Azeroth’s Death Track

At the same time as the emperor's coronation ceremony, something happened in both the Kingdom of Gilneas and the Kingdom of Lordaeron. The timing of their occurrence is such a coincidence that it is hard not to doubt whether it is behind the curtain, really There are hands manipulating the situation in the empire, otherwise why would such important things erupt at the same time.

And the timing is so consistent...

But the shadows creeping under the sun do not stop there. In the northern border of the empire, in the Kingdom of Stormgarde in Dustwallow Marsh, at this important moment, there is also a big event happening, but compared to Gilneas The kingdom and the kingdom of Lordaeron are in turmoil, but what happened in the kingdom of Stormgard seems a little calm.

And if it is said that when King Liam and King Arthas made their final decisions, there were more or less external factors intervening, the decision His Majesty Galin Trollbane is about to make may be more, It stems from the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Stormgard at this time.

When the Kingdom of Stormgard migrated to the continent of Kalimdor, the settlement they chose was Dustwallow Marsh. You can tell from the name that this is not a suitable place to live. However, since the empire's territory is so large, even Sri Lanka No matter how unwilling the Tormgard people are, they must live in this swamp for a long time. Compared with the intrigues within other kingdoms, the focus of the Tormgard Kingdom in recent years has been on pioneering.

Under the call of King Garin, the nobles in the country led their own people to continuously expand the living space into the swamp. With the help of the druids, the plateau people from the Arathi Highland used mud and bricks to expand their living space. Stones, like ants moving their house, are gradually transforming the ecological environment of Dustwallow Marsh. They cut down the trees in the swamp, burn the earth with flames, and transform the muddy swamp into arable land and pastures that can be planted.

But this is not enough.

Because of the strange baby boom in recent years, the number of newborns in the Kingdom of Stormgard is very large. Once the children grow up, the existing land is not enough for them to live on, so King Garin must continue To promote this kind of national policy of ecological transformation, so that our people can have enough land.

The survival situation of the Stormgard nobles is basically the worst in the entire empire. Since most of the nobles need to lead the people to open up wasteland, the Stormgarde nobles will secretly be overwhelmed by the pampered nobles of other countries. Nicknamed Lord Mudlegs, in the past few years, many nobles who couldn't bear the harsh environment of Dustwallow Marsh and the hard work of pioneering work have migrated with their families.

These guys with wealth want to go to Lordaeron or Kul Tiras to enjoy life, and Garin doesn't care about it. The territory abandoned by those cowards was directly administered, and only one title was reserved for them. Under such an operation, after a few years, the fiefdom directly administered by King Jialin has accounted for two-fifths of the entire kingdom.

This also allowed King Garin's influence and status in the country to grow day by day, making the lords who stayed in Stormgard a little breathless.

The plateau people have a martial spirit in their bones, and they are more willing to use their swords to speak when encountering bad things. Therefore, after the news that Varian was about to be crowned emperor, several people on the border of Stormgard The lords of the counties rebelled almost immediately, and they did not oppose Garin's rule, but just wanted to use this behavior to express their will and force Garin to back down.

The sudden outbreak of rebellion caused Garin, who was pioneering the wasteland, to feel a little overwhelmed, but after reacting, the plateau king immediately chose the most direct way to respond.

The Stormgard fleet moored at New Stromgarde immediately headed north, and the king's most elite Highland Knights marched along the land route. Garin had no intention of negotiating with those rebellious lords, he just wanted to use force to suppress this restless group. The bastard, and the king's actions, also won the support of the rough and courageous plateau people.

Everyone is struggling to make a living in this swamp, but as soon as you can eat enough, you will jump out to make troubles, who can bear this?

And the other lords who wanted to respond to the rebellion were also frightened by the king's decisive suppression. Garin, who was in a hurry, also claimed in the noble council of New Stromgarde that if anyone dared to rebel, he would immediately go to New Storm City, surrender to Varian, and then lead the imperial army to hang all the restless guys!

