Claude was dejected and filled with a sense of defeat. It was at that moment that he truly understood what it meant to have a useless teammate.
If the region didn't want to be independent from Aueras, the conflict this time would be the best opportunity for them to expand their influence in the royal court.
During the war, the region did everything they could to help the royal court, but they were mocked for being rich and stupid.
It was just that the Thundercrash and Monolith Armies were extremely famous, and no one in the kingdom could compare to them in terms of battle achievements and combat power. As such, the overseas autonomous region was able to make decisions in the royal court.
But after the war, the region was ostracized by the old nobles and the natives. Naturally, that had a lot to do with the region stopping sending military aid to the royal court.
After all, the kingdom's mainland had been fully recovered and the taxes paid by the various regions were enough for the royal court to live on. There was no need to use the region's future taxes as collateral for military aid, not to mention that the region's tax revenue for the next ten years was already the most they could do.
During the war, the region even increased their military aid to Reddragon and Gryphon, hoping to get on the good side of the nobles behind the two corps and gain the support of the royal court.
However, the overseas region had underestimated the shamelessness of these kingdoms' noble forces. Before they received military aid, they tried to curry favor with them in every possible way, but once they received military aid, they turned their backs on them. They worked together with the noble forces of the royal guards to push the overseas region out of the royal court. As a result, the overseas region could not find an ally or a spokesperson in the royal court, and no one spoke up for them …
From a certain point of view, when Claude led three folk of Thundercrash to the royal capital and even sent the newly formed 4th folk as the vanguard, he had already planned to cleanse the rebellious nobles in the royal capital with a thunderous method.
Even though the queen, who was blinded by the glitter of gold crowns, was the best excuse for the conflict, Claude didn't want her life. At the very least, he would let her and the king go for Maria's sake.
He didn't want to be the king's killer. If the king wasn't willing to cooperate, he would at most imprison the king's family in the autonomous region and purge the kingdom's nobles.
Not a single one of them would be able to escape. As for what to do with the kingdom after the purge, that would have to be discussed when the time came.
Of course, it would be best if the king was willing to cooperate. What he had to do was transfer the power of the noble house to the national assembly so that they would have the power to govern the country and not just be given the right to supervise and make suggestions.
The biggest problem in Aueran politics was that the noble assembly had the power to rule the kingdom, while the national assembly was just a decoration. The nobles didn't have an opponent to balance them and even the national assembly became their vassals.
Claude hoped to follow England in his previous life and have the prime minister or ministers be elected by the national assembly instead of the current of the king and approved by the noble assembly.
In his previous life, England's House of Commons had the power to rule the kingdom, so the noble assembly became a rubber stamp. In the end, the kingdom's nobles' power declined so much that it was unheard of in the future.
Claude knew that relying on the region wouldn't allow him to control the kingdom at the moment. Regional discrimination was everywhere.
Up until now, the region was still a land of exiles and barbarians in the eyes of most of the kingdom's citizens. Even if the people from the region took control of the kingdom by force, they would still be seen as bumpkins and nouveau riche. It would be easy for those with ulterior motives to start a rebellion in the kingdom.
So, Claude's plan was simple. He would purge the nobles who were hostile to the region and transfer the royal court's power to the national assembly. He would then support the national assembly to govern the kingdom.
Then, he would choose members of the national assembly who were close to the region to form a political force. That way, the region would be able to maintain its influence in the kingdom and the royal court.
But while it was a good plan, it wasn't something that could be implemented.
Even though the current prime minister, Marquis Blancarte, was a smart man and was able to negotiate with Claude to minimize the consequences of the conflict caused by Queen Christy, Claude had enough military power to topple the kingdom. No matter how they tried to negotiate, he would be able to easily destroy the agreement.
What disappointed Claude was that the representatives of the region didn't feel ashamed of their previous suffering. Instead, they were proud of it.
The way they saw it, the king's willingness to make such a deal was already a sign of his sincerity. They were delighted to receive such generous treatment and were deeply grateful for it.
Bolonik, on the other hand, was a foolish loyalist of the royal family.
Just as Claude had predicted, there were indeed people in the palace who were eyeing the 30,000,000 crowns. Blancarte only had to talk to Bolonik about the king's predicament for a while before the general immediately patted his chest and pledged his loyalty. He didn't care if his promise would affect the region in any way.
On the other hand, General Skri was interrogated the day after he was captured. A man who claimed to be the head of internal affairs wanted him to set an example and get a piece of land from the king.
