Victoria has a very high status in the army, but she doesn't have many friends, and she usually has a rare opportunity to communicate with people on an equal footing, and now she is very happy to reunite with Roland and her old friends, and she can't help but pour out some things that are usually not good to say to people. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Our Baiou Port Coast Guard has nearly 5,000 officers and men on active duty, and also has a cruiser, four destroyers, plus five frigates, and its combat effectiveness is still very good, but considering that the North Bay has a long coastline and a longer route to and from the New World, these ships are stretched thin in the vast sea area, so so far our navy has only positioned a defense-oriented force, which is why it is called the 'coast guard'."

Roland is also a soldier, of course he understands Victoria's dissatisfaction with the status quo and her desire to expand her military strength, and then she said: "I talked to Uncle Mikhail on the way about the defense of White Gull Harbor, he mentioned the Troll Pirate Regiment, you just said that there is a super warship on Troll Island, so the Big Demon Island is the biggest threat to White Gull Harbor and the entire Bend Alliance, why don't you join forces to drive those pirates out of the North Bay, is it because you are afraid of the legendary Pirate Queen Kraken, or is it something else?" ”

Viktoria took a deep breath and said: "First of all, I must admit that Kraken's female devil is indeed very difficult to entangle, if you want to fight alone, even my sister is not her opponent, but then again, the confrontation between the two armies is different from heads-up after all, the personal strength of the leader cannot completely control the situation of the battle, and the biggest problem of our Bender alliance is that the hearts are not aligned!" ”

Roland was not surprised by her answer at all, and followed the topic to inquire into the inside story: "In other words, not all city-states regard the Giant Demon Island as a mortal enemy like White Gull Harbor and are eager to eliminate the pirate forces?" ”

Victoria nodded depressedly and vented her bitterness to him: "In fact, the military forces of the city-states of the Bend Alliance are enough to exterminate the pirates of the Troll Island, and I have repeatedly proposed that the navies of the city-states form a joint fleet to deal with the escalating security threats in the North Sea region, but they have all been vetoed by the Alliance Council, and the opposition's nominal reason is that the military expenditure is too large, which will increase the tax burden on the citizens, but in fact, they are worried that the military power will be concentrated in the hands of our Yangbo family, and the so-called 'alliance democracy' and the selfish interests of the ruling families of individual city-states will be destroyed." ”

Roland stood at the bow of the ship with his hands in his hands, listening to Victoria's grievances, and his heart was full of thoughts.

If we look at this issue from the perspective of a weak city-state, the other party's worries are not unfounded. Now that there is a common threat to the monster island, Baigull Harbor, as the leader of the Bend Alliance, has to stand up and bear most of the pressure, in case a merchant ship is plundered in the North Bay, whether the other party is a registered ship of Baiou Harbor or belongs to another city-state, the naval fleet of Baiou Harbor must go to the rescue as soon as it receives the distress signal, which is the moral responsibility that the alliance leader must shoulder - you are the boss, you have to set an example and maintain the safety of the younger brothers.

For a long time, the Hakugugang Coast Guard has been playing the role of "firefighters", spending a lot of manpower and financial resources to maintain the security of the alliance, and the increasing military spending is a huge financial burden even for the wealthy Hakugugang. That's why Victoria complained: Why use my family's fleet to keep everyone safe?

She proposed the formation of a joint fleet, in fact, she wanted to bring in other city-states to share the pressure, and the reaction of other city-states was also very interesting, it was okay to spend a little money and small efforts, but it was impossible to spend a lot of money and give full support!

Victoria doesn't understand why they are so selfish and short-sighted, but in Roland's opinion, this shows that Victoria herself is not mature.

First, the other city-states had a vested interest in the current alliance defense system, and they had no incentive to participate in the military reforms led by Viktoria.

Second, the formation of a combined fleet would mean an equal share of military expenditures, which other city-states were unwilling to accept. To be fair, as the undisputed hegemon of the Bend Alliance, Baiou Harbor occupies the most favorable economic location, and occupies a comparative advantage in the endowment of capital, talents, and institutions, so it must have a monopoly position in the economic activities within the alliance, like a pumping machine, constantly extracting wealth from the surrounding areas, leaving only a little scrap for the other city-states. A very important factor in the fact that other city-states were exploited by Baiou Harbor openly and covertly was to reduce the military expenditure of the state, and the military support provided by Baiou Harbor obtained national defense dividends, and the saved expenditure was used to develop other industries with comparative advantages, and the benefits obtained could balance the exploitation of Baiou Harbor, so that the economic community of the Bend Alliance was in a relatively balanced state.

Roland naturally thinks of the post-World War II world order on Earth, and a very important factor in why Japan and West Germany were able to achieve rapid economic take-off on the basis of the ruins of the post-war period was that they passively gave up most of their defense spending and could invest more capital in economic construction.

Now Victoria proposes to form a joint fleet and share the military expenses equally, just like the US imperialists proposed to reform NATO, telling the European Union, Japan and South Korea: If the protection fee will rise, you all have to increase the money, otherwise you will no longer provide security guarantees, and the other side can be happy?

The last factor, which Victoria also mentioned just now, is that the states are worried that after the combined fleet is formed, the command will become the forbidden side of the Yangbo family, so that it is equivalent to the states contributing money and efforts for the expansion of the White Gull Harbor, and this combined fleet will not be disbanded on the spot after eliminating the pirates of the Giant Demon Island, where will the troops point next? As long as the ruling families of various states think about this problem, I am afraid that they will break out in a cold sweat!

If an economically monopolistic family still has the huge military power to crush other families at will, then what is the need to maintain the existing alliance system? If you have money and guns, why should you listen to the representatives of other city-states in the council?

At that day, the Bend Alliance is afraid that it will transform into a kingdom of Bende, the Yangbo family will also become a royal family, and the other city-states will bow to Her Majesty Queen Lyubov, which is a future they absolutely do not want to see, so the states would rather endure pirate exploitation than give the Yangbo family any chance to centralize power.

With such a common heart disease, Victoria's proposed expansion plan could not be agreed upon in the parliament, and countless tears and quarrels were made, but the result was in vain. At the same time, the Pirate Kingdom of the Giant Demon Island is rapidly expanding its power under the dictatorship of Kraken. The situation continues, and one day the people of the Bend League will be horrified to find that the enemy has become so powerful that even if they immediately abandon their selfishness and unite to form an alliance, they will not be able to resist the invasion of pirates.

When that day comes, the "Bend Union" will come to an end on this road of self-destruction. (To be continued.) )