Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 457: Rumors and Distortions

The year 593 of the Holy Lunar calendar soon arrived. After the New Year's Eve, Claude either hosted guests at home or accepted invitations to go to the banquet. Half a month later, he felt like he had a tummy, so he made up his mind to go to the barracks to practice those recruits, while practicing himself harshly. He didn't want to grow fat like Bok Al.

The cigarette business Claude was completely entrusted to Alec's housekeeper, his wife, Kevin, was already the Countess, could not leave her head open to tease these things, and usually had to entertain guests at home, especially the families of powerful people in those places. Ever since my mother decided to find my brother Blovik a good family, there have been frequent visits from noble ladies with their dressed flower branches and their daughter nieces, so that my brother Blovik stayed at home until the third day of the New Year and ran back to the military camp...

So Kevin also had to be financially supervised, really busy buying land to build a workshop to recruit workers and all that was under the responsibility of Alec Butler. As his deputy, Sergeant Kester only ensured the safety of him and the forthcoming cigarette factory, and even the idle old man Zacharathon, who had been rounded up by Yarik's housekeeper, had long since been sent to buy tobacco under the direct authority of Arturas.

Claude ran to the barracks under the direct authority of Port Vibato, where he remained for less than three days, and was returned to Langhu City by an emergency hawk message from theatre headquarters.

What's so urgent that it's not clear on the Eagle's message? It took Claude five days to get back on the boat and get an incredible message.

“What did you say? The great prince is dead? He was assassinated...”

The news came from Bok Al, who had been travelling around the West Coast colonies for more than a month, despite a new night in the war zone. Unfortunately, his efforts had been in vain, and the news of the death of Grand Prince Hansburg had been brought to the mainland by the crew of the smugglers, and strangely not a single colonial newspaper had confirmed it. So much so that the death of Grand Prince Hansburg seems to be a folk rumor. Everyone at the Pier Tavern is Jinjin Road, speculating on the cause of his death, but there is no official news to confirm or refute...

“... there are now seven versions of Grand Prince Hansburg's cause of death, the only thing that can be ascertained is that the time and place of death were identical, last September 24th at 11: 00 p.m., in the newly occupied territory, in the former Florrick Harbor, the best facility in the Principality of Limodra, in the main city residence, in the Grand Prince's makeshift palace.

The four versions, which were more reliable, all said that he had been assassinated, but the people and reasons for the assassination varied. The first version said that he was robbing civilian beauty waitresses and was killed in his sleep by a sleeping beauty who disappeared. The second version, which is more convincing, is that Prince Widreck, our loyal King, sent a team of magicians to assassinate his brother and competitors to the throne.

The third version was due to the great prince's tragic defeat from White Deer City. His commander felt his future was slim, so he stabbed him while the great prince was drunk and cut off his head in preparation for his return to the kingdom and asked for pardon. The last version says that the rebels of the former Principality of Modra sent several young girls whose parents were murdered by the army of the troubled Kingdom of Ovillas into the city's main house to serve as maids. When they saw the great prince drunk, the maids decided to avenge their parents and assassinate the great prince. This version is the most legendary... "

Bork Al stalled: “The other three versions are rather bullshit, saying that the Big Prince was already badly injured and that his evacuation from White Deer City to Florrick Harbor was not healing. It's impossible. It's said that the day before Prince Hansburg's death, he took a man out of town to patrol the barracks, gave a speech in front of his ministry that we would come back to, and if he was seriously wounded, how could he ride to the barracks?

There are also two versions of Suicide Talk and Fire Talk. The suicide said that the great prince was ashamed and unbearable because of the defeat of the soldiers, depressed and saddened by alcohol. He was drunk and remembered the current predicament, and then cut his own artery with a knife and bled to death. The fire said that the big prince was drunk and played with his revolver pistol, which was given to him by someone else, and accidentally pulled the trigger and took the fire, and was shot through the forehead and died. These two versions are even more unlikely. The Grand Prince is surrounded by friendly servants. They won't let the Grand Prince get drunk and play with knives and guns...

