Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 574 Replies and Prisoners

A month later, just as the Storm Regiment rotated out into the remaining four central counties, Claude welcomed a strong protest from the Red Dragon Regiment, demanding that a central county be left for them. For the Red Dragon Legion, this local county means two or three million gold kroner in revenues, and they can return home after the robbery. It was a wonderful journey to the Kingdom of Hicks, where the casualties were small and the gains were close to tens of millions of gold kroner.

But Claude certainly wouldn't have fuelled their desire to rob them, and quite frankly told them who told them to move so slowly, it would be gone, and the Storm Corps wouldn't give away their oral food to them. Claude received a reply from the Grand Duke of the North and the Grand Duke of the Sunset River just as he was confused with the Red Dragon Corps.

Grand Duke Pilag of the North. The Duke of Hi-Friot's reply was simple, simply stating that if the Autonomous Territory did not come to the eleven counties of the North, he would not leave the North, and now his mission was to guard the eleven counties of the North. At the same time, however, the Grand Duke of the North strongly condemned in his letter the looting and capture of counties throughout the Hicks Kingdom by the forces belonging to the Autonomous Territory. His message was accompanied by a list of nearly a thousand names...

“This is the Kingdom of Hicks and Pilag. The Grand Duke of the North hopes that we will return the names of those concerned, including the Duke of Hi-Feliot and the royal nobility associated with the Ferriot family, as well as relatives of blood ties.” Colonel Boquer explained: “I checked, most of them are in our prisoner camps, only a dozen are missing...”

“Then pick them out and hand them over to the Grand Duke of the North. We will raise them for nothing anyway, and they will not be able to use them for us. Let go if you have anything to do with them. Two hundred thousand people in the prison camp are no different. Now that the Grand Duke of the North has given us this list, it means that he has no intention of opposing us, nor is he willing to send troops from the North to attack us, and our purpose has been achieved..." Claude made his decision.

“Okay, I'm going to the captivity camp tomorrow to pick out the people on this list and send them to the North.” Colonel Bockard replied.

“By the way, where's Grand Duke Sunset's reply?” Claude asked.

Colonel Boquer shook his head: “The letter is not with me. The Grand Duke of the Sunset River sent someone to be his envoy. He replied to the letter in his hand. The envoy would like to see you..."

“Well, tomorrow morning at 10: 00, I'll give that envoy half an hour.” Claude said, "Have you seen the envoy? Do you have any idea what the envoy meant? ”

“I think he's more skeptical, after all, that the terms you gave him were like pies falling from the sky for Grand Duke Sunset. I think whoever you are will doubt your intentions...” Colonel Boquer laughed and he did not like this Grand Duke of the Sunset River as Claude wished.

“Let's meet this envoy first," Claude shrugged. "Now that this Grand Duke of the Sunset River can send a special envoy to see me, it's obviously a little heartbeat. Now the problem is he can't get assurances from anywhere. I'm not cheating on him. Of course, maybe this envoy came with a different intent. I don't know if I can figure out what we're talking about..."

The next morning Claude saw a special envoy from the Grand Duke of the Sunset River, an old man in his sixties, with a very stylish beard. As you can see, the old man took care of his beard more carefully than his hair. At least he had scented grease on his beard, which was much better than his sparsely bald hair.

“Distinguished Marshal Claude, my lord, Nieltuzze, Grand Duke of the Sunset River. The Duke of Sir Hicks presents his compliments.” The old man made a very standard semi-bowl.

“Have a seat," Claude waved. "What's your name? By the way, do you want black tea or fruit wine? ”

“Oh, thank you, I'll have black tea.” The old man still stands respectfully: “Dear Marshal, my name is Kerchiki. Biphank, my master's butler. ”

“Captain Faherring, bring him a cup of black tea.” Claude pointed to the couch: “Since you are the housekeeper of Grand Duke Sunset River, that should be someone he trusts, no wonder you carry a letter...”

“The letter is here for the attention of His Excellency the Marshal.” The old man pulled a letter out of his arms and placed it respectfully on the desk in front of Claude.

“Sit down and wait till I've read the letter.” Claude picked up the letter and checked the seal on the wax before opening it.

The Sunset River Grand Duke's letter certainly did not come as Claude expected. First, a half piece of paper was written to congratulate Claude on his unbeatable words, and then a half piece of paper was written about his grievances, such as how he was helplessly oppressed by the Grand Duke of the North to leave the family enclosure, until the last piece of paper was the real topic. The Grand Duke of the Sunset River was very interested in Claude's offer, but he asked Claude to prove that it was not a trick to fool him...

