Although Claude was just a technician responsible for program support and logistics in his previous life, he had been with the boss for a long time and was hanging out in shopping malls, so he had seen a lot of scenes. Although I have never seen a pig running, I have eaten a lot of pork, so I naturally know what a pig looks like. So in front of Marshal Michelich, he behaved like a humble, studious and honest student, but in front of Mr. Veblen, he looked like a shopping mall veteran, chatting and laughing, and handling things with ease.
Even though this mining and business association invested a lot of money in him, Claude would never show being flattered or overjoyed. His attitude is still ambiguous and he will not make the commitment that will benefit the mining and business associations after he succeeds Marshal Michelchi as the supreme commander of the theater. Businessmen are very profitable, and Claude knows very well that if he can invest in him, he naturally expects to obtain greater returns.
Originally thinking that Mr. Veblen was talking about these two official matters, Claude did not expect that Mr. Veblen would talk to him for a while about how it would take several years before the Kingdom of Hicks would launch this colonial war next time. After preparing his guess, he took out a National Bank account from his pocket and placed it in front of Claude.
"What does this mean?" Claude thought to himself, is this a blatant bribery? It's too rude to put this national bank account in front of him like this.
Mr. Veblen laughed, "Lord Baron, this is an anonymous account, and the password is written at the back. No matter who takes this account to the National Bank, they can use the password to withdraw the deposits in the account. However, Now there is only one riaso for account opening and no other deposits.
Perhaps the Baron has already heard that as the governor and admiral of the Amphiston Territory, he can receive a 10% dividend from the two large gold and silver mines every year. This account is for dividends, and the amount of dividends will be transferred to this account at the end of the year. Now that the Amphiston Direct Territory belongs to the war zone, there is no governor and admiral, so only the supreme commander of the war zone can enjoy this 10% share. "
Claude laughed, picked up the account and looked at it. It was indeed anonymous. But he immediately threw the account back on the table, "Why are you giving it to me so early? I remember that Marshal Michelci is now the supreme commander of the war zone. This account should be given to him. Mine won't have dividends until next year." "
Mr. Veblen nodded and admitted, "Marshal Michelchi naturally has such an account. The dividends of the previous two years were all paid to him. But this year he will not have it, because he will leave office at the end of November and return to the royal capital. At that time, our association will give him a generous farewell gift. But the dividend of this 10% share will be at the end of December, so Marshal Michelich is no longer eligible to receive this dividend, and you took over Due to his position, this dividend belongs to you.”
"You are so realistic. Just one month later, Marshal Michelchi has lost a lot of income." Claude shook his head. "Perhaps I should persuade the Marshal to postpone it until January next year." Let’s set off back to the capital, so that we can at least get this dividend.”
Mr. Veblen's face turned a little red. "Baron, it's not that we don't miss our old friendship, it's just the association's regulations. This dividend is only allocated to the highest responsible officer of the Amphiston Territory in office at the time, whether it is the governor or the war zone." The supreme commander of the country, whether he is about to take office or is about to leave office, whoever is in office on the day of dividends will own it."
It is better to be in charge than to be an official now, but this is considered fair and reasonable. No one has anything to say. At most, they can only blame themselves for not having such wealth. Just like Marshal Michelich, he didn't get the dividend in just one month. But Claude immediately laughed. Naturally, Marshal Michelich would not take this money seriously. Claude suspected that he was just doing as the Romans do in accepting this dividend, and did not want to embarrass these mine owners and businessmen. .
"Okay, my friend, I appreciate the kindness of your association. Is there any other business?" Claude looked at Mr. Veblen shaking his head and asked, "Didn't you say there is another private matter? Do you need me?" Helpful”
"Oh, that's right," Mr. Veblen began.
It turns out that Mr. Veblen has two sons and one daughter. The eldest daughter has been married for a long time. The third son is still young and has only two years to reach adulthood. He is currently studying at the junior high school in Greno Castle and is a liberal arts student. What worries Mr. Veblen is his second son, Derivic, who is twenty-nine years old.
What surprised Claude was that Drivek, Mr. Veblen's second son, turned out to be a retired soldier who had participated in the Eastern Region War for five years. Claude remembered that the Kingdom of Overas did not recruit soldiers from the seven overseas territories, so how did he go to participate in the war
Haha, I didn’t expect that when Derivic was eighteen years old, he secretly went to the Kingdom to enlist in the army and became a volunteer. Mr. Veblen originally wanted his son, who was determined to join the army, to serve in the local garrison of the Amphiston Territory, but he didn't expect him to show up like this, and he almost had a heart attack from anger. His wife goes to the Temple of War every day to pray, hoping that her son will return safely.
