I Will Be The Crowned King

Beluga Harbor, Rune Mansion.

With the quiet approach of December, the climate in Beluga Harbour has become more and more severe; at 8:30 in the morning, the sun is still not visible in the sky, and the fierce snow still dominates the entire city.

Perhaps because Talia was not at home, Anson found that he often slept until late and woke up late; Lisa had to wake up only at lunchtime, and start her day as a sheriff. Live life, and have a variety of warm and cordial interactions with gangster criminals.

Looking at the cute angel-like girl sleeping on the bed, the sleepy Anson smiled involuntarily, silently covered the quilt she kicked off, picked up the pillow on the bedside table, and scattered it on the bed. The grenade retrieved the ammunition box in the closet, and finally unloaded the paper shell from the bore of the arms of the Borne rifle.

Perfect.

After confirming again and again that the girl would not blow up the house in her sleep, Anson finally breathed a long sigh of relief and went to the restaurant to make a cup of coffee, add sausages, fried eggs, dry bread, and enjoy this simple breakfast leisurely by the fireplace. .

At nine o'clock sharp, the little secretary knocked on the door of the living room, and brought in the information collected by the Storm Legion and the Luen family's contacts and intelligence network - including but not limited to the "Beluga Port Good People" in various colonies. The branch office, the Chamber of Commerce and factories controlled by the Rune family, and the "pro-Clowe" liberals in the Free Confederation system.

Perhaps it was because the remnants of the Faithless Knights who were scattered in the colonies were all heading towards Winter Torch City and Beluga Port. The newspaper offices and factories in the colonies have gradually recovered their vitality recently.

In particular, the small steel plant in Black Reef Port has been officially put into operation, and the first batch of crude steel has been purchased by Louis Bernard at a high price for the reconstruction of Sail City.

Although it is called "reconstruction", according to the information collected by the newspaper, the ambition of this knight governor is more than that - he intends to completely demolish the slum and transform it into a standard integrated "civil community" to resettle the homeless. Returnees, new immigrants and shipyard workers.

That's right, in the eyes of Louis Bernard, the future of Sail City is a super trading port + New World Dockyard.

Although the coastline of New World is very long, there are currently only two good harbors - Beluga Harbor and Sail City. The severe weather and harsh natural conditions lead to extremely high land transportation costs, so the best cost-saving plan is Shipping by sea; then as long as you can control the shipbuilding industry in the New World, you can naturally control the shipping in the New World, making Yangfan City a trading hub.

This is probably the thinking of Louis Bernard... Anson guessed.

However, although Louis saw the location and technical advantages of Yangfan City, he ignored the general direction of the development of the New World; the shipping industry is very important, but the only benefits that can be obtained are these large coastal colonies, such as Grey Pigeon Castle and Winter Torch. The inland area of ​​the city is tantamount to being abandoned.

After hundreds of years of development, the development of coastal colonies has reached a bottleneck, and the next direction should be to actively explore the inland; no matter how much the shipping industry is promoted, the market size of Yangfan City cannot be expanded.

Even if it can bring more convenient shipping, the premise is that there is a market - the only one that can immediately place a large order for Yangfancheng Shipyard is the New World Company after the merger of the Coal Mine Bank.

And whether it is purchasing raw materials, hiring workers, developing markets, expanding the shipyard...with all kinds of innumerable expenses, who did Louis Bernard ask for a loan before he received family assistance?

Or New World Corporation (Bank).

Therefore, the largest shipyard in the New World is destined to be opened for the New World Company (the Luen family), and Anson is not worried at all; it just happened to save money, as long as the local shipyard in Beluga Port can repair the damage and build some tonnage A normal fast merchant ship will do.

At 9:45, Reinhard Roland came to visit, and he happened to be talking about the sailing city shipyard.

As an excellent banker, Louis Bernard's ambitious ambition immediately triggered his sensitive smell in investment, and he was ready to take this as a breakthrough to allow New World Corporation (bank) to open up the investment market in Sail City.

