The Head of the Households hurriedly stepped into the King’s study with a secret letter sent back from the southeast, but he was slightly taken aback after entering.
The King had his back to him, standing in front of a stained glass window with a rose pattern. The sun not only outlined his figure brightly, but also stretched his shadow very long.
You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )
The foot raised by the hHead of the Households froze in mid-air, and his breathing went stagnant for an instant.
“Hawkins’ letter? Bring it over.”
The King ordered but did not turn around.
The footsteps of the Head of the Households became lighter than before as he walked to hand the letter to the King.
The King opened the letter.
The handwriting of the letter was very much like scribbles, and it was also written crookedly. Clearly it was penned not by the professor/first mate Charles, but by the unprofessional Captain Hawkins.
In the letter, only one sentence was written:
The customs blockade had been implemented.
The Head of the Households waited for a while, but got no other instructions, so he quietly retreated.
“It’s time for you to appear, Mr. Devil.”
The King closed the letter and said calmly.
“Hell is at your service.”
The tide of black mist surged in the room, and the Devil wearing a black formal attire walked out of the thick darkness as usual. He looked the same as usual, his clothes gorgeous and impeccable, with a mask-like smile on his face.
“I hope your habit of spouting lies will not appear in this operation.” The King did not look back, he seemed to be pondering on something, “How long will it be?”
“The plague is coming.”
“Not the plague.” The King turned around, his icy blue eyes still as the bottom of a well, “I asked how long will it be before the “law” becomes invalid.”
The Devil’s smile solidified on his face, and his pupils dilated slightly.
The King looked at him calmly.
“Ah, what are you talking about?” The Devil soon smiled again, and he bowed slightly to the King, “The Law has always been there.”
“The Holy Court has begun to intervene in secular wars, and Hell intervened in the Black Death.” The King said unhurriedly, “Why did neither of you reveal your traces so directly before? Because at that time the Law forbidding supernatural interference enveloped the world and the power bounding you all was greater. But now, both hell and the Holy Court are becoming active. Why?”
The Devil did not answer.
The King himself answered his question.
“Because you know that the Law is about to end, and the world will once again become a battlefield between darkness and light, right?”
The King asked softly, but his tone was full of mockery.
The Devil was silent for a moment, and then raised his hands to applaud the King.
“You are too keen, Your Majesty.” The Devil smiled and said, “This is not a good thing. When did you begin to come to this conjecture?”
“The ghost ships.”
The King answered simply.
The Devil suddenly realized: “You started to glean information since then?”
“How many years are left of the thousand years?” The King did not answer the Devil’s question, “What does the millennium kingdom really mean?”
“What does the millennium kingdom mean?” The Devil laughed, and he bowed over again, “It means the return of a great existence.”
A great existence was coming back.
The King chewed over the words spoken by the Devil.
“The people of the Holy Court tried to kill me.” The Devil remained bowed over and the King knew that he could not get any more information on this issue so he turned to ask about what happened that night, “Perhaps I should bestow you an iron rose medal? Mr. Devil.”
“That would really be such an honor, Your Majesty.” The Devil straightened up, “You actually recognize my loyalty to you.”
“What identity are they?”
The King ignored the complaint in the Devil’s words.
“The adjudicators of the Holy Court, or you can call them the puppets of God——or God’s Attendants.” After the Devil answered, he realized that something was wrong. He looked at the King for a while and then pressed his forehead, “You are too cunning! You don’t even remember what happened that night.”
The King did not show the smile on his face, and only said lightly:
“Now, speak.”
“About the nightmare that was forgotten by me, about God’s Attendants.”
………………
Koszoya, the former headquarters of the Five Port Alliance.
The royal rose insignia now replaced the original Five Port Alliance insignia, and it had become the headquarters of the “Free Chamber of Commerce” under the control of the King.
Madam Poisonous Spider and Patriarch Dawson stood on a tower overlooking the streets of the port city below.
“I finally know why His Majesty had such a strict requirement that all chambers of commerce must be registered.” Madam Poisonous Spider said quietly.
“Who would have thought.”
Patriarch Dawson also sighed.
They desperately completed the formation of the Free Chamber of Commerce a few days ago. This huge chamber of commerce, organized by the royal family, had never been more stringent in its investigations. All the ships in all the ports, as well as all the sailors and crews of all chambers of commerce must be registered in a unified register, and finally reported to the headquarters of the Free Chamber of Commerce.
Originally, they did not understand why it was so harsh.
Until today.
The King’s order was personally announced by the mayor: The Black Death on the other side of the Abyss Strait has spread to the port cities that have commercial ties in Legrand. In order to prevent the spread of the Black Death, the southeast waters have officially entered a state of blockade from today onwards. All ships are not allowed to go to sea, and all ships are not allowed to enter the ports again.
Based on the “Southeast Port Ship Register” completed a few days ago, from today onwards, all ships would be compiled in accordance with the general register. Every 20 ships would form a team, and each team would elect a person in charge while the city government would form an inspection team. Each team of ships must check the number of ships and personnel every day.
Once there were fewer ships and sailors missing, the crew of the ship would be severely punished altogether.
Anyone who goes to sea privately would be directly executed.
Anyone who tries to help those who have fled would be put to death directly.
Anyone who tries to break the sea blockade would be executed directly.
