The red door of the throne hall was suddenly pushed open, and Isaac Hanan, dressed in a Dominic aristocratic attire, suddenly broke in, and the palace guards on either side immediately stepped forward to stop him, but Horace stopped him.

"We are not some barbarian country that does not keep its credibility and kills envoys at will, let him go!" Horace's tone was extremely cold, and he mocked meaningfully: "Mr. Isaac, you can come up. ”

"Your kindness and generosity are well known even in Dominica. Seeing the palace guards on both sides of the halberd, Isaac bowed deeply to Horace with grace before walking forward slowly—a short distance that would not even take a few minutes, but Isaac, who had been forced to composure, endured many pairs of vicious gazes, as if he wanted to remove himself and tear himself to pieces.

A half-step difference, a misunderstanding with just a few words, can make one's body on the spot, and the entire Dominica will be plunged into the flames of war.

"Very well, since you have come, you must have heard the Secretary of State speak from you, and I will tell you that I am more than happy to accept his advice. Horace's voice was calm and not at all like that of a sick person: "Nafario Brindisi, who was killed by you, is a descendant of an ancient nobleman of Turin, whose ancestors even date back to the time of the kingdom's legislation, and his death is an irreparable loss to us!"

"And what I want to clarify to you here is that the people of Dominica yearn for peace, and the war has caused us enough suffering!" Isaac stroked his chest and humbly looked up at Horace's honor, "The Radiant Cross and all the ancient gods are here to testify that we have come to pray for peace with all our hearts. ”

"Is the killing of the king's retainers also a 'sacrifice' that you use as a witness?"

"That's not what we did, it's all the Shining Star City, it's a conspiracy of the Ottovik family! They deceived us, and they deceived you—he told us that we came to Turin to pray for peace, and we did, and he told us that Dominica had to pay for it, and we took it, but it ended up dragging us into the hell of war!"

"............," Horace was silent for a few seconds, "to be more detailed. ”

"In Dominica, not all city-states have bowed to Bright Star City, and there are still many who secretly oppose their existence...... As you may know, but the Otoviks are very unhappy about this, and in fact we didn't learn of their ruse until this morning. Isaac wept: "If you really want to vent your anger on Dominic, now that we are weak, we have no choice but to unite and accept the rule of the Otovik family. ”

"All of this is the single-mindedness of the Otovik family, who want to rule the whole of Dominica completely, so that all the free city-states will be turned into pathetic slaves under their whips, to be driven and enslaved by them!" Isaac said, "They even secretly prepared a terrible monster for this atrocity. ”

"What monster?"

"A monster capable of devouring everything, which they call Gratoni the Hungry Devil - the same monster that slew the Venerable Lord Nafario Brindisi - all of this is the atrocity of the Ottovik family, and I beg you not to take your anger on the heads of all the innocent city-states of Dominica, and let the culprits rejoice in victory!"

Horace was silent, and Grand Master Mercer Kane stepped down from his seat and looked at the "Warrior of Justice" with cold eyes: "Your Excellency Isaac Honan, I respect your courage to speak out, but doesn't what you just said feel like a betrayal?"

"It may seem to you that it is, but the Otoviks have spent the last few years suppressing our Honans, dishonoring us, forcing us to pay high taxes, requisitioning people from our lands, building them cities, and working in the mines—we have all acquiesced. Isaac exclaimed, "But this time, in the name of peace, he wants to drag all the Dominica city-states into the flames of war...... It's really hard to serve such a master!"

"What if...... I mean, if Turin officially declares war on Bright Star City, can the rest of the Dominica city-states guarantee that they will never interfere?" Horace suddenly asked, "I don't just want to send troops, I want not a grain of food, a worker, and an iron sword to support them." ”

"I can assure you of all this, as long as you only declare war on Bright Star City, I will convince the rest of the Dominica city-states to keep them neutral - but please understand that we will not support the Turin army either. Isaac said very sincerely, "This is our only request, please accept it!"

As the sun set down on the hills of Marcherus, the door to the throne hall was opened again, and the ministers of the Royal Council, who had been tired all day, left the empty hall, leaving only His Majesty Horace, Marquis Holard Minest, and Grand Master Mercer Kane.

