I will be crowned king

"……Why?"

Before saying this, Speaker Harold was stunned for so long that he almost burned his fingers with cigarette ashes.

He really couldn't understand what reason Anson Bach had for rejecting such a humble request and such a generous proposal.

To be fair, if the White Whale Port Council hadn't shown signs of splitting due to the arrival of the garrison and Anson's "pain", he would not have lowered his stance to such a low level.

The problem is that Anson Bach doesn't even agree to this...what does he want? !

Speaker Harold was stunned. Outside the door of the living room, the clerk carrying a tray happened to walk in. He expressionlessly put down a glass of mulled wine in front of the two of them. He turned and walked to the corner behind the fireplace, silently. He took out his notebook.

"Are our conditions not good enough?"

"of course not."

Anson smiled and hummed, picked up the mulled wine on the table, and swayed it gently in his hand: "To be honest, the terms you offered are so good, so good that I can't even believe it. .”

With the size of Beluga Port... Although this is indeed a quite wealthy port city, if you want to afford three-quarters of the expenses of a 6,000-man infantry division, you will definitely have to bleed a lot of money.

Harold frowned: "That's because..."

"Because you made a mistake." Anson interrupted lightly:

"Although it happened suddenly, I was still officially appointed by the Royal Army as a garrison commander with full authority from the royal family and the Privy Council. The officers and soldiers under my command have a complete and independent establishment, with each person's identity, position and rank. They are all recognized by the Wang Army."

"what about you?"

Harold's expression changed slightly.

"If I remember correctly, the local definition of colonial parliament is an 'autonomous institution', which is not even an administrative unit, nor does it have any standards or status." Anson looked at Harold:

"In other words, if I want to declare the current White Whale Port Assembly illegal tomorrow, there is no problem in establishing a new assembly...right, Allen?"

"Absolutely correct." The little clerk in the corner said without raising his head, and the pen in his hand quickly recorded in the notebook:

"The Ice Dragon Fjord Colony follows the "Colonial Development Act" promulgated in the 20th year of the Apostolic Calendar, which allows immigrants and colonists to establish self-managed parliaments in the local area, but has no administrative rights, let alone the right to levy local taxes and public management. There was no power to establish private courts or conduct independent diplomacy - these were the powers of the colonial governor."

"But the current Ice Dragon Fjord Colony does not have a governor, and what you and your colleagues represent is not the governor's office." Anson silently took over the topic:

"So what qualifications do you have to ask me to join the Beluga Port Council that is controlled by you and your associates?"

Harold's expression turned ugly.

"With all due respect, Colonel Anson Bach, you'd better not be so hostile to the Beluga Harbor Council." His tone suddenly became serious:

"Don't forget, at least half of the monthly expenses of you and your men must be provided by us - especially the most important food and various military supplies. The mainland will not travel thousands of miles to transport the entire ship for you. Ship’s potatoes and wheat.”

"With all due respect, Speaker Harold, the regulations of the garrison clearly state that 'half or more of the supplies are collected from the local area.'" Anson looked at him seriously:

"It doesn't say 'allowing the power to collect supplies to be handed over to parliament'."

"But we are Port Beluga!"

Harold's expression became increasingly ugly: "Ore, timber, farmland... all the wealth of Beluga Port and everything in it are under our control!"

"Don't you want to develop fishing? Four-fifths of the fishing boat owners in Beluga Port are members of the Parliament of Five Hundred; do you want to develop farmland? I can summon those manor owners to the headquarters for you now. Come; you want to develop manufacturing, develop forestry, expand trade lines... we can provide you with the help you need."

"But if you really plan to declare war on us...I guarantee that everything you do in Beluga Harbor will be difficult to achieve!"

Harold said coldly, his right hand holding the pipe trembling slightly.

Anson put down his wine glass and looked him up and down carefully:

"Are you threatening me?"

