"You've embarrassed His Majesty …" That was the first thing Bennett said to Claude when he saw him in Canpaster, the capital of North Bay.
It was indeed humiliating. Not a single soldier from Aueras attended the celebration party hosted by Fredrey I in the royal capital. Only Reddragon soldiers who had fought against the Shiksan garrisons were present to make up the numbers.
Chairman Bennett did attend the celebration. He said that His Majesty's face was dark the entire time, and he had a fake smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes.
By then, Claude had already returned to the North Bay territory of the autonomous region. General Skri had built a Ferd manor for him at the seaside of the capital, Canpaster City. It faced the sea and was filled with blooming flowers.
So, he used the excuse of recuperating his body to get some rest.
Bennett, on the other hand, came to visit Claude after his official duties in the royal capital and brought him some gifts.
The verdict of the nobility's court, the receipt and proof of blood ties. Claude was now the head of House Hanferd.
What Claude didn't expect was that Bennett actually bought House Ferd's manor in Whitestag and gave it to him as a gift.
It was an ancestral property and Claude had no choice but to accept the favour.
What he didn't expect was that his mother would sell the manor. It seemed that she and Arbeit had made up their minds not to return to Whitestag.
One side claimed that they wouldn't forget the achievements and glory of their late father, Morssen, but the other side even gave up on Whitestag, where his father was buried, as well as the ancestral estate. The human heart was hard to read and Claude was filled with mixed emotions.
After half a month of recuperation in North Bay, Blancarte came to visit again. This time, he brought official duties with him.
Even though Claude and the soldiers of North Bay refused to attend the celebration held by the king in the royal capital, they still had to be promoted and rewarded.
It was as if Fredrey I had to grudgingly approve Claude's list of meritorious soldiers and Claude was promoted to a hereditary marquis.
Only three people from North Bay were promoted this time. Colonel Borkal was promoted to major-general due to Claude's support and he played a huge role in the Shiksan invasion.
The other two high-ranking officers who were promoted with him were colonels of the newly formed Stormwind Corps. They were also promoted to major-general.
Compared to the promotion of military ranks, Frederick the First was very generous in the bestowal of nobility. This time, another eleven high-ranking officers of the autonomous military district were promoted to honorary barons of the kingdom. It seemed that His Majesty was still planning to earn a fortune from the promotion fees and land selection fees.
Apart from Claude, only Eiblont, Berklin and Dyavid were promoted from hereditary barons to hereditary viscounts. Their family lands also expanded, but they still had to pay land selection fees.
For example, Claude was originally a hereditary count. Now that he was promoted to a marquis, his family lands doubled in size.
But because Claude said he was recuperating and didn't attend the celebration, His Majesty was put in an awkward position. So, the family's new fief was arranged to be in the Nasrian region, 600 miles away from their original fief in Northbay.
If Claude wanted to merge the two lands together, he would have to pay the land selection fee at the royal capital.
However, the region had gained a lot from Shiks this time and didn't mind sharing some of it with the king.
Chairman Bennett was naturally in charge of these matters. He packed up his luggage once more and brought a battalion of guards with him, escorting close to six million crowns worth of gold and silver to the capital for negotiations.
Soon, news came from the royal capital that the territory of Canas had expanded once more. General Skri was going to be busy again.
When the fleet from North Bay arrived to transport the migrants and families to the region, Claude boarded the ship and prepared to return.
Next, the region's main focus was on the colonies on the west coast.
The progress of Operation Wildfire was slow due to the heightened vigilance of the colonial countries.
As reported by General Birkin, although the Pamigar and Lusman, with the help of the volunteer corps of the Autonomous Command Zone, once again destroyed the expeditionary forces of the Kingdom of Morosik, the Kingdom of Lesnia, and the Principality of Vasilko.
However, they also faced the threat of invasion from the other colonial countries on the west coast.
Now, the Pamigal National Republic and the newly formed Lusman Chieftain Alliance needed the aid of the autonomous military zone for almost everything. This had become a huge economic and military burden for the autonomous military zone …
In the fourth month of year 606 of the Sacred Light Calendar, Claude returned to the region's capital, Lanu.
He didn't have the time to attend to Sheerah's manor. Instead, he held a military conference in the region to understand the progress of Operation Wildfire, as well as the situation between the pamigal nation and the lusman chieftain alliance on the west coast, as well as the various issues of assistance.
General Beechlin believed that, at present, there had been great changes in the form of the colonies throughout the West Coast, and that the Wildfire plan needed to be changed according to the situation.
The biggest problem was that the pamigar republic had been embroiled in war for three consecutive years after it was established and suffered heavy casualties. That scared the native peoples of the other colonies to a certain extent.
