As the spring passed, the war in the northern border of the empire tended to ease. Instead of taking advantage of the entire spring offensive, the Yate County Alliance lost a lot of occupied land. The tired army needed to be repaired, and the domestic conflicts caused by the war needed to be reconciled.

The Yate County Alliance troops took the initiative to retreat, shorten their supply lines, and gave up large tracts of land.

In accordance with the orders of the Imperial Capital, the Empire's Snow Legion made every effort to reinforce the Snow City defense line. Facing the retreating Yate County Alliance troops, they did not pursue them and only symbolically sent a small number of soldiers to the area vacated by the opponent to form a non-military contact zone.

The public opinion in the empire is trumpeting every day how many square kilometers of land the Snow Legion has recovered, and which villages and towns it has recovered. The Snow Legion, which was newly established less than half a year ago, has gone from being unpopular with everyone to becoming the most powerful force in the empire.

A legion that can fight.

No matter how some people question the combat effectiveness of the Snow Legion, the battle lines will not lie. A spring war slapped countless people in the face.

It also left countless people wondering how the improvised Snow Legion could fight better than the original Northern Legion.

The Snow Legion is really strong.

Or is the strength of the Northern Army exaggerated?

Under the deliberate guidance of a certain will, the Snow Legion and the Northern Army were frequently compared. The Northern Army, whose entire staff was on the southern front to quell the rebellion of the Celtic Duke, was pushed to the forefront.

At this time, the Imperial Palace announced that members of the royal family would form a military condolence mission to the North and the Tedga Hills respectively.

Queen Christina led the team to the North to express condolences to the Snow Legion. The Snow Legion has been bound to Queen Christina since its formation. Going to express condolences at this time further strengthened her control over the Legion.

The one who went to Tedga Hills to express condolences to the Northern Army was the eldest princess Agatha, accompanied by the Marquis of Falling Star of Raging Waves City as deputy envoy.

Before the condolences delegation left the imperial capital, Queen Christina once again made a major adjustment to the palace officials. A group of Nutao City officials were promoted to the position of department heads, and another group of political affairs officers from the Nutao City Government Affairs Department were transferred to

Served in the palace. At the same time, Viscount Iscolan, Madame Mihir, and Ybor were nominated by the cabinet for the first time.

Although Queen Christina did not ultimately agree to these three people joining the cabinet, everyone knows that this is a process. It is very close for the three people to join the cabinet as cabinet ministers. The current cabinet ministers can take their seats and consider who they will replace, and then take the initiative

Find an excuse to resign, don't wait for Queen Christina to call your name.

After the three cabinet ministers were appointed, the handover of the old and new cabinets also entered a formal process.

Gabriel's small cabinet met again.

In the long silence, no one knew what to say. Some people kept smoking, some kept drinking water, and the old guy kept coughing. None of them looked like important ministers of the empire.

Gabriel sat at the top of the table with an expressionless expression. After a long time, he said: "When Her Royal Highness the Queen comes back from the north, I will hand in my resignation and resign as the chief minister of the empire."

As soon as Gabriel finished speaking, someone immediately objected loudly: "Master Chief Assistant, you cannot resign! If you don't serve as Chief Assistant, what should we do? Now the entire palace is almost made up of people from the Reform Society, and the Cross Society is

were comprehensively driven away.

If we can't keep our position as first assistant, we will be doomed."

Some people sighed and said: "Can we stop this? I really don't know what the Yate County Alliance is doing. Even the Snow Legion can't defeat it. We miscalculated the direction of the spring war. The status of the Empress of the Supervisory Country was further consolidated. The Second Prince

Neither Alec nor Sinclair dared to move.

Without the troops in their hands, we can't do anything."

"Did all our money go to waste?"

…

There was another moment of silence.

It seems like it was for free!

An aide said at this time: "The chief reason why I want to resign is because I don't want to be implicated by you adults. Did any of you sell factory machines and production raw materials to Tedega Hills? Some even sent technical personnel.

Worker.

Have you ever thought about the consequences!"

Someone argued: "Rudao City is also for sale."

Gabriel slapped the table heavily: "All the materials flowing into the Tedega Hills in Raging Wave City are all approved by Meteor Star. If anything happens to the merchants in Raging Wave City, Meteor Star will take care of it. If something happens to you, do you think I can still be the same as before?

