Kingdom’s Bloodline

"Him? Mendis III?" Grand Duke Ronnie shook his head in ridicule: "Is he the threat you mentioned?"

"A docile king who has been dead for more than a hundred years?"

Rumba looked at Grand Duke Ronnie coldly.

The look in his eyes made the latter very uncomfortable.

Grand Duke Lecco sat down at the brown-black rectangular table again, coughing deliberately.

After a few seconds, Rumba finally turned his head.

"Most people—including you may think that his achievements are mediocre, even a little cowardly," Grand Duke Heisha snorted softly: "Don't worry, I thought so too when I was young."

His eyes turned cold: "Mindis Canxing III."

Trudida, who had been looking at Rumba, couldn't help being slightly surprised.

that look...

"What does it have to do with him?" Olsio asked.

Rumba took a deep breath and looked at Olsio.

"Do you know him? This so-called 'virtuous king'?" Grand Duke Heisha asked indifferently.

Several Grand Dukes frowned almost simultaneously.

"I heard Maester Costa mention it a long time ago, not many," Ronnie narrowed his eyes and recalled the past years in the study: "But I heard that he didn't do anything big."

Rumba's eyes moved, and then he snorted coldly: "No big deal?"

"I don't have much impression of him. It is said that he dragged out the Fourth Continental War with various diplomatic means," Ronnie replied flatly, "A king who does nothing—even in the stars, it's rare."

Rumba's expression remained unchanged.

"I heard that he is a weak king who compromises with his vassals," Trudida rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "For example, the so-called High Noble Council and the State Council are all his What’s left—turning the Fuxing Palace into a noisy market not only reduces efficiency, but also hinders the view.”

"That's all?" Rumba raised his eyebrows: "No more?"

"He promoted a large number of people to manage his territory,

He especially likes to appoint officials from low-level nobles," Grand Duke Lecco was thinking about something: "Even made detailed regulations for this--thus offending many big vassals with hereditary official positions. "

Olesiu frowned on the side and continued: "Father used him as an example to warn us to be careful of merchants—I heard that Mindyth III borrowed money from merchants to pay for the finances, and even had to issue franchise certificates to repay the debts, so the nobles They all mocked him behind his back as the merchant's 'servant king'."

Rumba let out a long sigh.

"Is this the 'Xian Jun' in your impression?"

The archdukes reacted differently: Trudida shrugged, Ronnie remained stern, and Olsio looked suspicious.

Only Grand Duke Lecco had strange and special emotions in his cloudy eyes.

"The prisoner twelve years ago, Urad told me," Lombard lowered his eyelids, as if sighing: "He used to be a small tax collector in the north, and he was drafted as a grain supervisor during the war-usually a small tax collectors, who are responsible for transporting luggage during wartime, and are especially common in the armies in the south and center of the stars."

Rumba opened his eyes sharply.

"However, no matter whether it is a tax collector or a grain supervisor, these positions need to pass the 'assessment' to get it-the tax collector must be proficient in arithmetic and discern accounts."

In front of the bewildered faces of the princes, Grand Duke Heisha continued to speak, with a vicissitudes of tone: "Even if a noble person fails to pass this kind of assessment, he is not qualified to be an official."

"What did you say?"

Trudida asked with some doubts: "Assessment?"

Rumba nodded.

"It's very strange, isn't it?" The Grand Duke of Heisha said coldly, "I bet you will never hear this word again in your life, except for being punished for not being able to recite a certain family motto in your study room when you were a child."

Several grand dukes were slightly taken aback.

"But this is the food supervisor in the Starman army," Lunba took a deep breath, with fear and dignity in his eyes: "Not only that."

"In their officer team, there are also military judges, clerks, logistics officers, medical officers...too many, I can't remember." At that moment, Lunba's expression became ugly, as if remembering something bad Past events: "When there is no war, they are all professional officials with fixed jobs and have gone through specific assessments-military judges must be familiar with laws and distinguish right from wrong, clerks must be proficient in procedures and identifying information, and logistics officers must be familiar with various materials. If you know..."

Trudida interrupted him.

"I know what you're talking about." The Grand Duke of Reconstruction Tower rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows lightly: "You mean that the core officers of the Starlight Legion are all composed of these literate and knowledgeable people? That's why they are so Regrouped quickly..."

"Shit," Rumba replied unceremoniously, choking the rest of Grand Duke Trudida's words in his throat: "Most of our officers in Exeter are also nobles, who can read and count and even read poetry , and some can recite a sentence or two of the scriptures in the temple."

"But what can they do when they're sent to the army, to lead that country draft?"

Grand Duke Lecco tapped lightly on the square table, and looked across the table from Rumba.

"So what you're saying," the old man said softly, "The key to the Starlight Legion's indestructibility are these inconspicuous little officials?"

Rumba glanced at the other three Grand Dukes.

"I remember my uncle Kaslan, when he was young, I often heard him brag about how versatile the White Blade Guards are--strict and cruel training, so that they can serve as death squads, messengers, logistics, scouts, and prison guards. a job."

"A rare elite in the world."

Grand Duke Heisha then changed the topic:

"So, whenever wars start and countless warriors are called up, the king puts his white-bladed guard and loyal nobles to use, filling positions ranging from junior officers to guard commanders - like us grand dukes You are all familiar with this scene, right?"

Rumba tilted his head, and the vicissitudes of his face were illuminated by the flames in an uncertain light and shade.

"And what about the army of the Starmen?" He said calmly.

