A Transparent Conspiracy
The room fell silent again.
Everyone was considering the feasibility of the plan when someone finally slammed their fist on the table. "I'll do it! It's a rare opportunity like this, why not give it a try?"
"If we succeed, it doesn't matter who becomes the new lord of Great Oak Territory and the new Count, as long as everyone's interests remain unchanged."
The others chimed in, "Yes!"
"That makes sense. Even if I can't become a lord, as long as I still have these powers, that's fine."
The person who proposed the plan remained silent, simply watching the discussion. "I never expected them to reach an agreement so quickly. It seems the Viscount Golden Sunflower's post-war carnage has truly frightened them; otherwise, they wouldn't have made up their minds so quickly!"
After the discussion subsided, the person who initiated the plan stood up and said, "Since that's the case and the tasks have been assigned, let's hurry up and get started. We only have one chance, and we can't let everyone give up their power for nothing."
"We went through so much trouble to get this from Count Black, I'm not willing to hand it over so easily."
"That's right, that's exactly it!"
Those who were among the first to respond to the plan also spoke out, "And even if we don't do this, or even hand over power, will we have a good ending?"
The Diaz brothers begged for mercy from the Viscount Golden Sunflower before they died, and they still died in the end!
In the end, not only did the two of them die, but now their families are finished too. The Steward Magnus, citing treason as a pretext, confiscated their property, and even their remaining relatives are to be exiled to the Northlands.
This statement is actually somewhat inaccurate. While Steward Magnus did indeed confiscate the property of the Diaz brothers, he primarily recovered their illegal income from receiving salaries without working while in the army; other assets were not seized.
But Victor gave Steward Magnus a suggestion: the fate of their two relatives would definitely affect their future loyalty to Great Oak Territory, but killing them directly would not be good either. So Victor wanted Magnus to give all these people to him.
He would send these people to the Northlands as Freemen citizens, and exchange all their property for gold coins, returning them to them in batches when they arrived in the Northlands, so that they could participate in the development of the Northlands.
Victor did this because these people were, after all, from a branch of the Great Oak Family. They were all educated and could be considered high-end talents in the Northlands Two Rivers Territory, capable of handling many jobs.
As for whether these people would outwardly comply with Victor's wishes after arriving in the Northlands, Victor was not worried. He would not allow these people to have the opportunity to enter the military and political system, but would only let them serve him in other forms. As long as they dared to deceive him, he would naturally have ways to make them pay the price.
Moreover, these people's assets are still in his hands. If they want to take back their assets, they must do as Victor instructed.
However, these conspirators didn't care about the truth behind the raids; they had ulterior motives and were just looking for a reason to convince themselves.
The plan is now set, the tasks have been assigned, and everyone believes there is a high chance of success. Someone has also brought up examples of failures to motivate everyone, so everyone is full of enthusiasm.
"Then let's get started. We must make Viscount Golden Sunflower and that brat who isn't qualified to inherit the Great Oak Territory pay the price."
"Good!"
Everyone left the room in high spirits, full of confidence in their victory.
In a Ducal House in the Lord's Mansion, Magnus was working. After returning here, he announced the death of Count Black and the arrangements for the succession of the new Count Brando, which gave him a lot of work to do.
Just as he was revising a document, a servant suddenly walked in without prior notice.
Magnus was about to reprimand the servant, but when the servant handed him the letter, Magnus controlled his anger. The letter contained very important intelligence.
Magnus took the letter and dismissed the servant. This servant was not a real intelligence agent, but an intermediary; someone had given them the information.
Magnus opened the letter directly, initially skimming through it, but soon his gaze became serious, and he read more and more slowly until he finished reading it, at which point he let out a long sigh of relief.
"I was worried that these people might be plotting some terrible scheme, but it turns out they're only capable of this much. I really overestimated them!"
Magnus stroked his chin for a moment, then picked up the rattle on the table and began to shake it.
With a crisp ringing of a bell, a servant quickly entered. "Master Steward, did you call for me?"
"Go and call Depaul to my place, and also send someone to inform Viscount Victor that I have something important to discuss with him."
After receiving the order, the servant took his leave and prepared to go and fetch someone.
"Is this the solution these people came up with?"
Have we overestimated them?
Victor looked at the letter in his hand and laughed as he complained to Magnus.
"I didn't expect them to do this. Not only did they abandon their biggest advantage, but some people also betrayed them directly, and not just one."
Magnus smiled wryly. These people were really all talk and no action. They didn't know how to use their greatest advantage and actually came up with this head-on approach to solve the problem. They really didn't know their own limitations.
He was also somewhat annoyed, wondering how he could have allowed these people to take advantage of the Civil War setbacks and seize some of the power from the Count.
These people were mostly from the collateral branches of the Great Oak Family, and to put it bluntly, many of them were relatives of Count Black within five degrees of kinship. Some of them even required Magnus to address them as "Master" or "Young Master."
After the defeat in the Civil War, these people not only did not support Count Black, but also took away some positions in the territory, including some military power, in the name of protecting ancestral property.
Steward Magnus had always deeply resented these people, but he had never had the opportunity before, and when Count Black was still alive, Magnus was not allowed to take any extreme actions.
However, as the Count's health deteriorated, Magnus began preparations for Brando to inherit the title.
Magnus also gained access to the intelligence network within Great Oak Territory. He directly sent people to infiltrate these people. At first, they were just gathering intelligence, but as Magnus secretly helped the undercover agents several times, the agents have now become the confidants of these people.
So when these people began their conspiracy, Magnus obtained their entire plan. However, what Magnus did not expect was that shortly after he obtained this intelligence, someone contacted Magnus and handed him the same intelligence, with almost identical content.
"I suspect that there are still some people within their ranks who don't believe in this operation and are unwilling to perish with them, which is why they provided us with this intelligence."
Victor was not surprised by this. It's normal for opinions to differ when there are many people involved; some will agree and some will disagree. However, the reason this person continued to pretend to be a supporter of the plan was quite simple.
He simply didn't think it was going to work, believing the chances of success were slim, so he betrayed all his companions in exchange for Victor and Magnus showing him leniency in the future.
"Forget it, these people aren't going to amount to anything. Let's take this opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop, so that when Young Master Brando takes over in the future, we won't have to figure out how to deal with them."
Steward Magnus was quite pleased that these people were so radical, directly plotting Rebellion. As long as the rebellion was successfully quelled, he could simply eliminate them all, which saved him a lot of trouble.
"Steward Magnus, how about this, just in case, let Brando rest in the same room with me for the time being, as if I'm fulfilling my duty as his guardian."
Although Victor didn't think it would be difficult to quell these people's conspiracy Rebellion, Brando was still a child and relatively vulnerable, so it was safer to keep him by his side for protection.
Magnus agreed with Victor's assessment, especially since he had witnessed the viscount's formidable strength. "Thank you, Lord Victor. With you by Young Master Brando's side, I can handle this matter with peace of mind!"