I will be crowned king

"Conspiracy, this is definitely a conspiracy!"

In the map room of the military camp, Karl slapped the table hard, pointed at the map and said loudly to everyone:

"Based on the information we have obtained, Carindia's troops have already assembled close to 20,000 troops right now - not counting those rotten allies, the total strength is at least 30,000!"

"According to the previous sand table deduction, even if they don't fight us to the death, they can at least delay us at the border for more than two months. Why did they surrender so decisively? There must be a fraud here!"

"I think everyone here should be very clear about this."

Fabian came forward with two cups of hot coffee and handed one to the chief of staff:

"The key to the problem is what the other party's true intention is; and you can't deny that the Carindia envoy's proposal is indeed very tempting - I discussed it with many officers after the meeting, and they all hope that the Deputy The commander can accept the other party’s proposal.”

"Poisonous mushrooms are also very tempting. If you eat them, you will die."

Karl rolled his eyes and took a sip from the coffee cup. After calming down a little, he turned his attention to Leon Francois on the other side of the map table:

"I remember that the relationship between Thun and Carindia has always been very good. The François family has close relations with several families mainly engaged in wine and coffee trade; your father, Claude François, has there been any news recently? What information did you receive?”

Facing the hopeful looks from everyone, little Leon, who was silent for a moment, could only shake his head in embarrassment - even though he really wanted to say something:

"After the rebellion in White Tower City, the François family began to gradually cut off contact with the outside world. The various countries in the land that began to realize that the war was approaching sealed their borders and strictly controlled caravans and travelers."

"No, but maybe my father has other special channels for information, or private correspondence." Sensing that everyone was starting to show disappointment, the panicked little Leon quickly added:

"I'll write to him and ask him. Maybe I can find some valuable clues for Carindia negotiations!"

"Well...please then."

Carl Bain nodded and said no more, trying not to show too much disappointment and make the other party feel guilty - although little Leon already looked very guilty.

Even if you don't have any hope at all, you still have to give it a try... maybe it will happen.

"I, I'm not sure what the consequences will be if Carindia surrenders, but..." The little clerk in the corner of the map table slowly raised his right hand and said cautiously:

"But if we can really solve the problem without bloodshed, we can avoid besieging the city and letting the war spread to the Hantu Cathedral in Carindia Port."

Carl Bain was stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect this level: "Is this important?"

"It's very important. It's not an exaggeration to call it the lifeline of the Storm Division's logistics department." The little secretary nodded with a straight face:

"Usually when the Clovis Kingdom's levies go out to fight, their logistics are tied to a regular army or a powerful contractor's supply line - for example, all our logistics problems were entrusted to the logistics department of the Southern Army."

"But after the Storm Division moved south, especially after establishing a base in White Tower City, the connection between the two sides has been very weak, and a lot of work has to be maintained by our own newly formed logistics department."

"But with the current Storm Division's weak administrative processing capabilities, storage and transportation alone, plus coordination work, are already at their limit. Any more will be overloaded and cannot handle large sums such as the collection of compensation from vassal countries. cash flow business.”

"Therefore, there is a great need for a strong bank to handle these tasks for the Storm Division - compensation transfers from vassal states, large-scale loot mortgages and cash replacements, temporary loans, cash and valuables custody..."

The little clerk's expression was very serious: "If you want to find a big bank that can handle all these problems for you, is strong and strictly neutral, and will not betray its customers, the only one is Hantu Cathedral!"

"Usually, if turmoil or war breaks out in the location of a church, in order to show that the church strictly adheres to neutrality and does not interfere in secular affairs, the church will be closed - naturally, banking business will also be suspended at the same time."

"Does it have to be Hantu Cathedral?" Fabian put down his coffee cup and asked after careful consideration:

"Normally, as long as it's in the same parish, you can choose any church, right?"

"This is true when the quota is not high." The little secretary explained seriously:

"But except for the cathedral in the core of each diocese, the cash handled by other churches every day has an upper limit. Judging from the amount of compensation currently collected by the Storm Division and involved in the arms trade, unless the other party is required to directly take out so much gold, there is Otherwise, few churches can afford such a huge cash flow business within the White Tower City treasury.”

The little clerk with a somewhat worried expression turned his head and looked at Anson, who had always been silent: "Of course, this is just your loyal clerk, and it is just a little immature suggestion - there is absolutely no objection that there is too much work and you want to refuse. Meaning! Absolutely not!"

"I know."

Looking at the nervous, scared and guilty little clerk, Anson, with a soft expression, chuckled and waved his hand at him: "You have tried your best, and you blame me for leaving such a heavy burden on you alone."

"No, no, no... I, I'm happy to have so much work to do! I'm not going to lie to you, I really don't have any..."

"alright."

Raising his hand to interrupt the little clerk's excuse, Anson turned his attention to the rest of the people. All the eyes at the map table were directed at him - except for Lisa who was already asleep.

Lisa, who was holding Borni in her arms, put her hands around her calves and sat curled up on the chair with her little head tucked into her thin chest. Her angelic face showed a faint smile of happiness, her shoulders undulated slightly, and she said "Puff~Puff~" purring sound.

Speaking of which, Lisa's sleeping time has really been getting longer and longer recently. From being able to endure it all day and night in Clovis City, to later being able to sleep soundly while listening to the sound of cannons in the trenches on the battlefield. , and sometimes even fall asleep unknowingly while eating.

Regarding this, everyone in the Storm Division expressed that they were emotionally stable and everything was normal; compared to the girl's terrifying individual combat effectiveness, her gluttony and love of sleeping made them feel that the deputy commander's sister was more like a normal "human being". Not some kind of monster.

Well, it’s normal for children to be sleepy as they grow older.

"I have a question."

