"Ah oh..."
Well, the maid with the three-point cloth strip on her body shocked the usually calm Second Highness for a while, and turned around to give Lorist a knowing expression, which was full of expressions that even a man could understand. The ambiguous look: "I understand Locke why you don't want to wear a formal dress because you are dressed so coolly. It's troublesome to take off your clothes, isn't it?"
Lorist really didn't expect His Royal Highness to say such a thing, and he couldn't laugh or cry for a while: "Your Majesty, this is the platinum beach, and those are the maids of the Kenmes family, even if they don't mind having something to do with you, but Can you post it in front of so many people?"
His Royal Highness shrugged: "I believe you will find a way. There are so many sheltered tents on the beach that should be convenient for you. But to be honest, they are really eye-catching dressed like this, and they are in harmony with the seaside scenery. It fits very well...”
His Highness is slightly taller than Lorist by a few centimeters, and both of them are equally fit, but compared to Lorist, who is covered in sword scars and scars all over his body, His Highness with fair skin, delicate appearance and handsome appearance is more attractive to those maids Especially after knowing that this is His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of Antinac, the eyes of the maids who came to serve almost burst into flames. Even when delivering fruits and snacks, they like to rub against His Highness the Second Highness. Throwing, wishing to drag the Second Highness into the tent next to him to do it.
The Second Highness is also very helpless about the hospitality of these maids, Lorist is only watching jokes, and the rest of the nobles are a bit far away from here, after all the Second Highness said they are here to play, everyone, let Locke accompany me up. No nobleman would come to the front without long eyes to block the two most powerful people in the kingdom. Maybe they want to discuss something important...
After finally waiting for the maid over there to finish serving, Lorist waved his hand to signal them to leave, and the Second Highness smiled wryly and said, "Loke, do you like to read my jokes so much?"
"No." Lorist firmly denied: "You are His Majesty the king, a big man who is rare for these maids to see, so it is understandable that they are particularly enthusiastic. Besides, you are not bad-looking, much prettier than me. I'm so jealous, they have never taken care of me so attentively."
"Hehe, Locke, you really like to tell jokes." His Highness laughed a few times before changing the subject: "By the way, Locke, I heard that the Norton family borrowed seven million gold dollars from the Duke of Florida to develop the economy and people's livelihood in Yungesandra Province. , for a ten-year period, ten million will be repaid. Is this true?"
"It's true. If you want to borrow money, Your Majesty, then I'm sorry. You are a step late. Now our Norton family really has no money." Lorist was not surprised that His Highness would get the news. The joint development of Yungeshandra Province with the Forendo family was not intended to be hidden from anyone, and it has long been spread.
"No way, if you can take out 7 million, you will wipe out the treasury of your Norton family? What I don't understand is that if you lend me the 7 million Goldford, I will repay you double in ten years. "The Second Highness stared at Lorist's face and said.
Lorist got up and sat cross-legged: "Your Majesty, don't make such a joke. You also know in your heart that it is impossible for me to lend you money, even if you are the king."
"Why?" Second Highness asked, frowning.
"Your Majesty, the Duke of Florida borrowed money to develop the economy and people's livelihood of the territory. After ten years, the goods produced in our family's territory will have a developed province as a market. But His Highness borrowed money to develop armaments and prepare for war. , This risk is very high. If you win, you may get back your money. If you lose, you will have nothing. As the Duke of Kenmes said, if I lend him the seven million, at least three years later I can double.
But doing business is the same as fighting a war. More people think about making money, but they don't think or don't want to think about the possibility of losing money in business. Just like the rectification of redundant production workshops in our family territory in the first half of this year, many businessmen and nobles who blindly invested in expanding production lost money, and three of them committed suicide by taking poison due to huge loan sharks. It is for this reason that the Duke of Kenmes only does resale and does not invest in production.
Sometimes producing too much goods but not selling them can be an economic disaster. This is why our family would rather borrow money and spend ten years cultivating the market in order to sell more things. The most important point is that investing in the economy and people's livelihood of the Forendo family's development territory does not mean borrowing seven million from them all at once, and it is impossible for our family to take out such a large amount of money. The seven million is invested in several batches over five years. went in...”
