Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 289: The Legitimate Prince

One thing Claude has been wondering is, what's wrong with the so-called Grand Prince Hansburg claiming to go home sick and keep his door closed? According to common sense, the Great Prince bears a heavy responsibility and lays down hundreds of millions of troops. He simply cannot go out the door to the King. That should also master the dynamics of the army, information and communication are indispensable. It is impossible for him to ignore things like Major Scully, but instead Captain Duriolo found himself trying to make the Grand Prince aware of such a change in the army through the line of Lady Maria, which is not very suspicious...

Captain Duriolo shook his head and laughed, telling Claude that no one had forced the Great Prince or placed him under house arrest. The problem is that the Grand Prince was angry with Sterling X because of the truce negotiations. The great prince insisted on fighting to the end, but the kingdom no longer had the guts to continue the war. Nearly 1.6 million troops are fighting on the front line, and every day a man chews his horse is an astronomical expense, not to mention the fact that the war has been going on for more than four years and that the wealth accumulated during the first two decades of peace in the Kingdom has been consumed.

The arrival of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, the Duke of Creeus, at the Palace of the Night is to reason with the Grand Prince of Hansburg and to clarify the plight of the Kingdom with the Grand Prince. It is no longer possible for the war to continue, and the Kingdom now hopes to accept it as it sees fit, occupying the territory of the three principalities in a sufficiently descriptive past. As soon as possible after the truce, people will be rehabilitated, disabled and rebuilt, and these costs will be the greatest future expenditure of the Kingdom.

Prince Hansburg, for his part, hoped that the court would bite his teeth and persevere until he had led the army to the end of the Principality of Kanas before meeting with the Kingdom of Nasseri. However, the Grand Prince could not guarantee the destruction of the Principality of Kanas in the shortest possible time, and he himself estimated that it would take at least a year to capture the Gulf and destroy the Principality of Kanas. For such a long time the kingdom could not sustain itself, and Sterling X refused the Grand Prince's request.

The angry Grand Prince Hansburg, who felt ashamed to go back to the front line to meet those Royal Army men who wished to avenge the three exterminated regiments, confined himself to his residence in self-exile and refused all information about the outside world. All the information on the military frontline could not even enter his door and was pushed by him personally to the Ministry of the Army for responsibility. That is why noble officers were given the opportunity to use Major Skerry's events against civilian officers promoted to reuse in the war…

Claude stared suspiciously at Captain Duriolo, who grinned bitterly: "I know you think I'm suspicious, why I have to tell you this. Because we, the commercial nobles, believe that the Great Prince must return in order to settle the situation at hand. Within the kingdom, there is a great deal of power in the old noble families, who not only monopolize the military industry, but even have access to the mainland of Nubicia, under which our emerging commercial nobles can reap only a small share of the proceeds.

This war is the best opportunity for our commercial nobility to extend the impact of free commercial trade. The territories of the three principalities are the source of new wealth. Don't look at the fact that the war has destroyed everything and ravaged the three principalities, but there are endless commercial opportunities for rebuilding the place and restoring the lives of the people. We have reached an agreement with the royal family to exclude from this new kingdom the expansion of those old aristocratic families and prevent them from reaching out to this territory.

The implementation of the original plan had been smooth and the Grand Prince had cooperated very well, and the progress had been satisfactory. But now the Grand Prince ignores all of this in order to get angry, and he can't close the door. It was not that the commercial nobles in Wangdu did not want to visit and persuade them, but they did not even enter the door, and the servants of the great prince did not throw their gifts out of the door to face and let them eat a closed-door spoon. The reason is clear to everyone that the Grand Prince deeply hates the position of the commercial aristocrats who did not support him. He stood by His Majesty and supported an end to this war... ”

Captain Duriolo stood up and circled around the room, saying something that had to be explained: "In fact, in the heart of our commercial nobility, Prince Hansburg is not a good heir to the throne. He's a good soldier, a good commander, but he won't be a qualified king. ”

Claude came over and said, “Why would you think that? ”

“Simply because of his long military career, the Grand Prince has developed a straight military personality, generous and well-loved by his soldiers, which is his strength. At the same time, however, the Grand Prince despises negotiations and compromises in politics and ignores the Kingdom's commercial and economic development. Indeed, mastering the barrel of the gun would bring stability to the kingdom, but he forgot a quote from the late King Sterling IX that politics was an art of compromise. And what the great prince hates most is compromising with his enemies, both inside and outside the kingdom.

