I don't plan on dragging out the plot, nor am I in a hurry to finish the book. Hmm, I won't reply to those who misunderstood me one by one. I'll write properly. That's all. There has to be a turning point. I've only touched on a few chapters of the book, so I have to write about it. "
"Yes, what I want is a secret agreement," Salin answered honestly.
"What a profiteering Mage!" Stephanie was amused. She felt pity for Ojavis. It was a pity that an emperor like him had such a short life. The sickly Ojavis definitely had foresight that was not inferior to Prince Sephiroth's. He might even surpass his father's. Emperor Charnak was too powerful. Sometimes, his foresight was not so far-sighted.
When a person's power was at its peak, he would often use violent methods to solve problems. However, who could guarantee that this kind of power was truly invincible?
Salin shrugged. "What can I do? I have to feed hundreds of thousands of people."
"Then, how many mercenaries can you send?" Tiffany saw that both sides had laid their cards on the table, so she first asked Salin how much he could send.
Salin quickly calculated and said, "If Your Majesty waits until the end of the year, I can send fifty thousand troops. In addition to the ten thousand Duke Rex stationed at the border, there will be sixty thousand main forces. If I recruit some auxiliary soldiers, I can gather a hundred thousand people. "
"These hundred thousand people cannot be the same price." Stephanie wanted to save money for Ojavis. She was worried that Salin would use people to make up the numbers. There would be more and more people seeking refuge with Salin, and there would be a large number of refugees at Jialoulan. The north of Qin Yin could not accommodate them, so many people entered Phoenix. Phoenix was not a safe place. Sooner or later, some of these people would come to Salin. In half a year, Salin's population would probably double.
"How is that possible? I will organize an elite swordsman battalion. The remaining forty thousand will be built according to the specifications of Qin Yin's main force. Your Majesty must pay for this elite swordsman battalion in full. Your Majesty can just take care of the logistics and pension for the remaining forty thousand. As for the auxiliary soldiers, it won't cost much. I will pay for it on Your Majesty's behalf. "
Ojavis was right again. Salin had no intention of taking advantage of him. It was his greatest victory to be able to enter the Rhine Duchy. If he did not have a secret agreement with Ojavis, he would eventually have to withdraw from the Rhine Duchy.
"That's fine by the end of the year. However, I hope that you can send someone over first and contact Rex's army. If the Rhine Duchy takes action in advance, you'll have to be responsible for it." Tiffany's words left no room for negotiation. This was the cost of the crisis that Salin had to pay.
"Of course. His Majesty asked you to tell me this. You must have brought the secret agreement and the deposit, right?"
"Yes, I have." Tiffany said as she took out the contract that Ojarvis had given her from her bracelet. This contract was not in the form of a scroll, but a double-layered magic paper made of the skin of a magical beast. After signing, both parties kept a copy.
This secret agreement was written in great detail. The two parties to the contract were Ojarvis Galen. De? Glycus and Salin? Metatlin. Ojarvis recognized Salin's position in the Rhine Duchy. If Salin could conquer the Rhine Duchy, then the Qinyin Empire wouldn't interfere with the political situation there. When Scotia attacked the Rhine, Sacred Rock City would also send troops to help Metatlin in strategic defense. The premise of all this was that the Rhine Duchy would intervene in the battle of Jialou Lan.
The secret agreement was written without any loopholes, and Salin was satisfied. There was no mention of Jialou Lan in the secret agreement, but Salin knew that Jialou Lan belonged to Prince Sephiroth. In this war, even if Sacred Rock City won, the fruit would be taken by Prince Sephiroth. The land of Jialou Lan would be given to Prince Sephiroth's people.
He and Rex could only attack from the south and the north, and split a small amount. Ojarvis had settled the matter of the Rhine Duchy with him, so he must have also discussed the problem of the Titan Duchy with Rex.
If he and Rex wanted to develop, they had to start from these two duchies.
As for the problem of soldiers, there was never a lack of free people on the continent.
What was a free person? It was a commoner who could freely move between the territories of the nobles. These commoners had no obligations to the nobles, and all the wealth was privately owned. In fact, this kind of freedom was not good.
There was a good joke that the free people of Qinyin were not as good as the farmers. The free people of Yunliu were only a little happier than the farmers. The free people of Scotia were as lowly as the farmers. The free people of Tanggulas had no freedom at all.
The large number of free people formed the merchants, craftsmen, workers, craftsmen, and so on of the various countries. Once a war broke out, the free people were the most likely to be involved. When the nobles fled, as long as time allowed, they would bring their farmers with them. And the best future for the free people was to join the army. That way, when they surrendered, there was still hope of being reorganized by the enemy instead of being killed.
After signing the secret agreement, Salin said to Tiffany, "I have a request."
"Speak."
