Twenty minutes later.

Claudia walked out of the throne room with a flushed face and walked into another room with Egwene.

She was.

In the course of their deliberations with the ministers, all the ministers were shocked by the news of the invasion and made certain proposals in a panic that displeased Claudia.

The opinions of the ministers are mainly divided into three factions, the main battle faction, the conservative faction, and the wavering wall riding faction.

In Duke Vyshak's opinion, the Twilight Forest and Red Ridge Mountain can be abandoned for the time being, and the top priority is to keep Stormwind, and he proposes to transfer two standing legions from the Eastern Plague Lands to return to Stormwind, and then recover these two territories after the standing legions return.

The main battle faction led by Duke Grayson raised a strong opposition to this, pointing out that if the royal family ignored the kingdom's request for help, it would undoubtedly make the people of the kingdom lose confidence in the royal family, but he also admitted that Stormwind was indeed short of troops, so Duke Grayson suggested that the levies and sailors should be mobilized first to delay time, then ask for help from Fort Ironforge and Nomorigan, and finally wait for the front to draw the First Army back to Stormwind to completely expel the enemy from the country.

None of the ministers on either side of the throne could convince anyone, and Claudia on the throne remembered Egwin's teaching to her before the meeting to talk less and listen more, but she was extremely unhappy in her heart, and Egwene on the side also discovered this, and after she gave Claudia a look, Claudia ordered a temporary adjournment of the meeting, and continued the meeting after a quarter of an hour's rest.

Gianna was waiting in the room, she did not attend the Imperial Council of the Stormwind Kingdom, after a brief exchange with Egwen, Gianna commented: "Duke Visak, they only care about their own interests in Stormwind City, their ideas are definitely not feasible, as for the idea that Duke Grayson said, although there are also drawbacks, but you can consider it." ”

Egwen shook his head: "I think Claudia might have another idea, she doesn't think she wants to use either idea." ”

Gianna looked at Claudia in surprise.

Claudia let out a sigh of relief, and said with some dissatisfaction: "Yes, none of their ideas are advisable, even Duke Grayson thinks about defense and asking for help, and has not thought of other possibilities, in their opinion, I am not Varian after all, as long as I can defend the territory and drive the enemy away, it would be good." ”

Gianna understood what Claudia meant, and asked suspiciously, "Then you want to take the initiative to attack?" ”

"That's right!" Claudia nodded, and said resolutely: "It is not advisable to transfer the legions from the front line, the battle in the Eastern Plague Land has reached the final stage, and there must be no mistakes, and it will take at least a month and a half for the legions of the Eastern Plague Land to return, I can't tolerate trolls and orcs scourging my people for so long." And-"

Claudia paused, took a sip of her glass of water, and continued, "Asking for help is not a good choice, because it is easy for the people to think that I can only protect them by asking for help from abroad. ”

"In my current situation, not only can I not have the slightest room for compromise, but I must also take the initiative to attack and defeat the enemy, and teach the orcs and trolls a profound lesson to deter the country and the rest of the country, otherwise if outsiders think I am weak and can be bullied, they will rush up and bully me and my children like hungry wolves."

"You're right," Gianna reminded Claudia, "but it's not only dangerous, it's difficult, for Stormwind has too few troops, even with General Jeresta's sailors. ”

"Actually, we just need to think about how to defeat the orcs, I have a way to defeat the trolls in the Valley of Thorns......" Claudia told Gianna and Egwene what she called it.

Gianna breathed a sigh of relief: "Once the trolls are resolved, although the situation is still very unfavorable to us, there is already room for maneuver. ”

Egwene thought for a moment and said, "In that case, the Red Ridge side can wait until they defeat the trolls of the Valley of Thorns before figuring out a way, we need a beautiful victory that will stabilize people's hearts, counteract the effects of Varian's disappearance, and effectively disrupt the plans of the mastermind behind it." ”

Claudia saw that Gianna and Egwene agreed with her idea, and strengthened her belief in going to war, and then she approached Duke Grayson and General Martinley before the meeting, trying to convince them to support her expedition before the meeting.

It wasn't a smooth process, Duke Grayson and General Martinley were loyal, but they were both steady, and they didn't like to let this kind of risky plan, and even Duke Grayson was very blunt at the beginning that Claudia's idea was a little too rash, even if Claudia later explained her hole cards to the two, the two didn't want Claudia to take risks.

So Claudia had to extend the adjournment by another quarter of an hour before she could convince the two.

It's so hard to convince herself, let alone the conservatives who are guarded by Duke Vyshak, not to mention that because Claudia suspects that there are traitors in the upper echelons of Stormwind, she hasn't explained her cards to anyone other than her trust.

The argument was extremely fierce, but fortunately, there was the support of Duke Grayson and others who passed the gas in advance, so in the end, Claudia used her privilege to forcibly suppress the voice of the conservative nobles and gave the order to go to war, but Claudia did not have Varian's prestige after all, so the conservative nobles did not give in obediently, Duke Visak claimed that this year's budget had been exhausted, and if the noble council wanted to allocate additional funds to fight, it must be approved by the parliament according to the process.

