Chapter 621 Chapter 580 Banquet

Karina heard it, but she seemed to understand that Charlie was flirting with her, but she didn't point it out. She just smiled slightly and continued to follow Charlie's meaning: "Just a Northwest is not enough. When I grow up, I have many, many things to think about. Go. The desert outside the northwest corridor, there are thousands of miles of grasslands, beautiful snow-capped mountains... and the swamps in the south, the vast sea of ​​Nanyang, and the country of Nanyang people... When the teacher taught us in class, he said I have learned so many interesting things, when I grow up, I will always go and see them for myself!"

Although Princess Karina is barely ten years old at the moment, when talking about these things, there is a hint of eager anticipation. "If you like, I'll give you deserts, grasslands, snow-capped mountains, and Southeast Asia as your territory." Charlie laughed and waved his hands triumphantly.But in his mind, he couldn't help imagining the scene when he was in power in the future and had great power in his hands. The two originally wanted to go to the imperial garden, but when they got here, they saw a few palace guards and led a few palace medical officers passing by.Those medical officers were very unfamiliar.

Seeing this, Charlie said in a daze, "Well, is father sick?" The little princess didn't answer, she just looked at the court physicians passing by with bowed heads respectfully, and subconsciously murmured to herself: "Recently, there seem to be many new physicians in the palace. " It's just that the voice was low and talking to himself, but Charlie didn't notice it... ... This year's New Year, it seems that there is no festive atmosphere. At this time in previous years, the shops in the bustling streets of the imperial capital were overcrowded, and a large number of strange and popular goods from the north and south of the mainland were piled up. The imperial capital was originally the most affluent city in the mainland. Let everyone make a lot of money.

But this year, the road was blocked by heavy snow, and the atmosphere of war in the north made the street in the imperial capital look a bit more depressed at this moment. On the evening of the last day of December in the 965th year of the empire, the heavy snow finally gradually stopped, and martial law and control had already begun on the road leading to the palace. Teams of chariots and horses from the rich and powerful families of the empire are heading to the palace to participate in this year's New Year banquet. In the past, at this time, the officers on duty at the public security station in the imperial capital would burn their butts with their asses, but this year, there was no fireworks ceremony in the square of the palace, and there were no crowds of citizens coming and going to watch the excitement—in such a cold day, everyone was even more anxious. Willing to hide at home and warm up to the stove.

On a large carriage, on the shiny black carriage, there are totem patterns of the Tulip family. Dozens of elite guard knights of the Tulip family are riding all pure black fur horses. Get ahead. The road was not difficult to walk, and the soldiers of the security station next to them who were responsible for maintaining order even panicked a little leisurely.The road was quiet, only the creaking sound of the wheels rolling over the ice and snow. After arriving outside the palace, I gradually felt the lively atmosphere. The gate of the palace was wide open, and I don't know how many carriages were parked outside, belonging to various bigwigs and wealthy families.Nearly a hundred luxury carriages with different flags and family crests were lined up together, finally seeing some popularity.

But Du Wei's team of horses and horses did not stop at the gate of the palace - just because of his special status.The chariots and horses of other families have to stop at the gate of the imperial palace. Even if you are a big shot, you can only get out of the car and enter the imperial city on foot.But Du Wei is different. He seems to be the most important minister of the empire now. In addition to his recent illness, the palace issued an extra order to allow Duke Tulip's carriage to drive straight into the imperial city. The treatment that can only be enjoyed by the direct relatives of the royal family.In the entire empire, except for those princesses and two princes, everyone else had to walk in the snow.

Du Wei's carriage drove to a side hall in the palace, and then stopped. Someone specially carried Du Wei out of the carriage and put him on a delicate wheelchair. And Vivienne and Qiao Qiao, both dressed in costumes, followed Du Wei on both sides. The Muse also entered the palace tonight, but—His Majesty Charles, who wanted to see her in women's attire, seemed to be disappointed.Just because Muse is dressed as a knight tonight, with a bright red cloak on the outside, a set of high-quality rhinoceros leather armor on the inside, a thin cotton robe inside, a pair of knee-high leather boots, and The slender long sword worn at the waist - this outfit, but Muse has been with Ruolin for a long time and learned it from Ruolin.

