Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 472: The Experience of Colonel Bock Al

Colonel Boquer did not return alone, but brought 48 wrecked, diverse ocean carriers of varying sizes, smugglers and fishing boats to the port of Cobichous under the direct authority of Tyrsim, according to a hawk letter. With nearly 60,000 refugees from counties all over the kingdom, these ships have survived more than two decades of hard sea voyages, relying on little pieces of bread filled with wood chips, bark and vegetables, and finally reached the Overseas Territories...

In addition, the guard squadron that accompanied Colonel Boquer to Wang Du to meet Sterling XI escorted gifts returned only thirty-seven men. Twenty-four people were killed, including Colonel Boquer's personal guards. Most of the reasons for their deaths were the bandits, thieves and poor kools they encountered on the mainland roads of the Kingdom. One of the most dangerous was said to have been surrounded by bandit gangs of 300 or 400 people on a hill and escaped after a bloody battle...

Moreover, the main reason for Colonel Boquer's delay in returning was the involvement of the refugees, since the Kingdom itself had not adopted a policy of healing the wounds of the civil war since the end of the Great War. Instead, brutal accountability and liquidation were imposed on those who joined the Grand Prince Hansburg side during the war, leading to continued instability within the Kingdom and the displacement of countless people. In order to bring the refugees who followed them to overseas jurisdictions and give them a way of life, Colonel Boquer spent all his money and his family's property...

In an effort to gather sea-going ocean-going vessels, Colonel Boquer spent three months in the harbour fishing villages off the coast of the Kingdom, purchasing hired vessels, plus salvaging and repairing them, and finally pulled together to form such a wrecked fleet. Once the refugees were loaded onto the ship, the fleet finally set sail back to overseas direct jurisdiction.

However, the voyage of the flotilla by sea was not so smooth, sinking two pelagic fishing vessels, despite the timely rescue of hundreds of refugees. Worst of all, we ran into Blacksail pirates, luckily, all refugees on board, nothing to rob. Those Blacksail pirates came aboard to inspect the ship and shouted at the fact that they had released the refugee fleet and even had an outbreak of sympathy to supplement the fleet with some food and water, some green radishes and some old pumpkins...

Claude stayed in Port Vibato for three days, where the Thunder First Division disembarked for Castle Monconade, while the Wolftooth Squadron followed Claude back to Lake Lane City and the Thunder Second Division remained on board as usual. Five days later, the combined fleet arrived at the port of Patres under the direct control of Robisto, where all battleships and ocean carriers moored for the rehabilitation of the theatre and the combined fleet would be converted into a distant cruise fleet under the direct control of the theatre.

Claude and General Albert led the Wolftooth Squadron and Thundering's Second Division back to Lan Lake City. Less than six months later, Lan Lake City was once again a major construction site, spreading with dust, ditches and scaffolding.

“As a matter of fact, it's a good thing that Langhu City was beaten to ruins!” General Albert suddenly said with some emotion.

“Hmm?” Claude didn't understand what General Albert meant by that.

“You don't know, General Scully was in a lot of trouble the last time he expanded Lake Lang.” General Albert explained: "Many homeowners in the Old Town refuse to remodel their houses so that drainage and sewerage underground pipes cannot be laid. In the end, General Deskry was forced to move the city centre east only to build a new urban area, with road traffic and underground drainage pipes. The new and old urban areas were two systems. This time Lan Lake City was struck to ruins, just as the old city and the new city were merged in the reconstruction process to carry out the overall planning of the city..."

Claude nodded, which is true, and General Scully's long-standing desire to rehabilitate the Old Town was due to the division of the New Town from the Old Town, which tended to fall into slums and underground gang territory. Due to the large number of alleyways and geographic isolation, there are also significant problems and hidden dangers for security. This time, Lanhu City was smashed to ruins, but despite the huge losses, it could be rebuilt like a piece of blank paper.

When Claude arrived at theatre headquarters, he didn't see Boquer until he asked and found out he was settling in his own family. This time, Bok Al returned and moved all his family and relatives, as well as family business employees and family members, to overseas jurisdictions. General Bolognick gave him half a month's leave to settle his family and relatives first.

Though no one was seen, Claude could see the report and itinerary written by Boquer. Combined, it can be seen that because of the civil war, the kingdom is full of people, people don't talk, refugees are everywhere, bandits are everywhere. Instead of appeasing the people and removing the culprits, the local officials of the Kingdom intensified their peeling and squeezing of their subordinates, with the sole aim of indulging Sterling XI and preserving their positions, while avoiding the ongoing wave of accountability and liquidation in the Kingdom.

In fact, Bok Al and the naval officers on the battleships of the dozen storm fleets returning to the mainland of the Kingdom are not very talkative, and the relations between the two sides are not good. Sometimes Bok Al wonders if he would have been reckoned with by them if he had been on the boat alone, tied up in the middle of the night and thrown into the sea, nothing would have been left behind, even if he had jumped himself in the middle of the night or accidentally fallen from the boat to the sea...

