I will be crowned king

Anson was not surprised that there were still forces loyal to the Empire in the rebellious colonies.

Rather, for a group of colonists who mainly relied on plundering and exploiting indigenous people and poor immigrants to accumulate wealth, and then cashed in with the help of local power, if there were not such a group of guys who were determined to become independent from the rule of the empire, then what would happen? It's really weird.

In the final analysis, this sudden rebellion is not an "awakening of freedom consciousness". It is purely a means of bargaining with the empire after the strength of several colonies has increased. At least at this stage, none of the New World colonies has a complete industrial chain. It can be completely self-sufficient by relying on trade with the local area.

Not only the colonies of the empire, but even the White Whale Port also showed signs of this - if Anson had not arrived at the colony a few months in advance and completely controlled the situation, the situation would have been very likely by the time the capital-starved Royal Bank began to force the conquest. It's completely the opposite, and it becomes "the empire questions Clovis's tyranny and sends troops to protect the freedom of the white whale."

Considering the "Northport Riot" in the ninety-fifth year of the Saint's Calendar, the empire has already done this once, almost turning Clovis's most important seaport into a free city named independent but actually a vassal... another classic revival It's really not impossible to engrave it once.

But understanding is understanding, which does not mean that Anson must accept and acquiesce in the fact that his ally is a bastard.

What's more, this is a good excuse to beat allies - whoever does not actively resist the empire and support Beluga Harbor, the "lighthouse of the new world", is a shameful "loyalist"!

“…And against us, we are the ‘liberals’ in the colonies.”

A relieved Peter Chatham cautiously said: "The empire's almost endless oppression over the years has made all of us miserable - the vast majority of immigrants are fed up with the rule of lords and emperors in their homeland and are eager to get rid of it. After being freed from bondage, I came to the new world, but in the end I was still exploited!"

"Dear Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach, I don't expect you to forgive the 'betrayal' of Red Hand Bay, but at least please believe that in Red Hand Bay, you must have more friends than enemies; we sincerely believe that Beluga Harbor and Clovis’ army can help us win freedom and independence!”

Peter looked at Anson sincerely, moving his hands back and forth on the table with his hands clenched and open, soaking the entire coffee table with sweat.

Anson nodded slightly, supported his chin with his thumbs on his interlocked hands, and his dull expression made it difficult for the other party to know what he was thinking.

After a long time, a sigh sounded in the smoking room.

"The Lord Peter Chatham."

"exist!"

Hearing the sound, Peter quickly leaned forward, wishing he could press his whole body against the coffee table.

"For the sake of our friendship, regarding the despicable deeds of the 'Loyalists' in Red Hand Bay, I can refrain from implicating their crimes to other innocent people - and even to unite all colonies, I can also 'Loyalists' let it go for now, but..."

Anson paused for a moment, then raised the fingers of his right hand in the air: "This does not mean that I will turn a blind eye to all actions - even if I could, the people of Beluga Harbor and the soldiers of the Storm Division would not be able to accept a group of Enemies can get their protection!”

"The 'loyalists' in Red Hand Bay must be severely punished! And in this matter, we hope to get help from our friends in Red Hand Bay." Anson stared at Peter:

"As for the wealth they control, I think it is more appropriate for 'liberals' who truly love their hometown and land to control it, what do you think?"

"You?!" Peter's face suddenly turned pale:

"You mean..."

"I didn't say anything!" Anson looked at him meaningfully:

"I'm just telling you that those who are not friends of Beluga Harbor will not be protected by the Stormtroopers... Do you understand?"

"Understood! Ming...understood!" Peter nodded quickly.

"As long as you know."

Anson patted him on the shoulder, chuckled and stood up: "Let's go and welcome those like-minded friends!"

……………………

Sailing City Council, in the vaulted hall.

Wearing a blue-and-white military uniform and a fleur-de-lis cape, Bernard Morweis, the colonial minister, sat on the main seat of the high platform, looking like a king at the slowly opening door opposite.

