If Emperor Edward VI was a madman, then there were still some people in Desik who were relatively normal. During the days of Emperor Edward's coup d'état, many of the nobles who opposed him in Desik had to submit to the supreme will of the emperor.

However, there are always exceptions, right?

After leaving the city of Otlan, the Earl of Norton came to the small seaside village of Desik "Yato Bay", a small village only about 40 miles from Black Harbor, and not far to the north is the port of Desik's naval garrison, the port of Cinnacona.

According to the investigation of his intelligence officers, a large amount of Desik's supplies and personnel were concentrated in the eastern Changhai region in the spring of the previous four years, and entered the port of Cinnacona in turn, including the entire eastern Desik Empire, and the transport ships in the eastern part of the Desik Empire were also concentrated in the naval station. Puzzled, the Earl of Norton braved the snow and wind to reach the small village of "Atto Bay" between Cinnacone Harbor and Black Harbor, and saw up close a spectacular scene that he had never seen in his life.

Countless horse-drawn wagons carrying goods along the frozen long sea in winter, across the ice field, gathered in the port of Cinecona, and stationed in the open sea port, and in the city of Black Harbor, countless weapons, armor, and crossbow arrows produced in the arsenal were also escorted by the lord of the black harbor to the port of Cinecona along the frozen long sea. The mighty carriage stretches for hundreds of miles, and the black lines connect Xin Harbor (Note 1) with the city of Black Harbor.

At the same time, countless grains and supplies plundered from the merchant alliance from the west of Desik were sent to transport ships outside the port of Xin along the main road of the country, all the way east, across the whole territory.

In the end, a large number of elite soldiers led by Steppenwolf Riders boarded the ship in order.

On that day in May of the first four years ago, the Earl of Norton himself sailed a small ship under his escort to the open sea not far from the port of Sin. Maybe it was busy loading and unloading supplies, or maybe it was because it was located north of Desik, and no sailors had spotted the small boat peeping not far away.

Back at Jarto Bay, the Earl of Norton fell ill, and I don't know whether it was because he was overly worried, or because he was too old to suffer from the sea breeze, but in any case the illness lasted a whole month. There is no way, when people are old, this disease is not easy to heal, these years, since the incident in Baiyan City, the former prime minister of Desik has been worried about the future of the empire all the time.

A month later, the Earl of Norton, who had finally recovered, had lost a lot of weight, but his mood was much lighter. Many things, once they do happen, can only accept reality. His intelligence officers were all sent out by the Earl of Norton, and their destinations were twofold:

One is the San Jose border, and Count Norton is not blind. Hundreds of transports on board the Desik army of 10,000 people, what the goal is is self-evident.

The second is White Rock City, although he has left the political circles of the empire, Earl Norton still has countless eyeliners lurking in White Rock City. He needed to figure out as quickly as possible what Edward VI and his cronies wanted to do. Including the Dark Rise of the Huge Organization hidden behind the Empire, what the hell do they want to do.

The news came back in mid-June, when the encounter in southern San Jose had ended, and the Dark Mages had openly appeared to help the Desik army eliminate the hastily prepared Royal Navy soldiers of San Jose. De Sik occupied the landing site in the area called Patong in the south of San Jose.

Along with the war reports, there were many rumors, including that the Desiks had been aided by dark mages in battle, that a single forbidden spell had crushed more than 8,000 San Jose soldiers, and that there were rumors of terrifying magical creatures with eight legs and crocodile heads, and so on.

This news is not bad, although Edward VI is desperate, but at least the outcome of the war is good, but the dark mage, within the Desik army, can they already appear publicly?

The news came from White Rock City, where Earl Norton's hidden eyes quietly informed Earl Norton's intelligence officers that De Sick was about to launch a full-scale invasion of San Jose. So, in the small eastern city of Atto Bay, the Earl of Norton had no choice but to watch Desik's convoys come and go on the long sea.

The transport ship that traveled from north to south, Earl Norton naturally understood, was a supply sent to the front, a whole ship of food, weapons, armor and personnel. They did not know how to break through the interception of the army on the coast of San Jose and enter the southern area of San Jose.

And those transports traveling from south to north, the intelligence officers under the Earl of Norton also inquired about the discovery of a huge fire oil collection point in the San Jose landing area. As the former prime minister of Desik, the great nobleman Earl Norton is what the natural way of fire oil is. He didn't have a problem with that.

In fact, during this period of time, Earl Norton's mood was quite complicated. As a political enemy, he was quite disdainful of what Edward VI had done. Although the war was won one after another, a large number of Desik soldiers died in foreign lands, and the entire empire's internal economy was in chaos, and everything had to be in the service of the war. Now the empire is nothing more than a false prosperity, in fact, not long ago, because of the stalemate on the front of the merchant alliance, Desik, whose profits have been reduced, had to launch an invasion of San Jose in advance.