So Bok Al had a tough 18-day voyage aboard, urging his guards to be careful at all times, especially when food and drinking water were tested before entering. It was so easy to get to White Deer City that Bok Al was stunned, because what he saw from the boat was a rubble, and the scenery of the bustling towns of the past was like a shadow, only remembered.

After more than a year of fighting back and forth in White Deer City between the forces of Grand Prince Hansburg and Prince Widreck II, the city left little intact architecture behind. Now the ruins are filled with dilapidated shacks, except that Bok Al didn't find a few old men who knew each other in White Deer City, and more so when people saw him in uniform, they fled in awe...

Local officials in White Deer City have changed their minds about the dozen returning storm fleet battleships, as well as the specialty goods brought by those naval officers from overseas jurisdictions. For Bok Al, the ambassador representing the Overseas Territories' war zone, who had come to see Sterling XI, only cold road signs and certificates had been opened and two carriages had been arranged to carry gifts and luggage. There was nothing else, and Bok Al had to pay himself to acquire more than sixty horses to ride his pedestrian.

As a result, the horses and wagons made their way into fat sheep in the eyes of bandits who had been subjected to seven large-scale sieges and roadblocks. One of the most dangerous was being surrounded by 300 or 400 bandit gangs like the displaced on a hillbilly post. Bok Al said he heard himself, the displaced were screaming, rushing up, killing them and robbing them of horses and eating meat at night...

Fortunately, the squadron guards who guarded Bok Al were all selected as elite, with excellent marksmanship, fired three rounds of firearms, and took away more than a hundred bandits from that bandit group who had rushed to the forefront. Then came the battle with the bayonet, and the guards fought with one enemy, and when the bandit leader was shot dead, all the bandits, like the displaced, fled. But the World War I guards killed seven people and wounded eighteen.

The security situation improved until the Plains of Ibnister, where Wangdu is located. Production recovery is also better here than elsewhere in counties, but also in areas under Wang Du's jurisdiction, where there are no guard regiments sitting in towns and, in general, there are few large bandit groups. It's just that the roads around the Ibnister Plains set up checkpoints that forbid displaced people from other counties from entering the plains under the King's jurisdiction...

Bok Al traveled smoothly through the checkpoints and traveled a few more days to Wangdu. They were prepared to set foot in the Mining and Commerce Association's office in Wangdu, but they did not expect to see that address before them was a piece of rubble that had been burned down by the fire.

According to the surrounding sources, it was the Blue Feather Regiment soldiers under the Grand Prince, because the defeat was to evacuate the capital and robbed the business district. The offices of mining and business associations here were unfortunately devastated, most likely by resistance to pissing off the soldiers, who eventually set fire to cover the crime and burned half the streets to the ground.

However, several members of the Mining and Commercial Association's office in Wangdu escaped, and Bok 'er only found out when he met them that they had fallen into beggars. The reason was the fire, the bank books and stamps hidden in the office, the certificates of formalities and other documents were all ashed, the funds of the National Bank of Mining and Commerce Association reserves were swallowed up by the operators in the bank, and the lawsuit could not be fought because all the savings and withdrawal vouchers were gone and no proof could be found to be lost...

Plus Wang Du Commercial is still not doing well due to the sluggish relationship of the war, and they have to guard the ruins so that the overseas administration can't find their survivors, so they can only work in the vicinity or beg for a living, and live in a small shed built on the ruins at night.

It met with Bok Al, an envoy from overseas jurisdictions, who had all shed tears and unanimously asked Bok Al to take them home. Boqar could only promise them and put them in the line, ready to take them with him to the Overseas Territories when he left.

Next, Bok Al had to find another hotel, and he found that Wang Du's prices were two or three times higher than they had been since the end of the Eastern War. In order to save money and expenses, he found the garrison of the SS in Wangdu and wanted to stay in the barracks. Unfortunately, his request was rejected by the guard officers in the barracks, who said that no outsiders could enter the barracks without His Majesty's permission.

Finally, Bok Al went to the Royal Army Ministry and took three days to submit an application to meet with Sterling XI. At the same time, he obtained a camp from the Army Ministry, an open space near a park around the Royal Army Ministry, where several platoons of wooden dormitories had been set up, where the makeshift army camp used to be located, and where many members of the army officers' families now surrendered to their families. Accommodation is free, but the Royal Army Department does not reimburse you for food and horse food.

Colonel Boquer visited everywhere after settling in, for the purpose of testing the views of Sterling XI and senior figures in the kingdom on the Overseas Territories' war zones, as well as what was said so far about the continuation of this colonial war with the Kingdom of Hicks. Neither Sterling XI nor those high-ranking figures in the kingdom seem to have forgotten that the kingdom still has a direct overseas jurisdiction and that there is a colonial war going on there against the Hicks kingdom.