Under the dim light, representatives from various colonies walked into the hall cautiously and sat down on the seats marked with their respective identities on both sides of the long table.

Although they are all colonies of the empire, due to factors such as history, population, wealth, and importance, their importance is also divided into three levels - just like the princes of the empire nominally follow the "Dragon Knight" Hector. After Red’s “Seven Knights,” but on a practical level…

Well, you can't say this kind of thing, it will hinder unity and hinder unity.

After glancing at the frightened faces, Bernard's eyes stopped at the empty seat opposite the representatives of the Sail City Council, and he frowned slightly.

Changhu Town has indeed fallen.

This time the Clovis people in Beluga Harbor did not show off in the newspapers, but according to the news sent by the "loyalists" at Red Hand Bay, the other side sent troops extremely quickly, almost on the fifth day after the defeat at Red Hand Bay. After sending the good news, excluding the interval between sending letters, the entire battle most likely only lasted two to three days.

Changhu Town, which has a complete defense system and sufficient logistics, was conquered in three days... Although it is not clear which army the opponent is and who is commanding it; there is no doubt that it is a strong enemy.

Sending such an army to the colonies meant that Clovis' strategic focus shifted from the mainland to the colonies.

Does Clovis really intend to continue to resist and continue the war and completely bring down the empire?

If this is the case, it is really not good news for the emperor who is determined to go his own way and is eager to open up the situation... Inwardly sarcastic to his beloved Majesty, Bernard, who hid half of his face under the brim of his hat, slowly raised his head:

"Dear colonial representatives, thank you for your continued loyalty to the Empire and answer the call."

"I, Bernard Morwes, Lord Chancellor of the Colonies - on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor Herred, I hereby extend my sincere greetings to you, and invite you to join my legion to restore peace to the Empire's colonies and combat the despicable The Clovis invaders fight it out."

"With your help, I guarantee that within three months, golden iris flowers will be flying in Beluga Harbor!"

………………

"In terms of time, this idea is unrealistic!"

In the hall of Changhu Town, Anson stood in front of a huge map, waving the saber in his hand and talking to the colonial representatives sitting in the audience:

"I understand your eagerness to get rid of the tyranny of the empire and strive for the ideal of freedom; but before that, we must face a reality - that is, even if we lose most of the colonies and the important stronghold of Long Lake Town, the strength of the empire They still haven’t been weakened too much, they are still very powerful!”

"One or two battles, even if they can inflict heavy damage to the imperial army in the colonies, or even capture the Sailing City, will not be able to completely dispel the empire's majestic ambition to continue to rule the new world, and will also cost us a huge price - the mainland As soon as the army arrives and the Imperial fleet blocks the harbor, everything we have worked so hard to gain will be wiped out in an instant.”

Taking a deep breath, Anson raised his command knife and pointed the tip of the knife at Sailing City on the map, sliding from left to right towards Beluga Harbor, passing through all the imperial colonies: "In my opinion, if you want to gain true independence, you need to at least Two prerequisites!”

"First, unite all the forces that can be united; second, make the empire fully aware that the costs of maintaining colonial rule will far exceed the benefits they can gain."

"Only by satisfying all at the same time - please note, I said at the same time - can the empire's minions be completely expelled from the new world, and you can get the freedom you have always longed for."

Anson tapped the map with the tip of his knife and emphasized loudly.

"Dear Commander-in-Chief of Beluga Port, no offense intended; but we can still understand the first of your two prerequisites, but how can we achieve the latter?"

The speaker was Hollande, the Speaker of Changhu Town, who was looking attentively at the map of the new world that was originally in his private collection.

After signing the surrender agreement, this former "loyalist" has turned into a complete "liberal"; or in other words, in order to prevent the empire from counterattacking, there is only one way to go.

"Even after the militias were formed after the 'Beast Slave Rebellion', the armies of each colony were still vulnerable to the empire. The liberals in Sail City have proven this with their actions; so what should be done to allow them to rule? The costs outweigh the benefits?”

