I will be crowned king

Without any careful consideration, Ludwig already had the answer in his heart:

It must have been Anson Bach's doing!

Use public opinion and influence to isolate, delay, and control opponents, and at the same time unite one's own side as much as possible, creating a visible goal or slogan to change the attitude of neutrals or third parties... This is how he took down the entire Hantu in just half a year, and finally all The routine of annihilating the Imperial Expeditionary Force, this time just changed the opponents to the Church of Order and the Empire.

Although I don’t know why across the turbulent sea, this rebellious bastard is still able to influence the public opinion of Beigang; but since he was a capable person in the vast land, but he made his reputation resounding throughout Clovis City, similar tricks are probably good for him It's not difficult either. ,

Ludwig, who was gritting his teeth in his heart, focused his gaze on the face of William Cecil in front of him.

If we want to talk about the most influential wealthy families in Beigang, if the Cecil family is humbled to be second, probably no one would dare to claim the first place; not to mention that I heard that the Cecil family has always cooperated with Anson in the population trade and introduction It helped him a lot in investing.

So are these public opinions that are obviously biased towards the colonies deliberately released by the Cecil family?

This idea only stayed in Ludwig's mind for less than a second before he was completely dismissed.

Not to mention that if it were true, William would never act as shocked as he is now. The Cecil family has been listed on the church's suspicion list because of their cooperation with the August Arms Factory. If you jump horizontally, don't you worry about your whole family being tied to the stake?

And if there is no help from the Cecil family, then who will be spreading these "fake news" on his behalf in an attempt to delay the offensive of the Jihadi Army?

Anyway, no matter who it is, Ludwig Franz has already determined that this is a part of Anson Bach's vicious plan to thwart the conspiracy of the Holy See and the World of Order to expand their power into the New World.

At this time, Anson, who was far away in Beluga Harbor, would probably cry out for injustice if he knew what his former boss was thinking - the destruction of public opinion was indeed his idea, but it was just an idea; across the turbulent sea, how could such a thing be his own? Can it be easily interfered with?

What's more, there is absolutely no time... After completing the delivery of the first part of raw materials, the Naxir Kingdom, which had obviously tasted the sweetness, immediately requested to expand the transaction volume, especially the types of trade goods; more livestock, more wood , even the half-completed shipyard in Sailing City has received huge orders from the royal family.

After all, the Naqsir royal family has just wiped out the rebels in the capital, and will next launch a counterattack sweeping the country, even guarding against military intervention from neighboring countries; the city needs to be rebuilt, the army needs to be expanded, the lost supplies need to be replenished, and the fleet needs to be Maintenance... These require a continuous supply of raw materials, making the machines in the factory spin and workers working hard to achieve this.

In view of the target pain points of major customers, Anson Bach gave instructions to all franchise members at the supreme meeting, not only to open up a new track, but also to find starting points, grasp key nodes, open closed channels, and create a stable and improving environment. The better the positive cycle.

In short, as long as Naxir and the three North Sea countries are willing to spend real money, the Free Confederation will give them whatever they want; and the loss of intermediate links must be minimized, and each member of the alliance must not impose additional tariffs. and intermediary taxes to keep costs down to ensure ultimate profitability.

Because at present, only the New World Company can mobilize manpower and material resources throughout the Confederacy, the so-called tax reduction means tax reduction for the New World Company, and even certain preferential treatment must be given - land acquisition, recruitment, construction of buildings, all must be paid by each colony. Parliament provides subsidies.

Of course it would be impossible under normal circumstances, but now the thirteen colonies all depend on this trade with the three North Sea countries, and they can only agree no matter how reluctant they are.

At the same time, as representatives of the "matchmaking" with the three North Sea countries, the status of the five eastern colonies in the confederation has also been slightly improved; although they were semi-forced to join from the beginning, now they are also due to this staggering amount of money. Trade and the entire Free Confederacy were tied to the same chariot.

In addition, in order to improve efficiency, Anson "suggested" that the Supreme Council be reorganized as he had done with the Beluga Harbor Council of 500 before, and that a "committee" be established to oversee various affairs for overall coordination, while the speakers of the thirteen colonies formed a parliament. The "Council" is only responsible for proposing proposals and top decisions, and is no longer responsible for the performance of actual work.

