The 593rd year of the Holy Light Calendar came soon. After the New Year's Eve, Claude either held a banquet at home to entertain the guests, or accepted invitations from others to go to the banquet. After half a month, he himself felt...
He had a little belly, so he made up his mind to train himself hard when he went to the military camp to train the new recruits. He didn't want to gain weight like Bokhar.
Regarding the cigarette business, Claude has completely entrusted it to Butler Alec. His wife, Kaifni, is already a countess. She cannot go out to deal with these things in public. She still needs to entertain guests at home, especially the women of powerful local people.
.Since the mother decided to find a good match for her younger brother, Blovik, ladies often came to visit with their daughters, nieces and so on, all dressed up in fancy clothes. As a result, the younger brother, Blovik, stayed at home until the third day of the new year.
Tian ran back to the military camp...
Therefore, Kaifani can only supervise the finances. Housekeeper Alec is actually responsible for buying land, building workshops, recruiting workers, etc. As his deputy, Sergeant Kester can only ensure that he
and the safety of the soon-to-be-established cigarette production workshop, even the idle old man Zach Karason was ordered around by Butler Yarik, and was sent to the direct jurisdiction of Arturas to purchase tobacco early.
Claude ran to the military camp of the Vibato Port Direct Territory and stayed there for less than three days when an emergency falcon message from the theater headquarters summoned him back to Lanhu City.
Why was it so urgent that it was not clearly stated in the Falcon's message? It took Claude five days to get back by boat and then on horseback, and then he learned an unbelievable news.
"What did you say? The eldest prince is dead? He was assassinated..."
The person who brought this news was Bock Al. He traveled around the colonies on the west coast for more than a month just to confirm the news, and did not bother to return to the territorial war zone to celebrate the New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain.
The news of Prince Hansback's death was brought to the mainland of Nubicia by some sailors on a smuggling ship. The strange thing is that no colonial newspaper can confirm the news. The death of Prince Hansback seems to have become a folklore
Everyone in the dock tavern was talking about the rumors and speculating on the cause of his death, but there was no official news to confirm or refute...
"...There are now seven versions of the cause of death of Prince Hansback. The only thing that can be determined is that the time and place of death are consistent. At 11 o'clock in the evening on September 24 last year, the newly occupied
Territory, the former Florik Seaport with the best facilities in the Principality of Modra, the palace of the city lord, and the temporary palace of the great prince.
The four more reliable versions all say that he was assassinated, but the characters and reasons for the assassination are different. The first version says that he robbed a beautiful folk woman to sleep with him, but was killed by the beautiful woman in his sleep.
Killed, the beauty disappeared immediately. The second version is that Prince Wedelek, our loyal king, sent a team of magicians to assassinate his brother and rival for the throne. This version is more convincing.
.
The third version is that because the eldest prince returned from White Deer City with a disastrous defeat, his generals felt that their future was bleak, so they assassinated the eldest prince while he was drunk and cut off his head in preparation for returning to the kingdom to ask for pardon.
The last version said that the rebels of the original Principality of Modra sent several girls whose parents were killed by the army of the Kingdom of Overas to work as maids in the palace of the city lord. When these maids saw that the eldest prince was drunk, they decided to
To avenge his parents and assassinate the eldest prince, this version is the most legendary..."
Bockal spread his hands: "The other three versions are more nonsense. They say that the eldest prince was seriously injured and died of his injuries after evacuating from White Deer City to Florik Harbor. This is impossible. It is said that the eldest prince, Hansback, was seriously injured.
On the day before his death, the prince took people out of the city to inspect the military camp, and delivered a speech in front of his men that we would make a comeback. How could he ride to the military camp if he was really seriously injured?
There are also two versions: the suicide theory and the accidental fire theory. The suicide theory is that the eldest prince was ashamed of his defeat, and he was depressed and drank to drown his sorrows. As a result, he got drunk and remembered his current predicament, so he cut his own arteries with a knife and bled.
He died. It was said that the eldest prince was drunk and playing with the revolver given to him by others. As a result, he accidentally pulled the trigger and it went off. He was shot through the forehead by a bullet and died. These two versions are even more different.
