Two long rows stretched out of the gate, and the soldiers were dressed in shiny armor, their weapons sheathed, and hung diagonally from their waists. 「」

The men at the front of the procession were dressed in formal robes or draped all over their bodies, and their armor emblazoned with the blue iris insignia reflected their solemn faces, which were no longer young.

The army that was greeted opened the way with a guard of honor, and the army of two thousand men gradually came to the bottom of the fortress, and the soldiers raised their hands with long, curved horns.

Doodoooo -

A long and loud trumpet was sounded.

At the front of the 2,000-strong army, a leader raised his white-gloved right hand and waved it back when he was still more than ten feet away from the greeting procession.

The guard of honor at the beginning stopped, and the following procession stopped moving neatly, as if it were a connected whole.

General Matthew, who was standing at the front of the greeting queue, looked at the honor guard in front of him, dressed in bright robes and long fringes, and his brows were inadvertently furrowed.

The deputy on one side seemed to know his psychology, his lips moved slightly, and the low voice reached the ears of General Matthew, not even letting the subordinates who were three steps behind him hear-

“…… Those old foxes really didn't have a good heart, and sent people to the front line, but only gave them to these flashy honor guards. "If the new Grand Duke has been putting on this kind of pomp since he left the country, I am afraid that he will lose face with the local nobles and foreign nobles along the way!"

General Matthew's eyes flickered slightly,

"Let's wait and see, the young man who can enter the eyes of his wife as a dark horse and win the final victory may not be so simple."

The deputy is also right to think about it, although the description of the duchy in the military secret report obtained earlier is obviously not favorable to the new Grand Duke. But it doesn't seem to be entirely one-sided.

Of course, people will laugh at the immaturity and pompousness of the new Grand Duke in private, but the new Grand Duke is a symbol of the Duchy, representing the Duchy of Stuart, and those people are not laughing at the Duchy.

Besides, everyone knows. The new Grand Duke was not educated and trained by the monarch at all, and was only temporarily chosen by the lady, and most of the people laughed at him. There will also be sympathy and understanding for this young man.

But for politicians who do not hesitate to throw out the novice Grand Duke and tarnish the reputation and image of their country in exchange for the benefit of opportunity, not only will the impression of them be reduced, but even the prestige of the Duchy of Stuart will be reduced by more than a notch.

This is the innate advantage of the subordinate position.

In the eyes of various nobles, Stuart is the monarch, and those noble and wealthy families are the courtiers, and in this feudal aristocracy with the monarch and the courtiers as the system, the subordinates are not loyal to the lord. But the act of constantly weakening the authority and authority of the Lord cannot be justified in the general righteousness.

At least for the royal families or royal families of various countries, they will never justifiably support such an act, and they will take it seriously, so in this respect. The ruler and his family, who held the supreme position of dominance in the country, were the natural allies of the new Grand Duke.

At this time, the guard of honor had already separated, and a white horse with a long mane walked out aggressively.

The knight above was dressed in a formal garment with tassels hanging from it, and behind him a long cloak with the blue fleur-de-lis family crest hung neatly down to the bottom of the horse's legs.

The knight had blonde hair that seemed to have been kissed by the sun, his blue eyes were warm and majestic, and the corners of his mouth were faintly affectionate, like a noble prince. I bow slightly to the people who greeted me right away.

On the surface, this is a young, first-impression monarch.

……

At the banquet, after the two sides introduced the identities of each other's important people, while the wine was hot, General Matthew whispered to his deputy with a reddish wine on his face:

"I'm right!"

The deputy holds a wine glass in his hand. "" Gently touched the general, complimenting, "The general's eyes are far-reaching."

"Today's young people are really getting more and more difficult!"

Matthew looked at the group of young men who were talking and laughing in the dining room and inadvertently infiltrated among the officers under him, and spread their diplomatic skills, and said softly.

There were about seven or eight of these young men, about twenty years old, about the same age as the new Grand Duke, and one or two of them had just sprouted thin stubble on their chins, and their appearance was very immature, no more than eighteen years old.

However, the identity of these young people should not be underestimated, just now in the introduction of each person's identity, these young people are from the local nobility of Stuart, some are from the magic family of the Principality of Magic, and some are from the noble families of the Meryl Kingdom of Stuart.

For example, the young man who appeared in front of the honor guard before was from the Meryl royal family, although the blood was not close enough to have the right to inherit the throne, but it is said that he was also valued by Queen Meryl, and a certain Cheng dù also represents the position of the Meryl royal family.

Matthew wasn't surprised by the attitude of the Meryl royal family.