Because of the civil war in the Kingdom between the brothers of Grand Prince Hamsburg and Prince Widreck II, which has always been of great interest to all countries, news and expert commentary articles on the civil war in the Kingdom have usually appeared in newspapers in the colonies of the West Coast countries. The most recent news about Grand Prince Hansburg is that last August he defeated three counties in the southwest and was forced to evacuate White Deer City to the newly occupied port of Florrick, where the ruined White Deer City was recovered by the kingdom's Red Dragon Corps.

Strangely enough, however, there was no movement after Prince Hansburg's evacuation to Florrick Harbor, and the news of his death followed by folk propaganda, without an official newspaper report from the colony. I asked the heads of several newspapers privately, all of whom said they were waiting to confirm the news, but that it was easy to get in and out of the newly occupied territories. There had been no news, and they did not know whether it was rumours or real facts. ”

Bok Al has done his utmost, and this time he has brought back many newspapers from the colonies of the West Coast countries, all of which contain reports and comments about the civil war in the Kingdom of Orvilas and the departure of Grand Prince Hansburg from White Deer City last August. Claude read the newspaper's publication date, last November, three months ago, which was normal for the colonies of the Nubian continent, after all, two continents, with a vast silent ocean between them.

Claude picked up a newspaper and read the expert's comments about the withdrawal of the Great Prince from White Deer City to the newly occupied territories, which stated that the forces belonging to both Prince Hansburg and Prince Widreck had been around White Deer City for more than a year and that no one could hold out.

So the great prince took a month to evacuate from White Deer City and took away the families of all his men, horses and soldiers, which was actually the result of Prince Widreck's deliberate indulgence. Otherwise, the forces surrounding White Deer City would attack during the month, and the great prince might have to leave alone. The month was calm and the two sides did not even have a major clash, which seemed very odd and seemed to have reached a tacit agreement.

In his comments, the expert argued that Prince Widreck should have decided, in the absence of the destruction of the Great Prince of Hansburg and his forces, to enlarge his return to the territory of the three principalities occupied by the Kingdom of Ovilas during the five-year war in the eastern region. In any case, it was also a new occupation of the Kingdom, and it would be much cheaper for Grand Prince Hansburg to establish his State independently there than for any other country if the Kingdom could not exercise direct jurisdiction. Perhaps in the future, in a few decades, the two sides can negotiate to reconnect to a kingdom...

“What do you think?” Claude looked up at the people in the conference room.

General Bolognick frowned: "I think it should be a rumor that Grand Prince Hansburg could not have been so simply assassinated. This should be a rumor from a force that hates the Grand Prince and is meant to be a mess for the Grand Prince. If the Big Prince was really injured while evacuating White Deer City, then at this time he had to bring out the injuries to prove he was still alive, so that his injuries would continue and not recover quickly..."

General Skerry shook his head: "No, I think the assassination of the great prince should be positive, even if His Majesty the King sent someone to assassinate his brother, which is the most likely thing to happen. Otherwise, the time and place of the assassination would not have been so clear in those rumours, and it was clear that the assassination on that day had struck the entire harbour and that the movement was too loud to be concealed, which was why there had been rumours that the great prince had been assassinated.

Florrick Harbour is the largest and most fully equipped port city in the former Principality of Limodra, so boats to the Nubian mainland prefer to dock there or purchase supplies. I think it was the sailors and crew on the boat that docked there at night who saw the assassination that took place at the main city residence, or the noise that caused it, that started to manifest itself when they went back to the mainland of Nubicia and went down for a few drinks of wheat in the docks.

