Rise of the Empire Total War

After staying in the Ravana Royal Territory for a few days, Richard and his party marched westward along the wide stone paved road to tour the Mabuku Territory.

The lord of Mabuku is still that Sophie, the embarrassing earl who was defeated by Bundak's men and was still captured. Perhaps because of the experience of being captured, the arrogance of this young earl was severely hit. When it came to Richard, the latter could not see the slightest arrogance in him.

However, compared to Earl Sophie, Richard focused more on Sophia standing beside him. This beautiful princess became mature, stable, graceful and generous after becoming a married woman, which made Richard I couldn't be sure that she was my cousin.

After joining the nobles from Mabuku, Richard and his party walked into the city under his rule under the guidance of Earl Sophie. This large city called Fort Amberley has a permanent population of about 10,000 people. The original function was also to defend against foreign enemies, but with the passage of time and development, more and more civilians built residential areas outside the castle, thus developing into a city with an inner castle. Along the way, Richard was asking Earl Sophie about the military strength of the Marbuku Territory, and the other party had no intention of hiding anything, and he offered it generously, perhaps because he thought it would be useless even if it was hiding something. After all, Richard's strength is obvious to all. As long as he dares to have bad intentions, the powerful Winster army can instantly raze the Mabuku Territory to the ground.

The military strength of the Mabuku collar was greatly reduced during the civil war. They first sent troops to support Richard in the war against the Ramirez Kingdom. However, they were defeated on the plains of Ravana, even Sophie himself was captured, and the army led by Mabuku was almost exhausted.

Now that the civil war has passed for more than a year, the military strength led by Mabuku still has not been restored. Even the standing army guarding Fort Amberley can barely gather more than a hundred people. If a war breaks out here, Mabuku Kuling can be said to be as fragile as paper, and it will break when rubbed. In addition, the economy of the Mabuku collar was also affected. After Richard entered the country, all he saw along the way were poverty-stricken scenes. It was filthy and tattered, and their faces were numb and dull-eyed like no other in the kingdom.

It was later that Richard found out that Earl Sophie had paid a large ransom to Bandak in order to regain her freedom after being captured by Bandak. After regaining her freedom, Sophie added a number of Cumbersome taxes to extract money from the common people.

It is inconvenient for Richard to comment on Sophie's behavior, because this territory belongs to him, together with all creatures living in this land belong to him, and Richard has no right to interfere with other people's property.

...

In the morning after living in Sophie's castle for two days, Richard had just finished his breakfast when he received a report from his subordinates that the head of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Lucino came and asked to meet him. Richard was a little surprised by the arrival of the head of foreign affairs in Lucino. After thinking for a while, he decided to ask someone to invite the head of foreign affairs. Taking advantage of this time, he began to guess the purpose of the other party - it is impossible to ask for a crime Yes, those who wanted to ask the teacher to blame had come a long time ago. Besides, there was only one possibility left. They were beaten all over the place by the kingdom of Pravia, which was stronger than themselves, and came to ask for help.

This is not a random guess of Richard. During this period of time, his chief spy, Leonardo, has submitted the collected information on the outbreak of the war in the Kingdom of Lucino to Richard for review. Go over it, but still get a sense of the plight that Lucino's allies are facing. Of course, this does not mean that he will help his cheap ally, and he is not a person who breaks his promise. If he agrees to withdraw from the war, he will definitely withdraw from the war.

Ahem, it might not be so if the people of Luxino give more benefits.

After a while, a middle-aged man in a black robe was ushered in by the guards, and he went straight to the center of the study (for discussion,

Richard temporarily requisitioned Earl Sophie's study), stretched out his hand and took off his hat, bowed to Richard, and said: "Your Majesty the King, I am Gallup, Chief of Foreign Affairs of His Majesty King Lucino. Arnold, may you be well."

"Your Excellency, Chief Diplomat Gallup, is there any purpose for the king of your country to send you to our country?" Richard asked as if he didn't know anything.

Gallup did not directly answer Richard's question, but instead said: "Your Majesty, the two countries had previously agreed to send troops to attack the Kingdom of Pravia, but why is your country forcing the Pravians to cede Sukenya?" After claiming the silver mine, you will withdraw from the war on your own?"

Facing Gallup's question in a bad tone, Richard smiled and replied calmly: "Your Excellency Gallup's Foreign Affairs Chief, the ultimate goal of our two countries is to obtain the large silver mine in the Sukenya Territory. After forcing the Pravians to cede the silver mine, it is natural to withdraw from the war. But I am also curious, why does your country continue the war after achieving its goal?"

Gallup froze, he didn't expect Richard to answer like this, he thought for a while, his tone softened, and said: "Your Majesty, the Pravians will not make peace with us, after their offensive Your Majesty, our army has been defeated and the kingdom is at stake, if you still recognize your alliance with our country, please send troops to help, we are willing to pay you everything you deserve."

"Unfortunately, Your Excellency the Chief of Foreign Affairs Gallup." Richard shook his head and refused: "We have reached a truce agreement with the Kingdom of Pravia, and it is still within the truce period. We cannot tear up the treaty without authorization."

Hearing this, Gallup frowned slightly. He remembered what the king had told him before he left. After deliberating for a moment, he said slowly, "Your Majesty, there is a way that does not require your army to openly attack the Winster Kingdom." flag, you can send troops to support."

"what?"

"Get your soldiers into battle as mercenaries," Gallup said.

"This is a feasible method." Richard nodded, and then he asked again: "So, what can we gain? You know, it is impossible for my soldiers to return to the battlefield without gaining benefits .”

"We are willing to pay every soldier who participated in the war at the highest price in the mercenary market, and compensate the pension after the soldier dies in battle."

"It's not enough, my dear Gallup Foreign Secretary." Richard said, shaking his head.

"We are willing to pay an additional 10,000 silver coins to express our gratitude." Gallup proposed again.

"It's still not enough. My soldiers are far away from the battlefield. They just want to go home and use the silver coins produced from the Sukenya silver mine." Richard pointed out. Hearing this, Gallup's face changed and became a little ugly. He seemed to be making the most difficult decision. After a long time, he gritted his teeth and said, "We are willing to give up the output distribution of the Sukenya Silver Mine. Share, this is the biggest concession!"

"Pleasant cooperation, Your Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs."