I will be crowned king

As expected, the meeting ended in a very awkward atmosphere.

All the officers did not dare to say a word during the whole process, and even skipped the final show of hands vote; Carl Bain announced the adjournment of the meeting, and they left one after another and ran towards the barracks restaurant impatiently.

After watching the officers leave, the expressionless staff officer locked the door and sat directly next to Anson. He made a fist with his right hand and smashed the table with "Bang!"

The frightened Anson and Lisa woke up at the same time. In unison, they first observed their surroundings vigilantly, then cautiously turned back to look at the only living thing in the room besides the two of them - Carl Bain, and cautiously asked:

"……dinner time?"

"What are you doing?" Karl asked, holding his shoulders.

"What?"

Anson blinked his pure eyes, his face full of innocence: "I didn't do anything - by the way, Lisa can testify!"

The two turned to look at the same time. The half-awake girl yawned, her little head swayed up and down like a pendulum, her open mouth made a sound of "Hmm~hmm~", and a little crystal overflowed from the corners of her lips. .

Then "Plop!", his head fell on the table - and he fell asleep again.

Ten seconds later, Lisa's purring sound of "Puff~Puff~Puff~" sounded in the conference room.

"That's why I asked you - what are you doing?" Karl, who turned his head back again, lowered his voice and glared at Anson:

"Why didn't you say a word?"

"What did I say? Didn't you say everything you could?"

Anson, who also had a dumb voice, still looked innocent: "And everything you said is right!"

"Everything I said is right..." Karl almost lost his breath. He tried his best to resist the urge to roll his eyes and looked at Anson with a collapsed face:

"My deputy commander, I am trying to undermine you! Do you understand it?!"

Anson frowned: "I don't understand."

"Then what do I do, do you understand?!"

"Chief of Staff of the Storm Division." Anson thought for a while: "Also my adjutant."

"Yes, I am your adjutant and chief of staff; and now I am criticizing your plan in front of all the officers!"

"Have it?"

"Of course!" Karl stared:

"And the purpose of my doing this is to let them know that I am no longer just your adjutant, but also the chief of staff of the Storm Division."

"Oh~ So that's it." Anson suddenly realized:

"Then what have I lost?"

"You lost..." Karl was stunned for a moment, suddenly speechless.

Yeah, what does this guy have to lose?

Anson thought seriously for ten seconds: "A...not-so-perfect plan?"

Carl Bain: "..."

"My chief of staff, I'm not kidding you." Anson gradually faded away his awkward smile and stared into Karl's eyes:

"I asked you to be the chief of staff of the Storm Division... This is not a charity, nor a bribe, but I really think you have the level to take care of the lives of five thousand people."

"If you really think that this is the only way to make them understand that you are not my mouthpiece and to establish authority in front of these scumbags - just do it and don't ask me what I think, because I really don't care what is going on in their heads. "

Karl looked at him silently and pursed his lips.

"There is only one thing I care about..." Anson slowly raised his right hand and put his index finger on his temple:

"Stay alive, let as many people survive as possible, and then win this vast war."

Karl thought about it seriously, then frowned slightly:

"...Those are two things."

"Don't pick on the words, it's not important." Anson waved his hand at him a little impatiently:

"Anyway, you are the chief of staff of the Storm Division now, so do what the chief of staff should do - don't care what others think, let alone what I think; we are a levy corps, and we will disband after this battle. Who are you trying to please?”

"Disbanded?" Karl's eyes narrowed, staring meaningfully at Anson's expression:

"You put so much thought into it, even if you are willing to disobey the Archbishop's own son, but you want to pull out a force that only obeys you, just to disband it after winning the battle?"

"There is no way, the capital is too little."

Anson's face showed a helpless smile: "I am not Ludwig Franz, and I don't have that much money to contract an entire infantry division."

"What are your plans?"

"It depends on how much we can earn in Hantu - if we earn enough, then try to contract an infantry regiment to go to the Western Front battlefield; I am a colonel now, even if I join the regular army, I will still have to be the commander of the grenadier regiment or the infantry division As deputy division commander, there is still room for improvement.”

"Then what if the loss is terrible?"

"The Eastern Fortress, or the Northern Colony, the more remote the better." Anson spread his hands:

"I have military exploits on the Western Front but no oil and gas. A member of the Franz faction like me, who is not favored by the army, will probably only be able to do dirty work; if I don't have enough savings in my hand, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive for even half a year. Don’t go there.”

"In that case, it's better to run a little further and try your luck in the colonies."

"...Are you being too realistic?" Karl couldn't help but ask.

"Before you talk about your dreams, you must have savings and real estate in hand." Anson smiled:

"Otherwise it's easy to starve to death."

Karl snorted slightly, expressing disdain.

How could a guy who has a relationship with the eldest daughter of the Franz family and is called his "fiancé" by the dignified lady of the Rune family have the right to say such a thing - this should clearly be his own line!

"Then your plan..."

"You can change it however you want, and do it according to your ideas." Anson stood up from the chair and said decisively to Karl, who was still a little anxious:

"Come out with a plan that you think is prudent enough to ensure that the Storm Division will not be robbed of battle glory and scapegoated - you are the chief of staff, this is your job... Lisa!"

"Um?!"

The girl woke up suddenly and looked at Anson with big eyes full of expectation.

"Going to eat." Anson pointed behind her with a raised corner of his mouth:

"I heard there will be cherry cake and fresh orange juice tonight."

"Okay!"

The cheering girl hugged Borni and happily followed Anson out of the conference room.

In the empty room, only Carl Bain was left alone, staring blankly at the plan in his hand and the vast map of land behind him, and was responsible for leading the planning work of the Storm Division staff.

Although so far, the newly appointed Chief of Staff and his newly established staff department, even including all the technical staff and all the idle people, all the living people he can lead...

Well, just himself.

……………………

At the same time, Archduke Claude Francois and his vassals in Golden Stone City were also formulating Thun's own strategic plan.

Although Thun has completely fallen to Clovis, this does not mean that he has completely become a servant of the Storm Division or the Southern Army; it is necessary to ensure that everything goes smoothly for the alliance between the two parties, and to prepare for the worst-case scenario. .

At present, it seems that the elves of Yser are retreating steadily, and they are not far away from death no matter how they look at it; but who can ensure that the southern army that invades the hinterland of Yser will not encounter any surprises, and the Elf King makes a comeback against the wind and re-captures Eagle Point City ?

There is no need to capture Eagle Point City. Even if the two sides finally reach some compromise due to heavy casualties between each other and re-enter Thun into the sphere of influence of the Iser Elf Kingdom, it will be the end of the Francois family. disaster.

In order to avoid being betrayed, Claude Francois believed that it was necessary to increase his "support" for Clovis and at the same time deploy heavy troops on the Eagle Point Pass line.

Nominally it was to provide protection for the Southern Army's logistical supply line, but in reality it was to monitor Eagle Point City and ensure that Thun could take over the fortress at the most dangerous moment, forcing Clovis to face Yser's counterattack head-on.

Count Arkad, who was appointed at the critical moment - also the most trusted general of the Grand Duke of Thun and the brother of Henares, directly expanded the number of troops under his command from the original five thousand to fifteen thousand. A large number of rifles and artillery were captured from the Guards Corps. It was also dialed directly to him.

To the south of the Dawn Mountains, Claude Francois's strategic layout was extremely conservative.

After the Storm Division completely conquered the Principality of Paya, the surrounding small counts and some free cities took refuge in Thun and expressed their willingness to be loyal to the Francois family - on the condition that Archduke Claude Francois must conquer for them. Luo Wei's place to strive for more favorable surrender treatment.

The tragic situation of the Principality of Paya and the Lagar family has made the Storm Division's "free voluntary kidney and blood selling agreement" known as equality and mutual benefit famous.

Of course, Claude Francois would not refuse this. He took the initiative to assume the role of a middleman and assured the earls and mayors of the free cities that he would definitely fight for them in front of Clovis.

