King

The meeting entered the last topic and suddenly got stuck. The main reason is that the orcs are ready to move and Hudson can't get away.

Everyone knew that this was just an excuse, but no one exposed it. The Near East defense line cannot be without a person in charge. Once Hudson leads the southern expedition, the position of frontline commander will be relinquished.

Compared with the position of frontline commander, this time helping the Hessian Kingdom suppress the rebellion, his qualifications are really low.

The core issue is still: military power!

As the supreme commander of the Near East front line, Hudson held the most elite frontier troops in the kingdom, commanding the private aristocratic armies of the seven provinces of the Near East. During the war, he was also able to control the private aristocratic armies of the twelve provinces of Northern Xinjiang.

In the Near East, power was unimaginable. Hudson must be invited to attend all important meetings in the kingdom, which is enough to illustrate the problem.

In comparison, the quality of the expeditionary force to the Hessian Kingdom was much lower. Not to mention that the total military strength was limited to 80,000, the three standing armies dispatched were also second-line armies.

During non-war periods, this second-line army is usually understaffed, usually ranging from five to eight thousand people. The number of troops depends entirely on which regiments are mobilized.

The rest are all private armies of nobles. Although their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved after so many years of training, they are still not as good as the standing army.

Of course, the military instructors sent to the Kingdom of Hesse all believe that the combat effectiveness of the private army of the Kingdom's nobles can catch up with the standing army of the Kingdom of Hesse.

There is no doubt that this evaluation comes from colored glasses. It is also the private army of the nobles of the Alpha Kingdom, and the gap in combat power within it is greater than the gap between humans and dogs.

If it were a direct private army under Hudson's own command, this evaluation would definitely be a bit conservative. The combat effectiveness of the three elite legions in the territory is also top-notch among the kingdom's standing army.

If it is a private army of a small noble, the specific combat effectiveness depends on the military quality of the noble lord.

Although everyone has been training crazily in recent years, there is still a gap between people.

Some people can train serfs into elites; for some people, after training, the serfs are still serfs.

Maybe they are stronger than ordinary serf soldiers, but their overall level is just that, and they have never reached the threshold of elites.

But no matter how defeated they are, they have received military training after all, and their combat effectiveness is still much stronger than the rebels who have just taken up arms.

If the standing army training of the Hessians was a little worse, and if there were more nobles who were gilded and dawdling, maybe the two sides would be of the same level.

The more he learned about it, the more Hudson despised the Hessian Kingdom. Such a rich family fortune was wasted. If it weren't for the mid-to-high-end strength, this ally would be redundant.

To be precise, none of the three countries in the Central Continent was attractive to Hudson. What we once thought were the three major powers, once you take a look behind the scenes, you will find that they are all just as good as they appear.

Just because Hudson didn't like the position of commander-in-chief of the Southern Expeditionary Army, it didn't mean that others didn't like him either.

The major factions in the court are all watching with eager eyes, and the local noble lords are also ready to make a move.

These have little to do with Hudson, and now he is just a member of the public.

Politics need to be balanced. He himself controls half of the kingdom's military power. No matter what, the position of commander of the Southern Expedition Army will never fall into the hands of his line of generals again.

In fact, even if everyone did not object, Hudson had no direct generals to recommend.

It has little to do with the general's personal ability. The main reason is that his direct lineage's record and background are not very good. Forcibly pushing him to the position will only harm others and himself.

Those who can participate in the competition must be very well-informed. They all know that the trip to the Hessian Kingdom is a weak persimmon. Not a single one of the governors from various places was left behind, and they all jumped out to petition for a fight.

They are not fighting alone this time, they also have the support of small and medium-sized nobles within the province. Everyone is gearing up to go to the Hessian Kingdom to make a fortune in the war.

It was all Hudson's fault. Any property with unknown origins was suspected of being war property.

Even though he was fair and equitable every time he divided the spoils, everyone still didn't believe that he only gained so little.

It's not that they suspected him of hiding the loot, but that he went out to do some private work. Every time he went out privately, everyone thought it was an unprofitable business with a dragon and a bear.

At first, Hudson wanted to explain. Later, I thought about it and found that if this problem was explained, then there would be no explanation for the unknown origin of the huge wealth.

It simply caused everyone to misunderstand. Anyway, if you steal something from the enemy on the battlefield, it is also a legal gain.

