Although they live in seclusion in this small castle in Auckland, the Earl of Norton, the Grand Duke of Bazemore, and Princess Elizabeth are not the ones who are closed to information.

As the former prime minister of the Desic Empire, Earl Norton controlled a secret intelligence agency, and following him, the center of this intelligence agency also moved to Oakland City. During this time, with the help of the intelligence agency, the three of them always paid attention to the situation of the Desik Empire, and during this time, their focus must have been the war with the Shang Alliance.

Although the Earl of Norton was not from a military background, he knew quite well about the Desik Empire. Originally, according to Earl Norton's prediction, De Sick should choose to attack from the front of the Grand Canyon defense line, and it will take about half a year to gain one or two footholds within the merchant alliance, and then at the same time exert military and diplomatic efforts to get the most powerful Manning kingdom in the merchant alliance. In this way, the countries of the Shang Alliance were gradually encroached upon in order to achieve Emperor Edward's goal.

In this regard, Archduke Bazemore only smiled slightly, "Earl Norton, although you know Desik, you don't know Edward!"

Seeing that Earl Norton was puzzled, Bazemore sat down and explained slowly, while stretching out his hand and pointing at Elizabeth on the side, "It's Elizabeth, she can see it better than you, my brother, he's a complete madman." Storming the Merchant Alliance's Canyon Defense Line, just kidding, how is it possible?"

As it turned out, although rarely seen in White Rock, Bazemore did know Edward VI better than the Earl of Norton.

Willing to bear the price of half of the wasteland warriors dying in the snowy mountains, the Desik army successfully attacked the Southern Madur Kingdom of the Shang Alliance from behind, and then, with the help of dark magicians, successfully broke through the canyon defense line and established the forward base of Deathknell near the Dunkirk Bridge.

And the second battle is the embodiment of the real Desik military strength and Edward's military talent, they broke the main army of the Shang Alliance head-on, annihilated a large number of living forces, and gained the initiative on the battlefield of the Shang League.

Then, within six months, the war of the Shang League progressed rapidly, and Desik occupied a large area of territory, capturing a large number of people and supplies. This war, at least from this stage, was a brilliant victory for the Desiks.

Earl Norton looked at the information depressedly, "It seems that Edward has done a really good job, at least for us Desik, it has gained a lot." ”

Elizabeth, who rarely spoke on the side, didn't hold back this time, she sneered, "Lord Earl Norton, are you sincere or nonsense, I don't see what kind of benefits De Rec has gained from this war?"

"Oh, what did Princess Elizabeth say?" the Earl of Norton looked at Elizabeth suspiciously.

"Lord Count Norton, didn't you read the information that De Sick lost more than 3,000 Steppenwolf riders in the Sunset Snowy Mountain, and then in Dunkirk, tens of thousands of former Central Garrison troops and thousands of Steppenwolf warriors loyal to the old emperor were sent to the front to die, and in the second battle, in order to confuse the Shang Alliance, tens of thousands of soldiers were sent to the Verdun area for no reason. We Desik build a country by force, but this kind of thing is something we have never done in hundreds of years!"

"This is a big sacrifice. Earl Norton sighed.

At this time, Bazemore on the side reached out and pressed Elizabeth, who was still about to say more, "Hehe, Elizabeth, don't listen to his nonsense, he has been the prime minister of Desik for ten years, I don't believe he didn't see the meaning of these people's deaths." ”

"Meaning?" Elizabeth was stunned for a moment.

This discussion has been going on since the first information arrived after the war began. The trio, especially the Grand Duke of Bazemore and Elizabeth, would always be in the drawing room with the Earl of Norton, drinking tequila and discussing when they were not practicing magic.

Elizabeth was a little younger, and sometimes she was reluctant to follow the two of them to discuss, and would leave halfway through, and at this time, the Earl of Norton would always ask the Archduke Bazemore, "Archduke, if, I mean, if the war is not good for Dessick, what should we do?"

At this time, the Grand Duke of Bazemore will take on a breezy magician's style, "I know what you mean, Lord Norton. But it's a lot of work for me to be an emperor, and I still have to practice magic. Magic is boundless, learning is boundless, and Shopros protects me!" and walked up to the second floor of the castle with his head held high.

Earl Norton didn't think so, "Just kidding, I've thought about being an emperor, it's strange to believe you." Besides, you were the one who left us a letter in Black Harbor at that time, saying that there was no purpose, and I didn't believe it. ”

As the war continued, more and more information was sent to the castle of this small city in the north of the Desik Empire, and of course, the pace of the Desik army had to slow down with the onset of winter in the previous five years. On this day, the Earl of Norton knocked on the door of the Grand Duke of Bazemore, "Do you have time, Grand Duke?"

