The fact that the Marquis of Steven is independent, if nothing else, will trigger a series of reactions, if Henry VII can't suppress it, then the lords who were ready to move before will find that His Majesty the Emperor is just a paper tiger, and other lords will also rush up, and by this time, the French Empire has fallen into a formal split.

As long as any of the great lords have the strength to attack the central imperial power, or if a foreign invasion destroys the center of the French Empire, then it is time for the French Empire to officially fall into the country.

"You all know the news from the Storm Comptoir through the station, what do you think of Marquis Steven. ”

Duke asked the Storm Army general in front of him, after all, this kind of big thing still needs to be notified to the Storm Army. Moreover, Duke is also consciously cultivating the independent thinking ability of the generals of the Storm Army, and in the future, everything cannot be done by himself.

Hearing Duke's question, the first person to answer was Allen, after all, he is a veteran, and he has been in the Lion Army before, and he is more familiar with some complex situations in the empire than Fedor and Karl, not to mention the dwarven generals, so he must take the lead.

"Lord Return, Marquis Steven is familiar to me, he is a veteran lord of the Empire, and he has high qualifications and prestige among the lords of the French Empire. More importantly, he and the emperor of the Milan Empire are actually married, before the Marquis Steven's eastern territory has always been closely related to the Milan Empire, but at that time, the French Empire was strong, and there were also a lot of imperial troops stationed in the territory of the Marquis Steven, and it was defended by the Edward kingdom next to it, so he had always been just a small action behind his back, and he didn't dare to act on the surface. ”

"But now it's completely different, the French Empire is weakened, the Imperial Army in the Eastern Territory is basically almost withdrawn, and the rest is not enough to pose any threat to the Marquis of Steven. What's more important is that Prince Edward is beginning to preserve his strength, he can't fight a big war with the Eastern Territories just because Marquis Steven announced the expulsion of the Imperial Army, it will definitely be a lose-lose war, and it will even affect Prince Edward's future strength on the throne. ”

"And I boldly predict that the reason why Marquis Steven's announcement at this time must be funded by the Milan Empire. If the French Empire falls at any point, Marquis Steven will soon be able to change from the eastern territory of the French Empire to the lord of the Western territory of the Milan Empire, which is nothing more than a matter of changing his name for him. ”

After Allen finished saying this, the generals in the conference hall all nodded, even Duke knew for the first time that there was such a history behind it, to be honest, he didn't know anything about Marquis Steven, and today he suddenly heard him announce the expulsion of the Imperial Army, and Duke realized that he had jumped out of such a bird.

"Very good, then do you think the empire will choose to acquiesce, or send troops to suppress it?"

Duke asked at this time, but he actually had the answer in his heart, and he just wanted to see what other people thought.

Fei Duo also said at this time: "Lord Lord, I think the imperial side will choose to acquiesce in this situation, as long as Marquis Steven does not directly declare independence, or declares to join the Milan Empire, it is impossible for the French Empire to make any moves, it's not that he doesn't want to, but the royal family no longer has this strength, and the imperial army has been consumed too much in successive battles." ”

"You're right, even if I even think that Marquis Steven declares his independence, or joins the Milan Empire, Henry VII will not do anything, he is now at the end of his power. ”

Duke emphasized at this time, because with the completion of the two battles of the barbarian invasion and the Milan Empire's invasion, the number of troops in the entire French Empire will not exceed 50,000. This still includes all the central armies and the armies directly under the territory.

You must know that now the first legion, the second legion, and the guards legion of the French Empire have been disabled, and the Royal Knights have also experienced bloody battles, and the only thing that has not been consumed is the palace forbidden army.

Moreover, with the shortage of troops before, the French Empire has requisitioned all the Fourth and Sixth Legions of the Empire stationed in several major territories, and only the scattered Seventh Legion and Eighth Legion of the Empire are left in other territories. And the Ninth Legion of the Empire is said to have been placed under Princess Jina, and it has merged with the previous Imperial Border Knights and part of the Eleventh Legion of the Empire to become part of the Jina Army, and now the personnel of the Jina Legion have exceeded 10,000 people.

The previous Third Legion of the Empire has been swallowed by the Prince of Andorra, the Fifth Legion of the Empire has been swallowed by Prince Edward, and the Tenth Legion and the Eleventh Legion of the Empire are only nominal numbers, and they are all temporarily conscripted in wartime, that is, they are full of calculations, and the central government of the French Empire can control them, six legions directly under the Empire, plus the three legions of the royal family.

Moreover, four of these six legions directly under the empire have been disabled in two wars, and two are scattered and there is no way to assemble for the time being, because once all of them are assembled, it will be equivalent to the French Empire giving up the suppression of other territories, and if it is not a last resort, Henry VII will not do such a thing. Previously, it was because of the transfer of the Fourth and Fifth Army Corps of the Empire that the Eastern Territory was able to get rid of the threat of the Imperial Army and dare to directly expel the small number of Imperial troops left behind.

Two of the three royal legions are not yet formed, and only the palace forbidden army is still complete, so Duke estimated that the number of troops that Emperor Henry VII of France can fully control and mobilize should be about 50,000 people, which is actually about the same as the number of troops controlled by his two princes, but it is just more elite.

With this scale and number of people, it can no longer withstand the consumption of war, and even if it is an expedition, at most about 30,000 people will be sent, and 20,000 people to defend the imperial capital is already the most basic need. It was a bit difficult for 30,000 men to conquer the eastern territories supported by the Milan Empire. So Henry VII could only choose to acquiesce in such a scene, and even hoped that Marquis Steven could save some face, and it would be good to be de facto independent, and not to make a nominal announcement, that would really not give the French Empire a way to live.

"I agree with Lord Liege that the French Empire has effectively relinquished control over the lord's territory, and even the previous transfer of Imperial troops is a signal to shrink its defenses. My lord, how are we going to deal with this situation?"

Carl looked at Duke and asked, asking for his opinion.