I will be crowned king

South of Frost Fang Mountain, near Yangfan City.

In the smoke-filled countryside, a bloody fight had just come to an end.

Listening to the rumbling sound of artillery in his ears, Bernard Molwes, who was soaked all over, stood on the top of a collapsed fort, supporting his body with the only remaining saber scabbard, and walked towards the distance. Looking everywhere.

Looking through the telescope lenses covered in blood and mud, the scene in front of me is simply shocking.

The fighting lasted for three full days, turning the originally prosperous and fertile suburbs into a burning ruin.

The colonial rebels who once claimed to "resist to the death" and "shed their last drop of blood", attacking like a wave, had already left behind enough corpses to cover the entire battlefield amidst the fierce artillery fire and the sound of volleys of gunfire that shook the air. Escape to the endless wilderness of the new world.

If it were in the old world, then any rational commander would immediately order a limited pursuit, at least to completely disperse the enemy so that the deserters could never be reorganized.

But this is a new world, so the cold ice and snow, the primeval forest where there is almost no food in early spring, the lurking monsters and beasts, the elusive indigenous hunters...

They will replace the cavalry and complete this very difficult task.

Even so, it still cannot compensate for the economic losses caused by the complete ravage and destruction of the war - the gorgeous manor burned in billowing black smoke, the fertile plantation was full of dead bodies, broken weapons and flags; wisps of "smoke" Below, there are dense craters left by six-pound and twelve-pound shells.

Such a serious loss will definitely be an extremely heavy blow to Yangfan City and even the entire colony in the Frost Fang Mountain area; if enough agricultural products cannot be collected as soon as possible, what will come after the war is likely not to be peace, but to be famine.

So how did things get to this point?

Holding back the choking smoke, Bernard Molwes sighed heavily.

Almost at the end of last year, that is, after the Hantu War, as the highest-level surviving commander of the post-war Imperial Expeditionary Force, Bernard was given a commission by the emperor and was directly put on the last ship to the New World as the sailor. City Governor.

This is actually a punitive appointment. Although the Morweis family has a huge power in the empire, since they have lost the battle, they must pay the price.

Bernard happily accepted his fate - compared with his boss Casper who died in the vast land, this result was not too bad; not to mention that there was a family behind it, so he could be reinstated in a year or two at most.

But what he never expected was that as soon as he landed, he would catch up with a great rebellion that spread throughout the colony.

What was even more unexpected was that the first round of rebellion had just ended, and the bastard sent by the emperor to collect taxes actually got out of his mind and killed all the representatives of each colony!

So it took nearly a year and countless real money to put down the colony where the "beast slaves" were rioting, and immediately ushered in the second round of rebellion; this time the enemy was no longer the unarmed beast slaves, but the ones in the past. During the year, colonial militias were newly armed by the Empire.

What's even more terrifying is that the bastard who made a big deal was attacked by a group of angry colonial militiamen the next morning and his luxurious three-story mansion was shot to pieces.

In this case, Bernard, who got the news immediately, decided to take over the army and began to suppress the rebellious militia in order not to fall into the same fate.

After experiencing the baptism of the "Beast Slave Rebellion", the colonial militiamen who originally had no fighting ability and only had the passion to defend their homeland - although strictly speaking, this place does not belong to them - have a certain degree of training and Experience against the enemy; although it is still far inferior to that of the regular army, it is no longer a "real" cannon fodder that collapses on the spot as soon as the gunfire is fired.

In the past, in order to ensure absolute control over the colonies, the empire would rather bear the huge cost of governance and high-risk colonial returns than give them the power to arm themselves.

However, in order to deal with the attacks of rioting beast slaves and indigenous people, even if it mobilized troops to station, the empire had to set up corresponding militia organizations in each major colony to provide basic military training to the young labor force who voluntarily joined; at the same time, in order to ensure logistics, Gunpowder and firearms workshops were also built accordingly.

