It seems that the Second Highness has discovered my purpose, Lorist sighed, feeling very disappointed, it's over, don't try to take advantage of it anymore, it's getting harder and harder to fool around now. This guy is not an idiot, and he has learned this lesson once he has experienced it. To speak like this is to be on strict guard against oneself, for fear of being fooled by oneself again.
"The third method is to stand firm and not attack." Lorist thought for a while and finally said the third method.
"Confront each other and not attack?" Second Highness asked with some doubts.
"Yes. Your Majesty, think about it. According to the information we have learned, the Dukes of Volendo and the Dukes of Faker each led two legions in the Principality of Handela, and the Grand Duke Sabaji also gathered a legion. There are more than 200,000 soldiers. In addition, according to the spy information obtained from Hans City, Grand Duke Handela has also expanded his Red and White Ssangyong Army, and together with a city defense army guarding Hans City, the strength has reached There are hundreds of thousands of horses.
A Principality of Handra, three provinces, and a population of only one million. Now that more than 300,000 troops have gathered, we can imagine how heavy the burden of armaments will be. At present, in order to deal with our attack, the four Grand Dukes can work together and cooperate sincerely in a short period of time. But once we adopt the strategy of not attacking each other, they will not be able to bear the burden of this armament and collapse after a long time, and various contradictions will arise at that time.
And the three grand dukes living in the Principality of Handela have their own troops, and none of them will easily give up the legion they have. Then if the Principality of Handra can't afford their logistics, food, grass and supplies, there will be great conflicts. I don't think any Grand Duke will be willing to give up the legion in their hands, because this is the way to restore their country. Ben, they will only try to find ways to ensure the supply of armaments for their legion.
It's just that if you do that, you can imagine what kind of consequences it will have. The three grand dukes are unwilling to give up the force they possess, so it is impossible for Grand Duke Handela to disband the armed forces of the principality to meet the armament supply requirements of the three allies. On the contrary, he will try his best to recruit soldiers to form the armed forces of the principality, but the object of defense will change. become his three allies instead of us. For Grand Duke Handela, our confrontation does not pose a great threat to him, but the three grand dukes are stationed beside his couch, and if they are not careful, the country will perish.
Therefore, the longer our stalemate drags on, the easier it will be for the conflicts between the four princes in the central region to arise. Perhaps relying on the savings of the Principality of Handra in the first year can barely maintain the consumption of an army of more than 300,000 troops, but after a year, the Principality of Handra will definitely not be able to maintain the consumption of such a huge amount of military supplies. As long as the supply is reduced, conflicts will arise. produce. Once a conflict arises, it is easy to suppress it at the beginning, but the more time passes, the more conflicts will accumulate, and the final outbreak will be more intense, and it is very likely that the four princes will fight each other.
Generally speaking, when faced with a shortage of armaments, the armies of the three archdukes are likely to target the residents of the Principality of Handra, and they will plunder civilians to meet their own material needs. Then Grand Duke Handa, as the lord of the principality, must provide protection for the citizens of his principality. If there are too many conflicts like this, it will easily lead to war. After the face is torn, the legions of the three grand dukes will intensify their efforts to rob Handra. The civilians of the principality, and Grand Duke Handra will order severe attacks to stop their atrocities. As long as there are casualties, the alliance of the four principalities in the central region will be self-defeating, and even without our help, the Principality of Handra will be on the verge of extinction due to the raging wars.
As long as your majesty is patient, you can sit back and watch them fight together. After the four princes in the middle decide the winner, the losers are likely to come to your majesty. They will take the initiative to guide us into the Principality of Handela. The victorious side will also be unable to resist the direction of our soldiers because of too much power consumption. Without any effort, the Principality of Handela will fall into His Majesty's hands like a ripe fruit. "
There was no sound in the big tent, and everyone was thinking about the strategy of not attacking each other proposed by Lorist. After a while, the Grand Duke Fesabrun stood up and asked a question: "His Royal Highness Norton, what you said is very reasonable, but you seem to have forgotten one thing, the Magik Province of the Principality of Handra and the Ford Business Alliance The occupied Andover Province borders, and the chamber of commerce territory of the Vicia Chamber of Commerce, one of the seven giants of the Business Alliance, is the Porto Org Province next to Andover Province. , the four grand dukes in the central region can ask for help from the Vicia Chamber of Commerce or trade with the business alliance when the supply of military supplies is insufficient, and they can purchase a large amount of military supplies and continue to confront us."
