I will be crowned king

In the early morning, on the street of Friedrichstrasse, a four-wheeled carriage with the logo of the Circle of Order was driving slowly; the crowded streets and the normally open shops, cafes and clubs on both sides made it impossible to feel the war at all. impact.

In order to offset the "adverse impact" of the Old Wall Street incident on Anson, a loyal clerk showed extraordinary efficiency and completed most of the preliminary preparations in just three days. The countdown to the establishment of the Storm Group officially entered .

Sitting in a comfortable church-issued carriage, Anson looked expectantly at the scenery outside the carriage window, holding in his hand a copy of the "Kingdom Loyalty Newspaper" specially brought by the secretary.

This is a newspaper specifically for military officers. From the name to the content, it exudes loyalty. On the front page, there is an extremely eye-catching headline written in bold font:

"The gunfire in Hongyue Town, the 'New Year's War' has entered a critical turning point!"

"On the night of January 19, 30,000 imperial troops launched a surprise attack on Hongyue Town on the southwest border of the Kingdom. Thirteen villagers discovered the ugly behavior of this group of rats in time and fired warning shots in time, winning a valuable fighter opportunity..."

"...The two sides fought fiercely all night, and Hongyue Town was destroyed in a sea of ​​fire amidst the sound of artillery; at 5:35 the next morning, the imperial army was frightened by my king's heroic Royal Army. Thirty thousand deserters fled, and our army captured the flag. Countless weapons..."

"...the prudent Brigadier General Tenede mercifully gave up the pursuit after winning the victory; he told this reporter that the battle of Red Moon Town marked a reversal of the war situation, and the defeatist rhetoric of 'the empire is invincible' was completely bankrupt. And we are preparing to build a monument for the thirteen villagers who sacrificed their lives heroically to commemorate this crucial victory..."

Putting down the "good news" in his hand, Anson raised his head and looked at the clerk sitting opposite:

"Why are you showing me this?"

Alan Dawn did not answer his question directly, but instead stepped forward with a somewhat mysterious smile:

"Lord Anson Bach, what do you think of this battle in Red Moon Town?"

What do you think?

After thinking for a moment, Anson said with great certainty:

"I don't know why the Imperial Army mobilized 30,000 people to 'sneak attack' a small Red Moon Town, but I know that the Wang Army will probably lose miserably in this battle."

Although the battle report is written like a second-rate war novel, if you look closely, you can still find many clues.

The villagers warned in time, indicating that Hongyue Town was aware of the existence of the enemy and was fully prepared to start a war; at night, while still occupying the absolute advantage of the defenders, they were able to "fight fiercely all night long" and allowed 30,000 enemies to "scurry away" alive. Finally the "merciful" gave up the pursuit...

This explains two things: first, this was a tentative "sneak attack", and the imperial army was not prepared to occupy Hongyue Town; second, the defenders of Hongyue Town were beaten to pieces, and the station was bombed. They didn't dare to take the initiative to attack even after the battle was over, and just watched the enemy leave.

"As expected of Lord Anson Bach, he saw through the essence behind the report at a glance!"

The clerk's eyes immediately lit up when he heard this reply, and he praised without hesitation:

"According to the intelligence obtained from within the Church of Order, Brigadier General Tenid stationed in Red Moon Town only encountered a sneak attack by less than 5,000 imperial light infantry, and was once defeated without any heavy weapons by the enemy. He relied on street fighting and artillery. The advantage was that we didn’t lose ground.”

"But after this battle, Brigadier General Tenede's Third Army has suffered heavy losses, with more than one-third of the casualties, especially a large number of veterans who have served for more than three years and have lost their combat capabilities; in addition, according to unreliable news, the Army We are preparing to abandon Hongyue Town and withdraw our defense line to an area further north."

Anson nodded, feeling that it was basically consistent with his guess:

"Is this bad news?"

"No, on the contrary!" The little secretary's eyes exuded a strange brilliance:

"This is unprecedented good news for you, Lord Anson Bach, and the Stormtroopers!"

Um? !

Anson was stunned for a moment, unable to understand his brain circuit.

