I will be crowned king

"I don't understand! You once warned me when we were in Beluga Port that Sailing City is the key to whether we can block the offensive of the Jihadi Army; why did you suddenly decide to hand it over and give it to the Jihadi Army?!"

Louis said in a deep voice, his eyes extremely puzzled: "I'm not trying to protect anything. If it comes to the point where I can't hold on and need to make sacrifices, no matter how hard it is to let go, I won't hesitate for even a moment; but now it's already Victory is in sight; as long as we stand firm and defend the defense line, we can completely annihilate the 20,000 jihadi army in front of us."

"Under such circumstances, making concessions and even voluntarily abandoning the city and retreating...how to explain this to the colonies in the confederation, how to explain it to the soldiers who made huge sacrifices to win this battle, and to the millions of ordinary people Confederate people, please explain?”

"After finally winning the victory, they have to cede the land and hand over the keys to the town as if they were defeated. Can they really accept it?!"

"Answer me, can they really accept it?!"

The young knight stood up abruptly, and his excited questioning even woke Lisa up from her sleep outside the tent, her little head with big eyes darting around.

Anson did not answer his question immediately, but silently picked up the rum he had previously "given" to Carl, gently pulled out the cork, and poured himself half a glass.

Although he said "remember to leave some for me", the chief of staff seemed to have only taken a few sips. The whole bottle of wine was still full, and there was almost no trace of it being tampered with.

The corners of his mouth were pursed tightly, and a trace of disappointment flashed in Louis' eyes.

"Before explaining this problem... well, actually two, I want you to tell me another thing first." Anson pushed the bottle to the young knight: "If the 150,000-strong Crusade Army lands in the New World tomorrow, we will Is there any hope of defeating them?"

"This, this needs..."

"impossible."

Without giving him time to finish, Anson directly asked and answered: "Even if we gather the power of the entire New World and some foreign aid from the Old World, we cannot defeat the 150,000 Holy War Army and the Judgment Knights. No matter how desperate the coalition forces are, they can only delay the war."

"The gap between the two sides is so big, there is nothing to deny; even Ludwig's 20,000 vanguard troops were struggling so hard, not to mention the main force of the massive Jihad Army, which was fully prepared and dominated by the Imperial Army. ”

"Then there are the two questions you raised, why we need to withdraw our troops even if we win, and how to convince the Confederacy to accept this result." Anson raised his right index finger:

"I'll answer the first one first - it's precisely because we won that we gave up Sailing City; on the contrary, if we accidentally lose this battle to Ludwig, then I'm afraid we really have to defend the town. , and wiped out Ludwig outside the city."

well? !

The excited young rider looked confused and froze in place.

"This holy war, or the war of aggression promoted by the empire and the church for their own ambitions, has no benefit to any order of the world except the emperor and the Holy See, especially Clovis." Anson said silently. road:

"Whether we can divide, disintegrate, or even draw these forces to join us, or at least remain neutral, will be the key to defeating or competing against the Empire and the Holy See."

"...So the purpose of handing over Sailing City to Ludwig was to win over Clovis and the Franz family?"

The excitement on Louis' face began to fade away, and his stiff body slowly sat back on the chair, trying hard to think about the connection: "But even if you want to show goodwill to the other party, given your relationship with the Franz family, there is still a future. As long as the identity of Officer Clovis is explained clearly as to why he had to rebel, there is no need to do this step at all, right?"

"Exactly." Anson chuckled, with a glint in his eyes: "Louis, have you ever given something you like to someone else, but actually you really care about it in your heart?"

"this……"

The young knight hesitated for a moment. He didn't understand why Anson wanted to suddenly talk about unrelated topics, but his qualities as a knight still allowed him to give a sincere answer: "Yes."

"When I first served as the Royal Attaché, I gave my sword to my friend Arthur Herred; but because it was specially made by Brother Kroger to celebrate my successful mastery of the power of blood, So it’s quite sad to give up.”

"Then how did your friend named Arthur Herred treat this gift?"

Anson, who had a vague feeling that he had heard this name somewhere, continued to ask.

"I originally wanted to give it to him as a souvenir, because I was going to the Elf Kingdom of Yser to serve as an army instructor. I didn't know how long it would take to see me again... but it seemed that he completely misunderstood the meaning." Louis shook his head:

"The last time we met, he very seriously told me that he had hidden the knife in his father's arsenal. Special servants would clean the dust every day, and he would also invite royal weapon craftsmen to come to the house every month to maintain it, ensuring that it is maintained at all times. You can use them all...but what does this have to do with Sailing City?"

"It matters a lot."

Playing with the wine bottle in his hand, Anson had a very playful expression on his face.

"The reason why I ask this is that I hope you can understand that some things seem to be yours, but in fact they are not; on the contrary, some things that seem to belong to others, but even he himself feels that he is just keeping it for you. "

Looking at the young knight who seemed to understand, he picked up the rum glass in his hand: "Now Ludwig is completely defeated, which is equivalent to completely ruining the only benefit that Clovis can get from this war. Waiting for him There was only humiliation from the Crusaders and disappointment from the Clovis royal family."

"In this case, handing over Sailing City to him, and even taking the initiative to pretend to be defeated by him, is the same as giving your cherished weapon to your friend named Arthur Herred. "

"He won't be overjoyed to avoid the consequences of a disastrous defeat. On the contrary, he will feel that you have ulterior motives, or even hide some ulterior conspiracy...especially when the person who proposed this condition is me. "

While saying this, Anson couldn't help but sigh; although he knew that the actual situation was like this, he was obviously sincere from the inside out and never took the initiative to lie, but why did others refuse to believe it? ?

