Mystery: The arrival of the new Black Emperor

Ten days after the end of the War of Gods, the heads of the seven countries of South Balam, Fenebort, Intis, Fusac, Lunburg, Masi, and Segal gathered in Backlund in the Kingdom of Loen to discuss war reparations. and future international order issues.

On the first day of the talks, this city, which still had obvious traces of war and looked like a primeval forest in many places, seemed to be very lively. People are generally a little excited. After fighting for such a long time, peace talks are finally about to begin!

The King's Avenue in front of Thordrak Palace, the meeting venue, was crowded with onlookers early on. They wanted to see how the most powerful people in the world led the world to return to peace.

Prime Minister Intis and Emperor Fusac, the heads of the two defeated countries, arrived first with their large teams of advisors.

Seeing the Intis and Feysac flags hanging on the carriage, the people began to curse angrily, and picked up stones from the roadside and threw them at the carriage!

The windows of many carriages were smashed, but the stones would completely avoid the carriages of important people. The only ones with broken windows were those of ordinary civil servants.

Then the kings and grand dukes of Lundborg, Masik, and Sehgal arrived with their teams one after another. They also had their own demands, especially Lundborg, which suffered huge losses in this battle and very much wanted to get something in the peace talks. compensation.

Among these three countries, only King Lundborg was greeted by a prince at the door when he arrived at Thordrak Palace.

This is because Lundborg is an ally of Loen, while Maxi is a neutral country.

There is no border between the territories and Loen, and even Segar, which is far away from Loen, has not established diplomatic relations with Loen yet.

Next, when Fernando II, the current king of the Kingdom of Feneport, and his team arrived, no one knew how to face them.

Obviously at the beginning, the Kingdom of Feneport attacked Lundburg, and later occupied most of Loen's Disi County.

But just after the War of Gods, this country declared war on Intis and Feysac respectively!

Only then did everyone notice that although the Kingdom of Fenebaud occupied most of the county of Loen Kingdom, they had never declared war on Loen!

So this country transformed and became a victorious country to participate in the conference.

The last to arrive was Grand Duke Hobert of the South Balam Principality and his diplomatic team.

At first, the people cheered because the Principality of South Balam chose to help its suzerain and allies when the Kingdom of Loen was in its most difficult time.

Even when Backlund was surrounded by enemies, he still helped to resist the Intis army attacking Backlund.

More importantly, in the final stage of the war, the South Balam Army severely defeated the enemy! It is said that it severely damaged the vitality of the two enemies Intis and Fusac!

This is the real ally, this is the real victor.

But everyone's cheers soon turned into surprise, because the vehicle Hobert and his wife were riding in was not pulled by horses, but it was moving faster than the carriage!

That kind of car is a bit like a steam locomotive, but it is not as bulky as a steam locomotive. The appearance not only has an industrial aesthetic, but also has very beautiful lines.

When Grand Duke Hobert and his wife Audrey stood up from the back row and waved to everyone, everyone came back to their senses and continued to cheer for them.

Behind them, the entire South Balam Principality delegation was riding this new vehicle.

This scene was sketched by several people from major newspapers, or photographed with box cameras. It will be the headline of today's additional issue: The Duke and Duchess of South Balam took a new type of transportation to attend the peace conference.

Then, reporters followed the motorcade and swarmed up, because soon the headline picture of the second act appeared, and Govington II of the Kingdom of Loen personally greeted him in front of the palace gate.

The King and the Grand Duke shook hands warmly and expressed their vision for peace.

Just as Hobert entered the door, He suddenly took off his hat and said to everyone: "We will bring peace and happiness!"

Amid everyone's cheers, He entered the palace gate and arrived at the preset negotiation venue.

The door was closed, and the huge venue was filled with people. There were more than 500 officials, diplomats and translators in total.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the peace talks officially began. As the owner of Thordrak Palace, Govington II spoke first, explaining the war initiated by the Feysac Empire and the damage it had caused to the entire northern continent since last year.

The more Emperor Fusak listened, the paler his face became, because he could hear Govington II's hatred for Fusak.

After the king's speech, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Loen, Agushid, continued to speak, clarifying that the main topic of the peace talks was to demand war reparations. Fusac and Intis would hand over all their colonies, and the victorious countries would rebuild a new country. international order, etc.

In this regard, Fusac and Intis had nothing to say. After all, they were defeated. If the war could be settled with colonies and compensation, it would be an acceptable condition.

After the host made a programmatic speech, negotiations on substantive content began.

Agushed, who has a mustache, made four demands to the defeated countries. First, war compensation is between 36 billion and 38 billion gold pounds.

