Looking at the snow-capped mountain, Reddy sighed suddenly, then raised a refined silver jug, filled half of it in one breath, and then sighed again.
"What are you doing? Shhing and sighing..." Doles, the commander of the Flying Tiger Corps' Chariot Steel Crossbow Corps, put down the map he was sketching and asked curiously.
"It's nothing, I suddenly miss my son." Reddy smiled bitterly and said, "Su Ni Lulu sent me a letter, saying that his son is almost three years old, and he hasn't seen me as a father a few times. That kid It is said that Amoy is terrible, and I look exactly like me. Just now, for some reason, I suddenly wanted to go back to meet that kid and hug him... "
Su Nilulu is the personal maid of Lorist's lover, Miss Dina, Aridori. During the tryst between Lorist and Aridoli, Reddy was not idle, and hooked up Suni Lulu. The problem is that this kid eats everything and refuses to admit his debts. He made Suni Lulu's belly bigger but refused to marry her, and in the end he gave birth to an extra illegitimate child.
Aridoli was so angry that she complained to Lorist. Lorist asked Reddy what he thought, and Reddy said plausibly that he had to concentrate on his cultivation, and love for his children would only wear down his will. Unless he was promoted to a sword master like Lorist, then he would consider starting a family. thing...
Lorist had no choice but to let him go. However, Reddy took Sunilulu mother and son to the manor given to him by Lorist, and let Sunilulu take charge of managing his fiefdom. In fact, apart from the fact that the wedding was not officially held, Reddy and Suniluru were like husband and wife, and even the servants and servants called Suniluru the Baroness.
Dolles laughed: "It should be, we have been out for two or three years, not to mention you, even I am homesick, and hope to return to Northland as soon as possible. Although Morente City is so prosperous, but in I still feel that Beidi is kind. If it wasn’t an emergency operation this time, our Flying Tiger Legion would have returned to Beidi after the new year, and the soldiers have already complained, and they have begun to miss home.”
Reddy nodded: "I know, let's wait for a few more months, and the Rock Legion will come to replace us in April next year to defend this front. The business alliance is at the end of its rope. Once the Peterson Chamber of Commerce is established independently, they will no longer be able to Make waves. As long as we defend this line and resist the commercial alliance's dying counterattack, the next thing can be handed over to the Rock Legion, and we will slowly survive with the commercial alliance. As for us, we will go back to the north to see Wife and children go."
"By the way, Reddy, I've always wanted to ask, you two have a good relationship, why don't you marry Su Nilulu? In fact, you are just short of a formal wedding ceremony..." Dolles finally asked. The two are old acquaintances for many years and have a good relationship. In particular, Mrs. Doles is Sunilulu's best friend, the kind who talks about everything.
Reddy shrugged helplessly, and took another sip of wine: "You know Suni Lulu's background, right? She is Aridori's personal maid. You also know the relationship between Miss Aridoli and Your Highness. You should understand that Miss Aristoli is not easy-going, she has been trying to get away with the mistress, Princess Sylvia, and push the second lady, Finna Galli, into the seat of the second lady.
Under such circumstances, if I marry Sunilulu as my first wife, what do you think Princess Sylvia will think of me? Maybe His Highness will put me on Miss Aristotle's side. On the contrary, this is the best, Miss Aristoli has nothing to do with me, His Highness and Princess Sylvia still trust me, Suni Lulu will not be offended... "
Dolles was dumbfounded: "No way, you can think so much about a marriage, which is too exaggerated, did someone teach you..."
Reddy looked at Dolles with contempt: "Is this useful? Just read more books. I followed His Highness back then. When His Highness was working, I read all his books, including those court novels and knights. In the novel, there are not many plots describing the chaos and intrigue in the families of the big nobles. After reading too much, you will naturally understand. Think about the development of our Norton family from a small baronial territory to the present. His Highness is also a romantic person. Married With so many maidservants, I'm afraid that the family's jealousy will be unavoidable in the future. So I have to take precautions first, so as not to be contaminated by these things... "
Dolles expressed admiration on his face: "Reddy, I really didn't expect you to become so smart now. When I met you, you were a reckless and impulsive kid, but now you can think so far. Your Highness can accept you as an apprentice." You really know people with discerning eyes, and know that you will have a great future."
"Hey, Dolles, don't flatter me." Reidy said with a smile, "I'm different from you. You and your husband met each other on the way north. Speaking of it, it's also a reward from His Highness. Let you choose." A maid. As a result, you fell in love with Donna at a glance, chose her as your maid, accompanied and supported each other along the way, and you married her when you arrived in the Northland. The result is very simple and beautiful. Unlike me, who As His Highness's eldest disciple, you have to take precautions so as not to harm His Highness. Sigh, without further ado, have you drawn up that defensive line yet?"
"Oh, almost, look, here, here, and there, the seventeen points I drew on the map are the important commanding heights of the surrounding area, occupying these seventeen commanding heights, we can arrange a road A complete defensive front." Dolles handed Reddy the map in his hand to look at.
