If it comes to fighting, Duke can wipe out all the nobles on the opposite side except for a certain princess by himself.
When it comes to talking nonsense, Duke believes he is no worse than any of his opponents.
The most hateful thing in the world is that the referee is biased!
In order to facilitate control, Varian, who was left with only a cowardly personality, became a fool-like mascot for a long time. Now, in order to win in the noble field, the Black Dragon Princess directly used mental domination.
Varian, sitting on the throne, said in his weak voice: "Respected Grand Edmund Duke, I also want Stormwind Kingdom to be stronger and richer. Unfortunately, your opinion has shaken the ruling foundation of the entire kingdom. I cannot agree with your point of view."
"Your Majesty, I..." Actor Duke looked like he was going to argue.
"Sir Edmund! Who gave you the power to interrupt His Majesty's speech!" On the surface, it was the Black Dragon Princess Katrina who showed off her power, and her speech immediately received loud support from a group of nobles.
Duke had no choice but to shut up with a frustrated look on his face.
The weak version of Varian continued, "The nobles are the cornerstone of the kingdom. If the cornerstone is destroyed, the kingdom will no longer exist. Your proposal to limit the power of the nobles is an act of destroying the cornerstone. If I agree, I will not have the face to see the late king and Uncle Anduin after I die."
After hearing this, even though Duke knew that this guy was just a puppet, he just wanted to cover his face and spit at Varian.
Damn, I really want to let these nobles see why the flowers are so red.
By the way, put this funny version of Varian in front of Llane's grave to wake him up.
However, for the sake of the plan, Movie Emperor Duke can only pretend to be a grandson.
"Your Majesty!" Duke strengthened his tone.
As expected, Duke was ignored by the weak version of Varian, who recited to himself: "My dear Lord Edmund, I understand your original intention of wanting our country to be prosperous, but this time, I will not only veto your proposal. I will also reduce your territory as a warning. Please forgive me, Edmund Duke, I must set an example for the nobles of the world, a model - that is, the natural kingship, and the power of the nobles is also an extension of the kingship."
After these words were spoken, not only Duke was a little stunned, even Bolvar, who had remained neutral, was dumbfounded.
What is face slapping?
This is a slap in the face!
Generally speaking, unless the vassal is guilty of treason, the king has no right to reduce the fiefdom of his vassal.
Now the Duke proposed to reduce the power of the nobles, but the Duke publicly raised this issue during the annual meeting based on the contradictions in the domestic affairs field.
It was definitely not treason, and if it was a reduction in title, it would be a bit too much. Of course, the reason was barely justifiable.
The key point is that Bolvar knew that the cowardly Varian was under mind control.
For a moment, even an honest man like Bolvar was about to lose his temper.
Duke's mind was also changing rapidly. With his position, he was no different from the king. But as long as he still acknowledged his monarch-subject status with the Llane family, he would inevitably fall into an absolute disadvantage in politics.
No, it should be said that, in a sense, even if he was reduced to one square kilometer of territory, it would be a slap in his face.
The key now is how big Onyxia's appetite is.
If she had a smaller appetite and only wanted to create conflicts in Stormwind Kingdom, she could have let this puppet Varian announce the reduction of all his fiefdoms.
Duke then has three options:
One is to reveal her true identity and start a fight directly in Stormwind Fortress as it happened in history. This would be fun, but the problem is that there is no way to punish those nobles who cheered for her because of the lack of crucial evidence.
The second option is for Duke to accept it, but this would obviously deal a huge blow to Duke's reputation.
The third option is for Duke to rebel directly and declare independence. If Duke didn't know that Katrana was the Black Dragon Princess, he might really do this. If he still did this after knowing it, it would definitely be the stupidest choice.
If her appetite was moderate, she would only ask Varian to symbolically reduce Duke's territory by one village. As a compromise, she would allow her forces to invade Duke's territory and seek deeper penetration.
Of course, what Duke hopes most is that the Black Dragon Princess has a big appetite...
really!
Varian spoke up: "I declare that I will take back all the territories of the Edmund family in Elwynn Forest and Duskwood."
In almost an instant, all kinds of life appeared in the meeting hall of Stormwind Fortress.
There is surprise! There is anger! There is confusion! There is bewilderment!
But more of an expectation——
The nobles waited for Duke's reaction, to see how this great hero of the Alliance who held great power over the Stormwind would react.
Are the nobles afraid? Of course they are afraid. If Duke suddenly kills people and slaughters everyone here in anger, they will have no place to cry.
But they were also looking forward to, longing for, and hoping that if the Duke would bow his head, continue to be his good subject, and voluntarily provide the kingdom with more wealth for them to squander, that would be the most wonderful thing.
The human-shaped Onyxia cast a provocative look at Duke. Her eyes, which clearly revealed ridicule and intimidation, were telling Duke - if you don't want to become the public enemy of the nobles in human society, then you'd better accept it!
Duke!
Duke, the best actor!
His face well illustrates what it feels like for a reformer to fall from the clouds of hope into the abyss of pain.
Is it the anger because of the lack of resistance?
Or is it the sadness of having a passion that is not responded to by the master?
Anyone could imagine that beneath that excited and twitching face, there was a deep rift between him and his lord Varian.
In the end, Duke bowed his head.
"Yes... sir..." The two words seemed to be squeezed out from between teeth, weighing a thousand pounds.
The meeting was over, and the news that Grand Duke Edmund Duke had been demoted by Stormwind spread like wildfire, causing a tsunami in the Alliance.
Contrary to the Storm nobles' expectations, they were originally filled with joy, thinking that this victory would become a model in the Alliance, causing nobles from various countries to jump out and impose heavy taxes on trains passing through their territories, but there was no ripple.
In particular, the queens of various countries publicly stated that if the Stormwind treated Duke unfairly, they were willing to give Duke a grand duchy in their own kingdoms.
What caught the nobles even more off guard was that although Varian, at the instruction of a certain dragon, gave all the confiscated territories to the nobles who supported the fight against Duke this time as prizes in the political struggle, their income did not increase but decreased.
Because overnight, all trains stopped passing through their territory, and all train drivers, mainly dwarves, went on strike, and then dismantled the locomotives in the name of maintenance. The transportation of abundant daily necessities was stopped, and all luxury stores related to the Edmund Chamber of Commerce in Stormwind refused to sell goods to the conservative nobles.
To make matters worse, rumors spread that the nobles wanted to restore the "right of first night" and their brutal rule of arbitrarily reducing the subjects to serfs, which directly led to a large-scale exodus of the subjects.
All of a sudden, the nobles were also at a loss.
At this time, the old butler of the Edmund family, Makaro, came to visit Countess Anrestor and handed her a letter with only one sentence in it: "Valentine's Day, date?"