But judging from Garin's character and his increasingly wild style of acting in recent years, it's not impossible for this to happen.

However, in order to ease the tension of the nobles and avoid signs of rebellion, King Garin held a meeting of the nobles after discussing with Ms. Partress, the archbishop who had returned to Stormgard. , the nobles of the plateau people took out a very flamboyant operation.

Several great nobles claimed that they themselves did not know how to choose, and the number of nobles in Stormgaard was too small to represent the will of the plateau people at all, so they spoke to the king, and in the whole country's Within the scope, a popular vote will be held to give the people the right to choose. If the people feel that leaving the empire is a good choice, then Garin must obey the will of the people and make a clean break with the empire.

If the people think it's right to stay in the Empire and accept Varian's rule, then the nobles will shut up immediately! But King Garin and Lady Partress must also make a promise to the nobles:

Even if Stormgard surrendered to Varian, King Garin must protect the nobles' personal safety, property safety and family inheritance.

In other words, regardless of the outcome of this referendum, the nobles of Stormgard will not be harmed.

The way that the people decide the country's future is not in line with the nobles' usual style of conduct, but this time, these nobles are very sensible. Their obedience even surprised King Garin, but the king thought about it. After that, he knew what the nobles were planning.

No one is stupid!

In the current empire, the Kingdom of Stormgard is the weakest in national power, and it is the best persimmon to pinch. It is very likely that it will become the first target of the emperor if it is so stubborn and confronts Varian. The war broke out. With the strength of Stormgard, even with the help of other kingdoms, it is difficult for them to win. Compared with the war, with the current state of Stormgard Kingdom, they urgently need external material support , to ensure the stability and inheritance of the country and its own family.

To give a popular example, Lordaeron, Gilneas, and Kul Tiras are all rich people. If Emperor Varian wants to take the wealth from them, it will inevitably lead to great resistance, but Stormgar De is a real poor man, it has nothing to lose at all.

Just accepting Varian's rule in this way, His Majesty the Emperor will also distribute some of the wealth he brought from other kingdoms to the impoverished Stormgard.

Therefore, the accession of the emperor to the throne is a real bad thing for the nobles of other kingdoms.

But for Stormgard, it's actually a good thing.

In this country, the nobles who like to do things and boast about others have migrated away long ago, and the remaining lords are willing to do practical things. They don't really care about the honor and status. Compared with those vain things In terms of real interests, it is simply meaningless.

Under such circumstances, the referendum of the Kingdom of Stormgard, to put it bluntly, is actually a trick for the nobles to use donkeys to go downhill. Galin and Ms. Partress realized this, so they agreed Passing this referendum can be regarded as giving the nobles a step down, and the deadline they chose is also very interesting.

Exactly the day before Varian became Emperor.

At this point in time, once the result comes out, whether King Garin is willing or not, he must implement it according to the result. The nobles did not give the king any time to deal with it...

pass!

pass!

pass!

Fail!

pass!

...

In the Church of the Holy Advent in New Stromgarde, the silver priest Ms. Partridge and King Galen Trollbane sat in the church on the left and right, and in front of them, the king's clerk and the nobles sent The witness representative is opening 13 sealed envelopes, which are the referendum results from 13 counties in Stormgard. The local lords are responsible for storing them and sending them to the king.

In other words, no one knows whether these results have been tampered with by the nobles, but anyone who knows the inside story knows that this is actually just a show. has appeared.

Seeing the clerks nervously counting the results of the vote, King Galin Trollbane leaned back on his chair, holding a wine glass in his hand, while shaking the liquid, he spoke to Archbishop Parr of Stormgard Diocese. Ms Tracy said:

This is the aristocrats, ma'am, please allow me to describe them in a rude way, but they are actually a bunch of guys who like to take off their pants and fart. They always like to engage in these meaningless procedures to cover their actions. They put on a cloak of procedural justice, like to find all kinds of great slogans and reasons, even if they want to sell themselves, they seem so cowardly.

