In the Name of the Queen

Swain VII held on for 47 hours and surrendered before the deadline given by Roland.

Of course, he himself would never admit that this was a surrender. He was only making concessions to prevent the two peoples from continuing to be tortured by the war.

As for the fact that he started the war, he selectively forgot.

The Treaty of Hosenberg was signed on an unnamed hill outside the city of Hosenberg.

The signatories of both parties are Sylve, the Queen of the Sussex Empire, and Mr. Toftin, the negotiator of the Kingdom of Oden.

Sif, who plays the real role of the Queen, signed her full name coolly.

When signing, she even paused for a few seconds to carefully confirm the spelling difference between Sylph and Sif.

Tom, Jerry and Raikkonen witnessed the signing ceremony as representatives of outstanding young officers.

Watching the representative of the Kingdom of Oden leave seemingly calmly but actually in a state of despair, Tom finally couldn't help but complain softly.

"Her Majesty the Queen of our country signed it herself, but they only sent a representative. How rude!"

Jerry, who was standing next to him, almost couldn't hold back his laughter. He lowered his voice and explained: "First of all, we are the victors, and signing is an honor. They are losers, and signing is a shame. Secondly, our side can only be represented by Her Majesty the Queen. signature."

Tom was stunned on the spot, his eyes full of confusion, and he asked cautiously: "Why can't it only be signed by His Majesty, and the Governor or the Earl can do it for you?"

"Because Her Majesty is the head of state, she can decide on foreign wars and peace negotiations. But she has not officially ascended the throne and cannot authorize others outside the cabinet to do it for her."

Jerry explained clearly, but Tom was even more confused.

Politics is too complicated for his brain to cope with.

Looking at his confused eyes, Raikkonen patted his shoulder, smiled and comforted:

"It doesn't matter, actually I don't understand either."

Tom shook his head violently to clear away his troubles. Raikkonen is right, politics is too complicated.

"By the way, we can take a week off when we return to Hansa this time. Where do you want to go?"

During this war, Tom repeatedly performed extraordinary feats and was promoted to an exceptional level by two levels. He was also included in the list of knights. His status was very different from before. Many people took the initiative to approach him and show their kindness to him.

He was a little at a loss, but he valued his comrades who experienced life and death side by side more.

He and Raikkonen did not meet directly during the city defense battle. It was only after the siege was relieved that he learned that the cavalry forward general who was constantly harassing the enemy and reducing the pressure on the city defense was Raikkonen.

Although we have not met, we still fight side by side.

In this way, Tom, Jerry and Raikkonen, who are about the same age, forged a friendship on the battlefield and became good brothers who talked about everything.

Although Tom respects Captain Jay Bacchus, the leader is about the same age as his father, and there is a generation gap between them.

Joseph was not very old, but he always had a cold face and ignored everyone. Tom rarely talked to him.

Although there was little communication, Tom still listed Joseph among his friends who could be trusted with life and death.

All in all, this is a victory worth remembering.

Tom has a full schedule to return to Hansa and plans to have a good time for a few days.

However, just as he was dreaming about a better life, a strange golden knight came to him.

"Is that Army Major Tom?"

Tom knew that the Golden Knights were all direct descendants of the Governor, so he did not dare to neglect him and quickly saluted him.

"Tom, the new Major of the 19th Regiment, salutes you."

"Major Tom, I want to convey to you the notice from the Governor-General, asking you to report to the Military Academy immediately after returning to Hansa. You have been selected to study in the short-term training class."

"ah?"

Tom was stunned on the spot. Reporting immediately meant that his vacation was over before it even began. Also, what does this short training course mean? Is the Governor dissatisfied with him and wants additional training?

Seeing his dumbfounded look, the Golden Knight smiled and explained: "Don't think too much, the people selected for the short training course are all young officers who have performed well in this war."

Tom breathed a sigh of relief, which seemed to be a good thing.

He quickly reported to the Golden Knight and returned to camp happily.

Before the expedition, he was appointed a lieutenant because he was good at using firearms. Now he was not only a major in the army, but also received a knighthood. His future was bright, and he had reason to be happy.

There are many people as happy as Tom.

Everyone knows that Governor Roland's behavior is both strict and generous. As long as he performs meritorious deeds, he will be rewarded accordingly.

Just when everyone was looking forward to the future, Roland was not as leisurely as they were.

He locked himself in a small room, closed his eyes and meditated, silently conducting post-war review, looking for problems exposed during the war.

