I will be crowned king

The next morning, Anson, who had slept until he woke up naturally, was sitting by the window drinking coffee. On the table was a special dish of Hantu meatballs - beaten raw eggs mixed with bread crumbs, wrapped in beef balls cut into minced meat and seasonings and finally fried in butter until golden.

Although it is really delicious, Anson still doesn't understand why the Hantu people, whose menu is mainly fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood, like to eat such greasy things in the morning?

Having said that, breakfast in Clovis City is mainly based on simple coffee and dry bread, and the ingredients are often only boiled eggs, light mixed vegetable salads or mashed potatoes... so light that it doesn't look like a heavy-flavored Clovis person.

However, Anson has no research on food. In this regard, his views are basically the same as Lisa's - as long as it is edible and delicious enough, cultural symbols and historical background are all false, no matter how big the name is, it is not as good as The chef adds an extra handful of black pepper.

Insert a wooden skewer into the hot meatballs that have just come out of the pan. The golden hot oil is mixed with the fragrant gravy, dripping from the crack onto the disc.

Smelling the golden and crispy skin wrapped in gravy, and the aroma of butter and beef filling, Anson carefully lifted the wooden skewer for fear of slipping it, gently leaned forward, and opened his mouth little by little. It holds.

at this time……

"boom!"

With a loud noise, a familiar figure suddenly opened the door from the outside - the excited Leon Francois appeared in front of Anson without any warning.

"Dear cousin Anson, I'm back!"

Anson was startled, his whole body shook, and his jaw joints tightened suddenly. His upper and lower teeth faced the meatballs filled with hot oil and scalding juices, and he bit down hard...

Ten minutes later, little Leon, who was full of guilt, kept apologizing while reporting the good news he had just received to Anson, who was covering his mouth with a painful expression.

As expected, Claude François agreed.

According to young Leon, less than ten minutes after he handed the plan to his father, he directly agreed to the entire plan; since the entire project was completely funded by Thun, it was expected to invest 50,000 gold coins, plus mobilize 10,000 people The new troops are building a base for the Storm Division, which is expected to be fully operational within three months and fully completed within half a year.

In addition, I don’t know if his conscience suddenly discovered that this should be impossible - Claude Francois also hopes to sign a new military agreement in addition to the previous agreement.

This agreement stipulates that Anson Bach has the right to "recruit" no more than five thousand Thun recruits in the form of "mercenaries"; the François family is willing to pay all costs, including training, arming, and training within one year. Four-fifths of the expenses were paid, and the remaining one-fifth was also advanced by the François family, which would be delivered one year later.

Not only that, these five thousand soldiers are not even the upper limit of recruitment, but a quota; that is to say, if there are losses due to casualties and other reasons during the war, Anson can continue to recruit replacements from White Tower City to fill all the vacancies.

The obligation that Anson Bach, or the Storm Division, needs to bear is to conduct simple "Clovis-style" training for these five thousand soldiers and organize them into a qualified army, and to "completely deliver them" one year later To the François family”…that’s all.

Well, to put it bluntly, Claude Francois asked five thousand soldiers to provide their own food and accommodation and work for him for a year without having to worry about work-related injuries. No matter how many Francois families were missing, they would be able to take care of them. he added.

The only condition is that the five thousand "Clovis-style troops" who have fought in the war must be handed over to the Francois family in one year.

Anson Bach could expand his troops by an infantry division and transform from a division commander to a corps commander without paying a single coin!

Of course, this kind of thing is still risky - even if the Storm Division is just a levy regiment, it is an army completely subordinate to the Clovis Army, obeying the orders of the Privy Council and the royal family, and all officers have rosters and files.

Once the private recruitment of soldiers is exposed, it will be a huge stain on Anson's resume. It is possible that he will be stripped of his rank and all positions, assigned to the army, or directly kicked out of the army.

However, I don’t know whether the Archduke of Thun knew enough about the Clovis army, or someone mentioned this consideration to him - these five thousand soldiers were only nominally "allies" during the war against the Seven Cities Alliance. Just "temporarily join" Storm Division.