His Highness raised a golden cup filled with fine wine to pay homage to Lorist, and said jokingly: "Okay, don't give me any economics lessons on territorial development. Don't worry, I'm just talking casually, and I won't really give it to you." Your Norton family borrows money. What's more, you don't want to sell my face at all, and you are willing to lend me money, and I won't make trouble for myself. Although you are the guy who makes me worry the most, you are the one I admire the most. One thing is to pay special attention to the development of the territory, and the investment in this area has always been very generous. From this point of view, the king of my kingdom is worse than you."
"Uh...Your Majesty, you are flattering me." Lorist quickly picked up the silver cup in return.
"But Locke." His Highness put down the golden cup he had finished drinking and stared at Lorist, "Are you really not optimistic about my military preparations this time? You know what I mean, to be honest..."
Lorist shook his head: "Judging from the current situation, the Ford Business Alliance has become a truly big and powerful country. Compared with it, our Antinak Kingdom is like the Business Alliance and the Krissen Empire a hundred years ago. It's just the opposite. We are in a weak position. Your Majesty, you should have obtained a lot of information about the business alliance, right?"
The Second Highness nodded, but said nothing.
Lorist continued: "The result of this battle between the Commercial Alliance and the Central South Kingdom coalition forces must have been unexpected. The four-year-long war did not bring down the Commercial Alliance. The business alliance not only has the Qigeda Kingdom as an ally, but also sends people to mediate the conflict between the Qigeda Kingdom and the Central-South Eight-Power Allied Forces.
Whether analyzing from a strategic point of view or commenting on the outcome from various aspects of tactics, the business alliance is the biggest beneficiary of this war. It annexed three countries again, split the alliance of the remaining Central and South Kingdoms, obtained the Qigeda Kingdom as an ally, and achieved the original purpose of the war. It reopened trade routes in the Central and South Kingdoms, and its sphere of influence became more and more big.
In terms of high-end combat power, the business alliance now has a storm sword master, and there are nearly a hundred great sword masters in the entire business alliance. And in our Antinac Kingdom, all the great sword masters add up to less than twenty people, no matter whether it is a first-level, second-level or third-level great sword master, we are at an absolute disadvantage.
The seven giants of the business alliance and the seven major chambers of commerce now each have a formal field army, which has been honed into elite armed forces in the fierce battle with the Central South Kingdom coalition forces for more than four years. And the remaining large and small chambers of commerce in the business alliance can also pull out 200,000 to 300,000 people. We can estimate that the business alliance now has no less than 500,000 armed forces.
In the past three years, His Majesty has spent the eleven provinces in the central region raising troops and preparing for war, but he has only trained more than 300,000 kingdom armed forces. In addition to the Royal Guards in God's Capital and the White Lions in Majik Province, there are no more than 500,000 horses under their command. Even including the family legion dispatched by our grand dukes, there are only more than 700,000 to 800,000 horses.
These 700,000 or 800,000 people attack the current business alliance, at most they can only gain a slight upper hand, and it is impossible to completely defeat the business alliance. If the business alliance raids our command system with high-end combat power, maybe we will still be defeated. So I think the strength of our kingdom is not aggressive enough, but more than self-preservation. I still suggest that His Majesty best develop with peace of mind for ten years, and after strengthening the strength of the kingdom, find a way to recover those occupied provinces. "
After listening to Lorist's long speech, the expression on the Second Highness's face changed, and it took a while for the Second Highness to recover his resolute expression: "No, Locke, you are wrong, now is the best time It is calling me, and I must not let this opportunity slip by. And if I develop people's livelihood with peace of mind, the business alliance is also recovering its strength, even faster and stronger than our kingdom. I must take advantage of the fact that the business alliance has not really paid attention to us. When the time comes, take back those provinces and restore the territory and glory of the empire!"
"Oh, good opportunity?" Lorist was a little curious about what the Second Highness's so-called good opportunity was.
"In fact, no matter whether we can regain those occupied provinces and territories, the commercial alliance still regards our kingdom as an enemy." His Highness said this is correct. After the empire was split into three kingdoms and seven duchies, the commercial alliance still remained The Antinac Kingdom, the orthodox inheritance of the Christian royal family, is treated differently, and commercial blockades are everywhere. The Second Highness also has deep hostility towards commercial alliances.