Three days later, these counts and mayors received replies from Anson Bach, expressing their agreement with the Archduke of Thun's request that no troops would be stationed in their territories. At the same time, the compensation was allowed to be repaid in installments, and it was allowed to be used if there was a real shortage of cash. Luxury goods mortgage.

Such a "favorable" condition made the restless monkeys overjoyed. They all hurriedly agreed and immediately sent 30% of the "down payment" to White Tower City to prevent Ansen from suddenly regretting it.

And Anson and Claude were also very happy - the Storm Division got the compensation, the François family got the territory, both sides got what they needed, and they were thanked by the leeks without spending a single soldier. It was perfect and harmonious.

But after this round of expansion, Thun suddenly stopped and was content to control the western territory of Hantu. There was absolutely no sign of expanding westward to continue to conquer and compete with Carindia and Mist for hegemony of Hantu. ; Its conservative attitude is even unbelievable to the lords who surrendered to the Francois family.

Of course, this is just an illusion.

Since the attack on the Principality of Paya, the entire Grand Duchy of Thun has begun an almost crazy military expansion plan-excluding the original 20,000 elites, the 5,000 soldiers mobilized to the Storm Division and the 15,000 soldiers stationed at Eagle Point Pass, Lord Francois conducted a fourth round of conscription in the country, expanding Thun's army to 60,000!

For Thun, this was a military and financial critical point; even if this number was maintained, the François family's finances would shift from surplus to loss.

Once he suffers any losses or continues to expand, he will be forced to borrow money or plunder enemies to barely make up for the shortfall.

Claude Francois personally cut off his last retreat; now he can only expand and conquer the entire land to prevent the Grand Duchy of Thun from being overwhelmed by legions that exceed its own strength.

But because of this, he did not intend to launch an offensive immediately, because Anson Bach would be more eager to open up the situation than he was - letting the greedy Clovis people be the vanguard, "expanding territory" for himself, and bringing Mist and All these hard bones of the Principality of Ayden have been chewed off.

The 60,000 Thun army will sound the final death knell for the Seven Cities Alliance, crushing the last resistance with unrivaled military power.

By then, from Eden in the west to Carindia in the south, the entire Hantu Peninsula and all the land south of the Dawn Mountains will become the possessions of the Francois family!

Therefore, after repeatedly confirming that Clovis had no claim to the territory of Hantu, Claude François was so generous to Anson, and did not bargain for a single copper penny lower in compensation and bills; at the same time, he continued to use various explicit or indirect means to He uses secret methods to urge "dear nephew" to start the war as soon as possible.

Of course, Anson knew this very well. The seemingly unrelated alliance between himself and the François family was, in the final analysis, a relationship of mutual use.

In fact, he was eager to start the war as soon as possible, otherwise the officers and soldiers of the Storm Division under his command would not be able to share the spoils, and the prestige and loyalty he had finally established would soon be exhausted.

That’s why there is a strategic plan that looks perfect but actually has serious problems - as a commander of a conscripted corps who relies on business profits to survive, the significance of drawing a pie is not much less than victory, and sometimes it is more important. .

Now the reparations from Thun's vassal countries are beginning to arrive one after another. Not surprisingly, most of them are various luxury goods and handicrafts, and some are even mortgaged with agricultural products... There is very little real cash.

Despite this, Anson accepted it all according to the order, loaded it all into the car under the arrangement of Carl Bain and the little clerk, affixed the seal of the Franz family, and packed it up for transportation to Clovis City.

And, a bonus letter:

"Dear Miss Sophia Franz:

May has passed, and the vast soil in June is already filled with birds singing and flowers fragrant, and the fields are filled with waves of wheat. I wonder what the weather is like in Clovis at this time. Is the weather better than in winter?

Your storm division has ended all the wars in the eastern part of the land, and has collected some souvenirs related to local customs and customs. I hope you and your friends will be satisfied.

Next, we will set off again to the Republic of Carindia, which is surrounded by waves and beaches. I heard that it is an extremely prosperous place. I hope to find more things that can arouse your interest... so stay tuned.

Your loyal friend, Anson Bach. "