Much to everyone's surprise, it was already the end of June in the blink of an eye, but the so-called kingdom's envoy still hadn't arrived.
It was rather strange. It had been more than half a year since the war theatre won the war against Shiks, but the kingdom still didn't seem to have reacted to it.
Even Bolonik, who used his illness as an excuse to stay in bed, couldn't stay at home any longer. Even after such a long time, the situation in the colonies didn't change at all. Be it the citizens or the garrisons, they all calmed down as time passed.
After all, the tragedies that happened in the kingdom were quite far away from the colonies. No matter how ridiculous Stellin XI's actions were, they were nothing more than gossip on the streets. The citizens of the colonies didn't feel any pain at all.
As for the garrisons and the two corps, their initial excitement soon turned into indifference.
The war theatre's victories were won through their own hard work and didn't rely on the kingdom's support.
The soldiers were already used to obeying orders from command centre and didn't feel anything for the distant royal capital.
After learning of the kingdom's current situation and the ridiculous actions of the new king, none of them held any hope for the so-called kingdom's envoy.
Bolonik had no choice but to come out of retirement. As the acting supreme commander of the war theatre, there was no reason for him to stay at home for two months.
Meanwhile, in Port Patres, under the direct jurisdiction of Robisto, the first trial voyage of the ocean patrol fleet was about to depart. General Bolonik had to host the departure ceremony.
Claude didn't mind the fact that Bolonik was back in charge of the war zone command center again. He gave the general a brief report on the work he had done in the past two months and handed the documents over to him. That was the normal handover of duties between the two of them.
What Claude had to do next was reorganize the two corps and the garrisons in the colonies. He didn't have the time to be stuck in command centre.
Currently, the new colony of Loki Mountains was still under military control and not a single citizen of the kingdom had moved there.
The mining association, on the other hand, coveted the gold and silver resources in Loki Mountains and suggested to develop the area several times, but Claude and Skri stopped them.
The excuse was that the local situation was unstable, so immigration and development were temporarily put on hold.
That was a backup plan Claude had prepared for the war theatre. Those who submitted to him would prosper, while those who opposed him would perish. He would have to wait for the kingdom's envoy to arrive to see what would happen in the war theatre.
Since the end of last year, the total number of casualties of Thundercrash, Monolith, and the local garrison regiments who had participated in the war was about 20,000. In addition to the personnel transferred from the two regiments by Colonel Moriad, the commander of the Ocean Patrol Fleet, and the two new local garrison regiments were deployed in the Loki Mountains.
Apart from the reserve divisions stationed in Cromwell and Balingana to fill the gaps in the army, they still needed to recruit more than ten thousand new recruits to fill the ranks.
That was also the reason why Claude and Borkal clashed previously. Borkal believed that the colonial war was over and the future of the two corps was no longer up to HQ to decide. Instead, it was up to the kingdom's envoy.
If the order was to disband the corps, there would be no need to reorganize them. It would be a waste of time and money.
So, while Borkal frequently inspected the local troops and announced that the kingdom's envoy would reward and promote the soldiers who participated in the colonial war, he also delayed signing the order to reorganize the troops and recruit new recruits. In the end, Claude couldn't take it anymore and gave him a good scolding.
The way Claude saw it, the most important thing in a chaotic world was to have an army that could protect oneself and one's family.
Since the kingdom's three field ace corps were acting on their own, it was not impossible for the troops in the war zone to follow suit.
Yet, Borkal was worried about his reputation and didn't make any arrangements to reorganize the troops in the war theatre. That was intolerable.
Fortunately, after being scolded by Claude, Borkal used illness as an excuse to hide at home for two months.
Claude gave the order to reorganize the army and recruit new soldiers in his own name. Then, he was stuck with the miscellaneous administrative work of the war theatre's HQ.
Now that Borkal's' illness' had healed, Claude left the administrative work to him and went to check on the progress of the troops and the training of the new recruits.
Time passed quickly. The kingdom's envoy didn't come in July, nor did he come in August.
Over the past two months, many major events had happened in the war zone. First, it was the formation of the ocean patrol fleet. They had gone out to the ocean for a big round, and they had gone back and forth for nearly ten days without any mishaps. This showed that Moriad, as the new fleet commander, was quite qualified.
Next, the steam locomotive that Boyd was in charge of finally passed the inspection and entered the practical stage.
Claude's overseas colony railway company was finally opened for business and was ready to start building railways in the colonies.
Of course, given the current level of steam locomotives, it would be considered light rail.
The first section of the railway was to run from Port Vebator to Wickham Castle in the Cromwell Colony, then to the Balingana Colony on to the banks of the Dorinibla River.
The third was that Alek's tobacco factory produced the first batch of cigarettes and cigars. Claude had him work with Borkal's father, Rubivier, to sell the cigarettes and cigars in the colonies to his family's trading company.
