"Your Highness, good news, the Great Sword Master Hughes is back..." Genorio rushed into the study with a piece of gray silk, which was a message from the eagle sent by Hilovas Island.
Oh, Lorist was overjoyed and stood up: "Bring me to see."
Four years ago, Hughes Great Swordsman, who was sitting on Hilovas Island, entered the mountains of Hilovas Island alone to prepare for penance in order to break through and get promoted. He left a letter saying that he would not come back until he became a second-level Great Swordsman. Although Lorist was very worried, he immediately sent troops to the four principalities in the central region to fight for two years. After returning, he had no time to go to Hilovas Island, so he forgot all about finding the Great Swordsman of Hughes for a while. Now hearing the return of Hughes Great Swordsman, I am naturally very happy.
The letter was signed and sent by the governor of Hilovas Island, Baron Hickerd, and the commander of the Guards Corps guarding the island, the Golden Knight Pachico. The letter said that the team on the island who went to the volcanic area to collect the fire crystal mine accidentally provoked the magic bird bald eagle and was besieged. Then Hughes Great Swordsman suddenly appeared and beheaded seven bald eagles to save everyone.
It is said that the great sword master Hughes had been promoted to the second-level great sword master two years ago, and he stayed in the mountains for another two years in order to stabilize his realm and understand the nature of the world. This time when I came out of the mountain, I happened to encounter the magic bird besieging the mining team, so I helped them out. In a few days, Hughes Great Swordsman left to visit Lorist in the Northland.
In addition to Lorist, the high-end combat strength of the Norton family also includes Hughes and Injerek, two great sword masters. At the same time, Reddy has also reached the level of a first-class great sword master. However, in Lorist's eyes, the old man Injerek was greedy for life and afraid of death, so he was promoted to a first-level great swordsman by mistake. He stays at home every day for the elderly and doesn’t want to come out to work for the family. Lorist is very disappointed in him and doesn’t want to argue with him for the sake of Fatty Shi. Anyway, this old man has been a first-class senior all his life. Sword master, now even Reddy can easily defeat him.
And Hughes Great Swordsman was born as a slave gladiator, and his whole body was the result of life-and-death fights in the arena. His bloody murderous aura was the heaviest among the great swordsmen Lorist had ever met. Although he is a first-level great swordsman, he can compete with a second-level great swordsman. Now being promoted to a second-level great swordsman, it can be regarded as adding a considerable high-end combat power to the Norton family. At least for Reddy, Hughes Great Swordsman is his best opponent at this stage.
…
Tager walked into the study, holding a large stack of letters and documents in his hand: "Your Highness, the situation in the Central South War has undergone tremendous changes."
"What's wrong?" Lorist asked.
The war between the Ford Business Alliance and the Allied Forces of the Central South Kingdom has lasted for more than four years. In the past two years, it is still the same. Several countries in the territory of the Chikde Chamber of Commerce on the southern golden coastline are entangled with the coalition forces headed by the Chigda Kingdom. clear. On the contrary, after the Business Alliance annexed the three neighboring countries, it began to strengthen its defense line. The borders adjacent to the central and southern kingdoms appeared calm, as if there was no war.
"The southernmost Romon Empire and the Havistan Khanate have reached an armistice agreement. The war between the two great powers has subsided. The Havistan Khanate suffered a little loss and gave up a small part of the former Kylia Kingdom. The territory of the Roman Empire is given to the Roman Empire, and the two countries are bounded by the Caesarubi River."
Tagle looked at the folder in his hand and continued to report: "The Kingdom of Chigda has annexed seven countries that were raided by the army of the Commercial Alliance, and its territory has tripled, becoming a country about the same size as the Roman Empire. The country. The remaining thirteen countries in the south-central region finally came to their senses and suspected that this was a conspiracy. They had fierce conflicts and civil strife with the Kingdom of Qigeda, and the coalition forces of the South-Central Kingdom were disbanded.