"A typist friend of mine at church told me that the Third Army stationed in Red Moon Town was temporarily transferred to organize the core force of the 'Southwestern Breakthrough'." Alan Dawn immediately added and explained:

"For this plan, the Army placed a large order with several military factories in the central province and purchased many rifles and light artillery."

"Now that the Third Army has suffered heavy losses, its offensive plan has been forced to shift to defense. The Army no longer needs so many light artillery and rifles, and instead orders heavy artillery for defense from the military factory."

"This also means that several military factories will suddenly have several more defaulted orders. At this time, as long as we follow up immediately, we can immediately buy the ready-made military supplies already piled in the warehouse at a price lower than the current price! "

Seeing the secretary's excited expression, Anson, who was slightly infected, couldn't help but ask: "What about the order?"

"The down payment has been paid, and it is only three-quarters of the market price." Allen raised his lips slightly: "But I asked them to issue an invoice at the original price - I saved the budget for you in four accounts in three banks superior."

He carefully handed the four bankbooks to Anson, not forgetting to add:

"...It's all anonymous."

"..." Anson Bach.

Looking at the string of numbers on the passbook, Anson suddenly felt that he might have really misunderstood the little clerk.

Someone who proactively and skillfully helped him dig into the church couldn't be the spy that Luther Franz had buried around him, right?

Hmm...it's not good yet, I need to keep an eye on it.

Almost an hour later, the public carriage finally arrived at its destination - Whitehall Street, after passing through the market and square.

A slightly "special" neighborhood in the inner city.

It was originally the royal garden and leisure place of the Osterian royal family. The name "White Hall" came from the exquisite and small white villa in the garden.

Around the 80th year of the Saint's Calendar, due to the rapid expansion of the city and the rise of the railway, this royal forest garden was sold by the royal family. After several changes, it was transferred to the name of the Railway Commission, preparing to be converted into a steam train station.

But when construction officially started, the "Royal Capital Central East Station" that had already been settled was suddenly changed to the current "Central West Station". Whitehall Street, which attracted countless people to invest, finally became the historical site of Clovis. The site of the first "major unfinished project" was completely abandoned by countless investors who took to the rooftops.

For many years after that, many wealthy businessmen or nobles tried to build residential areas, factories and even commercial streets here. The Railway Commission, which was holding such an unfinished project, also always wanted to sell or transfer this land at a low price; but I don’t know if it was It was not the curse of the steam train project many years ago. All investors who tried to contract this street for development ended up bankrupt without exception.

This strange sign has discouraged more investors, and turned a wide and convenient street into a "slum" where no one is taking care of it, where beggars and homeless people gather.

However, as a devout believer who recites the Ring of Order and follows the Three Old Gods, Anson completely does not believe in this "curse" - if there is a spellcaster in Whitehall Street who can affect the entire neighborhood, Clovis City The world has long been dominated by the Old God Sect.

Through the relationship with the Church of Order, he rented an abandoned factory in the block for only two-thirds of the normal price - walls, dormitories, public activity rooms, sandlots, warehouses... along with a complete set of infrastructure, he There is no need to even build military camps, everything is ready-made.

Even because they were eager to get rid of this unsellable hot potato, the Railway Commission rented it to him as well as the surrounding land as public land for only a quarter of the price, without even a deposit, and only required to pay the water bill on time. Just the gas bill.

And after ignoring the so-called "curse", Whitehall Street is simply the most ideal location for the storm group.

The first thing that bears the brunt is its geographical location. As the site of the former "Royal Capital Central East Station", it is located within the inner city, but not far from the outer city consisting of slums, factories, and shantytowns. The transportation is extremely convenient. .

The open environment is also extremely suitable for this newly formed security force, which can effectively prevent the embarrassing daily routine of being watched by citizens during the training of new recruits. Before truly forming combat effectiveness, the Storm Regiment should keep a low profile, the better.

In addition, it is half an hour away from the nearest Guards station; considering that the relationship between the two parties is already in dire straits, this point is no less important than the previous one; and with the military camp as cover, Anson can also act openly Avoid the surveillance of the Guards.

The transportation is convenient, the location is good, the environment is secluded, and the price is affordable... Anson feels that there is no location in the entire Clovis city that meets his needs.