The hearts of the princes suddenly tightened.

Just listen to Lumbard's thick and heavy voice, resounding in the hall:

"Early on, they got used to a set system."

"The food supervisor is only responsible for calculating figures and transporting, the logistics officer is only dedicated to distributing supplies, the military judge is only responsible for beheading according to laws and orders, and the clerk is responsible for coordinating and communicating..."

"They only know and can only do the job at hand well, with a clear division of labor, each performing their duties, without interfering with each other, and they don't have to be constrained by the cronies sent by the king or the Grand Duke."

"The logistics and management of the conscripts don't have to be temporarily decided by people sent down from above, let alone completely changed because of the change of a certain coach."

Rumba slapped the table with a slap, his eyes burning.

Staring at the princes felt unhappy.

"Can you imagine?"

Rumba gritted his teeth with a grim expression: "We northerners—no, almost all the armies in the world—have recruited soldiers from the territory for hundreds of years to fight, and we are used to throwing out a handful of gold coins to let familiar cronies The personal guards, that is, the vassals under them, go to discipline the group of big soldiers, pay them food and equipment, behead their heads and firewood, and cut off the prisoners, right?"

"What you said is a process that only the standing professional army has the time and effort to refine." Grand Duke Ronnie put down his tightly folded arms and retorted with a frown: "The battlefield is won or lost at the moment of hand-to-hand combat." Instead of spending energy on these personnel matters and offending countless vassals, it is better..."

Rumba suddenly raised his head and glanced at the Grand Duke of Qiyuan City.

He shook his head contemptuously in his heart.

"Yeah, in war, these are trivial things that can't be ignored for war," Lunba said patiently despite his disdain in his heart: "Only those who are on standby all the year round and have experienced many battles Only after many years of combat can the professional army gradually get used to it, get used to it, and become familiar with it, forming its own military traditions and rules, such as the White Blade Guard and Glacier Watch."

But Grand Duke Heisha's expression changed immediately: "But the Xinghui Army is also a conscript army!"

Ronnie's face froze.

"But this is how it works: the logistics efficiency is more than twice that of ours, personnel reorganization is easy, military discipline is well maintained, rewards and punishments are clear, and there are clear rules from attack to retreat."

Rumba glanced at each of the Grand Dukes solemnly and solemnly, looking at the disbelief or surprise expressions on their faces:

"It's just these shitty things, that group of baby soldiers who we have never looked down upon, are weak and weak, and have done countless times better than us - so even after they fail and collapse, they can follow a set of self-made Form a regular process and habit, immediately continue logistics, regroup, and restore combat power in a short time."

Rumba took a deep breath with an ugly expression on his face.

"Twelve years ago, in the days in the rear, I listened to that bastard Pei Feite complaining about the injustice they suffered every day." The eyes of the Grand Duke Heisha showed anger: "'Why do we always shine on the city?' , that brat only knows how to swear like that."

Olsio and Trudida looked at each other, feeling the uneasiness in each other's hearts.

Rumba's tone became more and more angry: "What he can't see is that our entire army of 100,000, just because of Horace Canxing's several raids, the supply line that we tried our best to maintain is in an emergency, and we can't even siege the fortress. Don't stop."

"He also couldn't see how much time it took us after getting rid of the Star Butcher, to redeploy manpower, arrange routes, raise food and grass, and struggle to reorganize logistics supplies for the front line amidst the prevarication of the nobles and the perfunctory efforts of various forces. Feed the war."

"He can't even see: At the same time, taking the Starlight Legion in the south as an example, the desperate Starmen are still orderly and continuously arranging the army's subordinates under high pressure through ordinary officials who have been specialized in this for many years. One supply, the next replenishment, the next resting place, the next rendezvous point, quickly and efficiently regroup the scattered deserters, defeated generals, and stragglers—this is the truth of 'Eternal Star'!"

Rumba exhaled fiercely from his nose, as if he wanted to exhale all the resentment of the past twelve years: "King Nunn still keeps complaining that we have slowed down his war: just because that kid Puffett speaks out loud Big mouth, Nunn even ordered his grandfather to abdicate as punishment - I sometimes think: Maybe compared with the other side, we did hold him back."

Lecco's face was heavy, he stared blankly at the square table, full of thoughts.

"If that's what you want to say," Ronnie frowned, "The Starmen have a good logistics operation of the legion...it's still far from enough as a reason to convince us."

Rumba curled the corners of his mouth and sneered lightly.

His laughter was full of disdain, contempt, ridicule, and faint anger.

Rumba slowly stood up from his seat, and his figure was projected into the center of the hall, like a glacier bear that just woke up.

"You think that's all there is?"

"None of your territories are closer to the stars than mine," Lumbard pressed his sword, his eyes fierce: "Do you know what I have seen in the past ten years?"

Trudida narrowed her eyes.

Faint uneasiness rose from his heart.

Olsio let out a deep breath.

Ronnie resisted the urge to interrupt and waited quietly for Rumba's words.

"No," Grand Duke Heisha's face was ferocious, and his tone was terrifying: "The immortal starlight is just a scale of the giant dragon, a corner of the galaxy's light."

"I don't know when it will start..."

"Their entire kingdom works like this."

Grand Duke Lecco stared at Rumba's face, listening to his words, he felt inexplicable panic in his heart.

Is that how it works?

This is……

What's the meaning?

Adjusted the titles of the chapters for the past few days.

Well, it's almost dawn, and I'm going to bed.

Looks like we'll be fishing again tomorrow.