"... Judging from the current situation, the Kingdom of Hicks helps the exiled royal court of the so-called Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Karnas to form a restoration army. For us, there is nothing for the time being. It's threatening. No matter how loud it screams, it will only thunder but not rain. The only thing that can be implemented is to send a small team to lurk into the country to spy on intelligence and contact the rebels to incite civil unrest. It will not affect the peace and stability of the entire eastern region... ..."
General Skerry held a small wooden stick in his hand and pointed at the map hanging on the wall while talking. The conference room was filled with parliamentarians and senior officers of the two legions. This was a meeting of parliamentarians and military officer representatives from overseas autonomous territories in the royal capital. Another meeting, the topic of the meeting was the two bad news just received two days ago. As the representative of the Dominion Military Region, General Skerry gave detailed analysis and explanations to the participants at the conference to let them understand the crises faced by the overseas Dominions.
"The Hicks Kingdom's Sea King Fleet has been annihilated by the armored fleet of our Dominion, so it cannot mobilize large forces by ship to carry out landing operations on the eastern coast. In addition, during the war, the Hicks Kingdom can attack Breo The Kingdom of Te and the Kingdom of Monbamark rented a land route as a logistical supply channel to transport military supplies to the frontline troops. They also allowed their defeated soldiers to retreat back home along this land channel.
But now that the war is over, it is no longer possible for the Hicks Kingdom to mobilize large forces to rent a land passage from the Breault Kingdom and the Menbamark Kingdom as a way to enter the Nasseri area. Because that would mean that the Kingdom of Breault and the Kingdom of Monbamark have also joined the Hicks Kingdom, actively declared war on us and become invaders. The Breault Kingdom and the Monbamark Kingdom will never participate in such a war that has nothing to do with them...
Since there are still two countries separated between our kingdom’s territory and the Kingdom of Hicks, the land borders are not adjacent, and the Kingdom of Hicks has lost its only Sea King fleet at sea, so we don’t have to worry about it challenging the eastern region again. Start a war. No matter how much it supports the exiled royal court of the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Karnas, it is just like selling business to earn money, show its presence, and show that it is still the leader of the alliance of countries in the eastern region.
As for the Restoration Army formed by the Kingdom of Hicks with the help of the two exiled royal courts of the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Kannas, even if they send a small group of troops to cause trouble, they can only be in the Nasseri area. As we all know, the Nasseri area has been granted by His Majesty the King to the nobles of the kingdom as a hereditary family territory. Therefore, it is also the territorial nobles who need to consider how to deal with these rebels. Their family armed forces deal with these small groups. of insurgents is more than enough.
The conferred territory our overseas autonomous territories received from His Majesty the King is the coastal area of the Beibu Gulf of Karnas Prairie. After the conferring ceremony is over, it will become another territory of our overseas autonomous territories in the Farea continent. The Dominion Military Region has decided to dispatch an armored squadron to the Beibu Gulf to protect the security of the territorial waters. Therefore, to our Dominion, the Kingdom of Hicks is just a vicious barking dog in a cage. No matter how loud it barks, it is no threat. "
After talking about the Kingdom of Hicks, General Skerry called his adjutants and guards to replace the map on the wall with a map of the Nubicia continent. The next thing to explain is the ban on trade issued by the colonies on the west coast that affects the overseas autonomous territories. effects and adverse consequences.
General Skree used the small wooden stick in his hand to point at the colonies on the west coast of the map. He waited until the noisy conversation in the conference room stopped and then spoke: "Compared to the Kingdom of Hicks helping the Kingdom of Nasseri and Karnas, We believe that the joint statement issued by the colonies on the west coast of the Nubisian continent is the biggest bad news for our overseas autonomous territories. They have implemented a trade ban on us!"
The noisy discussion in the conference room started again, and a voice shouted loudly: "Declare war! We declare war on them! They dare to expel the trading houses and merchants of our Dominion. This is discrimination against our Dominion! We can absolutely Defeat them by force and ask them to sign an agreement so that we can trade freely on the west coast!"
General Skerry smiled bitterly. The owner of this voice was probably superstitious about the invincible combat power of the Overseas Dominion Military Region. The first thing that came to his mind was war, using war to open a way out for the business of the Overseas Dominion. There were many people in the conference room who echoed his views and cheered loudly for war, war...
He slapped the small wooden stick in his hand on the wall twice, suppressing the discussion in the conference room. After everyone's emotions calmed down, General Skerry shook his head: "Yesterday, the Dominion Executive Committee and the Military Region This subject was discussed and the conclusion was reached that we could not declare war on the colonies of the various countries on the west coast.
This incident cannot be solved by a war, because our Dominion Military Region simply does not have the time or the ability to win this war in a short time, and the longer it drags on, the more detrimental it will be to our overseas Dominions. "
"Why?" A congressman stood up and asked loudly. From the sound of his voice, he should be the person who just advocated declaring war on the colonies on the west coast.