The Business Alliance announced that it had reached a peace agreement with the Kingdom of Chigeda, recognizing the territories of the seven countries newly occupied by the Kingdom of Chigeda as its own, as well as a series of terms such as exchanging trade routes and jointly fighting against foreign enemies. In addition, the Business Alliance seems to have approved an interest-free loan of 15,000,000 Goldford to the Kingdom of Chigda to develop the people's livelihood in the newly occupied territory. Because our intelligence personnel were unable to break into the interior of the two parties, we did not get definite information...
The remaining thirteen kingdoms in the south-central region are now split into two parts. The five countries adjacent to the Commercial Alliance have announced the establishment of the Merensik Kingdom Alliance, and are planning to send envoys to the Commercial Alliance to negotiate an armistice. It is estimated that they think that they can no longer fight against the commercial alliance and can only unite to protect themselves, and they do not want the war to continue.
The eight countries in the near south, led by the Jacano Kingdom, established an alliance and coalition against the Chigda Kingdom, resolutely opposing the Chigda Kingdom's annexation of the seven surrounding countries. They elected Joksom, the eldest prince of the Jakano Kingdom, as the commander of the coalition forces, and sent 140,000 troops to attack the Chigda Kingdom. The Kingdom of Chigeda, led by Grand Duke Fausta, raised 100,000 troops and fought fiercely with the coalition forces in the former Kingdom of Oddmar. The two sides fought twice, with each winning and losing.
It is worth noting that our family's Knight Rummerd is currently following Prince Yoxham, the commander of the coalition forces. In addition, after the war between the Qigeda Kingdom and the Central-South Eight-Power Allied Forces, the Business Alliance did not send troops to help the Qigeda Kingdom in accordance with the agreement reached. Instead, it sent envoys to mediate, hoping that the two parties can stop fighting and restore peace in the Central-South …”
Lorist laughed out loud, this is really a big joke. No one could have imagined such a weird change in the situation in the Central South War, which made people dumbfounded. Originally, the twenty-four countries in Central and South China united to fight against the business alliance. Unexpectedly, there was an extra kingdom of Qigeda who played the role of anti-bones boy, secretly colluded with the business alliance and annexed the seven countries in Zhoubian.
The rest of the central and southern countries finally understood, but they were divided into two factions. One faction decided to surrender if they couldn't beat it, and began to negotiate peace with the business alliance. The other faction became angry and turned against the Qigeda Kingdom, ignoring the business alliance, the archenemy, and had to clean up the rebel Qigeda Kingdom first. Mediation, compassionate calls to restore peace...
This is really ridiculous. No one would have imagined that the end of the four-year war between the Commercial Alliance and the Central-South Kingdom coalition forces would be like this. If I had known why today, I would have sat down and negotiated to suffer a little loss, and there was no need to fight for four years. With such a large annual loss, we still have to sit down and negotiate.
Laughing for a while, Lorist stood in front of the map of the Galintia continent hanging on the wall, outlined the changes in the situation in the south-central region on the map according to the document prompts Tagle brought, and looked at the map on the map. Lorist couldn't help but marvel at the territory of the Chigda Kingdom that was contiguously formed into a large piece. This is really an extremely delicate and long-term strategic layout, and it lasted as long as four years.
"Your Highness, what's the matter?" Seeing Lorist standing silently in front of the map for a long time, Tagle asked curiously.
Lorist shook his head and came back to his senses: "Did you see that, as you said before, the war between the Commercial Alliance and the Allied Forces of the Central South Kingdom was a big conspiracy, and now the outcome of this conspiracy has been revealed. Qig The Kingdom of Da has also become a big country in the Galintia continent. The people who have planned this plan have far-reaching plans, and they can indeed be called a genius resourceful person... "
"But Your Highness..." Tagle said a little unconvinced: "Don't you think it's too hasty for the Qigeda Kingdom to annex the Seven Kingdoms? The forcible annexation aroused the suspicion of the remaining Central South Kingdoms, and then broke out. conflicts and wars. This seems to be very contradictory to the foresight at the beginning, the Qigeda Kingdom can completely adopt the strategy of boiling frogs in warm water, and slowly digest the results at hand, so that the current consequences will not be caused. "
"No, you're wrong." Lorist said, "As you said, there is a premise, that is, if the war between the Roman Empire and the Havistan Khanate continues, then the Kingdom of Chigga can adopt Huairou. The policy slowly brought the Seven Kingdoms of Zhou into its own jurisdiction, resulting in de facto occupation. However, the Roman Empire and the Havistan Khanate have already ceased fighting, and once they recover, they are likely to point their finger at Central South countries.