"I need advice from both of you, the death of Nafario Brindisi has left me with no choice - if war is not declared, half of Turin will riot, and this is already a matter of the kingdom's safety. Horace looked at the two of them, "Let's talk about it." ”

Mercer Kane's heart was cold—Nafario's death was only a matter of yesterday, but there was no trace of sorrow on His Majesty's face, and it was not at all like the humanity of a benevolent and eternally kind Majesty. But that's right, because that's what the king should be.

"If you are really going to use troops against Bright Star City, then you must not delay, you must immediately send troops to destroy everyone's defenses before they can react, otherwise there will be too many variables once the time drags on. Mercerkane let out a long sigh, but still gave his advice: "If we are unable to attack the city for a long time, it will be a serious damage to the majesty of Turin, and even if what Isaac Honan said is true, there is no guarantee that some city-states will not join them at that time." ”

"Your Excellency Grand Master is right, we must act as soon as possible, and we must not delay a single day. Marquis Holard Minest nodded: "The last Dominic War was thirty years ago, and if you want to deter those Dominicans who have bad intentions but are afraid, this is the best way!"

Horace looked at the two people sitting in front of him, the Knights of the Sacred Tree and the Kingdom Fleet, the opinions of the commanders of the elite armies of the East and West of the two kingdoms, and they could almost decide the direction of the war in the entire kingdom: "But it is only the beginning of spring, if the war is declared immediately, it will take us a long time to gather the kingdom's army, and it will take at least half a month just to give the order, how can we fight quickly?"

"About that. Mercer glanced at the Marquis of Holard beside him, and then replied to Horace with a solemn expression: "I have a plan......"

........................ Before the cold winter had completely dissipated, the headquarters of the Knights of the Sacred Tree welcomed a new group of guests - a full eight hundred sergeants, all veterans who had been evacuated from various castles in the east, but received orders to go directly to the headquarters of the Knights of Turin before winter.

As the direct army of His Majesty, the soldiers of the Knights of the Sacred Tree enjoy the highest salary and supplies in the entire kingdom, but in return they must obey any orders unconditionally, serve for at least fifteen years once they are clothed with the coat of arms of the black tree on a white background, and wait for call-up at any time after discharge.

This is why the Marquis of Minest is so jealous of the Knights of the Sacred Tree - they have more than two hundred of the best knights in the kingdom, as well as an elite legion, and if they want, they can call up two or three equally elite legions at any time, and the eastern border, which is extremely "loyal" to the knights, will also be willing to provide them with an equal number of auxiliaries, such a strong force is the power used by the royal family of Marchelus to deter the entire kingdom.

"His Majesty Horace has decided to declare war on the Bright Star City, but he will not mobilize too many troops because he will do so quickly - this group of veterans of the Order has arrived too timely and will be the core force of the army going south. Sir Leonardo, who was standing on the tower, looked at the veterans who were gathering downstairs, and said to Edward beside him, "Grand Master Mercer Kane has recommended me to His Majesty to be the commander of the army this time. ”

"Congratulations, this is a very suitable appointment. Edward smiled slightly: "But there are only eight hundred...... I'm not saying that these sergeants aren't elite enough, but to defeat a city-state, that number still seems too small. ”

"The capital garrison legion will provide a thousand soldiers, plus the sailors of the royal fleet are almost there, and the Minest family is willing to fund the collection of a West Coast mercenary army of about a thousand people, which is the number of a legion. Sir Leonardo said in a deep voice: "We will also issue summoning orders along the way, so that the lords will voluntarily send troops to join, and there should be quite a few more people." ”

"But it's not just the soldiers I lack, I'm short of two competent lieutenants - the Marquis of Holard Minest has recommended his grandson, Sir Luthon, and the men of the One-Horned Seahorse family are born fleet commanders, so I agreed, but I also need an infantry commander. ”

"Then you have a lot of people to choose from, and the last thing the Order lacks is experienced knights, or you can invite Sir Green Turnne to be the lieutenant. Edward affirmed, "He will be honored." ”

"But I want you to take this position. Leonardo suddenly turned his gaze to Edward: "But you are now a military attaché and have the trust of His Royal Highness, and Lord Mercer said that you will soon marry Miss Allen of the Kwyn family, so I want you to choose for yourself, just like ...... I gave you the choice to stay with the Order. ”

(Because the next period of work will be very busy, and I am not a full-time novel, so I am very embarrassed to tell you that there is no way to keep 6,000 words a day, but I will still guarantee that there will be two changes a day, I hope you can forgive me, thank you!)