That was also because Claude wanted Rubivier's trading company to gain a foothold in the war theatre through the sales of tobacco.
The last was that Eriksson finally sent someone to contact Borkal. However, Borkal was still dealing with the nikancha people in Loki Mountain.
The person had no choice but to look for Rubivier, who brought him to Claude.
Claude looked at the list in front of him and saw that most of it was food and daily necessities. The amount wasn't huge and he estimated that it would only be enough to feed 20,000 people for three months.
Claude knew that this was just Eriksson's way of testing him. The colonies under the administration of the war theatre were very strict with large scale grain transactions. Buyers and sellers had to be registered clearly and there would be spot checks on what the grain was used for.
Normally, no one would pay attention to Eriksson's agents buying a few hundred catties of food. But if it was more than two or three thousand catties, it would attract the attention of the patrol officers and they would become targets of surveillance.
So, Eriksson could only contact Borkal or Claude if he wanted to buy large quantities of food in the war theatre. However, he was a good friend of Claude's. His father, Captain Altroni, was attacked by the pirates and the two had a falling out. So, he could only contact Borkal. Even so, he still needed Claude's approval before he could carry out the transaction.
Claude signed his name on the list. The one dealing with Eriksson's Blacksail Pirates would naturally be the Wild Bull Trading Company.
But to gain Eriksson's trust, Rubiwill would be in charge of the matter.
The price of the transaction was fair, only 50% higher than the market price of the colony. Eriksson used the exchange rate issued by the Minsheng Bank to pay with gold and silver coins of various countries, or he could use other goods to exchange for them.
The people Eriksson sent in July only bought food and daily necessities. In August, they bought all sorts of furs and furs, as well as cheap alcohol and other consumables. It seemed that Eriksson was making preparations for the Blacksail Pirates to get through the winter.
A few agents from the Wild Bull Trading Company hoodwinked the pirates and sold them a large batch of Shiksan fur coats for the winter at a high price. They also said that they could carry out the transaction if they needed firearms.
Rubiwill came to Claude worriedly and felt that it wasn't appropriate to sell military supplies and firearms to the Blacksail Pirates.
The goods sold to Blacksail Pirates were all Shiksan spoils of war. Be they military supplies or firearms, they were all trash to the war theatre and would only take up space in the warehouses.
Selling the Blacksail Pirates to Eriksson was mainly to make up for military expenses, and also to estimate the true strength of the Blacksail Pirates based on the number of goods sold.
In the first half of September, the kingdom's emissaries finally showed up at Port Cobicus in Tyrrsim. There were seven emissaries this time, so it could be said to be a special mission. They were escorted by seven long-distance warships of the kingdom's newly formed Storm fleet and a marine battalion.
The seven long-distance warships were part of the dozen or so ships that escaped from Whitestag and hid in Port Cobicus to avoid the kingdom's civil war before returning to the mainland.
There were supposed to be eight long-distance warships escorting the emissaries, but one of them was sunk by the Blacksail Pirates.
The reason the emissaries took so long to reach the colonies was because the Blacksail Pirates had ravaged the coastal regions of the kingdom. All the ports, towns and fishing villages were pillaged by them.
Fortunately, the Blacksail Pirates didn't go on a killing spree this time. Instead, they recruited sailors, craftsmen and refugees on a large scale and looted the officials and rich families there.
The envoys from quite a few places were hung up on city gates or trees after they were captured by the Blacksail Pirates. As a result, the Blacksail Pirates gained a good reputation among the people of the kingdom for getting rid of the tyrants. There were even people who took the initiative to seek refuge with the Blacksail Pirates in the coastal regions.
Ever since the royal capital heard that the war theatre had won against Shiks, they were overjoyed.
For the old nobles, it was the only news that could bring them joy and pride in Aueras in recent years.
The end of the colonial war meant that as long as the kingdom received an endless supply of resources from the colonies, they would be able to recover from the damage of the war and revive their economy.
For the new merchant nobles, the kingdom had been pretty much run out of resources. There wasn't much they could squeeze out of them.
Now that the war in the colonies had ended, they had become a huge piece of meat that attracted everyone's attention.
The ocean trade between the two continents and the import of all sorts of local specialties and resources could be sold to other countries on Freia.
This meant countless wealth and profits, and they had to control this source of wealth.
As for Stellin XI, the arrogant Prince Wedrick who indulged in a life of debauchery, he was happy to have another source of wealth to reap.
During this period of time, he had complained several times about the declining standards of the banquets and balls, but his palace steward had clearly told him that these were all the good things he could get in the capital.
Moreover, the wise king had to be thrifty, or the royal court would run out of money soon.
After the wise Stellin XI defeated his elder brother, Prince Hansbach, he had already issued three new tax laws a year after he ascended the throne. The new taxes would all go to the royal treasury for his use and wouldn't be handed over to the kingdom's treasury.
There were even many times when the wise Stellin XI gave a speech at court gatherings, saying that the taxes paid by the citizens were too little.
