In the meeting hall of the imperial palace, the dignitaries of the imperial capital were whispering among themselves. His Highness the Regent had just announced the latest battle report: the content was certainly exciting and exciting.
However, when Prince Chen glanced at everyone with smiling eyes after the reading, all the bosses acted like ostriches one by one. They just sat in their seats, preferring to talk to each other in low voices, as if they were all
They were amazed at the content of the battle report, but no one spoke openly.
Prince Chen smiled, he knew what these people were planning.
"Duke Tulip presided over a great victory on the Eastern Front, annihilating more than 40,000 enemies, and regaining the fallen Eastern Fortress in one fell swoop. This battle not only restored the humiliation and embarrassment of the previous fortress' fall and defeat for the empire, but also opened up a large swath of the empire's interior to the south of the fortress.
The territorial crisis has been lifted. What’s more, such a victory is also the biggest victory we have achieved against these enemies since the beginning of this war.”
Prince Chen's words finally set the tone for his evaluation of this great victory.
Everyone below who was still pretending to talk in low voices finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Okay, the big boss has spoken. Since Prince Chen said that this is a great victory and of great significance... then this can be considered a conclusion!
Speaking of which, if it was back then, such a victory had something to do with the popular Duke Tulip, and when the news was revealed, everyone would be busy praising him. Because at that time, everyone knew that Prince Chen trusted Du Li very much.
Wei, he almost single-handedly held the Tulip family as the backbone of the empire. At that time, naturally everyone was willing to do the icing on the cake.
But now... the situation is different.
The relationship between the Tulip family and the royal family has become more and more ambiguous, with talk of peace and discord, and talk of evil and evil. Under such circumstances, who dares to talk nonsense? God knows what Prince Chen thinks of the Tulip family in his heart.
manner.
Let’s just talk about this big victory. It’s a victory, but no one dares to say anything to praise him first. If Prince Chen is unhappy with Du Wei, and you openly applaud Du Wei, it will be a big inconvenience.
ah.
Seeing that Prince Chen opened his mouth to cheer first, everyone below quickly started cheering.
For a time, the hall was filled with cheers and joy.
But then, these words of praise always came to an end. The scene fell into a subtle silence for a while...
Since the battle was won and great achievements were made, it is logical that the result would be a reward.
However, others can tell me how to award the reward to Du Wei?
Give money? Don't be kidding. Duke Tulip is already recognized as the richest man in the empire! Even the Liszt family has become a subsidiary of the Tulip family, and the weapons dealer Delan Mountain Warcraft has long since resigned himself to defeat.
Promotion? Du Wei's current official titles include: Imperial General, Commander of the Eastern Front of the Theater. He holds command of 200,000 Imperial regular troops.
Further advancement? How to advance? Let him be the commander-in-chief of the war zone? Not to mention this, where does General Rostock fit? Besides... with the current ghost relationship between the Tulip family and the royal family, let Du Wei command the current empire.
The northern theater contains almost 80% of the military power of the empire’s most elite troops?
Who dares to make such suggestions?! Seeking death!
So, promotion?
Du Wei's title is already Duke! Duke, in theory, is the best title a minister can obtain. The next higher level is the prince level. But the problem is that unless he is directly connected to the royal family, it is impossible to be crowned a prince.
This will be troublesome. You can’t give money, you can’t be promoted, and you can’t be promoted!
How to award a reward?
Some people can't help but think of a heart-stopping sentence:
The master has great merits, but there is no reward!
None of you here is an idiot. You have spent at least half your life immersed in the big vat of officialdom. There is no one who is not a veteran. Even a young man like Camisillo. In the past two years, he has been influenced by the old Prime Minister Robschere.
There must be a tendency to gradually evolve into a little fox.
Everyone has witnessed the entire process of Du Wei's rise.
Speaking carefully, the contribution that this young man, Duke Tulip, has brought to the empire since he rose to prominence is really...
Brilliant!
If his astonishing performance on the day of the coup can only be said to have achieved his personal reputation and established a close personal relationship with the regent himself, then his contribution to the empire was probably unprecedented since the Augustinian dynasty.