It turned out that today, the Earl of Norton received a message from his intelligence officers that this winter, all of Desik, with the exception of Oakland, a small frontier town with a small population, had been subjected to a "conscription order" issued from the base camp and personally issued by Emperor Edward VI. In this order, Edward VI demanded that all young men between the ages of 18 and 30 who did not have a title of nobility and no one in their family should be required to join the army compulsorily.

"So what?" said Archduke Bazemore, tilting his head, rather playfully looking at the Earl of Norton, who was anxiously reading out the information at the door.

"This, we Desik, can't afford such a large-scale conscription, really according to the above requirements, I'm afraid we won't have to recruit an army of 500,000 people (Note 1)! Moreover, even if we can successfully recruit this part of the army, where can we Desik, where to find food to feed so many soldiers, Desik, will be dragged down by his ambition!"

The angry Earl of Norton threw the order in his hand to the ground in anger. Archduke Bazemore got up, picked up the order, and blew his breath. I saw that the parchment on which the order was written slowly rose to the sky, and just above the heads of the two people, a black shadow began to appear in the corner of the parchment.

The shadow gradually widened, and began to gradually devour the parchment, until the entire parchment was gone. In the air, there was not a trace left.

"Ahh "Is this magic magic?"

"No, I'm just throwing your parchment paper in the 'recycle bin'!" (Note 2)," Bazemore laughed, "but don't worry, it's all in your head." Now, I can tell you about this information. ”

"That's right!" Earl Norton woke up from the magical shock he had just had, "we have to do something?"

Grand Duke Bazemore continued to smile: "You care too much about the Empire, so you only see the appearance, you think about it carefully, our war with the Merchant Alliance has achieved absolute superiority, and the remaining Merchant Alliance people are cowering in the southwest corner of the continent, relying on the aid of San Jose." At that time, we Desik still have to recruit so many soldiers, who will we see and who will we use it?"

There is no need for the Grand Duke of Bazemore to say more, the concerned Earl of Norton has completely calmed down, and a person as intelligent as him has calmed down, and once he calms down, he immediately sees the meaning behind this information, and the Earl of Norton stammers in response, "This, this...... So many people, we, are going to go to war against the San Jose Empire at the same time!"

The exclamation of the Earl of Norton spread throughout the castle and beyond, causing Elizabeth next door to open the door curiously, poking out a head to show her hair, "What are you talking about, Lord Earl Norton!"

The Earl of Norton didn't bother to answer, but stared straight at Archduke Bazemore, who couldn't help but sigh, "With your intelligence, you should have seen it faster." As for whether this speculation is true or not, do I still need to say it?"

"But, that's San Jose! 500,000 people, I'm afraid I can't even make a splash if I throw it in! Edward, what the hell does he want to do?"

"As I said a long time ago, you don't know Edward well enough. If you know enough, you'll know that he's a madman and can't do anything!"

"Does he want to dominate the continent?" the Earl of Norton was puzzled.

"Well, it's not impossible, my Earl. With that, Bazemore stretched out his hand and gestured at Earl Norton, signaling that he could leave. The Earl of Norton, who had lost his soul, had to turn away, only to hear the door close behind him.

Although Edward VI was a military genius, he racked his brains, and the Earl of Norton could not think of what kind of plan Edward VI would make for the base camp, so that he could easily use 500,000 recruits to achieve his goal of conquering the San Jose Empire. You must know that just now, there are more than 100,000 veterans of the hundred battles of Desik, trapped in the war of the Shang Alliance and unable to get out.

The Earl of Norton, who couldn't figure it out, was determined not to think about it anymore, he began to have the idea of leaving Auckland City, and maybe it would be better to go and find out for himself.

Unbeknownst to the Earl of Norton, after he had left, the Archduke of Bazemore, who was in the house, opened the door again. Looking at the figure of the Earl of Norton leaving, the Grand Duke of Bazemore couldn't help but laugh: "What a ridiculous and respectable man!" and then raised his voice and shouted, "Elizabeth, come here with me!"

"Okay, a crisp voice, ringing in the next room. "That's Princess Elizabeth at the end of a day's practice.

Note 1: Desik has a population of more than 10 million, and if it is only a group of young men aged 18-30, then the guess of 500,000 for the Earl of Norton is basically reasonable. It's just that the entire non-aristocratic young group of Desik is here, and these are the basic forces of Desik's state building.

Note 2: Playing a computer recycle bin stalk, all the officials do not laugh.