The volunteer army of Blackfang City withdrew from the battlefield after resisting for nearly a month. At this time, the Sonya army that had entered the Western Region had reached three divisions. Then, within a month, the Sonya people occupied almost half of the major cities in the Western Region.
A total of seven divisions of Sonya's Western Corps entered the western region.
During this period, Lu Ming also celebrated his 618 birthday in 957.
Also in Heishan, the six parties including the Heishan Fort Principality and the Longbei Autonomous Province (Ren Zhonglin), the Longbei Democratic Province (Sun Gan), the Bac Ninh Military Government (Han Renwang), the Northern Xinjiang Autonomous Province (Qi Huaide), and the Anshan Autonomous State (Miao Baifeng) signed the "Heishan Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation".
The Montenegro Treaty Organization was formally established.
According to the treaty, the Allied Command (Northern Military District Command), Secretariat and other military, political and economic integration institutions were established in Montenegro.
When the Soroston oil supply agreement was about to expire in June, Tianhai Petroleum, which had obtained the operating rights of the Soroston oil field, signed a new agreement with the Kingdom of Sonya to continue supplying crude oil to the Luxembourg Industrial Zone and to pay according to the market price after five years. In this way, an agreement acceptable to both parties was reached. Both the Sonyans and the Montenegrins had their own plans.
On June 25, the Principality of Montenegro and the Hanzhou Autonomous Prefecture, which had been negotiating in secret, reached an agreement whereby the Hanzhou National Guard would accept the leadership of the Northern Military District Command, and the Autonomous Prefecture Parliament approved the agreement by a slim majority.
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The top floor apartment of Hanzhou Times Building.
Lu Ming watched the parliamentary voting results being broadcast live on TV news and let out a long breath.
Some members of parliament sincerely support the National Guard to accept the leadership of Prince Montenegro, and the real political proposition of these members of parliament is that Hanzhou should be integrated into the Central Continental family of the Principality of Montenegro.
Especially in the current war, Hanzhou, relying on its position as a hub in the central part of the empire, is the third largest city in the empire, second only to Donghai and the imperial capital.
However, it was most affected by the war, with various separatist forces either cutting off economic exchanges with each other or setting up trade barriers, which greatly affected Hanzhou's position as a central hub.
Moreover, it was being coveted by the Kingdom of Sonya, which was expanding northwards, and might be conquered by the Western powers at any time.
The Hanzhou councillors who support Hanzhou becoming part of the Principality of Montenegro more or less still have the idea that all Central Continental people are one family.
However, their numbers are actually very small. Although they are very enthusiastic and have strong autonomy because of their clear political goals, they are also very capable in parliamentary debates and can do the job of two people alone.
But after all, a dozen or so members cannot influence the overall situation of the entire parliament.
The pro-Sonia MPs are the most numerous and powerful.
The Special Work Department used intimidation, inducement, bribery, etc. to make some members of parliament vote on the side of the Principality.
He also united the pro-Griffinni Kingdom group of parliamentarians and persuaded them to vote in favor of this issue.
But even so, the advantage is extremely weak, and no one knows what the result will be when the voting day comes.
Now that the results are out, Lu Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The sneak attack was successful because the Sonyans were focusing on the war in the Western Regions.
Several aides who were watching TV with "Minister Li" stood up, applauded, and raised their glasses to celebrate.
The current identity of "Minister Li" is "Minister of Hanzhou and Southwest Strategic Department", directly under the Prince's Privy Council.
In Lu Ming's view, the operations from Hanzhou to the southwestern Western Region city-states are integrated.
Several Western autonomous states, including those from Hanzhou to Xiheishanbao, are also targets of the Grand Strategic Department.
This includes operations to ensure that Hanzhou is truly incorporated into the principality and becomes a part of it, as well as supporting resistance forces in the Western Regions to conduct guerrilla warfare, etc.
