In the Grand Duke's palace in the province of Hanover, the Duke of Smowa and his son, the Marquis Marko, stand side by side in front of the windowsill on the upper floor, looking out at the provincial capital at night.

In that direction, it was the Duke's Palace where Princess Arlina and her party were arranged.

"What has happened to our princess during this time?"

Duke Smowa asked slowly.

The Marquis of Marco had obviously been paying attention to this matter as well, and as soon as his father asked, he opened his mouth to answer, without any need to recall and think.

"As before, I continue to visit all the big and small families in the city. The difference is that most of the time, the little nobleman named Xu Feng is asked to come forward on his behalf. Because the number of nobles who visited the princess's place slowly began to increase, she had to sit in the town to receive them. According to the reports of those who observed below, most of the return visits were mainly minor nobles below the viscount, and occasionally there were one or two earl families. Beyond that, there is none. ”

Subsequently, he gave the names of the two counts and a few nobles whom he considered noteworthy.

The Duke of Smowa nodded as he listened.

His son's ability to do things still reassures him.

"The 300 Aberdeen warriors brought by the Princess's Mission are housed in a clearing outside the north of the city, not far from our school grounds. Every day, under the command of the general Tang Feng, they practiced their original formation, and never took half a step out of the camp. ”

"If the only thing that's a little weird is the banquet held by Her Royal Highness the Princess last night."

After a rough introduction to the situation in the report, Marquis Marco finally got to the point.

At that banquet, Her Royal Highness invited about a third of the nobles of the city to attend. Among them, too, the nobles who are on our side. According to their return, the banquet was no different from the night banquet that the nobles usually held. Her Royal Highness has also been talking to the heads of various families during the banquet, and has not had any private contact with anyone. In such a public setting, in the eyes of all the nobles, there should be no secret or special moves. ”

He said it was weird, and then he said it was no different from a normal night party. The seemingly contradictory words, but the Grand Duke of Smowa listened to it, but his face moved, and he immediately grasped the point of his son's words.

"Invite only a small number of nobles? Is there a list of all the nobles who attended the banquet? ”

Marquis Marco was prepared, took out a piece of paper and handed it over.

The Grand Duke took it and swept it at a glance, already roughly knowing which noble families it was, but the doubts in his heart were even heavier.

The noble titles in the list range from high to low, and attitudes and positions also include all types. Judging from these names alone, Princess Arina seems to have randomly selected some families to participate in the banquet, without any tendencies at all.

But, is this possible?

As the supreme ruler of the province of Hanover, the Grand Duke of Smowa was of course aware of the position of each family. He knew exactly which one wanted to fall to the Riga Empire, which one was a staunch supporter of the royal family, and which one was a ****** that swayed from side to side.

Princess Arlina has only been in the past few days, and her understanding is certainly not as good as that of the Grand Duke, but it is impossible not to be aware of it at all. So what is the purpose of her seemingly irregular delineation of the guest list?

"If I'm not mistaken, there are already a few nobles who have publicly sided with the princess, right?"

"Yes." Marco nodded in the affirmative.

Duke Smowa's brow furrowed even tighter.

Since she has the help of local nobles, Princess Arina should have a good understanding of the situation of each family. Then she indiscriminately circled some nobles, there must be her intentions, but she can't guess it.

The Grand Duke didn't care much about the nobles of Hanover Province who threw themselves into the arms of the princess or the royal family. After all, this is just a matter of attitude, and it is a choice of position in the face of foreign invasion. Don't forget, everyone was originally a subject of the glorious empire, and nominally submitted to His Majesty Beckenbauer.

The Grand Duke frowned and remained silent, and the Marquis Marco moved on to another topic.

"Father, the matter of sending troops to suppress bandits has been prepared in all aspects. Just wait for Her Royal Highness the princess to nod her head, and you can set off at any time. This, is it true that our Grand Duke's Mansion will not send someone to follow? ”

The Duke of Smois, who pondered to no avail, had to put aside his doubts for a moment and point out to his son.

"What are you doing with it?"

Marquis Marco was stunned for a moment, not understanding what his father meant.

Although the name of this dispatch is to suppress bandits, in essence, what everyone wants to see is the performance of the 300 soldiers of the princess mission.

In this matter, the Grand Duke's Palace played a role in contributing to the trouble. Because the Grand Duke, like other nobles, also wanted to accurately measure the strength of this army.

Of course, you have to see it with your own eyes to be sure. Therefore, all the major families will send people and princesses and others to set off together to follow and observe the whole process.

Her Royal Highness the princess does not refuse to come, no matter how big or small the nobles, they can come if they want to.

But the Duke of Smoisa said that he would not join in the excitement.

You know, the Grand Duke paid more attention to the mission than anyone else. Even the path chosen by the Grand Duke's Palace in the future is related to the performance of the mission and that Anthony.

"Marko, if you want to know the situation of the princess's envoy to suppress bandits, you don't have to be accompanied by someone from the Duke's Palace. The eyes and ears of other families are not our eyes and ears. What they know, we know. ”

The Grand Duke continued to point out his son. He knew that as he got older, there wouldn't be too many such opportunities.

"On the surface, the Grand Duke's Palace is not involved, and there is not much to lose us. But for others, our absence has been a great convenience. If you want to do something, you can just do it without worrying too much. ”

Duke Smois's eyes flashed with a dangerous glow.

