The Edwardian royal family of the Assyrian Kingdom initially had a good reputation for being honest and caring for the people. Because the continent had just been ravaged by war, even the royal palace consisted of only three palaces.
However, later successors were certainly not so frugal. Whether they were incompetent or capable, they all wanted to live more comfortably, so the palace was expanded and enlarged until it became what it is today.
Of course, the three palaces at the very center remained unchanged.
The carriage arrived at a golden palace, and Ulysses led Yang Cheng through layers of guards into the main hall.
A man who looked to be in his sixties sat on a throne that was not very high. Although he was well-preserved, one could still sense a trace of decay and old age emanating from him.
He was Edward Clough, the emperor of the Assyrian Kingdom in that era.
Emperor Clough is actually quite easy to evaluate: he was mediocre, and among the emperors of the Assyrian Kingdom, he was relatively ordinary.
Domestically, Clough accomplished little, only managing to prevent the corruption in the Assyrian kingdom from worsening, but there was no sign of improvement whatsoever.
Externally, Clough could easily suppress rebellions by some small states, but that was mainly because the Assyrian Kingdom itself had a strong foundation; even a dog could win a war against foreign powers.
Therefore, compared with the emperors of the Assyrian Kingdom throughout history, Clough's most distinctive feature is that he broke with the Church of Light when he ascended the throne at a young age. The two sides had constant conflicts and contradictions, but Clough never backed down, even to this day.
"Greetings, Your Majesty."
Yang Cheng bowed slightly with a calm expression.
Clough nodded and said, "Mr. Yang, you're too kind. If it weren't for you and Master Morton, St. Brand would have suffered terribly, with countless lives lost."
Prince Lai'en attempted to usurp the throne and acted recklessly. He has been imprisoned in the dungeon and will never be released.
His cronies were either killed or exiled, and the kingdom was purged of a large number of corrupt officials.
Yang Cheng nodded, but he didn't know why Clough was telling him this; these were things the Assyrian Kingdom needed to worry about.
At this moment, Clough suddenly said, "But there is something you should not know, Mr. Yang, that is, the Hohenheim incident was actually the result of the Holy See stirring things up."
Yang Cheng was slightly taken aback.
Yang Cheng saw that Pollit was letting them off the hook. At that time, he thought that Pollit didn't want to help the Kingdom and wanted to see them make a fool of themselves. He didn't expect that the other party would actually push things along.
Clough said bitterly, "My brother always thinks he's something special. He thinks that I was only able to become emperor because I was lucky to be born early, and that he could definitely be a better emperor than me!"
In fact, he was ambitious and eager for quick success. If he were to become emperor, he would destroy the entire Assyrian kingdom!
Over the years, I have refrained from taking action against him out of consideration for family ties and the face of the royal family. I never expected him to do such a rebellious thing!
While Ryan's ambition was the root of the Hohenheim affair, things would never have developed to this point without the Holy See's behind-the-scenes manipulation.
Lyon has contacted some nobles, including the Celts, but most of the nobles in the kingdom are still under my control, and he doesn't even have a single duke to support him.
Yet he was able to keep the alchemy laboratory in Hohenheim open without anyone noticing in the entire St. Brand. This was something they couldn't do on their own; the Vatican was secretly covering for them!
Especially that laboratory near the Vatican—only a blind pope could miss it!
Even the absence of the Pope and other cardinals was intentional; they wanted to escalate the situation, make the consequences more severe, and cause me, the king, to lose all dignity, so that even the royal family would become the subject of gossip.
When the Pope and the other cardinals return, subdue Homunculus, and kill Hohenheim, the Papacy will become the hero who saved St. Brand!
I am all too familiar with their methods, but unfortunately the Vatican overlooked one person this time, and that is you, Mr. Yang.
The Vatican did not anticipate that the kingdom would produce such a powerful superhuman as Mr. Yang, who could kill a god with human strength, thus thwarting the Vatican's conspiracy.
I thank Mr. Yang, not only because you saved St. Brand, but also because you preserved the dignity of the entire royal family.
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