"As a ruler, always remember that this is a very dangerous move when you are trying to maintain a fragile balance with your power schemes, and as I have always mentioned, even the most advanced power must be backed by sufficient strength, and it is clear that the terminally ill upper echelons of the Empire are not aware of this. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ”

- Leo's Diary

Andrew must have been waiting in the Grand Duke's Mansion for some time, chatting with old Garin in the company of him, and although there was still a smile on his face, an attentive person could still read a trace of anxiety in it.

"Good day, honorable Excellency!" Seeing Leo striding in after pushing the door, Andrew quickly got up and saluted respectfully with the butler on the side, after all, it is not like before, Andrew must be respectful enough to the object of his lord's allegiance.

casually took off the cloak and handed it to the attendant, seeing that this old acquaintance Leo was also not upright, and heartily gave the other party a warm hug, "Good day, my friend, what good news did the baron bring me to you?" ”

Andrew, who was somewhat flattered by Leo's actions, hesitated a little and said, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency, I'm afraid it can't be considered good news, here's a handwritten letter from the Baron, you can ask me if you have any questions after reading it." As he spoke, he took out a sealed sheepskin scroll from his bosom and handed it to the other party.

"Oh?" After whispering to the butler to prepare lunch for himself and Andrew, Leo sat down, first carefully examined the seal of the baron and the letter for dismantling, and then carefully unsealed the sealed silk thread and began to read it carefully.

Under Andrew's nervous mood, it took a long time for Leo to put down the letter, pick up the wine in front of him and drink it down, his fingers subconsciously tapping on the table and falling into deep thought......

Leo looked up at Andrew calmly, "Can the news be confirmed?" Since when? ”

"The authenticity of the news has been confirmed in many ways, according to the time, there was a messenger who set off about 10 days ago, and if you go fast, you should have gone out of the Northern Territory by now." Andrew replied without thinking at all, "Hmm... Your Excellency, the Baron was somewhat slow to hear from the new territory some time ago, and we are very sorry for this. ”

That's right, things went on as Amanda expected, Duke of Orlando's wife, after all, the territory that belongs to the Empire, even if the control is not as strong as before, there are still many nobles in the vast northern territory who are not used to the Duke's practices, as well as those who are interested in the Empire, and the previous war and any information that can be gathered about Leo and Stormwind will soon reach the eyes of the Empire's upper echelons through their messengers.

Smiling at Andrew, who was a little cramped, Leo said, "I understand, don't worry, my friend, please don't worry, maybe this is not a bad thing for us." ”

After asking the butler to arrange for Andrew to eat and rest, and asking the attendant to find Keith to accompany him temporarily, Leo rejected the butler's suggestion to bring some food to the bedroom, locked himself in the room and began to carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of this information for himself.

Based on his previous intelligence and understanding of the Duke of Orlando, Leo thought basically similar to Amanda, and he did not think that the Empire would rush to send a large army to suppress Stormwind for the sake of changing the situation in the Northern Territories.

Of course, Leo did not arbitrarily believe that the empire would rashly recognize or even support the expansion of his identity and power in order to contain the duke, the most likely is that after the empire receives detailed information, it will make an assessment, and perhaps in the end, under the influence of various forces, the royalist forces with a slight upper hand will send an envoy to visit Stormwind City.

Contacting Leo to understand his personality and intuitively evaluate this emerging force will inevitably lead to two diametrically opposed results, one of which is that if Leo's power makes them feel that they can contain or even suppress the Duke's ambitions, the upper echelons of the empire and the House of Nobles will definitely recognize his nobility and give him some support.

If the top management of the empire is not satisfied, I am afraid that before the empire is ready to face the duke's possible rebellion, in order to appease White Moon City, it will definitely stand on the duke's side to suppress Leo in all aspects, and may even personally dispatch troops.

After thinking for a long time, Leo gradually let go of most of his worries, in his opinion, there is no one on this continent who is his opponent, only time is the single factor that restricts development, and he has absolute confidence that the empire will be inclined to his side.

Of course, Leo, who has no feelings for the Empire himself, also has his own ideas, and he definitely does not want to be completely manipulated by others like a marionette, and this not too late piece of information suddenly gave him a risky but very tempting idea......

That's ...... Quickly unify the entire Northern Territory, according to the communication speed of this world, Leo and Stormwind have at least a few months of buffer time from the time the messenger arrives in the imperial capital to the time when the inefficient nobles and royals decide on their next move, and Leo has every chance to use these time to unify the entire Northern Territory of the Empire and create an established fact.

Presumably, at that time, even if the big names of the empire want to do something, they can only knock out their teeth and swallow blood, not only can they only admit the established facts, but also invite Leo to the imperial capital for nobility certification as soon as possible, limiting things to ordinary aristocratic disputes, so as to avoid further weakening the control of the empire.

As for the Duke of Orlando's thoughts? I'm sorry Leo doesn't care at all, the general trend of the world is like this, there are few nobles with ambition and a certain strength, of course, these can only be recognized by Leo by the traditional nobles, and establish their own title status will be slowly figured out, after all, no matter where the identity and righteousness are two indispensable shields.

After finally making a decision, Leo did not have the procrastination and hesitation of the other nobles, knowing that time was precious, he immediately returned to the hall, first wrote a letter by hand, in which he clarified his reasoning and goals, and entrusted Andrew to bring it back to the baron.

Looking at the head of the Baron Knights, who had only rested for a short while, Leo looked at the other party apologetically, "I beg your pardon, my friend, there are some things that I must let the Baron know and prepare for as soon as possible, so I can only trouble you to run again without resting." ”

"No problem, Your Excellency, it's not a problem for a powerful knight, but with all due respect, can I ask you what is it that makes you so anxious?" Looking at Leo who hurriedly picked up his pen and handed the reply to Leo without even waiting for the ink to dry, Andrew asked puzzledly.

In the end, Leo, who still didn't answer the other party, looked at Andrew, who rode back to the barony again in confusion, and said to himself, "I hope my decision is correct, the northern territory will be the starting point of my conquest, and I will reward the friends who loyally follow me forward......"