There have been two types of lords in the northwest bay of the Aldo Kingdom for a long time.

One is the indigenous lords, most of whom can trace their ancestry back to the military leaders or religious nobles of the various tribes that lived here in ancient times. Their ancestors have taken root in the Northwest Gulf since the beginning of human civilization—but according to Scholars have verified that their ancestors also migrated from the central plains of Aldo to the northwest. Some of them were enfeoffed here by various regimes before the Rodney Dynasty, but they have a long history of living in the Northwest Gulf, and some families were even enfeoffed here during the Gubera Empire.

The most powerful of these lords is the Ferdinand family, and the other indigenous lords are basically the vassals of the Ferdinand family or the vassals of the vassals.

The other category is foreign lords, whose ancestors were enfeoffed to the Northwest Gulf after the establishment of the Rodney Dynasty. During the process of the new dynasty's unification of Aldo, more than half of the original lords of the Northwest Gulf defected to the current royal family, but a small half of the lords did not see clearly that the situation was cleared, and the vacated territory was taken over by the Rodney royal family. Rewards were given to the meritorious ministers who followed them.

The new lord appointed by the Rodney royal family, in addition to guarding the frontier, also shouldered the task of monitoring the indigenous lords. For a long time, the old and new groups of lords kept each other in check.

However, the Greiman family is quite special. The original fiefdom of this family was in the fertile central plains. Later, they took the wrong team in the political struggle and were kicked to the northwest bay by the royal family. The new fiefdom was still an original unowned land. In a sense, the Gleiman family is also within the scope of "surveillance".

There are a total of twelve earls in the Northwest Gulf, six of which are vassals of the Ferdinand family, and another six are vassals directly entrusted by the royal family. The strength of the major earldoms is uneven. The most powerful Kent family, in addition to its own direct territory, also has 10 viscounts as vassals, while the weakest (previously) Greiman family, let alone the The next level of vassals, there is not even a formal knight fief.

As for other viscounty and baronies, they are basically vassals of the Northwest Duke or the twelve earls.

The current situation in the Northwest Gulf is that five of the six earls entrusted by the royal family have formed an alliance against the Kent family headed by Earl Parker, while the Kent family has drawn in the other three earls who are also vassals of the Ferdinand family to form a rival alliance. , the attitudes of the remaining three counties are ambiguous, and they have not yet clearly chosen sides.

Although the Kent family seems to be at a disadvantage, Maltz Kent, who controls Earl Ferdinand, can use the power of the duke's direct territory in the name of the duke, as well as other vassals under the duke's name. Some viscounty territories are still quite powerful. , their population is even not much worse than that of a nominal earldom like Arda. So in terms of absolute strength, it is Maltz Kent who has the advantage.

"Don't worry! Many of the Lord Duke's lords believe that the letter is true. As long as we can withstand Maltz Kent's offensive, they will support us from the rear anyway."

At a meeting, Earl Parker shook a stack of letters and spoke out his seemingly unreliable cards.

…

In late March, the two factions that had already sharpened their knives attacked each other almost at the same time. Maltz Kent issued an ultimatum to the lords who were not summoned last time, forcing them to meet in Center City within three days, otherwise they would be punished for humiliating the Duke. Not to be outdone, the Anti-Kent Alliance publicly displayed the Duke's secret letter, and at the same time brought Viscount Henry to the foreground. For a long time, Viscount Henry was under the secret protection of Earl Parker. Wow.

Maltz Kent immediately stated that the letter was forged. Henry Ferdinand escaped from the dungeon because he was jealous of not becoming the heir to the duke, and framed him, while the villains headed by Earl Parker had always harbored dissent. The two hit it off and conspired against him.

Through the little mage Andy, he controlled Duke Ferdinand to support his dying body, held a public meeting in Center City, and repeatedly affirmed this point.

However, in private, the Earl of Kent was still a little scared. He had expected that Henry would seek refuge with those who opposed him, but he did not expect such consequences.

And the secret letter in his hand is exactly the same as what he did and planned. Could it really be written by Duke Ferdinand? Is there a loophole in Master Barnett's control spell?

At the thought of this, Maltz Kent felt a sharp pain in his head, and then he naturally thought in his heart: How is this possible? How could there be loopholes in Master Barnett's spell? Praise Master Barnett, praise the Secret Law Society, Duke Ferdinand is obviously controlled by him to death. correct! It must be that **** guy Henry, imitating his brother's handwriting.

As for why the content of the letter matches the facts...it must be a coincidence! It must be a coincidence!

But...but~lightnovelpub.net~Why are there so many lords following old Piff Parker against him? These guys are usually submissive when they see me, and everything they say has a smack of flattery, but now they have the guts to fight against them.

In his original expectation, there might be one or two thorns who disagreed with him, such as that old guy Price Parker, but he couldn't make any troubles at all under the condition that he was holding the duke's name for righteousness. After cleaning out those lords who are still loyal to the royal family one by one, they can stand on their own in the Northwest Gulf, and take advantage of the royal government's attention to the south to stab them in the back.

But now it seems that Henry Ferdinand's escape and his forged secret letter have aroused the vigilance of those outsiders - the indigenous lords privately called the new royal lords - and made them hug in advance. The plan can no longer be carried out.

Thinking of this, the Earl is extremely annoyed, and he should find an excuse to detain all these potential enemies at the Duke's birthday party. Although the subsequent processing will be more difficult, it is much easier to deal with than the current situation.

It's useless to regret now, I can only see the truth on the battlefield.

…

After a long period of preparation, the two factions have gathered considerable military power, and they dispatched troops, and the war was imminent. However, neither side has forgotten the existence of the royal family. Needless to say, the Kent Alliance will definitely attract the royal family, and the Earl of Kent also needs to temporarily pretend to be a loyal minister of the kingdom. Both sides unanimously sent their envoys to Jingyao to state the "true situation" to His Majesty the King, request the royal family to support them, and inform the rest of the kingdom that the other party was rebellious.