"… From the city of Monknad in Port Vebator, also known as the White Silver Fortress, to the Nikancha Country, and then to the inland border, there is a road that can pass through four-wheeled carts.
The nikancha spent four years building this road. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to transport the gold and silver they mined to the outside world to trade with us. They also wouldn't have been able to transport the goods that we trade here to the other settlements in the interior …. "
We can use this road to travel from Monknad to the inland border of the Nikancha Country, but when we reach the border of the Lomonkedo Mountains, we can only use the small road with the goods carried by pack horses.
It's impossible to use four-wheeled carts there unless we mobilize our own manpower to build it.
As for the Nikancha, it's best not to place any hope on them. They're too lazy. Asking them to build the road is just asking for trouble.
Therefore, if they wanted to continue following the trail to the interior of the colonies on the West Coast, it would be best to hire their own personnel and labor instead of conscripting the nikancha on the spot. Otherwise, it would take them eight to ten years to complete the trail.
The Dominion Military has reached an agreement with the Nikancha Country. We need to pay a toll to pass through the inland road they built, and one-thousandth of the total value of the goods will be used as a tariff … "
The head of the Military Intelligence, General Fodelus V.Clyde, had taken over the meeting with Senator Andronos Le.Joust. He was explaining the so-called secret overland road in detail.
It wasn't that the Dominion Military didn't want to take control of this secret road, but the military didn't have the budget to build a secret road. Using pack horses to transport goods through the small road was too expensive, and the people and horses would consume at least half of the goods.
Therefore, if they wanted to use this secret overland road to transport goods to the West Coast colonies for Operation Wildfire, it was best to find a partner who was willing to pay the huge cost of building the road.
Senator Andronos Le.Joust became the first choice. Fortunately, the Senator understood the pros and cons at the first moment and immediately accepted the task.
Councilor Andros Le.Joist knew very well that the secret passage on land would require a huge amount of money to build a road that could accommodate four-wheeled carts, hire construction workers and young laborers from the overseas autonomous region, and complete the material delivery task given by the autonomous region.
However, in this period of time when the smuggling boats in the coastal waters were extinct, having such a secret passage on land was like grasping a golden path that flowed with countless riches.
Smuggling by sea did not work, so they went inland, and the West Coast colonies focused on the coastal zone, ignoring their inland borders.
Therefore, Councilor Andros Le.Joist believed that as long as the goods of the Dominion were transported to the colonies on the West Coast through this secret overland passage, it would be equivalent to restoring the prosperity of the offshore smuggling trade …
Councilor Andros Le.Jouist left the military headquarters confidently. He went back to gather manpower and materials, preparing to go to the Nikancha Country to explore this secret smuggling channel.
The people of the Military Intelligence Department would provide him with full assistance and accompaniment, hoping to gather a batch of military supplies and send them to the Morosik colony as soon as possible.
Claude was in the middle of a meeting to discuss the next steps of the region's military reorganization.
The region originally had 22 garrison lines stationed in the various states of the region, but eight of them were transferred to the eastern part of Freia.
However, eight of the local garrison regiments had been transferred to the eastern part of Freia. There were currently 14 local garrison regiments under the region, with 5,500 men in each.
General Myjack was in charge of the reorganization this time. He would lead personnel from various departments in the military headquarters to reorganize and reorganize the garrison lines.
Eliminate the old and the weak, retire the garrison officers and soldiers who have completed their service, and reorganize the 14 local garrison regiments into a regimental establishment of 3,500 people, the same as the latest establishment of the two regular corps under the military region, reducing the military expenditure during peacetime.
However, Claude also pointed out that the final goal of the region was to have 20 garrison lines of 3,500 men in charge of the daily defense of the region.
The first to be reorganized were the 14 garrison lines that had been left behind in the region. As for the eight garrison lines and two regular corps that had been sent to the east of Freia, they would have to wait for the region to complete their reorganizing mission before reorganizing them.
The difficulty of the reorganization of the fourteen local garrison regiments was that each regiment had to be disbanded by two thousand men.
Not every garrison line had that many people to be eliminated. So, Claude instructed for the extra men to be brought back to Lanu's military base.
They regrouped with the remaining ten thousand men from the Monolith Army's Third Division and were reorganized into six temporary garrison regiments. They were sent to the Nikancha Country to guard the main road inland. This was to prevent the Nikancha from looting the resources that were being transported to the colonies on the West Coast for Operation Wildfire.
In the next two months, the headquarters of the autonomous region was unusually busy. Firstly, the local garrison troops were all carrying out their regrouping tasks. The surplus troops were continuously gathered at the military camp outside of Lanu City. Six temporary garrison troops were being formed.
Second, the Shiksan soldiers who volunteered to join the folk were also sent to the camp for training. Their numbers grew by the day and soon exceeded the size of a folk. There were close to fifty thousand of them.
