The Mist Alliance was foundationally different from the other mega empires. The Mist Alliance wasn't an independent country. It was an alliance made up of the various Northlands countries.
The Seven Northlands countries that human society viewed as border barbarians were the geographical core of the Mist Alliance. The non-human species also made up a large portion of the Mist Alliance. As the Underground, Xiluo undead, Northlands beastmen, and Northlands elves joined the Mist Alliance, the balance of power in the Mist Alliance naturally changed. The human countries weren't the only core of the Mist Alliance.
The reason why the Mist Alliance was able to maintain itself was the fact that the People of the Mist were located in Sleuweir and Donglan Principality. These two countries were faintly viewed as a new Mist Kingdom, and they were the political core of the Mist Alliance.
Five of the Seven Northlands countries were also human kingdoms like the Mist Kingdom. This was a natural alliance. The Mist Kingdom had defeated and conquered the Northlands beastmen. The undead, the Underground, and the Northlands elves were all connected to the Mist Kingdom in countless ways. Due to many factors, Renée and Glina had become the true leaders of the Mist Alliance.
Not interfering with each other's internal affairs was the foundation of the Mist Alliance. Ever since the Mist Alliance was established, it had been "a rather loose alliance that would work together in times of crisis." This was the Mist Alliance's definition of itself.
However, with the strengthening of communication, and the entire world entering a period of war, in order to prepare for war, various resources and powers would need to be consolidated in order to make the most of the scarce resources available. And once the consolidation began, the independence of the various countries within the alliance would naturally be greatly reduced.
This was why it was so easy for autocratic governments to appear in times of war. In order to deal with the threat of war, an efficient organization with centralized power would be necessary. Then, with the appearance of an autocrat and centralized power, the factions of the Mist Alliance would swiftly lose their right to speak and protest.
The Northlands Winter Grain Reserve Committee. This was a very obvious name for this committee's function. It was also quite old-fashioned, as it sounded just like a government that didn't have any money. But actually, even a country's king would maintain sufficient respect for the committee members.
The Mist Alliance's main responsibility was to manage winter rations in order to prevent large-scale starvation and drought. This was because the Mist Alliance could manage the entire Northlands countries' food supplies. It could also redistribute food imported from other countries within the Mist Alliance. It could also selectively turn a country's food into war reserves. This type of authority had long since become the Mist Alliance's ally. If this didn't count as interfering with other countries' internal affairs, then what would?
The Northlands Defense Frontline Construction Headquarters was in charge of the Northlands' strategic defenses, fortresses, and defensive line construction. That meant that they were in charge of the construction of defensive fortifications … Wasn't building a fortress in your territory considered interfering with the internal affairs of the Northlands? Didn't the various countries' royalty have any qualms about that?
But right now, this was absolutely necessary. Everyone knew that a major battle was about to break out. If the Mist Alliance was still like a pile of loose sand, then it would be necessary for the Mist Alliance to exist.
Although the Mist Alliance as a whole had been developing over the past few years, the one that had developed the fastest was naturally the Mist Kingdom, which had Diffindor and the Magic Engineering Headquarters. When these two Mist Kingdoms joined forces, the Mist Alliance would truly be the number one human country in the Mist Alliance. In fact, even the other five Northlands countries combined wouldn't be able to compare to these two countries.
Due to the Mist Kingdom's dominance in the Mist Alliance, it was needless to say who was in charge of these "Working Committee", "Command", and "Headquarters". As more and more preparations were made for the upcoming war, the entire Mist Alliance's member countries were being consolidated. The new Borealis Airship Fleet, which was constructed with the combined efforts of various countries, was the most obvious example.
It would probably take several decades for a single country's resources to produce such a powerful airship. But now, in just a short eight years, not only did the first airship fleet take shape, the various countries' armaments, industries, and shipbuilding foundations had also improved. As long as their resources kept up, the second airship fleet would likely be completed soon.
From a certain standpoint, as the preparations for the upcoming war continued, more and more rules were created, and more working committees gained actual power. The Mist Alliance's member countries' independence was rapidly decreasing. Kings were reduced to domain lords that had to listen to "orders from their superiors," while domain lords were restricted by the Church of Law and the Mist Alliance's organizations. They were becoming more and more like administrative and military officials. While the entire Mist Alliance was thriving, there would naturally be people who were dissatisfied because their interests were being harmed.
Where there was light, there would also be darkness. Struggles for power would always be present wherever there were people. The Mist Alliance, which was born from ideals, was no exception.