"This is true for the nobles. The same is true for the Princesses. ”

……

The sky is blue and the cool breeze is blowing.

Before you know it, it's early autumn, nearly a month before the end of the counterinsurgency war in Taranto.

From the iron-blooded battlefield on the line of life and death to the calm and prosperous Hanover, it makes people feel as if they have suddenly jumped from one world to another. Strange and unreal.

Anthony didn't know how the 300 fighters felt, and he himself could only sigh in return, with mixed feelings.

Whatever his intentions, from the moment he decided to devote himself to this dangerous but magnificent upheaval, Anthony had anticipated the hardships ahead. But since he has picked up this burden, no matter how heavy the pressure is, no matter how rugged and difficult the road is, he will grit his teeth and never give up!

Anthony turned his head to look at the girl beside him.

…… Even if it's just for that flower-like smile.

As if sensing his gaze, Arlina turned her head to meet the boy's gaze.

"What's wrong? Dirty on my face? ”

"Nothing." Anthony smiled, still unabashedly admiring the girl's pretty face.

Alina was thin-skinned and her heart was pounding, and she looked away in a panic and tried to change the subject.

"Look at the nobles of Hanover, where it looks like they are going to fight or suppress bandits. It's almost as good as an outing to the heights. ”

Anthony also knew that it was necessary to stop in moderation, and immediately followed her words and said: "For them, this was supposed to be an outing. Perhaps one more thing to add: watching a play. ”

Yalina furrowed her delicate eyebrows, and said dissatisfiedly: "Anyway, this is also suppressing bandits, there are thousands of bandits on the other side." Isn't it time to be nervous, scared, and apprehensive? ”

"Maybe they don't think there's any need to act anymore." Anthony said lightly.

The princess's mission traveled thousands of miles north to Hanover Province, nominally to inspect and supervise the preparations for war. But the development of things somehow slowly deviated from the original track, and went further and further.

The large-scale military parade at the campus in the north of the city can be said to be an inspection of the army's training and appearance, and the troops of the mission personally went into battle to participate in the combat drills. Then it turned into a quarrel of words, arguing about the strength of the Aberdeen troops who went north with the mission. He even sent troops to the western part of the province to exterminate the bandits, as proof of this.

At this point, it can be said that it has become a complete farce.

But the parties did not speak and did not raise objections. The nobles standing opposite the mission and the ****** in the middle did not have any one to remind them, and the matter was settled in such a daze.

What the so-called "bandits" were, the nobles who followed the troops knew in their hearts. In the face of your own people, of course, you don't need to be nervous and afraid.

The tall trees and dense foliage in this western mountain forest are a lush scene.

On a small grassy field, hundreds of people sat on the ground, in small circles in twos and threes, resting.

Several men who looked like leaders sat on the trunks of the felled trees, talking about something with serious expressions.

"Captain, the enemy is less than twenty miles away. How to fight this battle, please ask the captain for instructions! ”

The man called the captain glared at the man: "How many times have I told you, don't call me captain!" Call me the boss, or call me the boss or the leader. And you, the second master, remember?! ”

The man sneered and hurriedly apologized: "Yes, yes, I was wrong." Isn't this the enemy still here, I'm sure I'll not be wrong in a minute. ”

"Forget it."

The captain or the "big boss" was quite helpless, and he didn't want to dwell on this subsection.

"The results of the battle drill on the Chengbei campus, even if you haven't seen it with your own eyes, you should have heard about it, so I won't talk nonsense here. The opponent has seen blood on the battlefield, and in terms of array battles, even the regular army of Hanover is no match for others, let alone our family private soldiers. So we have to make good use of the terrain here, so that the opponent can't line up the formation. Once they can't play to the overall advantage of the formation, these recruits are definitely not our opponents when it comes to playing alone. ”

The "big boss" looked around and saw that everyone was listening carefully, and his heart was quite satisfied.

"The above attaches great importance to this battle, and has promised a rich reward. Moreover, in addition to our family, many other nobles were also involved in this attack, and they are now ambushing not far from the two wings. As long as the enemy steps into this wooded area, there is definitely no return. Except for the people of the various families who follow far behind, don't let go of any enemy. Do you understand? ”

"Understood!"

Several leaders raised their arms in response.

The "big boss" turned to the east, his eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the lush foliage, and he saw a small army approaching this way.

He is a dead soldier cultivated by the family and is loyal to the family. As long as the family ordered, let alone a princess, even if it was the king of the glorious empire opposite, he would not hesitate to slash it down.

As for the others, they were recruited by the family, and their loyalty was far less than his. It's no problem to attack Aberdeen's 300-strong troops, but if you want to attack and kill Her Royal Highness, I'm afraid you may not have the courage to do so.

So he's going to fight the battle into a big scuffle.

As long as it's messed up, who has the leisure to care about what your identity is. As long as it is not your own people, then they are all enemies, and they must be cut down with a knife.

If the eldest princess of Arina had not fought this battle, King Beckenbauer would have been furious. Whatever the Grand Duke of Smowa did or did not do in this regard, he inevitably had to bear the wrath of His Majesty. If there were any more people operating in it, the whole province of Hanover would probably fall completely into opposition to the glorious empire.

And the beginning of the change of the entire empire is on the blade in his hand!

The "big boss" felt like a fire burning in his chest, and he clenched the handle of the knife in his hand hard.