A minister can match him!
First, he came up with the "spirit of sharing magic". He participated in the establishment of the Imperial Academy of Magic, which broke the magic union's monopoly on magic in one fell swoop. The imperial official and the magic union have been secretly competing with each other for many years. And the magic union is so tough that even the royal family has
Headache.
With the establishment of the Magic Academy and the Magic Society, and the promotion of the spirit of sharing magic, the Magic Guild no longer occupies a monopoly in the field of magic.
This allows the empire to have a way to cultivate magic talents for itself. Although during this war, the empire's own magic talents have not shown much effect, it is because the time is too short after all. From the establishment of the magic academy to the present, there are only a few
In a few years, even the first batch of students have only learned magic for a few years and have not yet reached a deeper level of strength.
But I believe that as time goes by, the role of the magic academy will become more and more prominent.
Also, after Du Wei went to the northwest, the defense of Gilliat City successfully defeated the grassland people. With Du Wei in the northwest, the threat of the grassland people to the empire was greatly reduced. Even now, some people among the top officials of the empire are
He vaguely knew that Du Wei had intervened in the situation on the grassland and manipulated it secretly. This resulted in the current situation where the grassland people were at war with each other and were unable to go east.
And...the separatist rebellion war that annihilated the Northwest Army was the Tulip family’s first achievement in that battle!
And... single-handedly founded the epoch-making Air Force!
Also... During the three years of preparation for the war, Du Wei donated at least 50 million gold coins out of his own pocket to support the empire's financial and military expenses!
As for the various small contributions from other places, they have not been listed yet!
Now, he has made such a huge military contribution on the eastern front...
Now?
To reward or not to reward, that is the question.
How to reward this root is a difficult problem!
The silence of everyone once again plunged the hall into a strange atmosphere.
Finally, at this time, Camisillo coughed and spoke. Everyone immediately turned their attention to the young military minister. Everyone knew that in addition to being a direct descendant who was deeply favored by the regent, Camisillo also
Behind him stood the old prime minister.
"Your Highness." Camisillo's voice was very clear and magnanimous, and he said calmly: "I think it is gratifying that Duke Tulip defeated the enemy on the eastern front, but now we have not reached the point where we can really sit back and relax. According to me
I have seen the detailed report submitted to the military headquarters. Although we captured the fortress, due to the enemy's previous massive destruction and demolition of the fortress and the fire attack method adopted by Duke Tulip during this war, we ended up
Although we recaptured the fortress, all we got was ruins."
Having said this, he quickly added: "Of course. I have absolutely no intention of denying Duke Tulip's contribution! It's just that as the Minister of Military Affairs, from a purely military perspective, the top priority now is to improve our
The defense system on the Eastern Front! It’s very urgent. Now we face two choices!”
Prince Chen's eyes lit up: "Go on."
"First." Camisillo opened his voice, and his confident voice floated in the spacious hall: "Because the fortress has become a ruin, it has no value and role in garrisoning, and it cannot play an effective defensive role.
.The troops on the Eastern Front may still have to retreat to Yajin City. We must mobilize more materials and manpower as soon as possible to further strengthen and expand Yajin City! Make it a new stable military stronghold on the Eastern Front. The advantages of this option are:
Yajin City is an existing city. It only needs to be reinforced and expanded. No matter in terms of time, cost or manpower, there is no need to invest too much. But the disadvantage is: Yajin City is located in a backward location after all. Once our army returns to Yajin, it will be equal to
We have given up control of the territory north of Yajin City. Moreover, Yajin City’s defense lacks overall effect and can only be regarded as a stronghold. Theoretically, the enemy can bypass Yajin City to attack our inner territory.
Although harassment or sneak attacks are unlikely, after all, the enemies we face are not humans, but some monster races. We cannot measure them with normal human thinking."
Everyone nodded after what he said.
Especially when I think of those barbaric races bypassing the frontline strongholds and dividing their troops to carry out harassment or sneak attacks in the hinterland of the empire...
