"Mess?"
Zuo Si chuckled and shook his head.
"No, that's not a mess, it's a necessary evil.
Only when Fuzoul Chamberry eliminates all the ruling classes in the northern region and destroys those forces that hinder social progress and development can I carry out drastic transformation according to my own wishes.
Otherwise, if it were me to do these things, it would definitely cause a lot of unnecessary resistance and resentment, and if not handled well, it might turn into a sharp conflict.
So to a certain extent, the army of Zhentil Castle is doing things for me that are most likely to cause public resentment.
What I have to do is wait for this dissatisfaction to brew to a certain extent, and then act as a savior to liberate a large area of ​​land from Baldur's Gate to the Dragon Coast, thereby winning the right to rule reasonably and legally.
Since the current situation is beneficial to me, why should I rush to deal with it?"
Kelben had obviously expected this answer, so he probed calmly: "Then how long do you plan to wait?
A few days, a dozen days, or a month or two?
There has to be a deadline, right?
Otherwise, you will be self-defeating if you wait for Fuzoul Chamberry to establish a stable rule there.
You must know that the biggest feature of the Benn Church is that it can quickly establish order in conquered lands.
What's more, they have begun to seize resources and wealth in the occupied areas and continuously transport them to Zhentil Fort.
If you give Fuzor Chambery too long, he will plunder the entire area of ​​valuable items, leaving you with only a poor and devastated land.
I believe this is not the result you want, right?"
It has to be said that Kelben of the lawful neutral camp is indeed a very good persuader and diplomat.
Because he has never been as willful and stubborn as Elminster, always insisting on what he thinks is right, and never knowing what compromise and concession are.
Quite the opposite!
Kelben tends to think from the perspective of others, and then uses the other person's interests as inducements to achieve his own goals.
This is why many rulers hate Elminster and the Harper Alliance he founded, but are very happy to establish good friendship with Kelben.
As a supporter of law and absolute order, what Kelben hates most is when a city or even a country falls into complete chaos and disorder.
If helping an evil force can restore it to normal, even if the establishment of a new order involves slavery, he will gladly accept it.
This philosophy well explains why he is able to make deals with Bane voters like Fuzor Chambery and reach cooperation in certain areas.
Of course, if given a choice, Kelben still hopes to establish a relatively neutral or good-oriented ruling order.
In fact, Waterdeep is a large city-state that is typically neutral but slightly inclined toward kindness.
In unknown corners and near the entrance to Leyline Maze City, there are always various activities of thieves guilds and criminal organizations.
But as long as they do not pose a huge threat to the security of the city, the Masked Lords Council of Waterdeep City will turn a blind eye and close one eye, and basically will not spend a lot of effort to eliminate them.
Because it doesn't make any sense.
Before effective grassroots governance and rule are achieved, even if it is eliminated, it will not take long for it to resurface again.
When the Lords Council ordered the expulsion of the Shadow Thieves Guild, a similar situation had already happened once.
After all, the power vacuum at the bottom of society objectively exists.
When the government cannot fill the gap, other forces will naturally fill the gap.
Under normal circumstances, Waterdeep's professional guild system fills most of them.
Criminal organizations and thieves' guild thieves fill another small part.
What's more, the mad mage Halaster Blackrobe occasionally comes to the surface to secretly manipulate politics, and many of the forces are under his control.
The Council of Masked Lords dare not offend this person, otherwise the entire Waterdeep City will be blown up to the sky.
Staring at Kelben's inquiring black pupils, Zuo Si smiled and shrugged nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter!
At best, the things Fuzuoer Chamberry can transport are some gold and silver jewellery, food, cloth, weapons, armor and luxury goods.
For me, I can get as much of these things as I want, without even spending any money.
And when everyone becomes poor due to plunder, wouldn’t I be able to win more support and cheers by giving them some relief?
Politically speaking, this is not a bad thing, but a good thing.
It is precisely because of the comparison that the civilians from Baldur's Gate to Dragon Coast will feel the changes and benefits I can bring to them.
If Waterdeep wants to ask me to send troops quickly, then please show some sincerity and don't always think of nothing."
Zuo Si made it clear without politeness.
He knew that the longer the Zhentil Keep army occupied Baldur's Gate, the worse it would be for Waterdeep.
In particular, it will greatly weaken its influence and dominance in the Sword Coast.
As the "leading brother" and "alliance leader", if Fuzoul Chamberry cannot be driven away as soon as possible, other towns will see the weakness of Waterdeep City and have other thoughts and ideas.
For example, take refuge in a more powerful and powerful force.
What's even more terrible is that once such thoughts and ideas arise, they will never disappear with the evacuation of the Zhentil Fort army.
What it affects is people's hearts and trust in Waterdeep City.
You must know that Waterdeep is not just a city, but a large number of small towns and villages radiating around it, with a population of up to millions.
So once these are lost, Waterdeep City will still maintain a considerable degree of prosperity with its superior geographical location, large number of spellcasters, and very few spaceports in Faerûn, but its political status and
Influence will inevitably plummet.
Especially without the cheap food and raw materials such as food, meat, and wood provided by those villages and small towns, it is certainly impossible to maintain such a large urban population, and shrinkage and decline are almost certain.
This is also a problem that the Masked Lords Council is eager to solve.
They want to send troops to prove themselves, but they are afraid that losing will lead to more serious consequences, which will directly lead to violent instability in the Sword Coast region.
"What do you want from Waterdeep?"
After a long silence, Kelben finally stopped testing and entered into the bargaining process.
Although the private relationship and friendship between the two were pretty good, he didn't think Zuo Si would compromise on such a matter.
As the saying goes, a mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, except one male and one female.
If Zuo Si's goal is to establish a west coast empire that spans the entire north and south, then city-states like Waterdeep that hold regional hegemony will inevitably suppress them until they lose the foundation of their independent existence and are eventually incorporated into the empire.<
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Otherwise, as long as Waterdeep's influence still exists, those towns and lords in the North who are unwilling to be annexed will always have someone they can rely on, and they will never give up resistance and struggle.
"It's very simple! I hope Waterdeep City will agree to my three conditions.
First, you must immediately and unconditionally join the Trade Alliance and become a member of it;
Second, Waterdeep's spaceport must be relocated to Askatra, and nothing similar will be allowed to be built from now on;
Third, I need a seat as a Masked Lord so that I can deeply participate in the internal politics of Waterdeep City.
If these three conditions are met, I will have the army stationed outside Askatla move across the Cloudy Mountains towards Baldur's Gate in the north.
Not only that, I will also call together the troops from Neverwinter, Dragonspear Castle, Luskan, Silver Moon Alliance, and Nelanthel Islands to form a huge coalition.
Of course, if Waterdeep is interested, you can also join.
But this time, you will no longer be a leader, but a follower."
Zuo Si laid out the conditions calmly.
There is no doubt that he wants to gradually penetrate Waterdeep City from both economic and political aspects, and finally achieve the goal of bringing it under his control.
Similarly, this is also a clear signal to the outside world, that is, the Sword Coast and even the entire west coast of Faerûn will be included in the territory of a huge empire, even a powerful force like Waterdeep is no exception.
After being the lord of Waterdeep for so many years, Kelben obviously knows what it means to agree to these three conditions.
He did not reply immediately, but cast a spell to pass the content to several other lords.
After receiving a reply about ten or twenty minutes later, the Archmage took a deep breath and said: "We can all agree on the first and second items, but not the third one.
The masked lord system is the basis for Waterdeep to maintain the stability of its own political power, and interference from external forces must not be allowed.
But we can accept a bystander without voting rights.
To be continued...