"Absolutely not!" Speaker Harold paused after hearing this, his face tense:

"I'm just telling you a fact that is bound to happen. The Parliament is Beluga Harbor, and Beluga Harbor is Parliament. By refusing to cooperate with us, you are conveying malice to the entire Beluga Harbor... This is not wise."

Harold's tone was extremely sincere.

But Anson didn't answer him.

In the deathly silent living room of the headquarters, the only sounds were the burning of charcoal in the fireplace and the writing of the little clerk.

Anson suddenly raised his head and chuckled, startling the nervous Harold.

"Well...it's already very late today, you'd better go back and have a good rest first." Anson wrote lightly and picked up the wine glass on the table again:

"In two days, I will personally go to the White Whale Port Council to discuss the specific content of cooperation with you."

oh?

Harold looked very surprised: "Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course, I don't want to be an enemy of the entire Beluga Port." Anson took a sip of mulled wine and shrugged, looking matter-of-factly:

"Since cooperation with anyone is cooperation, we must cooperate with the strongest force - in Beluga Harbor, is there a stronger force than the Beluga Harbor Council?"

"Of course, I would not join the Beluga Harbor Council under any circumstances."

"That...about cooperation..."

"I can assure you that all my ideas will be implemented after consulting the Beluga Harbor Council; if the opposition is really loud, I will not be too stubborn." Anson said calmly:

"Of course, the premise is that you can really cooperate with me - don't interfere with what I want to do. This is my only request."

Speaker Harold nodded slightly: "In that case, we respect your idea."

In his opinion, this should be Anson Bach's bottom line; now that the purpose of forcing the other party to make concessions and compromises has been achieved, there is no need for him to go further... Moreover, he actually doesn't really want the other party to join the parliament.

Any organization in this world is easy to get in and difficult to get out, and this is the same for both parties. Letting the garrison commander join the parliament can indeed further strengthen the authority of the parliament, but it also gives the other party an opportunity to defeat it internally.

With the military power and position in his hands, would he be willing to become the 501st member of Parliament and obediently obey all the orders of the Beluga Port Assembly?

Absolutely impossible.

It would be better to say that it would be really dangerous if Anson Bach really agreed, which means that he is really not satisfied with the power in his hands and intends to completely turn Beluga Port into his own possession and become the governor of Ice Dragon Fjord. …That would be too dangerous.

Since he wants to take a step back and maintain a certain distance from the "autonomous institution" of the Beluga Harbor Council, there is still the possibility of cooperation.

With this thought in mind, Speaker Harold finally breathed a sigh of relief and left the headquarters.

After sending away the uninvited guest, Anson did not return to the bedroom immediately; on the one hand, he was not in a hurry to study the questions, and on the other hand, he just suddenly realized that the other party's visit might be a good opportunity to take advantage of.

The other party repeatedly emphasized that "Beluga Harbor is the Parliament, and the Parliament is Beluga Port", "Parliament is the most powerful force in Beluga Port", "If you want to cooperate with anything, Parliament can help"...

According to Anson, this means at least two things.

First of all, I was indeed shocked by the number "five hundred people" when we first met, but if I think about it carefully, it is not completely impossible - one percent is almost exactly the number of rich and poor in Clovis City. gap ratio.

This means that the other party is really not lying. The entire property owners in Beluga Port - landowners, wealthy businessmen, mercenary leaders, guild presidents, church leaders... are all members of the Council of Five Hundred.

Secondly, the other party seems to be very afraid of bypassing the parliament and cooperating directly with the locals in Beluga Port.

This is so interesting.

As the speaker of the White Whale Port Assembly, why should he be afraid of this - worried that he would bypass the assembly and directly contact various forces, thereby excluding himself as the speaker?

How is this possible... Anson couldn't help laughing.

He is a garrison commander and not a real colonial governor. No matter how powerful he is, he has no right to interfere with local autonomy. Words like "overthrowing the White Whale Port Assembly and reestablishing one" are just to scare him. He really wants to torment the colony. The public dissatisfaction boiled over, so he had to run away with a bucket overnight.