The direct consequence of this is that the cost of counterinsurgency has skyrocketed.

Of course, as the governor of Sailing City, Bernard knew very well that the so-called "rebellion" was just a means for these colonies to bargain with the empire; as long as the empire showed mercy and exempted them from taxes for a few years, these people were The traitor will shout long live the emperor next time.

The problem is that this is simply impossible - not to mention him as a "criminal", even the bastard who was responsible for counterinsurgency before knew that this is absolutely impossible: a general with military power in the colony made such a request to the emperor , in the eyes of His Majesty Herred, he is probably more deserving of death than the rebellious colonies.

So that bastard used his own death to prove his loyalty to the emperor. Bernard, who was "forced to take office", could only use more cruel and bloody methods to suppress the rebellious army and colonies in order to avoid becoming "in the eyes of the emperor" A rebel with suspicious behavior and intent to commit rebellion.

This result made Bernard deeply ironic - in the vast land, the Imperial Expeditionary Force was too brutal, paving the way for its subsequent failure; but in the colonies, he could only recover by being as brutal as possible. At the very least, maintain order and save your own life.

The governor of Yangfan City, who was in a complicated mood, could not only regret that his dead old boss had chosen the wrong battlefield, but he could only sigh in his heart, "This is probably life."

But in any case, the first part of this rebellion has ended - the riots in Sailing City have been completely suppressed, the nearly 7,000 rebels have been completely annihilated, and the entire colony has been returned to the empire's control.

In addition, he also received another good news: Chang Lake Town was least affected by the riots of beast slaves and indigenous people. Although rebels also appeared, the vast majority of people wisely chose to remain loyal to the empire.

The only condition proposed by the Long Lake Town Council is that it hopes to postpone the tax payment time until all the rebellions in the colonies have been completely suppressed; the reason is also quite sufficient - Long Lake Town is too far from Sailing City, and does it have its own fleet? , materials are at risk of being cut off whether by land or sea.

To be honest, this cannot be said to be almost the same as the previous request jointly made by the six major colonies, but it is also completely consistent.

However, with all four of the six major colonies rebelling, Bernard, who was temporarily unable to intervene in Changhu Town, could only tentatively agree, appreciate the other party's loyalty, and at the same time think about what excuse he should use to clean up Changhu Town in the future. Lake Town Council.

But that was all later... When the smoke completely dissipated, Bernard Morweis, the victor, stood on the fort to review the army that had just won a great victory, and led them to the place where they had been away for many days. Sailing City.

Facing the triumphant counter-rebellion army, the Yangfan City Council cautiously opened the city gates and organized the people of the city to welcome their governor back.

Accompanied by thunderous steps and neat figures, the people who were forcibly pulled on both sides of the street were in panic, trying desperately to squeeze out a smile on their faces full of fear, and used trembling hands to "defend" "Their army and the Governor cheered.

In order to show their loyalty and sincerity, the Yangfan City Council even tidied up the Governor's Mansion in advance, expanded a courtyard outside, and even replaced all the floor tiles on the streets outside the mansion... allowing Bernard to truly experience what he had just come to. The treatment varies greatly from time to time.

At least now, the silent city of Sail City no longer poses any threat to him, the colonial governor.

Despite this, Bernard, who cherished his life very much, still did not choose to settle in this renovated Governor's Mansion - God knows whether those bastards who wanted to please him took the opportunity to set up some traps or tunnels inside while he was away, while he was relaxing. When alert, wait for maneuver.

Considering the bastard who was also beaten to death in his own home, Bernard believed that his worries were justified.

But the problem is that he cannot leave to ensure his own life and continue to camp outside the city - first of all, the exhausted army has just experienced a bloody battle and cannot agree; and he does not dare to stay in the city, which is an obvious show of weakness. , which is very unfavorable to his subsequent rule of Sail City.

After much consideration, he had to choose a "compromise" plan.

