It seems that the villain is targeting me.

A nation with a soul will always find its own path.

Xiao Niao suppressed his inner feelings, and his voice was hoarse for a while before returning to normal.

She whispered a thank you.

Chapter 86 I Need You, Gwen

At daybreak, the herald officer rode through the city and announced loudly to the inhabitants of the capital:

Prime Minister Butcher and the Duke of Tudor intended to rebel. Both of them committed serious acts of treason and were declared public enemies of the state at an emergency royal meeting held late at night.

The herald received a hard task, to inform the people of the city of the following:

The public enemy Butcher and his accomplices are now hiding somewhere in the capital. I hope that all citizens will not be ungrateful and hand them over as soon as possible.

The messenger soon lost his voice and the horse was foaming with exhaustion.

However, whether they were the wealthier middle and upper class citizens or residents living in the downtown area, all the people in the capital responded to these declarations by closing their doors and windows.

The downtown area is a die-hard supporter of the bird, so it is not surprising that it would do this, but there is a reason why even the ordinary citizens are so passively resisting.

Personal support may play a role, but it is far from enough to make so many people respond in unison.

The main reason is that Xiao Niao advocated the abolition of slavery after taking office, and this move created a large number of jobs for ordinary citizens.

When slavery existed, any noble or landowner would directly purchase slaves in batches to work for them in order to save money and maximize the exploitation of labor.

The upper class of the empire generally has this characteristic: they are wealthy and spend money like water, holding banquets and indulging in revelry all day long, but they are extremely stingy when it comes to where they actually need to spend money.

These noble lords would use their money and power to frantically swallow up the land of self-cultivating farmers and squeeze the living space of small workshops. After creating a large number of unemployed people, they were unwilling to hire free labor.

Hiring ordinary people requires paying them wages every month. Not only do you have to pay them wages, but you also have to give them holidays and various benefits. If the other party is not satisfied with the compensation you pay, there may even be legal disputes.

In comparison, slaves are so delicious. They eat less and work more, and no one complains about how they are exploited.

It was not until the slave trade was defined as illegal, cracked down on and suppressed in many ways by the Imperial Prime Minister that this trend showed signs of abating.

So when Xiao Niao was declared a public enemy of the state, the first reaction of most ordinary citizens was not anger or gloating, but panic.

Many of them got their jobs because of Butcher's policies and they feared they would lose their jobs if the prime minister stepped down.

What's more, the entire empire is now at a very delicate emotional juncture: they have just ended a difficult and arduous war.

The war was won, but the victory was not without cost.

The three years' worth of grain reserves in the national treasury were completely consumed by this expedition. The casualties and sacrifices were not serious but not small either. The amount of money spent was an astronomical figure.

It can be said that during the period when the imperial army went to war, the entire empire was tightening its belt to supply the front line, and the whole country was truly mobilized to fight the war.

Now that we have finally won, what everyone is most looking forward to is a stable and peaceful life. If you try to stir up trouble at this time, it will definitely be difficult to gain the support of the people.

So when everyone looked at the official riding a horse around the city, it was as if they were looking at a messenger of death. The moment he opened his mouth, an atmosphere of terror spread through the streets of the capital.

Worry about the future made the residents of the capital subconsciously choose a strategy of passive resistance. They ran back home, closed the doors and windows, and pretended to be ostriches.

At first, the nobles wanted to rely on violence to break into the house and search people, but soon the legion stationed there erupted in fierce protest: What are you outsiders doing!

The nobles who supported the eldest prince all had their own fiefdoms, and the knights and private soldiers under their command were basically brought from the territories.

Among the several legions in the capital, many soldiers are locals.

Because Lawrence had previously reformed the military recruitment system, not only relaxing the scope of conscription, but also preferring to recruit soldiers in the capital rather than in his own territory.

So now many soldiers in the legion come from ordinary citizens, and there are always one or two relatives living in the city.

These troops had originally been suppressed by the emperor's handwritten order - since it was an order given by His Majesty, they should just stay put and not act rashly.

But when they found out that these foreign soldiers were planning to break into private houses, they immediately got furious.

