me to set up the venue by myself?" Darren shouted.
"Don't get excited. I just got back two hours ago. Look who this is?" Tim quickly turned sideways to avoid Darren's saliva.
"..." Xiao Yun silently raised his hand to wipe his face, staring at Tim expressionlessly. If this guy avoided it, wouldn't he be the one who suffered? This kid is really not a good person.
"Teacher Ayun!" Darren was surprised, then his eyebrows lit up with joy, "You are here too? It's been a long time since we last met."
"Okay Darren, quickly change into your formal clothes." Carlisle walked out of the inner room with a smile, "Teacher Ayun will attend our cocktail party. You will have time to talk to him."
Only then did Darren notice that Xiao Yun was wearing a formal suit, which seemed to be from Carlisle. It fit him well, but the cuffs were a little long, so he pinned them and rolled them inside.
"This..." Darren showed a confused expression.
Xiao Yun glanced at him approvingly. This guy only looked reckless, but his brain was really very useful. "I haven't formally met with Carlisle's partners yet. This cocktail party is a good opportunity."
"I've long wanted to introduce Teacher Ayun to everyone." Carlisle said with a smile.
Darren scratched his head, said nothing more, and walked towards the inner room... then his eyes became fixed.
Another person came out from the inner room.
This is a walking hormone releaser that even men have to stop and look at. The slender and fit figure is wrapped in a well-cut slim dress, and the slightly loose shoulder-length hair is casually draped over the thick and broad shoulders. The moment of passing by, she inadvertently raised her hand to tidy up the loose hair on her forehead, and the silver-white hair slipped from her slender and powerful fingers. The deep eyes under the flying thick eyebrows glanced lazily at me, and the light-colored pupils were like a pair of hazy emeralds, lazy and ostentatious, which can make people impressed at a glance.
Darren's jaw dropped. This man, no, this female snow werewolf, whose facial features and temperament were extremely striking, was...
"Dahe?!"
Tim showed a lemony expression, and Carlisle couldn't help clapping his hands: "It's so suitable, Darren's dress looks just right on you, Dahe, if you show up at St. Bridget's, I think women all over the country will scream for you."
"The waist is too loose." Da He was not very satisfied. "And the pants seem a little short... Can't you tie your hair up? It's very uncomfortable to wear it down, and it always blocks my eyes."
"It's not appropriate to tie your hair up when wearing this dress, so just make do with it. I told you to cut your hair short a long time ago, but you didn't want to." Xiao Yun was already tired of Daha's face and didn't feel anything at all.
"Wait...why is Taiga wearing my dress?" Darren was totally confused.
"Of course you have to wear formal clothes to attend a cocktail party, and my dress can't fit into it," Carlisle explained.
“…” Darren’s mouth twitched a few times, and he silently went into the inner room.
Tim still had a sour expression. He looked up and down at the uncomfortable Dahe several times, and sighed that he had lost as a man. "Fortunately, Yumi didn't come, otherwise I think it would be difficult for us to bring her back."
Xiao Yun laughed. If the husky in a beautiful woman's skin was willing to come to the Snow Wolf Tribe to have a lesbian relationship, he would definitely welcome her with both hands. However, it was not easy to do such a thing as poaching people. "Carlisle, you should bring Dahe with you the whole time. No man would be willing to get close to you."
Carlisle nodded and half-jokingly said, "It takes a lot of courage to stand next to a big river, especially for a young man."
"Hey, why?" Dahe asked curiously.
Xiao Yun, Carlisle and Tim all ignored this question.
"Tim, are there any problems in your negotiations with Humphrey?" Xiao Yun turned his head.
"The Baron has already sent a servant to deliver a message." Tim laughed at himself. "In fact, there is a part of my personality that is influenced by the Baron. I don't really like adventure. If he could choose, I think the Baron would prefer Carlisle's 'friendship'."
Xiao Yun nodded. Although he had never met Humphrey, he could tell from the arrangements he made for his youngest son that this young noble was a man of his own accord. He knew how to be generous and how to handle things. Otherwise, with Prince Carlisle now being the most powerful person in the country, he would have pushed his youngest son over to curry favor with Tim by relying on his relationship with him.
"Carlisle, what about you?"
Carlisle gave an indescribable and complicated smile, closed his eyes and nodded slowly.
Xiao Yun stopped talking. He was not the kind of person who liked to force others to take a certain path. This time, he also prepared two paths for Carlisle. It was up to him to choose which one... He didn't have to do the step of guaranteeing the death of his father just to get the title of a teacher.
The word punctuality does not exist in His Royal Highness Anthony Ferdinand's dictionary. When the cocktail party was about to start, he was still lazily lying in the room, killing time doing nothing.
He was not in a hurry, but Guard Captain Blue could not sit still: "...Your Highness, the time is almost up, you see..."
"No need to be so anxious." Anthony waved his hand and sneered, "I'm not the one who should be anxious, Blue. As long as I'm on the boat, Carlisle has to stay with me obediently. I want to see if it's my time that can't be delayed or his time that can't be delayed."
