I will be crowned king

Beluga Harbor Headquarters, early morning.

At five-thirty, Storm Division Chief of Staff Carl Bain woke up from his sleep as usual, put on his military uniform alone, made his bed, half-asleep, pushed out the door, and walked toward the barracks canteen.

Although he already had an orderly, the habits he had developed over the years still made Carl more accustomed to doing things himself. The most important thing was that he couldn't eat alone - he always felt unsafe.

At forty-five minutes, there were already many figures in the spacious restaurant; Karl pressed the three-cornered hat on his head, greeted a few familiar guys, and went straight to the front desk.

A bowl of stew, half a piece of white bread, an egg, and a cup of black coffee - seeing that it was the chief of staff, the cook skillfully added twice the amount of coffee powder and an extra tablespoon of sugar.

In colonies far away from the Old World, fine sugar was the only "privilege" enjoyed by military officers.

It's just thick coffee with three times the amount of sugar. It tastes like some kind of weird potion, but it's good for refreshing your mind and your throat... The frowning chief of staff drank up his "sobriety potion" and looked up to see William. Cecil was walking towards him, holding a cup of hot coffee in his hand.

The navy captain sat across from him, silently throwing down a stack of documents.

Karl, who understood deeply, put down his coffee cup, stuffed the document into his arms without looking at it, stood up and left.

When they arrived at the residence of the Governor's Mission, the mission guards standing guard did not stop them. Kalpi, who understood the situation, quickly stepped forward with a smile, and familiarly handed each of the several guards a cigarette case - which contained high-quality tobacco. cigarettes and a few gold coins - walking towards the stairs under their close, family-like gaze.

When he was approaching the door, Karl, who suddenly thought of something again, stopped.

He first took out the documents he had just taken from William Cecil, crumpled them into paper balls one by one, deliberately sprinkled some cigarette ash on them, and roughly folded them into a large pile like folding a napkin. , forced it into the inner pocket of his coat; then took off his coat, threw it on the ground, and stamped his feet vigorously.

That's not all... After confirming that there was no one around, Carl directly lay down on the carpet and started doing push-ups; after completing eighty, he did two hundred squats, plus a full set of stretching exercises...

Half an hour later, the chief of staff, who was a little out of breath, put on his coat that was soaked with sweat, deliberately stepped up his steps and rushed straight to the door, and then kicked it violently:

"boom--!"

Baron Akers woke up from his sleep with the sound of a cannonball hitting the door. He almost jumped out of bed and stared at his bloodshot eyes. The extremely embarrassed Chief of Staff was reflected in his pupils.

"No————no no no no...no, no!"

Out of breath, Karl shouted loudly, fell to the ground in horror, and crawled all the way to Baron Akers' bed: "Ro, the Roland family...the family...them..."

"What happened to them?!"

"They accuse the colonial parliament of fraud in its terms and want to terminate the investment contract with us!"

"What?!"

Baron Akers was stunned as if he was struck by lightning. The negotiation documents scattered from Karl's jacket pocket were flying in the sky like snowflakes, falling around his head like a chicken coop.

……………………

“…Therefore, in view of your lack of sincerity in the negotiation process and even obvious fraud in the terms, which seriously damaged the minimum mutual trust between the two parties, we have decided to withdraw our investment and no longer continue to invest in your Coal Mine Bank! "

In the spacious conference room, Cedric, standing in front of the negotiation table, waved the agreement in his hand and, surrounded by representatives of the Roland family, spoke to the colonial side:

"Not only that, we also want to make your despicable behavior public, so that everyone knows how unrestricted you are in business, deliberately harming your collaborators for profit, and even from the beginning... this is a complete and utter fraud trap!"

“Is this behavior considered fraud?!”

"Of course not! Because this is a scam, a scam that attempts to defraud the Roland family's business reputation and investment; since it is a scam, of course it has nothing to do with fraud, because its nature is far worse than fraud!"