Perhaps it was the Veblen couple's sincerity that moved the God of War. As a result, his son Derivic experienced five years of war in the eastern region. Not only was he unscathed, but he was also promoted to the rank of lieutenant of the kingdom for his meritorious service. Just because he was in the second-line army, and the number of troops was downsized after the war, junior officers like Derivick, whose families were in overseas territories, were among the first batch of compulsory retirees. Even if Derivic wanted to continue his military career, he could only return to the Amphiston Territory.
After returning home, Derivic felt more at ease and became a manager in Mr. Veblen's mineral resources company. He got married a year later and is now the father of three children. Mr. Veblen thought that he would be able to hand over all the family property to him in a few years, but he did not expect that his son, who was nearly thirty years old, still had a restless heart. Some time ago, he actually said that he wanted to sign up to join the army and continue his dream of being a soldier. Then the family started to have troubles, with the big ones crying and the small ones howling. It was a mess, but Derivic was determined to join the army.
"Why does he have to enlist in the army?" Claude was a little surprised. Retired veterans like this, especially retired grassroots officers, would basically not encounter compulsory recruitment even if they did not have national status. Unless the situation is extremely urgent and there is an extreme shortage of troops, at that time it is usually a man who has to take up arms and go to the front line. Otherwise, it will be based on voluntary service, and corresponding military positions will be awarded based on the rank before retirement.
Like the 100,000 retired soldier families who immigrated to the war zone this time, they are mainly civilians and live in poverty. That's why they agreed to migrate to the Nubisian continent under the financial temptation of the emerging business aristocrats, so that their families could have a home. He is willing to take up arms again and join the army to fight for the future of himself and his family on the battlefield.
But Derivick is different. He doesn't have to worry about his livelihood at all. To be honest, Mr. Veblen's family business is ranked among the top ten in the Amphiston Territory, and he can be called a rich man. Moreover, in the overseas territories directly under the jurisdiction of the country, there is not much difference between national status and civilian status. People here are not as class-conscious as those in the kingdom. Except for the difficulty of holding public office, other rights are almost the same.
"He has never forgotten the dream he had when he was a child to become a general," Mr. Veblen explained to Claude helplessly. It turns out that Derivic once had a dream when he was a child. In the dream, he joined the army, performed meritorious service on the battlefield, and was promoted all the way until the end of the war. He had become a victorious general of the kingdom. But when he rode a white horse and led his troops into the royal capital triumphantly to be inspected by His Majesty the King, he suddenly fell off the horse, and this sweet dream ended.
"At that time, he told us about this dream he had. I remember that I encouraged him to pursue his dream. Maybe when he grows up, he can really become a general of the kingdom." Mr. Veblen smiled bitterly. "Perhaps he has always regarded my encouragement as true, so when the war in the eastern region broke out five years ago, he felt that this war was a call to him and his destiny, so he secretly bought a ship with us. I went to the Kingdom and volunteered to join the army, just to go to the battlefield and realize my dream."
Based on Derivic's voluntary enlistment, his bravery on the battlefield, meritorious service, and his promotion to the military rank, he should have been retained by the Kingdom's Army Ministry after the war and sent to the main force as a junior officer. But he was born in an overseas territory. According to the regulations of the Kingdom's Ministry of War, soldiers from overseas territories should serve on the mainland of Nubisia.
In addition, he joined the second-line army, which was completely downsized after the war, so he could only be forced to retire and only received one letter of recommendation. That is to say, if he wants to continue his military career, he can rely on this letter of recommendation to seek a position in the local garrison of the seven overseas territories in the Nubicia continent.
It's just that Derivic, who has experienced five years of war in the eastern region, has no interest in continuing to serve in the local garrison forces of the seven overseas territories. Being born here, he naturally knows what kind of goods these local garrison forces are composed of. Not to mention that the officer positions in these troops are a trap. More officers are held by the admiral's personal confidants. Foreigners like Derivick are not welcome no matter which local garrison force they join.
This is why Derivic went home directly to help in the family business, but he did not expect that the colonial garrison of the Kingdom of Hicks would have the idea of becoming an overseas territory directly under the Kingdom. After the outbreak of the colonial war, Derivic wanted to join the army, but it happened that his wife was about to give birth. Because he was afraid of being irritated, and his parents persuaded him and he did not receive the call-up order, Derivic gave up his job. thought.
