I will be crowned king

Early morning, Beluga Harbor.

Anson woke up from his sleep and opened his eyes. He got up naturally, washed and changed clothes. He had a cup of hot coffee without sugar and two slices of bread and butter for breakfast. By the way, he finished reading the briefing prepared by the little clerk last night.

I don't know if it was because he was in a good mood, but when he finished all this and left the Luen Mansion, he actually left Luen Mansion half an hour earlier than usual, exactly one second; although he no longer technically needs sleep now. , even the need for "daily" behaviors such as eating and reading has been greatly weakened, just because it has not gotten rid of its "dependence" on the world and is maintained by some kind of inertia.

According to Rune and a certain elf queen, it would take at least nearly a thousand years to completely get rid of this inertia... Anson felt that he did not need to be so anxious.

Although it only takes less than half an hour to walk from the mansion to the Beluga Harbor Parliament, Anson still went there in a carriage with Lisa as usual; the girl specially changed into a clean and close-fitting new military uniform, and the leather boots covered just one-third of her calf. Second, the black copper buckle belt even slightly highlights the curve of the waist, and the neckline is decorated with a red scarf.

For some unknown reason, Lisa's interest in food has been gradually waning recently, and she has begun to become interested in dressing up. After thinking about it for a long time, Anson could only think that she had finally started to consume after ruling out the definitely wrong option of a girl growing up. Upgraded.

Just like humans in primitive society or all intelligent life, after getting rid of the troubles of hunger and food shortage, the first reaction invariably is their own appearance.

Animals groom, wash and even trim their hair, while humans go a step further and try to wear more colors and materials of leather and cloth on their bodies to make them look as gorgeous as possible.

As for better tools, comfortable shelter, finding a mate and even establishing a tribe, they all come next.

Other than that, neither the colony nor the surroundings have changed much; the Storm Army and the Shooting Army are doing their usual things, and the White Whale Port is still operating normally; factories, markets, streets and alleys...

Everything seemed so orderly, as if nothing had happened.

"How is that possible?!"

Looking at the lamented Commander-in-Chief, Karl, who had been organizing documents in the parliament an hour in advance, rolled his eyes: "It has been three full days since the night of the uprising. There are so many troubles!"

"The Autonomous Parliament needs to be purged, the Government House needs to be established, the unstable factors in the two colonies need to be suppressed, as well as the army designation, the new flag, and the relationship with the Free Confederacy... I was still discussing the Government House with Alan Dawn last night Should we adopt a committee system, or should we simply let the officer corps and staff officers take over and create a military government?"

"Oh, it's very efficient!" Anson raised his eyebrows curiously:

"What's the final conclusion?"

"Conclusion? There is no conclusion!"

Karl said angrily: "My Commander-in-Chief, we can only help you prepare the draft, but you still have to make the final decision and implement it."

"I can only tell you that if we use the committee system, we will not have so many clerks, and the efficiency will definitely be low; if a military government is established, then officers at all levels must be contracted for management... Yes, it is almost the same as that of lords and vassals, Louis Bernard must know these things better than you, so you might as well ask him for help."

"Can't we use the original committee of Beluga Port and the New World Company to establish a temporary team first?" Anson asked: "We don't have that many administrative matters to deal with, right?"

"Indeed, not really, but that would mean continuing to maintain autonomy, so what's the point of establishing the Governor's Palace?" Karl paused first, then suddenly raised the corner of his mouth:

"Don't you think that even if we don't send anyone to supervise, these two autonomous councils can still be loyal to our 'rebellion army'?"

Well, this is a problem...

Anson frowned slightly. On the premise that Rune or himself would not waste any power and interfere with reality on a large scale, it seemed appropriate to deprive the two autonomous assemblies of their power and invest resources to significantly strengthen the influence of the "Governor-General's Mansion" and its control over the colonies. The only option to stay united.

A "military government" with layers of enfeoffments is absolutely not possible. The committee system does not have so many resources and manpower. I am afraid that a trade-off must be made between control and influence.