Of course, Anson also learned from the young clerk that the Railway Commission was willing to hand over the land so readily. In addition to being eager to get rid of it, what was more important was the attitude of Archbishop Luther Franz.

In exchange for the land, the Church of Order will not stop lending to the Clovis Kingdom's "Grand Cross Railway Project" since the 95th year of the Saint's Calendar to support the normal operation of the Railway Commission.

At present, due to the war with the empire, many chambers of commerce in the central province that deal in imports and bulk raw materials are on the verge of bankruptcy. The railway committee is also beginning to face operational difficulties, relying only on coal orders from the military factory and Beigang to maintain operations.

The "New Year's War" started in the ninety-ninth year of the Saint's Calendar. Although the war is still limited to the borders, it has unknowingly begun to affect the entire kingdom in the past few months; it casts an invisible shadow over the bustling royal capital. .

"Dear Lord Anson Bach, may I ask two questions?"

The carriage stopped outside the factory gate, and the young clerk Alan Dawn suddenly spoke.

"Just ask."

Putting the passbook into his coat pocket, Ansen, who had just dug into the Church of Order and indirectly made a fortune from the "national crisis", was in a happy mood.

"Then the first one." Allen, who was sitting on the armchair, leaned forward and hugged the leather bag in his arms tightly:

"I can understand that because there is a war now and a lot of good soldiers are being pried away by the army and security companies, you have to recruit people who have not received any training, but why recruit homeless people from welfare institutions?"

"We have a sufficient budget and can hire a sufficient number of unemployed workers from various unions. They and their families need this job very much and they will definitely be happy to join the military."

"Yes, but that means we need to negotiate with the union people." Anson explained:

"We have an establishment of eight companies. We need one thousand combat soldiers alone. Counting all the orderlies and reserve soldiers who do not need to fight, there are almost fifteen hundred people."

"If we were to hire from the union, they would have guessed that we were in urgent need of manpower and would have charged an exorbitant price for picking up the plane. Even a 1% commission for 1,500 people would be a lot, and this money would definitely not reach the hands of the workers. here; we may end up spending a lot of money and hiring a group of soldiers who are ungrateful to us and even full of complaints."

"But there is no welfare home in the world that hopes to have as many people as possible. Coupled with the large number of refugees brought by the outbreak of the war, they must be eager to get rid of these burdens, and they will not come up with a bunch of concessions when negotiating with us. The conditions are incredible, and they will even take the initiative to cooperate with us.”

"That's it!" Allen suddenly realized in a very cooperative manner:

"Although they are all inexperienced recruits, going through the welfare home can prevent soldiers from complaining about being exploited when they enlisted in the army; and most of the homeless people in the welfare home are single, which can save a lot of resettlement costs."

"In addition, the unemployed workers in the union still have expectations for their future life, and they hope to receive equal or even better treatment than in the past; but the homeless do not have such a problem, they just hope to get out of the abyss of pain as soon as possible. , providing some benefits can make them grateful."

"This approach is very consistent with the famous saying of His Majesty Frederick I: Favors and sweetness must be given little by little, but pain must be inflicted as much as possible at once."

"You're right."

Anson, who gradually became accustomed to the little secretary's praise, nodded and said that this is what he meant:

"What about the second question?"

"The second one..." Allen's expression changed slightly, but immediately returned to normal:

"It's just a curious little question. If you don't want to say it, what I mean is...why did you name this security force 'Storm Group'...Does it have any special meaning?"

"Oh, you're talking about this..."

Anson, who didn't notice the change in his expression, raised his eyebrows and chuckled casually: "This is because of a... uh... very ancient prophecy, which foretells that something called 'Storm' is destined to become famous in the world, but... A prophecy that never came true.”

"That's it." The little secretary suddenly realized again:

"So you gave this name because you have high hopes for this army, hoping that one day it will become famous all over the world?"

"Become world famous? No, no, no..." Anson waved his hands repeatedly:

"I chose this name specifically because this prophecy has never come true - I hope it will protect me from ever becoming famous in the world, and that I can live peacefully in Clovis."

"..." Alan Dawn.

It's a little late, sorry~