The result of this reform is that the "Supreme Meeting" that was not necessarily held for half a year at first became more and more frequent, sometimes even once a day; the speakers and representatives who were originally expected to return to their respective colonies in early March found that they were completely out of touch. It seems that there are countless tasks waiting for them to solve and deal with.

Regarding the problems of many representatives and speakers working long hours with "no rest" and "difficulty going home", the helpful Anson put forward a brand-new suggestion, which is to reduce the scale of decision-making again.

In short, although there is a lot of work, not everything requires everyone to participate in the decision-making, let alone representatives of the entire confederation to participate in the vote; everyone can entrust representatives to establish a smaller but still fully functional Supreme Council.

Of course, due to the current trade with the three North Sea countries, the Supreme Council cannot be easily transferred. As the governor of Ice Dragon Fjord, Anson will not rest. He will definitely stay in the Council and loyally devote all his time and energy to the Confederacy.

So after some discussions, the only people left in the Supreme Council were Louis Bernard, Chairman of the Decision-making Council Paulina Frey, Speaker of the Slave Port, Speaker of Long Lake Town, and Anson Bach, a total of five people... The remaining speakers left Beluga Harbor after arranging representatives, and the size of the entire Supreme Council was suddenly reduced by two-thirds.

"...In this way, it not only improves efficiency, but also further concentrates and integrates the manpower and material resources of the Free Confederacy to make adequate preparations for the upcoming war."

In the parliament hall, Anson proudly introduced: "Whether it is each committee or the mature and perfect logistics system established in the entire trade activities, it can become a fast channel connecting various colonies during the war; since they can carry ore Coal, then it can carry food, ordnance and soldiers, and complete the dispatch covering the entire Free Confederacy as quickly as possible."

"So to a certain extent, this is a preview of the war, and it is also a thorough understanding of the strength of the entire Free Confederacy; the area of ​​arable land, the size of the population, the distribution of roads, the location of cities, mountains and rivers, and the youth labor force The proportion... will all become data on the statistical table; and these data will greatly reduce the difficulty of governing the entire Free Confederation!"

"It will no longer be a scattered mob, but a complete whole; the colonies will no longer operate independently, but will be united under the same flag, the same name, and the same national system!"

"Yes, we are all united under Anson Bach, the governor of Ice Dragon Fjord." The young knight sitting opposite him snorted and smiled slightly sarcastically:

"Perhaps it won't be long before we all kneel down to you and pay allegiance like knights to the emperor."

After the words fell, the conference hall was surprisingly quiet; no one stood up to refute, and no one took the initiative to express agreement.

Polina was still smiling, as if she hadn't heard anything; the remaining Slave Port and Chang Lake Town Speakers, as well as the representatives of the other colonies looked at each other in embarrassment, and no one dared to say anything. .

"I didn't say that, and I don't intend to be an emperor."

Anson deliberately glared at Louis. He knew that the other party was deliberately using this "joking" way to express his dissatisfaction. After all, he was indeed accelerating the centralization of power in the Confederacy; as long as he was not a fool, it was not difficult to see that the White Whale Port and even the Ice Dragon Fjord His voice within the Confederacy is increasing rapidly, and he is no longer hiding his leadership status.

But there is nothing that can be done about it. After all, it is impossible to expect a scattered Confederacy to resist the invasion of the Jihad Army. That is unrealistic.

"The entire Confederation is built on the cornerstone of 'freedom'. This is a foundation that cannot be destroyed, let alone negated; the colonies are equal and respect each other, but..." Anson changed the subject:

"But this does not mean that we cannot achieve efficiency and unity on this basis. On the contrary, as equals and free, we should be able to show more efficiency and unity than the old continent; because we have no identity. There is no gap between us, let alone the superiority and inferiority under the imperial system; we are not loyal to a certain person, but to the whole."

"Therefore, I can once again assure you that there will be no king in the Free Confederation, and I... Anson Bach will not become any emperor, because in a free land, everyone is his own emperor; we do not need to go alone You can control the life and death of another person, let alone decide the survival of an entire country."

