After the meeting of Ditto, the entire continent of Sisemlia was plunged into an eerie atmosphere, with Crossbell as the center. It seems that the major forces that were originally constrained by each other have to stop for a while and observe the future trends before making a decision. In this case, only Crossbell fell into a kind of fiery frenzy.

Mayor Dita's proposal is bold, but it is not necessarily wishful thinking. Nothing is groundless, although Crossbell has the name of the autonomous state on the surface, compared to Lehman, where the guerrillas are headquartered, Norsampuria, which was once extremely wealthy and only a few decades ago, and the medically advanced Autonomous Prefecture of Orred, Crossbell has never been recognized as the sovereign state of all autonomous states, the Altrian Codex State in the middle of the continent. Perhaps it was because of the power of the surrounding empires and republics, or perhaps for some other reason, but in short, the land of Crossbell seemed to have been abandoned and neglected in the blueprint of the Church, and had not been given the corresponding attention for a long time.

It is not a sovereign country, which means that Crossbell does not have the power to maintain a large number of standing armies, and the two countries to the east and west of it happen to be the top two in the strength of the continental army. Not only the revenue of the government should be paid to both sides at the same time, but also the inconvenience caused to all the people of Crossbell after becoming a chessboard for the game of the two powers—these things have long been buried in the hearts of Crossbell's people, and Mayor Dita's bold proposal is nothing more than the idea that these people have long had.

Crossbell's long-standing aberrant development, the problem of a well-developed financial industry but a fragile political foundation, has been deeply hurting the land. As a result, Mayor Dita's bold proposal was supported by many who went around the city to educate everyone they could talk to about the importance of Crossbell's independence – less foreign interference, less mafia and the underworld, less taxes – and a very tempting proposition. At the same time, however, there are those who insist that Mayor Dita's idea is foolish and impossible – declaring independence would almost mean saying "no" to the de facto suzerainty of the empire and the republic, and the consequences could be quite serious. With Crossbell's ability, it is basically impossible to withstand the political, economic, and even military onslaught of these two powers—and in the end, it may only lead to an even more troublesome situation than the current one. Mayor Dita's vision is beautiful, but it is too idealistic to be possible in the current continental environment. As for whether these people really think so, or whether there are imperial and republican political forces behind the instigation, it is unknown.

Compared to the fierce collision of these two views in the light and the shadows within Crossbell, the Empire and the Republic were concerned with something else at this time. In Erebonia, the fact that the Garelian fortress was attacked by terrorists and that two train guns were destroyed was too big to hide; The aristocratic faction, led by the four famous families, immediately seized the opportunity to use this incident to lash out at the reformers: If even the so-called impregnable western gate of the empire will be messed up with even a small terrorist invasion, then how can the so-called guarantees for the safety of the people of the empire be implemented?

Under pressure, the Imperial Government had to hold accountable the commanders of the Garelian Fortress, Lieutenant General Varta and Lieutenant General Craig, but the punishment was not painful and did not involve the real core issue - the regular army was the private domain of the government after all, and if it were not for the regular army's practice this time, and the result of the whole thing was indeed much beyond Prime Minister Osborne's expectations, he might not even think about punishment at all. Seventy percent of the generals of the regular army were his men, and the remaining thirty percent were mostly neutrals like Lieutenant General Craig, or some brainless royalists who had no conflict of interest with them. The only thing that was not under his control was none other than the Seventh Division, which Mura Fandel belonged to - but it was only a regular army of a division, and it was impossible to have any impact on the overall situation.

Of course, Hailiga, who directly destroyed the train cannon, was not held accountable. On the one hand, Heliga's choice seemed absolutely correct at the time; The drawings of the train cannon are still preserved, and they can still be rebuilt if necessary, which is nothing more than a matter of spending money; But if the train artillery really attacked the city of Crossbell and injured ordinary civilians, it would be more than just compensation. Reasonably, Helica's actions cannot be blamed; What's more, after such an incident, almost the entire high-level of the empire's dark department has already understood the relationship between Prince Olibat and Heliga - out of respect for this emerging political force that has the blood of the royal family and has not yet been figured out, no matter which side it is, it is just choosing to wait and see at this moment. Although the matter is basically kept secret, as long as the status and position are high enough, people can still know the truth about the destruction of the train cannon not because the defenders of the fortress have initiated some self-destruction procedures or something, but because it was artificially sabotaged - the specific method is becoming more and more strange in the rumors of people's mouth, from the bomb explosion that was quite reliable at the beginning, to the later even the rumor of summoning demons to appear. It's so big that the reformers don't even have time to deal with these frivolous rumors.

But reformers aren't just sitting there staring at their opponents smashing all sorts of black pots on their heads. All the affairs of this world, if properly managed, can be used to a certain extent for themselves, this is the creed of Prime Minister Osborne. On the one hand, the Imperial Government under his command readily admitted its mistakes, and even took the initiative to take on some things that they didn't have to worry too much about - this deliberate sincerity was oppressed by the nobility throughout the Empire, especially in Osborne's stronghold of the Imperial Capital, not only did not damage his prestige, but in a sense, it enriched the image of their so-called leader. At the same time, Osborne took this as an opportunity to further increase the density of the railway network and greatly strengthen the security of the railway gendarmerie. All materials entering and leaving the imperial capital and the major ports of the empire were subject to stricter scrutiny, and the exclusive supply of goods in the Garelian fortress was further refined, and every detail was supervised and filled in; Lieutenant General Varta and Lieutenant General Craig maintained the same tacit understanding with Prime Minister Osborne, and began to live in seclusion in the fortress, and for a moment the entire Garelian fortress became more mysterious.

