There is a saying that the tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop...
Claude's wish to stay at Veblen Manor to spend a peaceful New Year's Eve with his mother, wife and children was shattered. On the third day before the end of the year, a falcon message from Wickham Castle caused General Bologna to rush to Claude for discussion.
"What are you talking about?" Claude almost jumped in shock: "Prince Hansback sent us a secret order. The special envoy has now been sent to Wickham Castle. General Skerry sent this falcon message to us. We rushed over urgently. He said that the special envoy of the great prince required all the generals in our theater to arrive before he could read out the secret order."
"Yes, General Alberonk and General Skree are already at Wickham Castle. The envoy reported our names and required that we two must be present before he can hand over the secret order of the great prince to us. Now Beech General Kling is also rushing to Wickham Castle. Can you see if we will leave immediately?" General Bolonik was also helpless. His family just moved to Lanhu Town in the second half of this year, and he also wanted to spend time with his family. A reunion night.
But there is no way. At present, neither the eldest prince Hansback nor the second prince Wedelek, who has ascended the throne as Sterling XI, can be easily offended by General Claude and Bolognik. Now that the eldest prince sent a special envoy, Claude and General Bolognik had to set off for Wickham Castle, and even spent the welcoming night on the road.
Claude and General Bolognik discussed it when they were on their way. Neither of them could figure out what Prince Hansback wanted to do when he sent the special envoy. They were far away on the continent of Nubisia, and the kingdom's fearless fleet and storm fleet were both in the royal capital. Under the control of the war zone, the war zone had no influence on the civil war between the two kings fighting for the throne in the kingdom. Could it be that the eldest prince wanted Claude and General Bolognik to lead the Thunder Army and the Rock Army to start a rebellion in the overseas territories
That was simply child's play. Prince Hansback led his troops to launch a fierce offensive and defensive battle with the Kingdom's Griffin Legion in the Odin Mountains last September. After both sides suffered losses, they stood still in Amys City, and there was no movement at the end of the year. Launch another big battle. Now that the special envoy is sent here, is it really necessary for the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion to launch a rebellion to attract the attention of the royal capital
This is useless. The king only needs to stop the transport fleets of the two continents to isolate the overseas territories of Nubicia. After the two kings of the kingdom compete for the throne and decide the winner, they can deal with the overseas territories. We are afraid that the rebels such as Claude and General Bolognik will not be obedient and surrendered.
On January 7, the 592nd year of the Holy Light Calendar, Generals Claude and Bolognik arrived at Wickham Castle with their guards after a long journey. Without even bothering to wash up, they met with the big man. A special envoy sent by the prince. The special envoy was a forty-year-old middle-aged soldier who claimed to be Lieutenant Colonel Henry. With a straight face, he checked the military certificates of General Claude and Bolognik one by one, and then opened a small suitcase that he carried with him. He took out an official document and handed it over.
Claude took the official document and handed it to General Bolognik. As the acting supreme commander of the theater, he should read it first. General Bolognik was not polite, opened the beeswax seal on the official envelope, and took out the secret order from Prince Hansbach.
But soon General Bolognik's face turned livid, his body began to tremble, and veins suddenly bulged in the hands holding the secret order. Claude was stunned and asked in a low voice what was going on. General Bolognik gave Claude the secret order and said with a livid face: "See for yourself."
Claude took a look at the secret order and immediately understood why General Bolognik became like that. It was just out of anger. The secret order was written very simply, asking General Claude and Bolognik to reorganize the Thunder Legion and Rock Legion, head to Vibato Port, and wait for the arrival of the Sea King Fleet and the United Fleet of the Hicks Kingdom.
Prince Hansback ordered Generals Claude and Bolognik to return the demesne of Vibato Port to the Kingdom of Hicks, and at the same time cede the demesne of Cromwell and Beringana to the Kingdom of Hicks. In exchange for the Hicks Kingdom using the Sea King Fleet and the United Fleet to transport the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion back to the kingdom, they will fight for Prince Hansback to regain the throne...
Claude also turned pale and handed the secret order to General Skerry for review. Now he understood why the special envoy had to come in person from Claude and General Bolognik before he was willing to take out the secret order from the great prince. If he had known that what was written in the secret order, he would not have rushed to Wickham Castle even if he killed Claude. He had many excuses not to accept the secret order.
But now that he has received the secret order in person, there are only two options left. One is to accept the order, obey the great prince, and bring the Thunder Legion to serve under his command. At the same time, he was known as a traitor because he returned the Vibato Port Territory to the Kingdom of Hicks, and also presided over the cession of the Cromwell Territory and the Beringana Territory...