However, I agree with General Bolognick that it is impossible for the Grand Prince to be assassinated so simply. If the assassination did occur, the eldest prince would be wounded at best and not killed. Or because rumours spread without confirmation and the news came out officially, the forces of the Grand Prince should have put a martial law on Florrick Harbor to find the assassins and their accomplices, so the reporters in those newspapers were restricted in their range of activities and the news could not be conveyed... "

General Skerry's speculation is reasonable, but some of General Albert's remarks immediately diverted views from the outcome of the assassination, or perhaps succeeded in distorting the building.

General Albert said, "I am not interested in whether Prince Hansburg is alive or dead. He is not our loyal monarch anyway, and whether he was assassinated has nothing to do with us. Let me wonder that, since the Great Prince and his troops left White Deer City last August, the maritime passage to the mainland of the Kingdom and our overseas territories should have been unhindered.

But why is it five months since August, January of the New Year, when no sea boat has arrived in the territory of the Kingdom to tell us about it? I don't believe a kingdom this big can find a ocean ship, even if it's busy after the war, two or three months should be enough for them to clean up the battlefield. But until now none of the ships have come, I really want to know if the kingdom has forgotten our Overseas Territories... "

Yeah, Albert, so everyone remembers, there's news in the paper that the Grand Prince took the lead in evacuating White Deer City last August, and then the Red Dragon Corps recovered White Deer City. So why hasn't the Kingdom sent a sea boat to restore contact with the Overseas Territories war zone so far? Is there anything odd about that?

"Obviously, the kingdom does not want to carry the burden of our immediate war zone, because our colonial war with the Hicks did not separate victories from victories for a final outcome. If that were to happen, the Kingdom would most likely have received a large number of requests for military support in our theatre.

So they can only pretend that they have forgotten that there are overseas territories, and when the war zones and the Hicks are separated, with the end result, the kingdom itself will soon send people to take over the power of the war zones, and they want the wealth of the territories, not the welfare subsidies. Perhaps for our battlefield, it is better not to be connected to the kingdom itself... ”

That was more heartfelt. Claude looked at General Bitchcline in surprise. I didn't expect him to see it so thoroughly.

General Skerry's view was pessimistic when he visited Fields Manor the second day of the New Year when the two of them drank too much and spent time in the study talking privately about the future of the war zone and the personal future of the five generals.

After this colonial war with the Kingdom of Hicks, he said, reconnecting with the Kingdom would mean a great deal of shuffling in the war zone. If the Grand Prince of Hansburg wins, perhaps the Overseas Territories will have some time left to breathe.

After all, the war zone under the direct administration is loyal to Prince Widreck and can continue to confront the great prince on this ground until the great prince demonstrates genuine negotiating good faith and pardons the offense of disrespect of all those in the war zone, so that the overseas administration will return to the kingdom.

If Prince Widreck wins, then the battlefield will be miserable, because what is being done in the battlefield now under the direct administration is treacherous to the kingdom. The establishment of overseas civilian livelihood banks, the expansion of the army and the opening of military industries are contrary to the Kingdom's restrictions on economic development and military forces in overseas jurisdictions.

Overseas Territories are, for the Kingdom, resource collectors, harvests of wealth, dumping places for commodities. The Kingdom has never considered Overseas Territories to be the mainland of the Kingdom, so it does not want Overseas Territories to have the power to resist the mainland of the Kingdom...

And what the zone now does is contrary to the Kingdom's original intentions, but for the zone it is a choice that has to be made. The Kingdom's native civil war and the loss of communication make it impossible to provide sufficient support and assistance to the war zones of the Territories even if the Kingdom's native civil war is not there.

In order to defeat the Kingdom of Hicks and preserve the territorial integrity of the Kingdom's overseas territories, the Territories could only win the colonial war by developing the colonial economy according to local conditions and obtaining sufficient funds and armaments for war.

Even though the five giants preserved the integrity of the Overseas Territories and preserved the honour of the Kingdom, after the end of this colonial war, whether it was Prince Hansburg or Prince Widreck, whoever came to the throne, as long as the Kingdom regained control over the Overseas Territories on its own soil, the fate of the five generals in the theatre would be exile and idleness, and such fate would not be avoided unless you alone created a counter-cutting ground.

