This was Alan's first time visiting the Russell family's ancestral home.

It is said that there is no yard, but when compared with Allen's house in the same direction, the small garden of several hundred square meters in front of the Russell family's house is not very impressive.

In Allen's eyes, this small broken garden is almost nothing.

Following the butler through the small garden, as soon as we entered their front door, we saw a corridor facing us with portraits hanging on both sides.

I looked at the portraits of the earls of the Russell family with great interest. From these portraits, I can still see the difference between the two families.

The Hill family is a family of "military generals". Most of the oil paintings in Allen's home are full-length portraits, either paintings of people wearing military uniforms and medals, or paintings of people posing heroically on horseback.

The accessories worn by the characters are all military medals or honors that show their status.

But these portraits of the Russell family are a little different. If they are full-length portraits, they are usually the most ordinary black and gray dress or suit. If they are half-length portraits, at most they just wear glasses and are dressed like a scholar, which looks very plain.

The overall decoration of the hall is also very different from that of Allen's house. Even the corridor in Allen's house is decorated with some old-fashioned armor and swords.

In the Russell family's house, there are only some portraits and some oil paintings with special meanings hanging on the walls.

…

"This is an oil painting that recreates the scene when the third Earl Bertrand Russell participated in the parade."

Seeing Alan standing still under a large oil painting on a banner, stroking his chin, Butler Casford gritted his teeth and introduced the background of the painting to Alan.

"Oh..." Seeing this oil painting, Alan remembered it. He had an impression of this incident. It was a big fuss back then. The third-generation earl loved to stir up trouble, inciting ordinary people to march and encouraging disarmament.

It seemed to be 1961. The old guy was 89 years old at the time. Even at such an old age, he still couldn't sit still, so he was eventually sent to prison and imprisoned for two months.

Although he would not suffer any abuse even if he went in, it was already very embarrassing for a noble lord... to have lost his dignity in his old age and spend two months in prison.

This is similar to what happened to the Duke of Angus in America when he was accused of fraud and then imprisoned. Both were very popular at the time and his reputation must have been affected.

When the old guy died, his ashes were scattered in the mountains of Wales. According to his will, he wanted to look down on Wales from heaven.

In Wales, is it your turn as a Russell family member to look down on Wales?

…

"Hahaha... Alan, sorry for keeping you waiting. Eh? Where's Nicholas?" Count Conrad suppressed his anger and walked into the reception room. Alan was playing with his handheld game console out of boredom.

Seeing that there was only a butler accompanying him, Count Conrad felt hot on his face even though he was angry. This was a serious earl visiting his home, but he didn't even have a guest of importance to accompany him!

It would be fine if he had something to do, but he clearly asked his son to accompany him before he left. Where did that useless thing go?

…

"Nicholas? He said he was not feeling well and went back first. Uncle Conrad, did he go on the phone just now?"

Alan put away the game console and looked at Earl Russell with a smile, but the questions he asked were not friendly at all.

“…”

Earl Russell felt that he could no longer hold back his anger, which he had just suppressed.

But he had to hold it in. What he just said had nothing to do with Leipzig. Even if he finished the call and the person on the other end heard his voice, Alan still hadn't heard it. This kind of behavior of asking people about their ugly affairs in person was really disgusting!

"How could that be... Allen, you're overthinking it."

"Oh? My subordinate just reported to me that someone called my home in Leipzig, and the voice sounded very much like yours... I guess he heard it wrong."

“…”

Earl Russell took a deep breath, clenched and unclenched his hands. After a dozen seconds of silence, he waved to the butler with a straight face, signaling him to leave first. When only he and Alan were left in the living room, Earl Russell lowered his voice and gritted his teeth and said, "Alan, what do you want? Our Russell family has never provoked your Hill family, right?"

Yes... he admitted that the two families lived very close to each other, less than 40 minutes by car. In a big city, this was the distance between two districts.