If you can grab something, you are capable, if you can't grab it, you will be despised.

There are so many generals who have made war fortunes on the battlefield, and there is no need to add Hudson to the list. As long as the time is right, everyone doesn't mind making a fortune.

The division of spoils after the war is only a small part of the income. The most important income for everyone is the spoils gained during the mission alone.

A thoughtful person has done some calculations for Hudson. The amount of money invested in developing the Mountain Territory and Xue Yue after taking the lead is as high as tens of millions of gold coins. It is definitely not a wealth that a master pharmacist can earn, let alone an arms dealer.

After counting all of Hudson's financial resources, even if the turnover is considered as profit, there is still a deficit of tens of millions of gold coins that cannot be filled.

If it were just these, everyone would just be suspicious. However, among the lucky ones who made war fortunes on the battlefield, there were also a few loudmouths who often boasted in front of their relatives and friends about how much they had made on the battlefield.

In the eyes of the outside world, middle and lower-level generals can make hundreds of thousands of gold coins in a war. As the commander-in-chief of the army, he still needs to add one or two zeros.

As for the probability issue, it has been ignored by many people. Everyone is accustomed to only seeing successful people.

If there are too many people participating in the fight, the default decision will naturally no longer exist. The royal government also wanted to consider the feelings of the local powerful factions, so it simply called everyone to the royal capital for discussion.

It was said to be a summons, but in fact, as soon as they received the news, these governors flew straight to the capital in flying monsters.

Calculating the time, the latest arrival was only a day and a half later than Hudson. It was obvious that he had traveled all night long to get here.

There were too many people and too many things to do. Seeing the nobles and lords fighting for each other in the court, the generals in the army who were originally eager to give it a try suddenly turned off.

There is no way to compare this group of old men who came from all over the country. They, these legion commanders, are far behind in terms of strength and status.

Even for the convenience of command, the royal government will choose a noble lord to lead the army.

The current situation is: whichever provincial governor serves as the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expeditionary Army will send private troops from that province to make a fortune!

It's quite embarrassing to say that the rebels who worried everyone in the Hessian Kingdom were actually regarded as money-giving boys in the Alpha Kingdom's court.

Seeing the governors refusing to give in to each other, the civil and military officials in the court were also worried. Taking sides and taking sides, facing so many powerful local factions, everyone was murmuring in their hearts.

Seeing that no one expressed his position, Hudson knew that if this situation continued, not only would there be no results today, but it would be difficult to come up with a result even after ten days and a half of quarreling.

"quiet!"

“We are all the pillars of the country, so what’s the point of quarreling all the time?

Isn't it just to lead the troops to conquer the Hessian Kingdom? We all understand everyone's eagerness to serve the country.

However, there is always only one position for commander. That's good. If you are confident that you can complete this mission, come out and issue a military order!

If there is still a dispute, it will be decided directly by drawing lots. It's just a matter of suppressing some rebels, which is just black...

Forget it, if it is not conducive to the unity of the Five Nations Alliance, we can just know it ourselves. "

As soon as Hudson finished speaking, the court suddenly became silent. Immediately, everyone clamored to participate. It was obvious that the military order could not stop everyone's desire to achieve success.

Building a sense of presence in the Five-Nation Alliance is much more honorable than being defeated within the kingdom.

The main reason is that they are nothing in front of the domestic involution maniacs. Even if you want to show off, no one will cooperate.

No one is much worse than anyone else, so there is no sense of superiority. It was different when I ran outside, and my advantages suddenly became apparent.

That is to say, you can gain fame in the world, and you can also make a fortune on the battlefield. You can achieve multiple things with one stone.

As for the Nether Cult rebels, they were doing additions this time. The army of the Hessian Kingdom is still the main force on the battlefield, and they are not allowed to fight against the rebels.

If you don't have the responsibility to defend the territory, hit if you can. If you can't hit, just run away. As long as their performance in battle is slightly better than that of the Hessian Kingdom's army, that's enough.

"Guards, prepare the wooden sticks!"

Caesar IV immediately ordered.

No matter whether the method proposed by Hudson is reliable or not, it can at least solve this thorny problem at the moment. It is better than forcibly appointing one person to be the commander-in-chief and offending a group of local powerful people.