General Skri rejected the proposal without hesitation. He said that the king had gone crazy thinking about money and wanted to use him to pay for the promotion and land selection fees for a few dozen people so that he could legitimately take away the huge sum of thirty million crowns.
So, he was beaten up, but he gritted his teeth and didn't agree to anything.
Like General Skri, more than 40 members of parliament and military officers who had been injured had survived the first trial.
The reason for their suffering was simple. They were young and had good health, so they could withstand the torture.
Unlike Speaker Bennett and President Henderman, who were too old to be provoked, the palace guards didn't dare to touch them for fear that something might happen to them.
It would be a huge problem if someone were to die. The threat of Thundercrash and Monolith wasn't to be trifled with.
Claude's eagle message was also very timely. It reminded the king and the ministers that without his and the other two generals' signatures, no one could touch the 30,000,000 crowns. He wouldn't admit to it even if they did.
Of course, the main problem was that Claude and the other two generals were leading Thundercrash and Monolith towards the royal capital.
So, the torture of the captured representatives and representatives was stopped immediately. Instead, they had to change their residences and provide them with meticulous care and medical care.
Even though they were still under house arrest, the arrested parliament members and military officers spent half a month in the palace leisurely. Not only that, but the King and Queen also took the time to visit them. The King represented Queen Christy and sincerely apologized for her recklessness.
That was what Claude discovered when he led Thundercrash to the royal capital. Not a single representative was interested in his proposal to cleanse the royal capital of the region's nobles.
Even Speaker Bennett and President Henderman tried to persuade Claude not to stick his hand in the muddy waters of the royal capital.
The two of them were very direct. Our foundation is the region and our next development will be the Great Plains of Canas and the Northern Gulf region.
As long as that region becomes our hereditary territory and is developed uniformly, it'll be the same as the region having a solid base on Freia.
The two regions will be able to complement each other's businesses and develop freely without the kingdom's control.
That's why there's really no need for the Autonomous Region to interfere in the politics of the Imperial City. The ups and downs here won't affect the development prospects of the two regions of the Autonomous Region … "
The representatives were against it and the officers didn't agree with Claude's radical plan. It was only after he arrived in the royal capital that he realized he couldn't find any like-minded comrades.
Marshal Bolonik, for example, betrayed the interests of the region. Without any discussion, he agreed to provide the royal army with new rifles and bullets, as well as a fleet of armoured ships, to offset the lack of promotion fees and land selection fees.
The military industries controlled by the old aristocratic families of the kingdom had indeed replicated the Sonia Type 91 new rifle that the overseas autonomous military zone was equipped with. They had created a similar new rifle and named it the Tegston Type 60 new rifle.
According to intelligence, the new rifles were five to six centimetres longer and half a kilo heavier than the Sonia 91 rifles used by the region.
The reason they couldn't mass produce the new rifles was because they still couldn't figure out the primer for the bullets.
It was said that the technicians from the old noble houses had thought about it before.
But even after they scraped the primer powder from the bullets produced by the region and studied it, they still couldn't figure out the formula and composition.
In a situation where there was no way to successfully produce a primer, a technician invented the use of ground fire crystal powder as a primer, continuing the style of using fire crystals as a primer to fire bullets.
However, the price of fire crystals continued to rise day by day and had already multiplied by four to five times.
Also, the production of fire crystals wasn't high. If they were to use all of it to make primer powder, there wouldn't be enough supply and the price would be too high.
That was why the military industries controlled by the old noble families were willing to charge the ministry of the army 45 crowns for a new rifle and a thale for a bullet.
In truth, the cost of making the bullets wasn't that high.
He recalled that a few months ago, the old aristocratic family had inquired about the price of bullets from the autonomous military district. Since their Tygston Type-60 rifle was an imitation of the Sonia Type-91 rifle, the bullets of the same caliber were interchangeable.
Claude suspected that the old noble houses were planning to use their new rifles to equip the bullets produced by the region.
But now, Marshal Bolonik had agreed to the Royal Court's request, providing the Royal Army with 400,000 new rifles and 40 million rounds of ammunition to equip the Kingdom's three trump card field legions. At the same time, he had also provided the Kingdom with an ironclad fleet of 16 ironclad warships!
This was simply preposterous!
Claude was furious.
Bolonik's reason was that the new rifles and ironclad fleet would be used to offset the 16.4 million crowns promotion fee and land selection fee. The region would be able to earn half of the profits from the arms deal.
But the problem was that the royal court was also using the so-called promotion fee and land selection fee to offset the cost of the arms deal.