"There is only one route from here to the Rhine Duchy, which is the attack route of the Vatican's expeditionary army. I want to build a city between Qinyin, Phoenix, Jialou Lan, and the Rhine Duchy. Between this city and Metatlin, every hundred miles, I want to build a small town for rest and recuperation. In addition, I want Deep Forest Town at the border of Phoenix to be the territory of my nobles. "
"This …"
"The nobles of that town have already pledged their allegiance to me."
"Alright, Holy Rock City will recognize your authority." Tiffany did not need to ask Ojarvis for such a small matter and immediately agreed. Because even Prince Sephiroth had the same opinion about Phoenix. It was best to let it be divided.
The Phoenix family had already declined and no longer had any loyalty to the Glucos royal family. And the nobles of Phoenix were very resentful of Holy Rock City. It was best for such a place to be divided. The land of Phoenix was enough to reward a few hundred nobles.
In the eyes of a mage, it did not matter if all the nobles died, as long as the commoners remained. Therefore, Stephanie and Tiffany did not object to Salin's request. Salin was a mage himself, so of course he understood the other party's thoughts. Therefore, he made the request very directly.
Just like that, Phoenix was betrayed once again.
Salin did not let the two Magic Shooters live in the palace, but invited them to Duke Ainphent's mansion. Although Ainphent's mansion did not build a Magic Tower, it imitated Salin's temple and built the important central building according to the specifications of a Magic Tower.
Mages still liked to live in places with rich elements, so that they could practice magic at any time. Salin's temple would not invite people like Tiffany to live there, unless the two powerful Magic Shooters were willing to follow him.
Salin did not dare to hope for it. These two were different from Nicholas. Nicholas already had a home and a country that he could not return to. The world was so big. If Salin did not take him in, Nicholas's fate would be terrible.
Salin obtained the passage to the Rhine Duchy and was allowed to build a city at the border of the four countries. He was in a good mood. If Ojarvis did not sign a secret agreement with him, he would only dare to send troops after he had at least 500,000 soldiers.
Most importantly, he had taken over Deepwood Town and made it his territory. He would expand this place into a big city, then open up the Magical Beast Forest and enter the Chaos Swamp. Through the secret passage, he would be able to attack Scotia directly.
Once he started a war with Scotia in the future, he would have three routes of attack. The first was from Rhine, the second was from the Chaos Swamp, and the third was from the sea. As for Phoenix, Salin knew that he would leave Rex's army at the border to deal with Phoenix in the future. He could not form an alliance with Holy Rock City, but he could form an alliance with Bitter Water Prefecture. At that time, the two would divide Phoenix.
That night, Salin had a good sleep. The next day, Salin called the nobles together early in the morning to discuss trade with Holy Rock City.
Salin now had a secret agreement, and Duke Valde had brought a letter of credence. There would be no war with Holy Rock City for the time being. The scale of trade between the two sides could be increased immediately. Because the Metatlin Kingdom's status was recognized, Salin's merchant ships could enter the port of Lianyun City. They did not have to wait for merchants from the south to come.
Salin could finally build ships openly, and with all his might.
During the winter of Metatlin City, there was a 200-mile frozen zone along the coast. Salin's main goal was to build warships, armed merchant ships, and so on. He wanted to open up sea routes and find islands suitable for a military port.
The four dukes had the money to buy merchant ships, but they did not have the ability to build their own. The counts, viscounts, and barons could not afford to buy ships, so they could only rent ships from Salin.
Renting also made money, so these nobles were willing to rent ships from Salin. It was much cheaper than in the south. Salin also had an escort fleet, so there was no need to be afraid of pirates.
Salin did not plan to form a merchant group, nor did he want to build a shop in Qinyin in the south. He only wanted the fleet. The fleet was his, so everything was his.
In three days, Salin prepared a not too grand ceremony and received the letter of credence from Duke Valde. He also wrote the letter of credence according to strict rules and prepared a group of envoys to return to Holy Rock City with Duke Valde.
An embassy was to be built in Metatlin City, and the same was to be built in Holy Rock City. Both sides would send envoys to each other. In the future, there would be no need to send people to Holy Rock City personally.
Salin realized that after he had worn down Duke Valde's arrogance, he was actually very easy to get along with. When Duke Valde discussed with Salin in private to buy some magic cores to bring back, Salin happily gave Duke Valde 100 magic cores.
These 100 magic cores were worth 20,000 gold coins on the market, and Duke Valde accepted it with a smile. Salin did not ask him to do anything, so this kind of communication was normal in Qinyin.
If Salin asked for anything in the future, he would not return more than 40,000 gold coins. This was the rule. The most likely scenario was that Salin would never ask for anything from him. Instead, he would owe him this favor. Within this favor, both sides would do something mutually beneficial.
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