Anson, who signed the military agreement, is only temporarily serving as the commander-in-chief of the Thun-Clovis coalition... This explanation barely makes sense, and it is not without precedent.

"Then guess who is the direct commander of these five thousand Thun soldiers?"

Leon Francois smiled excitedly at Anson.

The answer is self-evident.

With the full support of Archduke Claude Francois, the "White Tower City Project", which received sufficient funds and manpower, was officially launched and put into vigorous construction.

Warehouses rose from the ground, and the existing roads were rebuilt and widened. The Brand family and the Ysel elves have been operating in White Tower City for hundreds of years. The various infrastructures themselves are already very complete. All the storm needs to do is to Make full use of these and rebuild the damaged and old parts... Otherwise, 50,000 gold coins will definitely not stop it.

The most expensive part of the entire project is to open up the road from White Tower City to Eagle Point City on the basis of the original road; as long as it is successfully completed, the supply line's operation speed can be shortened by at least one day - because there is no need to detour to Jinshi first City.

It can be said that without Anson's guarantee, Claude Francois would never dare to build this road; White Tower City is the southernmost territory of Thun. Once there is a road directly connected to Eagle Point City, it means Clovis' army can march forward and directly attack the hinterland of Thun, turning Jinshi City into an isolated city within two days.

In Anson's plan, White Tower City is not so much a military fortress, but closer to a large logistics center and supply depot. It is responsible for transshipment, storage, providing stable logistics for the frontline army, and a large warehouse that can provide troops with rest and replenishment at any time. rear.

At present, all the intelligence and information I have about the Seven Cities Alliance comes from simple information compiled by the little secretary, a map from the 88th year of the Saint's Calendar, and what Claude Francois told me.

To put it more bluntly, I have no idea about the real situation of the Seven Cities Alliance.

In this case, sending troops rashly is an act of seeking death - the risk in order to capture Eagle Point City was mainly because it was an order from the army, there was no room for bargaining, and the later it was taken, the more disadvantageous it would be for oneself and even the Southern Army.

Now that the biggest trouble has been solved, the entire Clovis focus is on Ludwig Franz who is heading east, basically ignoring himself and the Stormtroopers.

In other words, as long as Thun is still there and does not rebel and attack Eagle Point City, the Storm Division will have completed its mission.

Since there is no mission pressure, of course, the more prepared you are, the better - collecting intelligence, establishing a logistics organization, planning the next strategic deployment... this all takes time.

It happened that the August Arms Factory's first arms trade to Thun had been completed. According to the first phase of the agreement between Anson and Claude Francois, the Grand Duchy of Thun bought the first batch of 50,000 gold coins. Twenty thousand rifles, paid in full.

Even if Grand Duke Thun got a 10% discount, Ansen still made a net profit of 10,000 gold coins through purchasing, which was almost fifteen years of allowance and salary for him as an army colonel.

And these are pure profits with no cost and no risk. The arms business is indeed the most profitable industry in the world.

This is just a front-loading rifle. Will there be a breech-loading rifle with a faster rate of fire in the future? After buying the rifle, will it be equipped with an artillery? Do you want six-pounder field cannon and twelve-pounder infantry cannon, twenty-four-pounder cannon and howitzer, and forty-eight-pounder mortar? You can’t buy an artillery without equipping it with an ammunition cart and baggage cart, right? I bought a car and a war horse...well, this seems to be the flagship product of the empire...

But now that Thun has formed an alliance with Clovis, and coupled with the turmoil in the Seven Cities Alliance, even if you want to import war horses from the empire, it is impossible - you still have to use Clovis's trade route.

Claude Francois is obviously aware of the problem. If all weapons and equipment are imported, even with Thun's wealth, it will not be long before the gold-eating beast of war is completely eaten away.

The Francois family will owe a debt to the Luen family that cannot be repaid for many years. Clovis will definitely use this as a springboard to infiltrate Thun and even the Seven Cities Alliance.

Therefore, the construction plan of White Tower City even included a workshop for repairing weapons and a gunpowder factory, and a request was made to Erich, the representative of the August Military Factory, to introduce a production line.

