Traveling to another world, inheriting a mess at the beginning

Aarons had watched some palace dramas in his previous life, so he preconceived that the palace was similar to what he remembered. But when he really walked into this side hall, the interior decoration quickly brought him back to reality.

——A solemn and elegant wooden desk, a spiritual lamp and a spiritual lamp on the desk, a huge bookshelf filled with various books, and a wide-screen spiritual vision hanging on the wall that was playing a show...

This is not the emperor's side hall, it's just the president's lounge.

"I pay my respects--"

Because the etiquette and rules of the empire were not as complicated as Aarons' previous life, he just knelt on one knee and bowed after entering the room, and then said a few etiquette phrases in the unlucky man's memory.

"Stand up. I have read the memorial you handed over."

When Aarons stood up, he finally saw the appearance of the man sitting in the luxurious office chair. Although the appearance of the man in his sixties was not stunning, his aura of being in a high position for many years would make people instinctively feel afraid.

But unlike what was expected, the emperor was dressed in ordinary luxury, without any solemnity and majesty unique to the royal family.

Was it because this was just an informal meeting? Or did the emperor have other intentions?

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Aarons Moti... Although I have long known the reputation of the empire's military god, and I also know that his second son is a martial arts genius that is hard to find in the world. But I rarely hear about you."

"My humble talent is mediocre and cannot be compared with my father and brother."

In front of the emperor, Aarons did not dare to say much about the marquis. After all, it is still unknown who murdered the Marquis' family. If the emperor is actually involved, then he might be in danger.

"Heh... I have also thought about how to deal with the Marquisate these days. Although according to the imperial law, that territory should be inherited by you. But you don't have much popularity, and you probably can't convince the cities in the territory."

"Yes, so I only ask to keep one city as the territory, and the rest of the cities are willing to be returned to the empire and distributed by Your Majesty."

- This is actually a strategy of retreating to advance.

It is unrealistic to want to keep the entire territory. Even if the emperor really lets him inherit the Marquisate completely, he can't recover those cities quickly.

But if only one city is needed, then the emperor may allocate that city to him for the Marquis's past achievements.

"Although this is not a bad idea... But do you know that Marquis Moti not only had to bear the political expenses of all the cities in the territory alone, but also the military expenses of the border defense corps?"

"I do know about this."

The emperor suddenly mentioned the border defense corps, and Aarons immediately felt that things were getting troublesome.

Even if he could take the opportunity to get rid of those uncontrollable burdens, who would be responsible for the military expenses of the border defense corps afterwards?

Let the new nobles pay? The new nobles are most likely the emperor's confidants, and asking him to pay the military expenses is equivalent to asking the royal family to pay.

The emperor originally threw this burden on Marquis Moti, and it is definitely unrealistic to ask him to take it back now.

- But how can the output of one city pay for the expenses of the corps, which range from 300 to 1,000?

"Has the territory been attacked by the beast tide recently? In this case, I estimate that the military expenditure of the border defense corps this year will be more than 2,000 gold coins."

The emperor's meaning is actually very clear-the empire must protect that important trade route. Do you have the ability to do so?

If not, then you can pay to support the empire's border defense corps. Can't make so much money? Then let someone else run the territory.

"But Marquis Moti has been guarding the border for many years and has made contributions to the empire. I don't want his only remaining son to become a rootless duckweed."

Even if the death of the Marquis's family is really related to the emperor, the emperor cannot really take back the Marquis's territory without compensation.

Marquis Moti still has a son alive. According to the laws of the empire, even if this son has not been designated as the heir before, the territory should be inherited by him.

If the emperor takes back the Marquis's fiefdom when there are still children alive in the Marquis's family, it will inevitably cause concerns among other nobles in the fiefdom.

"So I'm asking you first, are you married or have you made an engagement?"

"I'm not married, and I don't have an engagement at the moment."

... Why does everyone ask this? Is it really that important whether I'm married or not?

"Heh... The Marquis came here this time to discuss your brother's future marriage with me. Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned, and the empire lost two talented people in vain."

The emperor's words are somewhat interesting.

Although he was just talking about marriage, Aarons could clearly hear that the emperor was actually saying that the death of the marquis had nothing to do with him.

——Someone did not want the marquis's youngest son to be successful in the empire in the future, so they set a trap to murder the family.

"Since you are not married yet, I will help you choose a suitable woman. If you can marry a good wife, I can also explain the matter of the territory to others. "

"This... I dare not trouble your majesty with my personal affairs. "

The emperor meant that he should first find a noble daughter to marry, and then inherit the territory in the name of the union of the two families. However, Aarons was also very clear about the emperor's real purpose - the nobles selected by him could use this to legitimately take over the marquisate, and there would be no legal or moral problems.

"But this is just an idea of ​​mine. I still need to discuss the details with the ministers and several princes... Well, you can go home for now and wait for me to make a formal decree later."

It seems that he has to get married - Aarons was a little irritated, but the expression on his face never changed.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

"I will say a few more selfish words... I already know what happened during the beast tide, and you did a good job. "

Did the emperor know what happened at that time?

Aarons was a little surprised, but seeing the emperor's solemn expression, he had to kneel down and bow his hands, making a solemn gesture of thanks.

"The time has come. I have other people to see. You can go down."

"——I will take my leave."

After watching Aarons carefully leave the room, the emperor, who was over 60 years old, suddenly had a gleam in his eyes.

"This kid looks good."

Then he picked up the spiritual phone with a turntable on the table, slowly dialed a number, and then put the receiver to his ear.

"Ask His Excellency Wushen to come to me this afternoon and tell him his idea——I agree."