The first rays of the morning sun shone on the tallest bell tower in Cecil City, gilding the city with the first glow from the Great Sun, and with the movement of gears and levers, the mechanical clock powered by the magic core rang loudly -

When- When-

With the ringing of the mechanical clock, the city of Cecil faded from the laziness of a night's sleep, and the whole city began to come alive in the sun.

Workers in overalls walked out of the brick houses, past the Gear Square and the Lever Avenue in the industrial area, and walked in droves to the rune foundry, the machine shop and other factory facilities to replace their colleagues who had finished their evening shifts; One by one, the merchants opened the doors, took off the wooden signs in front of the windows, and banged on the brass rings hanging under the eaves to announce the start of the day's business; Newspaperboys and postmen braved the morning mist and navigated the swept streets, delivering the latest issues of newspapers and letters to every household.

And in the streets and alleys, which are rapidly becoming lively, there are already busy morning vendors, who have already gone out before dawn to start the most important business of the day in the streets near their homes, and the sounds of hawkers and greetings can be heard everywhere in the blocks, and these sounds are mixed with the ringing of mechanical clocks, echoing throughout Cecil - like a contented and pleasant sigh in the early morning of this new city.

In the dining room of the Lord's Palace, Gawain was sitting on his throne, and Hetty was sitting to his right, and the "Grand Butler of Cecil" was cutting the bread in front of him while talking about the recent situation in the territory: "...... The news report on the city of Lu'an has been published through the Magic Web radio and newspapers, and in accordance with your instructions, in addition to reporting on the cause and effect of the incident, we have also emphasized the unity of people everywhere regardless of origin, status, or region. ”

Gawain nodded slightly, satisfied with Godwin Orlando and Hetty's work.

The liberation of Lu'an City is of extraordinary significance, not only does it mean the complete retreat of the Holy Light Church's forces in the south, but it also means that the new order he has worked hard to promote in the past two years has truly affected the people at the lowest level for the first time, and it also means that his other plan is well underway:

Lay the foundation for national consciousness and let the southern border truly transform from an ordinary aristocratic leader into a country.

In the operation of the city of Luan, thousands of people from all over the southern border stood together because of a common goal, they came from different social classes, from different regions and families, they were once a people who belonged to different lords, they never looked at each other, they never identified with each other, but for that common goal, these people came together as a force - a goal that overrode their origins, occupations, places of residence, and even personal beliefs, and this phenomenon emerged, This means that these originally scattered people have the basis to become "Cecil citizens".

On this basis, and with continuous guidance and indoctrination, sooner or later the Cecilians will awaken to a community where they will have similar moral standards, similar customs, they will speak a common script, a similar language, they will celebrate common festivals, they will commemorate their heroes, they will proudly call their people "we Cecils", and they will take every inch of this land for granted as "our" territory.

According to Gawain's experience, this sense of identity will lay the psychological foundation of the people's "territorial unity", and if it continues to develop, coupled with the pioneering ancestors of Cecil's family, it may be possible to embark on the path of "the poor will put aside the dispute, and the good will be since ancient times......

Well, that's probably a bit of a stretch.

But even if we don't take into account the "Daze since ancient times", it is not easy to achieve the awakening of national and national consciousness, which will take many years, although now people in the streets and alleys will say the words "we Cecil" with excitement and pride, but this is at best only a temporary craze generated by the current situation, and it is not enough to establish a strong and lasting national belief in just two or three years, but as long as this craze takes the first step, as long as Gawain does not make big mistakes in the process of governing this land, As long as the land continues to develop as a whole, it will only be a matter of time before the "Cecil" becomes a whole.

"In addition, there has been news from the Rock Fortress in the north that the Plains of the Holy Spirit has sent a messenger to deliver a letter from the royal family to the commander of the fortress of Wald Perridge," Hetty continued, "and they seem to have finally made time to pay attention to the situation in the south—the Grand Duke of the North, Victoria Wild, wants to visit in person, and it will be a 'private' visit." The letter is still on its way, and the news came directly through the Magic Net communication. ”

Gawain's hand holding the soup spoon paused slightly, and a strange smile appeared on his face: "A northern duke has crossed half the country to personally visit another frontier duke, and it is still at the juncture of the civil war in the kingdom...... This can only be called private. ”

"Do you want to agree?" Hetty looked into Gawain's eyes, "Rejecting the Duke of the North may irritate the royal family even more, making them more wary and resistant to the South, but if you agree...... The Duke of the North is about to enter the Rock Fortress. ”

"There's nothing to refuse," replied Gawain casually, "we're just using the Rock Fortress to keep the troubles of the North at bay, not to seal off the South altogether—the girl of the Wilder family has inherited some of the qualities of her ancestors, and I'm glad to talk to her." ”

Hearing the phrase "inherited some of the qualities of her ancestors", Hetty couldn't help but glance at Rebecca, who was sitting on the other side of her—this girl was struggling with a meat steak with her head down, waving her knife and fork as if she was facing her father's killer, seeing this, Hetty could only sigh imperceptibly, and then took her gaze back: "Okay, I'll ask the commander of the Valder Fortress to reply to the messenger." But there's one more thing...... I'm afraid this matter is more sensitive. ”

"Huh?"

