Section 106 Layout

"Robin, well, actually, it's all secondary, the real point isn't here. Bayral looked up and sent the document in his hand slightly forward, seemingly unintentionally. With that, Robin couldn't help but look at the document. The document appeared to be a letter, a hand-copied letter, and the first few words alone piqued Robin's interest. Because he saw a key word: Rafa.

"This is ......"

"A letter from an old friend. Bayral replied. "An old friend who happened to be northeast of Gruny. It just so happened that he was in the same place as General Rafa, so he shared his experience with me. ”

His fingers seemed to move, allowing Robin to see the signature and time at the end of the letter. The byline was a name Robin hadn't seen before, and the date was yesterday. The letter written yesterday and read by Bayur today alone suggests that the letter was sent through magical communication.

Beller's hand moved, and the letter was put away.

"In Gruni's game. Bayral replied. "The real key at the moment...... In other words, the part that is really inscrutable is Lafa. He paused. "Byron has become a 'traitor'. He can now rip off all cover and disguise, and have a general duel with all enemies in the open. And the little queen ...... Unless she is supported by external forces, her best result is that it will slowly disappear. There is no such thing as a free lunch...... If you accept the help, you will basically lose the dominant position and step back from the position of the chess player. However, the other player, Rafa, did not make any moves. ”

"General, I remember you said something like that in the past," Robin asked. "There are three options in this situation, the first is to find an alliance with the little queen, the second is to find an alliance with Byron, and the third is to declare neutrality and wait for the other two to decide the winner. ”

"Ah, he's in a different situation. Bayrell said. "He was the one who needed to go into military action as quickly as possible, but he didn't act. ”

"Why does he need to act as quickly as possible?" the other two ......."

"Well, it's understandable that the little queen can't act. She may want to move, but she can't. Although she had the allegiance of the Guards, she essentially only had so many soldiers that she could not afford any serious casualties unless she could organize a stable supply channel and financial resources. A normal battle to defend the city would have caused her unbearable casualties. This is why the little queen gave up the opportunity to pursue Byron with victory, and in turn rectified the area centered on Eagle Falcon City. Her plan is probably to gradually control this area, and add her position as queen, and finally get a stable financial and personnel and material supplement. She thought well, but it's a pity that ...... Her throne has been eroded by moths and reduced to a shell. Byron may not have other abilities, but the ability to dig into the corners of the royal family can score a full score, even if I have to bow down. Have you heard of it, Gruni's financial income in the past two years is actually only five or six million gold oliver...... Now the little queen may finally find out that she has to face an almost bottomless financial trap. ”

As for Byron, he had no reason to act. His first priority right now is to turn his existing base into a bucket. Relying on the abuse of power for personal gain and the careful arrangement of the past, he did not have a financial crisis. He can take a defensive position, patiently use various methods to win over the great nobles who have independent military power, and recruit troops who are loyal only to him...... To put it mildly, as long as it drags on, he can win, and he naturally won't risk attacking. As long as this confrontation continues, it will be a victory for him. ”

"But General Rafa...... The situation is different from the two of them. His situation was that he had plenty of troops, but he didn't have the financial resources to sustain such a large army. If I were him, and I heard that Eagle Falcon City was in turmoil, I would have raised troops and headed south as soon as possible. As for the reason, whether it is loyal to the queen to crusade against Byron, or whether it is the Qing monarch's side to purge the dynasty, it doesn't matter. In short, I will do my best to control the territory and financial resources, at least to the extent that I can maintain the army in my hands. It is open to some question what kind of stance we will take in the future, but for now, we must have the capital to stand on our own. Beller sneered as he said this. "It's not some kind of advanced resourcefulness, at least for someone with a little brain...... But our general Rafa did not do this, but instead he remained motionless, as if he did not know anything. ”

He paused again, as if thinking about something.

"Robin, it's been almost twenty days. But our general Rafa did not move at all. What is he waiting for? For him, every day is precious now. Because I'm pretty sure that the money in his hand will definitely not be able to support such an army of nearly 100,000...... It only takes a year for his soldiers to turn away from Germany and even collapse without a fight. ”

"General, I think ...... You talk back and forth, all you talk about is money. ”

"Money is what really matters. The army is to the state what the fist is to the human body. The last thing to hit people is the fist, but only the fist has no meaning. In order to cultivate the fangs of war, it is necessary to have economic blood...... An army, even if it doesn't move anything, needs to consume a huge amount of grain, grass, and military pay every day. If there is a war, then the cost of pensions, armor, weapons, etc., will be even more exaggerated......" he muttered softly. "Robin, no matter how you look at it, that General Rafa can't sleep at home like I do. ”

Robin tried to speak, but didn't speak. He'd been with Baylor for so long, so it was clear what the goofy-looking General Baylor was likely going to do.

