I will be crowned king

In the dimly lit conference room, the officers who had not yet recovered from the sudden change were sitting uneasily. They looked at the commander-in-chief with different expressions, as if he had suddenly changed. Some of them were frowning, or their faces were filled with confusion. Suspicion, or disbelief, or forced composure.

For a minute, no one spoke; just one minute, in the dull atmosphere, was longer than a year.

After another half minute, no one was willing to speak. As the chief of staff, Carl Bain and Anson quickly looked at each other, stood up according to the previously "designed" script, and coughed a few times. Voice:

"Ahem...what, the situation is like this. The Commander-in-Chief just wants to confirm everyone's attitude and true inner thoughts; he is not investigating you, let alone pursuing the details of all of us."

"I repeat, it's just attitudes and thoughts - of course it must be honest. No matter what the result is, it will not affect everyone's current position and treatment, just like... exchange meetings and mutual aid meetings, each other Let’s express our inner thoughts!”

After speaking, Karl, who barely managed a smile, shrugged at everyone, turned his head, rolled his eyes, and sat back down.

Almost at the moment he sat down, there were loud exhales in the hall, either obvious or covert, no less than two digits, and the expressions of all the officers immediately became much more natural.

And not only those who had been exposed before, but also many officers at the battalion and company level looked uneasy. They breathed a long sigh of relief while glancing around nervously, as if they had noticed some flaw.

All of this was seen by Anson, who had turned on his "superpower".

How should I put it... I can only smile at this time; after all, when I think about the fact that there is no honest person in the entire legion from top to bottom except Carl Bain, the "black pot man", and basically all the members are evil, it is very likely that they are the same as myself. The military commander had a lot to do with it, and the helpless Anson found that he could not change anything.

Even to a certain extent, it is actually a good thing. If there is a guy among his subordinates who is so simple that he cannot extricate himself, has firm beliefs and is die-hard loyal to the royal family, it will be detrimental to the development of the next plan.

"Chief of Staff Karl is right. What I need is your attitude and... true thoughts." Taking a deep breath, Anson said in a deep voice again:

"It involves the rise and fall of Clovis, as well as the future and future of the Storm Legion. If I can't get a correct statement from you, I really don't dare to speak easily and reveal all the information and plans in my hand."

"So please allow me to ask again... Are you willing to dedicate your absolute loyalty to Clovis?!"

The heavy words echoed in the atmosphere that was so suppressed that it seemed like substance.

The officers who looked at each other were either exchanging glances, or were deep in thought, or looked confused, or had serious eyes.

Soon... Under the surprised gaze of Lieutenant Colonel Alexei beside him, the expressionless Norton Crosell took the lead in raising his right hand:

"I am an officer of the Storm Legion, and you are the commander-in-chief and brigadier general appointed by His Majesty; logically speaking, your orders are His Majesty's orders." Norton's eyes were extremely firm:

"Norton Crosell, will faithfully and without question carry out any order you give...any!"

Anson nodded slightly.

Because of Roman's incident, Norton was also in the "small group" he had previously discussed plans with. He was mentally prepared for what happened today, and it was not surprising that he was the first to express his opinion.

"me too!"

Seeing Norton's "preemptive" statement, nervous Alexi quickly raised his hand: "Alexei Dukaski will always be loyal to the Kingdom of Clovis and will never disobey the Commander-in-Chief's orders...any orders!"

"As long as you have honor, loyalty and faith in your heart, I am willing to follow in your footsteps forever, Brigadier General Anson Bach." Julien, commander of the 4th Infantry Regiment, turned around with a slight excitement in his serious expression:

"No one I know has more wisdom, integrity, ideals and determination than you; if you make a decision from your heart, it will be the right one."

Then you must know very few people... Ansen restrained his smile and looked at Julien seriously.

"To be honest, I personally don't have much fondness for Clovis, nor am I very loyal to the Osterian royal family. After all, I am a southerner, and my ancestors were conquered by Clovis only a hundred years ago. …”

Leo, the commander of the 5th Infantry Regiment, muttered and blew the hair on his forehead nonchalantly: "But Commander-in-Chief, you have indeed never treated all of us badly. You are at least ten times better than all the officers I have ever encountered. ,so……"

"Other than my loyalty, I don't seem to have anything to repay you with."

