Chapter 113

112 You are simply a natural Duke! (Two-in-one)

This is really... too outrageous! How can there be such an absurd thing?

Looking at the new badge shining with silver light on the panel, not only were the nobles in the ward stunned, but Li Ang on the wheelchair was also caught off guard.

He had broken into the Laien house a few days ago, not only killed their first successor but also successively crushed more than two hundred core members, single-handedly creating the Laien blood night that sent the Laien family to hell.

As a result, the old Duke of the Laien family didn't know what kind of madness he had, and he hadn't even been pushed into the ward for five seconds before he inexplicably designated him as the next successor, making him the biggest beneficiary of the Laien blood night incident...

Damn! Isn't this pitting people?

As the final beneficiary and suspected of having the ability to create the Laien blood night, as long as there is a normal brain in the Cleanup Bureau, they must send a company of investigators to check him from inside to outside!

"Everyone, please listen to me!"

Suddenly being hit in the face by a two-ton hot potato, although he had no guilt in his heart, Li Ang, who was guilty, tightened his brows and hurriedly refused:

"I have no interest in this title, why not consider other..."

"Bastard!"

Before Li Ang could finish his words, an old man with gray hair and gorgeous clothes stood out from the crowd and scolded with disdain:

"This is the title of Lionheart Duke! And it was personally designated by the old Duke before he died! Is it something you can just let go of with one word?"

So what does it have to do with you?

As a person with quality, if it were normal times, Li Ang might pay attention to his words, but now he was eager to throw away this hot potato and get rid of the suspicion of creating the Laien blood night, so his words were not very polite.

"Who the hell are you?"

After saying the response that made the nobles change their expressions, Li Ang quickly looked at the old man's attire and found a cyan crown with three single feathers on the badge on his chest.

Although there are cameras now, because of the high price, they are not widely spread. Many times, identifying identity still relies on documents and badges, so the Kingdom's badge law is quite strict.

According to the badge law, all badges must strictly follow relevant requirements during production, especially on noble emblems representing identity, where the crown, shield, halberd, and cassock must be complete.

Among them, the crown mark is the badge used to identify the identity level. Except for the diamond crown representing the royal family, the five levels of Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron need to use the colors corresponding to the five metals of gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin.

In addition, the royal diamond crown will have a robin as a badge, while the crown badge of the five levels of nobility needs to be lined with corresponding single feathers, meaning that nobles are important wings supporting the royal family.

Among them, the highest-level Duke is based on five feathers, and the lowest-level Baron is based on one feather. Those who have made major contributions after inheriting the title can add an extra feather, which is a kind of extra honor.

And the three-feather copper crown on the gray-haired old man's badge proves that he belongs to the third tier of the Kingdom's nobility level, and is just an ordinary Earl who has made no achievements in his life except inheriting the title.

"Heh, with such a big tone, I thought you were some big shot, but it turns out you're just an Earl?"

In order to throw away this troublesome Duke title as soon as possible and avoid the investigation of the Cleanup Bureau, Li Ang simply let go and smiled contemptuously at the gray-haired old man.

Based on the plan of offending as many people as possible, preferably offending everyone, so that they would work hard to elect someone else as Duke, Li Ang endured the severe pain from his skin and stood up from the wheelchair, walking slowly to the gray-haired old man under the eyes of everyone, and raised his hand to poke the three-feather copper crown on his chest hard.

"Third-tier Earl, and only the most basic three feathers... so it turns out you're a small fry?"

Small fry? Me? Small fry?

After hearing Li Ang's "fair" evaluation of him, feeling the strange eyes of the nobles falling on him, the gray-haired old man, who was poked and staggered two steps, couldn't help but...

A rush of blood to his head, roaring with anger:

"You!!!"

"What about you? Am I wrong?"

Because he was worried that the attack intensity was not enough to get rid of this unlucky Duke title, Li Ang secretly switched badges, equipped the Bai Yin-level 【Elite Performer】, then crossed his arms and raised his head slightly, sneering with disdain:

"Three-feather third-tier Earl... Heh, don't you know how worthless the feathers given by the royal family are?"

"Faking to collect taxes, pretending to provide disaster relief, or even sending a big gift when the Princess was born, can all be issued a feather by the royal family. You are already so old, and there are only three hairs on your badge. If you are not a small fry, what are you?"

