I will be crowned king

Although he was worried about his close friend who suddenly became hysterical, Ed Levent still accepted this "special" task - without the emperor's authorization, he led the entire envoy to deceive the three countries of the North Sea and took the initiative to attack Huixue Town and Port Beluga, two Clovis colonies.

Strictly speaking, as the Lord Chancellor, Bernard is qualified to negotiate with the enemy on behalf of the Empire; the problem is that his status as "Lord Minister of the Colonies" is too watery, and the Molwes family has nothing to do in the New World. The influence may not be accepted by the other party even if you paint a picture, and it is far less convincing than a "special envoy" with the emperor's guard of honor and the escort of battleships.

As for whether negotiating with neighbors without authorization would cause the emperor's dissatisfaction, it was no longer within the scope of the two's consideration - the "Wind Knight" Levent family was powerful in the southern border of the empire, and their relationship with the royal family was not very harmonious; Nader is now thinking about how to solve the problem quickly and avoid letting those damn Clovis people continue to cause trouble.

Only by quelling the rebellion as soon as possible can Bernard take the title of "Lord Minister of the Colonies" that the emperor threw away the blame, and take a piece of the cake that Bernard and the royal family could only eat in the past, and include Molwes and Lewin. The scope of interests of the special family.

This was the driving force that prompted Ed Levent to agree to Bernard.

After all, the Levent family is powerful, but it also has many members. If you want to get an official position through the family, you have to compete with countless peers; but if it is to expand externally... he may be able to build a new Levent in Yangfan City. Family branch.

With the temptation of starting a new family, Ed Levent embarked on a voyage to the colonies of the three countries in the North Sea.

Before the colonial representatives had gone far, Bernard immediately began to mobilize the army to Gray Pigeon Castle, preparing to cooperate with the "loyalists" within the city council there to launch a purge of the "liberals" and remove the colonies closest to Sailing City. Completely included in his sphere of influence as the "colonial minister".

At the same time, although he promised not to bother him again in the short term, this did not prevent Bernard from sending the recently collected information, especially the content about "Clovis' invasion of Long Lake Town" to Louis Bell. The chapel where Na was located "helped" him understand the internal and external difficulties the empire currently faces in the new world.

Although the ultimate goal is to poach the Bernard family, this does not prevent Bernard from using the influence of the Bernard family in the new world - especially those "loyalists" who have a stake in the empire. Rather than being loyal to the empire, It would be more appropriate to say that one is loyal to the Bernard family.

As long as Louis Bernardin comes forward, even if he only serves in the Governor's Palace, the "loyalists" in the colony will think that this is a gesture of the Bernard family, and they will actively move closer to him, the colonial minister, instead of having to use Only the army is willing to obey.

With his own understanding of the heir to the Bernard family, it was only a matter of time before he could be convinced.

………………

In the chapel, an elf girl dressed in a nun's outfit squatted down with her hands on her calves, pointing at the mountains of newspapers and letterheads piled in the corner of the desk, and looked at Louis behind the desk in confusion:

"Are these all going to be thrown away?"

"Yes, all of them." The young knight lay in front of the desk, flipping through a copy of "The Life of Saint Isaac" with an expressionless face, and said in a low voice:

"If it's too wasteful, you can use it as fuel for the fireplace, or pick out the unimportant parts - you might be able to use it when you go to the orphanage to teach children how to read."

"But...Louis, you haven't seen it yet."

"There's no need - even if I don't read it, I know what's in it." The young knight said calmly: "Bernard Molwes wants me to work for him, but I don't want to. It's that simple."

"Are you sure?" Looking at the old newspaper pulled out from a pile of documents with interest, Freya couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth:

"It mentioned a lot of interesting things. For example...did you know that the reason why Lake Town is so rich is because they have a secret gold mine?"

Secret gold mine?

Louis, who was attentive, was startled for a moment, and then laughed dumbly: "Of course I know, this legend has been around for some years."

"I remember that when we were very young, Brother Kroger and I were excited about this incident for a while. We thought that the new world was full of gems and gold. We agreed that we would venture to the new world in the future and establish our own colony."

