I will be crowned king

On May 13, Apostolic Calendar 102, more than 10,000 Confederate troops retreated to Gray Dove Castle through the grass forest. Along with them were tens of thousands who did not want to stay in the occupied area and followed and loyal to Louis Bell. liberal colonizers of Ghana.

Even before the team arrived, it had already caused a sensation throughout the Confederacy.

Of course, they didn't know the glorious record of Anson and Louis joining forces and still "defeating" the Jihadi Army; but the news of the previous defeat in Huangcao Lin and the annihilation of the 20,000-strong army that was finally organized had spread throughout the entire freedom world. The Confederacy; the colonists who were still confident and feeling good about themselves suddenly hit rock bottom and were shrouded in a cloud of gloom.

When the retreating liberal colonists gradually arrived at Gray Pigeon Castle and spread the news of the fall of Sail City, even the most active war factions, the Universal Sect and the Alliance of Promise Keepers, chose to shut up; despair began to spread in Spread among the crowd.

They can't even defeat the enemy's vanguard. It would be better if they wait for the main force to land in the new world. They can simply surrender voluntarily and still be dead.

In a sense, this idea is completely correct, and it is even a little late - the current market situation is that let alone voluntary surrender, even if the liberals commit collective suicide, countless resources have been spent and millions of manpower and material resources have been mobilized by the church and empire. It cannot stop; the holy war will never stop until the swords of heretics and infidels are soaked with blood.

The worse is yet to come... Ludwig landed in Sailing City almost a month ago. According to the known intelligence and time calculation, the main force of the Holy War Army may appear on the coastline of the New World at any time.

From Gray Pigeon Castle to the slave-catching port, the entire Confederacy has an atmosphere of imminent destruction; and precisely because of this atmosphere, all the forces that originally had various small ideas and planned to do nothing, Finally a consensus began to emerge.

The enemy is very powerful, so powerful that he can kill himself or even destroy the entire Confederacy with just a little finger... The 150,000 Holy War Legion, with such a huge force and such high-pitched slogans, can only massacre the entire Free Confederacy and kill all the liberals. , all thirteen colonies were razed to ruins to satisfy the appetite of the empire and the Holy See.

The liberals and vested interests in various colonies who recognized the reality took the initiative to rush to Gray Pigeon Castle without waiting for Anson and Louis to convene, and urgently convened the Supreme Council to discuss countermeasures.

The originally delayed staff proposal was quickly passed, and the Supreme Council even took the initiative to send messengers to Anson and Louis, hoping that they would arrive at Gray Dove Castle as soon as possible and start the election of the marshal of the Confederate Legion as soon as possible.

In the midst of thousands of people united and united in mourning, the "defeated" Confederate Army finally arrived at Fort Gray Pigeon on May 15th.

……………………

"... Regarding the election of the Confederate Army Marshal, although according to regulations, at least four hundred members and all representatives of the Thirteen Colonies must be present before it can begin, the current situation no longer allows us to follow certain rigid procedures... "

In the castle hall of the Gray Pigeon Fortress, as the leader of the Supreme Council, Paulina Frey stood on the temporary podium. The extremely heavy-faced Polina Frey read out the speech in her hand in a mechanical tone.

Her voice was not loud, but even though it was raining heavily outside, her voice could still be clearly and accurately echoed in every corner of the lifeless hall.

Of course, it doesn't matter even if you can't hear clearly, everyone present basically knows the contents of the speech anyway; an atmosphere of despair and substance permeated the air, and the gloomy congressmen had no intention of thinking about anything else except listening carefully.

In addition, Pigeon Castle, as an inland bridgehead, is itself a highly fortified colony. The entire hall is wrapped in thick granite walls. Not only is the space narrow, the lighting is extremely poor, and it is still raining outside... Everyone in the damp and dark place could hardly breathe, let alone think wildly.

"As the leader of the Supreme Council, I hereby officially declare that all representatives and members who are not present are temporarily exempted from voting, and everyone here is responsible for selecting the marshal of the Confederate Army."