In fact, if the other party is really willing to cooperate, Anson doesn't mind cooperating with the Beluga Port Council, especially since the other party controls the vast majority of the resources of the entire Beluga Port, and it is unrealistic to completely bypass the other party.

But the other party doesn't seem to think so. Not only does he plan to suppress him, but he even wants to take away the entire Storm Division with nothing?

In this case, it is necessary for you to let the other party recognize the reality.

He is so disgusted that he bypassed the White Whale Port Council to contact other forces, which proves that this five-hundred-member council is not united to be an indestructible monolith - then again, is there a monolithic council in this world?

The next thing is simple - take advantage of the other party's initiative to win over you, directly find Speaker Harold's most powerful challenger in the White Whale Port Assembly, reach cooperation with the other party, and win over the other party by helping him rise to power. Use puppets to remotely control the entire Beluga Harbor Council.

As for who Harold's challenger is...well, he has actually introduced it to him personally.

Mason Wetzler, general representative of the Beluga Port Chamber of Commerce, and Bishop Riper, who believes in the Universalist Church; one is a wealthy businessman with deep local roots, and the other is the spiritual leader of the entire Ice Dragon Fjord and even the surrounding colonies.

Although they only met once, both of them left a deep impression on Anson.

Compared with Speaker Harold, Mason Wetzler is a standard wealthy businessman, humble, content with the status quo, and very good at following the crowd.

He also has strong financial resources - according to the information found by the little clerk, the Wetzler family owns five ocean-going cargo ships, two large fishing ships, two coal mines and a large manor, mainly engaged in coal mining and salt trade.

The trade volume accounted for by the Wetzler family alone is almost one-fifth of the entire Beluga Port.

And his weakness is also very obvious. The Wetzler family made a fortune by reselling salt and contracting fishing boats, but the real reason why he can obtain such high profits is inextricably linked to the support from Harold.

In other words, if he can be supported by other forces, he can naturally break away and join other forces, and improve on the existing basis.

In comparison, Bishop Ripper appears to be more dangerous.

The other party's power is not limited to Beluga Port, but covers or even exceeds the entire Ice Dragon Fjord colony. It has a large number of fans who are willing to work for him. It is so powerful that Speaker Harold must introduce it to him. .

And the most significant difference between the Universal Sect, one of the Ring of Order sects, and other sects is that it is very easy to join; it advocates not interfering with the daily lives of believers, and does not even require participation in various religious ceremonies. The cost of belief can be It is said that infinity approaches zero, so it is very easy to expand.

But on the other hand, this sect is extremely paranoid in some aspects. It firmly believes that the Ring of Order is the savior of the world. Being shot and hanged is the greatest blessing for a heretic in this life. It is full of thoughts about the jihad expedition and is extreme. To the point where even the Holy See cannot accept it.

However, it is precisely because of this paranoia that they have become the only sect that has not been "domesticated" by the church after forty-seven years of the Saints' Calendar; even though the church has accepted a considerable part of their ideas, it would rather leave the old world. Be independent.

And not long ago, Fabian also introduced an interesting "little knowledge point" to Anson - the steam engine was indeed invented by Saint Isaac, but using a steam valve to "steam a living person" was the idea of ​​the Universal Sect.

Forty-seven years ago in the Calendar of Saints, the church's common method was to shoot or hang. Those bizarre and artistic punishments were basically the first to be implemented by the Universal Sect, and the church later just copied them because they thought they were good.

If the Inquisition is a fanatic of the church, then the Universalist Church is probably a fanatic among fanatics, full of thoughts about holy war and martyrdom.

For such people, coercion and inducement are useless. People who believe in this extreme sect will never accept this trick, let alone their leader; they are definitely a typical example of being smelly, hard, and lacking in oil and salt.

The price you need to pay to win over such a person is definitely not small, and once the other party's power expands, it is easy to be counterattacked - after all, the other party is a heretical sect that is more terrifying than a heretic organization.

After thinking about it for a minute, Anson made a decision.

He wants to win over Bishop Riper and make him one of his own!