king.

Chapter 759 The oil is exhausted and the lamp is dry
After the palace meeting, Hudson returned directly to his territory. The cleansing operation in the imperial capital also began.

The unlucky nobles who followed Alpha I were thrown into prison one after another, including some members of the royal family, who were also asked to assist in the investigation.

Realizing that the conservative camp was making an example of someone to scare the monkeys, the Grand Duke of Effiero and the Grand Duke of Newfoundland, who were expected to compete for the position of regent, decisively chose to claim illness and stay at home.

As the investigation deepened, more and more people were implicated, and many emerging nobles were also passively implicated.

Although there is no direct evidence, this kind of deadly thing would be a disaster if it was involved.

In order to protect themselves, many of the nobles involved chose to surrender to the conservative camp.

The conservative camp, which was already the dominant force, has become even more powerful after this round of political reshuffle.

The corresponding internal structure has also become more complex from the initial simple structure.

Caesar IV, who was recuperating from illness, was still worried about the selection of regent, completely unaware that the situation outside had changed.

It’s not that he doesn’t have loyal ministers under his command, but it’s because they are too loyal that they choose to hide it from the emperor.

He is already dying, and if he gets any more stress, he will die even faster.

……

"Madeleine, His Majesty's body can't stand the torture, what should we do now?"

The emperor was kept in the dark, but the queen received the news.

For such a major matter, her trusted subordinates were too low-ranking and did not have enough say, so she could only choose Madeleine, who she thought was trustworthy, to discuss the matter.

Since Caesar IV appointed her as regent, Grand Duchess Madeleine also entered the circle of power, and the forces loyal to the emperor automatically gravitated towards her.

"Sister-in-law, at a time like this, it is better to be still than to move.

As long as the emperor is alive, they can't turn the tables.

Once something happens to the emperor's brother, it is inevitable that the conservative guys will become more powerful.

Both the Grand Duke of Efiero and the Grand Duke of Newfoundland were forced to claim illness and stay at home, and no one in the court dared to compete with them.

We are outnumbered and it is not advisable for us to confront them directly.

Since we can't stop them from becoming bigger, we just let them run rampant. The more reckless they are, the easier it is to make mistakes.

It is difficult for external forces to defeat them, so we should slowly devise ways to divide the conservative camp from within. "

Madeleine said calmly.

To the Queen, this seemed like the sky was falling, but to Madeleine, who had a huge memory, it was just a small storm.

Even if the conservative camp becomes larger, it will still be subject to the suppression of the righteousness of the monarch and his subjects.

No matter how high his position and power were, he was not capable of replacing the emperor.

In this context, the emperor can lose countless times, but the conservative camp is in danger of overthrowing if it loses just once.

With unequal advantages, just wait and see.

When it comes to extending the time period, everyone makes mistakes.

Wait until the enemy makes a mistake, then attack.

"Okay then, let's do as you say.

But we must keep this a secret from Caesar, his health is very bad, and we must not let him worry about it anymore!"

……

Government Office.

A group of conservative bigwigs are celebrating their glorious political victory.

After this battle, their foundation will be completely solid.

Even if other political factions in the country united now, it would be difficult to compete with them in the court.

As the leaders of the faction, they naturally made a lot of money.

Not only did they occupy a large number of positions in the court, they also annexed a lot of territories locally.

In order to avoid punishment, the nobles involved had to accept their goodwill and agree to their proposal for territory exchange.

It seems fair and reasonable, as the exchange is of equal area.

The problem is that what these people paid for was the fertile land in the interior of the empire, but what they gained was wasteland on the grassland.

All the nobles who chose to compromise were severely damaged after this battle. Without a hundred or eighty years of management, it would be difficult to recover.

Those who refuse to compromise are even worse!
Not only did he lose his fiefdom, but even his lair was raided and he was thrown into prison.

“Prime Minister, the regicide case should be stopped.

If we continue to be involved, the subsequent impact will be too great.

Your Majesty's life span is limited, we must deal with the aftermath as soon as possible and send those ignorant guys to the gallows!"

The Minister of Finance, Marquis Zuel, suggested.

The mass execution of nobles is a very taboo thing in the continent of Aslant, but dissidents must be eliminated.