This is a matter within the Empire - and outside the Empire, the one who reacts the most to this and moves most quickly is, of course, the old adversary of the Empire, the Republic of Calvard. At first, they sent a letter of sympathy, half schadenfreude—or rather complete schadenfreude—expressing regret that the Empire had suffered from internal instability, and that they were moved by the Empire's fight against terror, even at the cost of destroying the Great Wall; Compared to the greeting representations sent by other countries, this can definitely be called a heated statement. As in dealing with domestic problems, Osborne unequivocally promoted the fact that the empire was in fact peace-loving, and that it had really salvaged a certain image internationally.

Of course, Prime Minister Osborne's aggressiveness is nothing more than a remedy for what has already happened. At the Imperial Capital School of Political Science, which was familiar with the internal political situation of the empire and had learned a lot of gossip that the outside media did not know about, there was a general consensus among the professors that since Prime Minister Osborne was promoted by the emperor ten years ago, and had spent the early period when there was a huge gap in resources and connections with the aristocratic faction, this was the first time that he had dealt with the rotation of various parties in such a mess; And the new forces led by Prince Oliebat, which had not been taken into their eyes before, have become the objects of their verbal observation and research. The aristocratic faction is not only fighting with the prime minister on the lips, but also on the hands: why can't we use the excuse that you Oss can use? All of a sudden, the four famous families, including Baryahat, Luray, Ordis and Santa Teyak, launched an undisguised arms expansion almost simultaneously, and the apparent excuse was also to "defend against terrorist organizations" - but anyone with a discerning eye could see that they were just engaged in an arms race with the regular army and the imperial government in disguise, especially the Duke of Kane on the side of "Haidu" Ordis, and the Duke of Elbarrea on the side of "Jade Duke" Baryahat, which reached a somewhat crazy level. In contrast, the Marquis of Haines, who has always been mature and stable and has a good evaluation among the common people, and the Marquis of Rogner, who is stationed in the "steel capital" of Lure, can be described as insignificant.

Although the plan to assassinate the prime minister ultimately failed, in any case, the name "Imperial Liberation Front" finally became the focus of people's attention and discussion after a small test of the summer solstice festival in the imperial capital. Anyone with a little political savvy can see that they are definitely not the so-called scattered groups that "simply claim to be revolutionaries", and that kind of power and execution must be backed by huge support, and it is by no means as simple as a few scattered idle soldiers gathered together. Coupled with the aristocratic faction's somewhat ambiguous attitude towards their existence, many people began to speculate whether these terrorists were actually secretly supported by the aristocratic faction behind their backs.

The most interesting thing is that Cross Bell's theory of independence, which is most often pulled out for discussion and spread all over the streets, has little to discuss within their two neighbors, the Empire and the Republic. Everyone knows that while Crossbell occupies a unique position that has made it one of the best financial centers on the entire continent, everyone understands that a "region" that is not even sovereign is understandably valued by a country like the Empire and the Republic, which is not only a huge source of raw materials, but also the largest market. Without the help of the Empire and the Republic, there is a possibility that the two great powers will face each other with swords, which can only be a foolish choice anyway. As for the so-called "Declaration of Independence", it was even more regarded as a joke that "businessmen stupidly interfere in politics with commercial thinking" and "the crazy words of madmen are completely worthless".

Although the focus is different, it is true that Crossbell and the Empire have entered an unprecedented state of tension. In this regard, Lloyd and the others were worried, and they did not want Cross Bell, who had just suffered a disaster, to be inevitably harmed again; As for Libel, who had just advocated the signing of the "non-war pact" between the two powers with shrewd diplomacy the year before last, he is also particularly looking at this land of right and wrong at this moment. The so-called commitments and agreements between major powers have never had any credible value, and everyone knows that this kind of formal thing is like waste paper in front of their respective core interests. If there is a situation between the two countries that need to tear the meaningless window paper, the impact on Libel's domestic situation will also be a huge shock. Therefore, Queen Alicia specially instructed Richard, who is retired but still works in intelligence, to pay more attention to this form.

"Boring. These idiot media don't know anything. What a playmate who has been close to His Royal Highness since childhood. If anything, that guy is almost old enough for my uncle, not to mention that they are completely applying Mura's situation to me. In a room in the business hotel under the Imperial Capital Hall, Hailiga was looking at the newspaper and complaining to Fei, who was arranging his weapons on the counter - he had just read a report that said it was a reasonable guess, but in fact it was completely fabricated, although Hailiga's name and identity were not disclosed, but almost all the media began to arrange him with the young man who had been in the limelight with His Royal Highness the Imperial Prince in the summer solstice of the imperial capital - this report reads, The boy was also a playmate of His Royal Highness Oliebat's youth, and at the same time unfolded a touching story that didn't exist. In fact, it was just an adaptation of what happened between Mura and Olibat, but Olibat himself didn't have time to read it, and Mura didn't have the habit of reading newspapers.

"He's a decade older than us." Fei didn't look back, and while patiently using a small brush to clean the oil stains inside the gun circuit, he said, "It's true that it's an uncle." ”

"Alas...... than that. If you don't hurry, there will be no time for napping, right? ”

“……？” Fei turned around and tilted her head in confusion.

“…… Did you forget Olibat's previous invitation? Otherwise, why would we be waiting here? Haley was slandered, and sure enough, he had forgotten.

It has been a week since the destruction of the Garelian fortress. After carrying out the actions that should be made, those forces that are fighting openly and secretly behind this will also have a new round of games on the surface.