"In order to avoid being discovered, we also drew a plan on the bed board, and agreed to use a secretly built small sailboat to cross the rough sea and head to the New World on a certain full moon night."

"What happened next?" Freya suddenly became excited.

"Later...that rumor was false."

The young knight closed the book in his hand, chuckled at the elf girl and said: "The city council of Changhu Town concealed their annual trade volume with Beluga Port, and the tax collector sent by the emperor to collect taxes found out the trick; in order to continue to hide it, If we go down there, the rumor of a 'secret gold mine' will spread."

"But hasn't the tax collector already discovered the problem?"

"Yes, but he was bribed - that's why this rumor spread to the mainland." Louis said truthfully.

"Why--?"

The elf girl looked disappointed, but soon her attention turned to the next "curious news": "Then do you know about the Faithless Knights? It said that this is a very mysterious underground organization with many members and almost all It’s the Old Gods… lurking in every corner of the new world, always waiting for an opportunity to establish their own kingdom!”

"The Faithless Knights...well, this is also a very old organization, but it should have nothing to do with the Old God Sect." The young knight shook his head again:

"These people were originally a group of knights of the Universal Sect, who swore to protect all believers regardless of sect, so they were called the 'Faithless Knights' - similar extremist organizations include the Truth Society of the Seeking Truth Sect, and the Supreme Court of the Protector of the Nation Sect. … This type of presence was quite common in the age of sectarian schism.”

"As for the one in your hand..." Louis tapped the newspaper in the elf girl's arms:

"It should be talking about the later Faithless Knights - because the sect returned to the church, they thought they had been betrayed, and like all extremist organizations, they split. Some chose to leave, and some joined the church's trial. Some of the Knights of Court and Judgment have become underground organizations that continue to use the name of the Knights."

"But even this last 'Faithless Knights' has long since died."

"Dead?!"

"Yes, it probably happened a few years ago..." A hint of invisible loss flashed in the corner of Louis' eyes, and he quickly returned to normal:

"They were found to be in collusion with the 'Old God Sect' of the Cressy family. In order to completely eradicate them, the Church of Order dispatched the Tribunal and the Knights of Judgment to cooperate with the strength of the Bernard family to completely eradicate them."

The elf girl's body suddenly trembled.

"Flea?"

Louis spoke with concern, and suddenly realized something: "Sorry! I, I didn't mean to mention the Judgment Knight..."

"It doesn't matter!" The elf girl suddenly came back to her senses and forced a smile:

"So...the Faithless Knights, they have perished, right?"

"Yes, it was Brother Kroger who personally wiped out them... and together with the last members of the Cressy family, they were buried in the burning ruins."

The young knight sighed with emotion and stood up holding on to the table to return the book to the bookcase: "Although it was to eradicate the old god sect ambushing in Adlan, I still feel that what I did was too extreme."

"But it says that the Faithless Knights still exist." Freya said doubtfully, pointing to the large burning warehouse in the newspaper:

"Just last month, they were planning to use an abandoned warehouse as a base, unite with the Old Gods among the indigenous people to control the riots in Beluga Port, and eventually control the entire colony!"

"This is impossible!"

Louis said without thinking: "This is definitely not something that the Faithless Knights would do. Their purpose itself is to deny the existence of God, and the evil gods are naturally among them. How could they join forces with a group of old gods..."

"Wait! Where did you say they caused the riot?!"

………………………

Changhu Town, in the cellar of a suburban farm.

Standing next to a pile of wooden barrels filled with bacon and potatoes, Anson stared at the opened movable panel at his feet. A dark tunnel led straight into the depths of the ground. He could still vaguely hear the sound of someone banging something.

"So...this is the legendary secret gold mine in Changhu Town?"

"Yes, right here."

Joseph, the militia leader in charge of leading the way, held a torch and nodded seriously: "Although it is only a small mine, it is said that because of its good management, it can dig out three to four thousand tons of ore every year. Each ton of ore can be dug out." There is a production of nearly three-fifths of an ounce of gold.”