When Ruolin was in the imperial capital, she was deliberately packaged by Du Wei as a heroic female knight. Muse was a tomboy since she was a child, and she didn't like women's clothing. This outfit suits her best. When Du Wei arrived, Mrs. Liszt had already arrived, but she was waiting in the side hall where the guests were waiting, and did not go in first—she did it on purpose. Mrs. Liszt waited for Du Wei to arrive, and then she showed up, but she followed Du Wei and entered the banquet venue together - this is also a very obvious signal, the Liszt family is next to the Tulip family!It was a move to show the two sides were close allies.

On the contrary, Miss Angel, who has become more and more silent in recent years, is absent tonight, and only Muse follows behind her sister. The regent and the emperor hadn't arrived yet. In the noisy banquet hall, when Du Wei entered in a wheelchair, the surroundings suddenly fell into silence. Everyone subconsciously looked towards the door, looking at the most beautiful young duke in the empire who had been sick at home and hadn't shown his face for many days. Du Wei was lazily leaning back in the wheelchair, his face was still a little sallow - this was a deliberately painted color, and he even wrapped himself in a thick blanket on purpose in order to better suit his identity as a patient.

After entering the door, the hall was already as warm as spring. When the palace was designed, many air holes were made in the corners of the walls, and there were stoves in the outer compartments. After entering the main hall, there were several respectful court servants on both sides immediately, and they finished the coats of the female guests. The first official appearance of Vivienne and Jojo in front of the nobles of the empire was amazing, very amazing. Everyone knows that Duke Tulip seems to have two confidante female magicians, and because of these two female magicians, Duke Tulip even refused the marriage of the royal family in his early years.