………
The following was a long series of notices, asking people to fully cooperate with the preventive actions of the “Plague Epidemic Prevention and Control Team” during the sea blockade period.
At the end of the warrant was the King’s signature.
This writ from the Rose Palace suddenly exploded over the people’s heads like thunder.
At the port, the sailors and crews who were busy carrying goods onto the ships were all stunned, and the cigarette sticks in the hands of the merchants who were standing on the bow of the ships instructing the sailors to carefully place the valuable goods all dropped onto the decks. The people who had just sent their relatives out to sea for a long journey were astonished and did not understand what had happened.
Everything happened so suddenly.
The merchants unloading and loading goods in the port shouted noisily and couldn’t believe their ears, but soon the royal fleet that appeared in the port established a long sea blockade pontoon bridge. The King’s personal guards who arrived on the streets some time ago were all fully armed as they took to the streets. The municipal officials were like a flock of crows, flitting through the streets and alleys to convey the latest announcements.
When they realized that all of this was true, the people’s voices exploded like billowing thunder, and the municipal officials tasked with informing the news were surrounded by groups of people on the streets.
“Why wasn’t the arrival of the Black Death notified in advance?”
Madam Poisonous Spider looked at the family members of the businessmen who either fainted on the ground or threw themselves at the municipal officials reading the notice, and asked with some pity.
Their relatives just went out to sea not long ago, so with the sea blocked, they were now isolated outside the blockade line and classified as “no entry individuals”.
“Because of human nature.”
Patriarch Dawson was silent for a moment before replying slowly.
“If the Black Death outbreak was notified before the lockdown was implemented, how many do you think will choose to risk selling goods before the Black Death fully breaks out? How many people will choose to go pursue their relatives back? How many people who clearly know that their relatives have gone to an area that may be infected with the plague, but will still quietly bring them ashore in private?”
Madam Poisonous Spider was silent and unable to form an answer at all.
“If people are informed of the plague before the blockade, the subsequent blockade will become a joke.”
Patriarch Dawson took a deep breath.
He finally understood the King’s series of actions on the southeast coast over the past several days.
Disintegrating the Five Port Alliance and establishing a Free Chamber of Commerce to master information about ships in the southeast waters, laying the foundation for strict maritime blockades. An army was stationed in Koszoya in case opposition arose so that the army could suppress it as quickly as possible. Spending huge sums of money in the shortest time to mobilize and form a huge royal navy so that they could patrol the entire coastal sea line, and set up a long blockade…..
Only after the blockade had been completed quietly and efficiently, would the official notification be made.
At this time, no one could stop this blockade.
In fact, as Patriarch Dawson recalled, the number of ships returning during this period was becoming fewer and fewer.
——He didn’t dare to think about whether the ships that went to sea really hadn’t returned, or that they were sunk because of the plague and sinking into the sea forever.
“Just watch.”
Patriarch Dawson looked at the cavalry soldiers marching down the streets with some fear as they dispersed the crowds that had gathered together.
“Legrand should be up in a clamor again.”
Legrand, December 1432.
The King issued the “Regulations on Emergency Blockade of the Southeast Coast”. On the same day, all ships in the ports of the southeast coast failed to raise their sails. The ports fell into a deep sleep, and no ships went out to sea or entered the ports.
On the first day the blockade regulations were issued, there were twelve ships that tried to break through the blockade in just the port city of Koszoya alone.
All twelve ships were sunk.
On the dock, there stood silent armored knights. Those sailors who were struggling to swim from the cold water to the shore tried their best to climb up to the pier, but they were all greeted with sharp swords.
The coast was dyed red with blood.
The King used his cold, iron-blooded methods to declare that this was a blockade that absolutely did not allow mercy.
Another bloody mark was added to the name of the tyrant.
The King waited for the report from the southeast at the Rose Palace.
Faced with his new moniker “Bloody Tyrant”, he did not make any comments, as if it was not he who was being vilified.
The sea blockade was just a prelude.
The real countermeasures come from Hell.
………………
In the mid-winter of December, the wind was howling and violent.
The royal government could only do its utmost to blockade the port cities, but the coastline was long and the spread of the plague was not only through humans.
A ship rocked with the tide on the sea, and finally became stranded. No one got off the ship.
There was a small village not far from the stranded ship.
“Here it is.”
The Devil in his black formal attire walked out of the night, and he opened the black umbrella with the sword hidden in the umbrella shaft. The sea breeze moved the tail of his coat.
The Devil briskly boarded the dead ship, and saw many dead bodies lying on the ship. Pustules, large or small, could be seen on the corpses.
The rustling sounds of rats escaped from the ship.
The Devil snapped his fingers.
You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )
The black fire ignited silently, and a miniature version of the door of hell appeared in the air.
Since the King wore the bone ring on his finger, the power of the Devil seemed to be stronger than before.
He bowed in a gentleman-like fashion.
“Time to go on stage, gentlemen.”
The miniature version of the door of hell slowly opened.
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Each time the Devil and the King speak its really a battle of wits and of seeing who is more cunning! You can almost feel the sharp edge of the knifes hidden within their words!
Zhu Chi may seem ruthless (he’s… Kind of) but in fact he is doing it for the sake of the kingdom, and the reasoning is right, the blockade would have really turning into a joke otherwise…
Thanks for the chapter!!!
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Ikr it’s always interesting when it’s a scene between the devil and the king💞💞💞
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