Holding back the beads of sweat on her body, Polina said in a deep voice: "According to the Charter of the Supreme Council, candidates are first recommended by the Council of Parliament, and then jointly elected by the Supreme Council. A secret ballot will be used. A majority of the votes or the largest number will be chosen." or become Marshal of the Free Confederacy."

"After careful discussion by the council, it was decided to elect Anson Bach, the governor of Ice Dragon Fjord, and Sir Louis Bernard, the governor of Sailing City, to run for election as representatives!"

The moment the words fell, all the eyes present were focused on the two of them.

Feeling the various looks around him, Anson, who was sitting in the front row of the crowd, looked unusually calm. He held Lisa in his arms, who was already sleeping soundly, and slightly shook the military cap in his hand to fan her; , as if the final result has been determined.

The girl who was immersed in dreamland looked very comfortable, and saliva even flowed from the slightly raised corners of her mouth, soaking most of his trouser legs.

The young knight with a complicated expression was not as relaxed as someone else. There were countless thoughts hidden between his frowning brows; pain, hesitation, struggle... various emotions were intertwined repeatedly, echoing in his chest.

The elf girl in the corner of the hall looked at his back with worry and wanted to step forward to say something, but finally gave up.

She knew very well that this knight with a humble appearance was actually an extremely arrogant and fragile person; her own comfort would not only not bring him comfort, but would instead become the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Everyone here, you are representatives of thousands of people in the Free Confederacy, and you shoulder the mission of defending the independence of the Confederacy and fighting for equality and freedom!" Polina's heavy words sounded again:

"Now please fulfill your duties and elect a commander for the Free Confederacy who can not insult her dignity and safeguard freedom and equality!"

After the words fell, everyone present raised their heads in unison, held their breath, and looked seriously at the front of the hall.

Soon, the speakers of Hongshouwan and Changhu Town jointly carried a huge ballot box into the room, placed it heavily in the center of the hall, and began to distribute the ballot boxes to the members except the two candidates. vote.

This is a small scroll about the length of a palm. The voter writes the name of the person he or she wants to vote for, then rolls it up, and then puts it into the ballot box in order of sitting order; until the voting is completed and the vote results are officially announced, no one is allowed to vote. Leave the hall.

In addition to ensuring that the entire voting process is absolutely fair, just and open, this is more importantly to establish consensus within the Supreme Council. The effect is similar to Anson's need to keep minutes of every meeting - since the marshal is jointly elected by everyone and has received If everyone admits it, then no one will be allowed to refuse to obey the marshal's order afterwards and violate it in disguise.

"Wait a moment!"

Just when the voting was about to begin, Anson, who was holding Lisa in his arms, suddenly raised his right hand and spoke with a determined voice in everyone's ears: "Before the formal voting, I have a few more words to say to you. No. Do you know if this is allowed?"

well?

Not only everyone present, but even Polina on the podium was stunned for a moment, as if something unexpected had happened, and she suddenly didn't know what to do.

But after experiencing so many things, she is no longer the girl who ran away from Gray Pigeon Castle with her sister after her father died tragically... After a brief absence, the girl who quickly regained her composure nodded slightly:

"Of course, it is your legitimate right as a candidate to make an election speech... Naturally, the same goes for Sir Louis Bernard."

As she spoke, she did not forget to look at the young knight next to her: "Since His Excellency Anson Bach proposed it first, please wait a moment. The Supreme Council will ensure that both parties enjoy all rights fairly and without any bias."

"I don't have to." Louis said coldly, raising his head, his eyes only filled with sadness and solemnity: "Of course, I still thank you and the Supreme Council for their fair attitude; no matter what the outcome, Louis Bernard is willing to accept it. "

After the words fell, the young knight sat back down, as if nothing had happened.

Polina was not angry when her kindness was rebuffed, and quietly gave up the podium with a smile; Anson handed the sleeping girl to the strange-looking Carl Bain, and walked silently to the place where she had just stood. s position.

Facing the dignified, serious, pessimistic, and desperate faces in the audience, Ansen was silent at first.

