I will be crowned king

The Jihadi Army engages in business, colludes with the enemy to resell military supplies, and the scale even directly involves the highest-level commanders. This kind of thing sounds unbelievable to Louis Bernard and is simply unimaginable. In Anson's view...

Well, it’s not really a big deal.

Not to mention, the Storm Legion itself is a collective enterprise that pretends to be an army but actually has a clear division of labor, single-minded goals, and a high degree of responsibility to all employees and shareholders. The business gene has been there almost since the founding of the army; reselling arms in Hantu , open factories in the new world, resell raw materials, pioneer and colonize, engage in insurance, finance and even slave trade...

If you don't think of ways to make money through business, do you really have to rely on the small salary from the local government to support the army?

As for doing business with the enemy, that's more normal; the so-called war is a luxury game played by high-level officials for their own unrealistic goals or ambitions. What does it have to do with the officers and soldiers below who are really going to fight for their lives? Everyone is fighting life and death on the battlefield, that's their job, how much grudges can there be in private?

Since there is no grudge, why can't you secretly sell materials that have nothing to do with you to subsidize your life?

What, supplies are in short supply? If supplies are in short supply, then we can't fight. That's right. What does it have to do with ourselves if we can't fight or lose the war?

If we hadn't tried every means to raise money to feed the entire legion, and formulated at least a relatively fair distribution mechanism to ensure that the Storm Legion had a stable income from top to bottom and were firmly bound as a collective, the same situation would not have happened.

"You're right, this is what the military is really like in peacetime."

In the dungeon of Red Hand Bay, Bernard, who was shackled on his feet, was holding a cup of bean soup and nodded in agreement: "Not to mention this time's Jihadi Army, even in all the previous wars, I fought for those famous people. When the imperial commanders served as staff officers, one of the biggest headaches was military rations, and the other was money."

"Every time we set off, the military pay and supplies that His Majesty can provide are either in arrears or at a discount. It's impossible to count on them all. If you can satisfy two-thirds, you are considered to be valued. The remaining one-third must be considered by yourself. There’s a way.”

"Usually, the options are nothing more than looting and expropriation, or getting the support of local wealthy families and nobles, turning merchants who supply military supplies into tax collectors in a rich market, and then giving them the exclusive right to purchase the spoils. There is also the possibility of advance Land that has not yet been acquired is promised to be rented or even sold..."

"No matter what method is used, military pay and pre-war rewards must be guaranteed and efforts must be made to honor them; food must keep up and the supply must not be cut off."

Bernard, like an old man complaining about life, rambled: "On top of that, whether there is a rich variety of food, whether the military uniforms are neat, whether the weapons are secure... none of these are important, and it doesn't matter if there are many problems, because most of the enemies are too. Similar situation, am I right?”

"Completely correct."

Anson nodded in deep agreement. Based on his understanding of the Royal Clovis Army, the situation could only be worse than what Bernard described, not better.

Of course, there are actually many differences between the Empire and the Clovis army. One is the "blood tax" under the feudal contract, the other is professional and amateur mercenaries driven entirely by money, the other relies on mobilization by layers of lords and feudal manors, and the other is based in towns In the countryside, we rely on homeless people, landless farmers, workers, and occasionally the army to force people to collect...

Other than that, there's really not much difference between the two.

"So why did you come to me?"

Taking a sip of hot bean soup to moisten his throat, Bernard chuckled in confusion: "You already have a plan and a channel. You can trade with the scum in the Jihad Army on your own to get the arms and food you need most now. My connections and help are not needed at all.”

"What's more...even if Louis opens his mouth, you can't let me go easily, right? Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach, a loyal minister of Clovis and a follower of the Rune family?"

"Completely correct."

Anson shrugged indifferently, acquiescing to the other party's ridicule and sarcasm: "Sir Bernard Morweis, you are so dangerous, so dangerous that without you, the threat to the Free Confederacy from the Jihadist Army would be almost twice as big. It’s a different level; if I don’t find a way to control you first, I don’t have the confidence to win this war.”