"Well, Gruny's turmoil...... It has already caused unease in other countries. In any case, Gruni was also the first line of defense against the barbarians of the north, and it was only natural that its civil strife caused unrest in its neighbors. Bayral said to himself. "However, if it is an envoy openly sent by the king to visit Gruni, it is very difficult for all parties to visit it...... There may be a possibility that someone will take advantage of it...... On the other hand, if it were just a personal emissary sent by a certain minister, it would not attract the attention of any of the powerful forces...... At least it won't trigger any action......"

"Robin. Beller turned to look at his men. Robin, before he came of age, was once Baylor's retinue and is now an adjutant. Although Robin has seen a lot of big scenes, and is theoretically a full-fledged officer, in reality, he has never had the opportunity to take charge of himself. Such an opportunity may be the right one. "What do you think of me letting you go out once?"

......

“...... That's all the latest information I've gotten from Eagle Castle. When the messenger had finished reading, he respectfully handed the letter in his hand to one of the guards, who then passed it to Byron.

"Well, it's really a little girl's naïve idea to put all the official positions in the hands of one person. Byron glanced at the letter and let out a loud laugh. Suddenly, the whole conference room was filled with laughter.

"That Eshurufat was really lucky, and was made an earl at once, and then immediately turned into a one-man royal council. He must be happy now. The only question is, how long can he stay in this mood?"

Suddenly another burst of laughter filled the room, and even Essien laughed dryly.

They are now in the city of Fornoros, the central city of the Duke Byron's private fiefdom. The city was once a royal city, and the position where Byron now sits was once a throne. In fact, if you push four generations up, Byron's great-grandfather once wore a crown on his head. However, with the birth of Garunas, the sage of the wilderness, Byron's ancestors had to take off the crown from their heads and bow to King Macremiz in exchange for the continuation of the family. But now, it seems that the crown is about to appear on Byron's head again.

At least things look good. Before evacuating the Falcon City, Byron played a small trick to coerce and execute most of the middle and high-level officials in the Falcon City, so that the little queen found that there was no one available after retaking the royal city. It was actually just a stopgap measure, and to be honest, it didn't last long, but it managed to delay the little queen's footsteps and make it impossible for her to pursue. Byron returned to Fornoros unscathed, one could even say with a full load, as he brought back all the money in the falcon treasury. All he left behind were loan receipts full of warehouses and advance tax bills.

Byron had boasted about this on the way to retreat—if nothing else, the next month's salary of the Guards was a problem for the little queen.

"Essien, what's wrong with you?" Cleo, who was beside Essien, sensed his friend's attitude. Truth be told, there really doesn't seem to be much to be disgruntled about the current situation, for Essien, who had been merely a personal bodyguard of the Queen, was now assigned the rank of "staff officer" and was also eligible to attend Byron's meetings in the city of Fornoros, which in itself seemed to outsiders to be an exceptional promotion.

"I didn't ...... It's nothing. Essien replied. "I was just scared. That little queen really dared to do it, just piling all the positions on one person's head. ”

"She's just a child, and whimsical things are common. Clio replied.

"Whimsical is whimsical, but that Ashrufat...... I actually got a lot of money all at once......"

"It's a naked robbery. Clio replied. "But there are only a few fat sheep who are rich on the one hand, but lack power on the other hand. There's no way he's going to grab the heads of those multinational chambers of commerce—if that's the case, the Duke will probably really want it. ”

"Really...... Hopefully, I'm overthinking. Essien replied softly.

"What are you worried about? Cleo asked, puzzled. "Even if Ashrufat had made a fortune through such a public robbery, he would have a lot more debt. Although I heard that he was rich...... But even the wealth of the rich country cannot fill this bottomless pit. ”

Essien forced a smile. Maybe Cleo was right, he shouldn't have been so worried...... This financial black hole has been dug up little by little by Duke Byron for many years, how can Ashrufat fill it?