There was no need to mention the process, but when it came to scheming, very few people would be able to defeat the dark elves. And now, the entire dark elf society was indirectly working for the Mist Kingdom. The final result was that all those who opposed the Mist Kingdom disappeared due to various reasons.
Were there people dissatisfied? Of course there were. But as the Hades Gods and the Mist Alliance's rise brought all sorts of benefits, such as abundant resources, higher status as citizens, increased income, and more job opportunities, most people now understood the situation and were content to continue working on this new airship.
"I don't care who's in charge. As long as my life keeps getting better, that's enough."
This was what the great majority of people thought. And in this aspect, the Mist Kingdom had indeed fulfilled its promise.
Of course, not everyone was happy to see such a development. At the very least, the "kings" and domain lords who were losing control of the situation were faintly beginning to oppose the Mist Kingdom. The greatest difference between the Mist Alliance and other systems was that the Church of Law's overseers would constantly investigate the actions of the nobles and royalty. Meanwhile, the Mist Kingdom was a powerful supporter of the Church of Law. This was naturally unacceptable to the old-fashioned nobles who were used to being more powerful than the world itself.
And for some people, touching their power was the same as touching their lives.
The old-fashioned nobles were also experts at scheming. They were even related to the countries in the center of the continent through bloodlines and benefits. If it wasn't for the fact that the shadows in the shadows acted swiftly, and if it wasn't for the fact that the major countries were afraid of the Mist Kingdom's power, the alliances would have been on the verge of collapse at least four or five times already. And as the Mist Kingdom's status became more and more stable in the Mist Kingdom's infighting, the other allied countries' royal authority was visibly declining. This was basically an open secret.
The Mist Kingdom, the undead of Xiluo, and the Underground were the core of the Mist Alliance. Their overwhelming power caused all rebellions and conspiracies to become useless. Since there was a core, there would naturally be a periphery. The end result was that the original old-fashioned nobles' factions were obviously marginalized.
The Mist Kingdom's factions also repeatedly spread the word that these organizations that strengthened the Mist Alliance's resources would only be temporary, and that they would all be canceled after the Holy War. However, not only did the kings and domain lords who represented the old-fashioned nobles not take this seriously, even the propagandists themselves were just saying it.
"Will they ever let go of power that they've already obtained?"
They would. After the Holy War was over, I would immediately find a place to retire. What use would I have for such useless things? What fun could there be in being a rich landlord from a feudal era? I would rather travel around the world and enjoy the sights. But this time, I was telling the truth. Yet, as always, nobody believed me.
Did the kings and domain lords who joined the Mist Alliance regret it? I felt that most of them regretted it now. After all, many things that they could do as they pleased in the past were now impossible to do. The inflexible creatures from the Church of Law were truly evil and should be executed. But as the Holy War progressed, reality would prove that their original choice was correct, and their views would change.
But at this time, joining the Mist Alliance would mean giving up on royal authority. This was an incredibly taboo in this era of royalty.
"The Soen Dukedom and Feldis Kingdom are applying to join the Mist Alliance? When did this happen? Why are they doing this? "
I wasn't the only one who was surprised. All the administrative staff were astonished to hear this. After all, perhaps joining the Mist Alliance would be beneficial for the entire country and its citizens, but only the dukes and kings of the two countries would make such a decision. Would they be willing to give up their royal authority and voluntarily accept being bound?
The Soen Dukedom and Feldis Kingdom were both located to the south of the former Seven Northlands countries. There was also a small country in between them. The Soen Dukedom could only be considered a small country, but the Feldis Kingdom occupied the fertile Finn Plains and the Sharal River. Its territory was also quite large, and it was quite powerful. This application to join the Mist Alliance was obviously rather sudden.
"The application arrived three days ago. It was signed by Grand Duke Klein and His Majesty Vincent. The application includes basic information on both countries, as well as basic information on taxes, expenditures, military, and so on. The administrative staff believes that the two countries are quite sincere, and that we must seriously consider their application."
Renée numbly flipped through the information in front of me. She had a bitter yet serious expression. It seemed that she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight since she had just returned.
No matter whether or not the two countries' application was accepted, this was a major matter that would affect the Mist Alliance's development for the next hundred years. If they accepted, not only would the Mist Alliance's territory increase by one-third, it would also open up a path to the mainland, and they would even obtain a fertile land that could produce crops. And if they didn't accept, they would at least have to give a sufficient reason.