Second, give up all the colonies in the southern continent.

Third, the Fusac Empire handed over control of the northern coast of the Sea.

Fourth, the Intis Republic withdrew from the central plateau.

Although these requirements may sound excessive, everyone knows that they leave enough room for bargaining.

Immediately afterwards, Hobert made two demands to the defeated countries: First, in more than a dozen industries such as electricity, alcohol, and tobacco, no tariffs or any form of taxes should be levied on the victorious countries, and the construction of related factories and the opening of companies should not be levied on the victorious countries. It can be built and opened on the territory of the defeated country without the consent of the defeated country.

Second, the defeated country must hand over 10,000 intact heavy artillery and field guns, as well as 30,000 intact heavy machine guns, 2,000 airships, 20 battleships, 30 heavy cruisers, 80 cruisers, 80 submarines, 1 Thousands of brand new machine tools of various types.

After hearing the requests of these two people, the Kingdom of Fenebaud and King Lundberg secretly hid their requests.

They said in their hearts that these two people were too ruthless. One wanted to turn the two defeated countries into second-rate countries, and the other wanted to completely control the economies of the defeated countries and conduct a "disarmament of weapons and equipment" and "industrial disarmament."

In comparison, the demands prepared by the two victorious kings, Fenebaud and Lemberg, were really unspeakable.

Emperor Fusac and Prime Minister Intis did not expect the victorious country's demands to be so excessive and refused to sign such an agreement.

The emperor of the Fusac Empire even claimed: "We would rather fight another world war than accept such harsh conditions!"

Hobert smiled and said: "Fight again? What are you going to fight with?"

In this war, the losses of the South Balam Principality were not large.

But the entire northern continent was beaten to pieces. Only one-third of Intis's army returned, and more than half of Fusac's army was killed. The key is that the extraordinary troops of the South Balam Principality hunted and killed too many of their extraordinarys.

At this time, the Church of the God of War had collapsed. At the same time as the peace talks with Backlund, religious negotiations were held at the southern foot of the Amanda Mountains, in the city of York, which was once the capital of the Kingdom of the Night Goddess.

What is certain is that the original God of War Church will be absorbed by the Church of the Goddess of Night.

There will also be significant changes in the religious forms of various countries. The Church of the God of Steam and Machinery is likely to be driven back to Intis, and the Church of the Eternal Sun will also lose its missionary rights in the colonies of the Republic of Intis.

Under such a prospect, Hobert was confident enough to propose harsh conditions.

Just when Emperor Fusac was about to stand up and leave, expressing his anger, Prime Minister Bivis of Intis began to talk to the Loen representative about war reparations.

This surprised everyone present. In other words, Intis basically agreed to the conditions proposed by the victorious country, but had objections to the specific amount of compensation, the industrial interests to be surrendered, the number of weapons that needed to be handed over, etc.

So the first day of negotiations was spent in wrangling. On the way back, Audrey, who was sitting in the back seat of the new tram, suddenly told Hobert: "Bevis has no intention of agreeing to what you proposed to Prime Minister Agushed." condition."

Hobert smiled and said: "It is really convenient to have an audience present during the negotiations."

Then He took a deep breath: "I also think he agreed too quickly."

Hobert thought for a while and asked Audrey: "Can you decipher his true thoughts?"

"No." Audrey said: "The Prime Minister is prepared, and he should have a sealed object on his body to prevent his intentions from being observed.

“But I can probably interpret that he is planning a conspiracy, and it is a conspiracy against our South Balam Principality.

"Because I clearly saw his hostility towards us."

There is definitely hostility, after all, so many people died in the guerrilla warfare and final siege of the South Balam Army.

There were more than 300,000 Intis prisoners who were sent to the Southern Continent using teleportation arrays, and were assigned to do hard work in various counties.

Hobert thought about it for a long time, and it wasn't until dinner that he came up with some ideas.

So he immediately went to the military camp in the western suburbs of Backlund and had a secret conversation with Medici.

For now, no matter what conspiracy or conspiracy we face, strength is the best solution to the problem!

…

As Audrey noticed, that night, Intis Prime Minister Bivis and Emperor Fusac found Agushid together.

A secret conversation took place with only the three of them present, and no one knew what they talked about.

Much later, in his memoirs written in his later years, Agushid simply described this secret conversation: "...Bevis was indeed one of the most outstanding diplomats in the 14th century. He was keenly aware of the relationship between Loen and Nan. The irreconcilable conflict between Bairam.

"Yes, we have been wary of Nan Balam, especially when there are 80,000 Nan Balam elites in the western suburbs of Backlund. It is difficult for me to pretend that we are close allies with Nan Balam...