"Look at the map, this is the West Coast..." General Skerry tapped the map of the West Coast with a small wooden stick: "You should be able to see from the map that the area of the entire West Coast colonies is four times larger than our overseas autonomous territories. About times, their colonies have penetrated deep into the interior, and they were developed nearly a hundred years earlier than our overseas colonies. In terms of the population, products and development scale of the colonies, they are more complete than ours."
What General Skerry said is very true. The earliest colony of the Nubisian continent is on the west coast. It is called a land flowing with nectar under the sun. It has flat terrain and rich products. The Southern Continent, where the Overseas Dominions were located, was a desolate and barbaric land at that time. Sterling X of the Overas Kingdom sent colonial troops to the Southern Continent because he was unable to intervene on the west coast. After more than sixty years of continuous development, Only then did we have the current overseas autonomous territories.
"In the past two hundred years, the colonies of various countries on the west coast have gone through several wars and annexed each other, and finally formed the current structure. This is the colony of eight countries in the southern part of Farea. The former northern coastal countries have been squeezed out of the west coast, and they can only start from the east coast. and the Hokuriku Snowfield to find several barren places to establish their colonies. This is also the reason why the Kingdom of Hicks provoked a colonial war against us back then. It hoped to obtain its own colonies from our southern continent.
Nowadays, the west coast is already an exclusive colony of eight countries in the southern part of Falea continent. Forty or fifty years of peace have enabled the west coast to achieve great economic and social development. But fortunately, the eight southern countries still adopt a blood transfusion economic policy for their colonies on the west coast. Just like our previous kingdom, they suppress the economic and industrial development of the colonies and treat the colonies as resource exporting places. and a dumping ground for domestic goods.
Why are the goods produced in our overseas dominions being dumped all over the West Coast colonies? The reason is very simple, good quality at low price and guaranteed quality. Instead of being like the eight southern countries, which dumped inferior goods produced in their own countries at high prices to their colonies. Due to the policy of trade monopoly implemented by the eight countries, the people in their colonies could only choose these low-quality and high-priced goods, and endured the treatment of being exploited and squeezed by their own country's businessmen, because they had no choice.
But all this changed after the goods produced in our overseas dominions were smuggled into the colonies of various countries on the West Coast. Even if the local governments of the colonies on the west coast vigorously prohibited smuggling activities, the people of the colonies would still choose to buy the goods produced by our dominions. As a result, the goods transported by the eight southern countries to their colonies became slow-moving goods and could not be sold. That is, we touched their cheese.
Thanks to the victory of our overseas autonomous territories in the colonial war over the Hicks Kingdom, the eight colonial governments on the west coast did not dare to use force against our overseas autonomous territories. They could only express strong protests and ask us to stop smuggling activities in the colonies of various countries on the west coast. We rejected their request. We told them at that time that we believe in freedom of commercial trade. If others come to purchase, we have to do this business, and we have no control over where the goods are shipped.
Two-thirds of the goods produced by our overseas dominions the year before last were smuggled and sold to the eight colonies on the west coast. Last year, sales were reduced due to the war in the kingdom, but half of the products were also shipped to the west coast by smugglers. It is worth noting that the low-denomination banknotes issued by the Overseas Minsheng Bank of our Dominion also have an amount of nearly 10 million gold crowns circulating in the eight colonies on the west coast...
The people of the eight colonies on the west coast also avoided the commercial taxes they needed to pay to the colonial governments by using the banknotes issued by us. Because the colonial governments of various countries do not recognize our banknotes, the people of these colonies can take the banknotes and exchange them freely at the trading houses opened by our dominion merchants in the eight colonies on the west coast. I think this may be the reason why the colonial governments of the eight countries expelled the legally established trading firms of our Dominion merchants..."
The congressman who asked why he did not declare war interrupted General Skerry: "We know these situations, but this should not be an excuse for our Dominion not to declare war on them! If we dispatch the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion, as well as our iron armor If we use a fleet, then the maritime smuggling blockade of the eight colonies on the west coast will be in vain, their colonial garrisons will be defeated, and in the end they can only open the door to welcome us and them for free commercial trade!"
"You think everything is too simple!" General Skerry said helplessly: "Our declaration of war on the eight colonies on the west coast does not mean that we only declare war on the eight colonies on the west coast. It also means that we declare war on the eight colonies on the southern coast of Farea. Declaration of war, do you understand? Just like when the Kingdom of Hicks provoked this colonial war, the Kingdom sent us the Ranger Division to come for reinforcements, and eventually we evolved into the Thunder Legion and the Rock Legion.
The total area of the colonies of the eight countries on the west coast is four times that of our overseas autonomous territories, and the total population exceeds 60 million. Although most of them are mixed-race indigenous people, the nearly two hundred years of colonization by the eight countries in the south have made these mixed-race indigenous people recognize their colonial countries as their motherland. , which is many times stronger than the Nikancha people here. If we declare war on them, they will be regarded as invaders, and they will also take up arms to resist our attack.
Do you think the more than 200,000 troops of our two legions in the Overseas Dominion Military Region can sweep away the entire eight-nation colony on the west coast in a short period of time? It is simply impossible to do it without more than five years. And even if we defeat the colonial garrisons of these eight countries, we do not have that many troops to station in each occupied area to maintain local order. This will only be possible unless our overseas autonomous territories carry out general mobilization and recruit more than one million troops.
