Damn it, this boss really has no normal skills.

Chapter 491 As long as the king is alive, you will always be his subjects!
After the monsters retreated and the pioneers left, the Luoshen Mountains, which had been bustling all night, gradually returned to calm.

The group of armed nobles who entered the pass overnight were still leading their troops and busying around the south and north of the city.

It seemed that he was collecting corpses, cleaning the battlefield, cooking, and disciplining the army. He looked like he was busy, well-trained, and had the king's orders in his mind.

But anyone with a discerning eye could see that they were actually just looking for excuses to stay in Gyeonggi and were unwilling to leave easily.

So what is their purpose in doing this?

The Sun King (wiping sweat): "Ah, why are you all looking at me? I'm busy writing a letter!"

So the Sun King, who had just ordered all the princes to come to the capital as soon as possible, immediately issued a second royal order.

Low EQ: If you have nothing to do, just go back. What are you doing blocking my door? I'm scared. Get out of here!

High emotional intelligence: I thank all of you for your help. Now that the threat of the beast tide has been crushed, if you have no other business, please return to your respective fiefdoms as soon as possible, and don't create unnecessary troubles that will damage your respective peace.

And the result is...

"Loyalty! Sincerity! As vassal, we are willing to serve Your Majesty! We are not tired, Your Majesty, please rest assured!"

and also.

"Damn it! I finally came to the capital, why do I have to leave after such a short while? I have made great contributions, I want to see the king! I want to see the king!"

As for the rest…

Oh, the rest just pretend to be dead.

"What king's command? Look, we don't have any king's command here. We are all studying the mind. We are justified by faith. If we don't receive it, it doesn't exist!"

[Wait a minute, savior, are you sure these are the great nobles and lords of the magical world? Why do I feel like this is a group of Tang Dynasty Jiedushis entering Chang'an to play a game?]

"Oh, the point is clear. It's so tiring to talk in so many official terms."

In short, it can be said that no noble was willing to leave Qixia City and return to their own fiefdoms. All of them were excitedly planning something under the city with their soldiers.

"Ugh!"

So after letting out another sigh, the Sun King could only quickly send people to contact Duke Xiguang and Duke Huguang, asking the two elders to rush into the city and hold a small meeting in the palace.

The current situation is different from the past. The old men who usually bickered openly or secretly and could only feel comfortable after insulting each other harshly, today actually greeted each other seriously when they met.

"Oh, Duke Xiguang, I see you are seriously injured. Please take a seat first."

As the vanguard in this battle, Lord Xi was hit hard by the slap in his hand in order to stop the mad bear demon king from counterattacking before his death.

Although the old bones were still strong enough not to break apart on the spot, they were still shaken to the point of bleeding from all seven orifices.

If the lord had not been from a wealthy family and had not had enough life-saving items on him, he might have died from the bites of the beasts.

"Haha, it's okay. I'm a martial artist, a level 74 warrior. Ahem, this is just a minor injury, I can just take care of it."

"On the contrary, you, Duke Arclight, don't look well at all. Look, let me support you. You're even a little shaky when you walk!"

There is no way. Although the position of "Minister of Finance" is one of the most lucrative positions in Huiguang, you can get a lot of gold coins just by touching it.

But at critical moments, the mobilization of large amounts of materials and the approval of large numbers of lists had to go through his hands.

If we find any problems during the subsequent inspection, it will be a real disaster!
Especially in the current special situation, the situation is urgent and all the messy things are piled on him at once.

...For an old man who is advanced in age and not very powerful, all this is too difficult.

So one of these two old men had a bruised face and nose and was coughing constantly; the other had dark circles under his eyes and his face was as pale as gold paper.

Against the backdrop of the Sun King, who was clearly dying and could only hang on by the rejuvenation liquid, he looked like a healthy old man with vigor and vitality.

They also have to take the initiative to stand up and "respect the elderly" and help the old friends sit down.

"Sit down, everyone, sit down, don't waste time, let's get straight to the point."

He pointed to Luoshen Mountain outside Qixia City.