The king also needs to assess the situation. Hudson's proposal opened up new ideas for Caesar IV.

The candidate for the commander of the Southern Expedition Army can be decided in this way, and other difficult matters can naturally follow suit.

From now on, there is no need to worry about no one doing the hard work in the kingdom. The worst thing is to draw lots, and there will always be an unlucky person who falls into the trap.

In the blink of an eye, a barrel of wooden picks was brought up and placed directly in front of a group of important officials.

Except for the fuzzy Hudson who was eating melon, everyone else's eyes were focused on the tense drawing of lots.

One by one, the rebellious nobles were like new recruits joining the army, voluntarily lining up to take their own wooden sticks from the barrel.

The Prime Minister, the Grand Duke of Newfoundland, personally came forward to check everyone's wooden lots and slowly announced: "According to the results of the draw, the commander of the Southern Expedition will be Earl Pierce, who is experienced in suppressing cults!"

There is nothing wrong with it. Earl Pierce's main achievement was to suppress the Skull and Bones rebellion in the Southeast Province.

Then there is no more. Earl Pierce has been an important participant in all the kingdom's foreign wars. The specific results can only be said to have not hindered the kingdom.

Such a mediocre performance would be ridiculous if preached.

It just so happened that the enemies this time were also cult rebels, their counterparts in the professional field. The previous successful experience in dealing with the Skull and Bones Society can be learned from now.

As soon as the results were announced, Count Pierce received envious looks. As a melon-eater, Hudson also received a lot of strange looks.

He really doesn't care about the development of the Dalton family now. Since the Koslow family's strategic focus shifted eastward, the relationship between the two families has quickly recovered.

It would be naive to expect Hudson to come out and wreak havoc. Earl Pierce served as the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expedition, which benefited the aristocratic group in the entire southeastern province.

Although it is not convenient for Hudson to get involved, many of his relatives, friends, and collateral branches are also beneficiaries, so he cannot harm others or benefit himself.

It's a pity that just because Hudson can figure this out, it doesn't mean that others can also think about it.

In the eyes of many outsiders, the Dalton family is still the enemy of the Koslow family, and the two sides are still competing for dominance in the southeastern province.

Many people are looking forward to the quarrel between the two families so that they can profit from it.

For example, Caesar IV was very satisfied with the result of the draw. In his view, as a king, if the Dalton family can take the opportunity to grow bigger, it will be the best restraint on the Koslow family.

All this is exactly what the two families want to see. The outside world mistakenly believed that the two families were in conflict, but in fact it was a signal of tension in the relationship deliberately released to the outside world after consultation between Hudson and Earl Pierce.

Judging from the current situation, this plan is still very successful. Invisibly, it reduced many people's fear of the two families.

The episode passed quickly. When it came to rescuing allies, the Kingdom still used its Alpha speed.

With the confirmation of the appointment of the commander-in-chief, the three standing legions immediately set off from the royal capital, and a group of noble lords from the southeastern provinces also began to mobilize.

The corruption of the Hessian Kingdom has long been a secret in the kingdom. As neighbors, the nobles of the Southeast Province can see it more clearly.

The constant influx of refugees is the best proof.

The blood moon defense line that was once built actually became the outpost of the army. Just a few short years ago, the Hessian Kingdom had become so weak that it was incredible to think about it.

On this issue, the nobles of the southeastern provinces were very upset. If we had known that the Hessian Kingdom was such a waste, why would we have built a defense line?

Not only wasting money and food in vain, but also missed an opportunity to make a fortune. If the Hessian Kingdom had really ventured to invade the north, the Southeast Province would have become their burial ground.

Not to mention how much territory they can expand to the south, at least they can push the front back and make a fortune by the way.

There are no more missed opportunities. Now that the two countries have become allies, at least during the signing of the treaty, it is impossible for the two sides to meet in arms.

In the eyes of a group of nobles from the southeastern provinces, it is also a good opportunity to help their allies suppress the rebellion.

The rebels robbed the property of the noble lords of the Hessian Kingdom, and when they took it back from the rebels, it became legal spoils of war.

They are essentially the same, except for the addition of the rebels as a middleman.

The only regrettable thing is that the commander-in-chief of the southern expedition was not Hudson, but their Governor Pierce.

Fortunately, this time we only went to bully the cult rebels, otherwise everyone would never have been so active.

…