The news does not say that Stannis did not know, and none of the participants present at the meeting of the Little Black Room heard about the death of His Majesty the Emperor.

"Old man, where did you get this news from?" Stannis looked confused, such a big news of the emperor's death did not make a single wave in the empire, this emperor of the Condor Empire was really confused.

Romon Advisor remained secretive, and only after he was sure that there was really no one eavesdropping on him did reveal the source of the news.

"It was accidentally revealed in a letter by a classmate of my previous classmates in Xuecheng that His Majesty the Emperor had not appeared on the Supreme Throne in the White Tower for nearly a month, and at the same time, several of his henchmen had died mysteriously, so rumors are now spreading in the imperial capital, all of whom believe that His Majesty the Emperor has passed away, after all, there have been many news that His Majesty has been critically ill since last year. It's just that the imperial capital is now tightly sealed with news, so a small lord like Your Excellency doesn't know about it yet. ”

"Little lord, then you mean those big lords know?"

Advisor Luo Meng nodded, "The eyes and ears of the princes of the Nine Kingdoms are all over the imperial capital, so this news must not be hidden from them, and now it is time to stand in line with who to ascend to the supreme throne, I am afraid that the civil war that will split the empire will come in the near future." ”

"But what does this have to do with me? A little lord like me is not qualified to go to Beijing for mourning, right?" Stannis still has self-knowledge of this.

But this time it was Robert's turn to speak, he seemed to be very clear about the current situation, "No, the relationship is big, the Condor Empire is busy competing for the throne, so naturally it has no time to take care of the disputes of the principalities below, without the containment of the empire, Duke Garcia can now deal with family affairs behind closed doors, and there is no obstacle for him to destroy any family, I believe that the army stationed here will return soon, and then this will be completely Garcia's world." ”

"If that's the case, I'll be the first thing he's going to do!" Stannis swallowed, finally realizing how bad the Emperor's death was for him.

"Isn't that going to be a war!" said Korodov excitedly.

Stannis gave him a blank look, this stupid big man is still obsessed with the so-called knightly exploits at this time, the duke wants to do it, don't gather other lords, just his command can gather an army of forty thousand, everyone standing there and spitting can drown them.

"Master Dinah, how many of us are there now?" Although he was frightened, Stannis still pretended to be calm, and he had to at least feel the strength in his hands before the battle.

Dina was fully qualified for her grandfather's previous position, and she quickly checked the records and gave the answer the lord wanted: "Your Excellency, your Thunder Legion now has two legions of about seven hundred men, and the Warden has one legion of four hundred men. ”

Stannis touched his head, feeling still very embarrassed, although it was much stronger than when he first crossed the army of only 60 old men, but in the face of the Duke's vast army, he really didn't know how to turn the tide in front of absolute strength.

"By the way, if I'm sure I'm going to go to war with the Duke, which families will be on my side?" Stannis thought of having allies to help him.

Dinah had already prepared the news about it, and she quickly flipped through the pages and began to talk about them one by one.

"First of all, the surrounding Diel, Doug, and Bafolou families, we can be sure that they are your hardcore allies, and will stand firmly on your side when the war starts, and the three of them together can provide about three hundred infantry, eighty archers, and thirty cavalry. ”

Stannis nodded, he still had a lot of confidence in the Eastern Mirror Alliance.

"Next up is the Hoth family, although he has signed a defensive alliance with you, it is unlikely that he will send troops, and they will most likely remain neutral when you go to war with the duke. If they send troops to help, they can provide six hundred soldiers. ”

Stannis was cautious of the weak family, as long as they were neutral between himself and the duke, and he valued the family's fine horses above all else.

"Next up is the Marquis of Flode's family, who, as the father of your fiancée, is likely to remain neutral, but if he is willing to help you, we will have fifteen hundred soldiers to help, and his vassals at least three thousand. ”

is worthy of being the guardian of Dongjing, and the strength in his hand is enough to argue with the duke, as long as he can win over his father-in-law, he can be regarded as having some strength to wrestle with the duke.

But Robert, who was listening, broke a basin of cold water, "Boss, I don't think it's possible for your prospective father-in-law to send troops for you, an unassuming prospective son-in-law, unless ......"

He didn't go on, but everyone in the room knew what he was going to say, and indeed, the only way to get the Marquis of Froude to send troops for him was to marry his daughter, Anne, Stennis's fiancée, at once.

“...... If this matter is put on hold for a moment, then there is still a lord who is likely to be on my side?" Stannis continued.

"And then there are the lords who survived the last White Expedition and the widows of the lords who died in battle, they have long been very dissatisfied with Duke Garcia's behavior of sending them to their deaths, maybe we can win them over. ”

Stannis knew what she was talking about, the Marquis Vane and Seaworth, and it seemed that they had done a good job of secrecy, and no one in the duchy knew that they had been together for a long time.

"And how many people are in this gang combined?" asked Stannis, with a blank face.

This stumped Dinah, who had never thought about it before, "Please wait a minute, Your Excellency, I'll do the math." ”

While she was calculating, Stannis turned to Advisor Romon and asked, "Although the last Duke Griffin family was destroyed, since they have been able to rule the Duchy of Tanis for thousands of years, it is impossible for them to not have even a little loyalty to them, right?"

Although he was clearly speaking to the old man, he was actually speaking to Robert, who quietly wanted to see how his little brother would react when he heard the word 'griffin'.

Advisor Romon thought he had a good idea, "Indeed, although the apparent rebellion was extinct fifteen years ago, I still know that there are a few ancient families who have not forgotten their oath to the Griffin family, and if we can find the blood of the old duchess, they will not be on our side." ”