Moreover, Reinhard knew very well that with the financial resources of the Bernard family, coupled with the dominance of the shipping industry in the Old Continent, once Louis Bernard was given enough time and he was sure that the empire would not launch a counterattack, he would definitely not let it go. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Ansen also agrees with this. It is necessary to invest in shipyards first. It is best to get shares through investment. Profits are second, and the most important thing is to have the right to speak. Improve the shipbuilding ability of the new world.

If the intelligence about the Empire getting ironclad technology from the Church is true, it is likely that the production capacity of ordinary sailing ships in the Old World will be reduced in the coming years, leaving the market to steam-powered ships; the Free Confederation must seize this opportunity to accumulate and acquire Only with shipbuilding ability can we have an independent position in the future shipping industry, rather than completely submit to the will of the old continent.

A country independent of the old world, if even its own shipbuilding and shipping industries are controlled by others, the end may be even more miserable than that of the Clovis Kingdom without an army - not to mention that its development is controlled by others, it can keep its own coastline, ports and the use of marine resources. Right is fine.

Of course, if Sail City really does its best to manufacture large-tonnage ships, it can also stagger the market from Beluga Port, where small clippers are built, to avoid a heavy blow to the local shipbuilding industry... It’s a bonus.

Compared with the investment opportunities in the shipyard, another news from Reinhard was less exciting.

As of the beginning of December, the number of beast slaves and indigenous people recruited and traded from various places is rapidly decreasing, and it is becoming more and more difficult to recruit military talents, which has greatly slowed down the organization of the shooting army. Before March, it reached a scale of 20,000 or even 40,000.

Obviously, the various colonial councils played no small role in this.

More than two months after the War of Independence, the once united colonies were once again plunged into joyous infighting; the once unparalleled gratitude to the Storm Legion for helping them was dwindling.

"According to the information we have collected, the militia regiments in various places have expanded in different scales, from three or four thousand to five thousand or so. The largest has even doubled in size, and it also calls itself a legion."

With a bit of sarcasm, Reinhard raised the corners of his mouth meaningfully: "Not only that, many Clovis-born mercenaries, adventurers, and explorers have also become extremely sought-after, as long as they are willing to accept the employment of the council, Immediately his worth is more than double that of his imperial counterparts."

"They seem to really think that as long as you are a Clovis, you must know how to lead an army to fight... Well, it seems that many Clovis think that as long as you are an imperial, you must be a knight, and there is a long history behind it. family."

Regarding Reinhard's cynicism, Anson couldn't think of any good solution except for a wry smile; the formation of the shooting army is indeed very difficult, especially since he is in a hurry to expand the storm army, and he can't spend too much money on this servant army. turnover.

Not to mention soldiers, weapons and equipment are already a huge problem.

Previously, relying on the August Arms Factory and civilian rifle workshops, it was barely enough to arm a 5,000-strong Storm Division plus a local militia group, and even a wealth of sales to the outside world; but when the army expanded and the shooting army was established, the original output was obvious. Not enough to see.

And this is just the beginning... When the shooting army really expands to 40,000 people, unless the rifles in their hands are all one-off modern industrial scraps, a small arms factory can really not support consumption.

Purchasing from the local market is a solution, but on the one hand, the price is high for a long time, and on the other hand, it is not a long-term solution at all. On the other hand, considering that the local market may completely abandon itself at any time, it is better not to have too high hopes in this regard.

"Since they are so confident in their own militia, we might as well suspend the construction of the shooting army and temporarily set the scale to 20,000 people - the most important thing at present is still the expansion of the storm army." Anson pondered for a while. , said:

"Of course, the necessary knocks and 'reminders' are still very important; before the end of the year, I will find a way to convene the speakers of the colonial councils to visit Beluga Harbor to discuss the future of the Free Confederation."

