Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 552: The Hicks Return

When Claude heard the Special Envoy of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands say he wanted to introduce overseas self-governing Ironclad warship manufacturing technology, he understood why the King of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands would be so happy to sign and stamp blank documents. Yet another fool who fought the Ironclad warships and wanted to use the transfer to the colony of Rodex Bay as a chip, so that the Autonomous Territory would owe them a debt of gratitude to hand over the Ironclad warship manufacturing technology...

That's why Claude borrowed the Fox Islands from the United Kingdom for not paying ransom, not paying protection fees, not even a penny from the Rock Third Division for the rescue and support of UK immigrants to the Fox Islands, not declaring self-proclaimed acts of taking over 5,000 immigrants, expelling envoys and showing a willingness to pay ransom, protection fees and remuneration to the Fox Islands United Kingdom instead of the Rodex Bay colony.

Since December, envoys from various countries have arrived in the overseas autonomous territories, with envoys from eight colonial Powers on the West Coast among them. The envoys of the eight colonial Powers want to acquire the technology to manufacture Ironclad warships, or buy one or two Ironclad warships from the autonomous military region to sample them and model them for village imitation, preferably by digging up a few masters designed to manufacture Ironclad warships...

Only Patres military port in the overseas autonomous territory of Robisto is heavily guarded. This is the construction base for Ironclad warships and the main base of the overseas autonomous territory Ironclad fleet, and no outsiders are allowed in. Poor agents from all over these missions have done their best to remain in the hands of the military intelligence services of the Autonomous Territories. Finally, agents from these countries became labourers of gold mining in overseas autonomous territories.

It was the last thing these envoys had to do to climb the gate of the military headquarters with a thick face and request a meeting with Claude to buy an Ironclad warship or introduce manufacturing technology or something. Claude's attitude has always been a rejection, not a delivery to the sixteen Ironclad warships on the mainland of the Kingdom, which means that the Overseas Autonomous Territories are opening the door to the Ironclad warships. Until other countries have built decent Ironclad warships, it is impossible for autonomous military regions to sell Ironclad warships to the outside world, let alone to manufacture technology...

Over the past two years, the coastal countries of the Farea continent have invested heavily in research and the production of Ironclad technology, and several countries have even made good progress. Intelligence from undercover agents from autonomous territories indicates that at least three or four countries have manufactured complete iron hulls. Of course, these iron hulls are not as long as the Ironclad warships in the Autonomous Territories, but rather as belly shaped as the Windsurf warships. After all, the Autonomous Territory has the largest plug-in like Claude, skipping the myriad misunderstandings of the ship's enclosure design.

As intelligence suggests, these coastal States, having developed iron hulls, similarly moved heavy front-loaded guns onto ships and, like windsails, placed dozens of front-loaded guns on both sides, firing equally solid iron bullets. To put it bluntly, they've actually replaced the sailboat with an iron hull, and that's a lot of progress.

So it is not surprising that the eight colonial Powers in the southern part of the Farea continent, which want to acquire Ironclad warships and their manufacturing technology from overseas autonomous territories, are all historic maritime trading nations that have acquired countless resources and wealth from the pelagic trade and the colonial Nubian continent. It is very clear how the advent of the White Ironclad warships will change the maritime forces of States on a daily basis, and they are actually the coastal States most interested in acquiring the Ironclad warships in order to safeguard their maritime interests.

As the ambassador of the Kingdom of Cameron Lane said when referring to Marshal Bolognick, the joint imposition of a ban on overseas self-governing territories by the eight colonies of the West Coast is, in fact, the biggest pain in the ass for the overseas self-governing territories. They wanted to force overseas autonomous territories to transfer Ironclad warship production technology to their eight colonial nations while opening limited commercial markets to overseas autonomous territories through trade negotiations with overseas autonomous territories...

In fact, when members of parliament from Claude and the Overseas Autonomous Territories heard about the ban issued by the eight West Coast colonies against the Overseas Autonomous Territories, they were also wondering because the eight countries would not sell all their merchandise to the colonies. Much of the less profitable goods would not be transported from the mainland to the colonies at all, and in that regard it would be perfectly compatible with the overseas autonomous territories, without the need for a stick to prohibit all commerce and commodities in the autonomous territories.

Until then, it became clear to all that the eight West Coast colonial Powers wanted to negotiate with the Overseas Autonomous Territories through a restraining order to acquire Ironclad warship production and manufacturing technology. Just let the eight colonial Powers on the West Coast not think that the Overseas Autonomous Territories were not prepared to enter into any trade negotiations with them, and that the Autonomous Territories had directly implemented wildfire plans to expel all eight colonial Powers from the West Coast and put an end to colonial rule...

That was also the real reason why the envoys of the eight colonial Powers had not reaped any gains in the overseas autonomous territories, and no matter how well they brought together the members of Parliament and the generals of the military districts, maintained good relations and performed with any respect or diligence, no one was willing to help them carry out their mission.

