Chapter 416 On Allies

"Is there a deal?" asked Lorlist, faintly. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

It was a very opulent mansion in the aristocratic district of the royal city of Windbri, which was originally the residence of a count of the southern provinces of the Kingdom of Iberia, but the luxurious mansion was sealed off after its owner was executed by the Grand Duke of Fisabrun for treason four years earlier. Lorist was able to stay in the Rose Palace as the Grand Duke of the Northlands, but he didn't want to get together with His Royal Highness, so he chose this mansion as his place to stay.

When Fat Man returned, it was nearly dusk, and he found Lorist sitting by the dark study window watching the sunset in the sky. Hearing Lorist's question, he took off his outer cloak and handed it to Genolio beside him, instructing: "Get me a bottle of fruit wine, I have drunk tea all afternoon, and my mouth is so light that there is no taste at all." ”

"Your Highness, an agreement has been reached. The Grand Duke of Fisabrun was willing to pay a horsehoe worth one million gold fords as a ransom for the freedom of the 40,000 soldiers of the 3rd Frontier Ranger Regiment, but they demanded that we equip these 40,000 soldiers with weapons. Fat pulled a chair and sat down next to Lorlist.

"Hehe......" Lorist sneered: "It seems that the Fisabrun family has a very rich background, just dedicated a million to the Second Highness, and in the blink of an eye, they can still take out a million as a ransom, it seems that the price of the goods sold to them next time will be doubled." However, with only one million, he wants us to equip 40,000 people with weapons and equipment, and his idea is really good. ”

The Frontier Rangers of the Fisabrun family were equipped with cavalry 103 armor and weapons custom-made from the Norton family, and a set cost sixty-five goldfords. After the surrender of the 3rd Frontier Ranger Regiment, its equipment and weapons were recovered by the Norton family, and now the Grand Duke of Fisabrun wants to re-arm the 40,000 surrendered soldiers with a horseshoe worth a million gold fords, no wonder Lorist said that he had a good idea.

"Your Highness, this agreement still needs your consent before it can be implemented, if you don't agree, we will slowly argue with them, anyway, it's not us who are in a hurry. Shi Fatzi said.

Lorist shook his head slightly: "It's not that simple. What do our three allies say?"

Fat Shi took a glass of fruit wine brought by Genorio and took a sip beautifully: "Count Philim and Count Shaheen think that we and Grand Duke Fisabulun now belong to the same Kingdom of Antinac and are allies in the joint expedition to the four central principalities, so we can let them go, there is no need to force them so tightly." Duke Kenmeth did his best to help us bargain, but the Grand Duke of Fisabrun bit it to death, and they couldn't get a single goldford except for this million. As for our His Majesty the King, of course he was speaking for the Fisabrun family, and several times motioned to us to take it as soon as we see it, and not to go too far......"

Lorist was silent for a moment and sighed: "Forget it, there's no need to worry about it, so as not to let people say that our Norton family is a small family." The soldiers of the 3rd Frontier Regiment were not the same as the ones we had previously captured, their families were in the territory of the Fisabrun family, and they were forced to surrender, and they were always unconvinced, believing that our victory over them was a trick. Especially when their legion commander took the responsibility of surrendering in front of them, he drew his sword and killed himself, which made those soldiers have resentment and revenge in the hearts of our Norton family, we can't let them be used by our family, the longer they are imprisoned, the deeper the hatred, let them go. ”

"Your Highness, then you are not afraid to let the tiger return to the mountain, if the Fisabrun family fights us again in the future, these soldiers are super powerful?" Shi Fatzi was a little disapproving of the release of these more than 40,000 veterans.

"Hehe, super combat power? just rely on them?" Lorist laughed, dismissive: "I admit that mental strength can make these soldiers more effective against our Norton family forces in the future, but so what? Are we afraid? True strength depends not only on spirit, but also on excellent weapons, perfect defense, long-term cooperation, hard training, and invincible confidence. When these soldiers really fight against our family forces in the future, and after being defeated by us again, they will fear us from the bottom of their hearts, afraid of us, and when their spirit is crushed by us, they will be useless, and what combat power will there be. ”

Shi Fatzi poured down the fruit wine in the cup in one gulp: "Okay, then follow this agreement." ”

"Wait......" said Lorlist, "don't be cheap, old fellow of Fisabrun. Ask Director Speer, I remember that after we destroyed the Duchy of Madras, we seized a lot of tattered leather armor and scrap metal weapons, all of which were collected by Director Speer and thrown in the warehouse to mold. You go and bring these rags over to the 40,000 captives of the 3rd Frontier Ranger Regiment. If that old fellow in Fisabrun protests, tell him that the original sixty-five sets of cavalry 103 standard equipment are now sold at a discount of fifty gold fords, and take another two million to change their clothes, otherwise they will come to me and turn their faces. ”

Shi Fatzi was happy: "Your Highness, you are too poisonous, that old guy in Fisabrun must vomit blood." This is simply a living slap in the face, okay, that's it, anyway, the agreement only says to equip them, but it doesn't stipulate what equipment we have to give them......"

