Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 547: Secret Message from General Skerry

Claude was well aware that the only thing the overseas self-governing territories could get into the West Coast colonies was the Rodex Bay colony, which belonged to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The reason is simple: the colony connects the eastern and northern mountains of Rocky Mountain State to fill the gap on the map of the state. With this Rodex Bay colony, Rocky Mountain State is much more complete.

The second reason was that the Rodex Gulf colony had no indigenous population, which greatly facilitated the jurisdiction of the Overseas Autonomous Territories. To the west and south of the continent of Nubicia lies the Morox Cape, a small peninsula part of the deep waters of the Rocky Mountains, and the Rocky Gulf colony is the Gulf plain surrounded by the Cape Morox mountains and inland mountains.

When the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands made the Rodex Bay colony its fourth colony on the West Coast, it found that the colony had little scope for expansion and had little interest in development. So the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands did not send the Nikans to work, so that the Rodex Bay colony only built a Rodex Bay City next to the Bay, inhabitants of which were immigrants from the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, at most employing one or two Nikans servants and maids...

The autonomous territorial areas under the auspices of Claude preferred to provoke a wave of free liberation and independent nation-building for indigenous peoples in the colonies of the West Coast countries, rather than allowing the overseas autonomous territories to contribute directly to the occupation of the colonies of the West Coast countries, most notably by avoiding problems and sequelae. Nearly 60 million people live in colonies across the West Coast, of whom the proportion of migrants from indigenous and Fareal continents is approximately 10 to 1. That is, about 55 million indigenous people and about 5 million white immigrants from the countries of the Farea continent.

On the map, the southern coastal zone of the continent of Nubicia is the Overseas Autonomous Territory, and behind Cape Morox is the Rocky Mountains State. Bordered by Cape Morox, the Rocky Mountain State belongs to that part of the West Coast, which is the Rocky Bay colony. Adjacent to the colony of the Gulf of Rhodes is the colony of the Kingdom of Riznia, the second colony of the Kingdom of Riznia on the west coast, smaller than the first colony.

Next to the colony of the Kingdom of Riznia is the colony of the Kingdom of Morosik, where the Pamigals have waged an armed uprising and are about to recover the entire territory from independent statehood. The colony adjacent to the colony of the Kingdom of Morosik is the colony of the Principality of Vassilico and, further afield, the colony of the Union of the States of the City of Opsaro. On the other hand, the other side of the OPSAL colony was the third colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Overseas Autonomous Territory could annexe the Rodex Bay colony as part of the Rocky Mountain State, mainly because the colony had no indigenous tribes, was quiet, had convenient governance, and integrated with the Rocky Mountain State would greatly facilitate the transportation of mineral resources originating in the Rocky Mountain State, while the Rodex Bay would become home to the Ironclad fleet of the Overseas Autonomous Territory, so that the coast of the Autonomous Territory would not have to worry about threats from the western seas.

If the Overseas Autonomous Territories were to continue to take over the colonies of the Kingdom of Riznia and the colonies of the Kingdom of Morosik, as well as the colonies of the further Duchy of Vassilico, the Union of the Cities of Opsaro, it would be a headache to manage the indigenous tribes in those colonies, the so-called peoples divided from the Nikancas...

For example, the colony of the Kingdom of Riznia, the semi-desert, half-hill land, is home to more than three million Russmans. And the colony of the Kingdom of Morosik has five million Pamigals. There is also the colony of the Principality of Vassilico, inhabited by two indigenous peoples claiming to be Skolo and Gistad, each with a population of more than two million.

In that year, Claude took advantage of the establishment of the Nikanca Nation to carry out a decontamination operation on the overseas autonomous territories, directly packing up more than two million Nikancas living within the autonomous territories and forcibly relocating them to the Nikanca Nation, making the overseas autonomous territories the emigrants of the Kingdom of Ovieras. Overseas autonomous territories, although still inhabited by Nikanchas, are now a very small minority and have no threat or impact on the autonomous territories.

So the autonomous territories can provoke indigenous peoples in the colonies of the countries of the West Coast, who themselves have little desire to occupy those colonies on the West Coast in order to gain national liberation and build independent States into armed uprisings. For the Overseas Autonomous Territories, enough land had already been occupied, and even in another hundred or two years there was enough land to be exploited. There's really no need to go to the West Coast and not to mention these colonies close to the Overseas Autonomous Territories...

This is also the goal of the Claude-sponsored wildfire plan, which is to treat the West Coast as a backyard for overseas autonomous territories, where commodities are dumped, and to find a long-term sales market for overseas autonomous territories. As long as these indigenous peoples are able to establish themselves independently, the commodity goods required by a large population, sufficient autonomous territory for commercial and manufacturing industrial development, can last longer.

“Report!”

“Come in.” Claude said.

The office door was pushed open and a new deputy, Captain Faherring, came in. He was originally an executive officer of the Department of Logistics and was responsible for implementing the specific measures developed by the Department. There are many executive officers like him in the Department of Logistics, and he himself somehow went into Lieutenant Colonel Mason Hughes' eyes and recommended him to Marshal Claude to succeed him as an accompanying deputy. I've been on the job for half a month and have performed reasonably well, not very well.