But the two families have been living together for so many years and have never interfered with each other. The main reason is that the Russell family is more restrained here. They are not locals and do not have as good a "mass base" and prestige as the Hill family. Living right at the doorstep of the Hill family, how can they not be low-key?

…

"What do I want? Haha..."

Alan took out a cigarette, threw one to Earl Russell, lit it himself, took a slow puff, and then looked at Earl Russell in front of him.

Earl Russell, who is in his early fifties, seems to be in good health. Judging from his facial shape, he looks somewhat similar to his grandfather in the oil painting. Both of them have an Irish look, with a long face and a big nose.

His academic achievements are certainly not as great as his grandfather's, and he is said to like studying history.

However, no matter how much he liked studying history, he couldn't figure out how he had offended Allen so that he did this to him today.

"He had what I wanted, it was that simple."

"you!"

Seeing Alan say such shamelessly, Earl Russell wanted to point at him with trembling hands, but he put his hand down halfway.

"Alan...if...you just want something, I can let Leipzig give you what you want, and you...let him go."

Count Russell did not admit his relationship with Leipzig, but everything he said now was related to Leipzig.

This is his last chance. If he doesn't speak up... he might be dead.

As for the final decency... let's talk about it after we rescue the person.

…

Under the puzzled gaze of Earl Russell, Allen slowly stood up, walked to the old earl, patted him on the shoulder with his left hand and said, "Uncle Conrad... do you think I killed him just to steal his things? No, no, no... I just took back what was in his hands. As for his life or death... that's because he took my things, he deserves to die, whoever takes my things deserves to die..."

"???"

"Well... you don't seem to particularly like my visit, so let's end our meeting here today."

After saying this inexplicable and apparently crazy remark, Alan turned and left, not giving Earl Russell any time to react.

Count Russell stared at Allen's back with his eyes slightly narrowed... He no longer had time to care about Leipzig's life or death. What he cared about most now was what Allen meant by what he had just said.

What do you mean, whoever takes his things should die?

What does this mean?

Does the Russell family have anything that Allen particularly wants?

The thought of being watched by such people every day made Earl Russell feel uneasy.

…

After leaving Swansea, Alan didn't ask anything else. He still had to go to Llanelli, not far from Swansea, where Thomas was waiting for him.

When I met Thomas, he had already booked a cafe, an old-fashioned seaside cafe.

Alan hasn't had coffee in a place like this for a long time.

Looking at Llanelli Harbour at sunset, the annoying seagulls stood in a row on the fence, staring at every passerby.

These little hooligans are very smart. They like to snatch food from people's hands, but... they are also very cautious.

If a person holds food in his hand but does not eat it, these seagulls generally will not snatch it.

But if the person holding the food takes a bite of the food in their hands, then the seagulls will see it and know that it is edible and not poisonous, so they will grab it!

It’s like if there is something and you leave it alone, no one may care about it, but if you move it, the people who care about it will suddenly appear.

Just like Alan now, he never thought of setting up a TV station for fun before, so... Welsh TV has never been doing well.

But by the time he got interested in Welsh television, he was out of luck.

…

"Sir John Benham asked me to give you..."

"Wait, let me guess."

Alan looked outside the window and saw a cunning seagull snatching a box of French fries from several children. The seagull did not leave after snatching the box. It flew a few steps and then stopped, eating the French fries while looking at the children who were chasing it in anger. When they were about to catch up with the seagull, it picked up the French fries box and flew a few more steps.

How could a few little kids stand this kind of ridicule?

Even if it means dying of exhaustion, they have to chase after it. The seagull ate French fries and amused the children at the same time.

"Is it... that he wanted to see me? He didn't tell you the details?"

"Uh... yes."

"snort."

Alan picked up the coffee, which was a little cold...

This guy named John has some ideas, but he overlooked some things, such as...

Sometimes what people lack is not their means, but their thoughts, or ideas.