In fact, it is now well known that the Overseas Autonomous Territories are the masterminds behind the provocation of the independence and liberation of the indigenous peoples of the colonies of the West Coast countries, with the aim of countering the ban imposed by the eight West Coast colonial Powers. Believing that the Kingdom of Morosik and the Kingdom of Riznia have already regretted why they went to this mix, they not only lost their colonies, but also lost the strength of three legions, and they have no evidence to accuse the overseas autonomous territories...

Now, however, the regrets of the eight West Coast colonial Powers were useless, and the lifting of the ban was no big deal for the Overseas Autonomous Territories. Overseas autonomous leaders have traditionally been shippers, and most of the proceeds of goods and goods belong to smugglers. Now that the autonomous military region has opened a clandestine land smuggling corridor through that Nikancha country, even though the principal money for road repair is somewhat large, without those smugglers as second-traders, the profits are greater.

The first and second divisions of the Rock Corps also returned to the Overseas Autonomous Territories at a time when the envoys of the countries that had come to the Overseas Autonomous Territories had lost nothing. Claude was relieved at last, and the Autonomous Territory had a credible guardian corps, sufficient to protect the security of the Autonomous Territory, and there was no need to worry about some unexpected changes.

General Bitchklin also concluded his inspection of the West Coast Front Line and returned to Lake Lang City, where he was to reorganize and restructure the First Second Division of the Rock Regiment. The new military system divided it into one, two, four divisions, plus the third division of the rock stationed in the colony of the Gulf of Rodex, so that the Rock Corps would have four divisions of 18,000 troops each and the entire Rock Corps of 90,000 horses, which would be the most reliable armed force of the overseas autonomous territories.

Upon completion of the restructuring of the Rock Regiment, General Beechlin will also form a temporary volunteer regiment for the West Coast colonial battlefield. This volunteer corps will help the indigenous peoples of the colonies to achieve national liberation and independent statehood and expel their colonists from the Nubian continent. Nearly all of the grassroots officers promoted and promoted in the Rock Corps, as well as good soldiers, need to go to this volunteer corps to grind up and become truly elite soldiers and cadres.

General Derivique and General Hibilos returned to the military district headquarters and reported to Claude that both General Claude, under the old Legion of Thunder, had been promoted from the grassroots to the rank of General by virtue of his combat achievements. When Derevyck joined Claude's Thunder Division through his father, Mr. Viberon, he was a small lieutenant officer, and now Claude is a royal marshal, and Derevyck was promoted to Major General of the Kingdom, fulfilling his childhood dreams.

This time General Derivique and General Sibylos served as division leaders for those two Hicks volunteer regiments and performed very well during the colonial war in the Kingdom of Morosik on the West Coast. The battle of the Expeditionary Army, composed of three regiments that helped the Pamigals build their country independently and attacked the Kingdom of Riznia, was a great success.

Later, of course, the two Hicks Volunteer Third and Fourth Regiments attacking the Rodex Bay colony and the Rocky Hills Overseas Autonomous Territory were self-made by the Rock Third Division and the four Provisional Guard Regiments. General Derivick and General Hibilos had just dispatched a Hicks-formed field regiment to confuse the residents of Rodex Bay City and convince them that it was Hicks mercenaries who attacked their colony...

After the original occupation of the Rodex Gulf colony, the Hicks Volunteer First and Second Divisions, under the command of General Derivik and General Hibilos, will continue to be stationed in the Ruthmann territory for rest. It was just unexpected that King Machid III of the Kingdom of Hicks had come up with the idea of sending envoys to contact them in the hope that the two Hicks volunteer regiments would counteract the water and take over a colony for the Kingdom of Hicks on the western coast of the Nubian mainland.

Fortunately, just ashore, Special Envoy Hicks was captured by the Russmans and sent to the offices of the Autonomous Territory, where Claude learned that the only way to get this news was to order the two Hicks volunteer regiments to sneak back to the overseas autonomous territories for standby, and then let the four Provisional Guard regiments impersonate the Hicks volunteer regiments to continue to be stationed in the Russmans' territory to see if they could catch a few more envoys from the Kingdom of Hicks. Anyway, those gold and silver mining bases will always lack labor...

“How was your mission?” Claude looked at the two generals saluting himself and waved freely as a salute: “Sit down, Captain Faherring, pour fruit wine, the bottle of gold apple opened for me and entertain our two generals. ”

“Marshal, please don't hesitate, we can drink whatever we want...” The two generals also remain in awe of Claude, who has been promoted from the grassroots to the ranks of officers who have always regarded Claude as their idol, not as Muriel, Mike, and Bok Al, who are so casual in their relationship.

Gold apples are a brand of fruit wine and are not made from apples alone. Named Golden Apple simply means that this brand of fruit wine ingredients is precious, very difficult to make, it is also a boast, it is a famous brand in fruit wine and it is quite expensive.

Captain Fahselin opened a bottle, poured half a glass of wine into each of the two generals and placed the bottle next to him, which was the salute to exit the office and close the door.

“Marshal, the eight Hicks have all been formed, for a total of 280,000.” General Hibilos said in a brief report.

