"Otto Luoxi is an ally of Graycastle. He doesn't deserve this. What's more, he messed up the Eastern Region this time. What about the next time? Maybe he'll cross the border and invade us! "Brian said loudly." Your Majesty, please give the order! No matter how far the enemy is, the First Army will crush them for you! "
"Invade?" Barov raised his eyebrows. "If the army of the Kingdom of Dawn can openly enter Graycastle, why do we need you?"
"Director, I'm just giving an example..."
"A non-existent example is not convincing," Barov interrupted. "And most importantly, why do we need to go to war when we can solve the problem through diplomatic means? Don't forget His Majesty's primary goal this year. Do you think the eldest son of a noble family in the City of Glow is more important than His Majesty's ceremony? "
Brian was speechless.
"All right... take a break." Roland clapped his hands. "Eat something first. We'll talk later."
With the clapping of hands, the servants at the door immediately pushed a cart into the reception hall. The officials ate their snacks and went to the toilet. The tense atmosphere immediately eased.
This scene had happened many times during the three-day long meeting. Since receiving the information about the Northern Region garrison and the spy Hill Fawkes, Roland summoned all the relevant officials to the castle to discuss the next countermeasures.
It was evident that the bureaucrats under him were divided into different factions. The City Hall faction led by Barov tended to be conservative. They preferred to focus on the kingdom, or even the Western Region. They wanted to expand the population and strength step by step until the unification of Graycastle's regime was complete. They would retaliate against Appen Moya, the King of Dawn, sooner or later, but now was not the time.
The First Army, represented by Brian, and the members of the Adviser Department tended to be radical, but they were not as close as the City Hall faction. The former was probably influenced by the "new ideas" that he advocated when training the army, such as defending against the enemy outside the borders, discovering the enemy first, and destroying the enemy first. They insisted on taking action immediately to teach the royal family of the Kingdom of Dawn a lesson and rescue the persecuted Otto Luoxi. The latter, to a large extent, stood on the same side as the First Army for the reward. After all, if there was no war, they would not be able to play a role.
In addition, some of the members of the Adviser Department came from Longsong Stronghold and did not know as much about Neverwinter as the City Hall. Their arguments were often refuted, so their voices were even weaker.
Because of this, Brian's speech was easily rebutted by Barov several times. In terms of eloquence, the disparity between the two of them was too great. It was already good enough that he could express his thoughts in front of a group of ministers. After all, the Flintlock Battalion Commander was still young, and he used to be an ordinary villager in Border Town. He lacked both knowledge and experience, which could be seen from the report of the defensive battle at the snowy mountain.
Roland was the only one who remained silent. Judging from the current situation, the radicals were basically being beaten up by the conservatives. It had to be said that in the past three years, Barov's growth was even more outstanding than he had expected. Perhaps the old chief had been sufficiently tempered by the former finance minister, and all he lacked was an opportunity.
The only thing that surprised Roland was that Edith hadn't expressed her opinion even though the meeting had been going on for three days. Instead, she had remained silent.
If there was anyone in the hall who could compete with Barov, it would be the Pearl of the Northern Region.
In order not to let the two of them drag each other down and increase the loss of internal strife, Roland officially set up a new department in the City hall, called the Department of Defense, which was responsible for external military affairs. He also included the General Staff Department, making it a subordinate organization. The Ministry of Defense was in charge of external affairs, while the Security Bureau was in charge of internal affairs. Basically, the framework of Graycastle's violent machine had been established.
Of course, the Minister was still Roland. Before this, Edith was only Barov's assistant, staying in the City hall to learn how to deal with affairs. Despite her excellent performance, she had not officially joined the department until now. If she became the Minister as soon as she entered the department, she would be promoted too quickly and would not be rewarded in the future. It was also easy to leave the wrong impression to the newcomers that she could do it if she was in charge.
After all, it was no longer the time when there was a shortage of manpower, and anyone with a little bit of talent could become the main official.
So Edith was now a clerk in the Department of Defense, and like the General Staff, she was managed by Roland.
Roland knew that this arrangement, which seemed to be starting all over again, would not discourage the Pearl of the Northern Region. A person like the Pearl of the Northern Region should be able to guess what he was thinking. Although she had left the director's office, there was no longer any obstacle to her promotion. Therefore, this was a suitable occasion for her to perform, and Barov should not be allowed to suppress the whole audience.
This was indeed a bit unusual.
He glanced at Edith's seat and found that she was leisurely tasting the Chaos Drink in her glass, as if Barov's aggressive momentum had nothing to do with her.
She was indeed a strange woman.
Roland shrugged his shoulders, reached out to Scroll, and said, "Show me today's summary."
"Okay." Scroll put down her quill and handed him a hardcover book. "It's all in here."
After three days of discussion, they had basically reached a consensus on the content of the intelligence.
Hill Fawkes, who sent the secret letter, arranged the three matters according to their importance. That was to say, the disturbance in the Eastern Region was the most important, and Otto's imprisonment was not so important. Therefore, the eldest son of the Luoxi Family should not be in danger in the short term. Appen Moya had just ascended the throne and still needed the support of the three families in the City of Glow.
Even if the King of Dawn wanted to find someone to replace him, the process would not be too fast. They thought it would take at least one to two years. Otto was likely to suffer a lot, but it would not be difficult for him to survive.
Secondly, the news of the unstable situation in the Holy City and the report of the Northern Region Garrison confirmed each other, so it could basically be confirmed as a fact. However, even the City of Glow had reacted, which might mean that the Moya Royal Family had set their eyes on the church. Not to mention the hatred between the two sides, everyone knew that Hermes stored the wealth accumulated by the church for hundreds of years. It would undoubtedly be a very tempting choice to take advantage of the opportunity to eat it.
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