He was silent for a long time, allowing the dead silence to become more and more oppressive, and allowing the MPs who were still waiting silently for him to speak began to look at each other and whisper to each other; it was as if he did not exist at all, or had become a transparent person. Same, looking around them, standing there without saying a word.

Until it seemed that someone suddenly couldn't sit still anymore. The silent Anson suddenly raised his right hand, straightened his chest and raised his head, took a deep breath, and then:

"Did you hear that?"

"I just took a very hard, deep breath! I took a big, hard breath; I felt wet, smelly, stuffy, and very depressed!" The expressionless Anson glanced at everyone, and slowly stretched out his raised right hand. Index finger:

"But am I dead?"

"No...I will be in pain, discomfort, depression, and discomfort, but I will not die because I take a deep breath after holding my breath for two minutes; on the contrary, if I never breathe, I will probably really lose my life. .”

"My heart is still beating, my blood can still flow, and my life and consciousness...are all given by this breath of air, even if it makes me feel extremely painful."

"Painful, but necessary, and no choice; without it I would be dead."

"When I left Sailing City, I made a very painful decision: on the premise that I did not lose to the vanguard of the Jihad Army, and was even very likely to win, I decided to negotiate with the commander-in-chief of the other party and still fulfill my wish. Those who fought for equality and freedom withdrew from Sailing City, handing over the most elite colony of the Confederacy to their enemies."

"A lot of people are going to hate me for this, they're angry, they're confused... but what's going to happen if we don't do this?"

"A mere vanguard can assemble an army of 20,000 people, thirty warships and even an armored ship. When the main force of the Jihadi Army arrives, what will be waiting for Sail City?"

"It is destruction, leaving no trace, slaughtering everything, destruction with scorched earth everywhere."

"We are standing on the edge of this destruction, and if we make a slight mistake, we will be irreversible; one mistake... or even a seemingly correct decision may drag us into the abyss."

"In such an environment, it doesn't seem like incomprehensible behavior for a painful and desperate person to try to resist it all, right?"

"Since every breath and every time you open your eyes is so painful, wouldn't it be less painful to simply close your eyes and hold your breath?"

"wrong!"

Anson hit the floor with his scabbard "Bang!", making everyone who was almost in trance suddenly startled:

"Big mistake!"

"The world we live in is a world that has no mercy for the weak, is dark and cannot see any ideals, and the powerful act arbitrarily; let alone breathing in this world, even living is so painful and desperate!"

"In this case, shouldn't we who have ideals take the initiative to stop breathing? Should we hide in a corner where no one can see us? Should we give up our lives immediately if we are discovered?"

"Why?!"

"Why!"

"No matter how dirty, dull, and smelly the air is, we still have to breathe heavily; no matter how heavy, humiliating, and helpless the price of living is, we still have to live tenaciously!"

"We are weak at this moment, but we are weak with hope and ideals; we cannot choose the air we breathe, but at least we can refuse to give up the moment we are targeted by the strong!"

"As long as we are alive, it is a kind of resistance, telling everyone that the rules set by the strong do not have to be followed, and the weak also have the right to choose their path."

"So we must live, no matter what the means, no matter how uncomfortable, painful, and helpless we are, we must live."

"Now, I want you all to be like me, take a deep breath, feel the humid and unpleasant air, let it flow into your body, and let the uncomfortable feeling tell you that you are still alive and fighting against death tenaciously. resistance." Anson slowly raised his hands:

"Entrust the will of freedom to the might that defends it, and dedicate your equal rights to defend the existence and continuation of the Free Confederacy; let it turn into a torch and burn on the land of the new world!"

...Amidst thunderous applause, the vote on the Confederate Legion officially began.

The entire Supreme Council, excluding the Council, had a total of 315 members present, with no abstentions; among them, Louis Bernard had 210 votes and Anson Bach had 105 votes.

The Marshal of the New World Legion was officially born.

There are actually readers who want to hear spoilers... Well, without giving away any spoilers, Kong Kong can only say that Roman and the Truth Society are not lying. They really have a trump card that can reverse the situation.