Dar'Khan Drasil is an old politician who has been struggling since the days of the Silver Moon Council, and he is also a figure promoted by the stubborn conservatives in Quel'Thalas who are gradually declining.
Of course, Darkan does not consider himself to be the representative of any force. He always represents only himself.
However, this does not prevent Darkan from taking advantage of the situation. After all, with his personal power, he cannot shake Kael'thas, who has already established a stable position.
After two rounds of purges in Anastria, the power of the old aristocracy suffered an unprecedented heavy blow, and the right to speak gradually fell into the hands of the still powerful Sun Chaser royal family.
Since the time of Dath'Remar's rule, the stubborn and conservative thinking that has been used for thousands of years has gradually been abandoned by the people in Quel'Thalas today.
Under Kael'thas's determined reforms, talents from various industries began to emerge among civilians who received equal education, gradually breaking the aristocratic family's monopoly on power at all levels in Quel'Thalas.
Because the reform period was still short, civilian officials were mainly concentrated in the middle and lower levels, and they were unable to have a sufficient impact on the top-level structure that was firmly controlled by the nobles.
But anyone with a discerning eye can see that with the deepening of reforms, it is only a matter of time before the best civilian talents enter the highest decision-making levels.
A country can never have only one voice, unless the ruler is an outright authoritarian who suppresses anyone below him from speaking out.
Obviously, Kael'thas, who has a softer personality, is not this kind of person and cannot do such a thing.
To this day, the declining old nobles still have not given up their struggle. They also want to recreate the "grand scene" of the Silver Moon Parliament, when noble members could dominate the sky with one hand and even compete with the royal family.
With the reorganization of the cabinet, the ministers promoted by Kael'thas were carefully selected.
Although Military Minister Lelessa comes from the Windrunner Duke family, in the eyes of those traditional aristocrats of Silvermoon City who have set their sights on the top, the Windrunner family that has long been rooted in the southern part of Eversong Forest is just a mud-legged family and cannot be considered a real family at all. powerful people.
Foreign Minister Calpurnia and Finance Minister Solanlian come from the Sunshadow and Morningstar families among the four noble families.
In the eyes of those old nobles with outdated thinking, as the leaders of all nobles, they should stand firmly with them.
However, the reality is very different from their imagination.
After the defense of Quel'Thalas, which repulsed the Horde, the four nobles who conspired to cooperate with the forest trolls suffered an internal purge.
The hard-liners against the royal family were completely cut off, and members of the royal party headed by Solanlian and Calpurnia took complete control of the family power.
Not only the cabinet, but also the Fire Wing Legion and the Flame Eagle Legion, which were both in power of the four major families, also completely fell in favor of the Sun Chaser Royal Family. These two legions were elite troops second only to the Sunfury Legion directly under the royal family.
There are also the Minister of Propaganda von Delor, the Minister of Education Bellovar Sarona, and the Minister of Health Eleanor Fontaine who were successively appointed by Kaelthas. They are also all die-hard members of the royal party.
Among the cabinet ministers with the highest authority, only Darkan, the prime minister, was specially thrown out by Kaeltha to appease the old aristocratic forces.
And anyone with some discernment can see that the power of Darkan, the Prime Minister, is also under Kael'thas' control.
This seemingly gentle Sun King basically uses Darkan as a high-level tool, and has been secretly cultivating suitable candidates to succeed him.
If one day Darkan does something that goes against the development and reform of the country, the Sun King can beat him to the end at any time.
Darkan himself also knows that the Backlight Blade, a secret intelligence agency directly affiliated with the royal family, has been closely monitoring his every move.
At least on the surface, Darkan has not...or dared not do anything that could easily cause Kael'thas to misunderstand. In recent years, he has been completing his part of the work honestly, serving as a lubricant to reconcile various issues in the cabinet. A complicated matter.
The influence of conservative forces has long been reduced to what it used to be. They are somewhat relieved to have a nominal prime minister.
In the past few years, they have not dared to jump out and cause trouble openly. They have been hiding in the dark and silently licking their wounds, waiting for the day when the opportunity to counterattack comes.
Except for Darkan, the rubber-stamp prime minister, the most powerful ministers in the cabinet are all die-hard supporters of Kael'thas.
If no unexpected circumstances occur, in the foreseeable hundreds or even thousands of years in the future, the power composition of the cabinet will not undergo earth-shaking changes, and there will still be a few people who hold the most core power.
Darkan is self-aware, and he is the one most likely to be "optimized".
The ambitious Darkan did not intend to accept his fate. By chance, he secretly contacted an external force, a powerful existence that could satisfy him to have eternal power.