Captain Blue didn't dare to say anything. He actually didn't think there was any point in such angry behavior, but unfortunately his word didn't count.
It wasn't that Anthony
To put it bluntly, the profits from maritime trade are based on the fact that scarcity makes things valuable. In the first maritime trade last year, participants made at least twenty times the profit. As the number of maritime trades increases and people's demand for furs and Warcraft symbols becomes less intense, profits are bound to decline.
Anthony knew very well that Carlisle did not make that much money from the last maritime trade, and the people who participated only made about five times the profit.
Of course, such profits were still quite astonishing, but there was indeed a big drop compared to last year. Dissatisfaction had already emerged secretly among the nobles who followed Carlisle - the wool business, which accounted for a not small proportion of the trade, was monopolized by Carlisle, and he would rather give the profits to the poor in the slums than share them with everyone. This extremely stupid behavior made Anthony feel that Carlisle was not suitable to be the leader of the maritime trade at all.
It was for this reason that Anthony was willing to come to the ship to get some fresh air. The route opened by Carlyle as a prince did not mean that he was not qualified to occupy it. He could do what Carlyle could do, so why should he watch Carlyle flatter him?
When he appeared in the fleet, Carlisle's position had already been challenged. Whether Carlisle would stabilize people's hearts first or he would take over Carlisle's base with a more generous and royally decent attitude, it all depended on who between him and Carlisle could hit the other's soft spot more quickly and effectively.
"Almost... let's go see what the atmosphere of the party is like." Yawning, Anthony sat up lazily and called the maid to help him change his clothes.
A cocktail party with about 200 people is nothing in China, but it is unique to hold it on a ship. As soon as His Royal Highness Anthony came out of the corridor of the first-class cabin, he saw several elves standing at the door of the main cabin that served as the venue, talking in low voices. Their beautiful appearance and slender figure made Anthony's eyes light up.
Looking more closely... they were all men with flat chests. Anthony frowned slightly, rolled his eyes and looked away. This was why he didn't like the elves. They seemed to be incompletely evolved, and their sexual characteristics were not as obvious as those of humans.
Anthony walked around the group of elves and entered the venue. He held his chin high and chest out, ready to be surrounded by a group of people and fawned over him.
Three seconds later.
Five seconds later.
Veins began to appear on Anthony's forehead.
The elves standing near the door looked at Anthony who was blocking the door in surprise, and whispered to each other. The nobles inside didn't know what they were busy with, and didn't notice the late prince at all.
The cabin space is limited. Apart from the necessary crew members, naval soldiers and personnel from various families on board, the fleet will not carry too many extra people. In other words... there will be no professional waiters, and if there are any, they will be servants from various families.
The waiters at the venue were carefully selected and well-educated sailors. There weren't many of them, and who would be a sailor if they came from a decent family? So... there wasn't even a waiter to ease the embarrassment.
"...Your Highness..." Guard Captain Blue's scalp tingled due to the curious gazes of the elves around him, and he spoke in a trembling voice.
Anthony took a deep breath, then another deep breath, and walked inside trying his best to maintain his composure.
Then Anthony finally discovered what those damn nobles were doing - the humans attending the meeting were divided into three groups. One group stood in a corner in groups of two or three, talking loudly, that is, praising each other; one group gathered around the sofas on the east side, in several layers inside and outside, and no one knew what they were doing; the other group... were all women. All the female passengers from various noble families in the fleet gathered around the bar, and there were even female elves. At first glance, they were all backs, blocked tightly and airtight.
Anthony casually called over a busy and sweaty waiter and glared at him with a dark face: "Where is Carlisle?"
"Well." The waiter pointed to the bar.
——This loser keeps saying he won’t bring a maid but he’s trying to squeeze in with women?!
Anthony was so angry that he strode towards the bar.
Anthony walked closer with a lot of dissatisfaction and was surprised to find that he seemed to have thought something wrong... There was not only Carlisle surrounded at the bar, but also a silver-haired man who was so handsome that he looked like he had walked out of a top art painting.
With the genetic improvement of many generations of beauties, it is difficult for royal families and nobles to give birth to ugly children. Anthony is used to seeing people with outstanding looks, but after seeing the appearance of the silver-haired man, he couldn't help but feel jealous as a man - Carlisle standing next to him was completely eclipsed and looked like a clown to Anthony.
Without much hesitation, Anthony turned around and walked away. He had no interest in being someone else's foil, especially under the eyes of so many women.
In the corner, Tim, with a reserved smile on his face, was greeting Baron Humphrey in a friendly manner. He glanced at Anthony, who had a grim expression on his face, and quickly looked away.
Nothing is more embarrassing than being alone in a lively party. Anthony, who stood alone with his glass in hand for a while, soon realized this. He couldn't go to Carlisle's place. Those people chatting in the corner were either marginalized or talking about topics that they were only willing to talk about with a few people. Anthony naturally wouldn't go over there. After thinking for a while, he walked towards the circle with the most people.
"It's over..." Tim's heart tightened, and he pretended to lower his head to drink, following Anthony's figure with his peripheral vision, "Next - it's up to Teacher Ayun!"