"Bevis reminded me with his outstanding eloquence that it is very important to retain the strength of the two countries of Intis and Fusac..."

…

On the second day of the talks, the format of the talks suddenly changed.

The previous requests made by Prime Minister Loen and Hobert were not regarded as the first issue of the peace talks. Intis's request for South Balam to release the prisoners of Intis became the first issue.

Bivis, who is in his forties and not very tall, said in a very inflammatory tone: "We all know the tragedy that happened in Asun City, where hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians died in the war.

“Although we are a defeated country, in a civilized world, we also have the right to demand basic human rights for prisoners.

"I beg you all to help me persuade Archduke Hobert to release the prisoners as soon as possible, because every day that passes, countless prisoners will die!"

This caused delegations from various countries to talk a lot and look at Hobert, but they did not dare to really come to persuade the Grand Duke.

Hobert smiled and said: "We will release the prisoners of Intis, because they are too good to eat and will impoverish the Southern Balam Principality."

In response to this joke, some people smiled politely and knowingly, and some laughed sincerely.

But they immediately realized that it was inappropriate to smile at this time, so they immediately put away their smiles.

Bevis looked at Hobert coldly. His speech just now was actually a trap. He wanted Hobert to explain the "Asun City Massacre" and guide Hobert to use Intis soldiers to attack the Loon people. fight back against abuse.

Who would have thought that Hobert would make a joke so lightly.

Then Hobert said: "Ladies and gentlemen, have you noticed a problem?

"We currently do not have an organization specifically designed to resolve international disputes and mediate wars. This is intolerable for a civilized world.

"We have issued an initiative to establish an 'League of Nations' first and then conduct peace talks."

He waved to Benson: "This is the founding draft of the 'League of Nations'. Everyone, take a look."

Benson led people to distribute materials to delegations from various countries.

This change once again made everyone realize that the pattern of the negotiating parties had undergone some changes, because until this moment, Agushid, who was relatively tough on the defeated country yesterday, had not expressed his position.

Hobart's proposal to form a "League of Nations" disrupted Beavis' plans.

After roughly reading the draft provided by the Principality of South Balam, Bivis couldn't help but frown, because this draft did not directly target Intis and Fusac, but it made people feel that it was aimed at them everywhere.

Emperor Fusak was not quite aware of the seriousness of this problem. He asked Hobert: "Why is Fusak not included in the countries that can be called 'rotating presidents'?"

Hobert smiled and asked: "Do you think a defeated country can have such power?"

A huge change occurred in the negotiations on this day. Agulad first did not take a position on the Fusac issue, and then greatly relaxed the conditions for compensation, saying that he only needed to compensate for the losses in the Backlund region and the Takwell Plain, and Military subsidies and pensions are enough, about 3 billion pounds.

The industrial city on the south coast of Jianhai that suffered the most damage was not included in the compensation scope! This is obviously unreasonable.

But when you think about it, "Earl's Light" made a lot of investment in that area during the war, and it doesn't seem difficult to understand.

This is actually a secret attack on the South Balam Principality.

Just as Hobert expected, out of considerations of interests and balance of power, and concerns about the internal affairs model of the South Balam Principality without aristocrats, Roen had a tendency to lean toward Intis and Feysac.

He could even imagine how Bivis persuaded Agushed: Are you going to let South Balam unify the entire southern continent?

It was also last night that Hobert realized that the emergence of the South Balam Principality had brought huge changes to the world.

Without the Principality of South Balam, although Intis and Fusac were both defeated countries, their military and economic strength had not been greatly weakened.

On the contrary, the Kingdom of Loen did not dare to make excessive demands because it was crippled. Therefore, Loen did not receive much compensation after the war.

It was precisely because of the presence of the Southern Balam Principality and the defeat of Intis and Feysac that Roen had the confidence to make harsh demands on the defeated country.

However, the second butterfly effect caused by the South Balam Principality gradually emerged. After the war in the northern continent ended, the world's ruling class began to target the South Balam Principality with its new political model.

So Hobert used the strategy of establishing the "League of Nations" to disrupt Beavis's intentions.

Suddenly, the peace talks entered a wrangling stage.

Hobert just chatted with them.

It was not until eight o'clock in the morning on the sixth day of the peace talks that everyone was about to continue discussing the establishment of the "League of Nations".

However, Hobert suddenly asked his subordinates to unfold a huge map of the Southern Continent. He smiled and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, before the meeting begins, I want to announce something to everyone.