I casually flipped through the map and looked at the large patches of brown and blue on the map, comparing them to my past memories. At times like this, my past memories were probably even more useful than the inflexible information.
The Soen Dukedom had only been established two generations ago. It was a small country that had been established within the ruins of the Mist Alliance. There were only a few cities within the country, and they didn't have any particularly famous specialties. They could only be considered a vassal of the Feldis Kingdom.
What ruins? The ruins of the Yongye Calamity … Cough, I meant that these two countries were somewhat related to me, although there were plenty of countries in the world that I was related to.
It couldn't be helped. Back then, the Mist Kingdom was located in the far north. If I wanted to take revenge on the Holy Church, I would definitely have to pass through these countries if I headed south. It was likely that they had been conveniently destroyed back then.
"Ha, I remember now. Feldis and I have no grudge against each other. Back then, the Yongye army passed through him."
"Yep, he had a grudge against Cavendish. Back then, the demon army crippled him, and even the king was killed. The current royal family was moved here from an inland kingdom."
I was rendered speechless. What was this? Did we completely offend all the neighboring countries back then?
"If you're talking about the truth, you're right. How many grudges did the demon army and the undead army invade the south? Why do you think so many assassins have appeared in the past few days? You should be grateful that humans are short-lived species, and these lords and kings are purely political animals. They won't fight you to the death for the blood grudges of their ancestors that have long been forgotten. If it were a long-lived species, even if their leader doesn't care about the grudges of the past, the citizens will still force him to fight you to the death. "
The silly cat was showing off the advantages of being a long-lived species in front of me, but I was retorting in my heart, 'Aren't your elves still obedient? In this day and age, it's still more practical to have a bigger fist.' Of course, I wouldn't say it out loud. After all, the silly cat would easily jump up in anger when it came to the pride of the elves, and I still needed her protection right now.
"Also, the rise of the two major Mist Kingdoms is the equivalent of forcefully digging out two pieces of land from nothing. In the past, it wasn't the Seven Northlands Kingdoms, but the Nine Northlands Kingdoms. What do you think happened in between? You can ask Renée how her ancestor valiantly fought against three Mist Kingdoms by himself. "
Actually, I didn't pay much attention to the past. The other side of being short-lived was that I sighed about how short my life was. I couldn't stop myself from having fun while I could. Expanding my territory and becoming the strongest emperor in history was probably the dream of many kings. The end result was that the human nobles and royalty were all terrible people. Many of them were related by blood, and many of them had fought each other to the death.
The past wasn't important at all. Only when it was necessary would people use the past as a reason to declare war. For example, "Your grandfather killed my uncle and stole my second grandmother. If you don't give the empress to me as my concubine, I'll declare war against you." Who would care about such things normally?
"Short-lived species, it's enough to live in the present. Living in the present is even more exciting."
I ignored the silly cat's arrogant expression and focused on the information I had. At the very least, based on the current information, I would reject this request to join the Mist Alliance.
That's right, I would reject it. I wouldn't allow two countries to join and make the Mist Alliance even stronger.
It wasn't always better to have a larger country. At the very least, the Holy War had just broken out. I did some simple calculations. Once two countries joined, our defensive borders would greatly increase, and we would lose many natural strongholds and fortresses. Our original solid defense would naturally become weak. And if I completely ignored the two countries' defenses … The Mist Alliance was an alliance of military defense to begin with. If I gave up on helping the two countries join, that would mean that both the alliance's rules and the Mist Alliance's morale would collapse.
"Let's gather information first. At the very least, we need to know why they chose to join the Mist Alliance."
I felt a headache coming on as I rubbed my forehead and put down the scrolls. Meanwhile, my servants kept bringing me all sorts of books and information.
"History, culture, financial income, military information, the movements of important people in the country, the real reason why they joined the Mist Alliance … It seems that the intelligence department is going to be exhausted. Right, I also need to consider the effect that joining the Mist Alliance will have on the entire Holy War's defense system. It seems that the strategy department is going to lose sleep over this. There's also the foreign affairs and administration departments.
I shook my head and sighed in frustration. I kept thinking as I walked … The moment I reached the door, I discovered that it was already blocked. The servants were all smiles, but they weren't willing to step aside.
"Don't even think about escaping! Don't even think about skipping work! Let's all work overtime until we die! "
Behind me were Renée's resentful words. My escape plan had been seen through yet again …
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