The raid on the underground streets had ended, and the entire operation went very smoothly. However, just when Cassius personally sent back the good news, the banquet in the palace was not over yet.

Although the essence of this banquet is to contain the mole and cover the deployment of troops, after all, there are too many guests invited and the momentum is high, so the banquet needs to continue until its natural and normal conclusion.

.But having said that, the banquet venue is still full of feasting and drinking. The guests are all gathered in groups according to class and status to drink and talk, while the young ladies and gentlemen are all in pairs.

They danced on the dance floor or made love to each other in the open-air corridor and garden outside the venue.

However, at first glance, it seems that the banquet is still very lively, but in fact, if you look closely, there are actually few nobles above the duke level staying here, and there are only a few sporadic nobles who like banquets and socializing.

The lady is still here to socialize. Most of the upper-class nobles have already found various suitable excuses to leave the banquet hall. After all, after Cassius's report was delivered, Alubeg was the first to leave, and with

At the same time, the purpose of the banquet has been completed, so there is nothing left to do here.

Alubeg has to go back to deal with the finishing work of the dark street, because there is a quite large underground space, far beyond the scale that Alubeg and others expected, and the number of big bosses confirmed in it is 11.

Too many. But unfortunately, only three people were arrested. The rest either left early before being exposed, or did not capture enough evidence to confirm their specific identities.

This is a very troublesome thing, because although the identities of this group of people have not been completely confirmed, it is not difficult to guess the general identities of this group of people based on the clues sent back by the night owl at the scene. And let Arrube

What Ge and others did not expect was that among this group of people there were many subordinates that Alubeg currently trusted, and there were even heavyweights and powerful figures in the core power circle of the principality. This group of people cannot be touched at the moment.

, after all, the number is too high and the status is too high. If they are all executed, part of the principality's ruling power will suffer a lot of backlash.

No one expected that among the leaders of the dark street were the upper-class nobles of the principality, and the public charges for this raid on the dark street were serious legal crimes such as "smuggling of prohibited weapons" and "high amounts of tax evasion".

For ordinary businessmen, this is indeed a very serious crime, but if there are nobles involved, it may be a different matter.

There is actually no hard and fast rule in the laws of the Principality that nobles cannot engage in business, or they cannot directly engage in commercial activities, because the Principality was not wealthy at the beginning, and excessive consumption during the War of Independence led to property embarrassment after the founding of the country.

At that time, Alubeg discussed with many nobles a relatively loose business bill, which very implicitly mentioned the provision that nobles could operate some businesses to increase tax revenue for the country.

However, as time went by, when the principality's finances became more and more abundant, the nobles who were once directly responsible for business gradually cut off their official business contacts, and almost all the nobles handed over the commercial organizations at hand.

The retainers and subordinates accepted it, and they themselves "returned" to normal aristocratic life. After all, among the seven human kingdoms, it is a very shameful thing for aristocrats to do business, although not many people can convincingly explain why.

It would be shameful, but this is also the default rule agreed between nobles of various countries.

The nobles' business operations in the principality once attracted ridicule from other countries, and these discriminations also had a serious negative impact on the principality's diplomacy. However, although there are not many nobles in the principality who specialize in commercial activities, based on that, there are still no

The public cancellation of the temporary bill also resulted in many nobles still directly operating quite large commercial trade privately.

Take the big bosses behind the scenes who are currently involved in the dark street incident. If this matter is dealt with publicly, someone will definitely use this temporary bill to criticize Arubeg's decision-making, and although the dark street has been closed down,

The big bosses in the dark streets may not necessarily be brought to justice, especially the noble leaders. At that time, this group of nobles who cannot be solved from the legal level will probably take the opportunity to launch an attack. In this case, if there is no longer a problem in the principality,

If something goes wrong, it will definitely bring serious trouble to the already exhausted Principality of Michael at all levels.

Speaking of which, Alubeg was shocked and angry after learning about the situation. After all, these nobles were not only the ones he had trusted, but they also held important positions in the core power circle of the principality. It was even more irritating.

What's more, one of them is a noble who holds military power in the besieged fortress around Trikla City. Arubag felt that he had been betrayed quite seriously. At the same time, he also wanted to understand why every time he investigated the dark streets in the past, he would

There are so many sufferings, so hidden dangers continue to lurk under the nose. This time, the entrance to the dark street was found through the information revealed by the Chosen One. Many of these entrances were actually the objects of investigation in the past, but

But they all failed due to various problems.

This is like being in a fog. Even if the truth is right in front of you, you can't distinguish it because there is too much "fog" in front of you. In addition, the subordinates you thought you trusted deliberately made mistakes.

information, which led to several brushes with the truth.