The first is the strategic level.

A few months ago, he would never have dreamed that the Kingdom of Oden would dare to launch an attack on three overseas provinces.

He thought that his opponents might be the already feuding Golden Kite Republic, the Pruden Kingdom that was eager to expand, and the Vladimir Empire that would start a war sooner or later. However, he did not expect that the reckless man from the north would give him a surprise.

Fortunately, Alina's intelligence work was excellent. She used intelligence analysis to determine the opponent's movements before the Kingdom of Oden launched a war.

Roland secretly warned himself not to regard everyone as an outstanding politician with a clear mind.

Most countries in this era are still monarchies. If the monarch is not smart, he may do irrational things.

If the enemy does not follow the rules of political activities, where can you complain to them?

The invasion of the Kingdom of Oden seems to capture the internal conflicts of the Sussex Empire, and the timing is very accurate, but in fact it is used as a weapon.

Although the cabinet hopes that Sif will be forced to return to the imperial capital after being frustrated overseas, they will never allow the three overseas provinces to be annexed.

As long as Sif returns in despair, the expeditionary force from the mainland will immediately set off to retake the three provinces.

This is also the reason why Jin Yuan and the Vladimir Empire were unwilling to take action themselves, but instead instigated the idiot Sven VII to take action.

The failure of the Oden Kingdom made Roland realize one thing: Don't try to exceed your strength.

Don't confront the Vladimir Empire before taking control of the empire, otherwise he will become another Swain VII.

In addition to the strategic level, Roland also needs to review the battlefield command.

Of course, he was not looking for trouble with Christine. Her on-the-spot command was perfect. Apart from her cold-blooded desire to give up Helenzburg, there was nothing wrong with her in other aspects.

Roland sums up experience and learns from it.

After all, Christine is not his subordinate. She owes him a favor this time, but it won't be so easy next time.

Even if Christine helped him again for the sake of cooperation, it would be difficult for her to do it a third time.

He had to learn as soon as possible.

There is no shortage of outstanding generals in the three overseas provinces. Dairon, Bridges and Jace are all outstanding. Jay Bacchus and others who emerged in this war are also outstanding, but he does not have a legion as qualified as Christine under his command. Talented war commander.

While Roland was deep in thought, there was a knock on the door.

Roland frowned slightly, but still walked over and opened the door. There were only a few people who could disturb him at this time, so there must be something wrong.

Roland was a little surprised when he looked at Alina standing outside the door.

"Miss Revenge, why are you here?"

Alina silently walked into Roland's room, took out a report and handed it to Roland.

"Roland, there are at least 11,000 Jin Yuan Kingdom volunteers among the enemies captured this time. I recently conducted a surprise interrogation of important figures among them and obtained some important information."

Roland unfolded the information, looked at it carefully, and raised the corners of his lips slightly.

"This is not surprising. They are different groups. They could barely unite before seizing power. After seizing power, they will naturally become infighting."

The information Alina provided was extremely valuable.

According to the confessions of these prisoners, the Jinyuan Republic is now divided into three factions, and the struggle between them is becoming more and more bloody.

These three factions are the Yayue Sect, which represents capital and businessmen, the Thermidor Sect, which represents urban civilians, and the Flower Moon Sect, which represents the interests of soldiers and old aristocrats.

Edward, the prime minister who had previously participated in the Continental Congress, was a Thermidorian representative. Although he and Alina's father Carlo had different political views, they still respected each other.

Carlo was liquidated, but Edward believed that the government could not be abolished and still insisted on the original policy, and was jointly opposed by the other two factions.

Not long ago, the prime minister died in a street fight.

Although the investigation results proved that this was an accident, and the gangster who accidentally killed the Prime Minister during the street riot also confessed to the crime, this result did not satisfy the Thermidorians.

They were also planning revenge, but before they could take action, the Meiyue faction took action first.

Thousands of Thermidorian backbones were labeled as Carlo remnants and liquidated.

At the most extreme stage of the liquidation, as long as they had met Mr. Carlo, even those who had different political views from Mr. Carlo were labeled as remnants of the Carlo Party and executed.

Marco, the leader of the Bud Moon faction, implemented the most cruel liquidation bill. He convicted all suspects. As long as they could not prove their innocence, they would be convicted and guillotined.

Although the bloody and cruel liquidation resulted in the political lifelessness of the Jin Yuan Republic, it did deal a blow to the enemies. At present, the Jin Yuan Kingdom has achieved a temporary unity of opinions.

