in the name of the queen.

Chapter 331 Your Country Did It Too

“War is a means of covering up social contradictions and oppression. Through war, the ruling class can divert people’s attention, ease social contradictions, and thus maintain its own ruling position.”

"The above argument comes from a philosopher named Carl, and has been tested in practice."

Roland smiled and tapped the blackboard, teaching two students.

The teacher who teaches the emperor in the classroom with one is the imperial teacher. What if there are two of them?
It’s the [Inheritor].

After Roland finished speaking, the smart students had already learned to answer quickly.

"I know, you must be talking about the Kingdom of Pruden."

Alina's eyes sparkled and she was confident in her answer.

"The Vladimir Empire did it, too."

Sif was a little slow, and Alina answered first. She frowned slightly, but quickly found an alternative answer.

Roland smiled and nodded, then continued to ask, "Anything else?"

"The Kingdom of Tyrol doesn't seem to be one of them. Although they have joined the Holy Alliance, Queen Sissi is still upset about Sofia forcing her to abdicate, so they are not putting in any effort."

Sif frowned slightly, then her eyes lit up and she knew the answer.

No wonder Roland reminded them. After all, they were allies. If he hadn't specifically reminded them, no one would have thought of this.

"I know. There is also the Golden Kite Republic. They have too many internal conflicts to resolve, and there is no other means of maintaining stability except war." In order to get more answers, Sif didn't mind giving Alina a hard stab in the heart.

Roland did not deny it and nodded with a smile.

Alina didn't like to hear this.

Although she usually doesn't argue with Sif head-on, she cannot insult her motherland.

What did the Jinyuan Kingdom do to you? Our country has conflicts, but your country doesn't have any?

Alina bit her lip and stood up, about to say something, but when she thought of how much Roland had done for her, she couldn't bring herself to retort.

She had just sat down when she saw the smug look in Sif's eyes. She got angry and stood up again, expressionless and said:
"In my opinion, the contradictions in the Sussex Empire are no less than those in our country. There are contradictions between the development of the imperial capital and the local areas, contradictions between the interests of the overseas faction and the local faction, contradictions between the Progressive Party and the Royalist Party, contradictions between the state religion, the Temple of Plenty, and the rapidly developing Temple of Light in recent years, and potential contradictions in the right of succession between the old emperor and the current emperor."

Roland coughed lightly, reminding Alina to slow down.

"Stop, you are all right. Precisely because every major country has irreconcilable conflicts, this war is unavoidable. Both major camps hope to ease internal conflicts through war dividends and prolong their rule."

"Aren't we the same? The Day of Return is a zero-sum game where the winner takes all."

Alina and Sif stopped their sharp gazes that were about to spark, and looked thoughtful.

Of course they had thought about what Roland said, but they just hadn't thought about it so thoroughly.

Alina couldn't help but asked softly: "Why didn't you say that before?"

Roland looked out the window, watching the neatly dressed soldiers walking past.

Their faces looked exceptionally young, and at first glance they looked to be around eighteen, nineteen or twenty years old.

In peacetime, these people are the future of the country, but too many of them are not a good thing. Economic development has its own objective laws and will not grow indefinitely, but will only rise and fall.

Twenty years ago, the economic situation of the entire Rodinia continent was very good, and international trade was booming under the protection of the Continental Treaty.

At this time, people's desire to have children was very strong, and twenty years ago the largest baby boom in hundreds of years occurred.

So many young people are growing up and need to eat, find jobs and have a future, but the growth of social resources and jobs does not keep up with their growth rate.

War is only the result, but the seeds of war were planted twenty years ago.

Coupled with the approaching day of return, the brutality of this war exceeded everyone's expectations.

Over the past three months, five large-scale battles broke out on the northern plains of Rodinia. Christine demonstrated superb command skills, defeating several famous generals from the three countries of the Holy Alliance and achieving an impressive record of three wins and two draws.

Not only that, she also caused the Vladimir Empire's chief general Suvorokin to be killed on the battlefield, becoming the highest-ranking general killed in the Holy Alliance.