“Marshal, this is a message from General Skerry, with a hawk feather on it.” Captain Faherling has a secret letter with a eagle feather in his hand.

If there are three eagle feathers on the transmission, that means it's top-secret and urgent and must be handled first. If there is only one eagle feather, it is forbidden to pass on, meaning that the person handling the secret letter has read the contents of the letter and must not disseminate it to the outside world. Mainly to prevent people from talking to each other from picking up and dropping off the comms from Eagle. There is no problem in saying a few words to the outside world without a message from Eagle Feather, but if a message from Eagle Feather is posted, it will have to be dealt with by military justice.

General Skerry, who is responsible for the construction and unification of the hereditary family territory of the nobility of all the kingdoms of the Overseas Autonomous Territories in the northern bay of the coastal zone of the Kanas prairie in the eastern part of the Farea continent, naturally sends a confidential and urgent message that can be disposed of later. This will allow Claude to verify the amount of material shipped on a document with care.

“Put it on the table first, I'll see you later.” Claude said.

Captain Faherling gently placed the message on the table and quietly withdrew from Claude's private office after another courtesy.

It took Claude a few minutes to drop the document in his hand, pick up the signed feather pen and sign it with his own seal. This means that the document has been reviewed by him and can be sent back to the original department to implement the contents of the document. Of course, all the documents that Claude could read were major resolutions on autonomous military regions. This document, for example, is about mobilizing the Rock Corps Third Division to the front line, how much transportation, military supplies, ammunition, supplies, uniforms for the Hicks Volunteer Corps, etc.

Although staff officers from various departments have calculated the approximate material consumption and the quantity of ammunition supplied on this document, Claude still has to figure it out for himself to see if there are any omissions. As the chief military officer of the overseas autonomous military region, it is not just how the commanding forces of the front-line wind fight. Most of the real effort is actually in the mobilization and deployment of logistics materials. The battle is logistics, which is truly a good quote.

Picking up a secret message from General Scully, Claude opened it and glanced at it, instantly realizing why General Scully had put a hawk feather on this hawk transmission. The contents of this letter have little to do with General Scully's responsibility for the construction of the Northern Bay Territory, nor with the overseas autonomous territories, but with what happened when Hicks was captured back home.

When Claude first returned to the Overseas Autonomous Territories, he also handled applications for repatriation of Hicks prisoners, mainly because nearly half a million Hicks prisoners had served five to eight years of hard labour in the Overseas Autonomous Territories and had been freed. But since the Kingdom of Hicks has not yet signed a truce peace agreement with the Kingdom of Ovilas, half a million Hicks prisoners have not been able to return home and remain in the Overseas Autonomous Territories for a living.

Of course, the Overseas Autonomous Territories are unlikely to return half a million Hicks prisoners, veterans who have been on the battlefield, armed and powerful brigades. While the Overseas Autonomous Territories remain in a state of war in the Kingdom of the Hicks and the Kingdom of Ovieras, it is natural that these Hicks prisoners should not be allowed to return home.

Ridiculously, the Kingdom of Hicks is not now adjacent to the Kingdom of Ovillas, nor is it at war. But for the sake of a sigh of relief, the Kingdom of Hicks did not send messengers to seek peace. And as a victor, the kingdom of Ovilas, of course, is unlikely to send a messenger on its own initiative. King McKid III of the Hicks kingdom had insulted the envoy of the kingdom of Ovilas before, and who knows if he will go mad again this time. So this strange state of war has been so deadlocked to this day.

As a result, the more than half a million Hicks prisoners who remained in the Overseas Autonomous Territories were miserable and had not been able to return. The Autonomous Territory began with some surprise, and why the Kingdom of Hicks did not heed the more than half a million prisoners. How is it possible that the armed forces belonging to the Kingdom of Hicks would not even send a messenger to inquire about the prisoners?

It was only after an investigation that it became apparent that the more than half a million prisoners belonged to the noble faction of the Territory in the Kingdom of Hicks, either as private armies of the nobles of the Territory or as local guards of the nobles of the Territory, or as young as they were forcibly recruited from noble territory. For King McKid III, without more than half a million captives, the nobles of the Territory would have little force and no opposition to him, and the entire Kingdom of Hicks was in his hands...

By now, coupled with service, the earliest group of Hicks prisoners had lived in the Overseas Autonomous Territories for nearly a decade, either wanting to settle naturally in the Overseas Autonomous Territories or wanting to return home to visit their families and take them back to the Overseas Autonomous Territories. More prisoners of Hicks, who have been freed, will be able to return directly to their home countries and reunite their loved ones while earning money to work, hoping for an early end to the war between the two countries and signing a truce peace agreement.

Claude received reports that more than 100,000 Hicks prisoners had written their applications in the hope of returning them to the Kingdom of Hicks and reuniting with their families, and decided to open a mouth and set 2,000 places first. Six months ago, two thousand representatives of Hicks prisoners who had been allowed to leave the Overseas Autonomous Territories were sent back to the Farea mainland, first to the northern Gulf and then to the Kingdom of Hicks via ships from other countries...