Anson crossed his fingers and looked at Karl with his thumb on his chin: "If...I mean if, there is really a conspiracy behind Carindia's surrender, then what are they most afraid of now?"

afraid of what?

Karl frowned, subconsciously took out a cigarette from his pocket and held it in his mouth, but after seeing Lisa and the little secretary, he silently put the matchbox back into his pocket.

"Maybe... afraid of being exposed by us?" Little Leon speculated:

"If we guess their conspiracy, then all their preparations will be useless."

Fabian shook his head: "I'm afraid not - they are just sending people to negotiate with us now. If they succeed, they will only reach an intention; even if both parties regret it in the end, they will not lose anything."

"I think what the Republic of Carindia is afraid of is precisely that we don't care about their thoughts at all and insist on occupying the entire Carindia city by city." Fabian said solemnly:

"Unlike Thun, Carindia is a republic, and the foundation of their rule is unstable and divided - also facing the enemy's siege, Archduke Claude Francois does not care about the gains and losses of one city or one place. "As long as Jinshi City is still there, it doesn't matter if we lose some insignificant territory to the enemy when necessary."

"Not an inch of the land in Thun is redundant!" Little Leon protested in a low voice.

"But not Carindia." Fabian raised his finger and pointed at the map:

"Because the ruler is not one person but a group of people, the loss of any family will cause internal divisions in Carindia; not to mention that if we really attack cities one by one, it will be equivalent to taking three-quarters of the The Carinthian nobles have been uprooted!”

"So if I'm not wrong, the Carindia envoy is probably related to the local powerful people in the Republic; they are afraid that this will upset the balance of Carindia; so they would rather surrender to us than let themselves lose power. .”

"Is it just local tyrants?" Carl Bain asked, glancing at the secretary who was sipping coffee:

"Alan just said that once the war breaks out, the church will close all the business of the local church - I am not very familiar with banks, but compared to the Storm Division, this will probably have a greater impact on Carindia. ?”

"really!"

Fabian's eyes showed a little surprise, and he suddenly looked back at the little clerk: "Do you have any information on this?!"

"There are no details yet." The young secretary who was suddenly asked looked slightly nervous:

"But the main bank for various trades in Carindia is indeed the Church - including the seafood, wine and coffee trade jointly operated with the Francois family, all of which are the most profitable trade projects in the Seven Cities Alliance. "

"That makes sense!"

Fabian and Karl looked at each other: "Once the war breaks out, the impact on Carindia will probably be fatal!"

"So they are more afraid of the impact of war than we are, because Carindia is a commercial republic and trade is their lifeblood." Karl nodded:

"Once we become a vassal state, we have the obligation to protect them from aggression - Carindia is planning to spend money to buy peace."

"This is not a conspiracy." Little Leon couldn't help but said:

"At most, he is too cowardly and doesn't even have the courage to defend his dignity!"

"Yes, and all the above are just our unfounded speculations." Fabian smiled and shrugged:

"Who knows? Maybe the governor of Carindia actually designed a huge conspiracy, or... they sincerely want to join the Kingdom of Clovis, but we thought too badly of them."

"Since you are not sure, take the initiative to ask."

Anson looked around in front of the map table, his eyes scanning everyone's faces:

"Look how sincere Carindia is!"

……………………

"what did you say?"

The Kalindia envoy was stunned and looked at Anson across the table in astonishment: "Don't agree?!"

"It's not that I disagree."

Anson said kindly, raising his hand to signal the little clerk on the side to pour him a cup of coffee: "But after careful consideration, we feel that this agreement is too harsh and disrespectful to Carindia!"

"No, there is no disrespect, this is all of our own free will!" The Carindia envoy waved his hands repeatedly:

"We are more than willing to surrender to Clovis, indeed!"

"I know, but that's the problem."

Anson pointed at the agreement on the table seriously: "Carindia surrendered to Clovis - but the meaning of surrender should be that one party was defeated by the other party...or captured, etc., right? Bar?"

"Uh...right." The messenger nodded lightly subconsciously, but then suddenly realized and regretted:

"No, no, no...I didn't mean that! I meant..."

"You made your meaning very clear!" Anson pressed his shoulder with a "pop!":

"The Republic of Carindia should not surrender - because you have not been defeated by us. To be more precise, our army has not even entered your territory, so how can we surrender?"

The messenger glanced at the right hand on his shoulder and carefully twitched his throat: "What do you mean..."

"I think Carindia deserves a better agreement." Anson said with great sincerity: "More importantly, the Storm Division has no right to reach any agreement on behalf of the Clovis Privy Council. This is not within my scope of authority."

"So you should immediately set off for the city of Clovis and submit a diplomatic application to the Privy Council; also tell me something I heard. The Privy Council believes that as an ally, the value of the Republic of Carindia to Clovis is far higher than that of the Grand Duchy of Thun. ——I will only talk to you about this, please don’t tell anyone else!”

The messenger nodded silently, and then looked at the deputy commander who suddenly became enthusiastic in confusion:

"What about you?"

"Since it is not a surrender, but an alliance, then as the party accepting the alliance, of course we must show enough sincerity." Anson smiled slightly:

"So I decided to lead the Storm Division and the 5,000 Thun Army, with a total of 10,000 troops, to the Port of Carindia, the capital of Carindia, to negotiate head-on with the distinguished Carindia Parliament to confirm their respective requirements and condition."

"Of course, since we are an alliance, some tasks can also be completed by the way - such as receiving military fortresses, transportation hubs, army changes, etc., these are just trivial tasks that must be completed. I believe you should not You won’t want to, right?”

"If...I mean if, on our way to Carindia Port, there are some attempts to interfere, such as trying to surrender against your will - I mean traitors of the alliance, we can also help you clean it up. Portal - I mean... patiently enlighten them.”

"What do you think of my proposal?"