As the war became more brutal, more and more countries were drawn into it.

The Kingdom of Talia chose to join the Free Alliance.

They may not be optimistic about the Free Alliance, but they share a land border with the Golden Kite Kingdom.

If they do not join the alliance, the Golden Kite Republic will send troops to crush them without hesitation.

If you can’t rule the Vladimir Empire, how can you rule the commercial countries around you?
Unlike the Kingdom of Talia, the Kingdom of Nubia took the initiative to join the Holy Alliance. The peaceful sage [Crow] suddenly appeared with his disciple Enya, who had been studying abroad for several years, and issued a declaration of war.

(Crow and Enya appear in chapters 154-160)
His reason for the war was simple: "If we cannot stand on the side of the victor in this protracted war, we will lose our living space after the war."

The Crow Sage holds a transcendent status in the Court of Nature. His words are more effective than imperial decrees, and he can even influence the dethronement and enthronement of the monarch of the Nubian Kingdom.

Now that the Crow Sage has pointed out the direction, it is only natural for the Nubian Kingdom and the God of Nature to join the Holy Alliance and become the victor in their minds.

The Nubian army is not strong, but they provide the Holy Alliance with the most valuable and powerful navy.

The three countries of the Holy Alliance either have coastlines far away in the bitter cold, or have short coastlines and lack excellent deep-water ports, or have been beaten badly by the Sussex Royal Navy in recent decades.

Their navies were weak anyway.

The Nubian Kingdom's naval strength is second only to the Sussex Empire, and it has its own advantages over the Golden Kite Kingdom.

It is not realistic for their fleet to engage in a decisive naval battle with the Sussex fleet, but their strength should not be underestimated.

The worse news is that they have colluded with the remnants of General Haiao to form a maritime coalition of humans and the ocean people.

With the addition of General Haiao's remnants, the pressure on the Sussex Navy increased a lot, and they fought the Nubians to a draw in several naval battles.

Faced with this tense battle situation, Sif gave the order without hesitation to fight every enemy!

In the past, due to the long growth cycle of oak trees, the loss of each warship meant that it would be difficult to make up the shortfall within a hundred years.

But now it is different, wood-iron hybrid warships are the mainstream. Because there is no need for huge trees to serve as keels, the requirements for the wood used for the entire ship are also much lower.

Sif's request was simple: the warships were not important, the loss of sailors was not important, and even the victory or defeat in some local battlefields was not important.

The important thing is that the enemy disappears.

This wild and bloodthirsty method of warfare made traditional soldiers frown, but it made many plunderers who were originally pirates feel their blood boiling.

As we all know, the only difference between the navy and pirates in this era was whether they had an organization or not.

As long as there is an organization, even if he was an unforgivable pirate yesterday, he will be the emperor's guest of honor and the pioneer of the empire today.

Not only did Sif issue a kill order to the remnants of General Haiao and the Nubian Navy, she also issued a conscription order to the pirates who made a living on the sea.

The conditions she offered were very generous and were always fulfilled, so pirates came to her in an endless stream.

Sif welcomed all the pirates who came to her voluntarily.

Of course she knew that these pirates were not good people, but...
Luckily, I'm not one either.

Sif thought silently and issued them all plundering licenses, allowing them to launch unlimited plundering wars against the Nubian Kingdom and its allies.

Alina's approach is similar to Sif's.

They all chose to overdraw their country's potential to convert resources into combat power in order to win this brutal war.

Roland withdrew his gaze from the window and his voice became much gentler.

"I don't mean to blame anyone, I just hope you can recognize that the essence of this war is a battle for territory where the strong prey on the weak."

"Justice and civilization have nothing to do with this war. All we have to do is survive."

The tension between Sif and Alina dissipated instantly, and they fell into deep thought again.

After an unknown amount of time, Sif asked softly, "Should we withdraw Christine? The decisive battle is approaching."

