I will be crowned king

Under the clear sky, the quiet sunset immersed itself in the blue sea, giving the war-torn Carindia Port a somewhat desolate glow.

Just as the Imperial advance army had expected, the painful and long battle for the port of Carindia was finally over... although they were not the winners.

On the roof of the Lighthouse Palace, the thorn flower military flag, symbolizing the royal power of the vast earth, swayed in the cool sea breeze.

As the nominal "winner" of this battle and the conqueror of Carindia Port, the Emmanuel family paid an extremely heavy price for this victory.

Because the first stage of the raid ended in a disastrous defeat, Renault Emmanuel's 10,000-man legion was basically wiped out. More than half were killed in action and fled, and almost everyone who was left was injured. The ratio of light to heavy casualties reached One to one, even lightly injured soldiers fell into coma due to wound infection, exposure to rain and cold, or severe physical exhaustion...

No matter how hard we try to gather the remaining soldiers, being able to reorganize one-third is already the limit... This is still a relatively optimistic attitude.

The prize obtained after so many sacrifices was a ruined port city.

With the Lighthouse Palace as the center and looking around, the entire Carindia Port has completely turned into a ruins of broken walls, scorched earth, corpses and full of foul smell - collapsed and broken houses, and uncollected bones. , Large and small craters can be seen everywhere on the once bustling streets. There are unbearable, stinking and ugly scenes everywhere, just like a living hell.

If the damage to Carindia Port, which had experienced a riot and brutal suppression before, was limited to the periphery, this battle completely razed the last intact part to the ground.

This is especially true of the port area... which was once the most prosperous area in the city with the densest concentration of various factories and warehouses. After being covered by two rounds of naval gunfire, no buildings over three meters tall could be found on the dock. It's a ruin filled with corpses.

Because the Imperial advance army refused to surrender, their attitude was extremely resolute, and they even organized artillery positions to shoot at the fleet; Fabian had to give up the idea of ​​​​landing operations - he only had one grenadier regiment in hand - and simply took the ships All the artillery shells on board hit the advance army position.

The Imperial advance army, which had two full infantry divisions, was barely able to raise a reinforced infantry regiment when it surrendered. The highest-ranking adjutant was a knight named "Edward Lodge".

The rest of the Imperial Knights, including Commander-in-Chief Lawrence Igor, were all wiped out; therefore, even if they wanted to exchange these prisoners for ransom, the Emmanuel family would not get much... not to mention that the ransom would have to be divided. Gives a powerful Stormcaster.

Of course, Carindia Port is the largest port city in the land no matter what, and it also has a top-notch excellent harbor and a developed transportation hub; the damage is only temporary, and as long as it is managed patiently for a few years, it is completely possible to recover and even make a profit. foreseen future.

But the problem is that along with this devastated city, there are also a group of Carindia nobles and tens of thousands of people who belong to the Emmanuel family.

These lucky ones who survived the war can now only live among the dilapidated streets and ruins, looking for food and shelter in craters full of water and corpses, threatened by hunger and disease... If No one can lend a helping hand to them immediately, and they will die in droves at any time.

So who can lend a helping hand... The Carindia nobles remembered a guy they least wanted to think of.

Anson Bach.

Compared with Lenore, the nominal owner of Carindia Port, Ansen Bach has an army of nearly 20,000 people who can completely rebuild and maintain the order of Carindia Port. He also has a fleet full of imperial supplies. In every sense, it can solve their immediate urgent needs.

Not only that, he also holds a huge sum of money in his hands - including the 600,000 gold coins that were directly extorted from Carindia Port and the Storm Master's current savings account, Anson Bach's in Hantu Cathedral The cash deposit in the account is close to one million, and the wealth is as great as that of the country!

Of course, in a sense, this is normal, because these were originally collected from the treasury of the lords and the Republic of Hantu.

Although everything is not peaceful this year, as long as they spend enough money, the nobles of Carindia are still confident that they can buy enough from some lords in the eastern part of the land and even some provinces in the south of the empire to survive this time. Difficult food.

He was rich and had people... In the eyes of these Carindia nobles who were already in dire straits, Anson Bach seemed to have the brilliance of a saint floating behind his head.

But the problem is that this guy who appears as a saint is a real devil.

With the shadow of the last blackmail, the Carindia nobles have been completely frightened by Anson Bach and his lackeys... followers. They have no courage to negotiate with him head-on, let alone make any requests. I'm afraid that he will "reproduce the classic" again.

The first time was to eat them alive, the second time was to break the bones and squeeze out the marrow.

So the nobles of Carindia Port decisively pushed Lenore Emmanuel out and "asked" him to reach an agreement "acceptable to everyone" with the Clovis and Thun people.

In fact, it was hinted that he would mortgage the right to use Carindia Port in exchange for Anson's assistance.

Renault, who was well aware of this, had already been mentally prepared, so he did not express any objection - since he lost the battle of Carindia Port, of course he should pay the price for the defeat.

Of course, you have to be prepared, and you still have to fight for where you should argue; after all, Anson Bach's appetite is too terrifying. If there is a showdown at the beginning, the result will definitely be a "reappearance" of the last time Carindia surrendered. .

Therefore, regarding the matter of mortgaging the port ownership, Renault prepared another slightly harsher "reconstruction plan" - simply put, skipping the middleman Thun, the Emmanuel family directly " Loan".

Of course, given the current situation of the Emmanuel family and Carindia Port, they will definitely not be able to repay it in the next few years. It is expected that all loans will not be fully paid off until ten years at the earliest.

Based on his understanding of Anson Bach, this was obviously unacceptable, and there was room for bargaining.

So Renault took these two plans with him and knocked on Anson Bach's door anxiously on a sunny afternoon.

……………………

"You agreed?!"