Hetty showed a look of embarrassment: "The living saint of the Northern Church of Light, the Holy Princess Veronica Morn...... She also sent a letter to visit the South, almost at the same time as the Duke of Victoria Wild......"

Amber, who was sitting across the table and studying how to spread the cream evenly, suddenly raised her head when she heard this, and her face was full of surprise: "Come to smash the field?" Because we smashed their yard in Lu'an? Got to the door so soon? ”

If it was in the past, Hetty would have been quite dissatisfied with Amber's sudden interjection when she was talking to her ancestors, and her rude words, maybe she would have rubbed an ice arrow on the spot and hit a wall behind the other party, but since the incident in Lu'an City ended, Hetty has made some changes to this seemingly unreliable half-elf - she realized the ability and role of this half-elf, and began to answer the other party's question seriously: "It is impossible for the matter of Lu'an City to reach St. Sunil so quickly, This is beyond the limit distance of ordinary teleportation spells, and there are no high-level powerhouses in the Luan Church who can transmit the information back. Veronica Moen stated in the letter that it was just a normal visit......"

"The details may not be passed on, but the headquarters of the Church of Light may have some way to find out the general situation of the regional headquarters," Gawain said, "We need to try to think of our opponents as smart and capable as possible." ”

Hetty asked Gawain's opinion: "That...... Are you going to reject the 'Holy Princess'? ”

"Don't refuse, she wants to come and visit, then come," Gawain said indifferently, "I still have this amount of energy." ”

"You're not afraid that she will smash the field?" Amber blinked, "We really smashed their field......"

"The split between the Holy Light Protestant Church and the old sect is already an established fact, and the matter of Lu'an City will eventually reach the headquarters of the church, and the entire southern church will disappear, is it possible that we can still hide this matter? Besides, I didn't want to hide it from the beginning," Gawain said, tapping lightly on the table, "I'm more curious about how the Northern Church will react when they learn about this fact...... If only they had organized a wave of Holy Cult troops to attack the Rock Fortress, we would have saved a lot of food and grass on the road. ”

Gawain was just joking, but Hetty shook his head seriously: "Then they probably don't have this spare - according to the news from the north, the Holy Light Church has publicly announced that it will stand in the camp of the Kingdom Army to participate in this civil war, and the Holy Sect Army is now following the Kingdom Army to the battlefield in the east of the Holy Spirit Plain, and is fighting with the Eastern Rebels." ”

Rebecca, who had been fighting wits and courage with the food in front of her for a long time, finally caught a sentence or two of conversation at this time, and the girl raised her head in surprise, her face full of cute circles: "Hey? They're not done yet, are they? The Eastern Army and the royal army are still fighting? ”

As soon as these words came out, the people at the table looked at her in shock, Gawain looked at Rebecca's simple expression that was quite understandable, and was stunned for more than ten seconds before asking Hetty next to him: "This kid hasn't woken up yet?" ”

Hetty broke out in a cold sweat: "...... She's busy with experimental projects, so she probably doesn't pay much attention to what's going on outside......"

Rebecca realized that she might have made a mistake, and she shrunk her neck, but she couldn't help but say, "How long has this been going on...... With this effort, we have already brought down the entire southern border, and by the way, we have driven out the Holy Light Church......"

"You can't measure Ansu's civil war by the form of our war......" Gawain glanced at Rebecca helplessly, "but it can't be helped, you are still young, and you have not seen what a traditional aristocratic war is like......"

The civil war in Ansu is still going on, and the rebels and kingdom armies continue to have a long-term tug-of-war and stalemate in the eastern part of the Whitsunday Plains, whether it is the chaos caused by Prince Edmund's exploitation of the royal nobles or the change of situation caused by the entry of the Holy Light Church, it will not be able to speed up the progress of this war, and if there are no accidents, it will likely continue to continue, even years later—this is inevitable.

This is the case with the "normal" wars of this era, cruel and bloody, but slow and long, the low killing efficiency of cold weapons and the slow speed of action of the army make every battle be stretched for a long time, and the gap between battles has become very long, two cold weapon armies without a decisive force gap wear each other down little by little, and it is possible to fight a battle for many years.

In particular, it was an irreconcilable and unstoppable civil war, a civil war waged against the crown, and it could be said that as long as food and population could hold on, the warring parties would inevitably be dragged into a vortex and fought until the country ran out of strength – unless one of the belligerents was willing to voluntarily renounce its claim to the throne.

A "quick war" like the Cecil family, which directly pulls the magic cannon into the field and destroys all the enemy's main forces and fortresses with a round of bombing, is almost non-existent in this era.

"Then this matter is settled," said Gawain, "the Duchess of the North and the 'Holy Princess' of the Church of Light...... Now that the Frost Moon is more than halfway over, it should be the Fog Moon when they come over - the winter in Cecil City will surely impress them. ”