It was already November 1795, 11, with only forty days left until the day of return. However, Christine was still leading her main force to search for an opportunity for a decisive battle in the area from Hansa City to Val City, constantly bleeding the Holy Alliance.

“She knew the Day of Return existed.”

Roland spoke calmly. He did not express his opinion directly, but Sif already knew his attitude.

Sif really wanted to remind Roland that the main force was with Christine, and the city of Val, where the final battle was scheduled to take place, had only 50,000 people defending it.

If Sophia were to disregard martial ethics and send out hundreds of thousands of elite troops to bypass the front battlefield and launch a strong attack, with the defensive capabilities of the Val City, it would not be able to hold out for long.

Sif didn't want to put her fate in the hands of others, especially fanatical charlatans.

Her suggestion was not without reason, and Roland did not like this feeling either.

He thought about it, took out a pen and paper, wrote a handwritten letter, and sent it to Christine.

He didn't say much in the letter, just reminded Christine to pay attention to the time of the decisive battle.

Having said that, as long as Christine is not a fool or has ulterior motives, she will know what to do.

Seeing Roland write a personal letter, Sif naturally had nothing to say. Alina hesitated for a long time and swallowed back her questioning thoughts.

Even if Christine is unreliable, she has a backup plan.

She never believed in devout believers. Her father said that fanatical religion would deprive people of their normal emotions and rationality.

She hid an army in the southern part of the Golden Kite Kingdom.

If the situation is critical, this elite force that is completely under her command will come to the rescue at any time.

The city of Val is not big, so there won’t be many soldiers available for the decisive battle.

You don't even have to win a defensive battle, just a stalemate is enough.

On the day of return, no matter how the battle situation develops at the foot of the mountain, as long as there is no decisive victory or defeat, the final battle will be in Baishan.

The Soul and Blood team faces Sophia.

Alina sighed in her heart, the soul-blood link connected their fate with Roland and could not be separated.

Unfortunately, the number of people linked by soul and blood has not reached the upper limit.

If we had one more person, our chances of winning against Sophia would be much greater.

The original best candidate was Christine, but Roland always disagreed.

At that time, Alina thought Roland was too pedantic. It wasn't like a saint couldn't get married, so why pretend? Now she realized that he really understood Christine best and had foresight.

As the three of them fell into deep thought again, the atmosphere in the room gradually grew colder.

Just as Roland was about to say goodbye and leave to relax, a notification sounded outside the door.

"Your Majesty, a mysterious guest has arrived. He calls himself the Red-haired Traveler."

"Let him go away. Please invite her in. Forget it. Take her to the reception room. I'll be there soon." Sif was just about to ask the secretary to send the guest away. It was already this late. What mysterious guest was worthy of her personally meeting?

But she quickly thought of a name and changed her mind instantly.

Red-haired traveler? Damn it, it's clearly a red-haired pirate.

Since the distinguished guest wanted to see Sif, Alina couldn't stay any longer, so she found an excuse and left quickly.

The Sussex Navy is the best in the world, so the red-haired pirates naturally came to join Sif.

It’s a pity that he is not a hero on land, Alina felt a little regretful.

After all, some allies are not your own.

They were allies during the war, but what about after the war? There is a difference between maritime countries and land countries.

They will also have conflicts and competition.

The soul-blood connection prevents them from fighting to the death, but it is still necessary to determine who is stronger.

The person Alina least wants to lose to is Sofia, because she will die if she loses; the second person she doesn't want to lose to is Sif, because the pain of losing is comparable to death.

After Alina left, Sif felt much better.

Considering the status of the distinguished guest, Sif even changed into an exquisite navy uniform, ready to chat about the navy and the ocean with the old sea dog waiting in the reception room.

Since Sif had changed, Roland did not dare to show weakness. He also changed into a beautiful navy general's uniform, and standing together with Sif, they looked like a couple.

When the two men walked into the reception room with serious expressions, a fair-skinned, handsome guest in a gentleman's suit was sitting there drinking tea.