The second option is to break with Prince Hansbach and not follow his secret orders, but this also involves taking a great risk. Not to mention how the eldest prince would punish those who disobeyed his orders, such as Claude and General Bolognik, if he succeeded in the fight for the throne, the reputation of someone who betrayed his benefactor would not sound very good. You must know that it was Prince Hansbach who recruited Claude into the army, was promoted to a junior officer, and was awarded the Knight Medal. Finally, he fell in the eyes of Marshal Michelchi and became his disciple. Under Marshal Michelchi It was only under his command that he achieved his current glory.
As the secret order was passed on, the faces of the five generals turned livid. No one expected that Prince Hansback would send such a secret order. Compared with Claude, General Skree was the personal aide-de-camp of Prince Hansback. He was shaking with anger as he held the secret order. He invested in the two direct jurisdictions of Cromwell and Beringana. We have put in the most effort to put these two direct territories on the right track of development.
Now that the eldest prince had given a light secret order, asking the war zone to cede these two direct territories to the Kingdom of Hicks, how could this make him willing to accept General Skerry's signature and seal on the secret order again, but he was still disappointed in the end. This is indeed a secret order signed by Prince Hansbach himself, without any trace of forgery.
General Skerry's complexion turned from livid to gray, and he slumped on the chair helplessly, muttering: "I don't believe that His Highness would issue such a secret order..."
The special envoy who called himself Lieutenant Colonel Henry looked at the five generals in front of him indifferently, and said with a straight face: "Generals, since you have read His Highness's secret order, please take action immediately to lead the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion. Assemble at Vibato Port. I will send someone back to deliver a message and ask the Hicks Kingdom's Sea King Fleet and United Fleet to transport you to Vibato Port to join the great prince. You only have two months to prepare. .
In addition, I will stay here as the special envoy of the Grand Prince, responsible for implementing the agreement reached by His Highness with the Kingdom of Hicks and ensuring the smooth progress of the Port Colonial County of Vibato and the two direct jurisdictions of Cromwell and Beringana. Delivery. Generals, Your Highness asked me to tell you something: loss now does not mean loss forever. When His Highness ascends the throne, the kingdom will be reformed, and everything lost can be regained..."
Claude sneered. Who wouldn't say this? Prince Hansback made it clear that he wanted to use the interests of the overseas territories to increase the kingdom's local military strength. The Overseas Directly Administered Territories have lost the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion. With only two or three standing legions, the Kingdom of Hicks can swoop down and capture all the remaining Overseas Directly Administered Territories of the Overas Kingdom. By then, even if Prince Hansback ascends the throne, he will never admit that it was his own fault for abandoning all the kingdom's overseas territories. This blame will definitely be thrown on Claude and the others... . ...
"No, I don't admit that this is an order given by His Highness himself. His Highness must have been deceived by the villains around him, otherwise he would not have ceded the territory of the kingdom to our enemies." General Skerry suddenly jumped up from his chair. , pretending to tear up the secret order in his hand.
Claude had quick hands and eyes, and held down General Skerry: "Give me the secret order, and I will handle this matter."
General Skerry obediently handed over the secret order in his hand, slumped in the chair again, and covered his face with his hands. It could be seen that he was in great pain inside.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Henry." Claude deliberately ignored the military uniform and lieutenant colonel's epaulettes worn by the special envoy in front of him: "I made you laugh, but our Thunder Legion will not follow this secret order from the eldest prince. As a king , I have to protect my family and the country. Even if the eldest prince ascends the throne and becomes our king in the future, I believe he will be considerate of us soldiers who are far away in Nubisia. The Kingdom's overseas territories are also the territory of the Kingdom, and it is absolutely impossible Surrender to our enemies, especially our defeated generals..."
"I agree with the order of our Legion Commander." General Albert took a step forward: "The Kingdom's direct territories are the kingdom's sacred and inviolable territory. The mission of our Thunder Legion is to protect the Kingdom's overseas territories, not to take them away. ceded to our enemies"
"Do you know the consequences of disobeying the order of the eldest prince?" The special envoy was a little angry. He did not expect that such a thing would happen. Didn't it mean that several generals in charge of overseas directly administered territorial theaters were loyal to the eldest prince? He originally thought that this would happen. The mission was not difficult except for the long distance, but it was rejected by Claude and the others.
"Of course I know," Claude replied with a sneer: "If we obey the order of the eldest prince, the kingdom's overseas territories will be lost from our hands. The eldest prince cannot bear this responsibility for us, even if the eldest prince can board the The throne, we, and our family will become traitors despised by everyone in the kingdom, and even our descendants will be ashamed of what we have done. Go back and tell the eldest prince, Cromwell and Beringana. The two direct territories have just relocated two million kingdom residents. We will never abandon them to the Hicks Kingdom and let them become subjugated slaves."