Erich, who did not dare to reject the big customer directly, instead wrote to Anson to express his concerns - the Kingdom of Clovis could accept arms exports, but it had strict control over the production line.

Not only that, as the Church of Order, which "controls all truths", is also extremely sensitive to "technological diffusion", because this is also one of the ways the Church controls the entire world of Order.

In the forty-seventh year of the Saint's Calendar, after merging the Seeking Truth Sect—also known as the Ivory Sect—and relying on the legacy of Saint Isaac, the Seeking Truth Sect's ivory tower research institutes and church colleges, the Church of Order completely monopolized all cutting-edge research. And technology.

The most famous among them, and the one that has the greatest impact on Clovis and even the entire world of order, is the steam core manufacturing technology.

Therefore, usually if a certain diocese wants to obtain a technology, the most direct way is to apply and report to the church, otherwise it will easily be labeled as "apostasy" and "blasphemy" - no matter how small it is, no matter how serious it is. It is worth mentioning that you must apply, because this is the bottom line of the Church of Order.

However, Anson did not take it seriously. He wrote to comfort Mr. Erich and told him that he might as well agree if the price was determined; of course, Thun could not get it so easily.

The reason is also very simple - since Claude Francois dared to say this, it proves that he must have asked the local church in Thun for instructions and received the approval.

There is no need to worry in Clovis, the Luen family will definitely be able to get the permission certificate.

Moreover, a production line for muzzle-loading rifles was not complicated at all. If Claude Francois really wanted to get it, it would not be as difficult as it seemed. It would be the same no matter who he bought it from.

Finally, and the most important part, is a mere production line, which is really a drop in the bucket for Thun, who is about to unify Hantu. It can only relieve the pressure of his semi-handmade workshops.

If you think about it in a positive direction, the production line will also increase Thun's demand for high-quality raw materials; after all, if the materials of the barrel and bolt are not up to standard, the rifle will be a large firecracker - and it will earn him another amount of money for materials.

On the other hand, the Storm Division expressed their emotional stability and no objection to the sudden addition of the five thousand Thun army and their commander Leon Francois.

This is not only because the Storm Division does not have many troops, but the infantry division of the Seven Cities Alliance is indeed too thin, but more importantly, these soldiers are not included in the spoils distribution list.

Since this group of soldiers has nothing to do with him, and he can have one more cannon fodder to attract bullets on the battlefield, why not?

And just as Anson and the Storm Division methodically received the five thousand recruits led by Leon and built their own logistics base, they received the trophies of the Guards Corps, plus 20,000 rifles from the August Military Factory, and the Kremlin's strength was greatly enhanced. Lord Francois is also executing his plan in an orderly manner.

In order to prevent the Hantu kingdoms that were besieging Thun from noticing the movements of the White Tower City, 6,000 personal guards and 10,000 new soldiers led by Henares marched to the border to confront the troops that were invading Thun along the hills and rivers. Show the enemy weakness.

At the same time, the Grand Duke of Thun, who was full of sense of justice and patriotism, once again sent letters and invitations to all the rulers of the Seven Cities Alliance, proposing to hold a meeting in Golden Stone City to discuss how to deal with Clovis and the Empire and Iraq. The war between the elves of Thyr.

In his letter, Claude Francois first denounced the shameless villains who had betrayed their trust and invaded Thun, and vowed to seek justice.

Then he changed the topic and said that the current Seven Cities Alliance must put aside their hatred, unite as one, and re-establish an alliance in order to maintain their independence in the disputes between great powers.

"As long as the Seven Cities Alliance can unite again and the land returns to peace and prosperity, Thun can temporarily put aside his hatred and work with you to defend the land south of the Dawn Mountains, so that she can unite and unite and become the leader of all the land. A country where natives are proud and proud..."

So summed up the noble Archduke of Thun.

As expected, this letter was a piece of waste paper and was ignored by everyone - no ruler stepped forward to respond to the call, and the Seven Cities Alliance was completely in name only.

Claude Francois's goal was achieved.

"Tell my dear nephew Anson Bach to go south immediately and launch an attack - Thun will not take any of the spoils of this battle; I will just retaliate in kind and let them pay back double!"