This is the province of Cubadro, and it is December 31st. After reaching a preliminary agreement with Earl Miledas, Lorist ordered the family to arm the Flying Tiger Legion, the Guards Legion, and the Free Alliance Armed Legion to dispatch urgently. When the snow fell heavily in winter, it was like a heavenly soldier. Under the guidance of Earl Das, the leading party, he successfully controlled the territories of the Petersen Chamber of Commerce in Gerodana Province and Chalbuco Province.
The Free Alliance Armed Corps was arranged to dismantle the defenses and fill the trenches in Jarotanah. The Guards Corps took control of the entire territory of the Peterson Chamber of Commerce, and the euphemistic name was to assist the Peterson Chamber of Commerce in the armed defense of Charbuco Province. As for the Flying Tiger Legion, under the leadership of Reddy, they went out of Cuvadro Province to build a defensive front to resist the crazy counterattack of the Business Alliance after they learned that Grand Duke Peterson had announced their separation and founding an independent country.
Chalbuco Province, Xinjik City, this is the capital of the Petersen Chamber of Commerce territory and the royal city of the soon-to-be-established Peterson Kingdom.
At this moment, the crowd gathered at the south city gate was seeing off Earl Miledas. Those who accompanied Earl Miledas back to the Earl's territory in Aligoma Province included Fatty Shi, Great Swordsman Hughes, Parker, the commander of the guard battalion, and a thousand-man guard brigade. , and a first-class swordsman named Sestine sent by Grand Duke Peterson. Count Miledas will use this force to integrate the territorial nobles of Aligoma Province, threaten and lure them to become a member of the Peterson Kingdom, and wipe out those chamber nobles who are loyal to the business alliance.
The luxurious carriage wheels had been replaced with long smooth skis, and Fatty Shi and Earl Miledas were in the same carriage. Seeing the smug expression of Earl Miledas, Fatty Shi smiled slightly, took out a document from a leather bag made of black animal skin, and handed it to Earl Miledas.
"What is this?" Earl Miledas was a little surprised, but still took the document.
"This is the proof of ownership of the Daoslager Hotel in Morent City and the Adventurer's Home Inn in the six cities of the Faliqiu Plain." Fatty Shi explained with a smile: "After the establishment of the Freedom Alliance, all the hotels that belonged to the Commercial Alliance All the property of the Chamber of Commerce, including houses, shops, etc., were confiscated and became public property. After hearing the efforts made by the Earl for peace and armistice and the unfair treatment received, His Royal Highness was very moved and appreciated the actions of the Earl. , So I specially spent nearly 200,000 Jinford from my own pocket to redeem these properties that belonged to the noble family from the Freedom Alliance, and returned them to the original owners, in recognition of the earl's contribution to peace.
After redeeming these properties, His Highness has sent someone to complete the formalities and guarantee the noble family. The Earl can send people to Morente City and Fali Hill Plain to take over these hotels at any time and start to resume business. His Highness also said that if the Earl needs help from the Norton family, please feel free to speak up.
By the way, there is another agreement under this. His Highness said that although the territory of your family in Aligomai Province is dangerous and unfavorable for large army operations, it is also necessary to prevent the business alliance from dispatching cavalry and other small troops to attack and retaliate. Therefore, His Highness decided to provide your family with the military supplies of a corps at a discounted price of 50% interest-free, so as to subsidize your family to build a capable armed corps. As for the repayment period, it is ten years. If the Earl approves, we can deliver this batch of military supplies to the territory of your family as long as the Earl agrees to help the Earl form the family's armed forces. "
The Earl of Miledas was stunned holding the folder, and his whole body began to tremble. After a while, tears filled his eyes: "Sign! Of course I want to sign. Please thank His Royal Highness Norton for your kindness, the Miledas family I will never forget His Highness's great kindness..."
Nonsense, of course I have to sign. Grand Duke Peterson and Fatty Shi bargained for nearly ten days before they got the armaments and materials needed to form two legions. The discount was only 25%. It was also a 10-year loan, but they had to pay 5% interest. In order to reward Earl Miledas for persuading Grand Duke Peterson to break away from the commercial alliance and establish an independent country, Lorist not only returned the seven inns that belonged to the Miledas family in Morente City and Faliqiu Plain, but also used such The favorable conditions helped to build up the armed force of the Miledas family. For the Earl of Miledas, it was a timely gift, and he was grateful for a moment...
"You're welcome, Lord Earl. The Norton family will never treat their friends badly. Friends should help each other. Besides, we are all for a just cause and to restore peace. To end this war, we need your family Let's work together. By the way, Lord Earl, please advise me now, which nobles in Aligomai Province will agree with our proposition, and which nobles are loyal and minions of the business alliance and need to be eliminated... "
Earl Miledas wiped his eyes and showed a grateful smile: "Okay, Lord Baron Shredder, let me introduce you. There are a total of forty-two territorial nobles in Aligomai Province who were conferred by the Chamber of Commerce Alliance, among them..."