"I... I..."

"What about me? If I were you, I would have cut my throat long ago!"

With the help of the Bai Yin-level 【Elite Performer】, Li Ang's quite handsome face revealed heartfelt disgust and disdain that cut to the bone.

"Believe me, die early."

After reaching out and patting the gray-haired old man's loose old face, Li Ang leaned over and suggested sincerely:

"Looking at your energetic appearance, you can at least continue to waste food for twenty or thirty years. If you hanged yourself today, it is estimated that you could save the Kingdom a large sum of money, which is considered a little contribution."

"Think about it, if the royal family knew you made such a great contribution, and if they were happy, they rewarded you with a bird feather, then you wouldn't be a small fry anymore? Isn't doing this the best of both worlds?"

Nonsense! Absurd!! You deserve to die!!!

After suffering this mockery that exhausted all insults, the gray-haired old man, whose face turned purple, wanted to object, but saw Li Ang's eyes.

Two parts disgust, three parts disdain, and the remaining five parts were full of sincerity.

What this damn dog said was actually true! He really felt from the bottom of his heart that "small fry" nobles like him were really more valuable dead than alive!

"Gasp... gasp..."

After suffering a sincere blow from Li Ang's eyes, a stomach full of scolding and even extremely vicious curses were stuck in his throat, turning into blood pressure that instantly exceeded two hundred, and a sticky hot yellow phlegm that burned his heart, causing the gray-haired old man's eyes to roll back and his legs to kick, and he fell backward on the spot.

Holy shit?!

Didn't expect that after only two sentences, the old man was -1 on the spot. Even Li Ang was startled and instinctively took a step back.

"You all saw it! I only poked him twice with my finger, he fell down himself!"

"..."

Yes, we all saw it. You did only poke him twice with your finger, but you just stabbed him in the heart with your mouth at least a thousand times!

Most nobles want face, at least on the surface. Looking at the old man who was just scolding the other party, only to be stripped of his face and pointed at his nose and scolded, and then fainted on the spot after two sentences, the dozens of nobles in the ward were completely silent.

This new Lionheart Duke really has a bit of a reckless meaning. The gray-haired old man's lesson is there. If they go up to say something, and if they are also scolded by the other party in front of so many in-laws, then how can they live?

After waiting for a while, except for a few familiar nobles who called people to carry the old man out, the entire noble group kept silent very tacitly. Although no one stood up to scold Li Ang again, no one suggested changing to another successor, highlighting a direct default.

Anyway, this is the successor of the Laien family, not our family's. Even if he harms others, he won't harm me. As for the face of the nobility... Heh, compared to actual benefits, face is not worth a copper wheel!

If the successor Lionheart Duke was a shrewd and capable person, then everyone would have to oppose it. After all, the more Laien industry the new Duke can keep, the less they can divide. But now...

Looking at the new Duke who chose to offend the in-law families at a time when the Laien family needed support most, and could even be said to be acting recklessly in public, dozens of...

Nobles couldn't help but reveal satisfied expressions in their eyes.

Very good, this kind of reckless person who has no city, no brain, and is arrogant is the most suitable person to succeed the Lionheart Duke right now!

It's just that after a month or two, when everyone has divided up the Laien family's industry, his Duke position will also come to an end, right?

There are not many real-power figures among the mid-to-high-level members of the Laien family who can have a decisive influence on the succession of the title.

Except for the old Duke who "strongly supported" Li Ang, the rest were either killed or disabled by Bobby Laien, and then another batch was "crushed" by Li Ang. The remaining ones were just a few cats and kittens, and they were either long-standing in power or old and frail. The most influential people left were the "in-laws" in the ward.

Ignoring the strong opposition of the new Duke himself, the Laien family's in-laws didn't even spend five minutes deciding to follow the old Duke's last wish, making Li Ang, who was completely black-haired and black-eyed and didn't look "Laien" at all, the new boss of the more than 90,000 little golden hairs of the Laien family.

This is really... too absurd! It's just like a child's play!

From the mouth of the officer who pushed Li Ang into the ward, learning how the new Duke was chosen, the Minister of Defense felt both excited and annoyed.