The meeting ended unhappily, and Claudia, who had not successfully achieved her goal, walked out of the throne room with a gloomy face and complained to Gianna: "In the past, when Varian was there, I didn't see Duke Visak, and they talked about the budget and process, which obviously embarrassed me. ”

Gianna spread her hands: "No way, this is a rule, the noble council has the right to supervise the king's taxation, legislation and approval of the use of budget foreign treasury funds, they come according to the process." ”

Claudia was also a little helpless when she heard this, this is the rule of play on the power table of the human kingdom, and it is this set of rules that forms the foundation of Claudia's rule, she naturally can't lift the table, she can only obediently abide by the rules and think of going to the noble council tomorrow to persuade the councillors.

Although Claudia had little hope of going to the base camp of the conservative aristocracy to persuade the nobles to allocate funds, she discussed the countermeasures with Gianna and Egwene.

On the same night, at the Duke's Palace, the top of the noble council also gathered to discuss the financial allocation debate that will take place tomorrow.

"We must not agree to the appropriation tomorrow," Duke Visak instructed several members of the meeting, "not only to protect our own property and life, but also for our long-term interests." ”

The members of the nobility present at the meeting were not stupid, and they naturally knew the meaning of Duke Visak's last words.

Although in the eyes of most nobles, the regent is no match for orcs and trolls even if she mobilizes less than 2,000 sailors in the city, but there is no doubt that if the queen cannot mobilize sailors, she will not be able to win with royal knights alone.

In this case, people with normal thinking and logic will usually retreat and obediently defend the city, and the regent who has made a decision to send troops in public at the Imperial Council will become the laughing stock of the nobles, and the prestige of the royal family will be greatly damaged, and the nobles can take the opportunity to take back some rights from the royal family, such as the jurisdiction of the territory or the expansion of the number of noble guards.

However, there are still some nobles who have some doubts, such as the Earl of Remington Richville, who had a conflict with Claudia and later reconciled, said with concern: "We are playing with fire, and now all speculation is based on the queen will give in, what if the current queen insists on taking the royal knights on the expedition?" Once the Royal Knights are defeated, it will be difficult for us to hold Stormwind without the powerful Royal Knights alone, and if something goes wrong with Stormwind, our losses will be too great. ”

"It's just a woman," said Baron Raglan disapprovingly, "even a heroic woman is a woman after all, and she doesn't have the guts to lead a soldier with such a desperate bet." ”

Earl Remington shook his head: "I know this queen, she is not the kind of ordinary woman we know, even in the face of a desperate situation, she will not run away or dodge, only swing her sword, so this time she is very likely to be a royal knight, like this, whether she dies or wins, we will be at a disadvantage." ”

"You know her? Ha! Duke Aldous Leskova sneered, his face distorted a little, and said with malice in his tone: "Remington, of course you know, we all know the story of you and that woman, today you have repeatedly questioned, wouldn't it be that day that woman slapped your guts?" Anyway, where did you go with her back then? Can you tell me about it? ”

Earl Remington's face suddenly turned extremely ugly, although he has always been tactful, but this does not mean that he will ignore this kind of provocation, Remington said coldly: "I think it is necessary to remind you, young man, that woman in your mouth is the current queen of this country, and your words just now are insulting the reputation of the royal family and the Richville family at the same time!" ”

Seeing that a quarrel was about to break out between the two nobles, Duke Visak, who was the master, hurriedly spoke out to stop it: "Okay, Odysseus, although you suspect that your father died in the assassination of MI7, you have no evidence after all, don't ruin a big deal just because you suspect, and don't insult the queen's reputation or take your anger on our own people." ”

Aldous snorted coldly and stopped talking, Duke Visak turned his head to look at Remington: "Remington, what you said has some truth, but the probability of the queen going to war is very slim, it is impossible to die in battle, her child is still young, she will spare her life, as long as she spares her life, it is difficult for an enemy to kill her." ”

"As for the queen's victory, it's nothing, we all follow the rules, no one can find fault with us, when the time comes, just give in for the time being and wait for the next opportunity, after all, the regent queen's rule needs the support of our nobles."

Remington nodded after thinking about it, admitting that Duke Visak's words made sense.

The members of the Noble Council finally agreed, and the next morning, the Councillors successfully vetoed the additional appropriation for the Queen's military plan according to the plan that had been made, and the Duke of Visak, as Speaker, gave a speech, saying that in order to protect the interests of all the people, the Noble Council must stand up at such a time, and put the interests of Stormwind first, and cannot pay for a terrible military adventure.

After the meeting, Claudia stepped into the carriage back to the palace, and Gianna asked:

"Look at you, as we expected, the council didn't allocate funds today?"

"That's right," Claudia recalled, recalling the scene in the council, "this is the first time in the last five years that the Council of Nobles has vetoed a ruler's proposal, and sure enough, these nobles, like the orcs and trolls, think that Varian can bully me in his absence." ”

"Alright, let's not mention these nobles," Gianna said with a smiling reassurance, "Anyway, we have a backup plan, and we can fight even without the Council's appropriation." ”

Claudia nodded, and said resolutely: "When I lead the troops to the expedition this afternoon, the more others are not optimistic, the more I must achieve a beautiful victory, give them a resounding slap in the face, I must use this victory to deter those with ulterior motives!" ”