…
On April 10, 1783 in the common calendar of the Galintia continent, the Grand Duke Peterson threatened the three provinces of Chalbuco, Jerodana and Aligoma to break away from the commercial alliance and establish the Kingdom of Peterson. At the same time, special envoys were sent to the Freedom Alliance and various countries in the south-central region, hoping to join the agreement of twenty-one countries in the south-central part of the Galintia continent and become the twenty-second country.
Grand Duke Camberlet, the supreme executive of the business alliance, vomited blood and fell into a coma on the spot when he heard the news. The nobles of the Ford Chamber of Commerce, the Liward Chamber of Commerce and some second- and third-rate chambers of commerce were furious. Set off, ready to punish the despicable and shameless traitor, Grand Duke Petersen.
As a result, the coalition forces were hit head-on by the flawless Norton family in Cuvadro Province, causing heavy damage. The Flying Tiger Legion armed by the Norton family took advantage of the victory to attack, and the Lianba Business Alliance deployed 27 castles and fortresses in Cuvadro Province, burned, killed, looted, and then retreated to the original defensive line.
"We lost this war, send someone to sue the Norton family..." After waking up from a coma, the Grand Duke Camberlet locked himself in the study without eating or drinking. One day and one night, all the nobles of the business alliance were called together and said such a sentence.
"No! Your Highness, we must persevere to the end! Otherwise we have lost too much..."
"We still have millions of people! Sufficient food and grass! We can also form an army of hundreds of thousands and use the tactics of the sea to defeat the armed forces of the Norton family! Destroy the Peterson Kingdom!"
"The traitors must be punished! There must be no peace talks with these traitors!"
"..."
The words of Grand Duke Camberlet were like pouring a bowl of water into a frying pan, which aroused strong opposition from the nobles of the business alliance. The crowd in the hall was turbulent. Those who were unwilling to fail hoped that the war would continue, while those who were more sensible remained silent. language.
"We must admit defeat and seek peace!" Archduke Camberlet raised his voice and suppressed the crowd's uproar: "Do you know the consequences of continuing this war? That is the complete destruction of our business alliance! Norton The family is now taking every step of the way, slowly putting a noose on our heads and driving us to a dead end! Compared with us, they have more time and patience, watching us step by step towards extinction!
The business alliance was established nearly two hundred years ago, but we have never faced such a dangerous and desperate situation! We still have millions of people and enough food and grass, but we lack enough sophisticated weapons and equipment. We can't let our soldiers go to the battlefield with weapons made of wood, right? Look at the armed forces of the Norton family, they have steel crossbows, catapults, and artillery! And we can only use flesh and blood, use the lives of our soldiers to resist the enemy's attack!
In terms of weapons and equipment, we are too far behind. Compared with the Norton family's armed forces, we are like farmers holding sticks facing fully armed knights. We need time to catch up, to research and manufacture weapons and equipment that are not weaker than the enemy, so that we can restore the glory of the business alliance.
But we have no time now, the most important thing is that there is a lack of salt in our territory... "
"What? Salt?" Most of the nobles in the business alliance were stunned.
"Yes, salt." Grand Duke Camberlet nodded with a wry smile: "The salt that was readily available in Morente City at the beginning has now become a key material for our business alliance to seek peace and surrender to the enemy. In the territory of our business alliance The table salt can only last for another three months at most. Everyone knows what a person will look like without salt, and the whole body is limp and weak. So if we can't make peace as soon as possible, the enemy doesn't have to attack at all, and we will take it ourselves after half a year of blockade perish!
I locked myself in the study for a day and a night, why our business alliance has fallen from the height of the sky to the current situation. In fact, we have gone the wrong way! We forgot that we were originally merchants. When we chose to use war to expand, we became like the nobles we despised before. Using war to plunder wealth is much faster than our business, and we can even Said it was a worthless business...
We have turned former allies into enemies, because we are invincible, so we forget to compromise, only know to destroy and plunder, the larger the territory we occupy, the higher our spirit, so we always put ourselves in the The winner's position, defiant. Until we met the Norton family armed forces, a series of failures did not wake us up. On the contrary, we were like gamblers, pinning our hopes on the next victory, and in the end we were forced into the Norton family armed forces. the current predicament.
We should wake up, we are businessmen, we should use the wisdom of businessmen to compete with the enemy, instead of using the means of war of nobles to decide the outcome. Now that we admit defeat and seek peace, we still have capital and confidence. Although we will be humiliated, there is always a chance for us to come back. As long as we change our course and compete with our enemies in business, I believe that no one will be our commercial alliance's business opponent, not even the Norton family.
Next, we will experience a period of pain and despair. The enemy will not let us go so easily. We may have to pay a relatively high price to obtain the peace we want. But we are merchants, and we can bear the burden of humiliation and carry out business transactions with the enemy. Let us bury the desire for revenge deep in our hearts, and use businessmen's cunning and means to gain benefits from the enemy through commercial trade, until the day when our commercial alliance regains its vitality and strength, we will once again regain its glory!
Now, let's discuss the candidates for the mission..."
…