Lord Harland

With the United Kingdom on the East Coast joining the war, King Roger already had the idea of ​​ending the war. Strategically speaking, the Grant Kingdom should not fall into a three-front war environment.

However, under the Grant Kingdom's system, major matters such as war and peace cannot be decided by the king alone. If he wants to stop the war, he must communicate with the nobles who support the war. Only when the great nobles reach a unanimous opinion and the majority of the noble council agrees, can a peace contract be truly signed and the war end.

After changing his mind, King Roger continued to send envoys and wrote personal letters to listen to the opinions of the great nobles.

Maurice, the younger brother of Marquis Allen, once again acted as a special envoy and came to Richard's Camp with a letter from King Roger.

After listening to Special Envoy Allen's explanation of the king's opinion, Richard thought for a moment and said: "The special envoy knows clearly that the reason why our Haaland family participated in the war is actually to capture serfs and develop the barren territory in northern Xinjiang. Only in War is suitable for large-scale arrests. The Harland family is based in the northern region. Expanding to the south is not our decision, and we don't care how much territory we can expand.

On the issue of an armistice, the interests of the Halland family were identical with those of the king. We will use our influence to support King Roger's decision at the vote of the House of Lords. "

Envoy Allen was very happy after getting a positive answer from Richard.

Special Envoy Allen has had many dealings with the Harland family and has a deep relationship with William. However, with the development of time, the status of the two sides has become very different. At first, the Harland family was just a viscount family. Special envoy Maurice Allen was born in a marquis family. He had more authority in the Grant royal court and his actual status was somewhat higher than that of Richard.

Now Richard has been promoted to a hereditary duke. According to the system of the Grant Kingdom, the hereditary duke is already the master of the country.

If Grant Kingdom were compared to a company, Richard had been promoted to a member of the board of directors, and his status was far more important than that of Ambassador Morris Allen. Therefore, Morris had to be careful in the conversation between the two parties.

After receiving Richard's support, Special Envoy Allen happily left the military camp and continued south to communicate with Duke Guise and Duke Duran.

The two Dukes of Guise and Duran were originally great nobles of the Kingdom of Delon. Due to tragic internal conflicts, they joined the Kingdom of Grant with their territories. These two dukes not only have historical grudges with the Kingdom of Delon, but also have deep conflicts of interest. Unless the royal family is willing to make larger concessions in the territory, it will be difficult to agree to peace.

The Duke of Duran and the Duke of Lorraine have been married for generations and have formed a political alliance. The Duke of Guise has great influence among the southern nobles. Together, the two parties can get the votes of the three duchies. Moreover, during the war, the Earl of Silver Moon Island lost his territory, and Earl Marcel suffered heavy losses. Without adequate compensation, they would never want peace.

The two parties have joined forces to control nearly one-third of the votes in the Parliament of Nobles. If these nobles strongly oppose it, it will not be easy for King Roger to stop the war.

King Roger is a man who can afford to give up. Now that he has decided to cease the war, he is willing to compromise on the territory, even if he gives up half of the occupied area and gives up most of the expanded territory to Giese and Duran. The Dukedom and Roger Kingdom are also willing to exchange for peace.

Special envoy Alan Morris communicated with the Dukes of Duran and Guise several times, and after three concessions and compromises from the Roger Kingdom, a consensus was gradually achieved.

The Grant Kingdom’s Noble Council decided to send a special envoy from Allen to negotiate with the Delon Kingdom.

By the time Allen's envoy arrived at Saint Sith Castle, the capital of the Kingdom of Delon, it was already late May.

Castle of St. Sith, the residence of the royal family of Decter.

King Henry of the Kingdom of Delon is one hundred and nine years old and is an old man. This king has been a mediocre king since he was young. Although he is a ninth-level epic knight, his personal combat power is very powerful.

But since he took over the kingdom, he was first invaded by the Kingdom of Lane and lost 160,000 square kilometers of land, and then was attacked by the Kingdom of Grant, again suffering heavy losses. In order to preserve the country, the Delong Kingdom also transferred 80,000 square kilometers of land to the United Kingdom on the East Coast. In just a few decades, the Delong Kingdom lost one-fifth of its territory. If it continues to develop like this, the country may be destroyed.