When Colonel Boquer went to visit them, they were always happy to receive gifts, but when it came to the Overseas Territories and the colonial war, high-ranking figures in those kingdoms would only express their sympathy and encouragement in spirit for the Territories, but none of the support and help they could actually provide. Finally, a man who knew the Kingdom's internal circumstances told the truth that, given the Kingdom's current situation, it was also helpless and impossible to support the Overseas Territories' war zones.

The most outrageous was Sterling XI, who, when Colonel Bockard met him, first reproached the gifts of the war zone, which were too sour and of little value, and then questioned why the Overseas Territories had not paid taxes and tributes to the Kings over the years. Do you think there was no way to take them apart from one ocean kingdom? When his wise king clears the Old River Mountains, he will integrate the Kingdom fleet, and then he will reign and draw a lesson from his kingdom to the immediate battlefield.

Colonel Boquer had been so badly outraged that he was anxious to explain that the colonial war was still taking place in the war zone with the Kingdom of Hicks, and that the wise king, who had been drinking overnight, His Majesty, had discovered that he did not know the truth. He did not know that there was still such a war in the Overseas Territories, and only after questioning the ministers standing next to him was it clear that Colonel Boquer was telling the truth.

However, Sterling XI did not apologize for this, but rather said to Colonel Bockard that he did not care whether the war zone was a colonial war with the Kingdom of Hicks, that the taxes that the Overseas Territories had not paid to the treasury and the contributions to the Crown had to be replenished over the years, and that the fine had to be doubled, after which he was impatient to turn around and leave, walking and asking the Crown Superintendent how the court dance was prepared for tonight...

At the end of the king's ceremony, Colonel Bok 'er became a regular visitor to the Royal Army Ministry the following day, again visiting all the powerful figures who could speak in front of Sterling XI, but no one could help. Because Sterling X was busy hosting a wide variety of banquets and drinks, he had no time for a messenger from overseas jurisdictions.

It was only then that Bok Al discovered that the Royal Army Ministry was no longer the authority of the former Wang Sterling X, but had become a rubber stamp. At most, the local counties can only be given armed issuance documents to convey the King's orders. They don't even have the funds to keep their institutions running properly. One civilian lieutenant colonel in the Army Department, who handed it over to Colonel Bockhare, said he hasn't been paid for more than six months and is now only here to get free lunch food for his family...

Today, the three major regiments of the Kingdom, the Guardian Corps, are under the direct control of Sterling XI. The Red Dragon Corps is the father-in-law of His Majesty the King and is headed by His Majesty the Marshal of the Kingdom, the Duke of Siegfried. Nor did the Legion of the Eagles weaken, and they chose their own Legion leader, the Heritage Marquis of the Kingdom, Jarees. Admiral Ho Hadrow became their commanding officer.

The three kingdoms' Field Ace Legions, which today have a tendency to be warlorded, all military expenditures are allocated directly from the Royal Ministry of Finance to the Legion and no longer to the Royal Ministry of the Army, which then reviews and tests the Legion's military budgets. Even the collection and trade of guns and guns in these armaments were handed over to the Logistics Departments of the three regiments for their own disposal.

Even the cost of maintaining the office cannot be delayed by the encumbrance of the Royal Army Ministry. This is said to be due to the fact that during the civil war, most officers of the Royal Army Ministry supported Grand Prince Hansburg as the new master of the kingdom, with countless runaways. Only a very small number of people are neutral and supportive of Prince Widreck and cannot even maintain the day-to-day functioning of the Royal Army Ministry.

For this reason, Prince Widreck deeply hated the Royal Army Ministry and even wanted to cancel the Royal Army Ministry after defeating the Grand Prince of Hansburg, only to be dissuaded by his father-in-law. Anyway, other kingdoms have army ministries, and the kingdom of Ovilas has to make a name for itself, otherwise it becomes a joke for others. The Royal Army Ministry is now the least visible department in Sterling XI's eyes, and its sole role is to forward documents and stamp them.

After spending more than a month in Wang Du, Colonel Bok 'er, whose purpose had not been achieved, had had to abandon his efforts and turn to the three counties in the southwest to find the whereabouts of his family and relatives after the Royal Ministry of the Army had asked for an official letter. The road was handed over several times because of the temporary goodwill of the attendants, who followed a large number of refugees.

It was not until Berk Al, White Deer City, that it was discovered that more than a dozen storm fleet battleships had been summoned to defend the waters surrounding the Plains of Ibnister, and Sterling XI was terrified that there would be another landing, like Prince Hansburg, where soldiers would plunge straight into Wangdu's ribs. He is not willing to flee again, especially since he has officially become the new King of the Kingdom.

Without ships, Bok 'er had to search for ocean-going vessels on his own, while more and more refugees. Finally, Bok Al was unable to find his father, convince him to transfer his family's business to others, and all his belongings were used to hire sea-going vessels and buy food that could sail far away with his family and relatives, as well as more than 60,000 refugees, to sail back to the direct overseas jurisdiction...