Thirdly, Member of Parliament Andros Le.Joist gathered more than ten members of parliament and dozens of merchants from the autonomous region to form a smuggling association. They recruited fifty to sixty thousand young and strong laborers from the overseas autonomous region with high salaries and sent them to the Nikancha Country to build the secret road that led to the colonies on the West Coast.
At the same time, they formed a large transport team of close to ten thousand men to transport supplies to the Moroshik colonies.
Fourthly, the three hundred bottom-level officers dispatched by the autonomous region had arrived at the interior of Moroshik's colony along with the ten thousand packhorse caravan. They met up with Borkal and the rest to form the pamigar liberation force in the wilderness.
It was said that close to twenty thousand pamigar youths had been recruited and put into formal military training.
However, they were still empty-handed and were waiting for the region's military base to deliver their weapons and ammunition.
Fifth, Weyblon's military manufacturing industry produced a new type of matchlock whose performance wasn't much different from the aubass mark 3.
What is worthy of praise is that the bullets of this new type of matchlock gun use a breech mechanism, and the bullets are paper cartridges. After being loaded into the chamber, the paper cartridge can be punctured, and the match can be ignited and fired. This eliminates the trouble of reloading the cartridge, and makes the steps of loading and firing much more simple and convenient.
The only pity was that it was born at the wrong time. In a situation where there were already new rifles, this new matchlock was of little value. It was tasteless, but a pity to throw it away.
Mr. Weyblon said that a few gunsmiths in the manufacturing industry had been inspired by the new rifle, and had created the new matchlock.
Since its performance wasn't inferior to the aubass mark 3, Claude decided to use the new matchlock for both the Shiksan folk and the pamigars. He named it Weyblon mark 02.
As Claude busied himself with work, two months passed in a flash.
He received a letter from Steward Svenson in Whitestag. When he opened it, he felt a headache coming on.
The letter stated that after his mother and Kefnie arrived in Whitestag, they started a lawsuit and the defendant was Queen Christy.
House Ferd only had two properties in Whitestag. One was the red brick house and the other was the five thousand acres of wood that Angelina bought for the family.
When Claude passed by Whitestag, he knew that his red brick house had been reduced to rubble during the kingdom's civil war. He didn't have the time to clean it up and just left it there like a pile of trash.
That was also the reason he didn't want his mother and wife to return to Whitestag. Why would they go back when their home was gone?
As for the five thousand acres of wood, Claude didn't think much of it.
Compared to the properties he had in the autonomous region, the two properties in Whitestag were insignificant and not even worth mentioning.
But he didn't expect his mother and Kefnie to sue Queen Christy because of the Ferde Family's 5,000 acres of forest. Queen Christy's Normanley Forest had annexed the Ferde Family's 5,000 acres of forest without their permission ….
Steward Svenson's letter stated that during the invasion of the kingdom, the king and queen stayed in the white palace-like house in Normanley Wood. Because of that, the surrounding areas were under military control and House Ferd's wood became a military base.
Queen Christy also said that the entire wood was part of her private Normanley Wood.
During the civil war, the administrative center of Whitestag was burned down and all records were lost.
So, in order to curry favor with Queen Christy, the local officials waved their pens and gave the entire hilly area southwest of Whitestag to Normanley Forest.
As a result, House Ferd's wood was annexed by Normanley Wood.
If it was an ordinary family encountering such a thing, they would only admit that they were unlucky and go to the local government to ask for compensation, as much as they could.
But his mother and Kefnie weren't willing to do that. They brought the deed and sale documents of the five thousand acres of wood and caused a huge ruckus in the administrative office of Whitestag.
The local officials didn't know what to do. Nobody was willing to get involved in that mess.
What were they to do? On one side was Queen Christy, and on the other side were Marshal Claude's wife and mother.
Not to mention, Marshal Claude wasn't one of those empty counts of the kingdom. He held the military power of the region and had led his army to the royal capital in the second half of last year. His troops almost caused a change of dynasty. Nobody could afford to offend him.
The mistake was a fact, and it was also a fact that Normanley Wood had annexed Ferd Wood.
But there were many reasons for that mistake. Whitestag's old industrial records were lost during the civil war, House Ferd had been in the region for a long time and hadn't returned to make up for it. Another reason was that the previous local officials didn't investigate the matter before deciding who the wood belonged to in order to curry favor with the queen. Another reason was that the queen didn't specify how big the wood was.
But how were they supposed to deal with that problem now? The queen's Normanley Wood had already been demarcated. They would have to go to the royal capital to confront the queen if they wanted to change it. Who would have the guts to do that?
But the documents in the hands of Marshal Claude's wife and mother were real. They couldn't just say they were fake, could they? If they angered Marshal Claude and he brought his troops to Whitestag, who would be able to bear the consequences?
Some people suggested exchanging a wood or manor in the outskirts of Whitestag for Marshal Claude's wife and mother. But Madam Ferd was exceptionally stubborn in her old age and insisted on having the original five thousand acres of wood.
