When Claude said that after the First World War, there would be no more Sterling royal family, the atmosphere in the tent suddenly became silent. Prime Minister Blancart just looked at Claude with a smile and said nothing, while General Albert looked at Claude and then at Prime Minister Blancart, wanting to say something but unable to say it. As for Claude, he stared closely at Prime Minister Blancart's face, watching the changes in the expression on his face...
I don’t know how much time passed, it seemed very long, it seemed very short. Just when General Albert wanted to yell because of the depressing atmosphere, Prime Minister Blancart finally put the empty cup in his hand. On the table: "One more drink..."
It was like the feeling of a balloon being pricked by a needle and all the air leaking out. As soon as Prime Minister Blancart said these words, the tense tension and depression no longer existed in the tent. Claude silently opened the remaining bottle of fruit wine and slowly poured the orange and transparent wine into Prime Minister Blancart's empty glass.
Prime Minister Blancart raised the cup again and tasted it slowly. Claude did not say anything, and filled his own cup with fruit wine. He then placed the remaining half bottle of fruit wine in front of General Albert. Signaling him to help himself. General Albert did not pour the fruit wine into his empty glass, but directly grabbed the bottle and drank it in big gulps...
This time, Prime Minister Blancart did not finish the fruit wine, but only took a few sips before looking at Claude: "What do you think will happen to the Kingdom of Orvilas without the Sterling royal family?"
Claude shook his head: "I don't care about the consequences. Even if the kingdom becomes worse, it's none of my business. Because we have all returned to the overseas autonomous territories by then, and we can't control what changes will happen to the kingdom in the future... ..."
"Actually, these things can be calculated." Prime Minister Blancart laughed: "First of all, your overseas armies will become foreign invaders because you occupied the royal capital and destroyed the Sterling royal family. Then all the noble factions in the kingdom will give up their disputes, unite as one, and call on the people of the kingdom to fight against you invaders from overseas dominions and the crimes of killing the king and his wife and the Sterling royal family.
You will go from being heroes who defeated the alliance army and helping the kingdom unify the eastern region to becoming rebels in the hearts of the people of the kingdom and the culprits who will once again involve the kingdom in war and bloodshed. Even if you can use your powerful combat power to suppress the temporary rebellion of the people in the kingdom, you will not be able to stay in the eastern region for a long time. Because you only have two legions of troops, there is no way you can control such a large area of territory in the kingdom.
The so-called name is not justified, I can't imagine what kind of names and excuses you used to rule such a large kingdom after occupying the royal capital. With the help of the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion, the only thing you can control is the kingdom itself, and you still have to face one after another local rebellions. So are you ready to give up on areas such as Karrnath Steppe, Esquiline, Rimodra and Sidings? In this case, what is the significance of victory in the Second Eastern Region War
Our Kingdom of Orvilas has never had time to restore its vitality since the end of the First Eastern Region War. From the colonial war initiated by the Kingdom of Hicks, to the civil war in the kingdom when the two kings competed for the throne, to the debt war and the second eastern war that occurred after His Majesty Frederick I mutinied and came to power, the people of the kingdom have had enough. After the suffering of the war, they very much longed for peace and tranquility. No one wanted to continue the war.
Therefore, His Majesty the King maintains the greatest goodwill and tolerance for your troops entering the royal capital. He believes that your overseas autonomous territories will not destroy this hard-won peace. This is why I, as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, appear here to welcome your army. reason. If you regard a small misunderstanding as an excuse to launch a war and destroy the peaceful situation in the kingdom, I believe that the people of the kingdom will be disappointed and angry with your overseas autonomous territories, and they will spontaneously rise up to resist.
The current royal capital is an undefended city to you. You can rush in and kill, rob, set fire to, and commit adultery. Just like the evil done by those alliance armies, you can do it again and make the people of the entire royal capital fall into a miserable world of water and fire again. If this is your wish, then I congratulate you, you will realize your wish soon. His Majesty the King, the ministers of the royal court, including me, and the people of the royal capital will all be at your mercy..."
"Uh..." General Albert jumped up from his chair: "Mr. Prime Minister, our Thunder Legion is not an enemy of the kingdom. Please don't refer to us as that alliance army, our Thunder Legion." The soldiers will never do anything that violates military discipline to the people of the royal capital. We are soldiers from overseas autonomous territories, not criminals... "
Claude could only shake his head and smile bitterly, mourning for General Albert's poor political IQ. Couldn't he even hear that this was Prime Minister Blancart's intimidation? The response was exactly what Claude said: After the first battle, there will be no more threats from the Stirling royal family.
"Since the capital city is an undefended city, I believe we will not encounter resistance when we enter the city tomorrow. This is a good thing. I believe we can complete the task quickly and escort the representatives of our overseas dominions and officers. , and the huge amount of 30 million gold crowns on the way back." Claude looked at Prime Minister Blancart and raised his glass:
"If our parliamentarians and representatives of promoted officers have not suffered any personal harm, and the funds of 30 million gold crowns are not missing, then I believe that the misunderstanding stated in the letter by His Majesty the King must be true. Her Majesty the Queen is also for us For the personal safety of these parliamentarians and military representatives, they and the funds were transferred to the palace. A small mistake can be forgiven during this period, don’t you think so, my respected Prime Minister?"