Can I help you get rid of your guilt?

A group of people who only think about money. As long as you can make money, you are really not even afraid of death.

If you are looking for death, don’t involve me!”

Gabriel got angry, and everyone was so frightened that they didn't dare to speak out.

After a while, a high-ranking official explained: "The alliance between the Celtic Duke and the Northern Army has been uncertain. The main reason is that the logistics of the Northern Army are all on the empire's side, and there is not much in the Tedga Hills.

Yu's wealth supported the Northern Army.

Now that the Duke of Celtic has lifted the factory restrictions, in addition to making money, we also want to free the Northern Army from the control of the empire as soon as possible. With the help of the Duke of Celtic, His Majesty Sinclair will definitely be able to return to the imperial capital to confirm his physical condition.

.”

Gabriel's anger finally subsided: "Has His Highness Sinclair's attitude not changed yet?"

"Yes, His Royal Highness Sinclair has not yet announced his right of succession. On the contrary, His Royal Highness the Second Prince has proposed returning to the Imperial Capital many times, emphasizing every time that he is the first successor to the throne."

For these ministers, the only way to bring down the Queen and the Meteor is to confirm that Emperor Augustine has passed away. As long as there is evidence that the Emperor is absent, the legal principle of the Queen supervising the country will have no basis, and the troops controlled by the Queen will

Some will defect.

The best candidate for emperor in the minds of the ministers is the grandson Sinclair. He is the only son of the eldest prince Fania and has inherited all of Fania's political legacy. At the same time, he has the support of a prominent military family and can completely control the country.

Northern Army. If a military conflict had to occur in the fight for the throne, Sinclair would undoubtedly be the strongest and most likely to capture the imperial capital by force.

The second prince Alec is a little inferior. The nobles of the Western Region are looked down upon by the Moonlight Court, so it would be nice if they don't stab Alec in the back.

Gabriel no longer mentioned his resignation, he said: "This time Agatha and Meteor went to Tedga Hills to condolences the Northern Army, it was for their grandson Sinclair. Sinclair and his father

The difference is that he doesn't have such strong ambitions. If he is persuaded to give up the confrontation, we will have no chance at all.

I need someone to go to the Northern Army alone and let Sinclair know that if he doesn't stand up and fight for the throne at this time, the empire will no longer belong to the Augustine family."

One person stood up: "I'm going!"

Gabriel looked over and said, "Herman, this is our last chance."

Herman said angrily: "Today I was replaced by an official from Raging Wave City. I have served the empire for thirty-two years and worked so hard to get to this position. However, I was replaced by an official from Raging Wave City who had just arrived in the imperial capital less than half a year ago.

Replace it.

I no longer have any worries, and I will give my life to achieve my goal."

A person who has no worries is indeed the best candidate.

Gabriel said to Herman: "If you cannot come back, your family will be taken care of by me."

"Thank you, Mr. Chief Assistant!"

The meeting dispersed, and Hermann took his followers on the train to the Tedga Hills.

Soon after, the royal condolences delegation set off.

Two trains were loaded with condolences, one heading north and one heading south.

As an entourage, Prince Macdonald sat in a single room with Luke and Agatha. He was very excited about this trip to the Tedga Hills: "Sister... No, our Queen told me, wait

When we come back from Tedga Hills this time, I will be assigned a position, and I will soon be an imperial official."

Agatha, who was sitting opposite, said: "Prince MacDonald, you are not an imperial official yet. As an entourage of the Marquis of Falling Star, you should stay next door with the entourage."

Prince MacDonald was not afraid of Agatha, the head of the Secret Service at all. He even adopted the attitude of an elder: "Although I am the attendant of Brother Meteor, am I an ordinary attendant? My sister is your queen mother.

My father is King Ruthen, and there are seven carriages behind this train donated by the Kingdom of Ruthen. Can I, with my status, be able to stay with the real entourage?

Agatha, you must respect your elders!"

Prince MacDonald was right, and Agatha couldn't refute it, but she wanted to talk to Luke about something, so how could she let him listen here.

Agatha winked at Luke, he was the only one here who could subdue this uncle.

Luke said: "You can stay if you want. You go next door and make the entourage uncomfortable. But let me tell you in advance, you can listen to what Agatha and I said, but you must not tell anyone. There are just the three of us here.

