Lux's Farewell

590 The aftermath of the war [0583]

Although not fully successful due to the disappearance of the Wing Sisters, the Battle of Tobyssia still allowed Demacia to have the last laugh in this confrontation between the two "superpowers" of Runeterra.

After completely encircling the Tobyssian fortress established by the Noxus and completely cutting off the connection between the defeated soldiers and the Gate of Sorrow, Demacia officially started negotiations with Noxus on the truce.

There is no need to fight anymore.

The negotiation process was not smooth. The main reason was that Noxus could not afford to lose. They refused to admit that this was a surrender. Even if they gave up the land on a large scale, even if they had to give up all the equipment and materials, they insisted that this was a one-off. "Ceasefire Negotiations".

Jarvan IV, who personally negotiated with Darius, was quite helpless about this kind of stubborn behavior.

In this way, after some wrangling, the two sides finally reached a substantive armistice agreement before the food and grass in the Tobysia Fortress were completely exhausted.

In Demacia, Jarvan IV mercifully allowed the Noxus soldiers trapped in the Tobyssian Fortress to "leave without weapons and military supplies." Each soldier was allowed to carry a Pockets, no weapons are allowed in them.

In addition, all materials including armor, beasts of burden, mounts, equipment, and weapons must be left in the Tobysia Fortress and handed over to Demacia for reception.

The above is all the "price" Demacia has to pay as the winner.

On the Noxus side, although they insisted that this was a ceasefire agreement rather than a conditional surrender, from the perspective of the ceasefire agreement, this was a surrender—they were severely cut off a piece of flesh.

In terms of territory, Demacia is fairly restrained.

Noxus needs to hand over all the land west of Triwell, including the western mountains of the Silver Mountains where the Gate of Sorrow is located, the western part of the Triwell Plains, and the Tell Islands in the southern sea of ​​Triwell Extremely surrounding sea area.

It is no exaggeration to say that if Demacia hadn't shown no interest in territorial expansion, Noxus might not even be able to keep Tobyssia.

In terms of diplomacy, Demacia is much more ruthless.

The Noxus foreign warbands must withdraw from the Valoran city-states including Nokmerch, Senfogel, Bakazana, and Rivarov, and issue a statement that they will no longer interfere with any of them. Succession of power in duchies or city-states.

Demacia has the right to protect all Valoran city-states. Any Valoran city-state or principality that is invaded by Noxus is equivalent to an invasion of Demacia, and Demacia will give a "Tobyssian-style counterattack."

In terms of military affairs, Jarvan IV's conditions are also quite straightforward.

Noxus wants to disband the War Masons organization and promise not to conduct any espionage activities in Valoran. After the war, Noxus must limit the number of battle groups and soldiers, and stop the preparation and construction of the Sea of ​​Conquest Navy.

In addition, Jarvan IV also tried to get Noxus to pay reparations, but in this regard, due to Darius's firm attitude, and Noxus is indeed already poor and about to lose its pants, and its finances are about to end, in the end he had to Let it go.

In the end, the two sides signed an "armistice treaty" at the Gate of Sorrow, and the Noxus withdrew from the land of Demacia in despair.

Jarvan IV, who received the new land, returned to Xiongdu with the victorious army amidst the cheers of the people. Behind the army, there were Noxus battle flags, armor forged with black iron, and Noxus-style armor. Weapons, never-before-seen war equipment, sub-dragon dogs with collars, and earth dragon lizards of various sizes have all been carefully taken care of as spoils of martial arts after the victory of the war. Enter Xiongdu City.

Every new thing that enters the city gate and enters the sight of the people will attract a burst of cheers. The flowers in Xiongdu are completely sold out, and even the people of Demacia who have not gone to the battlefield are enjoying this with pride. Moment of victory.

Later, in the Grand Plaza, Jarvan IV delivered his first king's speech since he succeeded to the throne. In this speech, he announced to everyone, "I know where the greatness of Demacia comes from, and Demacia West Asia has also been on a greater path."

During the whole speech, the whole grand square erupted into incomparably warm cheers one after another, again and again.

And this is just a face gain for Jarvan IV.

In terms of lining, Jarvan IV actually gained more.

After the King's Speech, Jarvan IV officially became the Cardinal of the Illuminati.

The unity of theocracy and royal power made Jarvan IV the most powerful king in Demacia after Oren. Relying on this power and prestige, Jarvan IV launched a series of drastic actions.

First, he issued a decree of the king, placing more than a hundred minor nobles with fiefs in the new territory obtained through the armistice agreement.

These new nobles are all soldiers and officers who made contributions in the Battle of Tobysia. They will become the new royalist party. Although they have the same status as the old nobles, their positions are completely opposite.

Secondly, those soldiers whose merits are not enough to become nobles will be rewarded by Jarvan IV based on their merits. The head pastor of the town is responsible for "communicating the latest guidance from the Illuminati".

Then, he once again announced the convening of the nobles, the reconstruction of the noble council, and very frankly allowed the nobles to be absent or send representatives to attend.

