Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 4 Tiger Party and Elephant Party

On the black foundation, surrounded by pure white marble columns, groups of male and female slaves came and went in the corridors, converging at the flowing courtyard in the center of the palace.

The water mixed with ice cubes flowed slowly in the specially designed river channel, bringing rare coolness to the hot summer in Volantis. The neatly trimmed shrubs divided the entire courtyard like a maze. Flowers bloomed, and the fragrance of fruits and vegetables could be clearly smelled even outside this huge palace.

In the center of the courtyard were several jewel-encrusted lounge chairs, where men in tokar robes were lying in groups of three or four. The coolly dressed slave girls beside them raised their faces with flowers and hearts tattooed on them, and handed fresh fruits and light green Volantis wine to their masters.

"Dolan, your plan has failed." A man with an exaggerated beard took a sip of the green wine handed over by the slave girl. "The pig and bastard of the Bentaro family died, and the coward ran to your father to cry. If your father was not willing to lose face, this matter would probably not have a good result."

Dolan Megya picked up a roasted holy golden turtle from the back of a male slave kneeling on the ground, dipped it in chili pepper, and put it into his mouth, chewing it with a crunching sound. "That's because they are stupid. I told them to test the boy of Vareses, but I didn't tell them to rob the property. Haha, is it so easy to rob the old wizard's things?"

"The tiger has been silent for too many years." The man who spoke was tall and thin, with a beard as thin as a rapier. "When the old wizard was alive, we were crushed to death by the spineless elephant party. Now that the old wizard is dead, what is the boy doing?"

He sat up, took a big gulp of green wine, and kicked the slave girl who served the wine over. "Change it to Varese silver wine, son of a bitch, silver wine is still stronger."

The female slave who was kicked over by him didn't even dare to raise her head and crawled out on her stomach.

"The boy is selling his father's land." The man's expression was a little grim. "Dolan, what do you think he wants to do? That's the lifeblood of the old wizard."

"I don't know." Dolan Megya picked through the food with an indifferent look on his face and grabbed a fried worm. The cut worm body was stuffed with a mixture of meat paste and chili sauce.

"Anyway, I will buy whatever he sells. It's a pity that there are still some elephant cubs from the Elephant Party causing trouble, otherwise all the land would be ours."

"Only land?" The voice came from an old man who had been drinking silently.

"Lord Belisio, what do you mean?" The bearded man hurriedly sat up and turned his face to the patriarch of the Megya family, the governor of the Tiger Party.

"Dolan, does your contract not include the farmers on the land or the workers in the workshop?"

It only took Belisio one sentence to stir up a storm in Dolan's heart.

"It is generally accepted that land estates come with slaves."

"But the old wizard has no rules." Belisio said calmly. "The farmers on his land, the workers in the workshops, the miners in the mines, and the soldiers in the barracks are all different from the traditions of Volantis. Those..." The old archon paused. "are not slaves, but hired laborers. So their contracts are still in the boy's hands."

"This..." Dolan thought for a moment. "Lord Belisio, the land is already in our hands. The yield of these lands far exceeds our land. This is more than worth the money."

"Without the skilled farmers and workers left by the old wizard, and without his skills, how many years can you guarantee that the production will be maintained?" Belisio wanted to open his nephew's head to see what was inside. If someone digs a hole, just jump in. "Did you also use a high price to compete with the elephant party's cubs?"

"Yes," Dolan's face flushed. "But these lands are also very important. More than half of the estates of the Varese family are in the territory of the Elephant Party. We can use this to infiltrate the voting areas of the Elephant Party."

"We are not fighting with the Elephant Party's kids now." Belicio held his forehead. "Or do you think we can win the votes of the Elephant Party?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Forget it." Belisio saw that no one was talking, so he could only continue. "Dolan, you can continue to buy the land of the Valanzes family. Since the boy is selling the land, it's not a bad thing to take it back. At least you can do him a favor."

"I understand, Lord Belisio." Dolan cheered up when he saw that his actions were not completely denied. "My original intention was to do a favor for the Varese family."

"But, Lord Belisio." The bearded man suddenly thought of something. "The coward from the Bentaro family seems to want to do something. Should we do it?"

Belisio narrowed his eyes. "These things have nothing to do with us." He paused.

"Don't bother."

"You mean, after the boy from the Varese family buried the old wizard, he started selling the family's manor property?" Mrs. Clifna Wisama, the female governor of the Elephant Party, convened the members of the Elephant Party to discuss the sale of the manor land by the Varese family.