To His Majesty Sterling X's children, there is a saying in the King that the great prince is steady, the two princes are treacherous, the three princesses are barbaric, the four princes are weak, and the five princesses are petty. It sounds like the Big Prince is the most reliable, but it's not, it's a good description, but in fact, the Big Prince is the most arbitrary one, even a little childish. It's just that the child was not angry with others, but with his father, King Sterling X. If anything is not as good as the will of the great prince, the great prince will be angry with His Majesty. For example, if there are no military matters outside the door and nothing like this has happened before, it will all end with Sterling X bowing his head and admitting defeat... ”

Claude was staring at him, and his impression of Prince Hansburg was completely off the record. However, it is understandable to think about it. After all, he and the great prince only met a few times. It is difficult to truly understand a person based on the impression you see in front of him...

Captain Duriolo shook his head and sighed: “The Grand Prince always thinks from the perspective of the military, who believes that war can solve all problems. But he did not understand that what supported the war went down was the economy, and that if the kingdom's economy collapsed, he would not have won more on the battlefield than he would have ended up failing. He believed that the Kingdom could persevere in this war, and indeed it could muster its final wealth to support it. But the problem is that after all this final wealth has been invested in this war, even if won on the battlefield, the Kingdom will face a prolonged economic depression with no funds to restore the people and stabilize social order...

It is only fitting that the Royal Court insists on a truce and a peace agreement at this time, when our Kingdom has occupied the territories of the three Principals and needs time to consolidate and strengthen its rule, to restore and develop the local economy and to supply the Kingdom with constant wealth, which only requires time and financial investment. We, the emerging commercial nobles, can reach an agreement with the royal family, in fact, to get what we need. The royal family needs to exclude the extension of the power of the old aristocratic families, and our commercial aristocracy needs its own commercial territory to expand the influence of free commercial trade in the territories of the three principalities.

So our commercial aristocracy is actually a cooperative relationship with the royal family, not unconditional obedience. The Great Prince misunderstood this and took us as his subordinates, using our funds to support the continuation of this war. That is why he sees our support for the Royal Armistice as a betrayal of him and rejects all information from us and kind persuasion. He thought that his performance would turn His Majesty back, but he did not understand that this war could not be sustained, it was not the result of his inability to close the door and recover... ”

The gossip was a bit of a rush, Claude questioned: “In fact, you still have a lot of ways to convey the message to the Grand Prince, such as letting His Majesty go and talk to the Grand Prince himself, or sending the right people to see the Grand Prince and tell him all these things...”

“This is the grand prince's willingness and childishness. His Majesty went to the palace, claiming that he was seriously ill and fearful of infection, and refused to come out to see him, leaving him helpless to return to the palace. Pick the right people to meet, just talk about the front line, the big prince is furious to get rid of people. Many people know that the Great Prince and His Majesty are angry, avoiding them, and no one is willing to intervene.

His Majesty did not intend to replace the General Commander of the Front Line to deal with the front-line affairs after the armistice, but the problem was not here. He was well sought after, but none of the old noble families of the Kingdom could be as repressed as the Great Prince to intervene in the new territorial affairs of the three principalities. At present, two thirds of the top ranks of the sixteen regiments on the front line are noble officers. If the Great Prince did not return to the front line, it would be possible for others to get caught up with the top ranks of those regiments, thus delaying the layout of our commercial aristocracy and royal family in the new territory... ”

Captain Duriolo sighs and tells Claude about it, and whoever meets an irresponsible, irresponsible boss like the Great Prince will have a headache.