Lenore's scream echoed in the dilapidated Lighthouse Palace.

"Yes, I agree."

Looking at the shocked young man in front of him, Anson nodded and said in a matter-of-fact tone: "I also think that Carindia Port should be rebuilt, and it must be as soon as possible."

"And since Carindia Port is the territory of the Emmanuel family and it does not involve foreign affairs, there is no need to have anything to do with the Francois family. As long as both of us are satisfied...and I am The Emmanuel family is very satisfied with the repayment method.”

"Can you accept it?!" Renault still felt very incredible.

"Why can't I accept it?"

Anson smiled, pointed to the agreement he handed over and said: "According to what it says, the Emmanuel family will repay three-fifths of the principal, which is 120,000 gold coins, within five years, and another 100,000 gold coins within ten years." Sixty thousand gold coins...the interest rate has reached 40%, no matter how greedy you are, you should be satisfied, right?"

Of course not satisfied! With your character, even if you ask for a 100% interest rate, I won't be as surprised as I am now... Lenore secretly thought in his heart.

"That's what I say, but given the financial situation of the Emmanuel family, I'm afraid it can't all be repaid with cash. If possible, we will even need to add some loans."

"No problem, I've thought of this too." Anson nodded to express his understanding:

"For a big city like Carindia Port, two hundred thousand gold coins is just a drop in the bucket. The later investment will definitely far exceed this amount. I wouldn't be surprised even if you want to double it."

"So you are really willing to agree?" Renault still couldn't restrain his inner surprise.

"It's true, it's absolutely true." Looking at the boy who confirmed it over and over again, Anson couldn't help but smile bitterly:

"I really don't understand why you still doubt... In fact, I have already let the Stormtrooper troops patrol near the Lighthouse Palace, and asked Aiden and Thun soldiers in the coalition to clean up the streets - we are allies, this It’s no big deal, it didn’t even occur to me that I needed to inform you about it.”

"But...but...why?"

"Why?"

"Yes, why are you doing this, I mean...helping the Emmanuel family - not long ago, we were enemies. There is absolutely no need for you, and there is no reason to help me!"

"I disagree with you on that."

Anson suddenly stopped smiling and looked at the young man in front of him with a serious expression: "Why should I help rebuild the Carindia Port? It's simple, because this is the largest port city in Hantu and has the most dense population in Hantu. "The stability and prosperity of the Carindia Port will be the stability and prosperity of the southern part of the vast land. On the contrary, it will lead to turmoil and chaos in half of the vast land."

"But this is only a secondary reason, and more importantly, it is because we are an alliance; I don't know how the Emmanuel family views allies, but I, we...will always give our best in our attitude towards allies. All, do your best!”

"That's right, I have nothing to do with the Emmanuel family. We were even enemies and rivals. But that doesn't matter, because none of us can fight against the empire alone. It's that simple!"

"And a group that still calculates and exploits each other in an alliance that needs to help each other cannot have unity... Do you understand this, Lenore?"

"Um."

The young man nodded slightly and sighed softly: "I finally understand why that guy Leon admires you so much...it turns out to be because of this."

Anson Bach said that the reason for reaching out is because of... solidarity?

Well, so it's definitely not because of that.

……………………

"Of course it's not because of this!"

To Fabian who still couldn't fully understand, Anson rolled his eyes: "Have you forgotten how the 600,000 yuan compensation was finally resolved?!"

"Uh..." Fabian frowned slightly:

"If I remember correctly, it seems that it must be handed over to the Ministry of War and the Privy Council..."

"That's right! If this money cannot be disposed of, according to the usual way of handling it by the Ministry of War, the compensation paid by the defeated country or the country that voluntarily surrendered will be handed over to the kingdom - 600,000! This is 600,000 ,Are you willing to?!"

"So you plan to use this money to help the Emmanuel family rebuild Carindia Port?"

As a competent subordinate, Fabian quickly understood Anson's thoughts, but he still had some concerns: "But we have already reported Carindia's compensation payment to the Ministry of War before."

"It doesn't matter. The money is still there anyway. All the Army Department got was a reported number. What's more, Carindia had not yet fallen when we reported it - during the war, nothing is surprising." Anson said Waving his hand, he signaled the former Guards officer to relax:

"Besides, we didn't swallow all the 600,000...to fund the reconstruction of Carindia Port. Didn't we also leave 200,000 for the Army?"

Fabian thought carefully for a minute and felt that what the deputy commander said was absolutely right.

Through this war, Fabian's pocket has become hundreds of times bigger than when he set out from Clovis; but he doesn't mind adding another to his accounts in major banks and churches. zero.

As for risks...as long as we win the Hantu War and defeat the Imperial Expeditionary Force, there will be no risks, because there is no doubt about the winner!

For the Kingdom of Clovis, which is currently engaged in an extremely painful battle with the Empire, any victory is extremely precious; even if there are any "small" operational errors in the process, the Army and the Privy Council will not be able to pass on the publicity opportunity presented to them. Throw it away.

On the contrary, they will try their best to cover up the victors in order to make up for the lack of achievements caused by their wrong strategic deployment on the Western Front battlefield.

As for whether he can defeat the Imperial Expeditionary Force...that is not a question that he, the leader of a small Grenadier Regiment, needs to consider.

At least until now, he has not seen any need to abandon or even betray the "potential stock" of Anson Bach. It is still worthy of him to serve him loyally.

Oh, wait...

"That is to say, we are actually using the compensation we took from the Kalindi people to hand over part of it to the army for war merits, leaving part for ourselves, and lending the last third to Kalindi Demi-humans, help rebuild their cities...and then ask them to pay back the interest?"

"Well...that's pretty much it." Anson nodded slightly and said:

"They have to thank us!"