I will be crowned king

Beluga Harbor, Loon House.

As December comes quietly, the climate in Beluga Harbor becomes increasingly harsh; at 8:30 in the morning, the sun is still not visible in the sky, and the fierce wind and snow still dominate the entire city.

Perhaps because Thalia was not at home, Anson found that he often slept until very late during the recent period; Lisa did not wake up until almost lunch time, and then started her day as a happy sergeant. life, and have various warm and cordial interactions with gangsters and criminals.

Looking at the cute, angelic girl sleeping soundly on the bed, the sleepy-eyed Ansen couldn't help but smile. He silently covered her with the quilt that had been kicked off, picked up the pillows on the bedside table, and scattered them all over the bed. The grenades were retrieved from the ammunition box in the closet, and finally the paper shell bullets were unloaded from the barrel of the Borni rifle.

Perfect.

After repeatedly confirming that the girl would not blow up the house to the sky in her sleep, Anson finally breathed a sigh of relief and went to the restaurant to make a cup of coffee, add sausages, fried eggs, and dry bread, and enjoy a simple breakfast leisurely by the fireplace. .

At nine o'clock sharp, the little secretary knocked on the door of the living room and brought all the information collected from the Storm Legion and the Luen family's contacts and intelligence network - including but not limited to the information of "The Good Guys of Beluga Harbor" in various colonies. Branch newspapers, chambers of commerce and factories controlled by the Rune family, as well as the "pro-Clovis" liberals within the Free Confederation system.

Perhaps because the remnants of the Faithless Knights who were originally scattered in various colonies are heading towards Winter Torch City and White Whale Port, the newspapers and factories in each colony have gradually recovered their vitality recently.

In particular, the small steel plant in Black Reef Port has been officially put into operation, and the first batch of crude steel has been purchased by Louis Bernard at a high price for the reconstruction of Sailing City.

Although it is called "reconstruction," according to the information collected by the newspaper, the Knight Governor's ambitions go beyond that - he plans to completely demolish the slums and transform them into standard integrated "citizen communities" to house the homeless. returnees, new immigrants and shipyard workers.

Yes, in the eyes of Louis Bernard, the future of Sailing City is the Super Trade Port + New World Shipyard.

Although the coastline of the New World is very long, there are currently only two excellent harbors - Beluga Harbor and Sailing City. The harsh weather and harsh natural conditions have resulted in extremely high land transportation costs, so the best cost-saving plan is Maritime transportation; then as long as you can control the shipbuilding industry in the New World, you can naturally control the shipping in the New World and make Sailing City a trade hub.

This is probably Louis Bernard's idea... Anson guessed.

But although Louis saw the location and technological advantages of Sailing City, he ignored the general direction of the development of the new world. The shipping industry is very important, but the benefits are only available to these large coastal colonies, such as Gray Pigeon Castle and Winter Torch. Inland areas like the city have been abandoned.

After hundreds of years of development, the development of coastal colonies has reached a bottleneck, and the next direction should be to actively develop inland; no matter how much the shipping industry is promoted, the market size of Sailing City cannot be expanded.

Even if it can bring more convenient shipping, the prerequisite is that there is a market - the only one that can immediately place a large order for the Yangfan City Shipyard is the New World Company after merging with the Coal Mine Bank.

Whether it is purchasing raw materials, hiring workers, opening up markets, expanding the shipyard...for countless expenses, who should Louis Bernard borrow money from before receiving family assistance?

Or New World Corporation (bank).

Therefore, the largest shipyard in the New World is destined to be opened for the New World Company (the Luen Family). Anson is not worried at all; it also saves money. As long as the local shipyard in Beluga Port can repair the damage and build more tonnage An ordinary fast merchant ship will suffice.

At nine forty-five, Reinhard Roland came to visit, and he happened to be talking about the Sail City Shipyard.

As an excellent banker, Louis Bernard's ambition immediately triggered his sensitive sense of investment, and he was ready to use this as a breakthrough to let the New World Company (bank) open the investment market of Sail City.