Such complicated affairs and operations in all directions over such a vast geographical area require one person to be responsible for the overall work.
Lu Ming might as well come by himself, so that he could achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Several staff members include Lu Sanjin (Mrs. Sanjin), currently the director of the office of the Minister of the Grand Strategy Department and the liaison officer for all parties; Zhao Xiaochang, director of the Hanzhou branch; Chang Lei, director of the Special Work Department; Dennis McKenzie, executive director of Xinghan Investment Company; Zheng Kunlun, representative of the Principality to the Hanzhou Autonomous Prefecture, etc.
In addition, there is Bao Dalong, Major General of the Principality Army. After the Hanzhou State Assembly approves the National Self-Defense Force to enter the Northern Military District, Bao Dalong will be appointed as the Political Training Commissioner of the Hanzhou National Self-Defense Force Headquarters.
They have all worked with Lu Ming, of course, in different capacities.
For example, Chang Lei, Minister of the Special Work Department, once served as the captain of the guard of "Governor Zhang" for a long time.
Dennis McCann was once an extremely outstanding trader of Donghai Wutong Street and one of the investment managers of the Golden Arches Fund. Later, he entered the field of industrial investment.
Bao Dalong was the firepower platoon leader of the company in which Lu Ming participated in a competition when the Black Mountain Brigade was first established. He lived and ate with Lu Ming for a long time.
When "Representative Li" was fighting bandits in Baihai, Bao Dalong had been promoted to the commander of the Miaozhou Border Defense Brigade. He had made new contributions in fighting bandits and has now been transferred to Hanzhou.
At this time, everyone raised their glasses, and Lu Ming smiled and said to Bao Dalong: "It's up to you from now on."
The Hanzhou Autonomous Prefecture National Self-Defense Force originally had professional soldiers similar to those of Donghai, with only a few hundred people. After the civil strife in the empire, they recruited reservists and now have four brigades with a strength of more than 20,000 people.
Commander-in-Chief Liu Hancheng is an extremely hard-line conservative and royalist, loyal to the empire. The current situation makes him very sad.
He was probably also conflicted about who he should support between the eldest prince William V and the second prince Henry II.
However, his son-in-law, Councillor Chen Yonghe, is a staunch supporter of Henry II. He is also the leader of the Sonya faction among the Hanzhou councillors.
Bao Dalong, it would be better if you can unite with Liu Hancheng. If not, you will have to fight against Liu Hancheng for the military power of Hanzhou.
"Everything has settled here. I'm going to West Black Mountain Fort tomorrow!" Lu Ming walked to the window and looked at the city view outside.
This penthouse apartment in the Times Building was bought by Xiao Meizhen when she came to Hanzhou to fight the lawsuit.
It offers stunning views of downtown Hanzhou and Central Park. The two-story apartment is nearly 1,000 square meters, with an extremely spacious outdoor terrace and gorgeous decorations. There is a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, garden, etc. There is even a pool table and bar.
The apartment's interior is brightly decorated in white tones, with hardwood and marble floors and a beautiful marble spiral staircase.
Xiao Meizhen has lived here for more than two years, but now she is working in Donghai, so I haven't seen her for a long time.
The distance from Hanzhou to Xiheishanbao is 2,000 kilometers, and the new special plane can fly almost two round trips without refueling.
At present, because Sonya's army has occupied more than half of the major cities in the Western Regions with great ease, their morale is high, and there are many city-state lords in the Western Regions who have surrendered. The resistance movement is at a low ebb, so the focus of my attention is still on the Western Regions.
He patted the shoulder of Zheng Kunlun, the representative of the Principality stationed in Hanzhou, and said, "I leave this to you!"
"I understand!" Zheng Kunlun felt that he had a heavy burden on his shoulders. He had to make more friends with powerful figures in Hanzhou, as well as members of parliament from various parties. He also had to spread the ideas of the principality among the people of Hanzhou. The road ahead was long and arduous.