mtlumby2d Chapter 233: The Capital of Chaotic Intelligence
Chapter 233: The Capital of Chaotic Intelligence
Unlike the Kingdom of Anjou, which quickly determined a new strategic direction and everything became orderly again following Alberto's orders, the Capetian capital was in chaos.
Capet has not had a reliable and detailed battle report until now. After all, the original intelligence system of Capet's capital was rather poor. In addition, there were many political parties in the capital, and the ideas within each party could not be unified. Everyone only accepted the information they wanted, so that the intelligence about the North in the capital was extremely chaotic.
Although Lilith had said before that the issue of the southwestern border should be considered first, as time went on, the issue of the northern border was put on the agenda again.
At this time, Monroe was killing everyone at the round table meeting.
"The demons are almost unifying the North, why are you still unwilling to admit that the demons are indeed stronger than us humans?"
The other nobles at the meeting were so overwhelmed by Monroe's criticism that they could not even raise their heads. No one knew where Monroe got the information, saying that the demons had already defeated the Gray Collars and were planning to flatten the entire northern border starting from the Golden Ear Plains.
And according to the information we got before, those tireless monsters of the demon clan can indeed do it.
Many nobles who believed that they should negotiate with the demons as soon as possible and enter the battlefield quickly to balance the situation also spoke out, hoping that Lilith could leave as soon as possible. If they did not demarcate the boundaries with the demons now, the demons might really take over the entire northern territory, and by then Lilith would not be able to negotiate even if she wanted to.
Seeing Lilith still sitting on the main seat, Monroe couldn't help but sigh, "What happened to this country? Your Majesty, at this point, aren't we going to intervene? The demons don't want much territory, as long as we cede a small portion of the current northern border. Then we can let the gray-collars and demons continue to fight. When both sides are exhausted, we can intervene and retake the northern border in one fell swoop. Isn't that good?"
Lilith was not anxious, but asked: "Sir Monroe, where did you get your information from?"
These were all information that the demons unilaterally passed to Monroe, but Monroe certainly couldn't say that. Instead, he explained, "Your Majesty, our Eastern Territory is adjacent to the Northern Territory after all. This is the information I got from personal channels."
"I have always been devoted to this country. Your Majesty, please come down and negotiate with the North! Does Your Majesty really not care about this country anymore?"
Monroe kept urging her, and although he was polite on the surface, he began to attack Lilith in his words. This also made the radicals of the New Party who, like Monroe, felt that they should step down as soon as possible to balance the North dissatisfied.
"But since the demons are almost unifying the North, what's the point of us getting involved? Do we really have the capital to negotiate with the demons?"
Lilith went straight to the heart of the matter. Even if the intelligence was true, would the demons really be good people and sit down and negotiate with you?
"Of course!"
Monroe was very confident. He stood up and said, "Your Majesty, although I know you are dissatisfied with the demons lending money in the capital before, isn't lending money normal? Who among the nobles present here dares to say that their family has never lent money? Are you so clean? The demons just charge a little higher interest. Why should they be discriminated against?"
Many nobles present began to feel ashamed. It was only a hundred million points higher, right? How much benefit did Monroe get from the demons? They all started to lie with their eyes open.
Many people also thought of the then Prime Minister Cordick, who also liked to tell lies with open eyes, but at that time many people really believed this set of lies.
Monroe was not affected by the complicated looks of these nobles, but continued: "The demons are different from us humans. They are not greedy. All they want is a safe place to live. As long as Your Majesty is willing to promise the demons a piece of land, then the kingdom will definitely be able to make peace with the demons forever."
"You fart!"
At this time, the people of the Church finally couldn't hold it anymore, and stood up and shouted loudly: "How can the demons, those monsters that devour people, ever make peace with humans? Don't you know what the demons are using to fight?"
At this moment Claire suddenly became alert. It was not only the church representative who spoke, but also Josephine, the deputy arranged by Lilith to be beside Claire. She was a female paladin who hated evil and caused considerable trouble for Claire to completely control the defense of the palace.