If the secret is leaked, it will definitely be you."

"Why?" Macdonald refused: "I trust my eldest brother, but if Agatha leaks the secret, I will be blamed."

Agatha said with a dark face: "Don't question my career."

Macdonald quickly became discouraged: "I will never tell anyone."

Agatha had no choice but to tell Luke about the intelligence about Sinclair recently obtained by the Secret Service.

After the coup of the eldest prince Fania failed, Sinclair arrived at the northern legion-controlled area of ​​Tedga Hills under the protection of his attendants. After receiving the news of Fania's death, General Joshua immediately took his generals to swear allegiance.

Sinclair, after all the Northern Army arrived, this main army of the empire transitioned to Sinclair's name without any loss.

"The Northern Army was actually still in the hands of General George Schull. He was dissatisfied with Sinclair's delay in expressing his attitude towards competing for the throne, and the two had quarreled many times over this.

The truce with the Barbarian Legion was also ordered by General Joel. Sinclair knew about it but did not stop it.

Our condolences to the Northern Army this time are still very risky."

Luke said: "Sinclair must have hesitated again, which is why we came."

"We hope to persuade Sinclair to consider the stability of the empire. But the obstacles we will encounter are also very big. The cabinet sent a resigned official to the Northern Army. Those cabinet ministers are bent on welcoming Sinclair back to the imperial capital to ascend the throne.

The Cross even secretly funded the Celtic Dukes."

Luke couldn't help but laugh: "Why do you feel that the Cross Society has been infiltrated by the Secret Service into a sieve?"

"When a big tree is about to collapse, some monkeys will cling to the trunk, and some monkeys will run away to find a new big tree. If Her Majesty the Queen hadn't hoped that they could exit with dignity, I would have invited them to the secret court.

The intelligence agency drank coffee.

By the way... Leo is also sponsoring the Celtic Duke. This group of ungrateful Windspeakers did not establish a kingdom, but first made trouble for the empire. I really don't know what they think."

Talking about Leo, Agatha couldn't help but get angry.

The Cross merchants who subsidized the Celtic Duke knew they were hiding it and would not give it to sensitive items, but Leo was different. He actually dismantled the machines in the factory and sent the entire production line to the Tedga Hills.

Isn’t this giving yourself a white-eyed wolf?

Luke remembered that he had not told Agatha that Pan Heyin was once the prince and princess of Leo, so he explained Pan Heyin's identity in detail.

After listening, before Agatha could speak, Prince Macdonald angrily cursed: "Pan is not a human being, Yin is his biological sister, and he actually killed his biological sister for the throne! Brother, you should do it now

Declare war on Leo, I will return to Ruthen and take the fleet with you to destroy Leo."

Luke pushed down Prince Macdonald, who stood up and made a big statement: "Pan has not established a kingdom yet. Whether he has betrayed his message is still our guess. And this time our destination is the Tedga Hills. Don't worry about other things.

To distract us."

Agatha said: "Now that Yin is safe, and Leo can't run away, we will have ways and time to think of how to deal with it when the internal affairs of the empire are resolved. It's just... After the Duke of Celtic lifted the factory restriction, he obtained the external

The assistance exceeded our expectations. Intelligence showed that the Yate County Alliance had also had many contacts with the Duke of Celtic.

Will it affect your strategy?"

Tedga Hills is a poisonous needle within the empire. After the factory restrictions are lifted, there are too many people who want to use it to bring the empire to collapse.

The factories in Holy Mountain were built very quickly.

Luke did not answer Agatha's words, but asked instead: "How do you think the Empire can completely solve the problem of Tedga Hills and allow the barbarians to truly become citizens of the Empire."

Agatha replied without thinking too much: "That's difficult! Tedga Hills, as the fiefdom of the Celtic family, has always been a semi-independent existence."

"But it has no real independence." Luke expressed his point of view: "This means that Tedega Hills has a sense of belonging to the empire. If we want to completely solve the problem of Tedega Hills, military attack is only an auxiliary, the key is to attack the heart.

.

First of all, we cannot regard Tedga Hills as the enemy.

Now there are people helping us to build our land, which is a good thing. You can get as much as you want. The only enemy of the Empire in Tedga Hills is the Celtic Duke. I believe that as long as we are patient, time can help us solve everything.
Chapter completed!