"Fortunately, the Roland family has a keen eye and exposed your vicious plan in time. Otherwise, we would have paid an unimaginable and terrible price. It is truly a blessing to be able to turn the tide and save the building from collapse..."

Cedric's impassioned voice echoed in the dead silent hall.

Directly opposite him, Baron Aix, who had just woken up, was sitting in his seat with an expressionless face. His expression was quite similar to that of a death row prisoner who heard the trial; his face and collar were all Cedric's. Drool, although he didn't notice it.

On his left and right sides, Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach and Navy Captain William Cecil, who were originally entrusted with the task of negotiation, both had livid faces, and their dark eyes seemed to have said everything.

As for Reinhard, the nominal negotiator of the Roland family, he has even buried his head in his chest at this moment, hiding under the table with his arms folded; his slightly shrugged shoulders and occasional choking seemed to indicate how deep his mood was at this moment. bitter.

The other negotiators had different expressions, some were sad, some were angry, some were confused, and some had mixed feelings... Only Cedric was still high-spirited, impassioned, and blaming Fang Qiu.

Whether it is the despicable Clovis people or his ulterior brother and rival Reinhard, they are now defeated by his subordinates and can only listen to his judgment on them.

Solving internal and external troubles at the same time... He felt like he had completely won and won.

According to the "agreement" between myself and the Harold Foundation, the next step should be to show a little bit of goodwill, give the Clovis people a step forward, and win their concessions and compromises.

After all, the Roland family is still on each other's territory, and the local Northern Chamber of Commerce and Clovis still have a lot of trade exchanges. They really don't save any face, and will obviously destroy the precious friendship accumulated by both parties over the years.

But Cedric, who was blind and crazy, had no intention of taking this into account. In his opinion, this time it was entirely the fault of the Clovis people. The Roland family was the one who suffered the loss. There was no reason for the victim to give in to the perpetrator.

Even if they have to give in, the Clovis people should give in first, and they must show enough sincerity to satisfy themselves!

"Do we really have to give in?"

In the middle of the negotiation, Baron Akers, who returned to the lounge, looked at the garrison commander and naval captain in front of him, and said worriedly: "The country is waiting for our good news. The royal family and the Privy Council hope..."

"Baron, when the negotiations have reached this point, there is not much room for maneuver." Anson had to raise his hand to interrupt:

"Once they let out the news that the colonial council had lied, not only would the bank be unable to operate, but the businessmen who came here because of the Roland family would also withdraw their capital, and no one would want to do business with us anymore."

"That's right. Besides, it's not like they don't have other better options."

William Cecil took the opportunity to add: "Red Hand Bay, Black Reef Port, Sailing City... The New World is not the Kingdom of Clovis, and it is not the only choice like North Port; I believe that once the Roland family spreads throughout the New World, those The colonies will be like sharks that smell blood and will pounce on us at all costs to compete for this opportunity."

"Moreover, they are all from the Empire!" Anson then said:

"The current governor of Sailing City is Louis Bernard, the heir to the Grand Duchy of Adlan; with the relationship between the Roland and Bernard families, they will definitely not refuse such good things as investing and opening a bank."

"And once the Free Confederacy is allowed to establish a relationship with the Roland family before us, it will be even more difficult for Clovis to win over the Confederacy through trade; it is even possible that they will get close to the Empire again because of the Bernard family. "

"If that's the case, not only will the Storm Division's efforts over the past year be completely in vain, but the colony will instantly face unimaginable military pressure, and there will be no room for recovery!"

This is of course impossible - not to mention that three of the six colonies have completely become puppets controlled by the Storm Division, and the remaining two have completed deep interest ties with Ice Dragon Fjord. Can Louis and his Sail City It was lucky not to be isolated, and it was impossible to dominate the political actions of the Free Confederation.

But Tutu and Baron Akers obviously didn't know this. Their faces were pale and their lips were trembling: "How, how could it become... like this..."

"Speaking of which, this is all my fault." Anson sighed longly, with self-blame written all over his face:

"If it weren't for the fact that when Reinhard came here, in order to keep the investment that Governor Sophia Franz had managed to attract, he performed too well, which led to the Roland family deciding to increase investment and officially become a shareholder in the bank, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are now. …”

"No, Lord Governor, how can this be your fault - it is clearly my fault!"

Colonel William Cecil said resolutely, holding his chest sadly: "If I could remind you earlier that the royal family and the Privy Council will take over control of the bank, so that you can refuse the investment of the Roland family and resist the temptation. The temptation of 800,000 gold coins will not make things become the situation they are now unable to deal with!"

"No, no, no... Therefore, if I really have to bear the blame, as the commander-in-chief, I should do it first..."

"No, no, it's obvious that I, the one responsible for notification, should..."

"enough!"

Baron Akers raised his head suddenly, rudely interrupted the two people who were rushing to take responsibility, and said angrily: "The most important thing now is not to punish someone for his incompetence, but to solve this difficult problem!"

Anson and William fell silent for a moment and said no more.

But after roaring, Akers, who still had no good solution, quickly succumbed again, like a deflated rubber ball, looking at the commander-in-chief with two trembling vents: "So, what should we do now?"

"We have no choice but to make some concessions first." Anson said with a solemn expression:

"It is up to you to come forward and promise the interests of the Roland family on behalf of the Clovis royal family and the Privy Council, and promise not to take away control of the bank, and then...promise an attractive enough position, and perhaps they can gain their understanding."

"What position?"

"The... president of the Coal Mine Bank."

The moment he finished speaking, Baron Akers' expression trembled.

"On this basis, deprive the Coal Mine Bank of some of its original functions, such as minting, customs, military pay and other powers, and re-establish the General Administration of Taxation, with you as the director...local interests can still be preserved." Anson's eyes were burning. :

"Mr. Akers... what do you think, Colonial Tax Collector?"

"I……"

The baron hesitated to speak, looking flustered.

Of course, he knew what would happen to him once this obvious bullying behavior was discovered; but if the bank failed to be built in the end, or even caused a sharp drop in the colony's income because of himself, that fate would not be much better than now.

The path before him couldn't be more obvious.

"Now that we've reached this point, it seems like this is the only way to go."

Baron Akers sighed, with a helpless expression as if he had completely resigned himself to his fate, but then he changed the subject: "It's just that as the governor's representative, if I personally come forward to compromise, it will damage the majesty of the royal family, so..."

"I understand!" Anson immediately took over:

"I am solely responsible for this matter. I will never let the royal family and Sophia...the dignity of the Governor! suffer any loss!"

"I'm relieved now. Everything is thanks to you, Commander-in-Chief."

Baron Akers breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the sofa.

Anson nodded slightly, looked at each other in understanding with the naval captain, turned and left the lounge.

Returning to the conference room in the side hall, Cedric was still sitting proudly in his seat, surrounded by representatives of the Roland family, like a victorious general waiting for his defeated general to take the initiative to ask for mercy.

As for a certain competitor who had lost power, he had already driven him back to the lounge, waiting for his final judgment on this "family traitor".

Anson, who had a heavy expression, slowly stepped forward and sat down without pulling out his chair. He calmly stood behind the long table and said:

"Dear Sir Cedric, after careful consideration, we have decided to express our sincere apology to you and are willing to make some concessions, such as the issue of the selection of the bank president. We feel..."

"No!"

Before Anson could finish speaking, Cedric interrupted with a sneer: "I'm very sorry, Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach, but it's already too late."

"Because of your despicable performance and insincere attitude, the Roland family has officially decided to give up investment in this bank. You can give up!"

"By the way, let me tell you another good news. While we are negotiating, I have already sent several envoys to Red Hand Bay, Black Reef Port and Sail City to inquire about their investment intentions. I believe we will get a reply soon. .”

"As for you... please stay in Beluga Port and wait for the good news about the establishment of the 'New World Bank'!"