"You, you can move them back..." the special envoy murmured. During this period of time, while waiting for Claude and General Bolognik to arrive at Wickham Castle, he was captured by General Scree. The reception was very good, and we also went out to see the large-scale development of the Cromwell Territory. I know what Claude said is right. The Overseas Territory War Zone is busy resettling a large number of Kingdom residents who have migrated from the Kingdom...
You said it lightly when you moved back to paralysis. Before Claude could refute, General Bolognik had already waved his hand and answered decisively: "Go back and tell the eldest prince that the Rock Legion also does not accept this violation of the military mission. Order. The Rock Legion was formed by Marshal Michelchi in order to preserve the kingdom's overseas territories. Our responsibilities and missions are here, rather than returning to the kingdom's homeland to participate in the war between the two princes. If the eldest prince can ascend the throne in the future If he wants the throne, let him blame me, I will accept any punishment from him."
At this time, the special envoy walked out with a livid face. General Bolognik said to General Bichlin: "Bik, you send a team to escort him back to Vibato Port, and at the same time, let the troops stationed in Vibato Port strengthen their vigilance. Hope The Kingdom of Kes has a good idea. They want to get back their Vibato Port without any effort through the eldest prince. They also want us to cede Cromwell and Beringana to them. Now we refuse to obey the eldest prince’s secret order. , the Hicks Kingdom’s plan went bankrupt, I suspect they will probably become angry and assemble a fleet to attack us..."
"I understand." General Beachlin nodded and prepared to leave the conference room.
Claude stopped him again: "Wait, Bic, go ask the special envoy if he knows the whereabouts of Marshal Michelchi."
General Skerry raised his head: "No need to ask, he doesn't know. In the past few days when you were not here, I took the time to show him the current status of the development of the direct territory, and asked many indirect questions about the eldest prince. He is very talkative. Tight, it only revealed that the eldest prince was planning to carry out a big operation after the Chinese New Year and needed to strengthen his troops, so he was sent to recruit our two legions.
But there was no need for him to hide it from Marshal Michelich. He said that Marshal Michelci was not under the command of the eldest prince. He once heard one of the eldest prince's personal adjutants talk about Marshal Michelci drunkenly and scolded the marshal for not knowing how to praise him. It is said that the eldest prince met Marshal Michele once after leaving the royal capital, but the two broke up on bad terms because the marshal refused to help the eldest prince fight for the throne... "
Claude, General Bolognik, General Albert, and General Beachlin all breathed a sigh of relief. Since Marshal Michelci is not serving under the First Prince, everyone feels that they have rejected the First Prince's secret order. It won't be so stressful. Although the eldest prince was kind to several of the generals present, Claude and the others were able to achieve their current status mainly due to their own efforts and the appreciation and recommendation of Marshal Michelchi.
Whether it is Claude or General Skerry, their ability to become lieutenant-level officers is indeed due to the great prince's discernment and talent. However, becoming a school-level officer mainly relies on military exploits and their personal efforts to get to where they are today, in which the eldest prince does not play a big role. On the contrary, Marshal Michelich helped everyone, appreciated their talents and efforts, guaranteed them with his own reputation, recommended them to cross the dividing line between school-level officers and generals, and promoted them to the rank of major general of the kingdom.
"What should we do next?" General Bolognik asked with a wry smile.
Claude thought for a while and said: "Tell all this to the capital. I heard an old man say a saying, crying children should have sweets. If we hide everything, then there will be rumors in the future, Perhaps the big guys in the capital will think that we have a secret collusion with the eldest prince. Now that we have rejected the eldest prince, we should not offend the capital.
Tell them all this and let the big guys in the capital know that we are loyal to the kingdom. At the same time, he also told the Royal Capital about the plight of lack of funds we are facing here. Maybe in order to appease us, the big bosses in the Royal Capital will approve some construction and development funds for us. In that case, it would not be in vain for us to reject the eldest prince’s secret order and keep our business. Overseas territories of the Kingdom. "
"Yes, we should publicize our rejection of the eldest prince, so that others will not regard us as ungrateful people. It is not that we have betrayed the eldest prince's kindness to us, but that we refuse to be traitors... . .." General Albert was still a little worried about the eldest prince's secret order.
General Bolognik shook his head and said to Claude: "Keep this secret order safe. This will be proof of our innocence in the future. Otherwise, just do as you say. I hope the Royal Capital can understand our difficulties." , give us some assistance..."