The king's face was no longer as handsome as it used to be because of the bad climate of the swamp. Compared to other kings, Garin now looked more like a weather-beaten warrior.

He shed the greenness of his body and the restlessness of his soul, and dedicated his will and youth to the land under his feet, which is not gorgeous or fertile, but it truly belongs to the plateau people. He learned not to take it easy Through his speeches, he learned to size up the situation, to accumulate strength, and to balance power and politics.

Galen Trollbane is not as glamorous and sincere as Alsace, nor is he as swaying and painful as Liam, nor is he as stubborn and eager as Drake who lives overseas.

He is the most low-key of all the kings of the empire, just like his Stormgard, living his life in silence.

But he is also the one who is most like a king among all kings.

During the wind and rain in Kalimdor, this once impulsive and reckless young man is more and more like his father, Thoras Trollbane, the only one in the former alliance who can A watertight old fox who responds to King Terenas' tricks.

Just like now, when other kings are facing difficult choices, what Galin has to do is to sit here comfortably, drink wine, chat with the beautiful priest, and wait for the preordained result to appear.

His means of moistening things silently and getting the results he wants are beyond the reach of Arthas, Liam and Derek.

Your Majesty Galin, it's really rude to say this in front of a lady!

Ms. Partress, the silver priest, looked at the no longer young king beside her in a speechless manner. Facing the scolding of the beautiful priest, a strange smile flashed across Galin's swarthy cheeks. He said:

Yes, I did it on purpose, Partress, I just like to see you angry... How about it? Want to have dinner with me tonight?

No, I refuse!

The silver priest had a straight face. She knew what Galin was thinking, but she couldn't accept it because she was 12 years older than Galin... Although due to proper maintenance and the blessing of the Holy Light, Ms. Partress She looks very young, even younger than Galin, but in fact, this lady priest has passed the age of 40, although this is just over half of the average 90-year-old human life in Azeroth, But Garin was a king after all!

You shouldn't say no.

Galin put down his wine glass, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, he stretched out his hand to take Ms. Partress's hand, and said seriously:

In a few hours, I won't be the king anymore, Varian may give me a title of Warden of the North, or Grand Duke, I will still rule the land, but I will not be the king anymore ...You have to remember, Partress, Varian's purpose is not to destroy the entire noble class, he just wants to complete the reform of the empire, as long as the nobles don't get in his way, as long as the nobles thought the empire Freshmen give their strength, and they don't have a dead end.

But the collapse of this system is doomed. At the moment the federation was born, the demise of the nobles was doomed. I resisted that future, but after you appeared, I was more willing to see that result. That means, The rules and regulations that bound us will no longer exist...

Galin lowered his head and kissed Ms. Partress's hand lightly. He raised his head and looked at the silver priest who did not refuse. He said:

Forgive me, there's a lot of politics in this, but part of it, um, a small part, is that I've been alone for so long and I wish I had someone by my side...

But...but I'm a priest, I can't...

Galin's words were not romantic, but they tugged at the silver priest's heartstrings. She was no longer a young and ignorant little girl. She knew how many factors a ruler like Galin had to consider when making a decision, let alone It is said that this is a major event that determines the future of the Kingdom of Stormgard, and that the relationship between her and him can be a little bit more, which has proved the importance of this relationship.

But Patrice was at a loss when faced with Galin's sudden confession. As a woman who wanted to dedicate her life to her faith, she didn't know how to respond.

And Garin laughed, and said with a hint of domineering that a king should have:

Don't be stupid! The next pope will have a wife and children, Chaldea Morgan, I know him, since your pope can have a good marriage, why can't you?

That's it, Partress, now join me to represent the Kingdom of Stormgard to Varian's coronation ceremony, and on the day I take off the king's crown, you will be my wife!

I'll let Varian and Chaldea officiate, they won't refuse, trust me!