Soldiers in medieval armies were often not completely loyal to the emperor, but to their lords or the generals who led them - but let alone the generals, even if the emperor came, he couldn't just rush to my house without saying hello!

And you yelled at my mom - is that someone you can yell at my mom?

You must be respectful to my mother!

Otherwise I'll fuck you.

In fact, in addition to the garrisoned corps, the grassroots executive agencies in the capital also jointly expressed their protest, demanding that His Majesty Lawrence himself come forward to explain and provide detailed evidence of the Prime Minister's treason.

...It was simply because these people were civil officials with no money or soldiers, and their protests were not heard by the nobles.

I take it seriously.

But the nobles dared not ignore the soldiers' objections: what they feared most at this time was a mutiny in the army.

These people used coercion, bribery, and huge sums of money to win over most of the senior officers, allowing them to appease the army - but if the soldiers under them did not obey their superiors, all the efforts of the nobles would be in vain.

It was not until this time that they discovered a fact with a tingling sensation: the emperor's death did not bring about a change of power, but a power vacuum.

Charles, who only held the title of heir, was unable to hold the fort at all. They could certainly kill the civil servants and soldiers who were unwilling to support them, but the hearts and minds of the people and the support of the people were obviously not something that could be won by killing people.

The other nobles were even less qualified, and basically no one was willing to submit to anyone else.

They didn't even dare to release the news of the emperor's death, for fear of causing an unexpected violent reaction and causing the fruits of their labor to fall away.

These noble lords felt that they were in a difficult situation.

But we have to catch people.

To be honest, if we can catch both of them, maybe we can solve the current urgent problem.

They had no other choice but to spend a lot of time tinkering with forging a search warrant issued by the royal family - because the literacy rate increased, forging became much more difficult.

Then they sent knights to conduct door-to-door searches according to formal procedures, hoping to capture Xiao Niao and Gwyneth who were hiding among the people.

The reason for capturing Xiao Bird is self-evident: many of them have united to resist the Shrike's slow bloodletting of the aristocracy.

They wanted to launch a counterattack while they still had some strength left, and push the eldest prince Charles, who was friendly to the aristocracy, to that position.

It's quite ironic to think that these people would unite for a certain reason.

In addition, all the knights were secretly ordered to capture the Tudor girl alive.

The purpose behind this was crystal clear; the beads on the abacus could have shattered and spread to High Court, hundreds of miles away.

Gwyneth is the eldest daughter of the Duke of Tudor. If all the male heirs in her family die, Gwyneth will be the first heir.

That's why they want to catch him so much.

The Duke of Tudor and his eldest son were killed in their attack, and their youngest son, Lucas, was also captured.

Now, if they could capture Gwyneth, they would have legal control of Highgarden, although a war of succession would inevitably ensue in the end.

But they both killed each other's lords, and the war would break out sooner or later. In this case, it would be better to let them seize the legal title first.

This matter is extremely shameless from a moral point of view and has no bottom line from a secular perspective, but it is nothing new in history.

------

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When Gwyneth opened her eyes, she still felt a little dazed, as if she had no idea where she was.

She didn't sleep well and woke up at the slightest noise from outside.

At this time, two days had passed since the banquet, and she was no longer in the Prime Minister's residence. She was transferred out that night.

Throughout the day, Gwen had changed four or five different hiding places.

Most of the people who sheltered her were ordinary people, including half-humans and ordinary citizens. There was basically no special pattern, and many of them didn't even know Gwen at all.

But after the adjutant took out the token from the Prime Minister's Office, these people opened the door without saying a word and let them hide in. When the searching knights were still far away, someone quietly informed them.

The ways these people transmit information are strange and varied.

Once Gwen even saw the message delivered by a cat, and sometimes it was a long string of letters that looked like random scribbles.

Bi'er said that was a coded message, and after fiddling with it for a while, she got a note with clear sentences and complex meanings.

Relying on this messy information, they were never caught.

Gwyneth didn't know whether it was day or night outside. The tension for several hours in a row had completely messed up her biological clock. She buried her head in her knees and took a nap for a while, then was awakened by the creaking sound of the wooden door opening.