Lorist laughed confidently: "His Royal Highness Fesabrunn, your question is very important, but this question is based on whether the Vicia Chamber of Commerce will spare no effort to support the four Grand Dukes in the middle. Merchants value profits, if The four central principalities are still there, and the Navisia Chamber of Commerce will not say that it is profitable for the support of the four princes, but at least it will not lose money. But at present, three princes have become bereaved dogs. Although they still have two armies in their hands, they But the principality has been lost.
In this case, I personally think that the Vicia Chamber of Commerce may provide a little assistance for the sake of fighting side by side, but basically it will not fully support the four grand dukes. Otherwise, if the military supplies of 300,000 troops are provided free of charge, the Navisia Chamber of Commerce itself will be dragged down by them after a long time. In particular, the Vicia Chamber of Commerce occupies the former empire's Puerto Org Province as the territory of the Chamber of Commerce, relying on the business alliance instead of the alliance with the four central duchies.
As for the situation you said that the four Grand Dukes in the central region will conduct trade with the business alliance to maintain unity, the premise is that the four Grand Dukes must have sufficient capital to conduct trade. Among them, Grand Duke Sabaji fled in a hurry, and his belongings should be the least one. The Grand Dukes of Forondo and the Grand Dukes of Faker both carried the property of the Principality and the family to the Principality of Handela. They seemed to have a lot of luggage, but both of them were living under the sojourners, and there was no further income.
However, the military expenditures of the two armies of the two legions in their hands are only out and not in. After occupying the two principalities, we can estimate from the seized account books that the value of the property carried by the two grand dukes is about one million to two million goldfords. There is also Grand Duke Handra. I think the property he has in hand is not much different from the two grand dukes. Even if the Principality of Handa is still there, the financial revenue will be greatly reduced due to the impact of the war.
Then, His Royal Highness Fesabrun, how long do you think the two million Goldford can maintain the arming of the two legions. Both the Duchy of Forendo and the Duchy of Faker have been occupied by us, and the two legions of more than 90,000 people in the hands of the two Grand Dukes are their capital and hope for their restoration. No matter how much they save the two Grand Dukes, they will still spend money Like running water.
Under such circumstances, they would not invest their property in trade with the business alliance at all, but would pin their hopes on the supply of free military supplies from the Principality of Handra. So, is it possible that Grand Duke Handela will use the fiscal revenue of a principality to conduct trade to support the more than 200,000 legions that do not belong to his principality or his own control? I don't think it's possible..."
Lorist's analysis is very straightforward. It is impossible for the Vicia Chamber of Commerce to fully support the four grand dukes. The longer the time dragged on, even if the four central princes and the business alliance traded arms, they would not be able to last long, and conflicts would always erupt. The key to the strategy of not fighting each other is that the three provinces and nearly one million manpower of the Principality of Handela simply cannot maintain the existence and resource consumption of more than 300,000 troops.
That's right, the Second Highness clapped her hands and understood. Now the tighter I push myself, the more united the four princes in the middle will be. But if he adopts the strategy of not attacking each other, without the threat from his own side, the conflict between the enemy will naturally erupt after a long time. What Lorist said was right. The three provinces of the Principality of Handela had a population of nearly one million to support an army of more than 300,000. It was fine for a short period of time, but after a long period of time, no one with such wealth could bear the consumption.
"However, how long do you think the enemy will be unbearable?" Second Highness asked.
Lorist showed his white teeth, and smiled and pointed out two fingers: "Two years, no more than two years."
"But Locke, don't forget that if we don't fight each other, the Principality of Handela can't maintain the consumption of more than 300,000 troops. Can we persist? We also have more than 300,000 troops here, Although we are a kingdom, all logistics and military supplies still need to be transported over long distances. The consumption of manpower and materials is extremely huge. Two years is a long time, and we cannot afford to consume the military equipment of 300,000 troops Supplies, especially since we still have so many cavalry troops, the consumption of food and supplies is almost twice that of the enemy..." His Highness frowned, as if he thought that the strategy of stalemate and no war proposed by Lorist was A double-edged sword that hurts others.
"Hehe, Your Majesty, you seem to have forgotten that the Duchy of Forendo and the Duchy of Faker have now been brought under your jurisdiction. In fact, the stalemate without a fight just gave you enough time to deal with these two duchies as well as Sasha The eight provinces of the Principality of Baji are effectively managed. These eight provinces alone can provide enough food, grass and materials for our army of more than 300,000. As for other armaments, we nobles are naturally armed with our own equipment. I hope that His Majesty will remember our contributions and contributions after the destruction of the four central duchies, and just give us corresponding rewards." Lorist reminded with a smile.
His Highness lowered his head and turned around in the big tent, all eyes were on him to make the final decision. And the Second Highness is also in a difficult situation now. Of the three strategies proposed by Lorist, the first one is the simplest, continue to attack, but the surprise attack requires him to take the lead, which has been rejected.
