Victor wants to cultivate his power in the Eastern Alliance, firstly, because he suspects that the wizards of the Kamen Brotherhood have unearthed the remains of the Alchemy Empire's civilization there, and secondly, His Highness Randall has not tasted the seafood of this world so far.

The first reason is that Victor doesn't plan to mention it to anyone for the time being. The second reason is also not suitable for more people to know about it at the moment.

The sea itself has an endless supply of fish and aquatic products, and even if the land of the Eastern Alliance is barren and barren, Victor can feed hundreds of thousands of people by occupying a few outlets to the sea along the coastline of the Eastern Alliance. The fleet of the Centaur Hills went straight down the river, and then relied on the seaports of the Eastern Alliance for replenishment and rest, and the mercenary corps of the Centaur Hills could travel north along the coastline, bypassing the Needham Everglades and entering the rich northern wilderness, and the fleet could freely choose a landing site on the coastline of the Southern Continent as it traveled south.

Controlling the shipping rights of the Jinshui River and the seaports of the Eastern Alliance means that the Centaur Hills will have a more relaxed strategic space. Sylvia listened to Victor's detailed introduction, greatly appreciated it, and decided to fully support his plan to go to the sea.

The plan has two main components, the first is to build a port node on the north bank of the Jinshui River in the name of the Golden Regiment, so as to ensure that the fleet of the Centaur Hills can take advantage of the monsoon period to return from Borui Great River Bay to the Rose Port of the Centaur Hills. These ports to be built include the port of Lake Fez, which is in the territory of the Rand, the port of Lake Fore near the Kingdom of Sousse in the Eastern Alliance, and the transit, which is also within the territory of the Eastern Alliance, close to the sphere of influence of the United Kingdom of Bore.

Second, the Centaur Hills must be subordinated to a political force near the coastline of the Eastern Alliance in advance, and the fleet of the Centaur Hills will go down the river, straight into the sea, and then go north along the coast, and the two sides will meet on the coastline of the Eastern Alliance, and establish an enclave regime in the Centaur Hills in one fell swoop.

If Victor's previous strategic layout emphasizes external development and symbiosis and win-win results, it belongs to moderate diplomacy. Then, the plan to go to the sea is his strategy of showing his fangs for hegemony. Because the soft persimmon he was going to pinch was the Eastern Conference, which was considered his own place by Seuss, Borui and the Referee. Perhaps, Victor will have to fight a war with the United Kingdom of Borui.

In order to seize sea power, Victor has the determination to fight at any cost. But in order to win the war for sea power, he must be fully prepared, including the legitimacy of waging war, the dismantling of the interests of Bory, Seuss, and the Inquisition in the east, stockpiling Thorsilver ore, building Thurium warships, and other measures. In fact, the internal contradictions of the Radiant Knights gave Victor an opportunity. The Grand Master of the Radiant Knights would rather the Trigovars develop their secular power in the northern wilderness than tolerate them shrinking into the Eastern Alliance and watching their comrades die on the front lines. This will cause a split in the Knights of Radiance and challenge the leadership of the Testil family. For the High Priests of the Holy See, this was another great opportunity for the Cardinal to take back the Inquisition. Because of this, Clement welcomed Victor and Sylvia into the Eastern Alliance, hoping that the power of the Centaur Hills would open up the ground for them.

As Sylvia expected, Clement received her letterhead, and it was very convenient. He even had Bishop Perro send maps of the Eastern League.

However, the key to the success of the plan to the sea is to keep it secret. If the plan leaks out in advance, the Pope will 100 percent turn to the Borui people. Because the Borui people saw the huge interests of sea power, they did not hesitate to turn against the inquisition, and they also wanted to swallow half of the Eastern Alliance. In this way, Clement not only achieved his goal, but also avoided the conflict between the Centaur Hills and the Borui Kingdom.

Victor shook his head and said in annoyance

"My dear, we are secretive, and the Pope will certainly be interested in our purpose. Any help he gives us is actually a temptation again and again. You see, the Perots sent me a map showing the areas that the Church had identified in the Eastern Confederation as suitable for human settlement. Locals call them Grass Island. Except for the western, southern and northern Caohai Islands, which are controlled by humans, the rest of the unowned Caohai Islands are mainly concentrated in the eastern part of the sea. The Blue Ou Harbor is just at the eastern end of the north bank of the Jinshui River in the Borui Kingdom, faintly connected with the unclaimed grass island in the east. Isn't Clement sending Dimick over to preside over the teaching affairs of Rangull Harbor to test whether we will open up the grass island on the east coast?"