What's exciting is that his daughter guaranteed him with her chest that Li Ang is definitely not the kind of person who would lean toward nobles. Rather than worrying that he would collude with the old nobles after becoming Duke, it's better to worry that he would directly flip the table, or even collude with rebels to have another blood night, and wipe out the Laien family's in-laws in one go.

If Isha's judgment is correct, the success of such a "non-noble" Duke is definitely a huge help for the Princess's reform. Being able to have "one of our own" in the Upper Academy, which is impenetrable, is equivalent to stabbing a knife into the heart of the old nobles.

As for why he is annoyed...

"Your Highness! These old nobles must be dealt with as soon as possible!"

Looking at the calm Princess behind the desk, the old man couldn't help but be full of anger:

"The Laien family's sphere of influence is in the Road Administration Department and the military, mainly in public facilities and arms procurement. And core power in two such important departments is firmly held by old nobles, and they can even transfer them privately without appointment! The candidates they elected, you can only stamp and agree! How can this work?"

"Hmm, I will, but not now."

The Princess behind the desk said calmly while flipping through the "new Duke's" file:

"These old nobles are rotten meat parasitic on the Kingdom and must be cut out, but if they are not cut out well, the wound will bleed endlessly."

"My father once drove three consecutive Ministers of Finance out of office and cleaned up many small and medium-sized families, trying to control the Kingdom's financial power himself, and then faced an extremely fierce counterattack."

"The result of their contention was that the Kingdom's finance stalled for half a year, and a deficit of nearly 600 billion was exposed one after another, almost dragging the whole thing down. The war six years ago didn't even have enough military expenses, and the deficit has been accumulated until today."

When she said this, she stopped, picked up a pen and marked something on Li Ang's file, then continued:

"So doing this kind of thing must not be rushed. If the price of cutting out the old nobles is to let this country stall temporarily, it will only cause greater disaster, so it must be done step by step."

"And the current situation is actually just right, especially our new Lionheart Duke... Hmm... Do you know what he once said?"

Looking at the place circled with a pen on the file, the Princess read in a calm voice:

"As for the royal family and nobles, they are a group of lice growing in the crotch. Once they suck blood until it hurts, they should be caught and pinched to death!"?!!!

Completely unaware of Li Ang's "rebel" identity, hearing the Princess's words, the Minister of Defense was shocked.

However, just as he wanted to say something, he saw the Princess's usually stable mouth corners curl up imperceptibly.

"Although the metaphor is a bit bad, what he said is not wrong."

Not angry because she was compared to lice in the crotch, the Princess closed Li Ang's file, opened the report on the succession situation, and smiled:

"Lionheart Duke... Hmm... Lice-heart Duke... Thinking about it carefully, it's really ironic."

"This Duke who regards nobles and the royal family as lice has now become one of the strongest lice in this country, with the ability to suck blood from the Kingdom. I want to see what he will do..."

"Oh, by the way, look at this."

After handing the report in her hand, the Princess, who usually frowned, laughed rarely, then pointed her finger at the record on the report and told with interest:

"The Earl who was scolded by him until he fainted on the spot actually put a cabbage in his bedroom, and then announced to the outside world that Li Ang Laien's Lionheart Duke would definitely rot faster than his cabbage!"

Cabbage... meaning at most two or three months?

After taking the report and looking at it, the Minister of Defense's brows furrowed, and he thought of the way his daughter's eyes shone when she mentioned Li Ang.

"Your Highness Veronica..."

The Minister of Defense sighed in his heart, then took the initiative to ask:

"Do you think how long he can hold this Duke position? After the Laien family is divided up, will he be liquidated?"

"Liquidation won't happen."

The Princess thought for a while and shook her head:

"Except for the Earl who was offended to death by him, other nobles won't care about an empty Duke. However, the Laien family may not necessarily live longer than that cabbage."

"After losing the clansmen in the military and Road Administration Department, the Laien family's influence in the military has completely bottomed out, and there is only one seat in the Upper Academy left in politics. In terms of business, it seems there is still something, but it is all supported by taking orders from the military and Road Administration Department."

"Military, political, and business, the Laien family doesn't occupy any of them now. What kind of person must it be to support this stall that is about to fall?"