After all, Madame herself is the second princess of Meryl, and now that the Grand Duke is dead, if Madame returns to Meryl, she can even immediately have the fourth in line to inherit the throne, and a fief in Madame's dowry will also return to Meryl. 「」

Of course, in fact, the politics between countries cannot be calculated by simple addition and subtraction, and Meryl's payment of a fief is that Meryl's royal family can take the initiative in the affairs of the Duchy of Stuart, using the principality as a tug of war, and reaching a certain political balance with the Merlin Empire and the 200,000 southern troops stationed in the south.

It is precisely because Mrs. has such a maiden family as the confidence that she has the confidence to control the situation of the principality, and she insists on going her own way in the election of the grand duke.

With the Meryl royal family as the opening, it is normal for some subsequent nobles who are waiting to see that there is a tendency to move closer to the new Grand Duke.

The sending of these young sons by interested nobles can be said to be a small bet, or it can be said to be an observation - to see if the young Grand Duke has the potential to make them bet.

And this kind of temptation is not a pure wall or a move of interest, the benefits to both sides are actually one and the same, the young Grand Duke can also use these observational eyes to expand his network, do something that he cannot do, and most importantly, show his ability and skill in front of these eyes, in order to gain the recognition of the circle of power, and gradually spread this recognition, and the players from becoming a recognized principality.

It is a kind of way of opening up the internal political situation with diplomatic skills, and there is no shortage of lords and precedents in history who have used this wisdom. 「」

“…… It seems that the young archduke's diplomatic skills have been quite mature, at least it seems that he has been recognized by those noble youths, otherwise they would not be so willing to pave the way for the young grand bus. General Matthew said with a smile.

In comparison, if the new Grand Duke is still trapped in the county capital, navigating the quagmire created by the old foxes of those politicians, it will be really bad.

"However, it is ......risky to confront the powerful nobles and politicians at home by diplomatic means," the deputy reminded.

"It's up to the Grand Duke to grasp the scale, but now it seems that the trend is still good!"

The deputy was surprised by the superior's optimism, at least he had not seen what the young Grand Duke had to pay attention to, except for his excellent diplomatic skills.

General Matthew looked at the young men who were trying to mingle with his men, and the young Grand Duke was also talking intimately with his other deputy, and seemed to be happy and very cordial.

-- Diplomatic means can easily drive the tiger into the wolf, and treat the symptoms but not the root cause. The young archduke, on the other hand, used the appearance of a diplomatic offensive to disguise his inner nature in playing the military card, and although his actions were not obvious, he should have already achieved some results.

Along the way, there are a lot of local troops, although they are stationed in the ice field, but the battle on the front line will begin, if ......

General Matthew's eyes flickered slightly.

In this unfavorable situation like exile, he can still seize the opportunity to create a turnaround and win over the power, whether or not there is a wise mind behind him, the new Grand Duke can carry out this matter at such a young age, and even do it very well, from this, you can see his potential.

But......

Suppose the young Grand Duke and the wise men behind him, when choosing the game of diplomatic disguise for military affairs, also take into account some of the present and future possibilities, and dare to bet boldly on their front-line armies before the war begins.

Then, the young Grand Duke's means and strategic vision are not just the evaluation of "potential".

For now, this is a lord who is sharp and unwilling to be a puppet!

But isn't that what the military is happy to see?

Neither the Meryl royal family nor the behemothic empire were happy to see the Duchy's army turn into a knife that was too thoughtful, so this knife had to choose a hand that could at least represent their thoughts.

"A ruler should always have his own set of governance skills, and have the forces to support him and ensure the implementation and development of his governance ideas,"

Matthew muttered, a slight voice that even the people around him couldn't hear,

"It is said that this new Grand Duke grew up in the army since he was a child......"

……

That night, under the dim light, a note carefully considering the language was tied to the letter bird's feet. The letter bird was released overnight, flapping its wings and flying south.

***

Rewind the time even earlier, after the upper levels of the fortress welcomed the Grand Duke into the fortress.

The main members of the party were welcomed into the banquet hall, and the more than 2,000 troops who defended the Grand Duke all the way were led into the outer fort and placed by special logistics officers.

A room on the south side of the inner fort.

Lin An was alone indoors, leaning in front of the windowsill and looking down at the longing figure not far away, and his eyes were suddenly attracted by an ordinary and somewhat abrupt snow carriage.

It is ordinary, for its appearance is devoid of ornate ornamentation, and it looks as if it had been improvised on the way, and though it is wide and sturdy, it resembles a commoner's carriage;

It is said to be abrupt because in this army, even the Grand Duke himself rode a horse, but in the gorgeous honor guard and sturdy logistics carriage, such a carriage appeared alone.

The carriage came to a remote corner, and the soldier who acted as the coachman stopped carefully and came out of the door.

A frosty snow bully arm stuck out of the car door and landed on the soldier's arm.

Then, wavy blonde hair like a waterfall appeared in Lin An's sight.

(To be continued) (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the Biquge www.biquge.info (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, your support is my biggest motivation. )