flstandardbreds Chapter 174 The Edge of Crisis
Chapter 174 The Edge of Crisis
Spring 1448
The most difficult winter is over. As the temperature slowly rises, the seedlings of plants stretch out their tender branches and leaves from the soil, and the earth turns from snowy to green again. From Cousteau in the north to Franche-Comté in the south, people go out of their homes and return to their daily work after being thankful that they have lived another year.
In the military camp of the Count of Franche-Comté Castle, soldiers were training day after day under the orders of officers. Since John occupied the Territory of Niland, the border defense pressure of the Territory of Franche-Comté has been greatly relieved. Now, except for the southern border with Yuda, the eastern, western and northern border territories of Franche-Comté have all become the jurisdiction of John or Mitland. Among them, the Forest Territory, where the fortune was made, has become the safest territory.
So some officials proposed to transfer the garrison in the Yorsen Territory to the Franche-Comté Territory or the Niland Territory, which were vulnerable to the military threat of Yoda. However, after John communicated with General Hank stationed in the south, he gave up this idea.
The situation in the southern battlefield has changed. According to Wesker's intelligence, the Yoda people have withdrawn part of their troops from the southern battlefield. Now the number of the Midland army has completely suppressed the Yoda army. Moreover, the southern border defense is already perfect enough, and there is no need to send more troops to confront the Yoda people.
Except for the Yoda army in the valley outside the city of Rona, the Yoda army in other areas abandoned some small strongholds and retreated to the surrounding large cities or fortresses. The Southern Midland Legion, which received the news, immediately seized these unguarded strongholds. For a time, good news came frequently from the south, and even His Majesty the King commended the generals including Laban.
As for the reason why Yoda withdrew his troops, Wesker did not obtain detailed intelligence. He only stated in the letter that it might be a speculation that the Kushans were creating friction on the border with Yoda.
Secondly, although the external threat to the Forest Territory has been reduced to a minimum at this time, given the dense forests in its territory, it still needs a garrison to deal with possible invasions in the future, such as wild animals injuring people and catching poachers.
"boom!"
As a burst of white smoke dissipated from the barrel, a hole suddenly appeared on the wooden target one hundred meters away from the muzzle.
"2 minutes 50 seconds."
Looking at the time displayed on the pocket watch in front of him, the musket centurion exclaimed in admiration. Next to him, Matilda held the musket in both hands and examined it carefully after firing. In the past, she had only seen the cannons on the walls of the capital of the Yoda Kingdom and heard about the power of the cannons. Today, she was surprised to see such a small and slender "cannon" here in Midland.
John, who was far away, also watched Matilda's process from loading to firing. Although Matilda's loading speed was much slower than that of a regular musketeer, as a beginner, she was able to load the ammunition in the correct order within a few minutes and hit the target, which showed her talent in using muskets.
As for why John allowed Matilda, an outsider, to enter the military camp and use muskets that had not yet been invented in other countries, it was because of another thing.
Ever since he was stopped in Windham last year, John had always thought that the trade treaty signed with Lady Reginale had no effect. After all, it was only a signature without a seal, so it had no practical significance. John only had to wait for the agreed date to end this spring and then he could legitimately allow Matilda to return to Windham.
As a result, as soon as spring arrived this year, the garrison far away on the border discovered that a huge convoy of the Reginale Chamber of Commerce was heading here, and they immediately reported it to John.
Upon hearing the news, John first ordered Simon to check the cargo in the carriage and discovered that this time, in addition to the seeds, farm tools, some building materials and the money to be paid to John to buy the land as mentioned in her previous contract, Mrs. Reginale also brought a letter to John and a contract.
In the letter, Mrs. Reginale expressed her apologies to John and proposed a new contract for John to sign.
In addition to changing the original 50-50 split of the manor's income to 30-70 between Mrs. Reginale and John, this contract also included Mrs. Reginale's willingness to transfer 10% of the Chamber of Commerce's shares in the cosmetics store to John, and to find a building in the city of Windham as the headquarters of the Black Watch mercenary company, which was also stamped with the seal of the Reginale Chamber of Commerce.
This time, John first asked Simon and a group of professionals who were proficient in commercial law to carefully review the contract several times. Finally, after everyone discussed it for a while, Simon personally found John and replied:
"Sir, we have checked this treaty and found no loopholes or traps. Although I don't know why she proposed such generous conditions, if you sign it, you will gain wealth far beyond its value."
