flstandardbreds Chapter 203 Expedition to Grant
Chapter 203 Expedition to Grant
"I really can't believe that the originally stable Midland Kingdom has become like hell in just two months." Looking at the contents of the document in his hand, John was not only moved but also terrified by the great harm caused by the Black Death. Although John only saw the text, the extremely horrifying description on it really frightened John. He didn't want his territory to become like this.
"Not only in Midland, the situation in our enemy Yoda is not good either. According to the intelligence collected so far, a plague broke out in the Yoda army that invaded Midland. Many Yoda officers died or were unable to command their own troops. There are also rumors that some nobles have died of illness in the Yoda Empire itself." Spy Minister Wesker, who was beside John, added.
Due to the plague, Wesker can only communicate with other subordinates through carrier pigeons. For safety reasons, he will rewrite all the information sent to him and then throw the original manuscript into the fire to turn it into ashes.
"It seems that there will be no war in the next few years." John suddenly felt something was wrong when he thought of this. His territory was located on the border, and logically the intensity of the war should be the highest among the many territories of Midland. However, his daily job now is to review various documents like a civil servant. Two years ago, when he did not have the territory, he was complaining about the daily wars. Now that he has some free time, he is really not used to it.
"Sir, Pros is here to see you." At this moment, the guard outside the door reported.
"Let him in."
After hearing John's permission, the guard at the door led Pros in. However, when Pros just stepped into the room, the sharp-eyed John immediately spotted the letter in Pros' hand. So when Pros wanted to go further into the room, John immediately stopped him and said:
"Where did you get the letter in your hand?"
Pross didn't understand, but still responded:
"Oh, this is given to you by the Dharma King's Office..."
"Back off!"
Hearing that the person coming from outside came, John immediately became alert. Although the White Wolf Knights next to him didn't understand why John was so excited, they immediately stood between John and Pros, using their shields and bodies to protect John tightly in the center, and at the same time pointed their weapons at the confused Pros.
"I surrender!" Although Pross didn't understand why John was so excited, he still raised his hands skillfully to indicate that he posed no threat when he saw the sword pointed at him.
"Please move aside for a moment." John's voice came from inside the house. Seeing this, the White Wolf Knights returned to their original positions. When they saw Pross again, John looked at him seriously and said:
"You just stand at the door and open the letter and read to me."
"But the French King's Office asked me to give you this letter. It said I should pass it on in secret..." Just as Pros was about to explain, John responded:
"Don't worry about whether it's a secret or not, just stand at the door and read it to me now." John said this and then glanced at Pross and continued:
"And why are you dressed like this?"
At this time, Pros was not wearing casual clothes or bishop's clothes, but a red hat and a white robe with the emblem of the French Palace. This outfit reminded John of an old acquaintance with a square face.
"I'm going to tell you this." Pross stood at the door, opened the envelope, took out the letter, and read the contents:
"Due to the rampant pagan forces in Grand Duchy of Grant, John Hohenzollern is now secretly appointed as the Marshal of the Grant Expeditionary Force to lead the team to Grant to assist Grand Duke Haakon in eliminating the pagan strongholds entrenched on the island."
"That's all?" John asked after seeing Pross stopped talking.
"That's all. That's all." Pros said after putting the letter down.
"Is there nothing to express?" John demanded.
"That's all. The letter is so short. What I just said is all. No matter how you look at it, there is no other content." Pros responded after opening the letter and observing it repeatedly.
"Isn't that nonsense? My soldiers and money don't grow from the grass or cracks in the rocks. If I don't give them money, who will fight for them?" John cursed angrily upon seeing this. They didn't even consider the time. They were not in a hurry until the plague reached the French Palace. They really treated John as a brick to be moved wherever needed and they could only pick on him. He was not the only noble in Midland who was pro-French Palace. Why didn't they send others?
"Then...should we write back and say we don't have time?" Pross asked uncertainly.
"No, it would seem that we are not happy if we reply so soon. Let's wait a few weeks and see if they can offer any benefits. It won't be too late to reply then." John responded, and then gave Pross a stern order:
"Go back to your home city and quarantine for 14 days!"
After Pros left, John lay on the table thinking about this matter. The first thing that was certain was that even if the Law King's Office did not force him to lead troops to quell the rebellion, John would still send troops to suppress it after learning about it.
As a reward for defeating the Yoda people in Grant, Chustar became John's territory in the next twenty years with the signing of the Nord Treaty. Currently, Chustar serves as a transit station for the route between North Port and the Principality of Ys. A large number of Ys ships dock here every day. Trade has made the city of Chustar increasingly prosperous and has led to the continuous expansion of the city and port.
If Grant launched a rebellion at this time, it would definitely affect Chusda's business development, and might even cause Chusda to fall directly into war and require a long period of recovery, which was certainly not something John wanted to see.
However, the first thing John had to do was to write a letter to the King of Midland to test His Majesty's attitude. After all, he was John's feudal lord, and out of responsibility John had to explain to His Majesty the King the reasons for sending troops.
Now that all the territories have suffered heavy losses, if His Majesty the King found out that John took his troops to fight in other countries without his permission, he would probably be dissatisfied and fearful.
A few days later, outside a house in Wendam's palace, civil servants were coming in and out of the door from time to time with documents in their arms. Inside the room, the king was dealing with a mountain of documents. At this time, the king's eyes were full of fatigue and worry, because most of these documents were about a series of negative impacts caused by the outbreak of the plague in his direct territory, and such documents were still being sent in continuously. Even a monarch with a strong heart would have his enthusiasm extinguished by the bad news like a tide.
"Your Majesty, Franche-Comté has reported!" At this moment, a civil servant ran into the room and handed a letter to the busy King.
The king was startled by the sudden letter and thought that the border had been attacked on a large scale by Yoda's army. He took the envelope with trembling hands, hurriedly took out the letter inside and almost put his face against the letter to read the contents.
However, the king heaved a sigh of relief after reading the entire content of the letter and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his hand.
"I didn't expect John's reputation to be so great." The king recalled the memories of his time with John, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart that John, the second son of a noble family who was only in his early 20s, could have achieved such great success. If he were in John's position, he would probably work hard all his life and could only get a knight's territory and spend the rest of his life there in peace.
After expressing his feelings, the king began to think about what John said in the letter and whether he should let John go to Grant to eliminate the pagans.
As an enlightened monarch, His Majesty the King has always been willing for his subjects to do things that could have a lot of positive impact on the international stage, because in this way he, as the king, could also benefit from it to some extent.
But now that the plague is raging, a person might just go out and get infected when he returns home. If something unexpected happens to John in Grant, the border may become chaotic due to lack of management, giving the Yoda people an opportunity to take advantage.
After careful consideration, the king dipped his quill into ink and took out a piece of papyrus from a drawer and wrote:
"The news has been received. Whether this war will be carried out is entirely up to Earl John. I hope that Earl John can demonstrate the temperament of Midland nobles and protect the country's borders in this critical moment. Finally, I wish Earl John all the best."