Although King Henry is very old, there is still no shortage of young and beautiful women around him. Even when discussing matters with palace officials, more than a dozen beauties followed King Henry, and all major military and state affairs were allowed to be observed by these palace beauties. These court beauties were scantily clad, with their smooth limbs exposed to the air, and their waists wearing silk skirts with high slits. Their faces were very rosy and they had just experienced an intense exercise.

Although King Henry is a ninth-level knight, his lifespan is much longer than that of ordinary people. After all, he is more than a hundred years old. He just had an intense one-on-eight exercise, and he is now a little breathless and sluggish. He waved, hugged a young beauty into his arms, and said to the courtiers beside him: "The Kingdom of Grant has sent a special envoy to sign a contract with us and restore peace. What do you think?"

"The situation has been very different after the United Kingdom of East Coast joined the war. The Kingdom of Grant fell into a three-front war dilemma. According to the battle report sent by the United Kingdom of East Coast, the entire fleet of Earl Silvermoon was wiped out and Silvermoon Island has been lost. The Count of Marcel suffered heavy losses and lost half of its territory.

Our ally, the United Kingdom of the East Coast, entered the war and captured one and a half earldoms of the Grant Kingdom in just one and a half months. In addition, they also sent reinforcements to the Dukedom of Hubble, and the situation gradually became favorable to us.

Unless the Grant Kingdom completely withdraws its troops, gives up the occupied land, and compensates us for our losses, peace can be restored. "The speaker was Military Minister Pierce. As a military minister, he is naturally a hawk, and his attitude is naturally very tough.

After hearing what Pierce said, Interior Secretary Peron immediately retorted: "I think we should negotiate with the Grant Kingdom. Although the Grant Kingdom barbarically invaded us and is a man-eating tiger, the East Coast United Kingdom is also a greedy wild wolf. And we gradually became like fat goats, and our territory was divided up by nearby wild beasts.

The Grant Kingdom occupied more than 100,000 square kilometers of our territory. The United Kingdom of the East Coast also occupied 80,000 square kilometers of our land without using any weapons. In this respect, the United Kingdom of the East Coast is not our ally, but also our enemy.

Since the Grant Kingdom is willing to negotiate peace, we, the weaker party, should talk to the Grant Kingdom and try to regain some of its territory through negotiations and end the war as soon as possible. Then select nobles who are brave and good at fighting in the country, integrate resources to train a new army, find ways to govern the country well, and restore the ancestors' tradition of attaching importance to military affairs. Only then can they gain a firm foothold among the nearby barbaric countries and resist the invasion of neighboring countries. "

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Although Peron's words were not very pleasant, they were rare and honest words in the Decter court.

Because King Henry liked to be flattered, the Decter court was full of lies and lies. The court ministers fooled old King Henry every day to maintain false prosperity.

Peron is the nephew of King Henry and an important member of the Decter royal family. His position is unique among the court ministers, so he can say a few honest words. But his truth displeased King Henry. It's just that Peron's brother Anton is a legendary knight and is the foundation of the Decter family's foothold in the Kingdom of Delon, so his position is as stable as a mountain. Even if King Henry doesn't like him, Peron's opinions in the palace meeting Still very heavy.

Peron's words severely hit the old king's vanity and made King Henry very unhappy. It's just that although this king is a faint king, he is good at political struggle. He changed the topic and said: "Since Peron is willing to solve the problem through negotiation, you will be responsible for this negotiation. I have only one request, the army of Grant Kingdom We must withdraw from Duke Isaac’s territory, I cannot let the land of Duke Isaac’s territory be incomplete and let down the beauty of the head of Isaac’s family.”

After the war broke out, the Grant Kingdom's army captured the Dukedom of Isaac. The Duke's family suffered heavy losses. Two legions were wiped out, and many key members of the family died.

In order to maintain the family's status, Duke Isaac sent the most beautiful woman in the family to the royal court of Decter, making the seventeen-year-old princess the court lady of King Henry.

Normally, the marriage between the duke family and the royal family is basically equal. It is impossible for the duke's legitimate daughter to serve as a palace lady for the kingdom, and it is even less possible for a teenage princess to enter the court of a centenarian king.

Duke Isaac's operation basically trampled the honor and face of the nobles to the ground, and has become the laughing stock of the nobles in nearby countries.

But this operation worked very well in the Kingdom of Delon, and King Henry was obviously seriously affected by the pillow wind. The conditions set for Perón were almost impossible to meet.