This guest is in very good condition, with no signs of long-term drifting at sea.

Without the skin wrinkled by the sea breeze and the face blackened by the waves, the distinguished guest looked only about 25 years old, but according to the information provided by Alina, the real age of this red-haired pirate was...
Wait, who is this guy? He's not the red-haired pirate!
Roland stared at the distinguished guest warily, and exchanged glances with Sif, both somewhat puzzled.

"Distinguished guest, I am the Emperor of the Sussex Empire, Sylph York, and this is Caesar Roland of our country. May I ask who you are?"

"You can call me Catania, or you can call me by my other name, Caterina."

Roland: "."

Sif: "."

After a long and awkward silence, Sif couldn't help but complain: "Mr. Catania, please forgive me for being blunt, I have a magic mirror, and it told me that you are a beautiful woman, but..."

"But a man?"

Catania burst into a hearty laugh, then restrained his smile and said seriously:
“Does my gender really matter when it comes to our potential collaboration?”

Sif smiled and ended the topic. Indeed, it was unnecessary to dwell on other people's genders. Perhaps the gender distinctions in the New World were not so rigid.

In short, "You mean cooperation?"

"Yes, I believe that with the capabilities of your intelligence agency, you must know my true strength."

Catania spoke confidently, and although he used honorifics, he naturally put himself in a position of equal cooperation.

Sif frowned slightly and said softly, "You have come from afar, I don't want to disappoint you, please tell me your suggestions."

While speaking, Sif calmly activated the clairvoyance technique.

However, insight is not omnipotent, at least it didn't work this time. She saw Catania slowly raise his head and put his hands to cover his face, using this action to remind her not to use insight.

Sif did not hesitate at all, withdrew her insight, picked up the teacup and took a sip as if nothing had happened.

If she insists on continuing to use clairvoyance, it is indeed possible for her to see Catania clearly, but the price would be the breakdown of the cooperation.

No strong person wants to be spied on, and Catania is no exception.

Sif didn't say anything, but just looked at the red-haired pirate calmly.

He is indeed qualified to discuss cooperation and even has basically equal status, but he must understand who is the queen of the world's most powerful country.

If the position is not correct, the so-called cooperation is a joke.

Catania carefully mentioned the purpose of his visit.

He wants to become the king of the New World, and in return, he will stand firmly on Sif's side in this decisive battle.

As soon as he said his condition, Sif stood up and said calmly, "Mr. Catania, please go back."

"Oh?" Catania, who was ordered to leave, remained unmoved and continued to sit in the chair, drinking tea leisurely.

Roland knew that he had come to this world. Sif played the villain role, and he naturally played the hero role.

He smiled and said, "Mr. Catania, please forgive me for being frank. You don't know much about our country. Maritime strategy is our country's basic national policy. Anyone who abandons the ocean will be nailed to the pillar of historical shame."

"The area of ​​the New World is not smaller than that of Rodinia. Although it is relatively backward for the time being, it has abundant resources. You want to monopolize the entire continent. I'm sorry to say that you are too arrogant."

"Arrogant?" Catania sneered, closed his eyes, and suddenly opened them.

When his eyes are closed, he has a pair of eyes. When he opens them, the two eyes instantly overlap, forming a slightly raised single eye with a longer observation range.

Roland and Sif's faces changed slightly, and they didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Is Pride of the Tianmu tribe qualified to have a fair conversation with you and take away the desired territory as a win-win reward?"

Roland and Sif looked at each other and saw the astonishment in each other's eyes.

Of course they knew the name Pride.

I heard about it from the sea monsters when I was a visitor to the underwater city.

In addition to the four ocean generals, there is another being with higher status and stronger power, Sea Eye Marshal Pride.

The Tianmu tribe and Marshal Haiyan are all connected together.

Sif narrowed her eyes, stared at Pride, and asked softly, "General Haiao of the Ocean Clan and I are mortal enemies. He has killed tens of thousands of imperial warriors. Aren't you afraid that I will force you to stay?"

