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Chapter 278 The Lobbyist

Fortunately, the Kingsley family's food shortage is not a matter of one day or two. They have always had a strong sense of worry in this regard, so all the lords and nobles have the good habit of stocking food, especially after realizing the changes in the Swamp of Despair, Archduke Buck

He also tried to eat as much food as possible.

Even if you can't buy a grain of food from now on, it won't be a problem to support it for two or three years. After all, the Carter military leader itself still produces something, but the consumption is greater than the supply.

The only good news is that the Black family of Huayu Plateau did not raise prices on the ground. It is still the old rule. You can have as much food as you want, but you can find a way to transport it out by yourself.

It is not difficult to guess the thoughts of the Black family. The unique geographical environment is both a natural danger and a prison for them.

The biggest pursuit of the Kingsley family is to obtain a grain-producing land.

The Black family's pursuit is to transport their food out and convert it into actual value and political influence for the Byron Alliance.

The goals of both parties not only do not conflict with each other, but even complement each other, so they naturally hit it off.

However, the road is still the same and will not change according to their wishes. Transportation is still a big problem.

Fortunately, they found another transportation route.

Flower Language Plateau, Carter Army Leader and Despair Swamp form a triangle.

The border between the Huayu Plateau and the Carter Army is directly blocked by the rolling mountains of the Huayu Plateau, making it very difficult for even people to pass through, let alone transporting large amounts of food.

The only channel that can transport large amounts of grain is in the southeast direction of the Huayu Plateau. After coming down from the plateau, walk along the Despair Swamp for a while before turning into the Carter Army Territory.

Now that most of the west of the Donau River in the Despair Swamp is in their hands, including this food transportation line, they can directly mobilize the army to go to the mountain pass of the Huayu Plateau to get food. This will save nearly half of the distance and reduce food loss.

.

Archduke Buck just received the news not long ago that the first batch of grain has been successfully handed over. Although the quantity is not large, it is a good start.

It won't be long before it's not just as simple as a steady stream of low-priced grain being delivered to the Kingsley family.

At the same time, it also broke the Kingsley family's previous grain monopoly in the Asia Minor plains. There was no way to ask for prices as high as before. Without the Kingsley family eating in large quantities, the grain in their hands would just wait to rot in their hands.

When supply and demand reverse at that time, it will not be them exchanging gold for food, but the greedy lords and nobles begging the Kingsley family to buy food.

"A bunch of greedy people." Archduke Buck slammed a letter to the ground.

"What is it that makes His Majesty so angry?" Grand Bachelor Qian Ning, the chief adviser of the Kingsley family, asked.

"Who else, those damn pirates, they clearly agreed on the price and paid the deposit, but now they wrote to me to tell me that the raw materials for shipbuilding are scarce and the price needs to be increased by 30% from the original price. This is obviously raising the price.

They have become pirates and don't even have the most basic dignity." It's okay not to mention it, but when it comes to it, Archduke Buck's anger comes out.

If you want to take down the Swamp of Despair, ships are absolutely necessary.

Before Archmathera's army marched into the Swamp of Despair, Archduke Buck had already begun preparations.

When it comes to shipbuilding in the world, it belongs to the Conclave of Witches and the exiled family Commons who own the Twin Peninsula.

The former is because of the unique geography. Boats are easier to use than horses, so it is natural to vigorously develop boats.

The latter, because of the Miracle Peninsula where it started, was isolated and was attacked by an army led by the white tiger Chagan Bage of the Odin Empire. It became the trigger for the division of the Odin Empire. Now it is under the control of the flourishing Theodin Empire.

, after being exiled at sea, he had to vigorously develop shipbuilding.

When he first chose to buy a ship, Archduke Buck hesitated for a long time between the two.

The Conclave of Witches is notoriously difficult to deal with. They are a group of beautiful snakes. Once you get involved with them, it is difficult to get rid of them.

Archduke Buck was not worried about the further deterioration of the relationship with the Holy See of Saint Ether. Anyway, the relationship between the two parties had never been good.

After all, their military leaders practice out-and-out slavery, and they don't like the idea promoted by the Holy Ether Church that all living beings are equal before the gods. This dangerous idea will make those mining slaves more difficult to manage.

The Witches' Conclave's brainwashing in this aspect is no worse than that of the Holy Ether Church.

Grand Duke Buck did not want an uncontrollable force to arise in his territory.

The reputation of the Commons family has been deteriorating in recent years. Perhaps because they have been in exile for too long, they have a kind of insecurity in their bones. They are eager for quick success, tearing up agreements, and turning their backs on things.

Archduke Buck hesitated for a while, and finally chose the Commons family. The advantage of being mercenary is that as long as you give enough money, you can buy anything you want from them, and the Kingsley family is the best.