Even if the local officials had offered a lot of extra conditions, such as building a big red brick house for the Ferde family free of charge, replacing the forest with fields, and letting her mother choose whatever she wanted, even if it was an extra thousand acres of land, her mother was adamant that she wanted the original five thousand acres of forest …
Then, Madam Ferd and Kefnie took Queen Christy to the circuit court.
The circuit court was a new product of the kingdom. It was also a new measure introduced by King Frederick I and the Prime Minister, Marquis Blancarte, to benefit the people. The purpose was to strengthen the local legal system. The circuit court would go around the counties and inquire about the cases and punishments of the local officials, and give the people of the kingdom a place to complain.
Coincidentally, the circuit court of the three southwestern prefectures came to Whitestag, so Madam Ferd and Kefnie went to complain.
So, the local officials of Whitestag breathed a sigh of relief. The trouble was pushed to the circuit court and it had nothing to do with them. All they had to do was testify in court.
The case involved Queen Christy and Marshal Claude of the autonomous region. The judges of the circuit court were put in a difficult position and regretted coming to Whitestag at such a time.
But since the case had already been accepted, there was no way to shirk responsibility. In the end, it was decided to hand the case to the royal court and let the king and queen decide the verdict.
Less than half a month later, an envoy from the royal capital rushed to Whitestag. That envoy was an old acquaintance of Claude's, Viscount Tangbagiro Ai Davillid. He brought his mother and Kefnie greetings from the king and queen as well as a large number of precious gifts, as well as a letter from the king himself.
His Majesty the Honourable Frederick the First wrote to his mother with great sincerity that he was very sorry that Her Majesty had, in a moment of folly, failed to specify the boundaries of Bemanleigh Wood, and thus caused the honourable ladies so much confusion.
Therefore, Viscount Tangbagiro Ai Davide was sent as the mediator to divide the wood according to his mother's wishes, and to re-register and re-certify the property.
However, the king had another suggestion. He felt that House Ferd shouldn't hide in a small city in the southwest of the kingdom.
While their ancestor, Hasby, was a farmer, he fought bravely for Stellin IX and used his achievements to exchange for rewards. That was how House Ferd's first property came about.
Next was Mister Morssen. He worked hard for the kingdom and Stellin X as a local administrator and made great contributions.
At the same time, he raised funds to open up a new sea route for the kingdom. His contributions were enough for him to be made a noble of the kingdom.
Unfortunately, the officials of the kingdom were jealous of him and used the excuse of attracting pirates to punish him. In the end, Morssen sacrificed his precious life for the family.
The king said that when he heard of Morssen's deeds in his youth, he felt deeply wronged for the unsung hero of the kingdom. However, his position back then wasn't high enough to redress Morssen's grievances and compensate House Ferd.
Now that he was king, the third generation of House Ferd, Marshal Claude, became the pillar of support for the kingdom.
It was Marshal Claude who wiped out the invading allied armies for the kingdom and wiped out their mortal enemy.
Both father and son had made great contributions to the kingdom. As king, he had to compensate House Ferd for their contributions.
So, King Frederick I decided to gather skilled craftsmen from the royal capital to rebuild House Ferd on the ruins of the red brick house in Whitestag. The cost would be paid for by the royal treasury.
At the same time, a bronze statue of Morssen would be erected in front of his grave in recognition of his contributions in opening up a new sea route for the kingdom.
In addition, the king was willing to trade a royal manor of three thousand acres in the outskirts of the royal capital for House Ferd's five thousand acres of wood in Whitestag. He would also give House Ferd a manor in the royal capital as compensation for Morssen's contributions to the kingdom. Morssen would also be made an honorary viscount of the kingdom.
If the esteemed Lady Morssen Ferde is willing, the envoy's cousin, Viscount Bagiro Ai Davide, will accompany the two ladies and the young master and lady to the capital, and help with all the estate formalities and follow-up matters …
Chief Steward Swensen wrote in the letter that his mother had burst into tears after receiving the king's handwritten letter. She was very grateful for the king's kindness to the Ferde family and was willing to do everything according to the king's wishes.
So, when Svensson wrote the letter to Claude, his mother and Kefnie were already packing for the trip to the royal capital.
After reading the letter from Whitestag, Claude didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was speechless for a long while.
He admitted that he was the biggest thorn in the region. If the king and the ministers wanted to deal with the region, they would have to deal with Claude first.
The problem was, was his mother worth that much effort?
Even his deceased father, Morssen, was put on the table again. Not only was he given a bronze statue, he was also made a noble and given a manor in the royal capital.
If they knew about his mother's relationship with him, they would probably regret targeting the wrong person. Whatever, I'll just see how long they'll put on this show.
Claude wasn't too worried. His mother and Kefnie wouldn't be in any danger heading to the royal capital. After all, he was the biggest military commander in the region.