It is not easy to reach consensus, but it is not difficult to reach consensus.

Marco used the most brutal method to suppress opposition, which had great hidden dangers but was very effective.

Give him a few years to rectify social order and restore the vitality of the country, and not many people will remember the cruel moment when blood overflowed the square.

As long as civilians have food to eat, they don't care how many people die in the politicians' struggles.

The families of the deceased were very dissatisfied, and Marco was very thoughtful and arrested them and sentenced them to hard labor, and threw them into overseas colonies with the worst conditions.

There were also some people who were suspected but not executed and were sent to the Kingdom of Oden as cannon fodder. These people had poor fighting will, and more than 11,000 people were captured.

Roland carefully flipped through Alina's information, tapping his fingertips on the table rhythmically.

Seeing Roland's silence, Alina sighed softly, "Marco is too cruel. If there is still a fight among the three factions within Jin Yuan, we may have a chance, now."

"Opportunities will arise soon!"

Roland cut off Alina's sigh and said in a deep voice: "Marco's bloody suppression of all apparent opponents is indeed ruthless, but his enemies are not dead. They are waiting for the opportunity."

"He has gained absolute power. The government, military and law enforcement agencies are all his. Even if there is opposition, there is no chance."

Roland smiled and shook his head: "It will take Marco at least three to five years or even ten years to restore order and eliminate the impact. He does not have that much time."

"Why?"

"Because of Homecoming."

Roland explained calmly: "According to Master Anthony, the Return Day will come in three years. The strong men hiding in the darkness will not wait until the last moment. They are the uncertain factors."

Alina's eyes lit up and she understood what Roland meant.

Several rank-seven Transcendents in the Golden Kite Republic were from old aristocrats, and they would not accept Marco, a lawyer, to rule the country.

In the eyes of these old nobles, Marco is a standard traitor.

Looking at Alina's anxious and expectant eyes, Roland calmly reminded: "What we need to do now is to accumulate strength."

"I will help you complete your revenge, but we are not strong enough now. You have to find a way to digest these more than 10,000 Golden Kite prisoners."

Alina looked at Roland in surprise, bit her lip and shook her head, "Roland, I know the content of the Treaty of Hosenburg. According to the treaty, after the Kingdom of Oden ceded land and paid compensation, we must release all prisoners of war."

More than 10,000 people is not a small number.

Breach of contract and failure to hand over prisoners is a very serious breach of contract.

If the Kingdom of Oden seizes this matter and publicizes it, it will cause great damage to the reputation of Roland and Sif.

Looking at Alina's cautious appearance, Roland thought of the scene when they first met at the dock, and the past when he went to the library to find legal loopholes but was stunned by the pocket crime, and his brows gradually relaxed.

"Don't be so restrained. There are loopholes in the treaty. The two contracting parties are our country and the Kingdom of Oden. These people are not Oden people and are not included in the treaty."

"Mercenaries are not protected by any treaty and can be disposed of at will. They are all handed over to you."

Although Roland's explanation is a bit far-fetched, it is true if you strictly follow the words. Alina, who got an unexpected gain, was in a good mood, and the corners of her lips slightly raised.

Looking at Alina's long-lost sincere smile, Roland's thoughts drifted back to a year ago.

In that moment just now, Roland seemed to see the smiling and always calm foreign student from the Golden Kite Country.

Maybe, there is really a chance?

When Roland took in Alina, he just didn't want her to commit suicide in despair, and he painted a big pie for her and encouraged her to live with illusory hope.

In fact, he didn't think Alina would return to the Golden Kite to seize power.

The overall strength of the Golden Kite Republic is only slightly inferior to that of Sussex, so it is not easy to seize power.

For a country of this level, as long as there is no internal strife, it is difficult for external forces to subvert it.

Helping Alina establish a government in exile is the limit of what Roland can do.

However, things are unpredictable, who would have thought that the Golden Kite Republic would really be in civil strife.

Perhaps there is a chance to visit the romantic city of St. Louis before returning to the imperial capital?

Roland's lips slightly raised, and he whispered: "Miss Revenge, the focus of intelligence collection in the next stage has changed to the Golden Kite Republic."

"Roland, your enemies are the cabinet and Sophia, there is no need to change your target for me."

Alina hurriedly shook her head and persuaded softly.

"I didn't change my target, I just didn't want to miss the opportunity. If a large-scale civil strife breaks out in the Golden Kite, our chance will come."