“But what's the use of looking for me?” Claude was wondering, he just wanted to save Major Scully, but he didn't expect to pull out so much trouble. Think about it, it's nothing more than the royal family, the old noble family, and the emerging commercial nobility fighting for their own post-war gains, but it's none of his business, he's just a little captain, and he doesn't want to get involved.

“And my pharmacology teacher, Mrs. Maria, wrote to me that her relationship with the Grand Prince was not good, so she didn't ask the Grand Prince to give me some care in the military brigade. The Grand Prince only nominally called her Aunt, in fact the two were not much of the same age, so the Grand Prince was reluctant to treat each other as elders, and she usually tried to avoid contact with the Grand Prince…" Claude said, believing that these circumstances should be clear to the commercial nobility.

“We all know what you're talking about.” Captain Duriolo nodded: "But for now Baroness Maria is the most suitable candidate. ”

He waved and stopped Claude's questioning: "Our friend in Wangdu did not visit Baroness Maria, but she refused to go and persuade the great prince. As Baroness Maria has always done, she is unwilling to meddle in these national affairs and to see a wave of father-son discord in the royal family.

However, as a royal court pharmacist, Baroness Maria is the only one who has free access to the Grand Prince's residence because the Grand Prince claims to be ill, and she can easily see the Grand Prince. According to our inquiry, the Grand Prince was surrounded by noble officers who supported the Grand Prince's strength to the end and forced His Majesty to give in.

The Grand Prince was influenced by these noble officers, so he did not want to compromise easily. He did not know the true will of the soldiers on the front line, thinking that all the officers and soldiers, like him, insisted on revenge against the Principality of Kanas and were humiliated by the annihilation of the three Legions of Snow. But as you know, after four and a half years of war, the front-line officers and soldiers are in a great mood for war, and the signing of a truce peace agreement is the greatest good news for everyone.

We would like the Grand Prince to know the truth about the front line, but only he was concealed because he could not close the door and because of the encouragement of the noble officers around him. It's not a good idea to send someone to persuade him. The Big Prince believes it or not. Besides, it's important that our people don't see the Big Prince, and it's easy for the Big Prince to assume that the situation we're talking about is useless and neglectful. Perhaps he's glad to see our bad luck...

We found you because you were the most suitable candidate. First, you wanted to save Major Skerry and clear his body of grievances, which required the Grand Prince to return to the front line in order to dial up anyway and stop noble officers from doing anything. Secondly, your identity enables the Grand Prince to believe what you are saying, that you are a person of concern to him and that you have been awarded the Knight's Medal. And since you are a subordinate of Major Skerry and have participated in all the battles of the Ranger Battalion, Major Skerry's evacuation from Count Krillause Castle and your arrest for wronging him is a matter of good faith.

Thirdly, your pharmacology teacher is Baroness Maria, who is currently the only one with access to the Grand Prince's residence. You don't need Baroness Maria to speak for you, you just need her to leave your letter to the Grand Prince. As long as the Grand Prince sees your letter, only about Major Skerry being wronged, then the Grand Prince will know the real situation on the front line, and he will not insist on bringing the war to an end... ”

“I need to think about it.” Claude frowned and the commercial aristocracy door was indeed a good idea, allowing Claude to write a letter to the Grand Prince reflecting the real situation on the front line, since it was not about the so-called national landscape, nor about the distribution of the interests of the commercial aristocracy and the royal family, which made it easier for the Grand Prince to believe the facts reported by Claude.

Captain Duriolo looked at Claude and nodded: "I hope you'll think shorter, because some of the staff officers at Front Line Command revealed that they wanted to drag you into the water with Major Scully and then involve you with Lieutenant Colonel Ledfank. Lieutenant Colonel Ledfank accepted the appointment of the Grand Prince as Deputy Head of the Joint Military Inspectorate to consolidate the military industry in the three counties of the south, while the old noble family behind the noble officers had always wanted to intervene in the military industry in the three counties of the south.

Besides, it is best to send a special message after you write the letter, don't leave the military mail, because the military mail is in the hands of the noble officers. Not only do you send the letter to be checked by them, but it is also easy for them to "lose it" and never send it to the recipient... ”