"It should be decided by us, everyone living on this land; it is the thousands of people who are determined to fight for freedom... It is us!"

An impassioned speech finally eased the awkward atmosphere, causing the embarrassed speaker and representatives to applaud excitedly.

Only Louis Bernard silently shook his head. Having been born under the rule of the empire since childhood, he did not believe that this so-called "equality" would be superior to the old world, let alone efficiency and unity.

He now only hopes that his information can be delivered to his father as soon as possible, so as to delay the departure of the Holy War Army as much as possible and gain more preparation time for the new world.

……………………

Empire, Adland Port.

Under the gloomy dome, a huge storm swept across the entire port; the heavy rain caused the water level in the port to rise suddenly, and the huge waves rolled in the dark sea water and milky white foam, constantly beating the pier, driving the rainwater away. Pour into the city.

For this one of the most prosperous trading ports in the empire, every spring is not only the beginning of prosperity, but also the clarion call of natural disasters; without warning and powerful showers and storms will cover the entire city, and in the worst cases, one-third of the city. Two entire urban areas will become swamps, and only the higher-lying areas where wealthy people live will survive.

As for Port Adland this year, in addition to heavy rain, there are more troublesome things plaguing the place.

On the streets submerged by the sea, among the houses washed down by the rain, countless figures wielding hammers, shovels and torches were looming in the mist; hundreds of footsteps intertwined into the sounds of the heavy rain. Thunder, mixed with countless curses, growls and growls.

On the periphery of these figures, groups of Imperial line soldiers lined up in neat formations, holding iris flags soaked in the rain to block the streets and all exits near the crowd, guns that had been loaded with ammunition. He held his mouth flat, anxiously waiting for his superior's order.

Arthur Herred, who was responsible for all this, was standing behind the line soldiers. His expression was extremely ugly. He gritted his teeth at the crowd who were cursing him, but he didn't know what to do.

"...According to the messenger's report, the constant spread of various public opinions about the New World has aroused great resentment among the sailors and workers of Port Adlan. They believe that the behavior of the Holy See is no less than the brutal suppression of the Universalist believers and the so-called ' Eradicate the heretics' has nothing to do with it."

In the study, the old butler holding a letter in his hand said to Grand Duke Adlan who was silently bowing his head and writing something with a cold expression: "Currently, due to the storm, the strike has spread from the port to the civilian areas of the entire city; all chambers of commerce and warehouses. , as well as the porters from the Carriage Guild, all refused to serve the Jihadi Army.”

"His Royal Highness Arthur Herred, who is currently the only one who has arrived at the Port of Adland, is leading the 10,000-strong Holy War Legion that has been assembled to suppress the riot. However, because the entire port can hardly provide any logistics, the supply and morale of the army have been greatly affected. , it is difficult to end the riot as soon as possible."

"He said that if possible, he also hopes that you can come to Port Adlan in person to persuade your subjects to end the riot, or provide logistical support. The entire legion's supplies can only last for another three to five days at most."

"Yes, I understand." Grand Duke Adlan said calmly, without even raising his head:

"Tell him that because the port is blocked and trade has stopped, the Bernard family is also very stretched, and there is not much spare capacity to provide support for an army of 10,000 people; as for the others, I'm afraid..."

"boom--!"

The heavy breaking of the door interrupted the Grand Duke's words. A knight in gorgeous clothes rushed into the room and knelt down on one knee: "I'm extremely sorry for breaking into the castle without permission, but the situation is urgent and must be reported as soon as possible!"

"I don't know where the rumor came from, saying that the New World is not a heresy, and that the Holy See plans to massacre the Universal Sect believers like it did a hundred years ago, which caused the people around the castle to protest!"

"Currently, thousands of people have blocked the surrounding roads, cut off the supply lines to the port, and organized all teams carrying jihadist flags to pass by; they have even threatened to go on a complete strike and not provide a piece of bread or a single lead bullet to the jihadist army!"

"oh?"

The eyes brightened, Archduke Adlan suddenly raised his head, stood up, and tried his best to maintain a serious look with his slightly trembling mouth: "Everyone, it seems that even we have fake news protesters here."

"This is really... really..."

"Too bad!"