If this is not betrayal, what could it be? Arubaig feels that he is not the leader of a country at all, or in the eyes of others, he may be like a ridiculous character in a stage play, thinking that he has a noble status but is being played by everyone.

While applauding, the most ridiculous thing is that he still trusts them and even entrusts them with many important responsibilities and rights.

"Absurd!" Aruberg was so embarrassed that he clenched the silver wine glass in his hand into a crumpled piece of waste, and then stabbed it into the table in front of him like a dagger.

Alubeg did not leave the palace as the banquet chief, but at this moment he was in no mood to stay below and look at the hypocritical faces of those people. The upper floors of the palace were all under martial law, although the confidentiality measures here were better than those in the Duke's residence.

It was much inferior there, but considering that he could not leave publicly at the moment and other reasons, he dared to listen to the action report from the dark street here.

Sitting opposite Alubeg were Hugo and Cassius. After all, the seriousness of this matter had given Alubeg a very nervous sense of crisis, so he was not willing to let his three men sit at the moment.

A child has also been exposed to this dangerous information. Of course, the investigation of the Night Owl agent in the dark street is also very confidential. Although I dare not say that it is completely confidential, the current situation shows that those nobles should not know that their problems have already been solved.

exposed.

However, those merchants who were not caught suddenly disappeared tonight. To a large extent, their disappearance was basically the result of the secret assistance of these nobles. Just like how they dealt with the understreet problem in the past, these nobles

They have become entangled with black market merchants and cannot be separated at all, so they are almost both prosperous and disadvantaged.

"Should we remove the authority over the fortress first?" Cassius suddenly said: "If we can't move them tonight, then we might as well find an excuse to remove the authority first. At the very least, we have to prevent them from making trouble.

We need to make more noise."

"I don't agree. These people have been in the fortress for a long time. They may have already corrupted and controlled the garrison in the fortress. If you want to do it, then be more decisive and let the Jayhawk go over and take them..."

Hugo raised his head suspiciously and scratched his neck with his finger, and then added: "As for those merchants, I guess they have not left Tricla at all. After all, the city has been blocked and they cannot escape. Outside the city

There are also the newly returned Greville regiment and several teams of the eldest lady setting up camp over there, and the problems at the Acropolis Fortress can be completely dealt with by them."

"No, no, the death of an upper-class noble at this time will definitely cause chaos in the city. Public security issues cannot be underestimated. If not, it may be manipulated by people with ulterior motives or cause even greater trouble." Ka

Sius waved his hand to reject Hugo's suggestion and then said: "Don't you have any conclusive evidence over there? Who can come out and let the Lion Guard arrest them openly? This will not only calm people's hearts but also

You can avoid giving excuses to some people..."

"It's not that simple. There is a lot of black material, but none of it can be punished in vain." Hugo shook his head helplessly and looked at the still angry Arubaig. It seemed that he still insisted on what he had just said.

radical proposal.

Alubeg was really upset at the moment. However, although he was Duke Michael, he was from a martial arts faction. For this reason, he was not so experienced in maneuvering and politics. In the past, the stability of the principality was almost always

Relying on the military deterrence of several first-class battle groups under the duke's command, some unrest within the principality was restrained. However, Aledo's raid caused serious battle losses to several battle groups, and then the central

The monster disaster in the area has restricted the principality's other combat capabilities. For this reason, without the "Sword of Sanction" hanging above their heads, many careerists and restless guys have started various small actions.

In fact, during this period, there were some guys in several cities and regions in the northeast and southwest of the principality who were ready to take action. They watched the principality being defeated by Aledo, Prince of Solis, and defeated part of the main force in a battle.

Arubag's authoritative rule has given rise to undesirable thoughts. Of course, they would not do it by starting a rebellion, but there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of the Duke's authority to take small actions, such as where

The lords began not to abide by the administrative laws of the duchy, and began to create new laws to undermine the authority of the duchy, or simply refused to do such innocuous actions as the duke paying taxes or simply collecting taxes at will.

These small actions will not immediately cause harm to the rule of the principality, but if left unchecked, over time they will eat holes in the principality's laws like moths. And if there is a beginning, there will definitely be followers who will imitate it, and in the end

The first ones were local small nobles. If they formed a sufficient number, they would still shake the ruling power of the local noble lords, thus indirectly causing damage to the power system of the principality.

After all, the political system of the Principality of Michael is not a complete aristocratic feudal system. The world of Hiltia has been brought by many reincarnations to cross-era knowledge of another world. For this reason, some additions are added to the traditional feudal system framework.