What is not lacking is money.

The initial contact with the Commons family was smooth. Not to mention the matter of purchasing a ship, even the matter of purchasing a shipbuilder was agreed to without hesitation.

But when the transaction officially started, Duke Buck gradually discovered that this was not the case.

Not to mention that the Commons family took money from the Kingsley family for various reasons, and the construction period was delayed again and again. More than half a year had passed, and Archduke Buck had not seen a sampan.

In response to Archduke Buck's urging, the Commons family was extremely perfunctory. This time he sent a tough messenger. If they did not hand over the first batch of ships as soon as possible, the Kingsley family would withdraw their deposit.

As a result, the Commons family's robbers were shown to be unintentional. Not only were they not prepared to return the Kingsley family's payment, they also raised the price. No wonder Buck slapped the table in an arrogant manner. The initial deposit was small, which delayed the Kingsley family's overall plan.

It's big.

"I'm afraid what the other party wants is not more gold coins." Academician Qian Ning said meaningfully.

"Don't you want more gold coins?" Grand Duke Buck's heart skipped a beat, and he felt an ominous premonition.

"It has been more than a hundred years since the Commons family lost the Miracle Peninsula, but in terms of wealth, the coastal trade that has been shared equally with the Witches' Conclave on the west coast for so many years is not much better than our Kingsley. What they really desire is a new territory, which can

A territory for their family to re-establish." Academician Qian Ning did not show off, and put forward his guess straightforwardly, "They are planning to use this to blackmail us, and want to get a share of the Despair Swamp..."

Before Academician Qian Ning could finish speaking, Archduke Buck smashed the crystal wine glass he had just received into pieces and roared angrily: "Wishful thinking, even they want to get involved in the swamp of despair!"

However, Archduke Buck knew very well that there was nothing wrong with Archmaester Channing's speculation, but he had ignored the real interests of the Commons family. Their demands for a new territory were no more important than the Kingsley family's demands for a grain-producing land.

Small.

But looking at the entire Ashan, unless the Byron Alliance reshuffles its forces, the Commons family has no chance at all.

However, under the pressure of the common enemy, the Odin Orcs, the Byron Alliance has been experiencing constant small riots over the years, but no major riots.

There are no eggs left under the overturned nest.

All the grand duke families understand this truth.

Once there is serious internal turmoil among them and the Odin orcs are given the opportunity to move south in large numbers, the entire human race will become their flock.

Once involved in the Swamp of Despair, Archduke Buck always loses control of his emotions easily, perhaps because he cares too much about this place.

Although I have realized this a long time ago and am trying to control it, when things come to a head, I will always be unable to hold it back.

Taking a deep breath to calm down his mood, Grand Duke Buck said with a cold face: "It is absolutely impossible for those bandits to get a share of the pie. It seems that they can't be counted on. Try to find a way to contact them."

Let’s see what price they offer for the secret meeting of witches. But for this kind of thing, you can’t rely on outsiders, you have to rely on yourself. We have our own shipyard, how are the preparations going?”

Bachelor Qian Ning's eyebrows knitted together and he sighed: "Every industry, no matter how noble or humble, has its own strengths. We really don't have much research on shipbuilding. There are quite a few carpenters gathered in the territory, but we know how to do it."

There are less than a hundred shipbuilders. Most of them used to build small fishing boats. Real shipbuilders cannot be bought even if they have money. They are all controlled by those big families. Although the Commons family had previously agreed to hire shipbuilders.

For us, we haven’t seen a single person so far.”

"Furthermore, among our military leaders, there are very few tall and strong trees suitable for building large ships. Therefore, shipyards have opened up, but most of them are fishing boats."

Now the Carter Army is leading the same route as the Yongye Army, wanting to poach craftsmen from other families and start their own shipyard.

It's a pity that they were just last minute. The Commons family and the Witches' Conclave were well prepared and guarded tightly, giving them no chance to poach people.

If you start from scratch, you can imagine the amount of manpower and material resources spent, but the results will not be ideal.

"It's better than nothing." Grand Duke Buck didn't know the difficulty and comforted himself, "According to the news from Akmesser, the warships of the Crocodile tribe are not big, so they are not at a disadvantage. What's more,

We want warships mainly as means of transportation, and infantry warfare is what we are best at. Is it possible that we should give up what we are best at and compete with them in water warfare?"

'I'm just afraid that I won't be able to help myself when the time comes!'

Grand Scholar Qian Ning muttered something in his heart, but did not say it out loud. It is not that Grand Duke Buck did not understand this truth, but there was no better way at the moment, and it would only cause trouble if he said it. He comforted: "Let's take a multi-pronged approach, Common Man

We still have to fight for what the Si family can fight for. Are they really prepared to give up some face? With the witch secret society, if we can contact them, we will try our best to see if we can gain anything. Our own shipyard,

We will also step up the expansion of production and strive to make further progress."