“I’m afraid, so I’m gambling.”

Pride's eyes suddenly became sharp, and his cold voice surged like a tide.

"Everyone is betting now, aren't you?"

Sif fell silent.

Pride was right. She was also gambling that she could create a miracle and kill Sophia.

Every return day is a challenge, a day of mourning for the weak, and a day of enthronement for the strong.

The weak mentality is doomed to fail in the long run.

The stronger the enemy, the more determined she becomes.

But she didn't quite understand who Pride's enemy was and why he chose to cooperate with her and even risk going to the land himself.

Although she couldn't figure it out for the time being, Sif could feel the other party's sincerity.

Even so, she couldn't help but ask, "The New World is divided into north and south by a land bridge. Our country has established thirteen overseas territories in the north. Are these going to be handed over to you as well?"

Pride smiled and shook his head. "Do you think that we, living in the sea, would be as impolite as reckless sharks?"

"I want the half of the continent south of the land bridge. I can't tell you why, but I have reasons why I must occupy this place."

Sif and Roland looked at each other and saw affirmation in his eyes.

The southern part of the New World is also in the long-term plan of the Sussex Empire, but after all, it is too far away, and a trip there may even take more than 20,000 nautical miles.

Such an exaggerated distance is far beyond the ruling range of this era.

Even though the ultimate goal was to make the sun never set, Sif had never thought of setting foot in the southern part of the New World in the short term.

Being able to trade things that don't belong to you makes a huge profit at any price.

Sif nodded and smiled, "I agree, but I have a question, why did you choose me instead of Sophia? No matter how you look at it, she has the advantage, and she is more lacking in navy."

Pride clapped his hands, restrained his smile, and said seriously:
"Because the benefits of working with you are greater. Risks? I never care. Anyway, her primary enemy is you, not me. If you fail, I will find another way."

He spoke very frankly, and although Sif didn't like some of the content, she still accepted it.

The two parties signed a contract and reached an agreement.

Pride led the Tianmu fleet and worked with the Sussex people to destroy the Nubian fleet, and by the way, captured the remnants of General Haiao.

In return, Pride vowed not to set foot north of the land bridge, and Sif also promised never to set foot across the land bridge.

In order to improve the efficiency of traffic and make it easier for both parties to fulfill their vows, the two sides also agreed to build a canal at the narrowest part of the land bridge to facilitate international trade.

After the contract was signed, Sif intended to entertain the distinguished guest, but unfortunately Pride didn't want to stay at all. He said goodbye and left quickly.

Watching Pride's back as he walked away, Sif's curiosity could no longer be contained. She grabbed Roland's arm and asked softly, "Dear, what do you think his purpose is?"

"Do you want to test your level?" Roland asked with a smile.

"No, I don't think you know the answer this time." Sif grabbed Roland's arm and acted coquettishly.

Roland quickly surrendered and began his analysis.

"With Marshal Haiyan's strength, if he wants to seize the new continent south of the land bridge, does he need to cooperate with us or seek our approval?"

"No need." Sif answered immediately.

The navy is like this, if they are capable, they are capable, and if they can't win, they can't win. Although I don't know Pride's true strength, he is definitely stronger than the four generals, and not just a little bit stronger.

Roland lowered his voice and said, "I guess this matter is related to the Sea King. As for whether he wants the Sea King to come back to life or die completely, no one knows."

Sif suddenly realized.

As expected, only the Sea King is worth trading with.

Just as Roland and Sif were analyzing the reasons why Pride ventured here, the Sea Eye Marshal finally found a secluded corner. He took off the mask on his face, revealing a beautiful face with a healthy complexion.

There was a closed eye in the middle of her forehead, and with the two open eyes, she had three eyes.

"Pledan" let out a long breath, and the smile on the corner of his lips gradually faded.

It was so scary. I was almost discovered by that asshole woman.

Fortunately, she made her attitude clear in time and avoided being discovered, so her female identity was not exposed.

In short, hurry up and go!

(End of this chapter)