"well said!"

The cavalry battalion commander sitting in the back row, Jason Fruhauf, stood up abruptly from a group of officers, his face flushed as if he had just drank three bottles of red wine: "The commander-in-chief is always very generous to all of us. , not only never withholds salary or captured loot, but is also willing to share the wealth that originally belonged to him!"

"The industry of Ice Dragon Fjord, the prosperity of the new world, does not belong to one person, but to us... It belongs to the common wealth of the entire legion; we are like... like the Knights of the Dark Ages! Fighting side by side on the battlefield, outside the battlefield Share it all.”

"But I must refute Lieutenant Colonel Leo's point of view, that is, the most important thing is not wealth, but loyalty; Brigadier General Anson Bach, and of course us, are loyal ministers of the Kingdom of Clovis." Jason changed the subject. :

"Since we are sure that we are loyal ministers, loyal ministers should maintain trust in each other; I firmly believe that whatever the Commander-in-Chief does next, his purpose must be to be loyal to the kingdom."

With that said, Jason took off the unsheathed cavalry sword from his waist and raised it above his head: "For loyalty, we are obligated to do so!"

Looking at his impassioned expression, Anson still smiled knowingly, even though he tried his best to hold it back.

Well, especially when I think of this cavalry battalion commander who was caught for smuggling in a border fortress and colluding with foreign forces. In order to escape and make extra money, he joined the Storm Legion, which was an infantry division at the time.

But it was precisely because of his remarks that the officers who were still in a wait-and-see state expressed their opinions one after another, scrambling to prove that they were absolutely loyal to the kingdom and resolutely obeyed all orders of Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach.

Although that eager attitude looks like he is eager to clear away any doubts about himself...

Seeing that everyone had expressed their "true thoughts", Deputy Commander Fabian, who was the "chief" of the officer corps, finally turned around, stood up from his chair, put his left hand behind his back, right hand clenched his fist with the back of his hand upwards, and punched his chest hard. :

"Colonel Fabian, deputy commander of the corps, is willing to resolutely fulfill all orders of the commander-in-chief, Brigadier General Anson Bach, and dedicate his loyalty to Clovis!"

Before he finished speaking, the chief officers on both sides of the long table and the middle and lower-ranking officers sitting around also stood up, clenched their fists and beat their chests:

"Loyalty to Clovis-!!!!"

At this moment, Anson's face finally showed a smile from the bottom of his heart.

Although it is premeditated, although it is not perfect, although there are still various conflicts and hidden dangers that may break out...

But now, he has the allegiance of everyone in the room.

With it, my plan finally has some feasibility.

"Very good, it seems that all of you here are Clovis's true loyalists." Anson nodded and pursed his lips: "In that case, I can fully tell everyone about the current situation and plan. !”

"Yes, the empire is about to launch a counterattack, but it is not an ordinary counterattack; in order to ensure victory, they used their faith to kidnap the Church of the Ring of Order and launch a full-scale holy war against the new world."

"From North Port to Carindia Port, the entire Order World has assembled a large army under the abduction and order of Emperor Hered. This will be a huge army of no less than 100 to 150,000 people; their goal is, To destroy everything we have built on this land!”

"Colonies, industries, population, wealth, beliefs... are all within the scope of their goals; Emperor Herred's goal is very clear. They will destroy the Free Confederacy, and even more, we will destroy us; if they can't get it, they will completely destroy it all. !”

"Precisely because it is a holy war, Clovis itself cannot provide us with any support. To some extent, we have to join the ranks of the holy war as an ally of the empire."

Sighing heavily, Anson paused for a moment so that everyone present could fully understand what he just said: "And as Clovis's standing army, we have only two choices!"

"First, continue to maintain the status quo, nominally join this jihadi army led by the empire, ask for anything from them, accept unlimited demands, destroy everything we have worked hard to build with our own hands, and betray our former allies and comrades-in-arms."

