At first, Meyer only wanted to scavenge some oil and water from the cotton plantations in the Far Eastern Territory, but when he heard that a Baron Hurd was very wealthy, he personally visited him and humbly asked the noble gentleman for advice on how to make a fortune.

Baron Hurd was initially cold to the uninvited guest, but after two of his front teeth were knocked out, he became enthusiastic, took Prince Mayer on a tour of his secret gold mines, and made a proposal that would be beneficial to both parties: Baron Hurd would give Mayer half of the shares, and Mayer would guarantee his safety, and instruct the "Four Bandits", controlled by the Rosenthal family, to infiltrate the Far East, raid the surrounding villages and farms, plunder the able-bodied labor, and replenish the scarce miners for their common cause.

Mayer accepted the offer, and the two sides worked together happily for eight years. Meyer gained a steady stream of wealth from the gold mines of Mount Mochizuki, some of which he used to recruit warriors and strengthen his private armies, and some of which he donated to the Canaanite royal palace, making him more and more respected by his sister and brother-in-law, and his power in the Medes was rising to the sky.

Mayer has been pondering Hurd's title recently, even this kind of profiteer can get a baron, but he Mayer is just a desert prince on the bad street, it is really not decent enough, if he can take out 50,000 pounds of gold, ask his sister to blow the pillow wind in front of the marquis, the earl dare not think, it shouldn't be a problem to make himself a "Viscount of the Medes", right?

Now that the money has not yet been settled, Hurd came running in embarrassment and told him that Jinshan had been robbed, and how could Meyer sit idly by?

"Whoever robbed us of our business, old friend, I don't care who he is," Meyer finally made up his mind, turned to Hurd and said earnestly, "I'm going to tell you - that man is in serious trouble!" ”

Baron Hurd's body trembled, raised his head, and looked at Mayer in disbelief: "What do you mean...... Send troops to help me retake Mochizuki Castle from the rebels? ”

"I don't rule it out." Mayer said lightly.

At this moment, there was a heavy cough beside him, and General Manfred took a step closer to Meyer, and said with a stern face: "Your Excellency, please act with caution. ”

"Manfred, you know that Hurd is an old friend of mine and my business partner, and now that his property has been forcibly seized, including the Mochizuki Mountain Gold Mine, which is shared by the two of us, whether it is for my own self-interest or to help my friend vent his anger, I should come forward to administer justice, is there anything wrong with that?" Mayer asked rhetorically, with a sinking face.

"Your Excellency the Governor, the southern frontier is the territory of the Kingdom of Koras, the government of Kolas is exercising national sovereignty in recovering Mochizuki City, and we Canaanites have no right to interfere, it is true that Mr. Hurd has lost his position and property in this incident, and you have also suffered some losses, but compared to the overall situation of the alliance between the two countries, this is a small matter, you can negotiate with the Kolas authorities through diplomatic channels to try to recover some losses, and in any case, you should not use force because of this, otherwise it will inevitably lead to the deterioration of relations between the Far East and our Canaan, The consequences are unimaginable! Manfred warned.

Mayer was silent, his eyes flickering, showing inner hesitation.

"General Manfred, your rhetoric sounds familiar, and it seems to come from a report made by His Highness Colossa at the Cabinet's meeting on foreign affairs." Stig's voice was hoarse, and his smile had a hint of mockery.

"His Highness Gerofa has indeed said such things, and I fully agree with him." Manfred replied frankly, "If we Canaan want to rise to become a top power, we must expand our colonies externally, but limited by the harsh geopolitical environment, we have little room for expansion on the Atlas continent, the Western Far East was originally a province of the empire, and now it is an independent state, if we invade the Far East, it is actually equivalent to doing the empire a great favor, and we may not be able to take advantage of anything, only to maintain good relations with the kingdom of Kolas, as a buffer zone between our country and the empire, We can concentrate on expanding to the south without imperial interference, bringing those strategic places where the magic crystal ore is buried into the borders, and then crossing the storm ocean to establish a colony in the Grabelon region of the New World, and in order to seek benefits in Grabelen, it is inevitable that we will clash with the Empire's colonial forces in the local area, which is also a factor that we have to support the Far East - as long as the royal family of Kolas stands, it can attract the firepower of the Assanian Empire for us, The Imperial Army cannot pose a substantial military threat to our country until it crosses the corpse of the Kingdom of Kolas. ”

"General Manfred, I have to point out that you made a serious mistake." Stig interrupted Manfred's statement, his voice changing from low to shrill voice, "The country that is the buffer zone between the two great powers cannot have the potential to grow into a strong country itself, otherwise it may take advantage of the opportunity of the two powers to fight each other to strengthen itself, and eventually evolve into a situation where the three powers are dominant!" The Far East has a vast territory, abundant resources, and a large population, and has the potential to become a great power, and judging from the various policies implemented by the Kolas government since its establishment, this new country is on the road of rapid rise, and our foreign policy toward the Far East is now like raising a tiger, and if we do not change our thinking as soon as possible and effectively suppress it, sooner or later we will suffer from it! ”

"Nurture a strong neighbor, and sooner or later you will suffer from it......," Mayer whispered Steig's assertion and nodded slightly, "That sounds reasonable, but the kingdom of Kolas is still very weak, wouldn't it be too much for you to consider this new country as a strong neighbor now?" ”

Stig shook his head: "Your Excellency, when the weather changes sharply in the desert, a slight shaking of the treetops often indicates an impending storm, and when the wind and sand really sweep over, it is not only the treetops that will be shaken, the entire tree may be uprooted, and it will be too late to regret not taking precautions in advance!" ”

Mayer's face changed slightly, and he asked in a deep voice: "Then how do you think you should prepare for this storm from the Far East?" ”

"Actually, it's very simple, what we have to do is to give up on wooing the royal family of Koras, and the correct diplomatic strategy should be' Distant and close attack', join forces with the empire to carve up the Far East, return the territory west of Krasbourg to the Yassanian Empire, and our army will be deployed along the south bank of the Veres River, establish a fortress in the city of Great Falls, firmly control the fertile rice cultivation area in the lower reaches of the Villes River, and build it into our granary, so that the Canaanites will no longer have to worry about food shortages, and ensure that the food supply can afford to support more troops, and only then can they further colonize the depths of the desert and even overseas. ”