Under such circumstances, the Qigeda Kingdom must seize the time to integrate the power of the seven countries around it, and reorganize its armaments to resist the invasion from the Romon Empire or the Havistan Khanate. That's why it forcibly annexed the Seven Kingdoms of the Zhou Dynasty. And the business alliance is obviously deeply connected with the Qigeda Kingdom, and it is the greatest help for them not to send troops to help in the battle. Because even if they sent troops to help the Kingdom of Chigeda, if the Allied Forces of the Central and Southern Eight Nations resisted to the death, the war would drag on for a long time, and the military power of the Kingdom of Chigeda would be wasted in vain.
Because of this, the business alliance will come out to act as a mediator, allowing the two parties to strike a truce. This is also the most beneficial choice for business alliances. One is to support the Qigeda Kingdom, which has greatly increased its strength after annexing the Seven Kingdoms, and has the ability to independently resist the two major powers in the south. Instead of forming a coalition led by the Qigeda Kingdom to resist the invasion of powerful countries like the original countries. We must know that a fist is always more powerful than five fingers apart...
The second advantage is that if the mediation is successful, the eight kingdoms of the Central-South Eight-Power Allied Forces will definitely regard the Qigeda Kingdom as a life and death enemy in the future, and the hostile relationship with the business alliance will be eased or eliminated. After all, the enemy is not as hateful as the traitor. While supporting the Kingdom of Chigeda, the Business Alliance also created an enemy for it, so that the two parties could restrain each other, preventing the Kingdom of Chigeda from becoming a potential enemy of the Business Alliance after it became stronger.
In this war between the commercial alliance and the coalition forces of the Central South Kingdom, it seemed that the Chigeda Kingdom had benefited the most by annexing the Seven Kingdoms and making itself a big country on the Galintia continent. In fact, the commercial alliance was the fisherman who made the most profits. Not only did it annex the three countries again, but it also forcefully forced those countries in Central and South Africa to let go of their trade routes, achieving the goal before the war. However, those kingdoms in the south-central region became losers and split into several factions. After conflicts arose, they could no longer unite and unite as before. "
Lorist finally said "tsk tsk": "None of them are fuel-efficient lamps, no one is a fool. Tagle, step up the monitoring and intelligence collection of the business alliance and the Kingdom of Chigda, and see if we can find out who It’s the one who laid out the…”
"Yes, Your Highness." Tager replied standing at attention.
…
Genorio walked into the study with an invitation card with gold lace: "Your Highness, Duke Kenmes sent someone to invite you to attend the August 15th **** in West Degrad The summer banquet held by the Platinum Beach in the province."
Lorist remembered that Kenmes had told him before that he would build a luxurious palace-style manor near Platinum Beach and turn Platinum Beach into a resort for the nobles to spend their summer. It seems that the manor over there has already been built, so the Dafa please post. This face still needs to be given, it is only June, and there are more than two months left, I have nothing to do, so I can go there to relax, and let Princess Sylvia and four concubines take the children to play.
Lorist nodded: "Okay, write him back and say that I will bring my family there."
"Yes, Your Highness, but will we go there by boat?" Genorio asked. There are two roads to West Degrad Province, the territory of the Kenmes family, one is through Dlemke Province, which is a land route. There is also a direct boat from Beihai City to Platinum Beach.
Lorist shook his head: "Let's go by land, and stop at Baron Dina by the way."
In July last year, the female knight Aristoli gave birth to a son for Lorist, and named her Dina Triek. She wrote to Lorist that she wanted to train Triek to become the Dina family. The greatest knight of the future. Lorist had no choice but to silently bless his illegitimate son in his heart, hoping that he would grow up healthy and healthy under the clutches of his mother... It happened to be on the way to see Ari Dolly mother and son.