"I can tell you one more thing, that is, the Luen family has been accused of heresy by the church under the control of the emperor... Yes, you heard it right, this is indeed the case." Anson's expression became serious:

"In other words, all movable or real estate related to the Luen family, all investments, and people related to and involved with this family will not escape the censure of the trial court."

"Me, too."

A gloomy atmosphere permeated everyone's hearts.

"As your boss, I can guarantee that if the Storm Legion ends up like this, I will do my best to ensure that everyone will not be involved in this matter, but wealth and future... may not be guaranteed."

Sighing slightly, Anson deliberately showed a somewhat lonely expression: "With me as the military chief, and the unclear relationship between the Storm Legion and the Franz family, it's hard to say what good future we can have; If you are unlucky, you may not have the chance to return to your homeland in your lifetime.”

"What about the second option?" As soon as he finished speaking, Norton couldn't wait to ask: "You just said there are two options. We want to know what the second option is?"

"The second kind..."

Anson's eyes suddenly became sharp: "That is, we must still be loyal to Clovis and the Osteria royal family, but not in the current state, but... curved loyalty!"

Um?

Everyone looked at each other, and a bunch of question marks suddenly appeared in the hall where the atmosphere was heavy just now.

"Curve...loyalty, what does that mean?" Alexey asked doubtfully:

"Are you planning to betray Clovis?"

"Absolutely not!"

Anson decisively denied it: "This is just a completely different form of loyalty that only true loyal ministers can master!"

"Simply put, if we continue to maintain the status quo, it will not change the predicament faced by Clovis itself; in this case, continuing like this will not help at all and will only allow the empire to succeed."

"A true loyal minister will not only be absolutely loyal to the person he is loyal to, but will also firmly protect her interests; even if the cost is to abandon his own reputation, he will not be stingy at all!"

"Because of this, we, as loyal subjects of the Kingdom of Clovis, must temporarily betray the Kingdom of Clovis from now on in order to break the deadlock and gain a chance to unite the entire new world!" Anson raised his head suddenly, with sharp eyes. The brilliance of:

"And this is an initiative that only true loyal ministers can accomplish."

After the words fell, everyone was uniformly stunned.

"In other words... we have to betray the Kingdom of Clovis to achieve our loyalty to the Kingdom of Clovis." Karl spoke slowly again:

"In the name of the Clovis regular army, we naturally do not have the qualifications to order the Free Confederacy and the Eastern Five Cities Alliance; but if the Storm Legion declares a rebellion, capture White Whale Port and Gray Snow Town, and capture the entire Ice Dragon Fjord , we become the same independent colony as the Free Confederacy."

"In this way, Ice Dragon Fjord can legitimately join the Confederacy in the name of an independent colony; with the strength of the Storm Legion, it can immediately become the strongest among all the participating colonies; at the same time, it has the legitimate qualifications to assemble all the people in the New World manpower and material resources to resist the all-out attack from the Imperial Crusaders."

"And as long as the empire's conspiracy can be successfully foiled, no matter what the outcome of Ice Dragon Fjord, whether it rejoins Clovis or becomes truly independent, it will be an absolutely beneficial result for Clovis; at the same time, the joining of Beluga Port can also To a certain extent, it will reverse the Confederacy's attitude towards Clovis and make it an important military alliance that favors Clovis."

"This is the so-called 'curved loyalty'!" Karl, who rolled his eyes ten thousand times in his heart, looked at Anson with a somewhat reluctant expression:

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, may I ask if my explanation is correct?"

"Absolutely correct, the chief of staff's understanding is really thorough!" Anson's excited lips almost reached his ears:

"In order to implement your loyalty, you sometimes have to bear some infamy; but you cannot give up defending the object of your loyalty just because you are afraid of your honor being tarnished; that kind of loyalty is just a false disguise!"

"Now, all loyal ministers of the Kingdom of Clovis, please allow me to give you my first order..."

"Toward Moby-Dick Harbor—March!"

Updated in advance, originally I wanted to call it "Curve Loyalty", or "March to Beluga Port"; and as I kept writing, I suddenly felt that there might be a lot of titles related to "Loyalty" in the future...