Even theoretically speaking, as long as the other party dares to risk losses and send a large number of extremely mobile wolf cavalry for a surprise attack, they may even flow all the way around the imperial capital!
This is definitely not alarmist. If the opponent loses thousands of wolf riders and flees into the interior of the empire, without seeking strategic goals, and just burns, kills and loots... God knows whether those barbarian races will do it.
Although this kind of thing may not cause real harm to the imperial capital or the empire, once it happens, whether it is the turmoil of the people's hearts or the face and dignity of the empire, the royal family will never allow such consequences!
!
It is conceivable that one day in the future, if a group of wolf cavalry suddenly rushes outside the imperial capital, burning, killing and looting, even if they are finally surrounded and suppressed by the imperial army... But once such a thing happens, how big the consequences will be.
Panic and turmoil among the people?! If such a thing really happened, it would definitely be an extreme shame for the empire!
"The second option." Camisillo coughed and said with a wry smile: "We must rebuild the recaptured eastern fortress. Because of its geographical location, it is the best in terms of strategic defense! But the problem is,
This fortress has almost turned into a ruins, destroyed by the enemy and burned by fire. And according to the detailed battle reports I saw, the damage to the northern wall was particularly serious, and almost half of it was demolished by the opponent! Although it was burned by fire
.It will not shake the foundation of the building, but it is not an easy task to rebuild."
After a pause, he smiled bitterly: "What's more, the enemy is now on the north bank of the river. Moreover, we have also lost control of the river! The enemy has control of the river. Once we rebuild the fortress, it is conceivable that even if
No matter how stupid the enemy is, they will not let us do this smoothly. They will harass and counterattack! Without the river channel, our defense lacks layers, and the enemy can cross the river channel and directly attack the fortress we are rebuilding... while doing so
There are people nearby who are constantly messing with the work. Just thinking about this kind of reconstruction makes my scalp numb."
He talked eloquently. At the end of the conversation, everyone in the hall fell silent. There was silence for a while, and everyone poked their heads and looked at Prince Chen.
Prince Chen, who was sitting on the throne, had no other expression on his face. He seemed to be very calm. He pondered for a moment before speaking softly: "We will discuss this matter in detail... Let's do this for today. Camisillo
Stay, everyone else should disperse."
Except for Camisillo, when the other big guys left, there were still people whispering to each other while walking.
It's just the Minister of Finance. This old man didn't say a word today. After walking out of the hall, he unconsciously turned around and glanced at the hall behind him. He saw the figure of Camisillo who was still in the hall, and couldn't help but frown slightly.
frown.
There was a colleague next to him who had a good relationship with him. When he stopped, he smiled casually: "What, you lost something?"
The finance minister smiled and shook his head: "I was just thinking that the cooperation between our military minister and the regent is becoming more and more tacit."
"How do you say that?" The colleague's eyes lit up.
The finance minister shook his head, smiled enigmatically, and left.
Huh... Camisillo, you interrupted by deliberately using a difficult problem like "two choices" to attract everyone's attention with such a difficult matter, but you cleverly changed the topic!
The original topic was "How to award rewards for a big victory on the front line". After Camisillo finished speaking, it changed to "How to solve the crisis on the front line."
Of course, it's not that some old foxes couldn't see this little trick, but they were smart enough to keep silent. And the most important thing is that the regent seemed to be very cooperative.
In Prince Chen's study, Camisillo presented a detailed battle report from his arms. This battle report was much more detailed than the one read by Prince Chen at the previous meeting. It included all the details of the battle site.
, the start of the war, the stalemate, the final victory, etc., the level of detail is almost like a text broadcast.
Obviously, in addition to the official official channels, in the army in the northern theater, there are other channels for the intelligence transmission of the military's own internal secret system.
"What do you think of the new unit created by Du Wei?" Prince Chen sat back in his seat: "That griffin knight?"
Camisillo was speechless.
Prince Chen himself smiled first, but the smile was not easy. There was emotion in his voice: "This Du Wei always surprises people! He is like a magician, taking out a magic weapon from his hat.