However, as a Desik, Earl Norton did not want to see the Desik soldiers lose in the war, otherwise the consequences of welcoming the Empire would be unimaginable.

This mixed combination of emotions made the Earl of Norton, who had just recovered from a serious illness these days, thinner and thinner, and the smell of death began to envelop this old man who was worried about the empire. One day not long after, a Desik transport ship returning from San Jose was wrecked in the sea not far from the Gulf of Jarto, and it seemed that an undercurrent had deviated from the ship's course and unfortunately ran aground. After hitting the rocks, the transport ship sank very quickly.

The Desik soldiers of the accompanying fleet began to rescue the ship, and the fishermen of Al Tuo Bay also came to the aid in their boats, and the Earl of Norton sent his men to help, but soon the men returned to the Earl of Norton and handed him something.

Earl Norton, who was full of doubts, took it and saw that it was a small wooden box, the style was quite ordinary, and only a short paragraph was written on it: "The 23rd Regiment of the Southern Cluster of San Jose, Kitts, squad leader, civilians, people from White Rock City." Earl Norton looked at the line carefully, as if he had a thought in his heart, and then opened the wooden box with a shudder.

In that box, there was a finger, a thumb of a Desikh.

What kind of thumb is that, the thick calluses at the joints indicate that this is a soldier who has been in the army for many years, the calluses are formed by holding a knife for a long time, the nail cover is overturned, most of it is broken, the blood sticks to the fingertips, and the whole back half of the finger is torn off stiffly.

"It's ......," said the Earl of Norton, shuddering, speechless.

"Earl, this is our Desik's tradition, the bodies of soldiers who died in battle abroad have not had time to be transported back to China, their left thumbs will be cut off and brought back to China for burial, and the bodies themselves will be incinerated on the spot. This transport ship is supposed to bring this kind of 'remains' back. One of his subordinates stepped forward to explain.

"No, you're wrong. Only when there are too many dead people will it be too late to transport the remains back......" After saying this, Earl Norton handed the wooden box back to his subordinates, turned around and returned to the house.

As the days passed, news continued to converge from all over Desik to this small village on the eastern coast: Desik broke through the border of the Moro River and occupied the town of Red Leaves and Kursk Province in San Jose; Desik and San Jose had a strategic decisive battle in Kursk Province, and the two sides were evenly matched; San Jose counterattacked the northern front outpost and launched a sabotage war with great results; San Jose broke through the Red Branch Stone Forest and destroyed Desik's temporary dock, and the dark mage will return to the northern battlefield......

I have to say that although he is no longer the prime minister of De Sick, the ability of Earl Norton's subordinates is still quite strong, and their intelligence may only be one step slower than the news of the headquarters of White Rock City.

And Count Norton, who locked himself in his room, after thinking about it for many days, made an unexpected decision, "He is going to Kyoto City and cooperate with Emperor San Jose!"

This news, even his subordinates did not understand very well, although Edward VI was not supported, but San Jose, that is an enemy country!

Three years before the spring, San Jose Kyoto City.

Foreign Secretary Langton has been a bit busy lately. After the war with De Sick intensified, the merchant alliance countries that were originally located in the southeast corner of the continent became allies of San Jose from being almost forgotten. The two sides have started deeper cooperation in military and economic fields. Envoys from both countries traveled every day, and their embassies were established in both Myster and Kyoto Castles. Even Langton personally made three missions to the Duchy of Tra.

And Lord Langton, who was busy with work as usual today, suddenly received a report from his subordinates that a messenger claiming to be a great man of Desik had come to Kyoto City. Since the two countries were still at war, San Jose diplomats did not know what to do with the old man who claimed to be the emissary and his subordinates, so they had to rush to report to their boss Langton.

"Did he say his name?" Langton asked curiously, now that the two countries are in the middle of a big war, and the Kursk side is going to fight again in the next few days, how could De Sik send an envoy at this time?

"It's like Norton Rupert, not young, quite an old man. The subordinate replied honestly.

"What did you say, what did you say his name?" Lord Langton jumped to his feet, "Say it again!"

The subordinate was startled and stammered in response, "No, Norton, Lululu......"

Before he finished speaking, he saw that Lord Longton had already rushed out, and as he walked, he said, "That's not a diplomat of Desik, that's the previous prime minister of Desik......" The voice gradually became inaudible as Lord Longton went away, leaving only the confused subordinate.

Outside the city of Kyoto, a modest horse-drawn carriage is waiting outside the city to receive you.

Note 1: Port of Cinnacona, Naval Station of Desik, referred to as Port Sin.