In this situation, the nobles who had previously fought against the royal family because they were unwilling to hand over their power saw that they could no longer unite and form a coalition to fight against each other. Plenary session of the Second Council of Nobles.

At the meeting, the first thing Jarvan IV did was clarify the issue of the jurisdiction of the nobles' private army - if Demacia is in a war situation, then the king, as the supreme commander of Demacia, has the power to govern all soldiers .

And considering that a civil war is also a war, this almost declares that Jarvan IV has in fact completely deprived him of the command of the lord's private army.

The terrible thing is that for this decree, most of the soldiers of the noble private army are very supportive. Compared with working under the noble lord, it is obvious that the royal family gives better treatment, more generous rewards, and more transparent promotion channels .

If possible, it is definitely better to work for the king than to work for the lord!

Facing Jarvan IV, who had returned from victory, with unprecedented prestige, righteousness, and the support of the people, the noble council had almost no room for resistance, and all they could do was endlessly delay and waste time on the minutiae of decrees.

But the problem is that Jarvan IV is not his elderly father. As a climber, he is full of energy and vitality, and he is full of patience at the negotiating table. Although the delaying tactics of the nobles took effect quickly, the target of the effect is himself— —In the end, they really had no way to stop Jarvan IV, so they had to watch helplessly as this article was established in the form of a decree and made public.

Finally, after passing this decree, Jarvan IV could finally follow in his father's footsteps, once again proposed that "the king's tax should be collected by the king himself", and ordered the nobles to reduce taxes, requiring the nobles to pay the same tax rate on their fiefdoms. established by the king.

This request made the nobles almost run away on the spot. After taking away the military power, the king wanted to take away the financial power of the nobles!

Once the financial power of the nobility is taken away, there will be nothing left of the nobility's background. They cannot accept this situation anyway!
Therefore, Jarvan IV, who failed to demolish the roof, succeeded in opening the window.

The new king took the initiative to take a step back and proposed that the noble council could draw a "tax red line". No lord's tax revenue could exceed this red line in order to maintain the stability of the country and avoid causing turmoil. The subsequent tax rate ceiling will be passed The Illuminati will be announced to the public.

Although this to a certain extent also represents the royal family's economic control over the lord's fief, but under the current situation, the lords really have no choice. In the end, commercial tax, land tax, land tax, poll tax, etc. Common tax types in West Asia have all set a tax rate ceiling under the auspices of Jarvan IV, and no lord's tax rate can exceed this ceiling.

With the announcement of the tax rate cap, the royal family's prestige has been further improved.

Just as the aristocrats dumped the dissatisfaction of the people on the royal family through two rounds of taxes before, Jarvan IV is now dumping the dissatisfaction of the people on the noble lords by limiting the upper limit of the tax rate.

And when all the tossing is over, the new noble lords start to develop their territories, the noble council of Xiongdu starts to gather together for dances every day, and the Art Support Association becomes lively again, a year is almost over.

........................

Before giving the Winter Speech, Galio was transported back to Forsbarrow to guard against the safety of the North and prevent possible barbarian attacks.

Galen, who took the opportunity to visit his younger sister with the army, had a rare elation, boasting about his wonderful performance in Tobysia.

But unfortunately, due to the return of Sona, the "special envoy of Fossbarrow", Galen's cowhide was quickly punctured-although Galen's establishment has contributed a lot, but the distance between him and What Lux boasted about was somewhat different.

Then he was mercilessly mocked by his own sister.

"Did you watch when His Majesty the King charged forward?"

"Are you beating the drums other than watching? Are you clapping?"

"So you got the biggest victory when you took the prisoners?"

"You also defeated a lot of Noxians? Does the trash fish count?"

"This means that Galio is present, or you might have been hammered by that mage again!"

"..."

"..."

Galen found sadly that his younger sister seemed to have changed, she was no longer the cute little girl who pestered and worshiped him when she was a child, and was willing to take the blame for her.

Apparently, Galen selectively ignored Lux's sharp ridicule after he beat and cried Kashina, and just regarded Lux's comfort after his defeat in Mithril City as normal...

After the joke, Galen became serious, and rarely took the initiative to talk to Lux about the noble council of Xiongdu.

And Lux ​​herself was not interested in this kind of thing, but because she needed to understand the situation in Xiongdu, she still listened very carefully to Galen's narration, and listened to him talk about the changes in Xiongdu during this period.

The topic between the brothers and sisters continued, and it came to the current new king Jarvan IV.

"His Majesty the King is a man with ideas and capabilities." Speaking of Jarvan IV, Galen's tone was somewhat complicated, "He has grown a lot—just like you, he can always see the essence of things clearly."

"Sounds like a good thing."

"Of course, he will be a great king, and it is my honor to serve him." Galen nodded, and then felt a little lost, "It's just that my father and mother have always reminded me not to dedicate my loyalty unconditionally , to be responsible for the family—sometimes I really don’t understand, why is being responsible for the Crownguard family destined to conflict with loyalty?”

"Maybe it's because of the inconsistency of fundamental interests." Facing her brother who was finally getting involved in politics, Lacus couldn't say anything for a while, so she could only briefly mention a few words, "But the family is still loyal to Demacia. , you don’t have to suffer so much.”