"But it would be an exaggeration to say that we don't need your help. According to the intelligence we have, you are a direct participant in the entire Jihadi Army's combat plan. You should be responsible for the material reserves, military ratio and deployment, and the organization of follow-up supply lines. It’s all under control.”

Anson came slightly closer, picked up a teapot full of hot soup and filled it up for the other party: "Without this information, we would not dare to contact the other side rashly."

First, please flatter the other person, and then express your true intentions. Of course, this is just the beginning - unlike the honest man Louis, when dealing with people like Bernard, it is impossible for the other party to agree without showing some practicality.

"You actually have this kind of information?"

Sure enough, Bernard only expressed surprise but did not deny it, and immediately realized something: "That's right, Louis probably won't hide anything from you."

"In this case, I have nothing to say... You can let me help, but it must be conditional."

"Of course, please feel free to ask for it." Anson said with a kind smile: "As long as it is reasonable, I will do my best to satisfy you."

It's reasonable, which means that letting me go is definitely out of the question... Bernard rolled his eyes in his heart, but the expression on his face was normal:

"Let's not talk about other things. I should be satisfied with some minimum treatment, right? I am an imperial supervisor and a dignified imperial minister. I don't ask you to exaggerate. I have a normal living environment, servants responsible for cleaning and daily living, and a healthy diet. , wine, tobacco and other daily necessary consumer goods, shouldn’t it be too much?”

"Moreover... I heard from Louis that you are planning to retreat to Winter Torch City. Can you make preparations in advance and place me there? After all, Red Hand Bay is too close to the front line. No matter what you think, I don't think this place can stop the Holy War. military attack."

"The formal resettlement work can wait until you contact those guys in the Jihadi Army who want to make extra money. I am not unreasonable. Don't wait until the Jihadi Army calls before transferring. If you don't worry, I will worry even less."

All in all, they were basically relatively normal requests, and they didn't even ask for the return of the Jihadist prisoners in the hands of the Confederacy, which can be said to be quite considerate.

Anson nodded slightly, raised his tea cup and poured some hot bean soup: "Then...a deal?"

Humph, you think I don’t know what you want to do, it’s just to further test the Free Confederacy to see if we are worth using; your alliance with Bernard, the Roland family and other northern wealthy families is no longer a secret!

Bernard also showed a serious expression and slowly raised his glass:

"make a deal."

By agreeing so generously, it seems that you are very confident in your fundamentals, right? Just wait, as long as I have the opportunity to win over representatives from each colony, the Free Confederation will sooner or later become the property of the Bernard and Roland families!

The two people who had their own secrets clinked glasses sincerely, and while looking at each other with smiles on their faces, they brought the hot bean soup to their mouths and drank it all in one gulp.

Then... they were all burned.

"Oh poof——"

……………………

Anson, who endured the pain in his tongue and had a distorted expression, left the dungeon. He used gestures to instruct the guards to continue to keep strict supervision, and then walked towards the temporary lounge arranged by the council.

When he returned to the room, Thalia, who had arrived at Red Hand Bay in advance, was sitting on the sofa, with warm water and ice cubes prepared in advance beside her. Anson, who didn't even have time to thank him, picked up the water glass and slowly drank up the warm water. He picked up the ice cube and put it in his mouth. It took a while before he finally returned to normal.

"Weakness on the physical level is one of the inevitable shortcomings of conjurers." Thalia sighed, raised her hand to stop someone's right hand reaching for the rum bottle, and regretfully handed over another glass of warm water:

"It would be nice if Anson didn't become a conjurer but mastered blood magic."

Now, I didn’t ask to be a spell caster... Ansen smiled relaxedly:

"Yeah, that would be great if that's the case."

The girl narrowed her eyes slightly. She sat down beside someone and tilted her head. The corner of her mouth revealed a playful arc: "Lie."

"With Anson's character and habits, it is impossible to become a blood mage even if he chooses black magic; as long as there is still hope, he will not take the initiative to have a head-on conflict with the enemy. How could he choose blood magic, which is the most easily exposed?"