Maybe, there are many personal attendants around the eldest prince, and they will not let the eldest prince get drunk and play with knives and guns...
Because the brothers Prince Hansback and Prince Wiedereck fought for the throne, the Kingdom's Civil War broke out. Therefore, it has always attracted much attention from various countries. Newspapers and expert commentary articles about the Kingdom's Civil War usually appear in newspapers in the colonies on the west coast.
The latest news about Prince Hansback is that he defeated the three southwest counties in August last year and was forced to evacuate White Deer City to the newly occupied port of Florik. The ruins of White Deer City were destroyed by the Kingdom's Red Dragon Legion.
recover.
But the strange thing is that there was no news after Prince Hansback evacuated to the port of Florrick. The news of his death came next, but it was spread among the people, and there was no official newspaper report in the colony. I
I privately asked the heads of several newspapers, and they all said they were waiting for confirmed news, but the newly occupied territory is easy to get in and difficult to get out, so no news has been coming, and they don't know whether it is a rumor or a real fact."
Bockal has done his best. He brought back many newspapers from the colonies on the west coast this time. The newspapers about the civil war in the Kingdom of Overas and the news about Prince Hansback were all published in August last year.
Reports and comments about the prince leading his troops to evacuate White Deer City. Claude looked at the publication date of the newspaper. It was November last year, and the news happened three months ago. For the colonies of Nubisia continent,
It's quite normal. After all, they are two continents separated by a vast ocean of silence.
Claude picked up a newspaper and read the expert's comment on the eldest prince's evacuation from White Deer City to the new occupied territory. This comment said that the troops of both the eldest prince Hansback and Prince Wedelek surrounded the White Deer City.
Lucheng has been engaged in a tug-of-war for more than a year, and no one can hold on any longer.
So the eldest prince spent a month evacuating from White Deer City calmly, taking away all his troops and the families of his officers and soldiers. This was actually the result of Prince Wedelek's deliberate indulgence. Otherwise, the troops surrounding White Deer City would have been here.
If they launch an attack within a month, the eldest prince may have to retreat alone. This month has been calm, and the two sides have not even had a major conflict. This is very strange, as if they have reached a tacit understanding.
Experts believe in their comments that Prince Wedelek should have decided to amplify the prince's return to the three territories occupied by the Kingdom of Overas during the five-year war in the eastern region when he was unable to eliminate Prince Hansback and his troops.
The territory of a principality. After all, it is a newly occupied territory belonging to the kingdom. When the kingdom cannot directly govern it, it is much better to let Prince Hansback establish an independent country there than to other countries. Maybe wait.
In the future, in a few decades, the two sides can still negotiate to reunite as a kingdom...
"What do you think?" Claude raised his head and looked at the people in the conference room.
General Bolognik frowned: "I think this should be a rumor. Prince Hansbach cannot be assassinated so easily. This should be a rumor spread by a force that hates the prince, and the intention should be to bring peace to the prince."
The prince added to the chaos. If the eldest prince was really injured when he evacuated Bailu City, then he would have to go out with the injury to prove that he was still alive. In this way, his injuries would continue and he would not recover quickly.
....”
General Skerry shook his head: "No, I think it is certain that the eldest prince was assassinated. Even our King sent people to assassinate his eldest brother. This is the most likely thing to happen. Otherwise, it would not be among those rumors.
With such a clear indication of the time and place of the incident, it was obvious that the assassination that day alarmed everyone in the port. The movement was too big to cover up, so there were rumors that the eldest prince had been assassinated.
Florik Harbor is the largest and most well-equipped port city in the original Principality of Modra, so ships heading to the Nubisian continent like to dock there to rest or purchase supplies. I think it should be anchored there at night.
The sailors and crew members on the ship saw the assassination incident in the city lord's mansion or the commotion caused by it, so they returned to the mainland of Nubicia and started to show off the assassination incident after drinking a few glasses of ale in the dock tavern.
However, I agree with General Bolognik's view. The eldest prince cannot be assassinated so simply. If an assassination event does occur, then the eldest prince will be injured at most and not killed. This may be a rumor that has spread everywhere but has not been confirmed.