Hearing this question, the representatives pricked up their ears and looked at Anson Bach standing in front of the map with all their attention. The whole audience was silent.

Faced with the extremely cooperative "question" from Changhu Town, Anson smiled calmly, put his hands behind his back, and deliberately remained silent for a moment to pave the way for his next speech:

"Everyone, if we want to defeat the enemy, we must first understand what the enemy is thinking - so when the empire hears that Clovis's army has crossed the border and captured the very important colony Lake Town in their eyes... they will What comes to mind?"

………………

"Conspiracy! This is a complete, Clovis-style despicable conspiracy!"

Under the towering dome and dim lights, Bernard's angry and angry voice echoed: "This may be the first time in the New World, but in the Old World... such situations are countless!"

"The humble Clovis people have an innate greed for land. From the day they established their own country, they have been frantically expanding their territory, stealing, cheating, and seizing to usurp those territories. The crown of the old kingdom became part of their ugly iron crown.”

"Even the Kingdom of Clovis... is an impostor country established by the shameless Osteria family, who led their troops to seize the castle and territory of the ancient King of Clovis who hired them to protect them!"

"What is happening now in the New World is just a repeat of countless tragedies over the past hundreds of years."

Looking around at the shocked or disbelieving expressions of the representatives present, Bernard snorted coldly:

"They will first pretend to extend an olive branch to lure you into accepting the 'goodwill', as if they are really just trying to help you gain an independent status and not really have any intention of invading."

"But how can a jackal let go of the fresh meat that comes to his mouth? It won't be long before they make all kinds of demands for this 'protection' - financial resources, human resources, material resources... until they drain you dry. You are forced to 'entrust' all kinds of resources and territories to their management."

"You don't need an army because Clovis's army will protect you. You don't need to form a parliament because Clovis's bureaucrats will take over everything. You don't need to run anything because all the mines and farms will become Clovis." Uighur stuff..."

"When one day you truly break away from the protection of the empire and gain the 'freedom' granted by the Clovis people, you will be surprised to find that except for that 'freedom', you have nothing!"

………………

"...And this is what will happen in the eyes of the Empire."

Anson drew a circle on the map with his command knife as a summary of what he just said: "In their view, the Clovis are the masterminds of all this, and their purpose is to annex the empire's colonies and then monopolize the entire New World."

"But...is that really the case?"

There was dead silence.

The representatives present widened their eyes and were so nervous that they did not even dare to take a breath.

Anson looked at everyone calmly and said in a deep voice: "I can understand that you have such worries. After all, no one wants to be squeezed and ruled by another powerful force just after winning independence."

"And this is also the second condition I gave - a way to make the costs of empire rule exceed the benefits."

"That's...building an alliance."

alliance?

The representatives present did not react immediately and looked at Anson on the stage in confusion.

"It is not a simple alliance of mutual aid and assistance without any binding force; it is an alliance that has reached a unified tariff, established a centralized army, has a supreme leader and power organs, speaks with one voice externally, and suppresses and purges internally. A…united front of opponents.”

Anson walked forward as he spoke, walking step by step in front of the representatives:

"Gentlemen, we must face a cruel reality, that is, the empire is very powerful, very powerful... so powerful that it is very likely that all our forces tied together will not be able to truly match it. Our poor capital is simply unable to rule the Old Continent. The empire has been competing against each other for nearly a thousand years... In a face-to-face battle, we have no chance of winning!"

"Our only hope is to break the empire one by one and regain their illusion of brutal rule in the past, so that all the colonies can unite under one voice, so that the empire must fight against all the colonies that were oppressed by it in the past."

"Let her clearly realize that defeating one or two colonies is meaningless. She must dispatch tens of thousands of troops and bloodbath the entire colony in order to completely extinguish the fire of resistance!"

"Only then will the Empire give up its rule because the price to pay is too great and instead use other methods to defeat us - but that doesn't matter, as long as the colonies unite together, she won't have any chance!"

"Gentlemen, in order to win, we must unite."

"Unity... is strength!"