In Aurich, the capital of the North Sea Kingdom, in the secret courtyard outside the royal palace, Kohler is reporting to Marin—

"In the name of suppressing bandits, the Seven-Nation Coalition pursued 2,000 men who looked like horse bandits, all the way from the northern part of the Ravensburg and Lipper kingdoms to the northwest, and at present, they have entered the territory of the province of North Münster."

"In the province of North Münster, the army captured a fertilizer mill and received a large amount of volcanic ash. Then, the people we arranged in the fertilizer processing plant insisted that that was the core ...... of fertilizer."

"But how do you explain this to those people because our fertilizer is made from three parts?" Marin asked.

"I asked our people to answer this question - the other two ingredients are cover-ups, and what really works is the volcanic ash imported from Italy." Kohler replied.

"Very good, classic answer. So, what if they sent someone to Italy to investigate? On the Italian side, have we arranged cover? Marin took a sip of honey milk tea and asked casually. As a modern person, Ma Lin knows that drinking too much milk tea with sucrose will cause wealth and wealth disease. Therefore, although he planned to sell sucrose, he never drank milk tea with sucrose, but replaced it with healthy honey. Moreover, honey is now cheaper than sucrose.

Of course, in later generations of China, it will be difficult for you to buy authentic honey. Even more than half of the honey sold in supermarkets is made from caramel sugar, especially some small brands. Many diabetics think it's okay to buy honey and eat it, but when they buy this fake honey, they will be finished after eating it......

Even, in later generations, milk tea will be drunk, let alone honey, the ingredients of milk tea are mainly chemically synthesized creamer and saccharin, and it is a conscience to have sucrose. As for what coconut fruit, it is also synthetic, not real coconut meat. In short, the master who mixes milk tea is a bit like an alchemist, who uses a full set of chemical products to feed you, and is afraid that you will die too late......

Just when Marin's thoughts were running astray, Khloe's reply pulled his divergent thinking back:

"Coincidentally, the lord (Marin thought about it, but he still felt that the title of the lord in the Three Kingdoms was more appropriate, so he let Kohler call them so), didn't you get cement before?"

"yes, what's wrong with cement? It doesn't seem to have attracted the attention of foreign countries, right? Marlin wondered.

Kohler was a little speechless - could it attract foreign attention? What kind of Ming Dynasty do you learn from, with a strict household registration system and a road introduction system, outsiders can't get in, and you can see the cement road?

Even on the concrete road from Emden to Aurich taken by foreign envoys, Marin poured a lot of paint on the road, making it look like a camouflage uniform. Moreover, Leonardo da Vinci, an old boy, also had a whim, and designed artificially drawn "cracks" for the cement pavement, which looked like the pavement was paved with stones, and those cracks were like stone cracks...... The foreign envoys passing by thought that the stone-paved road at this time was just a relatively skilled one......

After a pause, Khloe replied:

"That's right, didn't you say that the cement was made of volcanic ash in order to cover up the cement before? And specifically claimed that this was the technology of the Roman Empire? ”

Marlin nodded:

"That's right, that's what I announced. But later, Ada came up with the method of manually drawing 'stone cracks' to cover up the cement road, and the outside world didn't care about the cement anymore. ”

Kohler continued:

"That's true, but in order to cover the cement, we specially ordered people to buy several volcanoes and the surrounding land in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily for the purpose of mining volcanic ash and making a show, do you remember?"

Marin thought for a moment...... It seems like...... Is there such a thing...... So he nodded......

In fact, the volcanic ash near the volcanoes that Marin sent people to buy was not fertile. If the ash is very fat, the local government will not sell it, but will use it for farming. After all, food prices are so high right now.

But the problem is that Marin didn't expect the volcanic ash from those volcanoes to be used as fertilizer, and just bought it to cover the cement. Later, it was simply left unused, and only one volcano was still digging and excavating before being shipped out of Italy......

……

Seeing Marlin recall, Kohler continued to report:

"My intelligence officers say that the Seven-Nation Coalition forces have been holding their ground for the time being after occupying a fertilizer field near the city of Vuchta in North Münster, and seem to be waiting for something."

"At the same time, it seems that the coalition forces sent a large number of spies to the south, presumably to Italy to inquire about the news......"

"Hey, that's so cautious!" Marin exclaimed. Needless to say, it must have been the handiwork of Charlie, Earl of Geldon.

"So what are we going to do?" Kohler asked.

"We have a hotel post system, so we can change horses all the way south, faster than them...... Then you shall send men south to the volcanic areas, and order them to start the few idle volcanoes, and resume digging and loading them into ships, so that they can be seen by the people they sent......"

"But time is a little tight, I'm afraid that our people haven't arranged it yet, and their spies will arrive......"

"Then send men to stop them in the middle of the road, of course, not to intercept them, but to create obstacles and slow them down. We also have a lot of intelligence officers in Italy, as long as we move quickly, we can still hold them back for a long time, and we can leave enough time......"

