After meeting with the Kingdom's Prime Minister Marquis, the Prince of Montenegro and his princess hurriedly left the imperial capital and boarded a special plane back north. According to the original plan, they were supposed to have three more days of travel, but they left early.
He said that the war situation in Longbei Province had changed, so he had to go back to deal with it.
In fact, the real itinerary, which both William V and Prince of Blackberg knew, was to end today.
However, the war situation in Longbei Province did change. With the mediation of the prince's special envoy, the Ren Zhonglin faction and the Sun faction temporarily reached a ceasefire agreement.
Basically, except for the two prefectures of Nanping and Wanzhou occupied by Lu Ming and which have been incorporated into the Principality's Zhili Province, the remaining thirteen prefectures of Longbei Province were divided into two. Ren Zhonglin's faction occupied five prefectures, and Sun's faction occupied eight prefectures. However, Ren Zhonglin's faction controlled the economically developed areas around the provincial capital, so the two sides were actually not much different in terms of economy, population, etc., with Ren Zhonglin having a slight advantage. However, the Sun faction nominally controlled a larger area, but in fact, under the control of the big warlords on both sides, the small warlords are more centrifugal.
The prefectures in Longbei Province had a larger population than that in Anshan. Including the under-reported population, the average population in each prefecture was about three million.
Today, the Northern Territory is divided into four major forces: Ren Zhonglin, the Sun family, Qi Huaide, and Han Renwang. Each of them has a territory and population of less than half a province, and their strength is similar. In theory, they are all allies of the Black Mountain Principality.
There is also the Miao Baifeng Group in a corner of Gou'an Mountain City, which is equivalent to a vassal of the principality.
There are also the remnants of Liu Bangchang who are hiding in Shenglunduo, a border area in the far north, the remnants of An Mingyuan in Anshan, a border area in the far northwest, and many border tribes that are not brought under effective management. These are all places that the principality does not want to touch for the time being.
This is the current situation in the Northern Territory.
After returning to Montenegro, Lu Ming sent envoys to Ren Zhonglin and the Sun family respectively, inviting Ren Zhonglin and the head of the Sun family, Sun Gan, to come to Montenegro for peace talks, hoping that the two sides would sign a permanent peace agreement.
At the same time, Qi Huaide and Han Renwang were also invited to Montenegro.
Prepare for the five parties to sign some kind of alliance of advancing and retreating together.
…
In the Western Regions, the city-state coalition did not advance eastward to attack central city-states such as Hunhuo Luo. Instead, they quarreled over the distribution of interests after the liberation of the Nicola city-state.
King Baoyue and the city-states of Jiaheluo, Supilo, Gravel City and others all believed that they had made great efforts to recover the city-state of Nicola and wanted to get due rewards.
Until news came that Sonya's Western Frontier Corps sent an infantry division to the southeastern city-state of White Fang in the Western Regions.
Although Sonya's border guards near the Western Regions are basically a ragtag army, the three border defense divisions are all equipped with miscellaneous equipment, and there are many border residents, most of whom are Bologna. Although they are also one of the Western ethnic groups, they are like the Ownians, an ethnic group living in a bitter and cold land.
This was the case with the border defense division that entered the Western Regions. More than 60% of its members were Bologna people, and the rest were from other ethnic groups in the Western border regions and Western Region mercenaries.
Its border defense division has only more than 10,000 people, which is not the same as a division of the Principality of Montenegro.
But even so, they were Sonya's regular army after all, and when the news came, many short-sighted city-state lords panicked.
When it came to joining forces with them to fight against Sonya's regular army, no one responded.
After Sonya's border defense division arrives at White Fang City, they can enter the southern city-state of King Baoyue more than a hundred kilometers west.
More than 300 kilometers to the northwest is the territory of the Nicolaus city-state.
However, the eastern, central and southern parts of the Western Regions are now in chaos, and it is common for small lords in some towns to take the opportunity to become independent and no longer pay taxes to the missing city-state lords.
…
Nicola City already had an airport, and now the engineers of the Petroleum Corps are expanding it.
The Petroleum Corps mobilized an infantry regiment of nearly 4,000 people and has arrived in Nicolo City.
At this time, in the meeting hall of the magnificent inner city castle of Nicolo City, sat Lu Ming, Feng Qifa, commander of the First Infantry Regiment of the Petroleum Corps, Gao Yaohan, director of the regiment's political training department, and several other important Montenegrin military and political figures, as well as Nerozi, Nerozi's uncle Nerohou, King Baoyue, Wang Qiang, Daluo and other city-state lords.
Lu Ming’s current identity is the principality’s plenipotentiary representative to the Western Regions.
Audrey ended her mission and returned to the "Royal Mansion" in Anxi. Although her experience was only two or three months, she had extremely special qualifications. After returning to Anxi, she was specially appointed as a senator of the Anxi Autonomous Territory Senate, becoming the person with the highest political status in the "Royal Mansion".
From Lu Ming's perspective, being in "Wang's House" and coming into contact with all classes from top to bottom and feeling the changes in society can be considered a truly comprehensive investigation, which is much more reliable than reading the various information sent by his subordinates.
