Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire.

Chapter 445: Blood Flows Like a River, Swords Move in All Directions
Alexander also had to pay respect to this grandmother. Although he was not familiar with this grandmother and had only met her a few times, the Grandmaster of the Nine Swords had always been there.

When her father ruled the kingdom, she was in the palace, but she never interfered in the affairs of the kingdom or the family, so her presence was very low.

But now the other party has stepped out from behind the scenes and is finally planning to intervene in the family and interfere in the kingdom. After all, it is because the impact of this incident is too great.

"Mr. Alexander, this is our first formal meeting. I originally thought that you were a very good kid. The Augustus family and the country established by Taidel would develop very well under your leadership and governance. But I didn't expect that you would be such an indecisive person."

After looking around the Thunder Palace, the Nine Swords Grandmaster, who was of a very high generation and whose strength was difficult to guess, finally fixed his beautiful silver eyes on the slightly uneasy Golden Dragon Lord Alexander, and the words he spoke made many family elders feel extremely excited.
"Your achievements surpass those of your father and grandfather, but your character is too weak and you do not have the qualifications to be a monarch.

Your achievements are nothing more than the accumulation of your family and the help of Noah's power. Your performance today is so disappointing!
You are not as good as your father, and even worse than your grandfather. You have no courage, and you are not decisive enough. A patriarch like you should abdicate!"

"That's right!"

"The Queen Mother Wang is right!"

"Alexander, you are not fit to be the patriarch of the Augustus family!"

"You should abdicate!"

As soon as Edith finished speaking, the elders who had originally been filled with anger and dissatisfaction suddenly became excited. After seeing the support of this family pillar with such powerful fighting power, they also became bolder.

Some thoughts that had already emerged but dared not be expressed came out at this moment, turning into invisible knives and guns, stabbing at Alexander.

"Grandma, I..."

Alexander didn't care about the opposition and resistance from the family elders, but he couldn't bear the denial from his direct elders. He didn't deny that his success was built on the gifts of his family ancestors and the Holy Dragon, but he was extremely unwilling to deny the results of his hundred years of rule.

"Knowing that your grandfather, or your father, were in your current position, what would they do?"

A long and narrow sword appeared in Edith's hand. The clear and bright sword body was like a handful of moonlight. Then the moonlight was as clear as water, flowing through the Thunder Hall. Blood splattered, and a touch of red rushed straight to the dome and splashed on the hall.

"Noah has never been a vassal of the Augustus family. What gave you this illusion?"

Edith turned around and glanced at the panicked family elders with a cold and ruthless look. A headless corpse in gorgeous clothes fell to the ground, blood gurgling, and the smell of rust filled the hall, which was terrifying.
"When my husband Taidel was still alive, he also regarded Noah as a brother! Are you worthy of looking down on Noah? Do you want him to be your vassal?"

"Queen Mother Wang, what are you doing?"

"We are the elders of the Augustus family, and we are loyal to Augustus!"

Ignoring the noise of the family elders, Edith looked at the stunned Alexander, and the sword in her hand fell again.

"What are you waiting for? As the head of the family, you have an unshirkable responsibility for the emergence of so many idiots occupying high positions in the family. You are really unqualified, far inferior to my husband, and even worse than my son."

"Grandma, you are right!"

Alexander, who was originally a little unconvinced, was completely convinced when he saw the grandmother of the family elder being chopped to death as easily as cutting melons and vegetables. At the same time, he took a step forward and took concrete action.

Since he has admitted his mistakes, he should correct them now. The Golden Dragon King showed his bloodthirsty side. For the first time since he ascended the throne, he wielded his butcher knife inwards instead of outwards.

The grandfather and grandson joined forces to slaughter the family elders' council. Even among the elders, there were geniuses who relied on the family's resources to be promoted to legends. However, facing these two near-saint legends, they had no power to resist and could not even escape.

The fighting in the Thunder Hall only lasted for a moment before it was declared over. The Elders' Council, which had been bustling with noise just a moment ago, now had only two or three people left, huddled in a corner, shivering. They were the few who had not spoken from beginning to end.

"I am not from the Augustus family, so this purge was led by you. The current bloodshed is caused by you alone."

Edith, who slaughtered most of the elders of the Augustus family, shed the last drop of blood from the sword in her hand, which was as narrow as moonlight. The sword was spotless and bright, without a single stain of blood on it.

"I will bear all the consequences alone!"

"You are the head of the family, and you are also the king. Of course, you should bear the responsibility. Do you think I should bear it?"

Edith glanced at this grandson who was a stranger to her, but the dragon scales on his body made her feel somewhat familiar.
"What you need to do now is to eliminate all the affiliated forces under their command and take over all the industries under their names, leaving no future troubles. You don't need me to teach you these, right?"

"I'll take care of everything."

Although the family's power would be severely damaged if the grandmother's words were carried out, since the Elders' Council had already been massacred, they naturally had to clean up the mess.

As for the damage to the family's power, it is not impossible to recuperate later. Although there are only a few hundred official members of the Augustus family, if they really want to replenish them, most of them are scattered branches with Augustus bloodline but no surname. It is not difficult to replenish them. There is no need to lower the threshold value, but only to lower the review standards a little bit.

"Besides, there's one more thing."

"Grandma, please speak."

Alexander spoke respectfully. Although this grandmother had not shown her full strength just now, just a few strikes of the sword gave him a glimpse of how powerful and terrifying this Nine Swords Master was.

"What's going on with the tax revenue in the southern provinces? Why has the tax revenue allocated to Noah remained at 30 million for many years without any change?"

Edith hit the nail on the head, pointing out that the core of this dispute was the unfair distribution of benefits, which caused dissatisfaction among Noah's family.