Because it became an official report, the Grand Prince's troops must have imposed martial law on the port of Florik to find the assassin and his accomplices, so the reporters from the newspapers were restricted in their scope of activities and the news could not be conveyed..."
General Skerry's guess was quite reasonable, but General Albert's words immediately changed everyone's view on the outcome of the assassination, or it could be said that it successfully deflected the story.
General Albert said: "I am not interested in whether Prince Hansback is alive or dead. He is not our loyal monarch anyway. Whether he is assassinated has little to do with us. What makes me wonder is that since August last year
The eldest prince and his troops have evacuated Bailu City, so the sea passage between the kingdom's mainland and our overseas territories should be considered unobstructed.
But why has it been five months since August to January of the new year, and no sea-going ship from the kingdom has arrived in the territorial war zone to tell us the news? I don’t believe that such a large kingdom can’t find an ocean-going sea-going ship.
, even if they are busy after the war, two or three months should be enough for them to clean up the battlefield. But so far, not a single sea ship has come. I really want to know if the kingdom has forgotten our overseas territorial war zones.
....."
Yes, everyone remembered what Albert said. The news was published in the newspapers, saying that the eldest prince led his troops to evacuate White Deer City in August last year, and the Red Dragon Army subsequently recaptured White Deer City. So why did the Kingdom arrive?
Even now, not a single sea-going ship has been sent to restore contact with the overseas territorial theater. Is there anything strange in this?
General Beach Kerin said quietly: "Obviously, the Kingdom does not want to bear the burden of our territorial war zone now, because the colonial war between us and the Hicks did not have a winner or a winner. If the Kingdom would send this
When people come here, they are likely to receive a lot of requests for military support from our war zone.
So they can only pretend that they have forgotten that there are overseas direct-administered territories. When the victory of the directly-administered territory war zone and the Hicks people is decided, with the final result, the kingdom will immediately send people to take over the power of the war zone. What they want is the direct-administered territory.
Instead of sending welfare subsidies to the direct jurisdiction, it may be better for us in the war zone not to have contact with the mainland of the kingdom than to have contact..."
These words were quite heart-wrenching. Claude glanced at General Buechlin in surprise. He didn't expect him to see so clearly.
When General Skerry came to visit Field Manor on the second day of the New Year, the two drank too much. They stayed in the study and had a private chat about the future of the theater and the personal futures of the five generals. General Skerry's view was more pessimistic.
He said that after the colonial war with the Kingdom of Hicks is over, reconnecting with the kingdom will mean a major reshuffle in the war zone. If Prince Hansback wins, perhaps the overseas territories can survive for a while.
After all, the direct-administered territories are loyal to Prince Wedelek, and they can use this reason to continue to fight against the eldest prince. Until the eldest prince shows real sincerity in negotiations and forgives everyone in the war zone for the crime of disrespect, then the overseas territories will return to the kingdom.
territory.
If Prince Wedelek wins, then the war zone will be miserable, because what is done in the directly controlled war zone is a treasonous act for the kingdom. Whether it is setting up an overseas people's livelihood bank, expanding the army or starting a military industry,
All of them violated the Kingdom's restrictions on the economic development and military strength of overseas territories directly under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom.
For the kingdom, the overseas territories are a collection of resources, a harvesting ground for wealth, and a dumping ground for goods. The kingdom has never regarded the overseas territories as the kingdom's mainland, so it does not want the overseas territories to have the strength to resist the kingdom's mainland.
....
Everything the direct-administered war zone is doing now runs counter to the original intention of the kingdom, but for the war zone, all these are choices made out of necessity. There is civil war in the kingdom and loss of contact. In fact, even if there is no civil war in the kingdom, it is impossible to send troops to the war zone.
Provide sufficient support and assistance in the territorial war zone.
In order to defeat the Kingdom of Hicks and maintain the territorial integrity of the Kingdom's overseas territories, the Direct Territory War Zone can only develop the colonial economy according to local conditions and obtain sufficient war funds and armaments to win this colonial war.
Even if the five giants in the war zone have preserved the integrity of the overseas territories and maintained the honor of the kingdom, after this colonial war is over, whether it is Prince Hansback or Prince Wedelek, no matter who ascends the throne, as long as the kingdom's mainland is restored.