Just as Bolonik was feeling pleased with himself and thinking that the arms deal was a win-win for both sides, Claude pointed out that the royal court had won time and immediate combat power.
The three ace corps equipped with the new weapons, Red Dragon, Gryphon and Praetorian Guard, would pose a huge threat to the two corps of the region.
Even though they still weren't a match for Thundercrash and Monolith, they had already gained enough power to force the two corps to pay a higher price.
Apart from that, what made Bolonik agree to provide the kingdom with an ironclad fleet of 16 ironclads?
What was he thinking? Did he understand the significance of the Ironclad Fleet to the Overseas Autonomous Territory?
Claude couldn't hold back his anger and cursed.
He wanted to tell Bolonik that the fact that the kingdom had an ironclad fleet meant that the region's shipping fleets would no longer be able to leave the fleet's protection. The coastal waters of the kingdom were no longer safe for the region's shipping fleets to traverse freely.
Even if the kingdom's largest shipbuilders worked together to research ironclad warships and made great progress, they wouldn't be able to build one in three to five years.
The development of the ironclad warships in the self-governing region was largely thanks to the guidance of Claude, a prophet. Many unnecessary mistakes and research directions were avoided, which saved them a lot of time and money. After three to four years of experiments on the sea, they were able to achieve what they were now.
No matter how much money and manpower the countries along the coast of Freia invested in the development of ironclad warships, they wouldn't be able to reach or surpass the region's standards in a short period of time.
It could be said that the ironclad fleet was like the region's divine weapon.
Bolonik, however, was generous enough to give the kingdom an ironclad fleet right off the bat.
Thinking back to the cannonball, the ironclad fleet gifted to the kingdom would soon become replicas of the other countries on the continent. They would be thoroughly researched from head to toe and would soon be able to raise the standards of the other countries in terms of manufacturing ironclad warships.
Compared to Claude's thunderous rage, Skree, Eiblont, and Beechklin were furious as well, but they still managed to maintain their rationality.
They were angry because Bolonik didn't have the authority to sell the region's new rifles and ironclad fleet to the royal court.
Even though Claude held the most authority in the region, he would still discuss with them before making any decisions and only put them into action after reaching a consensus.
They weren't like Bolonik, who signed the arms deal with the royal court on behalf of the region.
But since the agreement had already been signed, they had no choice but to clean up Bolonik's mess no matter how displeased they were.
Bolonik, however, was extremely embarrassed and announced on the spot that he would relinquish his position in the region and be placed in charge of civil affairs, saving him some face.
Claude had no choice but to accept the arms deal he signed with the royal court and become its executor.
Fortunately, the arms deal between Marshal Bolonik and the Royal Court only involved new rifles and not new cannons. This showed that Marshal Bolonik knew his limits.
The production of the new cannons would be done in Claude's Blackstone Arms Workshop, while the production of the new rifles would be handed over to Weyblon's Lanu Military Industries.
So, while Bolonik could make the deal for the new rifles, he couldn't satisfy the royal court's demand for the new cannons.
Claude's Blackstone Arms Workshop was now involved in the production of new cannons, sniper rifles and bullets, as well as the development of new naval cannons and weapons.
The production of the new rifles would be handed over to Lanu Military Industries to avoid taking up too much manpower and resources.
There were still about a hundred thousand rifles left in stock. A year or two of emergency production would be enough for the royal court to complete the order of 400,000 rifles.
As for the ironclad fleet, Claude planned to drag it out for a while. Even a single ironclad warship would take quite a while to build.
However, Claude still had to discuss it with Commander Moriad to see if there was a way to fool him.
As Claude busied himself, two pieces of news came from Shiks and the region. Neither of them was good news.
The first was Shiks, where Majid III announced the establishment of the Nasri court in exile in the capital. Prince Vedalio, who had been exiled to Shiks, was crowned Nasri VIII.
On the same day, Grand Duke Canas also announced the establishment of the Canas court in exile.
Shiks declared that they wouldn't recognize Aueras' occupation of Nasrian and the Great Plains of Canas. They would do everything they could to help Nasrian VIII and Grand Duke Canas reclaim their homeland and fund the formation of a reclaiming army. They called upon all righteous people who were unwilling to submit to Aueras' cruel rule and oppression to participate in the holy war.
The other news from the region was that all the colonies on the west coast had made a joint declaration to stop the importation of goods from the region into the west coast. They would also crack down on maritime smuggling, tighten maritime restrictions, ban the trading rights of the region's merchants in the colonies and expel their staff from the country.