The second strategy is to divide the troops and turn around. The most suitable army to carry out this task is just like what Lorist said, the Flying Tiger Army is the best choice, but because he was worried that Lorist's volunteering had other intentions, he was rejected by the Second Highness. I gave it a cross from my heart.
The third strategy is to stand firm and not fight. Lorist's analysis just now has made everyone in the big tent understand that this should be the best way. Sit back and watch the enemy's conflict break out and collapse, and surrender without fighting. It just takes longer, and at the same time, the consumption of armaments and supplies will be greater. However, it is not important to consume more armaments and materials. Usually these legions also need materials consumption. Apart from the Kingdom's White Lion Legion, the rest gathered under the Second Highness's command were the regular legions of each family. Lorist had already reminded that all they needed was food and grass, and the armaments and supplies were borne by each family themselves.
But what makes His Royal Highness difficult now is, if he adopts this strategy of not fighting each other, what will he need to use to reward these nobles after the Principality of Handela is destroyed. In general wars, the spoils harvested by each family belong to their own family, which can be regarded as the reward for sending troops to help the war. But after two years of stalemate and no war, even if the Principality of Handela perishes, it is conceivable that the enemy is at the end of his rope and there is no spoils left. Under such circumstances, His Royal Highness needs to reward these nobles out of his own pocket.
After turning around twice and looking at the expressions of everyone in the big tent, it was obvious that everyone liked this strategy of fighting each other. That's right, fighting to the death with an enemy occupying a good location will consume the strength of each family, it is better to just sit back and watch the enemy collapse. Although the time is longer, it is a great thing to win without compromising one's own strength and to be rewarded.
"Let's do this first, let me think it over carefully, and discuss it in two days." In the end, the Second Highness broke up the meeting without making a decision.
Lorist was a little puzzled, what does Second Highness mean by this
The next morning, Lorist found out that the Grand Duke Feisabrun had been summoned by the Second Highness to discuss for a long time. It was followed by Duke Kenmes and Earl Felim in the afternoon. Just as Lorist was guessing whose turn it would be next, the Duke of Kenmes came.
"Do you know what His Majesty is looking for me for?" said Duke Kenmes.
"How do I know?" Lorist said.
"Your Majesty asked me, what reward do I need for my two heavy armored regiments to stay here for two years?"
Lorist understood: "What do you want?"
The Duke of Kenmes held out two fingers: "For two years, the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce will pass through the kingdom within two years without paying any taxes."
Soon Count Felim also came.
"What do you want?" Duke Kenmes asked.
"I want 50,000 young and strong laborers to develop the southern province, but His Majesty only promised me 30,000." Earl Felim replied.
"Where's Hennard?"
"He should have been recruited by His Majesty."
In the evening, His Royal Highness sent a guard to ask Lorist to have dinner with him.
"You should know what I mean by asking you to have dinner together, but don't open your mouth like a lion, just tell me what reward you want." The Second Highness cut to the chase.
"Your Majesty, are you sure you want to adopt the strategy of not attacking each other?"
His Royal Highness nodded: "What I am most satisfied with about the strategy you proposed is to make the four rebels in the middle conflict. As you said, once they fight each other, they will form a life-and-death enmity. What bothers me the most about the four principalities in the central region is that the four countries are united and support each other. No matter what their future fate is, I am very satisfied now that they can create a gap between them and kill each other, so I have to wait patiently to see them. Split, but you also know that I am worried that these four rebels will not get any spoils if they are destroyed in two years, so I hope to set a reward with you in advance."
Lorist smiled: "Your Majesty, may I know what Grand Duke Feisabrun wants?"
"He doesn't want much, the weapons and equipment of a legion that he seized, and the migration quota of 50,000 people." His Highness replied.
"Oh," Lorist said, "then I also want to..."
"Stop! Locke, you don't want to relocate any more people, I won't agree. What I regret most now is to let you be in charge of relocating refugees from the three provinces of the Principality of Fakel. You know what you have done." Two His Highness interrupted Lorist.
"Okay." Lorist shrugged and spread his hands: "But Your Majesty, what else can you give me besides population, you can say it yourself."
"Locke..." His Royal Highness patted his forehead with a headache: "As long as you don't go too far, I can promise you."
"Okay, then give my family territory and jurisdictional territory tax exemption for another five years." Lorist made such a request helplessly.
"No..." His Highness subconsciously objected, and then stared at Lorist for a long time: "Okay, at most three more years of tax exemption, not five years."
"Deal." Lorist held out his hand.
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