As an old fox in the political arena, he is definitely unwilling to bear these responsibilities.

If you want to reduce the impact, you must kill all these guys before Caesar IV dies.

“The Marquis is right, the big case should indeed be closed.

While His Majesty is now conscious and conscious, we must submit the list to him as soon as possible and ask for his approval.

Also warn the people below not to eat in an ugly way and to abide by the rules of the game.

The provincial governors also need to do a good job of coordination and communication.

If we want to severely punish these rebels, we need everyone to work together!"

Prime Minister Beckett nodded and said.

There is no doubt that it was not only the six major families that controlled the government who got a piece of the pie, but the local nobles were also not idle.

This was not the first time that everyone had done the task of annexing small and medium-sized nobles, and they were already very familiar with it.

Due to the needs of war in the past few years, everyone slowed down the pace of internal mergers and fattened up many small and medium-sized nobles.

The smart people took advantage of the previous enfeoffment and moved their territories to the prairie in advance to avoid predators in advance.

With the signing of the armistice treaty, peace was restored on the continent, and the greedy nobles once again showed their fangs.

The most important reason why the conservative government was able to grow rapidly is that they represented the interests of the local nobles.

Taking the territory of twenty years ago as the dividing line, all the old provinces saw a wave of annexation at this time.

On the contrary, the emerging provinces have no intention of annexation for the time being because they have a large amount of land in their hands and have not had time to develop it.

Of course, the main reason is that the great nobles in these provinces are all very weak in their own right.

The small and medium nobles below all fought their way out of the battlefield, and their combat effectiveness is very strong.

If a war really breaks out, the governors of some provinces may not be able to defeat the county magistrates below them.

In fact, a big part of the reason why Prime Minister Becket chose to stop at this time was that he was not going to move.

In the Alpha Empire where martial arts are prevalent, the great nobles are certainly powerful, but there are also many capable fighters among the small and medium nobles below.

The main approach to these nobles with outstanding military achievements was to win them over.

When it comes to mergers, they only pick on the weak.

Even picking on the weak has its own rules and regulations, and it must be done with justification.

……

Xueyue collar.

As mergers and acquisitions surged in various places, Hudson's mansion became bustling again.

The targeted small nobles were unwilling to be annexed, and on the one hand they pretended to be submissive, on the other hand they were looking for help everywhere.

As the marshal of the empire and someone who did not join the wave of annexation, Hudson was highly expected by many nobles.

"Franz, do you think we should lend them a hand now?"

Hudson asked with a grin.

It is not easy to be the eldest son of a noble family. If you want to successfully inherit the family business, your personal abilities must be improved.

In addition to his daily schoolwork, Franz has now begun to get involved in government affairs.

"If they are family members, we will definitely give them a hand.

But the nobles in various places are not stupid. For your father's sake, they will definitely not touch the nobles who are closely related to us.

None of the branches scattered across the country have been involved so far.

Even close relatives were not affected.

Most of the people who come to ask for help now have in-depth relationships with us and rarely interact with us on a regular basis.

And they are not honest!

The reason why someone targeted you is not only because you are weak, but also because someone has something against you.

The great nobles need to consider the political impact, and the probability of them rashly carrying out annexation if there is nothing else is low.

The most important thing is that accepting this bunch of rubbish will only offend people and will not be of much help to the family!"

Franz analyzed carefully.

The truth is indeed a bit cruel, but this is the nature of the world. Weakness is the greatest original sin.

These nobles usually didn't interact with them, not because they didn't want to come over, but because the threshold of Hudson Mansion was high.

It would be difficult for nobles who had not been involved with him before his rise to power to establish any connection with him later on.

Even if there was a friendship before, as the gap in status continues to widen, it will be impossible to continue to communicate on an equal footing.

The relationship is inevitably alienated, and the old friendship can only play a role once at most.

Those who were able to continue the friendship were mostly those who had provided substantial help during Hudson's rise.

It was a very honorable thing for the little nobles to receive gifts from Hudson during festivals, and they wanted to let the whole world know.

Now that they have taken over the tiger's skin, the tragic fate of being taken over by others will naturally not happen to them.

This is a tacit understanding among the nobles. Everyone has relatives and friends to take care of. Everyone is in the same circle, so they must give each other some face.

