"So, in the end, Her Majesty agreed to work together?"

Valrhona stirred the spoon leisurely, mashed and dried with dandelion and chicory rhizomes, and the fake coffee emitted an eerie smell between the residue and the coffee, as a battle barometer, the taste of the coffee is the most intuitive indication of Charlemagne's current situation, and even the fact that the taste of the fake coffee is getting worse is better than any eloquence.

Swallowing the fake coffee in his mouth with a bitter expression, and experiencing the terrifying taste of various cells from the tip of his tongue to the stomach screaming and wailing together, Roland let out a sigh.

"Speaking of cooperation, it is only limited to fighting with Li Lin, and there is no common language in other aspects. ”

It's strange to have a common language.

The goal of the Church is not limited to the domination of religion, but to rule the world with a theocracy of ****. In Roland's view, this is fundamentally a step backwards, more offensive than the world that Li Lin intends to achieve. Perhaps both are intended to imprison the whole world and prevent any change from happening, and it seems that there is no sense of disobedience to replace "His Majesty the Holy and Inviolable Emperor" with the Pope. However, the social system established by Li Lin was progressive in some aspects, such as a social welfare system covering all strata, and a sound financial and legal system. The Church, on the other hand, was only obsessively oppressed, reducing the people outside the clerical and aristocratic classes to slavery. On this basis alone, it is impossible for Roland to identify with the church. On the other hand, the church also regarded Roland's strange theories and heresies as enemies, and at another point in time, the two sides would have already started to do so, so how could it be possible to sit down and talk about cooperation calmly.

As Roland said, the two sides only came together to fight against Li Lin, and the cooperation would only last until then.

"Even so, it can be regarded as a little bit more likely to win, and against that guy, you will never have too many chips in your hand. ”

Valrhona added with a wry smile, and Roland shrugged his shoulders as well.

"Yes, it's just a little bit of a bit of leverage to create the first step. ”

As Li Lin predicted, Roland's goal is to build a democratic republic or underground organization, so as to leave a glimmer of possibility for the world, and prevent the world from becoming rigid and suffocating.

It would be best if an independent political entity could be established, even if it was located in a remote area. But if it is not possible to establish a government with autonomy in internal affairs, it is also feasible to create an anti-imperial underground within the empire. Although the defense force is strong in combat and the system and technocratic team of the elven camp are complete, it is impossible to cover everything, and once Charlemagne is occupied, the main administrative and military forces will be concentrated in the big cities and transportation hubs, and the vast countryside, mountainous areas, and borders will not be able to take care of the vast countryside, mountains, and borders. The only feasible way is to win over local forces and use various puppet armies and puppet police to control these areas, and this leaves Roland with an opportunity.

While mobilizing the population, it is also feasible to develop organizational members in the units at the end of the administration, especially among the front-line personnel in the tax and security units. In addition, it is necessary to develop sympathetic people within the nations, which is difficult, but it is necessary, if not to increase the enemy's enemies (who are not necessarily ours), but at least to minimize one's own enemies. If possible, it is also necessary to develop as many cooperators within the empire as possible, and even infiltrate the center of the empire. It would be best if there were people who shared the idea of a democratic republic and were willing to speak with one's side, even if such a collaborator was not consciously helping. In addition, although there is a suspicion of despicability and shamelessness, when necessary, bribery, coercion, or informing, rumor-mongering, and other means to exacerbate the internal contradictions of the other party should also be taken into account.

It is not impossible that if the organization develops smoothly, the revolutionary armed forces are established, the domination of the empire over Charlemagne is overthrown, and an independent, democratic republic is established.

To make all this happen, the first thing you need is a lot of money.

Today, Charlemagne's finances are no different from bankruptcy, on the one hand, there is a serious shortage of materials, prices are soaring, and on the other hand, paper money is printed indiscriminately, the denomination is getting bigger and bigger, and the circulation is soaring. Citizens can still buy one egg in the morning, but only a few oats in the evening. The prices of all kinds of food in the market are all in the nine figures, and the prices of several scarce staples have even soared to eleven figures.

Now that the international price of silver has been falling, it is obviously unrealistic to want to mobilize the national treasury reserves as funds for future operations; if they want to do business, a bunch of bird's eggs that have not even pecked open their shells are really uncertain in the face of the super-monster of the consortium; as for carrying out reforms...... Don't you think that being surrounded and suppressed by the military and police gendarmes of the empire is not exciting enough, and you need all kinds of local armed forces to join the hunting game together, right?

If you think about it, in addition to the development of the organization's members, foreign financial assistance is also indispensable through the funds provided by various members.

