Two days later, James gathered most of the elite of the Ninth Division, mainly the vanguard battalion, with a total of about 5,000 troops, crossed the Yar River, and marched overnight to Crete City. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

After a rapid march overnight, this small army was temporarily stationed fifteen kilometers outside the city, and early in the morning James sent a letter to Crete, which euphemistically expressed the request of the Ninth Division to take over the royal capital for security reasons.

"This is really too deceitful!" said a roar from the palace, and the maiden fell to the bed in fright.

When the letter arrived in the hands of King Béla VII of the Iliad, the middle-aged man, who was already clearly wealthy, was enjoying the best of the morning with his mistress, but the euphemistic but resolute letter instantly extinguished his interest.

"Hurry up and send a message to His Royal Highness the Second Prince, saying that the Ninth Division interfered in the affairs of the royal family without authorization, ignored the rights of the imperial vassals, and asked the imperial military to come forward to restrain him!" Béla V put his clothes on himself indiscriminately, and ran into the council hall at high speed, giving orders to his subordinates with spat and splatter.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's too late now, the Ninth Division is stationed not far outside the city. Béla VII had just finished giving the order when an old and indifferent voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"How, Your Majesty, do you want to consider our proposal?" the voice was low, but distinct, and the words revealed an unspeakable temptation.

"Unfortunately, Elder Lishid, I have no interest in your crusade, and whether you are certain of victory or not, we of the Iliad do not want to be pawns of either side. The king turned and stared solemnly at the man in black behind him, "Besides, heaven is far away for us, and the Empire of St. John is very close, and I am only interested in money and power, which is more real than anything." ”

"Hehe......" Lihid chuckled a few times and took off the cloak on his head, "But Your Majesty, the Ninth Division wants to take over your royal capital, this is the last and most important territory you can actually control, losing the royal capital, you, the king, will be completely empty, I think His Royal Highness the Second Prince of the Empire will no longer value a vassal who has no territory and real power......"

Béla VII couldn't help frowning, this really hit his point, the power struggle within the empire has always been extremely cruel, all forces in order to obtain real power can be described as unscrupulous, although he is now friendly with the second prince, but if he loses the use value of the second prince, the entire Iliad royal family will be ruthlessly abandoned like garbage.

"But Elder, to tell you the truth, although I want to regain control of the kingdom, I will never be an enemy of the St. John's Empire. Béla VII tugged at his collar, "As a superpower, the Empire of St. John is far from being able to compete with a small country like ours, and we don't want to be your outpost against the Empire." ”

"Your Majesty, you may have misunderstood, we didn't suggest that you have to be an enemy of the St. John's Empire, but just cooperate with each other and take what you need. Elder Lihid smiled meaningfully and walked nonchalantly past BellaVII.

"Oh? Hearing him say this, the king was visibly interested, and quietly led Elder Lihid into a nearby secret room.

The chamber was very small and dimly lit, but it was so well soundproofed that when Elder Liched entered, he did not shy away from it, and sat down generously in front of His Majesty.

"Your Majesty, although you have converted to the Church of Light in order to preserve your land, the high-level political factions of the St. John's Empire are complicated, and Marshal Rocherio is a supporter of the Grand Prince, as long as the Ninth Division is present, you will never want to protect your land. ”

Béla VII couldn't help but bow his head after hearing this, he had been in an accident for a long time, and naturally knew that the high-level power struggle had always been turbulent, although His Royal Highness the Second Prince had the support of the Imperial Prime Minister Brontë, but Marshal Rocherio, the supporter of the Grand Prince, was a powerful figure in the military, and although the Prime Minister was in a high position, he was far from being able to compete with him. For this reason, it was the most effective way to win over the vassals and vassal kings of the empire who had considerable autonomy, and it was precisely because of this that Béla VII decided to marry the second prince to maximize his own interests.

However, if he could not protect himself and lost all his territory, then the Iliad would no longer be of use, and the second prince would not hesitate to abandon them like garbage.

"However, things are not completely irreparable, think about it, if the Ninth Division is ineffective in countering the rebellion and has suffered heavy casualties, and Your Majesty the King, you will personally drive the expedition and exterminate the infidels rebels in one fell swoop, which is definitely a great achievement in front of Charlemagne, and the power of the Ninth Division will inevitably be limited, and when the time comes, with the help of the second prince and the imperial prime minister, are you still worried that you will not be able to recover your territory?"

Seeing that Béla VII still had a puzzled look on his face, Liched patted his chest, "Don't worry, we will cooperate with you to play this play, and after the incident, we will naturally withdraw from the territory of the Iliad Kingdom." ”

Béla VII suddenly burst out laughing and said jokingly: "Is the elder planning to treat me like a three-year-old child? The rebels who can't even deal with the Ninth Division have been defeated by this bit of city defense under my command, do you think Marshal Rocherio will believe it? He is the god of the imperial army! Not an idiot!"