As for the Western Regions, although the Sonyans are unlikely to enter the Western Regions in large numbers due to the distraction of the Griffinni frontline corps, their frontier corps located at the border of the Western Regions still have to crush their arrogance in order to promote peace.
I no longer hide the fact that I am acting as the representative of the Yellow River Trading Company.
"The area around West Black Mountain Castle will be officially accepted by the Principality as an enclave of the Principality and a special administrative region of West Black Mountain Castle. I will temporarily be in charge of the military and political affairs of the current administrative region." Lu Ming's words were like a bolt from the blue.
City-state lords, you look at me and I look at you.
Regardless of what they were thinking, Lu Ming continued, "It seems that this border defense division of the Sonya people needs to be defeated. Of course, we still have to use the power of our coalition forces and volunteers. In addition, we have to wait for him to invade our land."
The city-state lords, except Nero, were unable to say a word.
King Baoyue's eyes flickered, and after a long while he said, "Isn't it better to negotiate peace? Your Excellency, after all, the Principality is far away from here..."
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Yes, we will eventually have to negotiate for peace, and use fighting to promote peace. You don't have to worry."
Several city-state lords remained silent. Not to mention the current Sonya border defense division, whether you can defeat it or not, even if you can defeat it, if you really annoy the Sonya people, the entire Western Regions will not be able to stop their steel torrent!
Nilozi suddenly said, "Your Excellency, I am willing to lead all the people of the Nigro City-State to submit to Your Highness. I hope Your Highness will not despise my ignorance and allow me to follow Your Highness as a vassal."
There is no doubt that for Nerozi, this may be the only chance to preserve his position as the lord of the Nicolaus city-state.
Not to mention that the city-state lords in the coalition are eyeing the land and population of Nicolo city-state, there are also mortal enemies such as the bloody Hunhuolo who are preparing to make a comeback, as well as the Sonya army approaching.
As far as the forces of restoration of Nicolaus are concerned, the sons of Nicolaus do not have an advantage. There are collateral royal families, major resistance leaders, and lords of large Nicolaus towns, all of whom have the tendency to compete for the leadership of restoration or independence.
For example, his cousin, Prince Nero, now has a strong army and is his biggest rival for the throne.
Nerozi even became a thorn in the eyes of many of his "allies", and many people hoped that he would disappear without a trace.
Nerozi's words caused other city-state leaders to whisper and discuss among themselves.
There was a gleam in Nero Hou's eyes, but he remained silent. He was in his early fifties and seldom expressed his opinions. One could tell at a glance that he was extremely cunning.
King Baoyue said with a smile: "Sir Ni Luozi, then our Western Region Free City-State Alliance will no longer exist."
The Nicolo City-State was originally the leader of the Free City-State Alliance. If it surrenders to the Principality of Montenegro, the entire Western Region City-State Alliance will naturally collapse. This will be an unprecedented event in the past thousand years, and no one knows what the huge changes that will follow will be like.
Wang Qiang sighed and said, "Ever since the Sonia people supported Hunhuo Luo to break through the Nicolo City and massacre the Nicolo royal family, the City-State Alliance has existed in name only. It was not His Excellency Nerozi, nor the Black Mountain Principality, who destroyed the City-State Alliance, but the Sonia people. King Baoyue, am I right?"
Although Wang Qiang was the lord of Supilo, he had already changed the name of Zhongzhou. At this critical moment of survival, he knew that he could only advance and retreat together with the Black Mountain people. Once the Black Mountain people were expelled from the Western Regions, he and his family would be destroyed.
Although the city-state lords all knew his position, what he said was true and difficult for others to refute.
In fact, comparing the Sonyans' actions in the Western Regions, including rumors of atrocities in the Gedi area, with the management methods of the Principality of Montenegro in the Western Regions, everyone hopes that the Principality of Montenegro can resist the Sonyans.
But this hope is too slim.
Lu Ming observed the expressions of the city-state leaders and smiled slightly: "We will discuss this matter later. Let's continue to talk about peaceful coexistence with the Sonya people. What kind of peace agreement do you hope to reach?"
The city-state lords immediately became active and offered their opinions one after another.
…
After coming out of the meeting room, Lu Ming returned to his castle.
The inner city of Nicolo Castle is a castle complex and also the residence of the Nicolo royal family.
Unlike the southern city-states, the Nicolaus nobles did not live in temple buildings.
There are three most magnificent castles in the inner city castle complex, which were originally the inheritance of the three major lineages of the Nicola royal family.
There are still two lineages today, the Nilezi lineage and the Nilehou lineage.
Another castle, now Lu Ming's residence.
The three-story castle is magnificent inside and is heavily guarded from the gate. There is a pistol platoon stationed there, made up of female soldiers from the Western Regions who were trained in West Black Mountain Fort. They are the guard platoon prepared for the Prince of Black Mountain Fort. Each of them has fair skin, beautiful faces and long legs. They all wear light blue female soldier uniforms, berets and white gloves. They are all heroic and full of exotic charm.
Lu Ming went straight up to the communications room on the third floor, and it was unknown who he was talking to on the phone.