Under the system of imperial domination, the internal and economic sovereignty of the countries will inevitably be interfered with or even invaded by the empire. In order to counter the Empire's interference in internal affairs and the monopoly of the conglomerates, the countries will inevitably need a force that can contain or even contain the Empire, and for this reason they will be happy to provide usury to various anti-Imperial underground organizations, including Roland's organization. However, although usury can solve the urgent need for a while, instead of doing so, it is not possible to hand over the right to develop resources and the right to trade in navigation in overseas colonies to the merchants of other countries, so as to ensure long-term cooperation between the two sides. Most importantly, make the other side understand that it is more profitable for independent businessmen to assist the Democratic-Republicans than to support the Empire.

To do so, Roland must win a huge tactical victory to show the nations the great value of the Holy Maiden.

This victory is to show the strength to fight Li Lin in the upcoming decisive battle, and even maintain some kind of draw with the Divine Will Agent under certain conditions.

"I know the truth, but it's just a show of possibility—isn't it true and ethereal poetry that can convince the pure realists? Selling us to the Empire is a low-risk, high-reward deal than a few possibilities. ”

In the face of Valrhona's harsh accusations, Roland could only smile bitterly.

It is easy for humans to betray others.

For the sake of profit, for selfish desires, for personal affection, and sometimes even just to be able to move themselves back from the front of the execution queue, people can betray others as if they were breathing and eating—like being sold by their disciples for thirty silver coins to a savior who is an official messenger.

This is true for individuals, and even more so for the international community, which thoroughly implements the law of the jungle.

Benefits are easier to grasp and calculate, and more tempting than ethereal possibilities.

"The success of the beauty scheme depends on the attractiveness of women. ”

"Femininity?"

Tilting her head and thinking about it, understanding what Roland was trying to say, Valrhona burst out laughing.

It is true that betraying Roland or other resistance forces will indeed bring a certain degree of benefit to the countries in the short term, but not only will it not slow down the pace of the empire's control of the world, but the speed of the empire's progress will be greatly accelerated after losing the containment power. This is a nightmare for all nations.

If possible, they also want to contain or simply eliminate the growing threat, but in the face of the absolute power that Li Lin is about to show next, who has the courage to come out and seek death?

Therefore, it has become a relatively prudent way to secretly fund and support some underground organizations. Even if there is a risk of exposure, as long as the tail of the hand is cleaned up, they can completely get away with it. However, that is only an emergency after all, and the safest thing to do is to look for an organization that knows how to keep secrets, has a strong organizational structure, has a strong operational capacity, and preferably has a considerable degree of force and development potential, so as to reduce the risk factor as much as possible.

——The beauty of the world who fascinates the world.

That's the role Roland and his friends play. Just as Li Lin intends to complete the system of the empire's domination of the world by showing his power to the whole world, Roland also intends to use this opportunity to show the world that resistance will never subside, and that there are still people who can say "no" to Li Lin and the empire.

"From the very beginning, I did not set 'Down with Li Lin' as a condition for victory, this goal is far beyond our ability and that of the Church, and even if all the forces of the world are combined, this goal may not be achieved. Even if it were to be achieved, the outcome of the war would be unbearable. ”

No one can afford the complete destruction of their living environment, but Li Lin can, not only can he survive in the extremely harsh environment, but he can also create a new race that can adapt and adjust to the extreme environment - in this regard, it can be described as a veritable "transcendent species" that transcends all races.

So no matter what the outcome of the war is, Li Lin is the winner, but he just wins more and wins less.

But for the other races, including the ancient, the wise, and the dangerous, no one is willing and able to withstand such a war.

The balance of terror based on mutual destruction is based on the premise that neither side can withstand destruction, and that both can ensure the destruction of the other, and that the balance cannot be established as long as one side can ensure survival in the storm of destruction.

"Our goal is twofold: to avoid total annihilation, to build a democratic republic on this basis, so in addition to showing the possibilities and developing underground organizations, we should also actively seek bases abroad. ”

"Building a new Charlemagne overseas?"

"In any case, we cannot rely on others alone, and if we do not establish a sound political entity, economic circulation, and national defense capabilities, we will only be able to stop at the level of guerrillas and anti-government organizations for a long time. ”

As a result, seeking a new world overseas and building a small beacon of democracy and republic in the vast sea of theocratic dictatorship has become one of the most important issues at present, second only to the decisive battle with Li Lin. Not only for military purposes, but also for political and economic survival, and as an indispensable element of historical significance in combining the above conditions, Roland had to secure an overseas colony before the decisive battle with Li Lin, leaving a soil for the seeds of a democratic republic.

On the other hand, from Li Lin's standpoint, the mainland is his main battlefield, and the islands hanging overseas do not have the urgency to be solved urgently. As long as there is no threat to the Empire's overseas colonies and trade routes, it doesn't hurt to leave it alone for the time being. After pacifying the kingdoms, he had plenty of time to slowly clean up the defeated dogs who had been exiled abroad.

"A gold coin is nothing to a billionaire, but it is enough to decide the life and death of a poor. ”

Roland concludes:

"In this week, we have to do all the preparations, this week...... It will be the week that will decide the future of the world. ”