"And I will announce the investment plan for the coming year to the members who lead the Free Confederation as the bank president of the New World Corporation." Reinhard's face showed a satisfied smile:

"With this, I would like to present a great gift to the true leader of the Free Confederation."

For the already self-evident hints in Reinhard's words, Anson just smiled faintly, and didn't really take it to heart.

What a joke, the real leader is the head of the Rune family and... the real head of the family, he and Reinhard are actually no different at all, they are just high-level laborers, it is better not to over-substitute into the leader's inner drama.

After getting the answer he wanted, Reinhard left the Rune Mansion contentedly; Anson also set off immediately and went to the Legion Headquarters accompanied by the little secretary.

At 10:30, there were already several figures scattered in the headquarters meeting hall;

The reason is very simple, the storm division... oh no, the legion is about to be officially expanded.

Under the Clovis military system, there is a world of difference between divisions and legions, which is most intuitively reflected in the authority; if it is a division-level unit, even if it is an independent unit, the commander is a brigadier general, and he does not change it at will. The authority of the troop formation, everything must be reported to the report.

But the Legion is different.

The most direct is that the commander-in-chief of the legion has the authority to change the organization of the army and promote officers according to "wartime needs" - it is no exaggeration to say that now Anson can appoint any officer below the division commander at will.

Of course, for the time being, few of the officers in the corps can expect to become a division commander overnight. After all, the entire corps is only one division in size... It is still entirely hopeful that it can be expanded and promoted to rank and so on!

In the eager atmosphere, only two figures maintained a calm and normal attitude.

Looking at the group of colleagues who were already restless, Chief of Staff Carl Bain's face was filled with a touch of irony and an indescribable emotion.

He was really very curious, if he announced immediately that if the empire counterattacked obviously, the native land would immediately treat all of them as abandoned sons. Would these people continue to be grateful or curse immediately?

Considering the consequences and influence, Carl can only think about it at most. After all, everyone is a grasshopper on a rope, and his final end will not be any different from them... or even worse.

With the joyful atmosphere on the scene, Anson Bach, who had changed into a military uniform and a gray long-sleeved coat, walked into the conference hall; under the gaze of all the officers, he sat on the main seat facing the door.

After the hall was completely quiet, Carl and Anson, who were sitting in the lower left hand, glanced at each other in tacit agreement, and then cleared their throats~www.wuxiamtl.com~ said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, the purpose of convening this military meeting today is one and only one, and that is to discuss the expansion of the 'Storm' Legion."

"As we all know, because of everyone's unremitting efforts in the past year, the garrison corps has successfully grown from a division-level establishment to a corps, which not only has a new designation and ownership, but also expanded its establishment."

"As a result, many of the duties originally performed on the infantry division scale are no longer applicable. Some personnel and units need to change their titles, expand the size of the establishment or even set up new establishments to perform more complex and arduous military operations in the future."

"Of course, such a major issue can only be implemented after a collective vote at the military conference; everyone can put forward their own ideas, and then raise their hands to vote, as long as more than half of the supporters can declare approval."

When the words fell, Carl looked at his colleagues calmly, as if he was ready to watch a good show.

Sure enough... just as he guessed, the members of the officer corps here look at me, I look at you, the joy is no longer in the face of each other, only nervousness and caution are left.

Everyone was waiting for someone else to speak first, and everyone didn't want others to know their true thoughts; for a time, the hall was as dead as a grave, except for the quick recording of the little secretary "Shasha".

"Since no one is willing to speak first, then I will give my decision first."

Looking at the silent officer corps, the expressionless An Sen said leisurely: "In order to improve the management efficiency of the corps, I formally propose in my own name that Colonel Fabien, the former head of the Grenadiers of the Storm Division, be the deputy commander of the corps. Job - who is for, who is against?"

Um? !

Before he finished speaking, Fabian, who was sitting in the lower right hand position of the long table, raised his head suddenly, his face full of disbelief.