If this grandson could distribute the taxes of the southern provinces in a more fair way, even if the dragon people had dissatisfaction, they would not make trouble to the point where even the goblins could not suppress it.
"You clearly know that without Noah's help, you can't conquer the southern provinces. If that's the case, why can't you reasonably distribute the family's profits in the south?

Do you think it's too much to allocate half of the tax money to Noah? Or do you think it's too much? You don't want it?"

"Your suggestion is indeed not excessive, but..."

Alexander looked ashamed. If he had distributed half of the taxes collected from the southern provinces to the Holy Dragon's followers, this situation would not have happened.

"How far have you reached in dragon transformation?"

Seeing her grandson seeming a little embarrassed and hesitant, Edith frowned immediately, noticing something unusual.

“As you can see now!”

Alexander opened his arms, allowing his entire body to be seen by the grandmother.

"Give me a gold dragon coin."

Edith frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed. She opened her palm to her grandson and made a clear request.

"what?"

"Take a gold coin and give it to me."

The Nine Swords Grandmaster repeated his request.

"I don't have any gold coins."

Alexander was confused. "Then go get it for me."

"What do you want the gold for?"

"really."

Edith carefully observed the micro-expressions on her grandson's face, and then sighed.
"Not only did you inherit Noah's bloodline, you also inherited the bad habits of the dragon race. You were unwilling, and even reluctant, to share the taxes collected from the southern provinces with Noah, even though Noah gave you everything you have now."

"Grandma, if my uncle needs me, I can donate all my current assets, including all the resources I have now!"

"But if Noah didn't make a clear request, you would naturally occupy the resources you control and would not take the initiative to share the profits, right?"

"..."

Alexander was speechless. Which monarch would be willing to give up nearly half of the country's tax revenue?

He admitted that he couldn't do it. Even without dragon blood, he couldn't do it. He thought that even his father and grandfather could not do such a ridiculous thing.

"The Augustus family doesn't need such a huge fortune now, what do you think?"

Iris glanced at the corpses of the elders lying all over the floor of the hall and asked.

"Grandma, what is your opinion?"

"Doesn't Noah want to build a floating city? Then invest all these extra property and resources into it to help Noah. If you are not satisfied, you can discuss with Noah and let the Augustus family name the floating city produced by the investment."

"Then these floating cities..."

"Noah's floating city is naturally arranged and controlled by Noah, and the arrangement of personnel is also decided by them, but if you want to get a position on it, won't he arrange it for you?"

"That's what my grandmother taught me."

Alexander bowed his head completely. He admitted that the decision made by his grandmother at this moment was correct, but he couldn't do it.

It's not that he can't think of it, but something in his nature restrains him from having such an idea, especially investing huge assets in a being other than himself that is beyond his control.

"It seems you have no objection."

"Grandma, your decision is correct. I certainly don't have any objections."

"I have another suggestion, do you want to hear it?"

"Please tell me."

"After you, the next monarch and family head should not be Augustus who has dragon blood. The nature of the dragon race will hinder the continuation of Augustus!"

Hearing his grandmother's suggestion, Alexander immediately responded,
“I saw a very good girl and I was very happy with her performance, but I had some doubts about her pedigree.

If I were to exclude external factors and judge only by personal qualities, I would tend to choose her rather than my offspring to inherit the throne."

"You mean Astraea?"

"Yes, she is Wayne's descendant!"

"That is indeed a very good child. As for her bloodline, there is no need to worry. If you are worried, you can go and see Noah."

When Edith heard her grandson mention the eighth generation Augustus, she showed satisfaction in her eyes. Just because she was not in charge of the affairs did not mean she did not care about them.

"I will."

"Well, next, I will go to the city of Elishim. You will handle the affairs of the city of Uther."

"What are you doing in Elysium?"

"My swordsmanship has improved recently. There are many legendary dragonmen and ancient dragons in Elishim. They can be my opponents. Let me test my sword!"

"Grandma, this kind of thing should be done by me."

As soon as Alexander heard this, he understood what his grandmother was planning to do. Although he had agreed to give up his interests, this was not enough. It was not just about giving up interests, but also about showing enough force, at least to prevent the dragons of Elisim from underestimating the Augustus family.

"You are not suitable. No matter how powerful you are, you can only highlight Noah's strength. No one will think that the Augustus family is untouchable."

"I wish you a hundred victories in battle and a thousand victories!"

Upon hearing this, Alexander did not stop his grandmother, but instead gave her heartfelt blessings.

"It's natural."

Just as he had come, the Grandmaster of the Nine Swords disappeared before Alexander's eyes, leaving no trace, coming and going without a trace.

"Time stops?"

Alexander was only able to capture some traces, but couldn't see how his grandmother did it.

"Nine Swords Grandmaster~"

A whisper floated through the blood-stained Thunder Palace, and then a massive purge began at the kingdom's power center, swept toward the royal city, and finally affected the entire Atlas Kingdom.

Each of the Augustus elders not only represents themselves, but there is a huge interest group behind them, and there are countless nobles clinging to them.

It was for this reason that Alexander initially only used force to intimidate rather than take direct action, because the impact involved was too great, enough to shake the stability of the kingdom.

It's not that he hasn't read the family history. He knows that his father and even his grandfather had carried out purges in the family. The former was to stabilize the family, while the latter was only for their own interests.

But how can the Augustus family at that time be compared with the current one? They are completely incomparable and the situations faced by both sides are different.

However, when his grandmother showed up and swung her sword, he had no way to retreat. He could either choose to stand with his grandmother or fight against her in order to protect the family elders.

But how could this be possible? Therefore, the moment Edith swung her sword, he had no choice.

But he doesn't hate the result now. He will clear everything and start over.

Even if it doesn't work, you can throw the problem to later generations and believe in their wisdom.

(End of this chapter)