"This doesn't cause me pain." Galen patted his chest, "If I have to say it, the most painful thing for me is that you became the lord of Forsbarrow too early instead of staying in the family. "

"What do you mean?" Lux blinked, "I also have my career."

"It seems that you are more suitable to run this family than I am." Galen put his hand on Lux's shoulder, "Seriously, Lacus, sometimes I really think, if you don't become Fossbarrow Instead of becoming the lord of the crown guard family, it would be great to manage this family."

"..."

Lux looked at her brother helplessly.

"Then I can charge forward without scruples, fight for the king without scruples, and fight for Demacia without scruples!"

"Yeah, um." Lacus perfunctory weakly, "Your acting skills are a little exaggerated, I always feel that there is something in your words - euphemism is a kind of knowledge, not just rambling out of tune!"

"I mean, do you really not consider becoming the queen of Demacia?"

"Is this what you mean?" Lacus narrowed his eyes, "Or is it what His Majesty the King meant?"

"I mean." Although Lux just narrowed his eyes, Galen subtly sensed a danger, but he still gave the answer very calmly, "Believe me, Lux, this is my birth." Judgment made from the perspective of an older brother—no one is better than our King!"

Lux stared at Galen for several minutes.

In the end, she had no choice but to confirm that this was indeed the unreliable advice that her stupid brother Galen got after trying hard to think about her younger sister with his poor IQ and urgent EQ, rather than some bad conspiracy .

"If you must talk about this kind of topic." Facing the serious and expectant Galen, Lax could only helplessly spread her hands, "At least wait until you start a family and find me a sister-in-law!"

Galen's eyes widened in astonishment, his face flushed red, and he was speechless for a moment.

"Well, there seems to be something wrong." Seeing Galen's behavior like this, Lux was pleasantly surprised to find that she seemed to have gained a windfall, "There is a situation, right--tell it, and be frank, if you don't want to say it , I will write to my mother."

"No, nothing." Galen barely maintained his composure, "You didn't even write to your mother."

"Well, there is indeed a situation!" Lacus was completely excited when she mentioned this topic, and turned into a detective on the spot, "It's interesting."

"no!"

"You are not afraid that I will write a letter to my mother, which proves that my mother can't guess this person." Lacus ignored her brother's stubborn denial and weak eyes, "The only people she can't guess are people she doesn't know, and her Although I know someone, I don’t think she can be my sister-in-law.”

Galen's eyes widened.

"Considering that my mother is an enlightened person, and told me that even if you fell in love with a commoner girl, it's fine." Lux continued her reasoning, "And based on what I know about you, you won't be rotten." To the point of hooking up with a married woman, so this person can't be someone my mother knew but didn't think could be my sister-in-law."

Galen's eyes widened like brass bells.

"So, this person is someone my mother doesn't know." A smile appeared on the corner of Lux's mouth, "It's really interesting, your mother's network completely covers your social circle, if there is someone who can enter you without her knowing world, the only way is through the military."

The copper bell began to shake, as if it was about to ring the next moment.

"But the problem is, the father in the army understands it very well, and when the father understands, the mother understands." Lax continued slowly while watching the changes in Galen's expression, "So, if there must be one person, they will have nothing. As far as I know, the biggest possibility is that this person...is not a Demacian!"

Galen shook his head desperately.

But unfortunately, based on Lux's understanding of him, this is almost certain.

"It's really interesting, my dear brother." Lux stood on tiptoe and put her arm on Galen's shoulder, "A sadomasochistic relationship with a Noxus female soldier..."

"No!" Galen couldn't help raising his voice, "We didn't..."

"Okay, you didn't deny the Noxus female soldier." Lux nodded, with a look of understanding, "So, it was a one-sided love with the Noxus female soldier-it really belongs to you, I dear brother."

"..."

This time, Galen learned his lesson. In order to avoid revealing any news, he tightly covered his mouth, turned around and ran away.

"If you don't want me to investigate the female military representatives in Noxus in the armistice negotiations now, you'd better stop." Lux issued a victory declaration as if the winner, "If things develop to that point, I'm afraid I'm going to have to talk to my mother."

Galen, who had already opened the door, reluctantly stopped, turned around, put down his cramped hands, and showed an awkward yet polite smile.

"It's not that far yet, Lux." Galen tried very hard to squeeze out an awkward yet polite smile, "It's not that far from the family yet."

"Oh." Lacus nodded expressionlessly, "My dear brother, tell me now, does it feel good to be overly interfered with in personal relationship issues?"

"It's not good." The situation was stronger than others, so Galen could only answer aggrievedly, "It's not good."

"So, don't say anything about the princess, absolutely!" Lux snorted, "My stupid brother!"

"Never, never!"

　Carya's Small Classroom Ter Islands:

　　Although the Tell Islands located in the south of Trivel is only a small-scale archipelago, it is one of the largest natural fishing grounds in Runeterra. It is quite a heavy blow for Noxus to win the Tell Islands. hit.

　　Everyone should know who Galen's unrequited love is, right?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)