Monroe didn't seem to care much about Josephine's questioning, and said, "They are just lowly people. Those mud-legged people are just ants, born to struggle in the mud. In contrast, we carry ancient bloodlines and noble families, and the demons are also interested in contacting our noble bloodline. For the sake of peace between the two sides, what's wrong with sacrificing some mud-legged people?"
After these words were spoken, even many of the nobles who were watching felt that Monroe had gone too far. Even though some nobles thought that what Monroe said was fine, the nobles still had to do some surface work.
“Those are real people!”
Josephine couldn't bear it any longer and started to confront Monroe directly.
Monroe also successfully matched with Josephine and said, "The sufferings suffered by the demons from ancient times to the present are much greater than those peasants. Even the demons didn't say anything, so what right do the peasants have to complain?"
Menma immediately took this topic as the center and began to fabricate history, using a far-fetched style to constantly attack Josephine.
This set of operations was a classic sophistry, but Josephine was not good at debate and did not know much about history. She was more devoted to the goddess and Lilith, and was soon speechless by Monroe's offensive.
Seeing this, Monroe took advantage of the situation and began to attack Josephine personally.
At this moment, seeing the depressing atmosphere at the scene and Josephine seemed to be on the verge of getting angry, Claire immediately said, "Knight Josephine, let's talk it over, but don't start a fight!"
After this statement was made, many nobles were dumbfounded. What do you mean by "don't want to fight"? Isn't this just adding fuel to the fire?
Sure enough, Josephine heard it and immediately drew the sharp blade at her waist in anger. It was definitely forbidden to carry weapons in the venue, but Josephine was different. She was originally Lilith's palace guard and Claire's deputy in charge of the entire palace defense. It was normal for her to stay by Lilith's side with weapons.
Of course, Josephine didn't really fight back. She didn't use magic or divine powers. Instead, she stabbed straight at Monroe. Even in her anger, Josephine still retained a bit of rationality and didn't attack the vital points.
Monroe was also startled by this sudden antagonism and hurriedly stood up and prepared to retreat.
But Josephine was immediately stopped by the people from the Vatican nearby.
"Knight Josephine, calm down."
Josephine also came to her senses from her anger, realized what she had done, and immediately knelt down and said, "I am guilty, Your Majesty, please punish me."
This matter can be said to be quite bad, but Lilith still decided to save Josephine first, not only because Josephine was arranged by Lilith herself, but also because Monroe's previous remarks were too much. Lilith decided to symbolically punish both Josephine and Monroe, defining this matter as a meeting conflict, raising it high and then letting it go gently.
Just as Lilith was about to jump off her seat and stand up to announce the outcome, Claire jumped out again, knelt down beside Josephine, and said, "I am incompetent in managing my subordinates. This is all my fault. Your Majesty, please do not blame Knight Josephine, but do not remove her from her position. Josephine has always been dedicated to protecting the palace. Today, Knight Josephine was just impulsive. The defense of the palace still depends on Knight Josephine."
"..."
Lilith was silent for a while. Although Claire came out to plead for mercy, could Lilith really punish Claire? On the contrary, after Claire said this, the nature of the matter changed a little. From the violent conflict in the original meeting, it escalated to whether Josephine was really suitable to continue to serve as the palace defense.
"Knight Josephine is temporarily relieved of her duties, and Sir Monroe is forbidden to continue speaking on this issue."
Finally, Lilith sighed and made a judgment. Monroe smacked his lips when he heard the judgment, and seemed very dissatisfied. He was forbidden to speak on this topic, but the royal capital had been discussing this topic recently, which was equivalent to directly silencing him. Monroe considered himself a victim, and this treatment was obviously quite unfair. After all, Monroe was the Duke of the East. In the past, this female knight could have been directly dragged out and chopped.
But Monroe received a warning look from Claire and finally had to sit back in his seat angrily.
Josephine thought that it was Claire who was helping her, and when she heard that she was only temporarily relieved of her duties, she excitedly looked at Claire with gratitude.