……………………

"So you decided to come to my place, right?"

In a small church in Sailing City, the young knight sitting at the dining table raised his wine glass and smiled at Bernard opposite him.

"If I were asked to choose a place to live in the entire Yangfan City, there would definitely be no safer place than here." The depressed governor of Yangfan City admitted unabashedly:

"Although it is nominally counterinsurgency, my hands are stained with the blood of thousands of people in Yangfan City - maybe five years, maybe ten years, anyway, before I left this damn ghost place, the blood of thousands of people living here People will never be grateful to me as governor...discretion is necessary to get me through my term safely."

"Perhaps if you try to treat them with a different attitude, you will get completely different results." The young knight changed the subject:

"I have talked with some people who came to pray. All they want is to reduce or delay the taxation; as long as they make a slight concession or just ease the relationship between the two parties, this would not happen."

"Yes, but what are the consequences?" Bernard snorted angrily and asked:

"If the world is at peace and there is peace inside and outside the empire, maybe we can still consider fighting for it; but now the war between the empire and Clovis has not stopped. Do you think His Majesty the Emperor, who has spent all his treasury on the war, can tolerate the colonies not paying... or even just paying late? Tax?"

"But the result is not the same now?"

"You are turning an effect into a cause!"

The governor of Yangfan City's face turned cold, and his slightly helpless tone was mixed with a hint of irritability: "No one knows that these colonies really have such courage, and no one can think of the shamelessness of shouting long live the emperor and being grateful just a second ago. You bastards, you can start a rebellion in a second - just because you don’t want to pay taxes!”

"And don't forget, in the eyes of the emperor, I am not a governor, but an exiled sinner. Do you think our Majesty can accept the request of an exiled sinner on behalf of a group of traitors who resist taxes?!"

"I have no choice but to suppress! There are also these traitors. They have already killed one imperial governor. Do you think they will care about killing the second one?!"

The young knight looked at him calmly, silently poured a full glass of wine for the frustrated governor, and sighed softly:

"If you can calm down and talk to them as an ordinary Imperial person. There is actually a way..."

"I……"

Bernard was startled suddenly and looked up at the young knight opposite:

"any solution?!"

"If you want to solve the rebellion in the colony, you must first find out who is really 'leading' the rebellion." The young knight put down his wine glass and began to analyze for him:

"In fact, it can be seen from the Sailing City alone that the parliaments of various colonies actually have very little confidence in betraying the empire. Rebellion and even riots are just bargaining chips for them to use in negotiations; even within them, such 'radicals' 'The number of people is not very large - at least in Sail City, there are not even one third of such people."

"As for the colonial militias they inspired, they were just out of pure anger; I have seen many ordinary people who came to pray and asked them why they wanted to resist the empire - no one could explain the reason clearly."

"Everyone just repeated one sentence. The empire wanted to kill everyone in the colony and loot the last copper in their pockets. As for why the empire did this, no one knew."

Bernard immediately understood what he meant: "You mean, if I can appease the ordinary people in the colony and make them believe that the empire does not intend to loot their poor money bags and shacks, let alone kill everyone, then Can a riot be quelled?"

"At least it can weaken the damage and influence." The young knight said solemnly:

"Since there are only a handful of wealthy and ambitious members of Parliament who are really trying to bargain with the empire, then isolate them so that they can no longer hide behind the people and bluff."

"I suggest that we learn from the Clovis people in this regard, replace direct forced expropriation with low-price acquisitions, and at the same time exempt some taxes. This eases the conflict and shows the sincerity of the empire's willingness to make concessions."

"It makes sense - I will make this matter public in parliament immediately after I go back and see what the response will be."

The governor of Yangfan City, whose eyes lit up, nodded slightly, and then took the opportunity to tell the real reason for his trip: "If everything goes well, will you be my adjutant and carry out the acquisition work on my behalf?"

"Monsignor Louis Bernard?"