Claude remembers that when the two thousand Hicks were boarding a boat in Lake Lang City by train to Port Cobichous, everyone was surrounded by a large bag of letters from drum bags, letters from other prisoners that they were asked to take home. At that time, the train station was crowded with Hicks prisoners who came to travel, and the 2,000 Hicks prisoners who went on the train slapped their chests and said they would send their letters to their loved ones so that their loved ones could know that they were still alive...

The letter from General Scully informed Claude of some cruel news that the 2,000 captive representatives had been brought to the attention of the local authorities shortly after their return to the Kingdom of the Hicks and that the news had soon been reported to King McKid III. As a result, Machid III issued a circular announcing that these returning prisoners' representatives were all traitors, and that their greed, fear of death, cowardice and even lack of war had led to the loss of the Hicks Kingdom's colony on the Nubian continent and had been the object of mockery by the Powers.

That is why the Kingdom of Hicks declared these returning prisoners' representatives guilty of treason and began arresting them. It was also announced that the local authorities, after apprehending these returning traitors, could hang them directly from the trees on the roadside without trial, and that even the families of those traitors were sentenced to hard labour and confiscation of all their property.

In his letter, General Skerry stated that 2,000 returning prisoners represented only two hundred people who had been fortunate enough to escape to return to the northern bay, of whom only a dozen were taken home and relatives. More than a dozen people still occupy their homeland not far from the border, or are well-informed and helpful to their friends and neighbours, avoiding local officials who come to arrest them.

Now more than two hundred lucky escapees are very angry, demanding to return to the overseas autonomous territories to tell their comrades all about it, and hoping that the overseas autonomous authorities can help them form a large army to return to the Kingdom of Hicks to avenge the snow and hatred. That's why General Scully sent the secret message. He didn't know if it would cause bad unrest in the more than half a million Hicks prisoners overseas, so he added a eagle feather to the letter asking not to be passed on...

Claude's first thought was that King McKid III of the Kingdom of Hicks was starting to go mad again, but when he thought about it, he understood why the Kingdom of Hicks was doing it. Simply put, these more than half a million captives belong to the nobility of the Territory, and their return would be tantamount to a return of claw teeth and armed forces to the nobility of those honest territories in the Kingdom of Hicks, to the detriment of the dictatorship that prevailed under McKid III.

So Machid III simply cut off with the harshest disposition the idea of more than half a million captives wanting to return home, unwilling to let them return to increase the power in the hands of the nobles of the Territory, and once again sparked a power dispute between the Hicks royal family and the nobles of the Territory. In contrast to the 30 million population base reached by the Kingdom of Hicks, it is no pity that the more than half a million young and war-torn veterans who do not belong to the Royal Hicks have abandoned them, and returning them is the worst news.

Claude hit the table with his fingers, thought for half a day, and decided to write to General Scully to let him return the more than two hundred lucky escapees to the Overseas Autonomous Territories. The Kingdom of Hicks has become a security risk that must be dealt with resolutely, so that these Hicks prisoners can serve their purpose while also increasing the immigrant population of the Overseas Autonomous Territories.

Since the Kingdom strictly controlled the number of immigrants to the overseas autonomous territories, the population of the overseas autonomous territories has grown slowly and still has more than 7 million inhabitants. In contrast, the Overseas Autonomous Territories have a large area and, according to statistics, only a quarter of the total area of the Territory has been developed in towns and cities, which suffer from a severe shortage of labour and immigration.

Even if the Rock Regiment and the Legion of Thunder returned to the Overseas Autonomous Territories, their wives and wives in the newly occupied areas of the eastern part of the continent would be brought back as new immigrants, with a total population of no more than 8 million. The reason is that these newly occupied areas have been the scene of more than a decade of unrest and loss to young and strong populations, the majority of whom are women, children and children. Many officers and soldiers seek a wife who is either an orphan or a widow, with few relatives of their own, some elderly and young children.

If these more than half a million Hicks prisoners could return to the Kingdom of Hicks, then at least two or three million relatives could be drawn back to the overseas self-governing territories. But this requires that the Overseas Autonomous Territories create conditions for them, such as troop attacks on the Kingdom of Hicks, where more than half a million Hicks prisoners will become the most reliable facilitator force and loyal leader of the Autonomous Territories, if they still want to reunite with their families...

So Claude needed more than two hundred captive representatives to come back to the Overseas Autonomous Territories and tell more than half a million Hicks captives about what happened to them and the misfortunes of those captured captives, sparking anger and vengeance among all Hicks captives. Only in this way will these Hicks prisoners be regarded by the Autonomous Territory as their own men, reassured to arm them, command them and wave divisions against the Kingdom of Hicks.

Now, of course, Claude has to clean up the mess that has already broken up on the West Coast, at least complete the first phase of the wildfire plan, annexe the Rodex Bay colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, tie the Ruthmans of the colony of the Kingdom of Riznia to the wagon of national liberation and statehood, help the Pamigals of the colony of the Kingdom of Morosik to build their statehood independently, and withstand the attacks of neighbouring enemies...