After hearing what Simon said, John picked up the contract and looked at it several times. After making sure there were no problems, John signed and stamped the noble seal on it.
By the way, John also checked the goods on the carriage and took the caravan to select a piece of land for the construction of the manor. As a month passed, the outline of a manor was established on the land of Franche-Comté. This time, John believed that Lady Reginale wanted to engage in flower trade with him instead of doing anything else.
Coincidentally, Matilda accidentally saw the musket team in John's army. Curious about this "cannon-like" tube, she asked John if he could teach her how to use this weapon. John, in a good mood, took her to the military camp to find an instructor to learn how to use the musket. After all, this was a big client who brought him wealth.
However, to John's surprise, Matilda seemed to have a unique talent in using the musket. After completing a few procedures under the guidance of an officer, she could use the musket alone and hit the target.
After leaving the barracks, Matilda asked John:
"Sir, may I purchase some muskets?"
"Miss Matilda, these muskets are the army's active equipment and are not allowed to be sold outside." John refused immediately. The musket army has just started now. If it is sold, who knows, one day Midland or even Yoda will have a complete musket team, and then they will enter the musket era ahead of time.
After seeing John's attitude, Matilda also gave up the idea of buying a musket and turned the topic to the manor under construction:
"Lord John, I will move there once the manor is built. I've really appreciated your care for me over the past few months."
"No, no, after all, you are my partner. If you want to visit the castle, you are always welcome." After some polite remarks, John secretly suggested to Matilda that she move away.
Matilda could not understand what John said, so she could only thank John in a low voice with a gloomy expression:
"Thank you. When the manor is built, I will definitely invite you to have tea at my manor."
The new year marks the beginning of another war between the Kingdom of Midlan and Yoda as usual, but for the Yoda Empire, things are not as easy as usual.
At this time, Emperor Yoda was in the palace of the royal capital, scolding the ministers sitting under him:
"Is this what you call the strongest army on the continent? Hundreds of thousands of troops in the south of Midland are pinned down near Rona Territory and dare not move out, while in the north, Nilan Territory is occupied by a child. Even the infighting Kushans in the east dare to attack the empire's army. Is this what you call a prosperous age?"
Every time the emperor spoke a word, his anger seemed to rise again. At this time, the ministers who knew the emperor best already knew that if some reasonable explanations were not given today, some people would definitely never be able to enter the palace again.
"Ahem... Your Majesty, I have something to say, but I don't know whether I should say it or not."
At this time, a trembling old man walked out of the line of ministers and spoke to the emperor who was sitting on the throne exuding murderous aura.
"speak!"
The emperor stared at the old man and said expressionlessly.
"I think this joint attack by the Mitra and Kushan people is the first time since the beginning of the empire. If you want to resolve this matter, I hope Your Majesty will make a decision early, abandon one side, and attack the other side with all your strength."
"Oh, what do you mean?" the emperor asked puzzled.
"What I mean is that if you want to become a pious emperor, you should sign a contract with Midlan now and attack the Kushans with all your strength to crush the Kushan army in one fell swoop. But if you want to swallow up all the Midlan land, then you have to make long-term plans for Kushan..." Having said that, the old man seemed to be worried about something, and looked at the emperor in deep thought opposite him with nervous eyes.
"Do you mean to cooperate with the Kushans?" the emperor asked suddenly, which immediately caused a heated discussion among the ministers in the palace.
"How can this be done? This is disrespectful to God."
"If we really do this, wouldn't we be heretics?"
"Then the Hall of the King of Law will side with Mitlan, and Yoda will be isolated by all countries."
After hearing the complaints of his ministers, the emperor knew that he could not cooperate directly with the Kushans, otherwise it would definitely lead to disagreements between himself and his ministers. After all, as the war was not going well, some local opposition forces had questioned him. If there was an internal split, the centralized power that he had established with great difficulty would be gone.
"Alright, alright, let's not think about this matter for now, let's all go down."
After the ministers left the palace, the emperor still sat on the throne thinking about something.
"John Hohenzollern, you are really a thorn in my side." The emperor muttered the name, slowly began to grit his teeth, and the veins on his face were exposed.
"Since the open method doesn't work, I can only use the covert method." Thinking of this, the emperor calmed down and motioned his confidant to come closer to him. After the confidant put his ear close to him, the emperor spoke in his ear with cold and murderous words:
"Go, gather those Kusha assassins and tell them that if they can kill John Hohenzollern, I will not only reward them with money, but also agree to their wish to restore their country."