Moreover, Reinhard knew very well that with the financial resources of the Bernard family and their dominance in the shipping industry of the Old World, once Louis Bernard was given sufficient time and it was determined that the empire would not launch a counterattack, he would definitely not let this person go. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Anson also agreed with this. It is necessary to invest in shipyards first. It is best to obtain shares through investment, and profits are second. The most important thing is the right to speak to induce Yangfan City to build large-tonnage cargo ships, or even warships - thus Improve the shipbuilding capabilities of the new world.

If the intelligence that the Empire obtained ironclad technology from the Church is true, then the production capacity of ordinary sailing ships in the Old World is likely to decrease in the next few years, leaving the market to steam-powered ships; the Free Confederacy must seize this opportunity to accumulate and acquire Only with shipbuilding capabilities can we have an independent position in the future shipping industry, rather than completely succumbing to the will of the old continent.

If a country that is independent from the Old World is controlled by others, its shipbuilding and shipping industries may end up even more miserable than the Kingdom of Clovis without an army. Not to mention that its development is controlled by others, and it can maintain the use of its own coastline, ports and marine resources. Quan is pretty good.

Of course, if Sailing City really concentrates on manufacturing large-tonnage ships, it can also stagger the market from Beluga Port, which builds small fast sailing ships, and avoid a heavy blow to the local shipbuilding industry... which is an additional benefit.

Compared to the investment opportunities in the shipyard, another piece of news from Reinhard was less pleasant.

As of early December, the number of animal slaves and indigenous people recruited and traded from various places was decreasing rapidly, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to recruit military talents. As a result, the organization of the shooting army was greatly slowed down, making it difficult to organize the shooting army as expected tomorrow. Before March, the number reached 20,000 or even 40,000.

Obviously, the various colonial assemblies played no small role in this.

The War of Independence has ended for more than two months, and the originally united colonies have once again fallen into joyful internal strife; the original unparalleled gratitude to the Storm Legion that helped them so much is dwindling.

"According to the intelligence we collected, militia groups in various places have expanded in different sizes, from the original three or four thousand to about five thousand. The largest one has even doubled in size, and also calls itself a legion."

With a somewhat sarcastic tone, Reinhard raised the corners of his mouth meaningfully: "Not only that, many mercenaries, adventurers, and explorers from Clovis have also begun to become extremely popular. As long as they are willing to accept employment from the council, His worth is immediately more than twice that of his counterparts in the empire.”

"They seem to really think that as long as they are a Clovis, they must know how to lead an army in war... Well, it seems that many Clovis people think that as long as they are an Imperial, they must be a knight, and there is a person with a long history behind them. family."

In response to Reinhard's cynicism, Anson couldn't think of any good solution except to smile bitterly; it is indeed very difficult to form a shooting army at the moment, especially since he is currently eager to expand the Storm Legion and cannot spend much money on this servant army. turnover.

Not to mention soldiers, weapons and equipment are already a huge problem.

In the past, relying on the August Military Factory and the private rifle workshop, it was barely enough to arm a 5,000-strong Storm Division plus the local militia, and even had enough money to sell it to external parties; but when the army expanded and the shooting army was established, the original output was obviously Not enough to watch.

And this is just the beginning... When the shooting army really expands to 40,000 people, unless the rifles in their hands are all one-off modern industrial defective products, a small military factory will really not be able to support consumption.

Purchasing from the local area is one solution, but on the one hand, it takes a long time and the price is high. On the other hand, it is not a long-term solution at all. On the other hand, considering that the local area may completely abandon itself at any time, it is better not to have too high expectations in this regard.

"Since they have so much confidence in their militia, we might as well postpone the construction of the shooting army and set the scale at 20,000 for now - the most important thing at the moment is still the expansion of the Storm Legion." Anson pondered for a moment. , said:

"Of course, the necessary knocks and 'reminders' are still very important; before the end of the year, I will find a way to summon the speakers of the colonial parliaments to Beluga Port to discuss the future of the Free Confederation."

