Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 689 - 077: Can’t Figure It Out
What combat power could such a military, infiltrated in every aspect by the noble interest classes, possibly have left? Can it protect the Frandy Royal City?
Few held any hope for this.
Yet now, the situation is that this Imperial Guard is the strongest military force within the Royal City.
Many nobles present remained silent.
This situation was precisely crafted by their own hands. The strength of the Imperial Guard had been severely eroded by them, but this was an unspoken rule from ancient times— if you don't do it, others will.
To ensure their own interests weren't compromised, they had no choice but to join this grand feast.
As a result, the Imperial Guard, tasked with defending the Royal City, continued to deteriorate.
"Listen to the rumors from the South, any city broken by external armies has seen many noble families within it eliminated. These Beastmen from the Blue Dragon Kingdom seem unwilling to allow any original noble power to exist in their territory."
Suddenly, a gruff voice resonated at the meeting.
Another silence ensued.
No one responded,
because no one had the mind to reply.
Every noble present felt an enormous pressure weighing on their hearts.
After a long time,
a low murmur rose, filled with helpless resentment.
"That damn Blue Dragon, those forever despicable Beastmen, how could they do this! What do they know about managing those lowly peasants? Didn't the Giant Dragon Race wage magnificent wars before, gathering great forces, but didn't they ultimately fail? Only the Red Dragon in the West accepted our existence, helping it rule over its clans, allowing it to establish its nation steadily!"
Now saying this is nothing but a helpless lament.
In history, indeed, giants had gathered mighty clan forces, but all failed due to only knowing expansion and not farming management.
The Red Dragon in the West of the Central Earth Continent was an exception.
For it gathered numerous clans, and after conquering a kingdom, it did not commit mass slaughter or wanton destruction but accepted the noble administrative class within, allowing its forces to barely sustain and persist.
Yet,
the enemy they now face, the Blue Dragon Austin, who orchestrates everything behind the scenes without showing its true form, is unlike any dragon from before.
Even its Dragon Nest Race system is utterly unfathomable to these old lords of medieval noble birth.
The nobles naturally have some understanding of the realm established by the Blue Dragon.
Especially a year ago,
when the Dragon Nest Beastmen army broke through the Border Great Wall and subsequently annihilated several probing offensives from the Southern Countries, the Blue Dragon Kingdom's reputation resounded throughout the Southern Countries.
One must know that several countries, under the pretext of preventing the northward advance of the Beastmen army, confiscated the properties of those greedy noble culprits, yet could not completely fill the massive void in revenue needed for military expansion and establishing defense lines, resulting in the nationwide imposition of war taxes. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
The additional war tax plunged the already disaster-stricken and impoverished populace into greater destitution, spreading more rumors, and accelerating the tide of refugees during this period.
Both the commoners and the noble upper echelons had heard and understood about that Blue Dragon Realm in the South.
This was an inevitable outcome,
that sword hanging overhead, constantly threatening the safety of the Southern Countries. As the saying goes, it is not oneself but one's opponent who knows one best, and such a significant event as the breach of the Border Great Wall could not fail to attract the discussion of the populace, who otherwise had limited entertainment.
Moreover, over the years, the various industrial and commercial products from the Blue Dragon Kingdom had invaded their markets.
Many luxury goods used by these noble classes were produced in that Blue Dragon Realm, which, over a year ago, even led to the intervention of the Eight-Nation Alliance invading the Kawa Great Forest, only for it to become the fuse that ignited the Blue Dragon Kingdom's invasion.
It is precisely for this reason,
that various aspects within the Blue Dragon Kingdom, such as attracting sons of prominent merchants and family cadets to go there, and the civil service system that enables many adventurers to take official examinations, were things these classes were also aware of.
In their eyes, what the Blue Dragon Kingdom is doing is seeking its own demise.
They know all too well the greed of those lowly peasants.
Once those who lack noble honor are elevated, they will oppress peasants, fellow serfs, even more brutally than they themselves were oppressed before.
Those individuals hold no sense of courtesy, loyalty, or shame. Send them to collect taxes, and if they are not supervised, the production from that place the next year will decrease by at least half.
Because those places taxed by them would either resist and be slaughtered on the spot or wouldn't survive the winter of that year.
These noble classes, priding themselves on their noble bloodlines, were naturally born to shepherd lands for the King and to rule the populace as Lords; this belief is not without reason.
In this world where classes are set, with families handed down through generations, they know how to manage the local populace roughly, collect taxes, and how to grasp the moderate level of pressure to exert, squeezing every last drop of sweat from those lowly humanoid livestock without rendering them unable to survive.
From their experience,
the Blue Dragon Realm, lacking a noble class to govern on its behalf with a chaotic approach, is simply courting disaster.
This,
is one of the reasons why over the past year, the Southern Countries didn't immediately unite and organize an elite army to counterattack and retake the Border Great Wall.
In the eyes of the self-proclaimed noble lords, the Blue Dragon Realm would only flaunt its superiority momentarily, and naturally, it wouldn't take long before it collapsed.
By establishing a good line of defense, once that Blue Dragon Realm collapses, they naturally would mobilize the troops southwards to reclaim the Border Great Wall and seize the opportunity for greater gains.
In fact, among the Southern Countries, most of the upper echelons thought this way.
Then,
instead of waiting for the collapse of the Blue Dragon Kingdom, they awaited the arrival of the Dragon Nest army.
An irrefutable irony.
They couldn't understand,
why, in the absence of their existence, that Blue Dragon Realm not only did not collapse but instead grew ever stronger?
They couldn't comprehend it.
...
As those within the Royal City, belonging to various power factions, were harboring different thoughts amidst an undercurrent of turmoil in the city.
At this time,
a black carriage, guarded by a squad of elite knights, came to a stop before a secluded estate.
The curtain of the carriage was lifted,
and King Rufus alighted from the carriage,
gazing silently at the tranquil manor ahead, lost in thought.
After a short while,
the butler of the estate came out hurriedly to lead King Rufus inside...