At this moment, Prime Minister Blancart's smile suddenly turned bitter. He avoided Claude's eyes, raised the cup and swallowed the fruit wine in big gulps, and then said with a forced smile: "Actually, , because they were really in a hurry that night, the palace guards sent to help were a little anxious to complete Her Majesty the Queen's order, and did not explain it clearly to your people, and even had a little conflict with your parliamentarians and military representatives. Individuals were slightly injured, but I guarantee their lives are not in any danger..."
Claude snorted coldly and put the wine glass on the table: "Let us frankly explain what happened that night. As for the excuse, we all know it well, so there is no need to mention it. What I just want to know is, How many of our people were injured, how many of us are safe and sound, and how many of us are still imprisoned by you.
You don't have to say anything now, but when we enter the city tomorrow, we will soon find out the truth of the matter. Then don't blame us for not saying hello to you and taking revenge. Because first of all, you deceived us and concealed the truth..."
"Your Excellency, Marshal, we have a saying in the Farea continent that a minister should not speak of a ruler's fault. I believe you have heard of this sentence." Prime Minister Blancart said sincerely:
"The meaning of this sentence is not that as a minister, you cannot accuse the king of his faults face to face. It means that after the king makes a mistake, as a minister, you should not blame the king for why he made such a mistake, but should actively deal with it. In this wrong situation, it is the responsibility of a minister to try to reduce and eliminate the serious consequences of this mistake made by the king.
You and I both understand the cause of this incident. What His Majesty the King said in his letter was indeed an excuse, but it was also out of helplessness. After all, it was Her Majesty the Queen who made the mistake, his wife, and the prince's mother. Now she is pregnant and cannot bear the great stimulation.
So even if she made such a big mistake, His Majesty the King could only endure his anger and clean up her end. Just like an ordinary family, conflicts and quarrels sometimes occur between husband and wife, but this time things are particularly big...
I know that your overseas autonomous territories are very dissatisfied with His Majesty’s refusal to give you discounts and benefits for this grant of title. But what you don’t understand is that it’s not that Your Majesty and I, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, don’t give discounts and benefits, but that we don’t either. Method.
Do you know how many nobles in the kingdom have firmly opposed allowing your overseas autonomous territories to enjoy the same treatment after obtaining hereditary family territory? The pressure is really great for Your Majesty and me, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, and it took a lot of effort to allow your overseas autonomous territories to also enjoy the qualifications to grant seals without giving you discounts and preferential conditions.
From a certain perspective, the benefits brought by the granting of the title to His Majesty and the treasury are indeed great, so great that many noble families in the kingdom are jealous. After we finally paid off the huge military expenses we owed over the years and the loans we borrowed from various noble families, there was not much money left in the treasury.
This is a kingdom that is waiting for new things and cannot support the implementation of my economic revitalization plan for that kingdom. Therefore, we can only focus on the overseas autonomous territories that have always been wealthy, hoping to obtain promotion fees and land selection from you. Fees can solve this funding problem.
Frankly speaking, this is the best opportunity for the kingdom's revival. His Majesty used the granting order to lift the constraints of the kingdom's established aristocratic families on the economy, politics and military aspects of the kingdom.
After clearing out a large number of personnel from established aristocratic families in the army, they have truly and accurately controlled the direct jurisdiction of the three legions of the Red Dragon, Griffin, and Imperial Guards. There is no need to worry about another chaos such as mutiny. The only thing lacking is large sums of money to implement the kingdom's economic revival plan.
But what we didn't expect was that the parliamentarians and military representatives of your overseas autonomous territories thought this was very unfair, refused to accept the grant of hereditary family territory, and displayed the huge amount of 30 million gold crowns they brought in front of the palace. In the small square, the whole royal capital was shocked.
Although your Majesty and I, the Prime Minister, are jealous of your huge sum of money, we have no intention of using it. It's just that Her Majesty the Queen was angry at the rudeness to her by your four representatives at the Royal Court meeting, and wanted to solve Her Majesty's troubles of poverty and lack of funds, so she took it upon herself to send the palace guards to your office in the capital. An error occurred..."
"Shut up!" Claude raised his hand to stop General Albert who was about to speak. This guy was almost fooled by the prime minister's sincere words. Claude was afraid of his brain. A hot pat on the chest promises something...