The Dukedom of Isaac is located in the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Delon. If the Dukedom of Isaac is given up, several provinces in the occupied area will have to be given up. Only half of the Dukedom of Hubble will remain in the Grant Kingdom's occupied area.

The Grant Kingdom mobilized troops, won several battles, and captured hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land. If they agreed to such conditions, there would be no peace internally. Even if the Roger Kingdom is willing to negotiate peace, if the royal family does not expand any territory, it is impossible for the internal duke and earl families to agree.

The conditions set by the Roger Kingdom for Allen were only to give up three and a half provinces controlled by the Decter royal family and take over the complete Dukedom of Isaac and most of the Dukedom of Hubble. Give up about 70,000 square kilometers of land and expand the territory to 80,000 square kilometers. This condition is not a small concession, and we have a high determination to negotiate peace.

Knowing that this negotiation was a trap according to the king's requirements, Peron still tried his best to organize negotiations for the future of the Delon Kingdom.

Unfortunately, after the negotiations began, the differences between the two sides were too great. Because King Henry refused to give in, it was almost impossible to reach a peace contract, and they suddenly fell into a stalemate.

While the two sides were negotiating, the war was still going on.

In order to create a good environment for peace negotiations, Richard's plan to annihilate the Sixth Army of the United Kingdom on the east coast was not approved by Steven.

Although Steven did not agree to fight a war of annihilation some time ago, Richard also made adjustments to the combat deployment. He personally led the elite troops of Harland Territory to cut off the retreat of the Sixth Army of the United Kingdom on the east coast, and assembled a large army to surround this enemy force.

Since the reconnaissance battle was at a disadvantage, the Sixth Army of the United Kingdom on the East Coast has sent letters requesting help to the rear several times.

The encirclement of a main legion was a very important matter in the United Kingdom of East Coast. The entire country only had twenty-three standing legions, and the Sixth Army was still an elite soldier of the United Kingdom of East Coast.

Although there was a tacit understanding with the Grant Kingdom, in order to rescue this elite soldier, the East Coast United Kingdom still mobilized two legions of reinforcements.

After the transfer order was issued, the 7th and 13th legions of the United Kingdom on the East Coast divided into two groups and advanced towards the Dukedom of Hubble. Accompanying the actions of these two legions were a group of more than sixty mages.

On May 23, the Griffin Cavalry led by Harland detected the enemy's intelligence for the first time and discovered that the enemy army began to increase its troops.

Night fell, and the lights in Richard's military tent were brightly lit.

The aristocratic officers from the four northern Xinjiang provinces were silent, listening to the officers led by Harland arguing loudly.

"The superiors have not made the final determination. For the sake of the overall peace talks, we are prohibited from annihilating the Sixth Army. Now the enemy has come with reinforcements, and there are high-level magicians in the vanguard who have shot down our magic hot air balloon. The situation has changed. I I think we should withdraw from the siege immediately, withdraw our troops quickly, and hand over the decision-making power to our superiors. It depends on whether the superiors are fighting or negotiating. If we want to fight, mobilize reinforcements for us. If it is negotiating, let our superiors make the decision."

"Uncle Thoros, what do you think?"

"We are guest troops. Since our superiors have requested peace talks and we have not received any further orders, I think withdrawal is the best choice. Even if the enemy successfully relieves the siege and cuts off Steven's retreat, we will still have the opportunity to wait for reinforcements to arrive. Ability opens a channel. But it’s Steven who needs to endure the test next.”

Listening to the discussions among the officers, Richard knew that the junior officers had very strong opinions on Commander-in-Chief Steven. The situation had changed this time. Steven's judgment was substandard. Asking to withdraw the troops actually meant that Steven 's army.

Once Richard chooses to retreat, it actually means that the East Coast United Kingdom has cut off Steven's retreat, putting this army in danger. The loss of two legions of the Royal Guards would greatly affect the prestige of the Grant family.

Richard knew in his heart that war was a continuation of politics, and Steven's order was actually a political matter. He did not agree to the coalition forces of the four provinces to fight the annihilation war in order to gain the initiative in political negotiations.

As the deputy commander of the intervention force, I have a large part of my autonomy. At such a critical time, I should take more responsibility. After all, the Duke of Harland relies on the Kingdom of Grant in many aspects. In fact, the Duke of Harland and the Kingdom of Roger both prosper and suffer. At this time, watching Steven's joke and weakening the power of the royal family can only be the enemy.