"Okay, I'll arrange it later. In addition, it seems that the Seven Nation Alliance also sent a large number of scouts to the northeast, and it seems that they are observing the movements of the Second and Third Army Corps. Like, they're not at ease with these two legions......" Kohler said.

Can you rest assured? In fact, Charles, Earl of Geldon, was still a little frightened, for fear that the Second and Third Legions would suddenly reconcile with Aurich. Once this happens, the Second and Third Army Corps go south to "King Qin", then their 40,000 coalition troops, which are more than half of the levies, are no match at all. After all, that's 30,000 regular troops!

So, Charles, Earl of Geldon, was in this view – let's stop for a while near the city of Vrhitta, in the eastern part of North Münster. If the 2nd and 3rd Legions of the North Sea State reconciled with the Aurich, they would immediately admit to withdrawing from the North Münster region and wait for the princes to join them. Anyway, they have now obtained agricultural secrets, and they have not come in vain. As long as the spies sent to Italy send back the good news, they can apply it.

And if the Second and Third Legions did not reconcile with Aurich, then they could boldly march and take the opportunity to carve up the North Sea State.

Several other princes also agreed with this safe approach of Earl Charles. For this reason, the Seven-Nation Alliance only occupied the villages and towns around the city of Vuhita, and did not attack the city of Phohita. In this way, even if the two legions of the North Sea State reconciled with Aurich, they would have room to turn around.

Because, if you don't attack the city, it can indeed be interpreted as "suppressing bandits passing by". If the city is attacked, there is no way to defend it.

……

Marin thought for a while, and guessed the worries of these princes. So, he came up with a countermeasure:

"Kohler, you go and send someone to inform Wagner and Steindorff and let them fight......"

"Fighting? What do you mean? Pretending to fight? Kohler asked.

"Yes, the Seven Nation Coalition is very afraid of the Second and Third Legions, fearing that they will join forces with Aurich. Therefore, they do not even dare to attack the city now. ”

"However, if the Second Army and the Third Army fight for 'turf', then they will have no worries." Marin explained.

"But, no. Lord, aren't the Second and Third Legions going to huddle together against Aurich? Against the backdrop of Aurich's fierce eye, the two legions are fighting, and it is self-defeating......" Kohler puzzled.

"So, I can ask Steindorff to send a secret envoy to contact the Seven Nations Alliance, and ask them to make a big noise, so that the Third Legion and the Second Legion can engage in internal strife and win a safe external environment!"

"Yes, if the Seven-Nation Alliance makes a big fuss in the south, then the First Legion of Aurich will have no time to worry about the affairs in the east...... This explanation is reasonable...... But what conditions did Steindorff offer to get the princes to agree? After all, it takes a lot of money to ask someone to send troops...... Is it to let the Captain of the Steindorff Corps pay? Kohler asked.

Marin smiled:

"Isn't it ready-made?"

"Ready-made? What? ”

"'Fertilizer Technology'......"

Kohler was stunned, and then it dawned on him:

"Are you saying that you continue to use fake volcanic ash fertilizer technology as a bargaining chip to fool those seven princes? However, those princes have already obtained this technology......"

Marin waved his hand:

"So what? Let Steindorff pretend not to know! Moreover, this fertilizer technology is also more precious. Steindorff took out this technology in exchange, and he was also very good at expressing sincerity. Moreover, the Seven-Nation Alliance did not need tangible benefits at all, what they needed more was the neutrality of the Second and Third Legions. Therefore, it is only fitting that Steindorff can show his sincerity with this fake fertilizer technology. You know, with the right amount of volcanic ash, you can get up to 200 pounds of rye per acre......"

Kohler thought for a moment, then showed a smile and patted the horse with a sly face:

"High, really high!" He looked like a flattering puppet army commander......

After Marin kicked lightly, he didn't have a good breath:

"Hurry up and arrange it! Also, the envoy sent by Steindorff was deliberately asked to tell the specific locations of several volcanoes that we had purchased in Italy, waiting for the spies of the Seven Kingdoms to run and find out. Those volcanoes, which we have bought for several years, have also been developed, and they are very convincing. Your people didn't say exactly where the volcano was, did they? ”

Kohler shook his head, the person he arranged was just a small person in charge of the fertilizer processing plant, at most responsible for fertilizer mixing, and he shouldn't know so much detail. If you go into too much detail, you will be suspicious. So, they only said that the volcanic ash was bought from Italy, but did not say the specific location.

Unlike Steindorff, he was a high-ranking general in the North Sea Kingdom, and he had also been to Italy. He knew that the specific location of the volcano was very reasonable, and it seemed very sincere to send the location of the volcano.

"Then let Steindorff send people to contact the seven princes for secret talks, and by the way, deliberately expose the location of the volcano!"

"Yes, I'll arrange it!"

Soon, two secret letters asking the Second and Third Legions to "engage in infighting" were sent to Wagner, the commander of the Second Legion, and Steindorff, the commander of the Third Legion......