"Indeed, although it sounds very sincere, when you say it from your mouth, people can't help but be wary..." Louis, who nodded slightly, fully agreed with this:

"So you handed over the Sailing City to Ludwig in the hope of taking advantage of his inevitable psychology to keep the Sailing City intact, or to avoid completely falling under the control of the Holy War Army, is that right?"

"That's the case, but there's really no need to emphasize what I said again..."

The corner of Anson's mouth twitched: "If Ludwig is really allowed to attack Sailing City head-on, the entire colony will inevitably be bloodbathed; but through negotiation, especially after he has mastered the truth behind the jihad, cooperation with us is his only option. , is also an inevitable choice.”

"Because the colony was won through negotiation, it means that there are still a large number of Confederate forces in the city, especially those who are still loyal to you and the remnants of the Bernard family. If Ludwig does not want the truth of this war to be exposed, especially If you are involved with me, a rebel, you must do your best to maintain the current state of Sail City in front of the Jihad Army."

"And his reaction, in the eyes of the Crusaders, is that the Clovis people are trying to protect the interests they have already obtained, so as not to be robbed by the empire and the church; if nothing else, it can also cover his cooperation with us. the truth."

"In this case, Sailing City, which has become the base camp of the Jihad Army, is equivalent to being one-way transparent to us; the army's action route, logistics reserve status, and what actions the church will take... will all be under our control."

"And most importantly, avoid thousands of senseless casualties."

The moment the words fell, Louis' pupils suddenly shrank, and the past scenes appeared in his mind again.

Thunder Castle, Eagle Point City, Summit Tower, Royal Court of Yser...

And, of course, there’s Sailing City.

He seemed to see those people who had paid the price with their lives and died innocently because of their arrogance, stupidity, cowardice, hesitation...

Why leave the old continent and come to the new world?

Why did you walk out of the chapel and become the governor of Sailing City?

Why……

Louis Bernard, who asked himself, already had the answer in his mind.

And Anson certainly knew all this.

To avoid unnecessary killings and prevent innocent people from dying in vain, this is the only reason why Louis is willing to betray the empire and even his family and agree to cooperate with him; as long as this condition is met, he is his most loyal ally.

It sounds unkind and even cruel, but the reality is so cruel - compared with the enemy, he can be easily crushed to death with one finger, and there is no room for resistance.

There is no plan to try his best without any lower limit, no half-truths and half-falsities to win over all the allies he can find, himself... Anson Bach, in this life, he will never want to get rid of being ordered by others, being used by others, and almost 100% afterward. An order from a tool man who would be kicked away.

He is not the heir to a grand duchy, has no royal blood, and does not have a biological father of an archbishop... With memories that have traveled through his soul, and a near-fatal handle on his body, this little army officer wants to stand up and win even a little bit of freedom. How difficult is it? It's comparable to a spellcaster's upgrade, and even more despairing.

Otherwise, he would not be able to win over the Storm Legion so easily and remain loyal to himself - without real benefits, fair enough distribution principles, repeated proofs of strength, and absolute trust and sincerity towards his subordinates. , have a heart-to-heart talk, and say a few nice words to make them willing to be "loyal in a curve". That is just wishful thinking and wishful thinking.

This world is so inhumane and cruel.

"I roughly understand your intention in doing this."

Sighing heavily, the young knight's melancholy expression still did not fade away: "There is just one more question. How can we make the liberals in Sailing City, and even the entire Free Federation, accept this result?"

"This is very simple."

"Simple?"

"Yes, it's very simple." Anson wrote lightly:

"No need to explain."

"..."

The silent Louis was stunned at first, and then suddenly blurted out: "What, what did you say?!"

"I said... there's nothing to explain." Anson looked up at his incredibly shocked face and said calmly:

"That's the way it is, they either accept it or they don't accept it; it's just a matter of choosing which consequences to bear. As for us who made this decision, there is no need to explain the reasons to them."

"But, but they, they are all..."

"They are all members of the Free Confederation. They are the ones you and I must protect. In other words, they are subjects." Anson stood up slowly, his expression gradually becoming serious:

"Since we are subjects, as rulers we can explain when we want to; but when we don't want to do so, of course we can also say nothing."

"It's not their right, it's the ruler's choice... your choice."

Facing his gaze that seemed to choose others to devour, the young knight looked very confused.

"But you said that the Free Confederacy is different from the old world. It is free and equal..." Louis suddenly stuttered: "C-can this really be considered freedom and equality?"

"Of course!" Anson said without hesitation:

"This is the new world of freedom and equality!"

"...What's the difference from before?"

"It's very simple. This kind of thing didn't exist before, or it had been eliminated long ago." Anson patted him on the shoulder:

“Today’s Free Confederation believes that if it wants to protect this hard-won freedom and equality, it must select the person who best represents the will of freedom and equality when necessary to implement this right that belongs to everyone. .”

"Then what does the Free Confederacy think?"

"It's all what we say."

"..."

The young knight's eyes were completely confused, but Anson did not intend to stop there, but went further: "It is already May, and the main force of the Holy War Army may arrive in the New World at any time. We don't have time to delay and wait any longer. , we must end all this as soon as possible and make preparations for the final battle."

"Abandoning the Sailing City colony, concentrating all the rights of the Confederacy, establishing the Confederate Legion Staff, and selecting a commander who can lead everyone to fight to the death against the Jihadist Army is what we should do, and it is the most correct way to protect freedom and equality. !”

Anson said solemnly.

Louis, who finally recovered from the shock, his throat twitching, looked at Anson with a determined expression:

"All this... for the Free Confederacy?"

Anson nodded and raised the corners of his mouth slightly:

"For everything in the Free Confederacy!"