A rabbit, God knows what else is hidden in his hat."
"Your Highness." Camisillo reminded carefully: "Duwei himself is a magician."
"Well, I know." Prince Chen nodded, pondered for a moment, and when he raised his head, his expression was solemn: "Leave aside the gryphon knights for now, we have estimated that this kind of troops is expensive and rare, and it is impossible to do it on a large scale.
Formation. But it was his Thunder Cavalry...the combat effectiveness of this cavalry that Du Wei had been hiding that really surprised me."
Ten thousand thunder cavalry, charging head-on in the field, beat the orcs to pieces. This is something that no human army has ever been able to do before!
"Your Highness, you are worried..." Camisillo said carefully.
"No, I'm just curious." The regent suddenly smiled, and his smile was very calm: "Shouldn't I be curious? Du Wei's men have so many strengths that I don't know about. As a member of the empire,
Lord, it would be strange if I showed no interest at all."
Looking at the regent's calm smile, on his handsome face, the smile was as elegant as ever, his eyes were wise, and he exuded a kind of confidence that he was in control of everything.
Camisillo sighed in his heart, but with a look of fear on his face, he quickly lowered his head and said: "Your Highness, that's not what I meant. What I mean is... you must fully understand it first! I still can't figure it out.
How a strange cavalry team was formed. Some war horse experts from the military department have also conducted research for many days, but they still can’t figure out how this strange giant war horse was created..."
"The court magician can't figure it out either." Prince Chen smiled: "But the only thing that is certain is that unlike the gryphon knights... this kind of thunder cavalry, as an army with strong combat effectiveness, can be formed in large numbers.
!!This is what attracts me.”
Camisillo gritted his teeth: "Maybe... we can find a way to check in the northwest..."
"No need." Prince Chen immediately shook his head and rejected the suggestion, but he deliberately gave Camisillo a deep look: "Are you a little slow-minded? You actually made such a suggestion. Du Wei's confidentiality measures
He has been doing very well, and the northwest has already become his base camp, with a deep foundation. We didn't have any information before, so if we deliberately check it now, do you think we can hide him? What's more, if you do such a thing,
, wouldn’t it be chilling?”
Camisillo nodded quickly: "Yes, Your Highness! I thought wrong at the moment."
Prince Chen stared at this direct descendant carefully for a while, with a deep light flashing in his eyes. Then the light faded and he returned to a relaxed and calm smile: "Actually, you don't need to take this matter too seriously. I just
I’m just curious. After all, this kind of thunder cavalry with amazing combat power really amazes me... If such a powerful army empire can be formed in large numbers..."
He shook his head again and glanced at Camisillo: "You don't have to have any suspicion about Du Wei. From what I know about Du Wei... it's a good thing that he is willing to show such a trump card openly now."
.Just imagine, if there is a national crisis and he hides such a powerful army and refuses to use it... Then if this army is not used to deal with the orcs, who is it used to deal with? "
This last sentence was a bit heart-wrenching. When Camisillo heard it, he broke out in a cold sweat!!
That's right! The army is built to fight! If Du Wei doesn't use it to deal with the orcs this time, but hides it... Who does he want to use such a powerful army to deal with?!
Deal with...the empire? The royal family?
Camisillo stopped himself from thinking further!
"He is willing to take it out to convey a message to us in disguise: He has no selfish motives."
Seeing Prince Chen speak so easily and calmly, Camisillo closed his mouth and fell silent.
Afterwards, Prince Chen casually explained a few things and asked Camisillo to leave the detailed battle report before telling him to leave.
After Camisillo left and the door of the study room was closed, Prince Chen leaned on the chair and sighed deeply. The confidence and calmness just now turned into a slight worry!
"It means you have no selfish motives... This is certainly one of your intentions, Du Wei..." Prince Chen curled his lips, but said to himself: "But there is another intention, which is to demonstrate to me... show your
Strength? Is that so?"
Prince Chen pinched his forehead hard.
Du Wei, does he know anything about my condition?
Do you know? Don’t know? Or do you know and pretend you don’t know?