"These people are thieves. I'm afraid they'll just need someone brave enough to shout and then they'll rush in with swords. What do you two plan?"

Duke Arclight had long guessed why the king urgently summoned them to the palace. As a think tank, he naturally had a plan in mind long ago.

"Your Majesty, although the capital was not affected by this war, the citizens have been at peace for a long time and are already worried. The martial law has just been lifted and they cannot stand the stimulation."

"Also, the situation outside is quite chaotic right now. The collapse of the Meteorite Peak has caused a great deal of adverse effects. Now people are saying that the body of the Purple Lightning God is inside, and now it has resurrected!"

"Even if this is false, according to my intelligence, a large-scale battle broke out before the collapse of Meteorite Peak. I'm afraid there were more than one level 70 warriors who took action, plus the purple lightning that penetrated the sky and the earth at the end..."

"In my opinion, what we should do now is to appease as much as possible, calm everyone down, unite internally, and not give those with ulterior motives any opportunity to take advantage of it."

"Well, so... let's take some money from the national treasury first, and persuade as many people as possible to leave..."

The Duke of Arclight gave his own strategy, but the Sun King did not give any comment, but just nodded silently.

On the other hand, Duke Xiguang raised his objections directly in a hoarse voice.

"Pay money? How much? Duke Arclight, you should know better than me! They are all greedy people. Ordinary benefits cannot satisfy their greed. So how much money do we have to pay, how much benefit do we have to get to settle this matter?"

Lord Xi seemed to have a strong psychological trauma about this, and he pointed to the sky and the earth, then added.

"And if we compromise this time, what about next time? What about the next time? We are all lords. You know how terrible it is when we become greedy. If we open this loophole, what will we do in the future?"

"And later?"

The Duke of Arclight was no coward, and he immediately fought back after being sprayed twice.

"Duke Xiguang! The current situation is that if you don't pay, you can't even do this matter!"

"Do you think you can kill all the people outside by yourself now? "

Duke Xiguang's blood pressure instantly rose. "Even if it's a sick tiger, its reputation as a tiger is still there! When the time comes, I only need to... puff, cough cough!"

And he became more and more excited as he spoke, and accidentally touched the wound. If he hadn't shut up quickly, he might have vomited blood.

"You... Ouch! Hiss..."

On the other side, the Duke of Arc Light already had a splitting headache, and now he had to think of a solution while debating with others. He rubbed his temples in pain after just a few words.

"Hey, calm down, both of you."

The Sun King had no choice but to quickly order his servants to bring food, clean water, and healing potions, and told the two old men not to worry and to recover their health first before talking.

But if they were not stubborn enough, these two stubborn old men would not be competing against each other in the power field of the royal capital, so they recovered their blood but not their feelings, and started quarreling again as soon as the situation improved a little.

One insisted that they should temporarily hide from the limelight and wait for the right time, and then slowly settle accounts after things are over - none of these traitors will be able to escape!
One insisted that the royal family's reputation should be maintained at all costs, and now all the scoundrels should be suppressed with absolute force - this trend must not be allowed to continue!
But despite their quarrel, both of them expressed their thoughts, or it could be said that this is exactly the situation the Sun King wanted.

The ministers were arguing, and he listened quietly. When things became clear and a solution was hatched, he would step out from behind the scenes...

Put forward a constructive suggestion, and then let everyone continue to discuss and argue.

There was no way. The people in the audience were not the Yan Party and the Qingliu Party, and this was not the Ming Dynasty. He did not have the extremely powerful control that Emperor Jiajing had, which allowed him to take and give at will.

As a monarch under the medieval feudal system, he could only use such means to prevent his vassals from forming groups and maintain his absolute rule.

"cough."

"I think..."

So he was not in a hurry this time. He listened for a while and thought things through before he spoke calmly. As usual, he integrated the two people's ideas together.

The result of all this was that half an hour later, when the third royal decree was sent out from the city, the nobles below the city bumped into each other and all looked strange.

"Why... why do the orders everyone receives differ?"