After restoring control over overseas territories, the fate of the five generals in the war zone will be exile and idleness. Unless you rebel and seize a territory by yourself, this fate cannot be avoided.
Perhaps the only one among the five generals in the theater who would rebel is Claude. General Skerry's blunt words shocked Claude. Why do you think so? Claude asked unconvinced.
"It's very simple. First, you are the youngest and most energetic, and cannot bear the grievance. Second, you have the highest prestige in the army, whether it is the Thunder Legion or the Rock Legion, as well as the theater command, in military training and this colonial war.
Basically, you have the final say. The third point is the most important. You have always lacked awe of the Sterling royal family, so you will resist unfair treatment, while we will only accept the punishment of fate."
That's what General Skerry said at the time, and then he analyzed the remaining four generals, including himself. General Bolognik was a traditional and regular soldier. He received the traditional education of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, and maintained awe of the royal family.
, will obey any unreasonable and unfair orders issued by his superiors. Although his wife and children are here, his family still lives around the royal capital. His parents and brothers and sisters run a farm to make a living and are proud of him.
He cannot abandon his kin.
General Bechklin's relatives and family members had already moved to the territory directly under the Central Government, so he didn't have many worries. But he had always been on good terms with General Bolognik and followed General Bolognik's lead, so General Bolognik's choice was Bechklin.
The direction the general wants to take. Like General Bolognik, he will choose to accept the kingdom's treatment of him.
General Albert is also a traditional soldier. Unlike General Bolognik and General Buechlin, he will use words to vent his dissatisfaction. But he does not have the courage to take the initiative to resist, no matter how loudly he screams grievances.
There will be no actual actions. But if Claude takes the lead in resisting, maybe he will be the first to follow. What General Albert needs is a boss who can support him and a big leg that he can rely on.
As for General Skerry himself, he also bluntly said that he is not a leader. His only achievements are in the management of logistics and supplies. He has no military power and poses the least threat to the royal family. Perhaps if he strives for clemency, he will get a better one.
The result. If the eldest prince ascends the throne, he may want to let him go because of his old relationship. If Prince Wedelek comes to power, then needless to say, waiting for General Skree will definitely mean exile and idleness.
After Claude sobered up the next day, he vaguely recalled the private conversation between General Skerry and himself. He thought about it for two days. What did he mean by these words? But in the following days, he met General Skerry.
He behaved normally, so I took the words he said to be a drunken vent. Unexpectedly, I heard General Beach Green say such words today.
General Bolognik's face turned a little dark, and he probably understood the true meaning of General Buechlin's words. After sighing, he reprimanded: "We are now discussing whether the news of the assassination of the eldest prince is true.
Yes, where did you two go? The kingdom itself was in chaos due to the civil war. Didn't you read in the newspaper that White Deer City was in ruins? The evacuation of the royal capital by the eldest prince must have taken away all the ships.
There is no sea ship over there to notify us. I believe that in a few months we will be able to resume communication with the mainland of the kingdom..."
Claude shook his head. General Bolognik's words were considered unreasonable. He patted the table and said to the people present:
"If there are no ships on the mainland of the kingdom, then we will take the initiative to deliver the message. Don't there still be a few ocean-going warships from the Storm Fleet idle in the Port of Corpicius under the direct jurisdiction of Tiersim? Our theater does not have enough funds.
Provide those navies with the opportunity to restore the strength of the Storm Fleet. Now that Bailu City has been recaptured, we can just return those warships to the Kingdom.
Let these Storm Fleet warships return to become the kingdom's maritime force, and let our couriers send reports from the war zone to the royal capital. I hope they can give us certain military support in this colonial war...
.”
"Claude is right. Now that the sea route is open, we will take the initiative to return to the kingdom to contact the mainland. Anyway, the navy asked them to join our direct territorial theater to form a cruise fleet, but they were unwilling to let them dispatch warships to escort and patrol the offshore area.
If we are asked to pay for it, is it the Royal Navy or a mercenary armed fleet?
Now I am just using this excuse to tell them to go back to the kingdom, so as not to constantly ask our war zone to allocate funds for them to build warships and restore the organization of the Storm Fleet. I don’t even think about whether that is something that our war zone can intervene in..."