“Huh...” Claude shook his head and smiled, saying to the old envoy who was sitting on the couch, "How do you expect me to prove I didn't set him up? Honestly, I can't prove it. Now that your master Sunset River Grand Duke and our Autonomous Territory are hostile, I just made a suggestion. Since your master doesn't want to believe me, I don't have to be bored. You can go back and tell your master that he has more than a month to eat and play with a few more women, because in more than a month, the Storm Regiment in our Autonomous Territory will be sweeping away the six western counties that you're running. ”

“Oh no...” the old envoy jumped out of nowhere: "Dear Marshal, please give us a little more time. I think it would be doubtful if you were my host, and we would need more time and patience to get to know and trust each other. ”

“You speak very well, but there is no more time, and we are all on schedule, which is long overdue.” Claude looks at the old envoy: “Let's just say, your master was in our range of blows, who made him sound so loud, to kick us invaders out and revive the Hicks kingdom or something. I don't care about these propaganda slogans, but cleaning up the threat behind us is definitely something to do...

I wrote to your master to propose that the city of San Siprian in Wang Jing and the district of Wang Jing be handed over to him, not because of my passion or fear of your master, but because I happen to realize that he may be the one we need. If you don't understand, you can advise your master to take a good look at the current map of the power of the Hicks kingdom, and to be honest, he has no future in the six western counties.

It is not only our autonomous military region that is going to attack the territory that your master currently occupies, but the countries surrounding these counties in the west, the Kingdom of Monadillo, the Principality of Tumako and the Kingdom of Isabella, all of whom look to the ten counties in the west. Because the ten western counties of your Hicks kingdom were taken from them, now is the best opportunity for these three countries to recover their lost lands...

If your master does not heed my advice, he will remain there not only to face the sweep of our autonomous military region, but also to resist incursions by the armies of the three surrounding countries. Don't look at how many men and horses your master has gathered. These hundreds of thousands of troops are in fact the people of Utah and cannot take the future of this kingdom for your master. Needless to say, the Grand Duke of the North will not tolerate your master's development around him into a force that threatens him.

So I suggest that you still persuade your master to accept my suggestion, and I can only assure you that my suggestion has no intention or malice towards your master, but that it does not prove anything to make your master believe what I say. This is a big gambling game for your master, let's see if he dares to bet. Now you can go back and tell your master what I said, depending on what his choice is... "

Claude lit up the old envoy with his finger, indicating that Captain Faherring was on his side to take the old man out. Captain Fahselin rushed over to the old envoy and made a gesture to him. The envoy's old man wiped the sweat off his forehead and bowed for Claude half a bow before walking with Captain Faherring to the door.

The Special Envoy, the old man, had just left and Colonel Boquer pushed the door in.

“Are you done?” Claude asked.

Bok Al nodded: “I gave the Grand Duke of the North list to Colonel Mayhad of the prison camp, and he organized people to find out who was on the list, but it took three days, and it was too slow. ”

“I just met the envoy of the Grand Duke of the Sunset River, who asked me to prove in his letter that my proposal was not a lie, not a trap against him.” Claude scoffed, "I don't know where he came from. Do you think he's got a big face? Want me to give him that face. I told him to send this special envoy old man, believe it or not, I don't know which spinach he is. The suggestion was just to see that he was more ambitious and much stronger than the role you recommended for the National Guard Front, which gave him a chance..."

Colonel Boquer picked up the letter from the Grand Duke of the Sunset River on his desk and read it: "Actually, the Grand Duke wants you to take a few hostages to make sure he doesn't suffer your calculations. ”

“I know what he means.” Claude said sullenly, "but I don't want to answer his request. If you don't believe my word, then forget it. Whatever. Pick a suitable candidate from the prison camp..."

Referring to the prison camp, Bok Al remembered: "By the way, Colonel Mayhad of the prison camp asked those places where the captives were guarding the armed forces and some of the soldiers of the standing legions if they could be released. The families of these prisoners came to the camp, circling it every day, squeezing like a vegetable market. He thinks these captured soldiers pose no great threat to us, simply release a bunch of them so they don't waste our food reserves eating and drinking here every day. ”

Claude touched his head and was a little embarrassed: “I think I saw this document somewhere, submitted by the captivity camp, which means exactly what you said. I just don't know where to plug it. Remember I approved it and forgot to send it? By the way, in that stack of files, there's a dark red leather folder..."

Colonel Boquer searched for half a day on the table that Claude was pointing at, and finally found the dark red leather folder. Turning it over, it is indeed the document handed over by the prison camp.

With regard to prisoners currently held in the camps, there are three main categories. The most noble nature is the territorial aristocracy of the Kingdom of Hicks, and the higher-ranking Hicks royal captives were packed in the autonomous military region and sent to the King's Landing in the first place. The second highest ranking is the target of the captured families, such as wealthy merchants and indigenous gentlemen from the counties, as well as those serving as local officials and the ranks of military officers. The lowest ranks are those of the soldiers who guard the armed forces.