Alan had never thought that the single administrative area could be expanded. His previous idea was to divide Wales as much as possible according to the single administrative area method, and then train his own personnel and slowly place them in other departments. In this way, within a few years, he would be able to extend his tentacles to every corner of Wales.

But although this method is stable, it is a bit time-consuming.

Now someone suddenly gave him inspiration that he could annex other places by expanding the single management area. This gave Alan a lot of inspiration.

Doesn't he have the means to operate these things?

In the past, he simply didn't dare to do it because he was afraid that people in London would talk about him.

Now that he knows how to do it, he can do it too. In this way...

There is no need to cooperate with others.

…

"Don't worry about him. Just leave him alone for now. Haha... Even without Sir John, there will be Sir Tom and Sir George in the future. They... It's not as convenient as us doing things on our own."

"Oh? Your Excellency, what do you mean?"

Thomas immediately understood what Allen meant. The excitement on his face just rose, but then he thought about the size of the two places... the gap is a bit big.

"Do you think it's difficult to handle it on our own?"

"Yes, the economy of our Carmarthenshire is a bit poor. If we want to expand, with our means, the chances of annexing Swansea under normal circumstances are too small..."

Thomas said very conservatively that the chances were slim, which was already a conservative statement as the gap between the two places was too big. Anyway, from his point of view, it would be difficult for Carmarthenshire to swallow up Swansea without external intervention.

…

"Well... sometimes, before doing something, you need to have a good and complete understanding of yourself. In this way, you will know clearly what you have and what you want, and then you will do things with a clear purpose."

"yes……"

Thomas nodded obediently, agreeing with what Alan said.

"So what are the advantages of Carmarthenshire compared to Swansea?"

"Advantage?"

Thomas sighed and twisted his hips, causing the sofa he was sitting on to squeak. The old-fashioned spring sofa was already a little overwhelmed.

"Our advantage..."

When it comes to the game between Carmarthenshire and Swansea, Thomas really can't think of one.

Humanities and history?

The two places developed at about the same time and are so close to each other, so there is really no advantage in this area.

Compared to population?

Swansea is a port city with a permanent population of over 200,000, which is more than the total population of the entire Carmarthenshire.

Others...

Why?

Looking at Alan's smiling face, a word somehow popped up in Thomas' mind - public security.

If we really want to say what advantages Carmarthenshire has over Swansea, it is that the security level in Carmarthenshire is much better than Swansea!

Swansea is one of the few cities in Wales that has enough soil for gangs to survive.

As long as there are these gangs in a city, its public security will never be good!

But what is Carmarthenshire?

This is the Hill family's lair. Not to mention crimes, even thieves are hard to find. The county has had a 100% case closure rate every year in the past few years. This is no joke. There is an earl who has lived here for generations and is in charge of this. Who dares to joke about public security?

But...is good public security an advantage?

…

"Our...public security is better than theirs?"

Thomas looked at Alan with an uncertain tone.

"Haha, very smart. This is indeed our biggest advantage over them."

Alan yawned, stared at the direction of Swansea in the distance and murmured, "Swansea's public security is not good. What do you think...if their public security deteriorates further during this period of time and further affects economic development, what will happen to them?"

"!!!"

If this was said by someone else, Thomas would at most just smile, but now that it came from Alan's mouth, the meaning was very clear!

What does it mean if their public security continues to deteriorate?

Even though Swansea is a big city with hundreds of thousands of people, if one really wants to mess it up, it seems not difficult for a local tyrant who has been sitting there for hundreds of years...

But if you really want to do something in Swansea, there is still a big obstacle. Apart from other aspects, there is a big noble family settled in this city, and it is very famous!

The head of the Earl family seems to be a member of the House of Lords.

Generally speaking, cities where nobles, especially great nobles, live will not be chaotic to the extent of affecting the economy even if it is in chaos.

Thinking of this, Thomas looked at Allen with some concern and said, "Sir...if you really want to move Swansea, the Russell family..."

"Them? Huh... I just came out of their house before I came here."