"And as the bank president of the New World Company, I will announce the investment plan for the coming year to the congressmen leading the Free Confederation." A satisfied smile appeared on Reinhard's face:

"This is a great gift to the true leader of the Free Confederacy."

Regarding the self-evident hint in Reinhard's words, Anson just smiled faintly and didn't really take it to heart.

Are you kidding me? The real leader is the head of the Rune family and... the real head of the family. In fact, there is no difference between himself and Reinhard. They are both just high-level workers. It is better not to be too involved in the inner drama of the leader.

After getting the answer he wanted, Reinhard left the Rune Mansion with satisfaction; Anson also set off immediately, accompanied by the little secretary, to the legion headquarters.

At 10:30, there were already a few figures in the headquarters conference hall; they were sitting in their respective seats and whispering to each other, with expressions that were either anxious or excited, and even beaming when they couldn't help themselves.

The reason is simple, the Storm Division...oh no, the legion is about to officially expand.

Under the Clovis military system, there is a world of difference between a division and a corps, which is most intuitively reflected in the authority; if it is a division-level unit, even if it is an independent unit, the commander is a brigadier general, and he does not change it at will. Everything about the authority of the troop establishment must be reported to the top.

But the Legion is different.

The most direct one is that the commander-in-chief of the corps has the authority to change the army's organization and promote officers according to "wartime needs" - it is no exaggeration to say that Anson can now appoint any officer below the division commander at will.

Of course, there are not many officers in the officer corps who can hope to become division commanders overnight. After all, the entire army is only one division in size... But there is still hope for expanding the establishment and promoting military ranks!

In the eager atmosphere, only two figures maintained a calm and normal attitude.

Looking at the restless colleagues around him, Chief of Staff Carl Bain's face was filled with a touch of sarcasm and unspeakable emotion.

He was really curious. If he immediately announced that if the empire obviously counterattacked, the local people would immediately regard all of them as abandoned children. Will these people continue to be grateful or immediately curse?

Considering the consequences and impact, Karl could only think about it. After all, everyone is a grasshopper on the same rope, and his final end will not be any different from theirs... or even worse.

Along with the joyful atmosphere at the scene, Anson Bach, who put on a military uniform and a gray long-sleeved coat, walked into the conference hall. After all the officers stood up and paid attention, he sat on the main seat facing the door.

When the hall became completely quiet, Karl and Anson, who were sitting at the lower left hand position, looked at each other in understanding, then cleared their throats and said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, the purpose of convening this military meeting today is one and only, and that is to discuss the expansion of the 'Storm' Legion."

"As we all know, due to everyone's unremitting efforts over the past year, the garrison has successfully grown from a division-level organization to a corps. As a result, it not only has a new designation and affiliation, but also expanded its organization."

"Therefore, many of the duties originally performed at the infantry division level are no longer applicable. Some personnel and units need to change their titles, expand the size of the organization or even set up new organizations in order to perform more complex and arduous military operations in the future."

"Of course, such an important matter can only be implemented through a collective vote at the military conference; everyone can put forward their own ideas and then vote by a show of hands. As long as more than half of the people in favor can declare it passed."

After the words fell, Karl looked at his colleagues calmly, as if he was ready to watch a good show.

Sure enough...just as he guessed, the members of the officer corps here looked at me and I looked at you. There was no joy in looking at each other, only nervousness and caution remained.

Everyone was waiting for someone else to speak first, and no one wanted others to know their true thoughts; for a while, the hall was as silent as a tomb, with only the quick recording of the little clerk "rustling".

"Since no one is willing to speak first, I will give my decision first."

Looking at the silent officer corps, the expressionless Ansen said: "In order to improve the management efficiency of the corps, I formally propose in my personal name that Colonel Fabian, the former commander of the Grenadier Regiment of the Storm Division, serve as the deputy commander of the corps. Job - who is in favor and who is against?"

Um? !

Before he finished speaking, Fabian, who was sitting at the lower right hand position of the long table, suddenly raised his head, with an expression of disbelief on his face.