"That's all we have to do, then Archmaester Lao will make the plan." Archduke Buck said helplessly.

"By the way, there is one more thing that requires your Majesty to reconsider." Academician Qian Ning hesitated and said.

"What is it that makes the Grand Master so embarrassed?" Archduke Buck asked doubtfully.

Academician Qian Ning is an old man who has been loyal to the Kingsley family for many years. This is the first time he has seen the other party showing such an embarrassed expression.

"The matter of Viscount Philip's envoy." Bachelor Qian Ning said truthfully,

"That guy didn't give up and went to the Grand Master to find a way out?" Archduke Buck's brows jumped, and a trace of displeasure flashed across his face.

A week ago, the envoy of Viscount Philip had repeatedly asked for an audience, but was turned away by Archduke Buck.

Grand Duke Buck is also an old fox who has been practicing for many years. He can use his knees to figure out what the opponent's purpose is.

It was simply that the military leader Manyu was in a deadlock, and Viscount Philip wanted to find foreign aid to break the situation.

As their neighbor, Commander Manyu, even if it was not the focus of their strategy, Grand Duke Buck still knew a thing or two about the situation there.

Especially the four-party talks convened by the Princess Regent are the biggest joke of the Byron Alliance now.

Let’s see who is in this so-called Four-Party Talks.

A viscount who led the Manyu Army to be the first heir, but did not take the position of succession.

One was a wild countess who was canonized by the wild archduke who had an improper position and did not even hold a canonization ceremony.

A wild force in a remote mountainous area. Before this, many people had never even heard of their name. It was said that they were also conferred as guardian knights and kingdom barons by the regent princess. After the news was returned to the royal capital of Valesta,

, caused a minor disturbance.

The regent princess Sophilia spent a lot of effort to suppress it, but she still got a small handle in the hands of those royal family veterans. The reason why those cunning old foxes did not attack was because of this handle.

It is not enough to shake the status of the Princess Regent. Once the time is right, this will become a weapon for them to criticize the Princess Regent.

Anyway, the princess regent went back more and more, which really brought shame on the royal family.

What's even more ridiculous is that the four-party meeting ended up being nothing, and Viscount Philippe became a rat in the middle, suffering from both sides.

Eighty percent of the time, the agreement was not reached and Viscount Philip became the victim of the other three parties.

Viscount Philip's situation can be said to be extremely bad. If he wants to break the situation, he must rely on external forces, but looking around, there are really not many people who can help him.

The Holy Ether Church and the Conclave of Witches, who like to cause trouble in other people's territory, have already taken sides, and have already broken up with the regent princess Sophilia.

The Strachey family of Broken Mouth Blood Castle is even more impossible.

Let’s not talk about their centuries-old tradition of not participating in the power struggle of other ducal families in the Byron Alliance. Let’s just talk about their political stance. They have always been in the same trousers with the Lancelot royal family, especially with the regent princess.

Not to mention the relationship, the current ruler of the Strachey family is her grandfather.

The only person who might become Viscount Philip's foreign aid is the contemporary ruler of the Kingsley family, Archduke Barker.

If there was no such big cake as the Swamp of Despair, Archduke Buck would be happy to get involved. After all, the current leader of the Manyu Army is no longer the former leader of the Manyu Army.

With the injection of the Jacob River, the climate here is gradually becoming more suitable for farming. The large amount of desert Gobi is gradually returning to fertile land. It is completely expected that the place will become fertile again.

If I could support an agent here, it would definitely be what the Kingsley family had dreamed of before.

But the problem is that they now have better choices. Compared to the Manyu military leader who is like a rotten swamp, there are fewer competitors in the Swamp of Despair.

Therefore, when the waiter of Viscount Philip came to the door, Archduke Buck simply came and closed the door.

The attitude he expressed was obvious enough, but the other party kept stalking him and went to his chief adviser's door to plead for mercy, which naturally made him a little unhappy.

Not only because of the envoy's ignorance of advancement and retreat, but also because Grand Scholar Qian Ning actually chose to intercede for the other party. How much benefit did he get from the other party? Did he take him as an archduke seriously?

"Your Majesty, please calm down. If the other party is only interested in Viscount Philip's affairs, I will never nod to intercede." Academician Qian Ning has followed Archduke Buck for many years. How come he doesn't know the other party's nature? Before the other party completely gets angry, he quickly said, "But

He also brought news about the Swamp of Despair, but you have to take it seriously, otherwise we will suffer a heavy loss and we won’t even know how to survive.”


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