Lorist sighed again: "I don't want to do this either, I'm afraid that His Royal Highness will preach and slander us in the back again, and the Fisabrun family will hate us to the core." But I'm sorry, I can't watch the Fisabrun family regain their vitality and strength. Compared to His Royal Highness, the Fisabrun family is our biggest threat. ”

Shi Fatzi stopped laughing, and after a moment he also sighed: "Your Highness, are you angry for Count Philim and Count Shahin? They are allies of our family, but now they are holding us back, maybe we should consider breaking the alliance with them." In fact, many people in the family believe that if it weren't for the Four Northland Alliance, maybe our Norton family's power would expand faster and wider......"

Lorist finally stood up, walked to the window and stood against the window, looking at the street houses in the distance under the twilight, and asked, "Do you think so too?

Shi Fatzi shook his head: "Although I don't think so, I also feel that Your Highness, you seem to value the alliance with those three allies too much, in fact, even if those three allies are united, they can't resist our family's soldiers." Ever since the invasion of the Duchy of Madras and the Kingdom of Iberia, there have been people in the family who have been thinking that His Highness has taken too much care of the three allies. Like the Kenmax family, who monopolized a province, we allowed him to build up a merchant fleet at sea, giving them a share of the proceeds of the North Sea trade.

As for Count Philim, we not only sent troops to help him return to his family territory, but also contributed money and troops to help him stabilize the situation, and even went to war with the Philim family for them, sacrificing and losing tens of thousands of loyal and brave family soldiers. Many family knights and officials think that our attack on the Iberian Kingdom is actually a big loss, allowing the Philim family to take a big advantage.

And Earl Shaheen, who was originally just a golden knight under the former Grand Duke of Northland, Duke Lukins, and if it weren't for the full support of our family, he wouldn't be a member of the four families of Northland, how could he be qualified to be compared to our Norton family?

Although I do not support these statements, I also think that Your Highness, you do take good care of those three allies. But I think Your Highness must have done this for a reason and a deep meaning, but our vision is not as far as Your Highness, and we can't see it very clearly. ”

Lorist snorted: "Okay, don't shoot the fart, you have to shoot and shoot decently, but I don't think you have any talent for flattery." ”

"Maybe you don't believe it, but I didn't have much intention of putting the first proposal to form a four-family alliance, I just wanted to find a way out for the newly produced goods in the family territory. Compared with the four alliances in the Northland, I value the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce more, hoping to sell the family's goods to other provinces through the Chamber of Commerce. As for the four alliances of the Northlands, the original meaning was only to suppress the three alliances. Lorist said as he lowered his head and walked as he plated.

"Shock?" Fat Shi was surprised, Lorist had never revealed this to anyone.

Yes, crush. Lorist said: "At that time, we happened to unite the three of them to dig a pit for the second prince, and then with the cooperation of the three of them, we destroyed the first army of the Iberian Kingdom and tens of thousands of noble alliances of the second prince. Then you went crazy and swept away all the nobles of the Northlands except for the three allies, under the pretext that they had helped the Second Prince attack our Norton Clan's territory.

Think for yourself what would have happened to the Northlands if I hadn't proposed an alliance at that time. It is clear that the three families will unite against our Norton family. Because our Norton family has swept away the entire Northlands of the realm nobles. For those three families, if they don't want to repeat the mistakes of those territorial nobles, they can only unite to deal with our Norton family, a strong enemy. And if we want to use the family army, although we can wipe out the three of them, the loss of our family army will also be very large, and the gains will outweigh the losses, and the northern land will become more turbulent, and it will even affect the development and construction of our family territory.

That's why I propose an alliance between the four families, to settle the hearts of those three allies, and to keep us from fighting in the north, and to unite our efforts to fight against the threat from the Duchy of Madras and the Kingdom of Iberia. Buy time for our family's development plans. It's just that what I didn't expect was that this guy Kenmax would run the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce so well that he used his interests to tie the four of us tightly together, so that this alliance has been maintained until now. ”

Lorist had already been in the room for most of the time, and he continued: "At first I didn't think much of this alliance, but it wasn't until our family's island of Hilovas was attacked and led to our expedition to the Haneyabada Islands that destroyed the slave kingdom that I realized the importance of this alliance. If it weren't for those three allies to help us isolate the pressure from outside the Northlands, it would be impossible for our Norton family to hide in the Northlands for development and construction, so that the family's strength has grown rapidly.