And do you understand what recruiting millions of soldiers means? That will be a very large-scale regional war. Can our overseas autonomous territories afford the price of this regional war? Unfortunately, we can’t afford it, and we don’t have the capital. Because the enemy we face is not an eight-country colony on the west coast, but also eight countries on the southern coast of Farea. They will continuously reinforce their colonies and may even send troops to attack our overseas autonomous territories.
By then our Dominion will be left alone. You are also aware of the situation in the Kingdom itself. Not only is it unable to support us, it is also very likely to sever ties with our overseas autonomous territories. Because it cannot withstand the diplomatic pressure of the eight southern countries, and what it needs most now is time to rest and recuperate. Therefore, we cannot risk declaring war on the eight colonies on the west coast because of the ban on trade. "
General Skrein made it very straightforward this time. What he said was that the overseas autonomous territories could not afford to fight this war, and they did not have the financial, material, and combat power to fight this war. The questioning congressman stood there thinking for a long time, still a little unconvinced, and wanted to say something else, but was immediately pulled down by the people next to him.
"Who is he?" Claude asked Mr. Veblen beside him.
"Old Berman's son, Andecolos Joyster. This boy is very lucky. Last year he replaced Old Berman as a member of the parliament, and this year he became a hereditary baron of the kingdom. However, their family is located in the states of Robisto and Antoine. Seventeen daily necessities workshops have been opened in Feston State, and most of the goods produced are smuggled and sold to the eight colonies on the west coast. This time the ban on trade in the eight colonies on the west coast has the greatest impact on their family... "Veblen Gentleman knows the details of these congressmen very well.
Claude laughed: "No wonder he was so excited and shouted to declare war..."
General Skerry in front was still speaking: "...Although the eight colonies on the west coast have issued a ban on trade in our overseas autonomous territories, smuggling cannot be prohibited as long as there is profit. The Executive Committee of our autonomous territories has come up with There are two countermeasures. One is to carry out armed cargo transportation for smuggling caravans and open up new smuggling trade routes to ensure that they will not be easily captured by the garrison in various colonies. At least they have the ability to escape and resist... .
Second, in the next three years, our overseas autonomous region will vigorously develop the northern gulf of the Karnas Prairie, a hereditary territory belonging to our autonomous region, which will become a new commercial trading center for us in the Falea continent. Specialties and commodities from the two continents will gather here and become the largest commercial free trade market, allowing businessmen from all over the world to come here to purchase their favorite commodities and then transport them back to their respective regions for sale.
The Executive Committee believes that this place will soon become a new economic growth point for the overseas autonomous territories. Even the economic losses caused by the ban on trade imposed by the eight colonies on the west coast will soon be made up for by the commercial free trade market here. , so we need a little patience and time. While developing this territory that belongs to our autonomous territory, the Executive Committee will also send personnel to the colonies on the west coast to negotiate and ask them to lift the ban on trade as soon as possible. "
"Are you going back to the Dominion this time too?" Mr. Veblen asked.
"Yes." Claude nodded: "Thunder Legion and Rock Legion are now being dragged here and cannot be transferred back. The trade ban on our Dominion on the West Coast must be lifted as soon as possible, otherwise it will have a very adverse impact on the economy of the Dominion. . Our current rhetoric to the outside world is to shift investment direction and develop the territory of Beibu Gulf, but secretly we must teach the eight colonies on the west coast a profound lesson...
They chose a very good time to attack us this time. The forces of the two major armies of our autonomous region were dragged in the eastern region, and the armored fleet was divided into the seaports stationed here to maintain the security of the sea. Therefore, the eight colonial countries on the west coast jointly issued a ban on smuggling, strengthened maritime bans, and expelled our trading firms because we could not do anything to them during this period. But the Eight-Nation Colony on the West Coast has become the largest sales place for merchandise and goods in our Dominion and must not be given up. "
"But the current strength of the Dominion is only one division of the Rock Army, and there are twelve local garrison regiments. The strength is meager. Should one or two divisions be transferred back from here?" Mr. Veblen asked with some worry.
Claude laughed: "I'm not going to fight this time, but I want to see if there is a way to solve the trade ban without fighting. The Dominion Military Region has been fighting in the kingdom for the past two years, so it should take a rest. , I am also prepared to reduce some of the troops to reduce the military expenditures of the autonomous territories. And not all problems must be solved by force. I believe in my judgment. The eight colonies on the west coast do not want to have a war with our overseas autonomous territories."
"I hope so..." Mr. Veblen asked again: "Marshal Bolognik will also return to the Dominion this time?"
"Yes, he will transfer to civil affairs duties when he returns and act as the administrative affairs of the Parliament in the absence of Chief Bennett. As for the development of the Beibu Gulf Territory, the Dominion Military Region will transfer Generals Skerry and Beachlin, and also With General Albert staying here, I believe they can maintain the security and order of the Karnas Prairie." Claude replied.