General Derivique sighed: "It took us three months to complete the formation of the two divisions last time we called for a volunteer regiment. And it's basically tens of thousands of Hicks prisoners and adventurous war lunatics who want to naturalize and settle in our autonomous territories. Now, taking them back to the Kingdom of Hicks, taking their families and relatives back to the Overseas Autonomous Territories, treating them as immigrants to the Kingdom, less than a month, the number of eight divisions is full..."

Claude knocked on the table: “As prisoners of the colonial war, they have lived in our autonomous territories for almost a decade, and home-thinking is inevitable. So what happened to the prisoners' representatives this time provoked their anger and despair, and they feared that they would never be able to return to the Kingdom of Hicks to meet their families.

In this context, we say that bringing them back to the Kingdom of Hicks to reunite them with their families, and also allowing them to bring their families and relatives back to the Overseas Autonomous Territories to settle, to treat them as immigrants to the Kingdom, and to divide their fields, gives them a renewed hope of life, and of course they will become insane about joining these homecoming groups... "

“Marshal, I don't understand a thing. General Derivique said:" I personally believe that the most urgent task at hand for the autonomous military region should be the implementation and conduct of a wildfire programme and that the autonomous military region should devote all its energy to this battlefield on the West Coast. You don't have to travel to the kingdom in person at this critical moment to prepare to attack the kingdom of Hicks.

It doesn't matter if the Kingdom of Hicks and our kingdom are not adjacent or even in a state of war, our military zone should not open another battlefield on the Farea continent so far away. If we put all eight Hicks divisions into the wildfire program, we'll be able to sweep at least half of the West Coast colonies next year... "

Claude nodded: "We've thought about all this, but we can't. They have no sense of belonging or loyalty to our Overseas Autonomous Territories because of the repatriation division of the eight Hicks released prisoners. You already know the news that the Kingdom of Hicks sent envoys to reach out to your two volunteer regiments, which remains confidential.

If we force all eight divisions to fight as volunteer mercenaries in the West Coast colonies, then if they make contact with the envoys sent by the Kingdom of Hicks, they may indeed rebel against us. Because for these Hicks prisoners, wanting to return to the Kingdom of Hicks and reunite their loved ones has become their first wish, and whoever stops them from doing so will become their enemy...

I am glad that the first envoy sent by the Kingdom of Hicks fell into our hands, giving us insight into the intentions of Machid III. It can be said that the release of these more than half a million Hicks prisoners, living within our autonomous territories, has become the greatest destabilizing factor for the overseas autonomous territories.

Let's think about how many Hicks released prisoners would have done if McKid III had sent a lot of agents lurking into the Overseas Autonomous Territories, contacting them, asking them to disrupt us in the Autonomous Territories, murdering, robbing, setting fire, rioting, etc., so that they could return to the Kingdom of Hicks and reunite their loved ones?

Or did these Hicks agents threaten to force these Hicks released prisoners, and if they did not follow their orders, they would have disastrous and unfortunate consequences for their families and relatives in the Kingdom of Hicks? And what will become of the security order of our entire Autonomous Territory? ”

General Derivique and General Hibilos were all a little creepy when Claude said, "Aren't they so devoid of the bottom line? ”

“It is hard to say that we must guard against that.” Claude tapped the table with his fingers: “Sometimes I have to admit that King McKid III of the Kingdom of Hicks is a madman, and he always jumped out to surprise us when we didn't care. Like this special envoy and the four previous colonial wars, without exception, he was paranoid and the horn drill wouldn't turn back...

To be honest, the present Kingdom of Hicks has replaced the Kingdom of Nasserley as the sole enemy of the Kingdom of Auveras and our Overseas Autonomous Territories, rather than being the dominant power in the northern part of the Farea continent. If we fail to destroy it now, beyond all its military power, one day it will become a problem in our hearts.

Now that the more than half a million Hicks living in our autonomous territories have been released prisoners, you should know that they are nothing but cannon ashes abandoned by the Kingdom of Hicks. Because they do not belong to the forces of the Hicks royal family, but to the private armies of the nobles of the territory of the Kingdom of Hicks and the youth of the compulsory conscription in those noble territories, the Hicks we captured were worthless, even dead, to Machid III before he rejoiced.

So he didn't want these Hicks to go back to the kingdom and reunite their families, not to mention half a million, or 50,000, and he wouldn't say yes. The reason is that the return of these prisoners is enhanced by the power of the nobles of the territories of those kingdoms, and that Machid III did not easily take advantage of the opportunity of the colonial war to minimize the power of his nobility and, through us, to eliminate the private force of the nobles of those kingdoms, how can he now return more than half a million prisoners?

But our Autonomous Territories want more than half a million Hicks prisoners to return to their homes, become new immigrants to our Autonomous Territories and empower our Autonomous Territories, so the easiest way is to take them back to the Kingdom of Hicks so that they can receive their families and relatives from the Overseas Autonomous Territories. Only then will these more than half a million Hicks prisoners be truly faithful to our autonomous territories and become one of us. ”