The Northlands are really too big, it is a province of the Empire, but the area is the size of three Dramke provinces, with the previous strength of our Norton family, even if we control the entire Northland, it will attract countless coveted jackals. In particular, there are only three directions in the northland's external transportation arteries, and if we are blocked, our northland will be isolated from the territory of the former empire. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is difficult to defend and difficult to attack. Even if there is Niujiao Bay in Beihai City to the outside world, the sea route alone cannot support the sale of the large quantities of goods and merchandise produced in our family territory.

So even if our family's armed strength is strong enough to sweep across the entire Northlands, I still maintain the alliance of the four Northlands. Even if I wanted to monopolize the entire Northland, I still used the method of territory exchange, rather than tearing up the covenant and using force. The Kenmasses, the first hostile family to be at odds with our Norton family, were aggressively attacking our family before I returned to our family territory, and the Norton family at that time was beaten into shrunken turtles and could only be beaten passively.

It stands to reason that I should have destroyed the entire Kenmare family and scattered the bones to dispel the hatred in my heart, right? Unfortunately, Duke Kenmaz's father was a man of discernment, and he immediately avoided my troops and ran to the eastern part of the Northland to find a life, which made me unable to reach the whip, and sent someone to sincerely admit his mistake and apologize and sue for peace, so that I finally forgave them. And then in the contact, I found that Kenmax's business talent is the same as yours, but you are in charge of the overall situation, and he focuses on business and interpersonal communication. It is this appreciation that makes us friends.

Among the three allies, Duke Kenmath is the one with the most far-sightedness, and he knows very well that as long as this alliance is maintained, then the Kenmath family can smoothly transform from a commercial family to a traditional aristocratic family, which is the reason why he spares no effort to run the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce. Similarly, with the expansion of the sphere of influence of our four alliances in the Northlands, the influence of the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce is also increasing day by day, which is the best of both worlds for Duke Kenmeth.

I once heard people say a local saying, which means a fence with three stakes, and a hero with three gangs. Although the Norton family has been inherited for two or three hundred years, it is still a small nobleman on the border of the Northlands in its bones, and it is not comparable to those powerful aristocratic families with a long history on the mainland. In the former Cresson Empire, the Norton family was known for its loyalty, so we insisted on being loyal to the orthodox inheritance of the Cresson royal family, the Andinac royal family, which is like putting a heavy burden on our family, and it is easy to remove it from the back.

You should be well aware of the Second Highness's scruples about our Norton family, and our family has reached the top of the title at present, unless we can establish a principality independently, but this is impossible, and it is not allowed by the Second Highness. If I rebel, the reputation of the Norton family for 200 years of loyalty will be ruined, and this is not something I can afford, the reputation of rebellion is not good, and I don't want to be pointed at by a thousand people.

So now, the four alliances of the Northland have become very important. If you think about it, the four of us cooperated tacitly and made the Second Highness suffer a big loss, but our Norton family took a big advantage and obtained the jurisdiction of Drymke Province and Winston Province, turning these two provinces into the sphere of influence of our Norton family. In the eyes of His Second Highness, the four families of the Northland are one with each other, and he has no way to target any of them, so he can only find a way to destroy our alliance relationship first.

If it weren't for this alliance of the four Northlands, then the Second Highness would only need to deal with one of our Norton families, and using rumors to slander our Norton family would greatly plummet the prestige of our Norton family. But we have three allies, and the general moves of the Second Highness are not easy to use, which is why I am glad to have established an alliance. No matter which one the Second Highness targets, he must consider whether he has the ability to withstand the counterattack of the other three.

This attack on the Central Four Duchyes was a bait, but we had to swallow it. Earl Philim is bent on reviving the prestige of the Pegasus family, and now that the family territory is experiencing manpower bottlenecks, it is not surprising that he has turned his attention to the Central Four Duchy. And Count Shaheen has always been bad at territorial management, and it is understandable that he wants to plunder wealth. They swallowed the bait thrown by the Second Highness, then we also have to accompany them on a trip, as you said to me, attacking the four central principalities, our family also has benefits, so the four alliances of the Northland must maintain consistent steps with the outside world, rather than being easily provoked by the Second Highness and forming a barrier.

It's just that I didn't expect His Royal Highness to pull the Grand Duke of Fisabrun in this time. The old guy demanded the release of the soldiers of the 3rd Frontier Regiment who had surrendered to us, clearly trying to regain strength. Count Philim and Count Shaheen are now dazzled by the benefits of attacking the Central Four, while Duke Kenmax does not understand the power of the Grand Duke of Fisabrun, so they are reluctant to speak for us because they are worried that the decision to attack the Central Four will make waves again. That's why I agreed to release those soldiers. The only pity is that without these free labor, many of the projects we have to carry out will be stopped. ”

...... (To be continued.) )