Lihid smiled weirdly and stroked the scepter in his hand, "I have two amazing pieces of information that can be used as a reason for the rout of the Ninth Division......" Lihid pulled out a document from his bosom and still put it on the table, "The Pioneer Battalion of the Ninth Division is currently under the control of our Moses spies, and their deputy vanguard officer is one of our men, and he also forced the Pioneer Battalion to sign an armistice with us before, if you don't believe it, you can look at the handwriting of the people in front of it." ”

Béla VII took the armistice and took a closer look, and found that almost all of the people who signed and sealed it were a deputy vanguard officer named Marvin, and then thought of the previous restraint of the imperial army, and immediately believed most of Elder Lichd's words.

"In addition, the 9th Division's wanton massacre of cities in the kingdom has aroused panic and public anger, and the angry people have been used by the rebels to cooperate with the spies in the army to completely defeat the 9th Division......"

"Your Majesty, we don't want you to have a single soldier, and we don't ask for any agreement with you, you just need to wait and see what happens, wait for us to lose both, and then take the opportunity to take control of the entire Iliad Kingdom. Liched looked sincere, and by the way, he pretended to be in pain.

Bella's face was overjoyed, but she quickly regained her composure and sneered, "Elder Lichd, there is no free lunch in the world, let's say, what are your conditions and requirements?"

Lihid quickly got up, bowed to the king and said, "Your Majesty, I hope to borrow the ancient magic array in Crete City. ”

"Oh?" Béla VII thought for a moment and asked Lishid, "What do you want that thing for, it's all antiques from the era of the Dark Horse Empire, since the collapse of that great empire, we Iliads haven't studied the mysteries in it for a thousand years, why, you don't plan to use that thing to go to war, right?" Bella VII's eyes showed a look of vigilance, although the ancient magic array has been abandoned for many years, but the dragon and crouching tiger in Middle-earth, I am sure that anyone can really use it to activate super-level magic, once this happens, the Iliad royal family is almost equivalent to directly declaring war on the empire, and everything that Bella VII has worked hard to manage will also be destroyed.

"Your Majesty, you know that after all, we are holy keejahideen loyal to the true God, and it is our mission to fight to spread the teachings of the true God, but ......" Lihid's tone suddenly softened, "Your Majesty, you are our king after all, we can have today, thanks to your appreciation back then, I know that all you want is to be able to preserve your own land, I will never embarrass you, after all, the Iliad Kingdom is also my homeland, and I will not let it be involved in war again, you can rest assured!" Elder Lichd spoke with emotion and swearing, and his whole body trembled slightly with excitement, and anyone who saw it could not help but be a little moved.

"What's more, the Iliad has already withered for many years, and the magicians of our rebel army are also limited in cultivation, even if we exhaust our life's energy, I am afraid that we will not be able to penetrate the ancient magic array, all we ask for is to use the power of the magic circle to refine some magic potions, and when the magic potions are refined, we will immediately withdraw from the territory of the Iliad, without delay!"

"Hmm......" BellaVII lowered his head and thought for a while, and smiled secretly in his heart, the ancient magic array has long been in disrepair, and non-magic masters can't repair it, and the border of the kingdom has been completely blocked, these guys have to rely on their own help if they want to leave the country, and when the time comes, they can betray them at any time and never suffer in the future.

Although he was thinking about a vicious plan in his heart, Bella VII still squeezed his eyebrows and pretended to be greatly moved, and he patted Elder Lihid on the shoulder, "Elder Lichd, you and I are so bad as a monarch and minister, although our respective positions are different now, but I still have to help you with this little favor, after all, your contribution and credit to the kingdom back then are enough for our royal family to remember forever!"

Lihid hurriedly saluted again, "Then thank you very much, Your Majesty, I wish us a happy cooperation this time, although the holy war is tragic, but I sincerely hope that we will never become enemies." ”

"That's nature. The two old foxes looked at each other and smiled, and walked out of the secret room together.

"Your Majesty, something is wrong!" the intelligence officer rushed into the palace in horror, "the Ninth Division has given us an ultimatum, if we do not agree to open the gates, they will take it by force!"

"Elder, what do you think should be done about this trouble?" Béla VII asked Lihid beside him with a smile.

"Your Majesty, the Ninth Division was provoked by Moses spies to invade the territories of the imperial vassals by force, and you, for example, are only defending themselves. ”

Lishid smiled and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, just rest assured, the elite of our army will disguise themselves as the defense of the royal capital city to assist you in defending the city." ”