Perhaps the only rebellion among the five generals in the war zone is Claude you, and General Scully's outspoken words frightened Claude. Why would you think that? Claude asked in disgust.

“It's simple. One is that you're the youngest, the sharpest, and you can't stand grievances. Second, you have the highest prestige in the army, whether it's the Thunder Legion or the Rock Legion, or the Ward Command, and you're basically in charge of military training and this colonial war. The third point is most important: you have always lacked awe of the Sterling royal family, so you will resist unfair treatment, and we will only accept the punishment of fate. ”

That was what General Skerry said at the time, after which he analysed the remaining four generals, including himself. General Bolognick, a traditional and regular soldier, received a traditional education of loyalty to the patriotic patriots, remained in awe of the royal family and would obey any unreasonable and unjust orders issued by his superiors. Although his wife and children were here, his family lived in the vicinity of Wangdu. His parents and brothers and sisters started a farm and were proud of him. He could not abandon his relatives.

General Beechlin's relatives and family have moved to the direct authority, and he has not much to worry about. But he has always been close to General Bolognick, who is the head of General Bolognick, so General Bolognick's choice is the direction General Beechcrin is headed. He would have chosen to endure the Kingdom's disposition of him, just as General Bolognick did.

General Albert is also a traditional soldier, unlike General Bolognick, who, unlike General Beechlin, uses words to dispel his grievances. But he didn't have the courage to resist, and even if he screamed again, he wouldn't make any real moves. But if Claude leads the fight, maybe he'll be the first to catch up, and what General Albert needs is a boss who can give him the courage to lean on his thighs.

As for General Skerry himself, he also said that he was not a leading talent and that the only one who had built a tree was responsible for logistics management. He had no military power in his hands and posed the least threat to the Crown. Perhaps he would seek a better outcome for the Congress. If the Grand Prince were to take the throne, he might read it out of his old affair. If Prince Widreck comes to power, then it goes without saying that waiting for General Skerry must be banishment and idleness.

Claude sobered up the next day and remembered General Scully's private conversation with himself for two days. What's the point of all this? But seeing General Skerry perform normally in the days that follow, we treat what he says as a drunken vent. I didn't expect to hear General Beechlin say the same thing today.

General Bolognick's face was a little dark, and he probably understood what General Beechlin meant by that. After sighing, he reproached: "We are now discussing whether the news of the assassination of the great prince is true or not, and where have you both been? The mainland of the kingdom was devastated by the civil war. Didn't you read in the paper that White Deer City was a ruin? The Grand Prince's departure must have taken all the ships, and the King couldn't find the sea boat to inform us, believing that in a few months we will be able to resume traffic contact with the mainland of the kingdom..."

Claude shook his head, and General Bolognick took it for granted. He filmed the table and said to those present:

“If there are no ships on the mainland side of the kingdom, then we take the initiative to deliver a letter. Isn't the port of Cobichous, under Tilsim's command, still home to a few long-distance warships from the former Storm fleet? We do not have enough funds in our theatre to restore the storm fleet to those navies, and now White Deer City is recovered, and we can bring those ships back to the kingdom itself.

Return these storm fleet battleships to the kingdom's maritime power and let our messengers send the battlefield reports to Wang Du in the hope that they will give us some military support in this colonial war... "

“Claude is right. Now that the route has been cleared, we have spontaneously returned to the kingdom. Anyway, those navies are not willing to join our battlefield to form a cruise fleet, and they have to pay for their warships to escort and patrol offshore areas. Is this the Royal Navy or hiring an armed fleet?

Now it is on this pretext to get them back to the kingdom, and to avoid constantly asking our war zones to allocate funds for the construction of warships to restore any storm fleet formation, without thinking that our war zones could intervene... "General Scully cried out loudly.