“At the beginning of today’s talks, the South Balam Army has already marched from five directions, attacking Acon State, Cuiabá State, Crisas State, La Bastide District and Trinidad Region.

"With our current strength, we are confident that we can end the battle within half a month!"

Everyone suddenly exclaimed "Oh", "There's a storm coming" and so on.

These five marching directions are all colonies of Intis and Fusac. This is also the territory that Hobert planned to capture before joining the war.

Beavis shouted: "Nan Balam is sabotaging the peace talks!"

"I just want to tell you a very simple truth!" Hobert also said seriously: "Currently, I have the strength to get everything I want!"

The essence of Backlund's peace talks this time is to re-divide the world.

But starting from the second day of negotiations, politicians from various countries began to show their sinister side. In order to balance the interests and forces of the world, former allies became enemies.

If it were not for Hobert's "creative" idea of ​​the "League of Nations", the Principality of South Balam would have been completely isolated.

Of course, Hobert would not let the politicians' wishful thinking succeed. While arguing with politicians from various countries in Backlund, he ordered Medici to launch a war against the Republic of Intis and the colonies of the Feysac Empire.

The current world rules given by the countries in the Northern Continent are basically based on strength!

Then the Principality of South Balam will speak with its strength.

During the meeting, Hobert asked Beavis rudely: "What is it like to have two angels from an enemy country in your own capital?"

Of course the dignitaries here knew what angels meant, and their faces became very pale.

Hobert asked Emperor Fusac again: "Should I also send two angels to Saint Milon?"

Emperor Fusak opened his mouth and did not dare to say a word.

Beavis said: "Mr. Hobert, do you want to restart the war?"

"It's not that I want to start a war." Hobert spread his hands: "It's that you, as a defeated country, want to evade war reparations and territorial and economic compensation!

"The Battle of Backlund, which the Principality of South Balam devoted all its efforts to win, can have its results overturned in this way? Has Roen killed so many soldiers and people in vain?"

After saying that, Hobert stood up immediately: "I will not continue to participate in peace talks before the war in the Southern Continent ends.

"You can talk first, whatever you want!"

After speaking, Hobert left with the South Balam delegation.

After everyone was in a daze for a short time, they smiled bitterly one after another. How could we talk without the presence of the Principality of Nanbailang?

Even if the negotiation comes to an end, will Hobert accept it?

What makes them most helpless is that if Hobert does not accept it, then at least the situation in the southern continent will not be able to develop according to the agreement they negotiated.

So Loen Prime Minister Agushid had no choice but to play the role of mediator and went to see Hobert that afternoon. After talking for an entire afternoon, Hobert finally relented.

Hobert proposed that the "League of Nations" should be established first, and then the subsequent peace talks could be conducted.

The war in the Southern Continent will not stop until peace talks resume.

Agushid briefed representatives from other countries and basically agreed to Hobert's proposal, so the delegation from the South Balam Principality reappeared at the negotiation venue.

But Hobert did not show up, and it was Audrey and Benson who were responsible for continuing the conversation.

The negotiation process suddenly accelerated this time, and it took only three days to complete the revision of the establishment draft of the "League of Nations".

On the tenth day of the peace talks, the "League of Nations" was announced. On the same day, governments of various countries declared their support for the establishment of the "League of Nations".

This organization, referred to as the "League of Nations" for short, is based in Backlund. All the countries participating in the war jointly formed the "League of Nations Committee", with Roen, South Balam and Fenebaud taking turns serving as the chairman of the committee.

The president has the power to initiate a hearing on an international dispute, but does not have the power to adjudicate.

After listening to the content of the hearing, the representatives of the member countries will vote to decide whether to pass the resolution to resolve the dispute. The three rotating presidents all have one-vote veto power.

The founding of the League of Nations was immediately reported by major media, saying that this was a sign that the world was moving towards a more civilized world.

Hobert felt the magic potion in his body and showed obvious signs of digestion again.

The establishment of this international organization means that it has disrupted the original international order. This is of course a kind of "order-killing."

So Hobert appeared at the peace talks again. He skipped the interest alliance formed with Loen and directly discussed war reparations with the two defeated countries.

Previously, Roen and South Balam planned to jointly discuss large amounts of reparations and various compensations to the defeated countries, and then the victorious countries would divide the compensation among themselves.

But because Luen and Nan Bailang had certain differences, Nan Bailang simply asked for compensation himself.

Hobert's request was that the defeated country should compensate South Balam at least 3.5 billion gold pounds. The five colonies currently attacked by the South Balam Principality should be returned to the South Balam Principality, and franchise rights should be obtained in many industries of the defeated country.