The novel and effective administrative management system is the most common method among the seven human kingdoms. Of course, the administrative systems used by each country are different, and the Principality of Michael has chosen a relatively strong centralized power.

Local nobles do have the power to manage fiefs or territories, but all laws and systems need to accept and use the decrees issued by Grand Duke Michael, and some local officials also need to be appointed from the Duke, otherwise it is illegal.

, then the lighter one will be demoted or fined, while the serious one will usually be hanged.

The key to maintaining central power does not lie in the prestige and popularity of the Duke, nor in the loyalty and honor of local nobles and lords. These old excuses are no longer applicable today. For this reason, only power represents absolute force.

Power is the core key to maintaining the national system. With absolute force suppression, no young person dares to easily come forward and shake the authority. This almost iron-blooded management method has been the tradition of the principality since its founding. At the same time,

It is also very effective, and under the humanized administrative management of the principality, ordinary people have received a lot of favor and care. Therefore, this is the main reason why the people of the principality are very supportive despite its young age.

.

It is a pity that all this was loosened with the emergence of Aledo and his new army. The warriors of the war group who were invincible in the past suffered heavy losses from the civilization products of another world. The Principality of Michael did not

We have lost this war, but it is not a complete victory. At least as one of the five first-class battle groups, the Wolf of Baal has lost almost two-thirds of its combat power. This kind of information cannot be concealed, so it is so exaggerated.

The battle losses naturally gave many ambitious people an excuse to take action.

The result of the war did not make the principality lose its authority, and the disaster in the central region also blocked the normal communication between the north and the south of the principality. Therefore, the first to send signals of instability were naturally several remote areas in the southwestern end of the principality. At the same time,

Although the Northeastern region is very close to Trikla, the capital of the principality, it is also a remote border area, which has led to some small actions by some restless nobles.

Of course, there must be aristocratic traitors working from it, otherwise it would not be such a coincidence that they would cause so many problems at almost the same time, because due to the problems in the central region, currently only some upper-class nobles in the country have the opportunity.

They use some special means to transmit information conveniently, so if there is no trace of them in these things, Alubeg will not believe it anyway.

But fortunately, these problems are not serious. Basically, they have been dealt with before the arrival of the Algasburg mission. Although the problem no longer poses a threat, Aruberg does not think that this matter will

It ended like this. On the contrary, he felt that this might be the beginning, the beginning of a very disturbing turmoil, or there might be internal problems and the involvement of external forces. But as for who Arubeg is.

He didn't know, after all, he was not in the mood to think about these matters carefully at the moment, so he could just leave it to Ye Xiao to continue the investigation.

Aluberg let out a long sigh, and at the same time inadvertently interrupted the argument between Hugo and Cassius. At the same time, he stood up and went to the cabinet next to him, took out a new wine glass and poured it into it.

I had a glass of cheap barley wine and sat back.

This is a personal hobby of Duke Michael Alubeg. Although this kind of cheap ale is available all over the north of the principality, sometimes the price of a barrel is even less than a Solis silver coin. However, due to the army of Alubeg

Because of his background, he used to drink this kind of bad-tasting ale when he was in the army. Although he hated it himself, over time this bad taste became a habit that he couldn't give up. To this day, whenever he is upset,

Sometimes he would have a drink and reminisce about the past, and use this to relieve his inner pressure.

After frowning and drinking the large glass of ale, Arubag burped in an indecent manner.

"Are Patrick and the others still downstairs?" Alubeg turned back to his steward and asked.

"Yes." The middle-aged white-haired affairs officer stepped forward very politely and replied: "Count Gatz and Count Cerro are still socializing in the venue below, but Miss Chris seems to be following Algas.

The guests of the castle have gone to the annex, do you need to invite her back?"

Alubeg did not speak but nodded silently, and then the steward respectfully retreated to the door and opened the door gently to leave.

"The degree of trouble in this matter will determine the future direction of the principality for the next 10 years... no, it may determine the future direction of at least 50 years." Arubag said slightly melancholy after having another large glass of ale: "It is better to let the three of them

Let's discuss it together. Anyway, there is still enough time. I think the answer should be available within two hours. By then... let all your subordinates be ready."

Aruberg said very implicitly, but Hugo and Cassius completely understood what the Duke meant. Although he seemed to be still hesitating about how to deal with this matter, it was subconsciously indicated that the Duke wanted to

He would deal with the betrayer with iron and blood tactics, but before that, he might want to use this matter to test his three children.
Chapter completed!