Anson was speechless when his true thoughts were exposed. He could only continue to smile in embarrassment.

"Speaking of head-on conflict, the Judgment Knights of the Church of Order seem to have begun taking action, and are likely to follow the next batch of the Empire's Holy War Legions to the New World." Before the girl could speak, he took the initiative to change the topic:

"Ever since the night of the confrontation with the tombkeeper, Ta...Luen has never taken the initiative to communicate with me directly. Is he...prepared to face the church?"

In the final analysis, at least the reason given by the church on the surface for sending troops is to attack Rune, but due to various reasons, everyone seems to regard this as an excuse now; except for a very few people who know the truth, even the most unlucky representatives of the colonies at the moment. I don’t think that handing over the Luen family can resolve the conflict—not to mention that they can’t do it yet.

But when the war reaches a fever pitch and the Judgment Knights officially make their debut, there will be a 100% chance that someone will raise this matter. It is impossible for Anson not to make plans in advance.

"Preparations to face the church...of course have already started." Thalia blinked in confusion, with an "I thought you knew" expression on her face:

"Not only facing the church, in order to ensure that the Luen family can securely establish a foothold in the new world, my father has personally come forward to assist Anson and the Free Confederacy more than once."

"Huh?!" Anson's pupils shrank suddenly:

"Come forward in person to pay back more than once?"

"Hmm, let Thalia think about it...directly plus indirect, there should be more than three times, right?" The girl nodded slightly:

"The first time should be after the Gravekeeper War, which distorted the life of the New World on a large scale, suppressed the wildness of beasts, and accelerated the growth of plants; and because the indigenous people of the New World were very sensitive to magic, my father We took advantage of this and used a very weak breath to narrow the scope of their activities without causing any impact on the colony."

"The second time was indirect... because the Lord of the Abyss was killed by his father, but the twisted realm on which he relied for his existence, the Sea of ​​the Abyss, was not destroyed. The surviving Lord of the Abyss needed to use the field to recover quickly. Mechanism to carry out large-scale sacrifices, that is to say..."

"In the past few months, the probability of shipwrecks in storms on rough seas should have been particularly high."

Anson's eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

"The third time just this past May, my father... seemed to have seized part of the control of the Lord of the Abyss over his twisted realm, affecting the movement of fish schools and the direction of tides along the coast of the New World; recently several fishermen in White Whale Port The harvest and the limited scale of the Jihadi Army’s fleet operations are all due to this.”

Thalia raised her head slightly and looked at Anson with her emerald eyes:

"As an apostle, it is very risky to interfere in the real world. Every large-scale intervention is tantamount to being an enemy of the world; but to my father, dear Anson seems to be a very important existence to him."

"You must have understood Thalia's good intentions and finally treated Anson as a family member, right? Well, that must be the case!"

Looking at the happy girl, "family member" Ansen was only shocked.

Originally, after becoming a blasphemous mage, my "insight" ability and domain should be able to clearly detect the distortion caused by all the magical auras within the range. However, when faced with Rune, I didn't even react at all.

Blaspheming mages and apostles...are the differences so big?

Can the Church of the Ring of Order really hunt down apostles who are powerful enough to silently distort the world?

Just when he was deep in thought, the happy Thalia walked aside briskly, took out a beautiful and exquisite notebook from her luggage, and silently pushed it in front of him.

"This is……"

"This is why Thalia must come to Red Hand Bay this time." The girl whispered happily:

"Wilhelm Gottfried, your 'adviser'... has deciphered the last part of St. Isaac's Notes."

finished? !

With a look of surprise, Anson took the notebook from the girl's hand and opened it immediately; the text in the notebook was very beautiful, and the sentence fragments and punctuation marks were used very well. The size and color of the characters were even used to distinguish different places for convenience. read.

Obviously, this was definitely not the original translation by some cursive calligraphy expert, but transcribed by the girl in front of me.

When I first opened the table of contents and annotations, the first thing that caught my eye was a line of extremely eye-catching large characters:

"There is no way out for human beings with flesh and blood!"