No matter what Dar'Kan's future plans are, Sarlayan Deepshadow, a half-dragon-blooded duke who is deeply trusted by Kael'thas, is a big trouble that cannot be avoided.
Darkan watched with his own eyes as Sarlayan climbed from a mere collateral descendant of the Viscount family to his current status step by step, and it only took a staggering ten years.
Darkan knew what Sarlayan relied on.
The ability to do things without being able to fake things.
In the past 10 years, Sarlayan has brought too many changes to Quel'Thalas.
It was with his secret help that Kael'thas was able to escape from Dalaran with dignity, and after returning to Quel'Thalas, he naturally took over the throne from the elderly Anasterian.
Like this, there are many more changes that Sharlayan has made to Quel'Thalas.
Some of them can be clearly recognized by Darkan, while others are only slightly heard by him.
If Sarlayan hadn't had this ambition, he would have been the prime minister under Darkan.
Sarlayan's title was gradually improved with more and more meritorious deeds, and his influence in Quel'Thalas was also increasing, reaching the point where even Dar'Kan felt a lot of pressure.
If Kael'thas' right-hand man could not be removed first, no matter how ambitious Dar'kan was, he would not have enough confidence that he would finally succeed.
Although he still didn’t know whether what Sarlayan said about something going wrong in his training was true, Darkan hoped from the bottom of his heart that it was true. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to figure out how to bring down a dragon descendant with red dragon blood and amazing vitality. .
When Sarlayan arrived at the Sunstrider Court, Valeela, who was a senior cadre of the Backlight Blade and also needed to report on her duties, also lurked in a corner of the conference hall and watched coldly, without being noticed by anyone except Welles.
Valeela saw the complicated and unintelligible twinkling look in Darkan's eyes when he turned his back to Sarlayan, and a cold look gradually appeared in her eyes.
'Darkan Drathil...this guy seems to have murderous intentions towards Sarlay? '
After all the cabinet members had left, Verlais and Valeera emerged from stealth in the empty conference hall.
Noticing Valeera's cold eyes, Welles patted her shoulder with understanding.
"Don't worry, based on my understanding of that boy Sarlayan... I can't tell who is plotting who."
Valeera has been following Sarlayan and knows better than anyone else the truth behind his so-called "cultivation gone awry".
"Ha~"
A sneer appeared at the corner of Valeela's lips: "Perhaps it's time to retire this white-eyed wolf who will never be well-fed. Let's see how Sarlayan plans."
…
"So that's what happened..."
After learning from Sharlayan the true story of his injury and the series of turmoil in the Emerald Dream, Kael'thas nodded thoughtfully.
"Varossan, I read about his deeds from the notes of our ancestor Dath'Remar. It is said that he is an insidious and cruel loyal dog of Azshara. I didn't expect... that he would also betray Azshara like Xavius. Ra took refuge with Enzos."
Sharlayan was not surprised by this: "In the eyes of many people, Azshara herself is also loyal to En'zoth. As Azshara's subordinates, Xavius and Varothen turned to En'zoth. Something wrong."
"But in fact, Azshara and the Ancient God are just using each other, and there is no clear affiliation. They are more like equal allies."
"Since En'Zos made a small move first and was unkind, a person like Azshara who never suffers will naturally not give in. Secretly summoning me to Nazjatar for an audience is a clear signal."
"She wants to choose her side again."
Kael'thas took the words seriously and said: "In this case, Varoson, who is still loyal to Enzos, will be particularly annoying to her. Do you want to kill someone with a borrowed knife?"
Sarlayan nodded: "We have this preliminary plan, but the specific plan has not yet been completed."
"Furthermore, the 'surprise' I have prepared for Varosen is not just Azshara's anger. There are quite a few people who want to kill him personally."
For the ordinary people of Quel'Thalas, and even officials who do not reach a certain level, the demigod-level things happening far away in Kalimdor are not their turn to worry about.
But standing at Kael'thas' current height, he must have an overall view of Azeroth.
When he is unable to go out at will, Sarlayan, who often travels north and south to contact various ethnic groups, is his eyes to observe the world.
Darkan's guess was correct. If Sarlayan didn't like to squat in one place and deal with official duties in the same way, Kael'thas would have given him the position of Prime Minister.
On the way back, Sarlayan learned more or less about many matters before and after the alliance was re-established through the channels of the Backlight Blade.
However, the information relayed by multiple hands is not as clear as the parties involved.
Through Kael'thas's personal account, Sarlayan learned more details about the Alliance Reconstruction Conference.
"Sure enough, Prince Liam was behind Gilneas's change of attitude..."