"In addition, trade is probably also a big problem." Anson continued this topic:

"Whether we revolt or not, trade with the mainland will inevitably be interrupted this year, which means that a large amount of coal and iron ore cannot be sold, and will be turned into cash and various commodities that the new world lacks or does not produce at all; this hole cannot be filled. , the economic collapse is still small, but I am afraid that there will be a large-scale rebellion."

"So you have realized this!" Karl's expression suddenly became rich:

"Looking at your state today, I thought you didn't realize that you are no longer just the commander-in-chief of the Storm Legion, but the governor of Ice Dragon Fjord!"

"It should be said that he is the rebel leader of Ice Dragon Fjord." Anson's face showed a somewhat self-deprecating smile: "Before we know the attitude of the local people towards us, the entire Order World is our enemy; one step is wrong. , the entire army was wiped out in just a blink of an eye."

"To put it bluntly, from now on, we have no way out;"

"Indeed..." Karl's expression finally became serious:

"So, nervous?"

"Ah, that's not true."

Anson shrugged matter-of-factly: "After all, everything is planned, and my plan is perfect."

Karl: "..."

Although this is not the first time, the chief of staff always has the illusion that every time his always confident boss says that his "plan is perfect", there is no such thing as a plan at all. However, He took it one step at a time, but the result every time was just as he expected.

This is of course not true... Whether it is to win over the Free Confederacy and the five eastern colonies, or to promote the New World Company, Anson came to the conclusion after carefully studying the relationship between the colonies and the mainland and collecting as much intelligence as possible.

Putting aside political and territorial disputes, were the resources and wealth of the New World important to the Old World?

Before actually arriving at White Whale Port, or more accurately before the war of independence that ended the Confederacy, Anson's view on this was "important, but only the icing on the cake"; but in deep contact, especially from the Faithless Knights After Tuan got a list of smugglers from coal mine owners in the New World to the imperial family, his views changed drastically.

The wealth and resources of the New World are not only important to the Old World, they are literally life-threatening!

On the surface, the loss of the New World only means that Clovis loses a source of raw materials and a market for consumer goods, and the proportion is not large - at least not the scale boasted by the "Moby Dick Harbor Good People" - even if the missing parts cannot be supplemented , at best, the prices of raw materials will rise and the prices of consumer goods will fall.

But in fact it is not that simple at all, because whether it is steel plants represented by heavy industry, or consumer goods such as textiles, sugar, salt, leather, etc., as long as it is industrialized production, even slight upstream and downstream fluctuations will cause violent turmoil. and various chain reactions.

Without the import of cheap ore, raw material prices will begin to skyrocket, but the factory's production indicators cannot be easily reduced, and the increased costs must be made up in price and other aspects; the increase in coal prices has led to an increase in the freight of steam trains, further increasing the ownership system. Cost of finished product.

At the same time, there is no market for dumping goods, and the squeezed goods cannot be sold. In order to stop the losses, the merchants and manor owners who have already suffered losses can only choose to sell at a reduced price, and the consumption scale of these goods is huge. It is limited...Similar to the large-scale bankruptcy of merchants in Clovis City at the beginning of the 100th century of the Saints calendar, the situation will inevitably repeat itself.

This is just for Clovis, the impact on the Empire will only be stronger.

First of all, the empire, which had already lost most of its trade with Clovis due to the war, lost another important financial source with the separation of the colonies; of course, this was not direct taxation, but smuggling.

From Sailing City to Slave Port, the smuggling trade of raw materials throughout the New World is one of the most important inputs for the imperial royal family. This is something Anson did not expect at first; Emperor Hred may never know the expenses of his palace. How many "contributions" come from the Clovis people? Once the war between the two worlds breaks out, the wealth in the hands of the emperor will immediately shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And this is just the beginning.