"Yes, ma'am." Hamar of the Cyrenaica family pointed to the map in the meeting room and said, "He is the younger brother of Archon Vagado of the Cyrenaica family and a candidate for the next Archon. "No matter what the boy of the Varese family wants to do, his land is fertile. Even if we don't attach farmers and workers to the manor, we can continue to use it for several years. After several years, even without the old wizard's means, the output of these lands will still be considerable. Even if we take a step back, we buy the land as a favor to our members."

"Member Hamar, I heard that you lost a lot of land competition to the Tiger Party guys?" A tall man with a blue beard questioned. "If the Cyrenaica family is short of money, we can pay for it. Although the Varese family has not served as a member of parliament for a long time, they have always been our supporters. We cannot lose this powerful force."

"Yes, yes, at least his Silver Blood Army is really good at fighting." The general of the Tiger Robe Army couldn't sit still. "At least with his family, we don't have to worry about the Tiger Robe Army controlled by the Tiger Party." "Okay." Mrs. Klevna thought for a while. "Do you know what Longzel Varese's purpose is in selling the land estate?"

Everyone fell silent.

Only Hamar had some guesses. "I can guess a little bit. The Vareses family did not start selling the land when Longzel inherited it. They had already started to sell it slowly when the old wizard was still alive. This shows that it was not a spur-of-the-moment move by Longzel Vareses. And when the sale was made, the Vareses family had already made all preparations, and even had plans that we didn't know about."

"If his indentured servants are not on the sale list, what about the free people?" Mrs. Clevna raised the key issue.

The democratic politics of Volantis is very simple. Every freeman who owns land can participate in the election of the Archon and has his own vote. In fact, these freemen are also attached to the big families and big landowners. It is not completely "free". Archon families with a long history, such as Megaa, Cyrenaica, and Visama, have a fixed number of votes ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. If Longzel wants to run for the Senate, the Varese family will have no less than 10,000 freemen attached to his family.

"Except for the freemen who signed the contract, the rest will be transferred to the new owner as the land changes." Hamar said. "Madam, please rest assured that the retainers of the Varese family who handed over the deal to me have promised that there will not be a large loss of votes."

"Well done." Madam Clevna nodded. "Keep keeping an eye on the Vareses family, if the Silver Blood Army also wants to hand over."

"We must take it down at all costs, including the Varese family's silk workshop." The general of the Tiger Robe Army said loudly.

"As for the Tiger Party, just keep an eye on it." Madam Clevna gently tapped the two clearly divided areas on the map. "Don't worry about the funds. The Visama family will provide gold and silver worth three million Hui coins to purchase the land and property sold by the Varese family. You can bid freely with the Tiger Party."

"The Haldane family contributed 700,000 Brilliant Coins." The blue-bearded man raised his hand. "Lord Hamar, we must not let our votes flow away from the Tiger Party."

The Elephant Party is still very wary of the Tiger Party, which once had strong military power, even though they have lost power for a long time.

"The Magolwin family contributed 1.2 million brilliant coins." The general of the Tiger Robe Army also raised his hand. "Lord Hamar, we must not let the Silver Blood Army fall into the hands of the Tiger Party."

The Elephant Party members quickly reached a consensus that no matter what Longzel wanted to do, the Varese family's property must at least not fall into the hands of the Tiger Party.

Especially his family’s strong military strength.

The basement laboratory of the Varese mansion.

Longzel took off all his clothes and took a Valyrian steel dagger decorated with pure silver from the red-robed monk.

The red-robed monk's face was tattooed with flames, eyes and red patterns, but his eyes were now filled with fanaticism.

Another red-robed monk also walked out from the shadows.

The red-robed monk was already quite old, with blazing flames and roaring dragons tattooed all over his wrinkled face. His long white beard hung down to his chest, and was covered with flame-shaped ornaments. His blue-purple eyes were also filled with fanaticism and piety.

Longzel knew him.

Ben Duro, a priest of the Great Temple of R'hllor, the Red God of Volantis, is also a magician who often visits Cleorius.

"Let's begin." Ben Du Luo nodded to the young red-robed monk.

The red-robed monk stabbed the dagger into his heart without hesitation.

Longzel stretched out his hand, and the red-robed monk's blood flowed in all directions along the symbols on the laboratory floor as if guided.

then.

flame.

It's burning.

I’m a new author writing a book, so please give me lots of criticism and corrections. The current update time is about one chapter at around 20:00 and one chapter at around 23:00 on weekdays, and one chapter at around 12:00 and one chapter at around 20:00 on weekends.

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(End of this chapter)