Many of the indigenous peoples who were prepared to join in the rebellion to establish an independent country and drive away the colonists fell silent and watched the war between the two independent countries succeed or fail.
Back then, Borkal had come up with Operation Wildfire to set off a wave of national liberation in all the colonies on the west coast. He wanted the eight colonial countries to the south of Freia to be unable to suppress the rebellion of the natives in their colonies and resist the military aid from the autonomous region. In the end, all the natives in the eight colonies could be liberated and establish their own nation-states.
However, the armed uprising of the pamigal people and the luthman people alerted the colonial authorities of the rest of the West Coast countries. They sent a large number of troops from their own kingdoms and imposed a strict blockade and vigilance on the colonial borders, making it extremely difficult for the spies sent by the autonomous military zone to contact the indigenous peoples of the various colonies. Even the weapons and armaments sent to aid these indigenous peoples could not be delivered to them …
Many of the native peoples of the colonies had plans to rebel, but they all gave up because of that.
After that, the Kingdom of Morohek, the Kingdom of Lesnia, and the Principality of Vasilko launched two expeditions to reclaim their colonies.
Although the Pamigal Nation Republic and the Luthmans were victorious with the support of the Dominion's military, the three years of war had resulted in the deaths of nearly a million young men and women. This had frightened the indigenous peoples of the other colonies, who were not willing to pay such a high price for independence.
The only good news was that the Kingdom of Moloshik, the Kingdom of Lesnia, and the Principality of Vasilik had been completely annihilated. Even though they had gathered two or three standing legions, none of them were willing to be the first to attempt to invade the two native nations. They were all afraid that their military operations would fail as well.
Due to the mutual wariness and provocation, the situation remained in a delicate balance.
The Kingdom of Morothek and the Principality of Vasilko had completely retreated from the west coast of Nubissia after two failed expeditions. Only the Kingdom of Lesnia maintained a colony on the west coast, struggling to survive.
However, the problem it faced now wasn't that the natives of the other colony were going to rebel. The two failed expeditions had caused Lesnia to lose most of its military strength and ability to defend itself. The two neighboring colonies had already turned their greedy eyes to Lesnia, the only remaining colony.
Perhaps to the neighboring colonies of the Kingdom of Lesnia, the Kingdom of Kamlyne and the Duchy of Lereoro would rather wage war against the Pamigal Republic and the Lusman Chieftain Alliance instead of facing the resolute resistance of the natives and suffering heavy losses in order to gain a colony that did not make up for the gains.
In any case, the Kingdom of Lesnia was now an exhausted and drenched dog. It would be effortless to defeat it and take over this colony.
That was why the borders of the three colonies had been in constant conflict recently. It was said that there had even been a few armed clashes.
Even though the Kingdom of Lesnia had been swallowing the humiliation, and the colonial authorities had repeatedly called for the various countries to unite to deal with the threat of the indigenous tribes' armed rebellion to achieve national liberation and independence, the Carman Lane Kingdom and the Duchy of Lereoro Duchy continued to act on their own, pressing forward step by step. Now, the two countries only needed a reasonable excuse to attack the Lesnian colony …
Because of the ambiguous relationship between the Kingdom of Kamarlane and the Duchy of Leioro, the remaining three countries — the Opsaro City-States Alliance, the Duchy of Federo, and the United Kingdom of the Fokos Islands — lost their desire to attack the Pamigal Republic and the Lusman Chieftain Alliance on their own.
In particular, the Fox Islands United Kingdom occupied the most colonies on the west coast. Even if they lost the Cape Loducus Colony, which was occupied by the Dominion Territory, there were still three colonies of different sizes left.
These three colonies were not connected to each other, and the Fochs Alliance's strength lay in its naval fleet, not its land army. Now, each of the three colonies had a patchwork garrison to guard against the natives in the colonies …
Currently, the Fochs Islands United Kingdom was the most nervous. It was most worried that the Carman Lane Kingdom and the Lerio Duchy would wage war on the remaining colony of the Lesnia Kingdom. If that happened, it was likely that it would be involved in the battle for the colony.
After all, its three colonies' garrisons were very weak. There was only one garrison with low combat power, which was no match for the two or three standing armies of the neighboring colonies.
Fortunately, the Fochs Alliance's navy was very strong. Seriously speaking, it was least worried that the natives in the colonies would launch a riot.
Because the natives in the colonies had been deeply influenced by the Fochs Alliance's colonists for more than a hundred years, they called themselves the Lanstobuc people, meaning the darlings of the sea and warriors in the wind and waves. They were good at fishing and diving in the sea.