Seeing General Albert closing his mouth with a look of grievance, Claude then turned to look at Prime Minister Blancart, his eyes slowly becoming sharper: "Your Majesty Prime Minister, as a soldier of an overseas autonomous territory, I What I want to know is, how big of a mistake did our respected Majesty the Queen make that night, and how much harm did the palace guards she sent do to the parliamentarians and military representatives of our Dominion
I don’t want to know how much effort His wise Majesty the King has lost in order to revive the Kingdom’s economy, nor do I want to know how helpful and significant the 30 million gold crowns brought by our Dominion are to the Kingdom. In my opinion, the matter is actually very simple. As our President Hindman said at the Royal Court Meeting, this is actually a deal. Now that the price cannot be negotiated, the deal will naturally not be established.
If it is a normal business transaction, one party's offer is too high and one party's counteroffer is too low. If the two parties cannot reach an agreement, they can only break up. This is a normal situation. You and I agree, and no one can blame the other. It's just that our overseas autonomous territories are dealing with His Majesty the King this time. Since we can't counter-offer, we think the offer is too high and we have no choice but to give up on the deal. In order to show our sincerity, we even let you see the funds we brought with us.
What we didn't expect was that you actually took the initiative to arrest our congressmen and representatives of the promoted officers, robbed us of the huge sum of 30 million gold crowns that we brought over, and also sealed off the garrison of our overseas autonomous territories. The office in the royal capital. Is this something a king and queen can do? If our Dominion did not have a strong military, I believe our people would suffocate in their cells until they died, while you would enjoy our funds with peace of mind...
Mr. Prime Minister, you just said a lot of heartfelt words to us. It sounds like we should forgive your mistakes, understand your difficulties, and understand your helplessness. But after talking for a long time, you still haven’t answered the question we are most concerned about. Let’s get straight to the point and talk about the resolution of this incident. How do you want to solve this problem
The first thing we want to know is the current situation of our people. Whether they are dead or alive, the Prime Minister must give an explanation to our overseas autonomous territories. Secondly, the wealth that belongs to us must be returned at a penny, because it belongs to the Dominion. Third, we want to know whether Her Majesty the Queen will be punished for doing something wrong, and what kind of punishment it will be. Last but not least, does His Majesty the King have any compensation plan for us? "
Prime Minister Blancart's smile was almost unbearable on his face. Claude didn't pay attention to his remarks at all. The words that only referred to the core issues made him feel very uncomfortable. But he had no choice. Since he was mentally prepared to come and greet him, he still couldn't avoid these most critical questions in the end...
"I'm sorry..." Prime Minister Blancart lowered his head with thick brown hair: "That day the palace guards were ordered to go to your office in the royal capital. Their attitude was a bit rude and arrogant, and they ended up with There was a small conflict between your congressmen and the representatives of Jinjue officers. Both sides used weapons. Fortunately, they were stopped quickly and no major casualties were caused.
Fortunately, your congressmen and representatives of the promoted officers have only forty-seven injured, and they have received the best treatment so far, and there is no danger to their lives. The original staff of the office and a group of guard soldiers did not participate in the conflict because they were stopped by Marshal Bolognik. They were only disarmed and are now under house arrest in the military camp... "
The corners of Claude's mouth slowly rose up, revealing a sarcastic smile: "I don't understand, Mr. Prime Minister, whether our parliamentarians and military representatives were injured in the conflict or were arrested and tortured. And the injuries? We went to nearly a hundred delegates, and nearly half of them were injured. This is not consistent with the small conflict you claimed, right
If they were injured during the conflict, even Marshal Bolognik would not be able to stop the guards from counterattacking, otherwise they would be derelict in their duties and would be subject to military law. Only if they were unable to resist after being arrested could so many congressmen and officers and representatives be injured, while the guards were helpless..."
"This is mainly because after your parliamentarians and military representatives were arrested, they were offended by their words to His Majesty the King and the Queen, which led to the palace guards angrily giving them some physical punishment. This caused So many people were injured..." Prime Minister Blancart explained awkwardly...
"Haha..." Claude sneered: "If we hadn't sent a Falcon letter afterwards, telling you that without the signatures of myself, Allen, and Piccolo, no one would have the right to use that If a huge sum of 30 million gold crowns is provided, I believe that there are already more than sixty hereditary nobles from our overseas autonomous territories. That sum of money is just used as their promotion fee and land selection fee, and falls into Got your pockets, right?"
"No..." Prime Minister Blancart reluctantly defended: "We do need your huge funds to implement the plan to revive the Kingdom's economy, but Your Majesty and I, the Prime Minister, will not use your Dominion without authorization. Money. Her Majesty the Queen has made a mistake, and Your Majesty is trying her best to eliminate the impact of this mistake.
None of us want this small mistake to lead to a war and ruin the kingdom's chances of restoration. Even if we need money, we can still borrow from your Dominion or loan you, and we will not use deceptive means to obtain your funds..."
"Then how do you punish Her Majesty the Queen for making this mistake?" Claude asked again.
Prime Minister Blancart opened his mouth, wanted to say something but finally lowered his head in vain: "You know, Marshal Claude, Her Majesty the Queen is pregnant. This is her and His Majesty the King's second child, so we There is no way to blame or punish her..."