Unexpectedly, the kingdom won two colonial wars. The Kingdom of Hicks still refused to give up and vowed to persevere in this colonial war. It also announced that it would form ten standing legions to wash away the shame of the two colonial wars. Seeing that the war was going to continue, Derivic finally couldn't restrain his desire to become a general. Now his youngest son was two and a half years old, he no longer cared about it and was determined to join the army.
Unable to persuade his son to change his mind, Mr. Veblen could only choose a good unit for his son. After much thought and comparison, he felt that Claude's unit was the most reliable. First of all, Claude's 131st Ranger Regiment is the most combat-effective and offensive-minded unit of the Ranger Legion. It will always make great achievements. Serving in such a unit is the easiest opportunity to obtain meritorious service and promotion. Secondly, there is another characteristic of Claude's troops that Mr. Veblen values most, that is, they can win with minimal casualties every time they participate in a battle.
Therefore, Mr. Veblen's private matter was to ask Claude to let his son Derivic join his army and become a member of his command. Perhaps in Mr. Veblen's eyes, having hugged Claude's lap, his son Derivic might really be destined to become a general. If he could go one step further and obtain a noble title, he would die without regrets in his life.
"My friend, are you really determined like this?" Claude smiled bitterly and shook his head. "The war is fierce and dangerous, and any accident may happen on the battlefield. Even I, a colonel, sometimes have to go into battle myself and fight for my life. If you If you really decide to make him my subordinate, you and your wife must be prepared to lose him. This is not a joke."
Claude spoke the truth, but Mr. Veblen still nodded resolutely, "Baron, I know that our couple's request has made you feel embarrassed, but since my son Derivic still wants to become a king, man, we decided to help him pursue his dream.
After making this difficult decision, our husband and wife naturally understood that this was not a safe path, but full of glory and danger, and he could sacrifice himself at any time. But we as husband and wife hope that even if he falls, he will still be an upright king. This is the path he chose, and we will not regret it."
Claude was a little moved, and after thinking for a long time, he finally nodded, "My friend, since it is your request, then I promise to give your son, Derivic, a chance. Our 131st Ranger Regiment will take the next step." In a few days, he will be back from Ferru Town and stationed in Lanhu Town. When you get there, ask Derivick to come to the regiment headquarters to find me. I will first arrange for him to serve as a combat staff officer under me.
The military rank will be calculated based on the lieutenant rank Derivek held when he retired. Let him familiarize himself with military affairs first. After all, he has been away from the army for such a long time, and he also has to relearn the fighting methods and new tactics of our Ranger Legion. Of course, I don't have the power to make him a member of the Ranger Corps. I just opened a small door for him to see if he can become a soldier again.
Marshal Michelich has decided that within the three months before he leaves his post, our theater will reorganize and establish the basic framework of five reinforced divisions. In the future, when those immigrants come in batches, we only need to fill in these five reinforced divisions to supplement the troops. If your son Derivik does have military talents, then I will use his talents according to his ability and find a suitable position for him in the division directly under my command."
"Thank you, thank you, Lord Baron." Mr. Veblen was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly.
After seeing off Mr. and Mrs. Veblen, Claude finally stayed at home quietly for several days. However, he was not very comfortable at home. His son's mischief and disobedience made Claude feel very troublesome. He wanted to beat him up several times to teach him a lesson, but his mother always stopped him. That little bastard has gained experience. As long as he immediately follows his grandma when he gets into trouble, he will be fine. No matter how angry Claude gets, he can't do anything to him.
In addition to his son making Claude worried, his mother's nagging also made Claude feel that life was extremely difficult. Of course, the mother's nagging was not directed at Claude, but at her sister Anna. Sometimes Claude feels that he has taught his sister Anna the wrong chemistry and physics knowledge. She no longer does any medicine experiments, but likes to experiment with the alchemical magic spells that Claude taught her. Explosive synthesis. So much so that she now has to move the so-called pharmaceutical laboratory to a remote corner of the lake to prevent the frequent explosions from alarming the residents of the town.
A week later, the 131st Ranger Regiment entered Lanhu Town. On the same day, Claude received a falcon message from the legion headquarters. Marshal Michelchi asked him to rush to Greno Castle to participate in the new theater preparation meeting held the next morning.
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