That was why the four naval fleets of the Fochs Alliance had recruited many Lanstobuc people as marines. They treated the natives in the colonies rather well.
It was a long sea journey from Freia to Nubissia, and it was the territory where the four naval fleets of the Fochs Alliance flaunted their might.
The four colonies on the west coast had not been involved in any colonial wars for the past hundred years because of their powerful naval fleets.
Even if the colonies were occupied by other countries, the Fochs Alliance could immediately launch a naval war and blockade to salvage the situation. In the end, the country that started the war had no choice but to return the occupied colony to the Fochs Alliance.
But with the appearance of the naval ironclad warships, those long-distance sailing warships became obsolete overnight.
Even though the Fochs Alliance had four powerful naval fleets, they were still at the same level as the other countries.
In the past few years when all the coastal countries invested heavily in the development of ironclad warships, the Fochs Alliance's greatest weakness was exposed to the other countries.
As an archipelago country, they didn't have rich mineral resources or advanced ironmaking technology.
Compared to the other countries in the south of Freia, the Fochs Alliance had always been at a disadvantage when it came to ironmaking and forging. That could be seen from the outdated muskets their army was equipped with.
That was why the Fochs Alliance sold the captured Shiksan muskets to the colonial officials of the Fochs Alliance at a low price, much to their delight. They emptied out the bank's vaults and bought large amounts of equipment.
Two years ago, the Fochs Alliance sent an envoy to the region in hopes of buying an ironclad warship for research purposes.
However, General Moriad, who was the Admiral of the Navy, had once said this to the envoy in a contemptuous tone. What he meant was that even if they bought it, they would not be able to replicate an ironclad warship. Their kingdom did not have the refining, forging, welding and other basic industrial technologies required to manufacture ironclad warships. They could not even replicate the simplest fire engines and steam engines.
Over the past two years, the other coastal countries had also made progress in their ironclad warship research. Two of them had even produced ships covered in copper armour that were powered by steam engines.
Even though they were far from being comparable to the ironclad warships of the region's navy, they still had a bright future ahead of them. They were far superior to those wooden sailing warships.
That was why the Fochs Alliance knew that if any coastal country produced an ironclad warship like the region, they would lose their position as a naval power.
If they couldn't become a naval power, they wouldn't be able to keep their three remaining colonies on the western coast of Nubissia.
However, the Fochs Alliance lacked both resources and production technology. Faced with that predicament, they decided to invest in one of the colonies called Mount Weiders.
The colony was mostly hilly and had some good metal mineral resources. It could be developed into a large mineral refining and production base. The Fox Islands United Kingdom decided to purchase technology and recruit technicians from all over the continent. They wanted to build the colony into a naval port base capable of producing and developing ironclad warships.
That was why the Fochs Alliance was most afraid of a colonial war breaking out between the other colonial countries. They were worried that it would disrupt their colonial construction plans.
That was why they worked hard to persuade the colonial countries to change their target to the Pamigal National Republic and the newly established Lusman Chieftain Alliance.
At the same time, they used their relatively powerful naval fleet to threaten the colonial countries. No matter who started a colonial war, they would have to face their naval blockade and declaration of war.
General Beechlin spoke at the military conference. He believed that the best way now was to provoke the colonial wars of the colonial countries and let their armies, which were piled up in the colonies, kill each other and consume each other. When they were exhausted, the autonomous military area would come out to pick up the spoils. This was the ideal situation.
That way, the goal of Project Wildfire could be achieved effortlessly. The indigenous peoples of the various colonies would be liberated and have them establish independent countries.
However, the biggest disadvantage was the Fochs Alliance. With its existence and the threat of its naval fleet, the colonial countries on the west coast wouldn't start a war.
The best way was to eliminate the Fochs Alliance's naval fleet first. Without the threat of its four naval fleets, a colonial war would definitely break out. Even the three colonies of the Fochs Alliance would be annexed by other countries.
The problem was that the region had no way to eliminate the Fochs Alliance's naval fleet. They had no reason to do so.
Especially since the Fochs Alliance had given Cape Loducus to the region and maintained a friendly relationship with the region. They even wanted to buy ironclad warship production technology from the region at a high price.
Under such circumstances, the region couldn't attack them for no reason. After all, the region needed to have a good reason to attack. They also needed some face.
In the colonial war on the west coast, they could use the name of a volunteer army to cover it up.
But at sea, they couldn't lie through their teeth and say that the ironclad fleet was also a volunteer fleet. That would be hard to explain …
"Have you considered using pirates to attack the Fochs Alliance's naval fleet?" Borkal stood up.