"Understood, when is His Highness going to leave?" Genorio asked.
Before Lorist could answer, he heard a rush of footsteps, and Schward rushed into the study: "Your Highness, something has happened. Earl Lowell's family was kidnapped by a group of mercenaries..."
Earl Lawwell? who is this Lorist was very puzzled.
Fortunately, seeing that Lorist was confused, Schwader explained what happened in a few words.
This Earl of Lawwell is not a member of the Norton family, but a businessman from the imperial capital, who spent money to buy the status of an honorary earl from the Second Highness. Later, it was discovered that he could not earn much money in the imperial capital, so he moved to the Northland. He spent nearly 10,000 Jinford to transfer the earl status of the Andinac Kingdom to the Norton family, and became the honorary earl conferred by the Norton family. From this point of view, the Earl of Lawwell has a good vision. He knows that he can enjoy the shade by leaning against the big tree of the Norton family, which will make his business much smoother.
Earl Lawwell moved to the Northland five years ago. He bought a homestead in the second district of the noble district and built a medium-sized manor as the family's residence. At the same time, he partnered with others to invest in several daily necessities production workshops in the Northland. He also opened a Weishide Chamber of Commerce, which deals in leather goods, wine and daily necessities.
Two years ago, the Grand Duke of Fessabrun and the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce placed a huge purchase order for the Norton family. The production workshops jointly owned by Earl Lawwell also received a large piece of cake, and their pockets were full. . So Earl Lawwell and several of his partners began to vigorously expand the production scale, opened more than ten new production workshops of the same type, and spent a lot of money to poach a large number of skilled workers and technicians from other workshops to prepare This year, we will strive to win the largest share of the cake of daily necessities in the two purchase orders.
It's just that they didn't expect that in January of this year, Lorist announced the purchase order of the Feisabrun Family and the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce. Not only was the total amount reduced by half compared to last year, but also the amount of daily necessities that was purchased in the past two years was very small this year. a part of. Now Earl Lawwell and his partners were dumbfounded. Not only them, but also many businessmen like them were complaining.
As Lorist said, the market in the Northland is limited to a few provinces all over the country, and the markets in other places are either not opened or there is a market in that place, and they can't consume so many commodities. Producing too many commodities that cannot be sold will also bring about a very serious economic crisis.
Production workshops can be closed, workers and technicians can be dismissed, but the money invested in them has become a backlog of goods that cannot be sold. For most merchants in the Northland, they are faced with a very difficult choice, or sell these goods at the price of cabbage. Generally sell to return a little cost, or keep these products and sell them slowly for decades...
At this time, Fatty Shi began to reorganize all the industrial and mining workshops in the Northland. He closed down a large number of workshops and production units that produced similar products in many industries, and accepted those unemployed workers to re-arrange their jobs, effectively stabilizing the family's internal economy. order. Anyway, this immature economic crisis did not have a great impact on the lives of the lower-level family members except for the heavy losses of those investors.
Earl Lawwell chose to hoard these commodities. He thought he still had a chamber of commerce that could slowly sell these commodities. But the misfortune never comes singly. When a team of mercenaries he hired went deep into the black mud swamp to hunt the iron-spine crocodile, they suffered a lot. The mercenary captain asked Earl Lowell to give them compensation for casualties and subsidies. He didn't have much money, so he rejected the request of the mercenary captain. A dispute broke out between the two sides. In a rage, the mercenary captain took a few mercenaries and took Earl Lowell's family as hostages, demanding that they pay for the ransom...
"Your Highness, Baron Alvekis has surrounded Earl Lowell's manor with his guard battalion, and Lord Shredder has also rushed there. However, the team of mercenaries insisted that Earl Lowell paid for the ransom, and demanded that our People leave, saying it's none of our Norton family business..." Schwader reported.
Lorist silently grabbed the sword, and Genorio quickly brought a coat and put it on him.
"Let's go and have a look." Lorist said.
…