Three to four thousand tons of ore, three-fifths of an ounce of gold per ton, which is the maximum annual output of...nearly seven tons of gold? !

This amount is not much compared to some local gold mines, and can even be said to be pitifully small. It is not an exaggerated figure for a settlement and trade center with a population of tens of thousands... But this is a colony!

In the new world where precious metals and hard currency are severely lacking, seven tons of gold is definitely not a small number. In terms of purchasing power, it is almost five or six times that of the mainland. The value of some remote colonies is likely to be even higher.

Anson's expression froze: "Then how did Changhu Town hide it?"

"That's the most interesting thing, they didn't hide it."

Fabian, who was standing on one side, took a slight step forward and said in a low voice: "A few years after it was excavated and made a profit, this gold mine has been exposed - considering the workers hired, the movement during the digging of the mine, and the It’s not surprising to buy various equipment for processing ore.”

"So they took the initiative to release the news and spread the rumor that Changhu Town had a secret gold mine. Sure enough, it attracted the tax collectors of the empire. After successfully buying the other party, they successfully substantiated the rumor, and the other party then sent Changhu Town to The inexplicable increase in income is attributed to trade with Beluga Port.”

"It is also based on this that the empire mistakenly believes that the trade between Changhu Town and Beluga Port is close, and coupled with the annual tax revenue, it regards this place as an important town that needs to focus on defense to resist the invasion of Beluga Port... Of course, there is a certain meaning Their guess was not wrong."

The former Guards officer glanced at the militia leader and silently turned his attention to the mine: "Even after experiencing the beast slave riots, Changhu Town was still able to pay the taxes collected by the empire and establish its own small steel factory and arms workshop. , and even has complete defense facilities.”

"All paid for with the output of this gold mine?"

"Strictly speaking, yes; there is no mint in Changhu Town. They mainly sell the gold they produce as 'products' in exchange for salt, fuel and local luxuries, such as coffee beans and sugar." Fabi An explained:

"Those are the real 'hard currencies' of the new world."

This is true... Anson nodded slightly. Even in the local Northport or Clovis City, the "hard currency" with the highest circulation is not gold, but silver coins engraved with saints and copper plates with archbishops.

"By the way, how long has this mine been mined? Are there any proven reserves?"

Anson asked the militia leader who was holding an oil lamp. He suddenly remembered that it was mentioned in the textbook of the Royal Military Academy that the reserves of small mines like this are generally not large, and the mining period can be several years in the long term, or even only a few in the short term. months.

"I'm not sure exactly, but I remember when I first came to the New World, there were already rumors about a 'secret gold mine' nearby." Joseph scratched his head and tried to recall:

"I remember the year I set out, it seemed to be Saints calendar...seventy-five years?"

Fabian raised his eyebrows when he heard this number, and his eyes swept over the face of the militia leader who was in his thirties at most.

"Seventy-five years in the calendar of saints?" Anson's pupils shrank slightly:

"You're saying this gold mine has been mined for...more than twenty-five years?"

"Uh... I don't know, maybe, maybe it's been more than thirty years." The militia leader shook his head in panic:

"But you don't have to worry too much - in the first few years, Changhu Town only dared to dig a little secretly. It is said that there is about one or two tons every year. The real large-scale mining has only happened in the past one or two years."

"Maybe because of the war between Clovis and the Empire, the goods coming from Beluga Port have significantly decreased. In order to continue paying taxes to the Empire, we have to expand the production of gold mines."

So with luck, this gold mine can continue to be mined for another three or four years. This output is definitely not enough to serve as a capital reserve for a bank, but with proper control, it is definitely enough to hedge risks and deceive investors.

For the New World, which lacks funds but is rich in mines, enough investors and a huge market are its sources of vitality. As long as this gold mine can be used to win over Wangjia Bank or other financial owners and establish a large investment bank in the New World, even if Zero production doesn’t matter.

Anson hesitated for a moment when he thought of this, and suddenly said:

"Can I go down and have a look?"

Even when it comes to reinsurance, you should try to see it as you see it - he was really frightened by Major General Ludwig's "New Year's surprise".