It is indeed different. For example, those who have smaller forces and less military power cannot reach the level of great nobles and can only be called viscounts and barons of small nobles.

The royal decree they received said that the king had issued them a large subsidy in his personal name as a reward for their loyalty and patriotism, hoping that they would continue to shine in their own territories, care for their people, and never forget the king's kindness.

As for the more powerful nobles, especially the dukes who commanded large armies and held high positions of power, all received invitations from the king to meet in the capital in the name of "celebration".

If that were all, they would definitely be happy. After all, wouldn't I win if I led the troops into the city?
Therefore, the invitation also clearly stated that they were going to attend a "celebration party", so each person was only allowed to bring a single-digit number of followers.

Even a top noble like Xiaguang was only allowed to bring twenty armed guards as a courtesy, considering the Xiaguang family's contributions to the kingdom over the years.

"Ah this."

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was intended to separate the nobles from their armies and completely cut off the possibility of them finding any excuse to rebel.

But so what?

As long as the king is alive, you will always be his subjects!
Even if it is an open conspiracy, it is the king's order!

It is impossible for these lords to suddenly fall ill and rebel without any reason within seven days, risking the wrath of the world.

Moreover, with this strategy, the Sun King also successfully divided and diverted the nobles under the city.

The first thing was to give out money, using dog food to feed those little nobles who were just there to go through the motions and try their luck.

"Turtle, we are just a few pounds, we can't really follow others to make trouble."

"Just quit while you're ahead, let's slip away."

Therefore, having achieved their strategic goal, they happily left the capital with their army whose combat effectiveness and discipline were not even as good as those of the bandits.

Although the combined power of this group of people was not as great as that of the great nobles, they were too numerous, and their scattered movements dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the nobles under the city.

Because of this, many nobles who did not know the story of the Hongmen Banquet but felt that they would most likely not end up well if they went in also chose to be obedient subjects.

"Haha, I suddenly remembered that I still have to go back and urge the farmers to sow in the summer, so I won't bother Your Majesty here. Please ask the envoy to convey my concern for you. Haha, goodbye, goodbye!"

Then he obediently led his army to leave here quickly, forming a group, which reduced the number of noble troops under the city.

"Damn it, these cowards!"

At this point, the possibility of someone inciting a rebellion, following the example of King Lionheart, and giving me the throne is almost zero.

Although this did not disappoint those quick-witted nobles too much, it was originally just a casual move, and the time was not right, so it didn't matter if it failed.

However, only a few powerful nobles who were brave enough and felt they were strong enough to fish out some money even from boiling water dared to stay here and accepted the invitation after careful consideration.

"Humph, I want to see what that old devil with the word 'sour' in his heart has to say!"

When they filed into the city, they unexpectedly found that there was no "show of force" as they had expected.

Not to mention the piles of monster corpses, even the guards on the roadside were sometimes absent and sometimes not. Only the servants and waiters in charge of reception followed them all the way and brought them to the Sun Castle.

After several turns and following the red carpet, we arrived at a tall building. Unexpectedly, when the door opened, we saw two familiar faces.

"My Lords, it's really rare for us to see each other. Come on, come on, it's rare to have so many people here today. His Majesty said that everyone must have a good time!"

The king opened his private medicine storehouse and let everyone take medicine. Duke Xiguang and Duke Huguang, at least on the surface, had regained the steady breath and rosy complexion that healthy people should have.

One had a burning gaze, the other a sweet smile, and they came over like an old butler and welcomed them in.

Now the lords were puzzled. Why did these two old guys, who usually wanted to fight in the royal capital every day, stand together for no apparent reason?
Could it be...

But before he had the time to think it through, he was taken away to the banquet hall where there was a pleasant breeze and many beautiful girls.

Unexpectedly, after just one glance, the nobles were completely frightened.

No matter whether they were Lord Wen, who was as wealthy as a country, or Lord Wu, who had many soldiers and generals under his command, they all stood at the door and dared not move, not even to take a single step.

(End of this chapter)