"You also understand the situation in the south-central part of the mainland. The business alliance's mediation between the Qigeda Kingdom and the Central-South Eight-Power Allied Forces has still not been reached. Moreover, the seven giants of the business alliance, seven chambers of commerce, and four legions are stationed in the territory of the Qikede chamber of commerce. The presence of force that threatens the two parties is thousands of miles away from the commercial alliance. If a peace truce agreement is reached next year, three of the four legions over there will return to the commercial alliance, and they may be deployed on the border of our kingdom."
His Royal Highness looked at Lorist: "It's very simple, you forgot one thing, when our Kingdom of Antinac destroyed the four principalities in the middle, the Principality of Madras, and the Kingdom of Iberia, the business alliance led to these places The trade route has also been cut off by us. So I think that if the business alliance is free, they will definitely mobilize a large army to force our kingdom to accept their request. And you know my temper, it is impossible for me to ask The business alliance bowed its head. This war is not something I can avoid if I want to. Since it is going to be fought, why don't I do it first
I can accept the commercial alliance's request to open trade routes, but they must give us fairness. It is my bottom line to recover all lost and occupied provinces and territories. I can also sign a peace agreement with the commercial alliance for a truce, but they must Grant my wish and give us back the provinces we have seized. Otherwise, I would rather not die with them! "
Lorist had to admit that what the Second Highness said made sense, his mind was very clear, and his analysis of business alliances was also very precise. But the question is, why did the Norton family participate in this war? It would be foolish to ask the Norton family to sacrifice in vain for the Second Highness's desire to unify the former Christen Empire. What's more, the Norton family has no way to advance, no matter whether it is the title or the territory, so they can't go all out as cannon fodder just for a few good words and compliments from the Second Highness...
"I don't want to participate in this war." Lorist said, his voice was very low: "I just want to develop the territory and let the people live a happy and healthy life. The promise I made when I inherited the family land and title. I just want to accompany my wife and children to live happily in the family land and watch them grow up...
I'm sorry, Your Majesty, even if you persuaded us to send troops from the four northern alliances this time, I don't want to get involved. I think this is a war that is not good for the kingdom or our family. If the business alliance invades our kingdom, I can send troops to resist their attack. But I personally think it is unwise to provoke them actively. "
Lorist's refusal made the Second Highness feel a little embarrassed, but there was no one else around the two of them, and the maids and nobles were far away, so they didn't notice what they were discussing. The Second Highness should have been mentally prepared for Lorist's refusal, knowing that Lorist would not be easily persuaded by him, so he soon smiled calmly and held up the golden cup again: "By the way, Locke, today we I’m here for fun, why bother to get upset over these important military affairs, come on, let’s have a few more drinks. I heard that you are good at swimming, can you teach me?”
"Of course, Your Majesty, I'm happy to help." Lorist also gulped down the rest of the fine wine in the silver cup.
In the next few days, His Royal Highness was very busy, busy visiting other nobles. Although Lorist was on vacation at Platinum Beach, he felt that the atmosphere was starting to become a bit solemn. Even the families of the nobles who were playing on the beach gradually lost their cheerful and relaxed mood, and some nobles even started to pack their bags and get ready. gone back. Their expressions are all serious, and there is only one such situation, and that is that war is coming.
Lorist felt a little strange. Although it's not yet September, August is almost over. It takes at least two or three months to prepare for the mobilization of the army to prepare for the battle, and it was already winter at that time. Could it be that the Second Highness still Want to launch a surprise attack on the business alliance in winter? That's impossible, even if he made winter clothes from all the monster furs he bought from him last time to keep the soldiers warm and cold, he could gather at most 20,000 to 30,000 horses. Relying on 20,000 to 30,000 people to deal with the business alliance is courting death, not an offense.
Duke Kenmes, Duke Felim and Duke Shaheen came to find Lorist again. From their expressions, Lorist could guess that they should have reached an agreement with the Second Highness.
Lorist said to them: "Don't talk to me about this war. I have already rejected the Second Highness, and I don't want to hear any news about this war. It's up to you if you want to participate. I won't send troops of."
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