Once the war breaks out, it means that all routes on the turbulent sea will be cut off; all Imperial people who want to leave the Empire, go to sea, or start over in the new world will be forced to abandon their immigration plans and be forced to stay.

Originally, Anson didn't think it was anything. Clovis always had a lot of immigrants going overseas every year; bankrupt businessmen, landless farmers, vagrants, criminals... There were a lot of them, but they were definitely not a lot.

But when he really got to know it carefully, he suddenly realized a very critical issue: Compared with the Empire, Clovis was obviously more thirsty for raw materials in the New World, so why was it not Clovis who colonized the New World first, but the Empire? Woolen cloth?

Moreover, there was a hundred-year difference in the time when the two sides started colonizing. Clovis only controlled Beluga Harbor and Gray Snow Town, but the Empire already had six large colonies; if those scattered small strongholds were also included, I'm afraid that It’s not like there are hundreds of them.

Why?

Apart from the fact that the empire has a larger population and a wider territory than Clovis, one of the simplest reasons is that the thousands of people living in the middle and lower classes of the empire are more active than the Clovis people in leaving their homeland and colonizing the New World. Much more!

The New World is like a huge floodgate to the Old World; all conflicts can be resolved through large-scale immigration to the colonies; rioting farmers, prisoners packed with cells, large-scale heretics or heretics... put them Everyone rushes to the new world and the problem is solved.

Without this "relief valve", the empire must invest a lot of resources, manpower and material resources to deal with various problems that "do not exist" in the first place; either suppression or appeasement will inevitably involve a lot of energy from the emperor.

And this contradiction will not be eliminated by time. On the contrary, the longer the war drags on and the more brutal the suppression is, the more acute the contradiction will be, bit by bit, slowly eroding the foundation of the empire's rule.

"… Therefore, the people who should really be nervous about this war and hope it ends as soon as possible are not us, but the empire." Anson smiled confidently:

"October... If the war really starts in June, as long as we can delay it until October, the Jihadi Army will no longer be invincible; the baggage of 150,000 troops is a sum that even the entire New World cannot afford. The astronomical number; if they want to continue the war, they must rely on sea transportation."

"It's a long journey, and you have to transport it across the sea... I'm afraid the losses in the middle are indescribable. The church can subsidize the empire's treasury, but they can't change food, let alone turn water into oil and wine. So, then It can only squeeze the bones and marrow of the local people at the bottom and accelerate contradictions and conflicts."

"Public dissatisfaction is boiling, and coupled with the opposition of the nobles led by the Bernard and Roland families, do you think Emperor Herred can persist for one year, or two years?"

"I don't care!" Karl curled his lips and handed over the documents on the table:

"Right now, I'm only thinking about two things - how to set up the Governor's Mansion, and who can we sell the rest of the coal and iron ore dug out this year, except what we can consume ourselves?!"

Seeing the red face of the chief of staff, who looked like he was about to explode, Anson had no choice but to suppress his smile, calmed down and carefully looked at the report and plan he had prepared with so much effort, and pondered silently for a moment.

"For the time being... let's establish the Governor's Mansion according to the committee system." Anson frowned slightly and said:

"I know there is a shortage of manpower. I will first consider replenishing it with more loyal people from the Beluga Port Committee. As for the grassroots, we can consider the League of Trustees and...well, the Faithless Knights."

"……you sure?"

"Not sure, but it's better than turning our officers into lords and small warlords." Anson shook his head: "At least based on the current situation, they will not betray us."

Karl nodded slightly. He had a basic understanding of the situation of the Faithless Knights and knew that this organization had been completely absorbed by Anson: "What about the export of raw materials?"

"It's very simple." Anson shrugged: "Since Clovis can't buy it, we can only find another buyer."

"who?"

"We will sell to anyone who wants to buy it." Anson looked at his chief of staff with a playful look:

"In the world of order, Clovis and the Empire are not the only two countries."

It's not just these two countries... Karl was stunned for a while, and finally realized something:

"Three Kingdoms of the North Sea?!"