Grofa and Raymond vaguely guessed what their father was going to talk about, and they looked at each other, but they didn't make a sound, silently waiting for their father to continue.

"First of all, you, Gropha, I am pleased with your talents, except for one disappointment." The marquis pointed at the eldest son with his pipe, "As the prince of Canaan, you don't have much freedom in choosing a mate, I'm not saying that Mary is bad, in fact she is a gentle and kind good girl, but unfortunately her background and beliefs are not suitable for starting a family with you, if you insist on going your own way, it will cause endless trouble, I don't want to interfere with your private life, I just advise you to be more rational about this issue." ”

"Father, I will seriously consider your admonition." Grophas's face was heavy. In fact, he understands the gains and losses, but some things in the world are not as simple as one plus one equals two, and such a "rational" act of abandoning his beloved for the sake of his political future cannot make him feel at ease.

The Marquis did not continue the subject, but made a slightly abrupt request: "Coropha, bring me the holy spear." ”

Without hesitation, Grofa took out a zodiac stone inlaid with the Aries star map from his storage bag, activated the sealing spell, and a silver spear appeared in his palm, shining with divine brilliance all over his body, illuminating the study.

The Marquis of Joshua took the holy spear from the eldest son's hand, weighed it, and suddenly turned around and threw it at the second son: "Next! ”

Raymond subconsciously raised his hand to grab the holy spear, but as soon as his fingertips touched the body of the spear, he was shaken open by an invisible force field, and he couldn't help but stagger back.

The Holy Spear, which had lost its control, was suspended in the air, trembling slightly like a silver dragon.

The marquis stepped forward to hold the holy spear, walked up to the second son, and said with a solemn expression: "The holy spear 'Messiah' is the artifact of Canaan's town and country, similar to the national seal, and the person chosen by the holy spear is the orthodox heir of the Zion family, otherwise even if he sits on the throne, he will not be able to serve the people!" Some people don't understand this truth, so they have many unrealistic fantasies, Raymond, you have to stay sober and don't be taken advantage of! ”

"Father, I understand your good intentions, and in fact I have never had any illusions about inheritance." Rejected by the "Holy Spear", Raymond seemed relieved, as if he had lifted the burden on his shoulders, "I am different from my eldest brother, I lack the ability to govern the country and am not good at dealing with people, forcing me to do these things will only make me miserable, instead of wasting time on these mundane tasks, I would rather hide and study alone, delving into psychic powers, this kind of life is more suitable for me, and the things I pursue with my eldest brother are located on two parallel lines, and there will never be a conflict." ”

The Marquis of Joshua listened to his confession, and a smile of relief appeared on his lips, and he took the hands of Corophas and Raymond respectively, and said one of his father's most earnest advices: "Never forget that you are brothers, whenever and wherever you are!" ”

……

On November 20, 1621, the prince of the Far East, Roland Kolas, arrived in southern Xinjiang by airship, and half a month passed in a blink of an eye, and in the early morning of December 5, Roland boarded the airship again and was invited by the crown prince of Canaan, Corofa Zion, to go to Medes to start a diplomatic trip.

The Gobi Desert woke up from its slumber, Chen Xi dyed the ancient city walls red, and the "Dawn" airship was draped in glow, and under the eyes of Joseph Davydovich, Sand Rose, Lyudmila, Tonya, Veronica and others, it slowly flew away from Mochizuki City, the capital of southern Xinjiang, and flew towards the Canaanite fortress of Medes on the other side of the border.

Roland stood in front of the porthole and waved to the send-off, until the airship rose into the clouds, the city beneath his feet shrunk into a matchbox, and the figure of the send-off disappeared from view. He lowered his arms and recalled the experience of the past half a month, from the expulsion of Baron Hurd, the recovery of Mochizuki City, to the repulsion of the sand bandits and the Canaan border guards, the reorganization of the defense of southern Xinjiang, and the planning of a cotton planting base with Sweetwater Town as the core...... A lot has happened in just half a month, and time has passed in a hurry, finally ushering in the moment of showdown with the powerful neighbor across the border. He had been waiting for this day for a long time, and the outcome of the negotiations was related to the rise and fall of the southern frontier and even the entire kingdom of Koras. The trip to Medes was a heavy responsibility, and Roland was unwilling to act arbitrarily, so he received the invitation letter from Colossa and sent it to Colasburg to meet his father as soon as possible. In order to ensure that the negotiation process was foolproof, and out of respect for the cabinet system, Roland did not intend to play a leading role at the negotiating table, but instead entrusted the specific negotiations to Foreign Secretary Kun Tiliang.

After two years of his career in the Imperial Palace, Kun Tiliang showed outstanding diplomatic skills and was fully qualified for his new role, and specially dispatched a group of elite soldiers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to form a visiting team to accompany His Royal Highness the Prince to fly to the skies of a foreign country on the "Dawn".

After a simple breakfast in the ship's cafeteria, Kun Tiliang picked up two cups of coffee and went to the porthole of the bridge, one of which was handed to Roland.

Roland thanked him, took the teacup and took a sip, the mellow and slightly bitter black coffee was very refreshing.

"The coffee produced in Canaan is the best in the entire Atlas continent, and if this trip goes well, in the future, Canaanite coffee beans will be placed in the grocery stores of Krasburg, and the common people can afford to consume them." Roland was happy and sighed casually.

"I hope it's a good thing."

Roland heard the concern implicit in Kun Tiliang's words, turned to look at the foreign secretary's frowning face, and asked with a smile: "Why, the mission has any objections to this trip?" ”

"To be honest, there are indeed some doubts, such as some people think that the negotiation venue should not be in Canaan, first, there are security risks, and second, we are the winners on the battlefield, and the Canaanites should come to Krasborg or Mochizuki City to seek reconciliation, otherwise wouldn't it be very faceless?" Kun Tiliang took a sip of his coffee and continued, "Of course, this is a very shallow concept, and it is not worth taking seriously, after all, Canaan is an old power, as long as we can reach a consensus in the peace talks, give the Canaanites a little face, and satisfy their vanity in exchange for practical benefits." ”

"Our country has just become independent, and it is still in a weak position compared with the old powers, and it is not easy to survive in the international arena where the strong are full of strong powers, and if we want to gain living space, we should become strong as soon as possible, and make every effort to strengthen economic and national defense construction internally, and walk on thin ice externally, so as to avoid being too sharp and arousing people's jealousy." Roland paused for a moment, and added: "Of course, I'm not saying that foreign affairs can only tolerate concessions, we have our principles and bottom line, blindly retreating will only attract more greedy wolves, in the face of provocations that break through the lower limit, in the face of inch-in-depth violations, such as the border conflict not long ago, we have no choice but to resolutely fight back!" ”