Today, when they saw the words of the sisters behind Du Wei, many people gasped, and most of them had an expression of "it's true" on their faces! If it weren't for such stunning looks, the Duke of Tulip would not have resisted the royal marriage for them! Vivienne was dressed in a moon-white evening gown, but her appearance was extremely simple, but the cut was very delicate, but it made her look like a quiet and pure orchid. A bit lazy and seductive. But Qiao Qiao is much more eye-catching.This fiery girl is wearing a fiery red long dress. The red color is like a dancing flame, but it is in line with her temperament. The already extremely gorgeous face is even more captivating. After a few glances at the male guests present, although they were amazed, they knew that these two belonged to Duke Tulip, and no one dared to look at them more. Besides... two great magicians, are ordinary people affordable? On the contrary, some women, after seeing it, couldn't help but feel a little bit ashamed. Mrs. Liszt in the back is still as beautiful as a virgin girl. From the appearance alone, she seems to be like a girl in her twenties. She was originally the number one beauty among the nobles of the empire for many years. A sassy muse... As soon as Du Wei came in, he stood four more stunning than that, and he couldn't help but be conspicuous. Gabriel was dressed in a typical aristocratic attire, young and tall, with a handsome face, and the black dress stretched tightly on his body, extremely stalwart.He pushed Du Wei's wheelchair with his own hands, and a group of people came in from the carpet in the middle, and many nobles around came up to make friends with Du Wei. The duke's flattery is not something you can get a photo of on a normal day. Du Wei smiled and nodded one by one, and then went directly to the front seat of the main hall. In the absence of the old prime minister tonight, no one except Du Wei dared to sit in the seat in the hall that was only under the royal family. Just as Du Wei sat down, someone beside him laughed and said, "Du Wei, I'm still thinking, if you don't come tonight, I'm afraid it won't be fun." Turning his head, he saw that the Minister of Finance was smiling at Du Wei.The old man looked good, and behind him, there was a beautiful young girl looking at Gabriel next to Du Wei with shy eyes—that was Gabriel's fiancée Miss Ossie. Ossie came up to meet Li, but under Du Wei's smiling eyes, she blushed and called out "Brother" in a low voice. Gabriel next to him seemed a little unnatural, and subconsciously looked at Muse, but Muse looked around as if he didn't care. A group of old acquaintances, such as Camisiro, or the Earl of Villa, have not yet arrived, but Delanshan Warcraft is absent this year. It is said that he was appointed to an official post in the theater logistics a few days ago, so he rushed to The north went to mobilize supplies. Du Wei exchanged a few words with his old acquaintances, and at this time, a handsome nobleman in his fifties came over slowly: "Master Tulip, hello. It's the first time we meet, your name , but it always rings in my ears." Du Wei glanced at this man, but his expression was very strange.This man's appearance is very outstanding. Although he looks about fifty years old, Du Wei knows that this is the effect of maintenance, and his actual age may be about ten years older than his appearance. And this person was dressed in a fine attire, especially the ring on his right thumb, and the gem inlaid there was at least worth more than 200,000 gold coins.At his age, he is still tall and straight, without the bulging belly of other nobles at all, and the smile on his face is quite friendly - it can be seen that he is a well-educated real man. Born into a wealthy family.And that pair of eyes, the eyes are majestic but not revealing, they are obviously smiling, but the eyes are still so cold, it is the demeanor of the accustomed high-ranking big shot. Although his tone of voice was polite, he was neither humble nor overbearing. His voice was a soft and pleasant baritone, and it was a standard imperial official dialect without a local accent. Du Wei was startled, then frowned and said, "This is..." "Hehe, you haven't shown up for a long time. This is Your Excellency Gao Cha, the Earl of the Empire, and was recently given the title of Marquis of the Court. Mr. Gao Cha just came from the south recently, and I haven't met you yet." The Minister of Finance Haha laughed, but the smile was not so pleasant, and it was a little more polite. Seeing that Du Wei was still in a daze, he added in a low voice: "Mr. Gaucha is the elder of General Alpay and Princess Delly." When Du Wei heard it, he immediately understood. Alpay can be regarded as the only "political enemy" in the empire who openly confronts him. Although his foundation is far less profound than that of Du Wei, he also has the Rollins family and the Lister family as backup.But after all, he is now the official commander of the imperial army, a bit stronger than himself, the empty-handed general of the empire who has no military power. This Gaocha, presumably, is the elder of the Alpay family, and most of them are the patriarch. Then...he is also his political enemy. Du Wei sneered in his heart, and returned the salute to Gao Cha politely on his face. This Gao Cha didn't know why he came to get close to Du Wei, but it seemed as if the two were friends. It doesn't look like a political enemy at all. It was the Minister of Finance who kindly reminded him: "After the new year, Mr. Gaucha will probably be the governor of the province of Lille." Governor of Lille? When Du Wei heard this, he couldn't help frowning. The province of Lille is adjacent to the province of Cote where the Luolin Plain is located, but it is the neighbor of the Luolin family's territory.Over the years, most of those who served as the governor of the province of Lille were wealthy families who had good friends with the Luo Lin family.Otherwise, everyone will live next to each other, and if they are hostile, there will be a lot of troubles on weekdays. For Du Wei, the province of Lille is even more important: the province of Lille is a large province facing the sea in the southeast of the Luo Lin family, and there are several large port cities in the south of the empire. , the maritime fleet under Du Wei, whether it is Nanyang trade or other businesses, all enters and exits through several ports in the province of Lille, and even the fleet under Du Wei is still in a port city in the province of Lille. Stationed down, but also bought a suitable seaport as a base. But now... the governor of the province of Lille has been replaced by a political enemy leader who is against him... What does the Regent want to do? Thinking of this, Du Wei's eyebrows twisted involuntarily. This Gao Cha is quite elegant, his demeanor is full of everyone's demeanor, and his every move seems to be the style of a wealthy family. But at this moment, the call of honor finally sounded, and it was the members of the royal family who had arrived. Different from previous years, at this year's dinner, both Prince Chen and the new Emperor Charlie were dressed in grand attire. Prince Chen personally took his son into the venue. Charlie was wearing a crown, but... the scepter that symbolized imperial power, but... It was held in the hands of Prince Chen. The idea of ​​entering the arena was simple and grand. When Prince Chen stepped onto the throne at the front, he smiled and announced in a pleasant voice: "Today's dinner, there is a special gift from General Rostock on the northern front. It’s a New Year’s gift, it’s just sent from the northern fast horse this afternoon.” As he spoke, he took a red leather item symbolizing an emergency military situation from the entourage next to him. "Good news!" Prince Chen's voice was filled with joy, an amplified voice announced. But when Du Wei heard this, he couldn't help but frowned deeply... good news?Hmm...it's strange! Du Wei's fingers holding the armrest of the wheelchair tightened involuntarily.I thought of a document sent by General Andre in the north two days ago, and a secret letter written to me by that fat man in Longbottom in the north...