The person who came in was not Beau. Gwyneth's nerves were tense and she instinctively wanted to grab a weapon, but soon a familiar voice rang in her ears.

"...Gwen."

The owner of the voice whispered her name softly, and Gwen recognized the voice as belonging to Xiao Niao.

She was hiding in a farmhouse at the moment, surrounded by high haystacks. If you didn't look carefully, it would be difficult to find that there was someone hiding inside.

"...I guess you already know the news," Xiao Niao slowly sat down next to her, "Bi'er said you've been staying here alone."

Gwyneth's eyes were very red and swollen, but there were no traces of tears on her face. The deep grief made Gwen reveal a deep sorrow all over her body. Even when Xiao Niao sat down next to her, Gwen was unaware.

The two of them sat in silence for a long time.

"Butcher..."

Gwyneth's voice was so soft, like a wisp of smoke floating in the air.

Xiao Niao quickly replied, "I'm here."

Gwyneth's eyes were blank, she seemed to be looking at the bird, or just looking at

Pointing at a non-existent point in the void.

"……if,"

Gwyneth smiled weakly. "If I hadn't gone to the dance that day and stayed home instead, could I have stayed by my father's side to protect him?"

Her tone was calm and she didn't cry, but it was extremely heartbreaking.

Xiao Niao's heart tightened and he couldn't say any words of comfort.

Reason told her that even if Gwyneth had stayed in the Duke's Mansion, it would only have increased the number of casualties.

But there was no way she could say this to the girl who had lost her father.

The knuckles of Xiao Niao's right hand trembled slightly.

"Will you allow me to touch you?" Xiao Niao looked at her, his tone as gentle as possible.

Gwyneth thought she must have nodded uncontrollably, because the next moment the wing opened towards her, a hand protected the back of her fragile head, and she fell into a clean and warm embrace, as if wrapped in a cloud.

Xiao Niao hugged her and stroked her back. She wanted to comfort Gwen, but she couldn't say a word.

What words can comfort the grief of losing a loved one?

Xiao Niao gradually felt her shoulders becoming wet. Gwyneth grabbed her collar, as if she had found an embrace that could hold her weakness, or as if a person with nothing was holding on to the last thing she had not lost.

Xiao Niao patted Gwyneth gently and let her hug him tightly.

Feelings of guilt and pain surged in Xiaoniao's heart, but reason forced her to speak.

"...You must return to Highgarden," Xiao Niao muttered in a muffled voice from his chest. "The timing is almost here, in these few days. Perhaps I can create an opportunity for you to escape during the chaos."

Gwyneth couldn't say anything. She buried her face in Xiaoniao's arms and didn't say a word.

"...What about you?" she murmured in a low voice.

"I need to stay and stabilize the situation," Xiao Niao said. "The capital is like a carriage about to lose control. Someone must be at the helm to prevent it from completely overturning."

"When the time is right, I may leave with people who are willing to support me, but I can't make you any promises at this stage. I'm sorry, Gwen, I can't promise anything."

"Perhaps, I will die in the capital."

Xiao Niao rested his chin on the girl's shoulder. The two of them were so close that Xiao Niao could almost feel the warm breath blowing across his neck.

Gwyneth's heartbeat became fast and heavy.

I am taking advantage of the grief in her heart. I want her to fight for that position, Xiao Niao thought. Gwyneth did not take the initiative to join in, but now I want to push her to the forefront for my own selfish desires.

She might hate me for this in the future.

"I need your help, Gwen," Xiao Niao closed his eyes, not daring to look at the girl's expression, "I need you."

Chapter 87 History will make a fair judgment

In the imperial city, inside the palace, in the meeting hall.

The hall was now packed with people. Nobles in red and purple and officials in white robes gathered around the throne, discussing in low voices.

Some of them looked solemn, while others looked timid.

Those with timid expressions obviously did not appear in the ceremony hall voluntarily, and basically did not participate in the discussion. They just stood there with their heads lowered and served as a background.

If there were not armed knights guarding outside the hall, they might have fled in all directions.