"Um!

The external expansion has come to an end, and the next step is internal mergers.

There will definitely be more troubles like this in the future, so I'll leave these people to you to deal with."

Hudson said slightly sadly.

The rise of large-scale internal mergers is also the beginning of transforming the country into a family.

The continuous wars over the past decade or so have created a group of new nobles, but have also led to the decline of many families.

In this process, the small and medium nobles suffered the most, while the powerful nobles were hardly affected.

The current internal strife is relatively mild.

Given the Alpha Empire's special national conditions, if political and military reforms are not carried out, the subsequent struggle will become unprecedentedly fierce.

The aftermath that Hudson predicted is now continuing to brew. This is the price of forcibly stopping the war machine.

Unfortunately, the military system is not so easy to shake.

The role that the Conservative government is now playing is actually that of a wall-pastor.

It’s just that the empire’s problems were masked by its powerful strength, and no one noticed the hidden crisis.

In other words, they noticed the crisis, but chose to ignore it for their own benefit.

……

Time passed day by day, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

As the sun shone into the house, Caesar IV, who was in a slightly better mood, said, "Queen, help me go out for a walk!"

Standing on the attic and looking into the distance, Caesar IV, who looked refreshed, suddenly changed his expression.

"What's going on outside? Why are so many people being sent to the gallows?"

In such a huge empire, it was not surprising that someone was sentenced to death and executed.

But the place Caesar IV saw was different. It was the exclusive execution ground for the nobles.

Under normal circumstances, they would not bother to open for a year or two, but at this time, groups of nobles were sent to the gallows.

Realizing that she could no longer hide the truth, the queen's heart trembled.

Deep down, she had already greeted all the senior government officials and their families.

Things that were finalized half a year ago have not been completed yet, and the emperor just happened to run into them.

However, this is not due to the incompetence of the conservative government. It is mainly because it is very troublesome to legally execute a nobleman in peacetime and a series of procedures must be followed.

This kind of mass execution not only requires the collection of sufficient evidence, but also the convening of a noble council to make a ruling.

After completing a series of procedures, it has been like this until now.

"Your Majesty, these are the evil demon's followers!"

A simple sentence contains a huge amount of information.

Thinking of the authorization order issued earlier, Caesar IV spat out a mouthful of blood and his body suddenly went limp.

"His Majesty!"

"Go and invite Venerable Tailun!"

……

After a flurry of activity, Caesar IV was sent to the bedroom, breathing more than he breathed in.

"Hey!"

After taking a look at Caesar IV lying on the bed, Venerable Tairen sighed and turned to the Queen and said:

"Your Majesty's condition is very dire, and you can only hang on to your life now.

Queen, immediately summon the ministers of the court and the governors of the provinces.

I will use a secret method to wake up your majesty later, and I will tell you my last words in front of everyone!"

That was all he could do. Caesar IV's health was already exhausted and there was no hope of recovery.

It is common for the decisions made during normal times, even if they are imperial orders, to be rejected by ministers.

When the emperor reached the end of his life and left his last words, generally people would not refute them.

As long as it is not too excessive, all the ministers will give the emperor face.

However, if such a will is to be effective, more witnesses must be found.

"granduncle……"

Before the queen could finish, Venerable Tailun interrupted and said, “No need to say more, just do as I tell you.

If Caesar were sober, he would make the same choice.

The most urgent task now is to ensure that the prince ascends the throne smoothly, otherwise there will be changes!"

There were so many people interested in the throne, Alpha I was just the first one to jump out.

Because his cognition remains at a time hundreds of years ago when his words could decide the affairs of the kingdom.

He did not adjust his mindset in time, mistakenly believing that the kingdom must revolve around him, and thus made a series of wrong decisions.
There were countless people secretly eyeing the throne.

There are people in the royal family plotting, and there are also many ambitious nobles outside.

It's just that these people are living in the tide of the times, and their understanding of their own strength is relatively objective, so they dare not reveal their ambitions in front of outsiders.

……

By the Xueyue Lake.

Hudson, who retired early, was fishing leisurely to keep fit. After hearing the servant's report, he stood up suddenly.

"What, Your Majesty is dying?
When did this happen? "

(End of this chapter)