The kingdom was in dire straits, so the wealthy citizens should take the initiative to donate half of their assets to repay the kingdom for protecting them.
Of course, those were just rumors spread among the citizens of the kingdom. In the eyes of most citizens, the newly crowned Stellin XI was no different from an incapable ruler.
Even the old nobles didn't like the new king. Only the new merchant nobles gathered around Stellin XI for the sake of profit and power, protecting the new king who represented their interests like a pack of hounds.
After receiving confirmation of the end of the colonial war, the royal court argued for more than a month. The old nobles and the new merchant nobles fought tooth and nail over which faction to send to Nubissia to take over control of the war theatre and the profits of the colonies. Neither side was willing to give in to the other.
His actions were so swift that he had already nominated a few candidates for the governor-general and admiral of each of the territories, waiting for the wise king to make a decision.
As for how to deal with the war theatre, that was the only consensus the old nobles and the new merchant nobles had reached. Both sides agreed that the war theatre model of the kingdom's control over the colonies must be taken back by the kingdom and returned to the viceroy and admiral system.
As for Thundercrash and Monolith, who had won the colonial war for the kingdom, they would be turned into local garrisons and disbanded by the viceroy and admiral in the future.
The kingdom didn't need to keep those two powerful corps in the colonies.
There was also the matter of how to deal with the five generals and officers of the two corps. The merciful king wasn't willing to pursue the crimes of the soldiers who had made small contributions to the kingdom and decided to let them off the hook. They would be demoted in rank and retire honorably from the kingdom's military. They would be allowed to spend the rest of their lives herding cattle and farming in the colonies instead of returning to the kingdom.
However, the various factions of the royal court bickered for another half a month. When they finally came up with a plan to deal with the colonies and presented it to the wise Stellin XI, only then did they realize that they didn't have a fleet that could accomplish that goal.
The original plan to escort a folk to the colonies and take over the war theatre by force was scrapped. The two months of quarreling and negotiations were all for naught.
Fortunately, a clever minister came up with an idea for Stellin XI.
Didn't the war theatre capture the Shiksan fleet after defeating Shiks?
Send a small number of people to the colonies to take over the war theatre and recruit manpower to form the Alliance fleet to transport the resources, wealth and specialties of the colonies.
Once they returned to the kingdom, they would fire the sailors they recruited from the colonies and appoint trusted admirals to reorganize the Alliance fleet.
That way, the kingdom would have another powerful fleet that could ensure that the resources and wealth of the colonies would be transported to the kingdom.
As for the sailors they recruited from the colonies, they wouldn't have to worry about them.
Once they returned to the kingdom, they wouldn't even have to spend a single penny to disband them or send them to labour camps. That way, the kingdom would have a free batch of young and strong workers.
Stellin XI had long since grown impatient. The royal family's expenses were getting increasingly tight and the treasury was struggling to make ends meet. All they could do was wait for the riches they could get from the colonies to fill everyone's pockets. How could they tolerate the court's procrastination and inefficiency?
Therefore, this suggestion was happily accepted by the wise and great King. After scolding all the ministers in the Imperial Court, he named two representatives of the old noble families and five representatives of the new noble merchant families and appointed them as special envoys of the Kingdom to take over the war zones in the colonies. As for the Governors and Military Commanders, they would have to wait for a while.
For the sake of the riches of the colonies, Stellin XI threw caution to the wind and deployed eight of the 23 ships of Storm's patrol fleet that he saw as his life to escort the envoys to the colonies. At the same time, they would serve as the backbone of the Alliance fleet.
His Majesty, the wise and great King, had repeatedly exhorted the envoys to punish the overseas colonies for their disrespect towards him during the kingdom's civil war by not paying taxes and tributes to the royal family. The first thing they had to do when they arrived at the war theatre was to collect the taxes and tributes that the overseas colonies had not paid over the past few years, and impose a fine of ten times the amount of taxes and tributes.
In the eyes of the nobles of the kingdom, the colonies were still sparsely populated and only used as a source of resources for the kingdom.
Perhaps it was because of the war with Shiks that they were in a worse state.
If His Majesty wanted to plunder, let him. Nobody treated the colonies as the kingdom's own territory. The fate of the natives who migrated there had nothing to do with them.
However, after these envoys boarded the warships and set sail, they happened to run into the Blacksail Pirates who came to the coastal areas of the kingdom to plunder. The eight ocean-going warships were chased by more than ten Blacksail Pirate ships, and one warship was even sunk.
They had no choice but to return to the waters controlled by New Storm. When the envoys returned to the royal capital, they were given a good scolding by Stellin XI.
After two months of hard work, the Blacksail Pirates who wreaked havoc on the coastal areas of the kingdom's mainland finally stopped, and they returned to their lair with the joy of a good harvest.
So, the envoys boarded their ships and hurried back to the colonies.