Sylvia sat up straight, raised her hand and brushed the hair around her ear, and said, "Except for the ownerless Grass Island in the east, we can occupy there, not to mention, we are going to control the easternmost coastline of the Eastern Alliance. The Borui Kingdom has four port cities on the north bank of the Jinshui River, with the easternmost port of the Blue Gull Harbor, where there are also many fish-people populations. Blue Gull Harbor is more of a port than a military town that blocks the westward advance of the fishmen. Of the four ports, it has the smallest resident population of just over 20,000 people, which is not as good as your Pinghu town. The high priests of the Clement faction had ceded the Archdiocese of Borui to Tamor, and Dimick, as a confidant of Archbishop Lazarus, could only preside over the least influential Porto of the Blue Gull. ”

"Honey, I think you're overthinking. ”

Victor was silent for a moment, then said, "I admit you have a point. But we need at least 20 years to lay out in the Eastern Conference, and Clement's testing of us will not stop. If he realizes that we are preparing for war, he will definitely sabotage our plans for access to the sea. ”

Sylvia shook her head and said, "I don't think it's dear, you might as well tell us more about the mountain people's stronghold." I want to know about its demographic changes and what you can do about it. ”

The hill strongholds controlled by the Golden Regiment were an important part of the plan to access the sea, and the population and troops that Victor transferred to the Eastern Alliance mainly came from the hill strongholds. It was precisely because the early stage of the sea access plan did not require the direct investment of troops in the hills, which greatly alleviated the military burden of Jinshui City, that Sylvia agreed with Victor's layout.

The southward expansion strategy of Renma Hill must take precedence over the plan for access to the sea.

Sylvia didn't have a habit of being hands-on, and she didn't ask much about the specific situation of the mountain people's stronghold at first.

Victor couldn't figure out the intrinsic connection between the mountain stronghold and Clement's position for a while, and said in a fifteen-ten

"There is no essential difference between the population change of the mountain stronghold and the village. The resources of the mountaineers' hunting grounds determine the population size of the cottages. As the number of newborns in the cottage increases, mountain hunters need to expand their hunting and gathering range, and the risk of encountering predators and monsters increases. The death and injury of adult mountain people has reduced the number of people in the cottages, and the population of the cottages is basically in a state of equilibrium. ”

"In order to survive, mountain people have many unwritten customs. For example, experienced hunters organize many hunting squads to hunt on the edge of the hunting grounds. Hunting squads don't have the ability to defeat ferocious beasts and monsters, but they can spread the risk and avoid the total annihilation of the Cottage Hunters. When encountering danger, the old hunter will not hesitate to choose to break the back, or lure away the monster, and fight for the young hunter a chance to escape. They are almost immune, and the elderly, infertile, and infertile mountain women gather nuts and wild vegetables in the furthest mountain forests, and they are particularly vulnerable to wild beasts. ”

Victor paused, and his voice became a little muffled, "The cottage is unlucky, there are powerful monsters invading the hunting ground, and the casualties of the young hunters are more than forty percent, and this cottage is basically unsaved." Mountain people would abandon their homes and flee into intermarriage cottages. Although this will make the cottage food scarce, the mountain people are never hesitant to lend a helping hand to the victims. However, this custom is equivalent to savage raiding for strangers who encounter a hunting team of mountain people. ”

He smiled and said, "When the mountain people meet strangers, they must take them back to the cottage and arrange a spouse for them." If they don't, the mountain people will subdue them, strip them of all their clothes, take all their supplies, and leave them to fend for themselves in the wilderness. Because the mountain people believe that those who refuse to return to the cottage with them will sooner or later be eaten by wild beasts. As a result, many refugees were tied up by mountain people to cottages on their way to migration. ”

"The benefits of this are clear. The blood of the new members can avoid the deformities caused by the marriage of close relatives. In fact, four or five cottages intermarried with each other and watched and helped each other, forming a large hunting ground. When something goes wrong with one cottage, the rest of the cottages take in the victims, accumulate strength, and then try to take back the water source. It can be said that the mountain villages have effectively inhibited the expansion of the monster race. ”

"From my standpoint, the mountain people have the valuable qualities of tenacity, tenacity, courage and toughness. Victor commented.

Sylvia smiled charmingly, and said, "Because you have tens of thousands of mountain people under your command, and they are scattered deep in the mountains and forests of the Gombis, Dodor, and Sassan empires. You are their uncrowned king. ”

Victor laughed and said in a high-spirited manner, "I am indeed their uncrowned king. The smuggling caravans under my command have brought great changes to the mountain villages. They taught the mountain people the techniques and medical knowledge of potato cultivation and wild boar raising, and regularly supplied supplies and armaments, so as to connect the cottage groups, and the young mountain people and men followed the smuggling caravan to marry other cottage groups, solving the problem of intermarriage between close relatives. The living conditions of the mountain people have improved, the rate of neonatal mortality has decreased, the average life expectancy has increased by 5 years, and the number of cottage people has skyrocketed, which has put a huge burden on me. ”

"The cottage has limited water and can't irrigate much. For the sake of concealment and control, I forbade my men to help the mountain people build the stream reservoir. The population of the cottages is more than the hunting grounds can handle, and now they have smuggling caravans to rely on, so they beg my men to help them open up new hunting settlements. ”

Sylvia's eyes flashed, and she asked in surprise, "You agreed"

Victor spread his hands and smiled bitterly: "Can I object, it's hard for me to turn back, now, eighty percent of the smuggling mercenaries under my command are young mountain hunters, and their relationship with the cottage is difficult to separate." Since they work for me, and I spend so much money for the copycat stronghold, I can't just forget it."