Both the Kingdom of Breot and General Skerry of the Northern Gulf went from the camp to 50,000 prisoners each for labour, although those 100,000 prisoners were officers and soldiers of the Standing Army of the Kingdom of Hicks and those resistance elements, which reduced the burden on the camp. But as Legion of Thunder swept the nine eastern counties, the Storm Legion rotated out to sweep the four central counties, resulting in an additional 100,000 captured places to guard armed soldiers...

Colonel Mayhad, the captive camp manager, was right to say that the captives posed no threat to the autonomous territorial military region, because more of the soldiers recruited to guard the armed forces were farmers, handicraft workers, fishermen, small traders, etc., in all professions. Some of the soldiers captured near Wang Jing even their families found the camp, crowded outside the camp looking for their own relatives every day, tears flooded, and it was strange to see how pathetic it looked.

Colonel Mayhad stated in the documents submitted that many of those recruited to the local guards were the only major workforce of their family, and that he was as devastated for the family as he was. In any case, the autonomous military region did not want to occupy an inch of the land of the Kingdom of Hicks, and it would be more appropriate to put them all away if so many prisoners were kept in camps for nothing to eat and drink every day. Big deal, just like the last time in Nasserley, the thigh stabbed them free, and the next time they caught him, they shot him straight in the leg...

The prisoner camps of more than 200,000 people have involved the forces of two Hicks Return Regiments to take care of them, and daily food consumption is not a small sum. If armed prisoners were released from these places, the number of prisoners could be reduced by two thirds, and the pressure to take care of prisoners would not be as great. Now, the two major spending problems in the autonomous military regions are military dependants and prisoners, both of which are of the type of casual drinks. Fortunately, the wealth of the Kingdom of Hicks and the ample reserves of grain seized can meet these wasteful consumption.

Claude had already signed a copy of the document handed in by the camp, and Colonel Boquer scorned: “No wonder Colonel Mayhad asked me to ask why the document had not been answered. You just wrote a reply that you've read. The next step is for you to make a decision and agree to disagree with the prisoner camp proposal. You said you'd seen it, but it didn't mean anything. They thought you weren't thinking about it, so they left it here. ”

“It was my mistake, and I confused it with the documents that put me through.” Claude was a little embarrassed, but he admitted he was wrong. Claude remembered another thing when he took the document from Colonel Boquer and was about to sign it.

“Wait, did your MI get the distribution plan for the ten central counties?” Claude asked.

This was a distribution that Claude had asked MIA to consider a month earlier when he suddenly wondered about preparing to hand over the city of San Hiplian and the Wangjing area to the Grand Duke of the Sunset River. Because the Waffen National Front's leading parties are a little overwhelmed, Claude thinks it would be more reliable to pick out 10 leaders, have these leading parties form 10 small groups, and then assign a local county in the 10 central counties to a small group...

When the Autonomous Territory withdrew from the Kingdom of Hicks, the ten central counties decided to leave them alone, kill each other and cooperate in alliances, depending on the capabilities of these small groups. It's like a maneuver, stuffing all kinds of poisons in a jar, letting them fight themselves to separate the final winner. Claude thinks this competitive environment will allow these leading parties to grow faster.

“has been assigned to a standstill. Colonel Boquer replied," But the Red Dragon Corps and the Storm Corps are still sweeping through those five central counties, so they have only set up small groups, assigned these 10 local counties and are awaiting handover. ”

Claude wrote a quick reply on the document: "You take this document to them, let them go to the captivity barracks and recruit their own troops to form a guard corps, and all the equipment is spent from the weapons and armaments we have seized from the Kingdom of Hicks. Let them remember that it is best to recruit only the locals of the county to which they are assigned, so that they can control it, and the rest, as Colonel Mayhard said, are released with a knife in the thigh. If we catch him again in the future, shoot him directly if he finds a knife wound to his thigh! ”

Colonel Boquer nodded: “I get it, I'll do it. ”

“Wait, there's one more thing.” Claude thought about it and said, "You go back to the envoy of the Grand Duke of the Sunset River, and there's something I can't say, but you can wake him. You directly told that envoy of my strategic intentions, which was the best opportunity for his master to reign over King King, because the separatist forces who wanted to strike a balance within the Kingdom of the Hicks after our autonomous withdrawal.

I can't prove it to him, but his owner can take his personal arm into a county closest to Wangjing District before we leave, and I'll send a division close by just in case. After we evacuate, his master can first occupy the city of San Hiplian and the Wangjing area, and we will leave some weapons and equipment for his master in the city... "