"Smuggling caravans attack water sources occupied by the gnolls, migrate mountain people, and build new strongholds. These strongholds were located deep in the mountains and forests, far from the lord's villages, and there were no groups of cottages that watched and helped each other. They were isolated and had no aid other than smuggling caravans. I am not allowed to procure armaments, arm them, and send smuggling caravans to patrol new strongholds regularly and fight the gnolls. Most of the Golden Regiment's income is spent on the new base, and the net profit is less than 10,000 gold soles per year. ”

Victor sighed and said depressedly, "Sophia asked me to give up the mountain stronghold, but I still have a vision"

Sylvia snorted coldly and asked, "How much money have you invested and how many new strongholds have you built?"

"Well, there should be 5 or 3 new strongholds by now, and the profits from smuggling coffee are basically gone. ”

"How much exactly"

"About 500,000 gold soles, maybe not that much"

"Hehe, 500,000 gold soles are used on the mountain people, dear, you are really rich. Sylvia smiled like a flower, her white teeth shining dangerously.

Victor loves Sylvia's gentle red lips, but never wants to be bitten hard by her. He quickly unfolded to save himself, touched his smooth chin, and said with a deep gaze

"Well, these new strongholds are isolated from the rest of the world, and the mountain people are completely dependent on me. They have the qualities of hard-working, tenacious and brave, as long as they are instilled with the concept of loyalty and taught the secret method of source blood, they will be very good soldiers, and each new stronghold is equivalent to my subordinate training camp. On top of that, their faith in the Lord of Light is shallow, the Church has very little influence over them, and they are not in the sight of the Church and the Lords, and they don't even know who I am. It can be said that this is a reliable and useful hidden force. ”

Silvia turned her anger into joy, offered a fragrant kiss, and giggled, "Honey, you are the most visionary person I have ever met. ”

Victor shook his head and sighed, "I was just trying to make a big profit on coffee, and I didn't expect it to turn out like this. ”

Sylvia bowed her head and said, "The fundamental reason why the lord is reluctant to accept the identity of the mountain people is that the territory cannot accommodate too many people. Although the situation has improved and the lords have regarded the outcasts as wealth, if the mountain people are relocated, it will lead to a proliferation of gnolls and goblins, and if they help the mountain people to develop settlements, they will sacrifice the family's soldiers and trainee knights. Except for Neville, no lord wanted to get into such trouble as the mountain people. ”

"You did something that ordinary lords are unwilling to do, isn't it because you have an arcane warrior in your hands?"

Victor nodded in agreement with Sylvia's statement and smiled, "No matter what, if we control tens of thousands of mountain people, we can continuously send a steady stream of covert forces to the Eastern Alliance. It was only a matter of time before we took possession of an island of grass off the eastern coast. ”

Sylvia said, "It's the same situation as you opened up a hill stronghold, and we can do things that the Borui can't. ”

"Why don't the Borui people build a harbor and don't take the sea route It is said that the coastal fishmen are stronger, taller and more numerous than the riverbank fishmen, and the Borui people are unwilling to fight a war of attrition with the coastal fishmen. Their warships were not designed for navigation, and there was no way to land on the beach in a densely populated area of the coast. However, the Coast Fishmen were defenseless against the infantry phalanx of the Grand Legion. We have a standardized army that can do what Borui people are not willing to do. That's the initiative. ”

"Pastor Dimick belongs to Clement's faction, but he is not Clement, and he has his own political ambitions. Cardinals can be promoted to cardinals if they do not make mistakes. The Sassan Empire had three large dioceses, four of which were occupied by the Tamor faction and two by the Clementsian faction. Although they have an advantage in their seat in the House of Cardinals for the time being, in the long run, the Clemente faction is at a very disadvantage. Clement has placed his bet on us and the Nevilles, hoping that we will add at least four large parishes to them in the Great Frontier. If we can help them open a new grand diocese in the Eastern Union, Dimick will be the biggest beneficiary, and he will choose to support us, and Clement will pretend to be deaf and dumb. Because he owes Lazarus a seat in the House of Cardinals. Otherwise, why did he put Dimick in the port of Blue Gull, which has no future?"

Victor paused, and said, "Principled and flexible, this is a mature political leader." ”

Sylvia reminded, "My dear, the situation in the Eastern Alliance is very complicated, and even if Dimick is secretly taking care of it, we cannot afford to be negligent. The exiled nobles that Clement helped us choose can be placed in the light to attract the attention of the Inquisition, the Kingdom of Borui, and the Kingdom of Seuss. The down-and-out rangers you support can directly open up the ownerless Grass Island in the east, and they don't need to worry too much, but it is not easy to expose our true intentions. ”

"Well, you're right. While manipulating the exiled nobles to choose a settlement on the north bank of the Jinshui River, we lured the ranger nobles into the eastern no-man's land, avoiding the sight of the Inquisition, and establishing an island camp similar to a mountain people's stronghold. ”

At this time, the laughter of the little attendant came from outside the car, and Victor pulled the curtain, saw the majestic figure of Blinor City standing on the horizon in the distance, and said indifferently

"Waiting for our fleet to sail into the old forces of the Eastern Alliance of Great River Bay is nothing more than a sweep. ”

(Tianjin)