Chapter 319: The Deadlock in Peace Talks

With the participation of the East Coast United Kingdom, King Roger had already had the idea of ​​ending the war. Strategically speaking, the Kingdom of Grant should not be trapped in a three-sided war situation.

However, in the system of the Kingdom of Grant, the king alone cannot decide on such a major event as war and peace. If he wants to stop the war, he must communicate with the nobles who support the war. Only when the nobles reach a consensus and the majority of the nobles in the Council of Nobles agree can a peace agreement be truly signed and the war be ended.

After changing his mind, King Roger continued to send special envoys, wrote handwritten letters, and listened to the opinions of the nobles.

Maurice, the younger brother of Marquis Allen, once again served as a special envoy and came to Richard's camp with King Roger's letter.

After listening to the king's opinion explained by Envoy Allen, Richard thought for a moment and said, "The envoy is clear. The reason why our Harland family joined the war is actually mainly to capture serfs and develop the barren territory in the northern border. Only in war is it suitable to capture people on a large scale. The Harland family has its roots in the northern region. It is not our decision to expand to the south, and we don't care how much territory can be expanded.

On the issue of armistice, the interests of the Harland family are consistent with the interests of the king. In the vote of the Council of Nobles, we will exert our influence and support King Roger's decision."

Getting a positive answer from Richard, Envoy Allen was very happy.

Envoy Allen has dealt with the Harland family many times and has a deep friendship with William. However, with the development of time, the status of both parties has been very different. At the beginning, the Harland family was just a viscount family. Envoy Morris Allen came from a marquis family and had a heavy authority in the Grant royal court. His actual status was a few points higher than Richard.

Now Richard has been promoted to hereditary duke. According to the system of the Kingdom of Grant, hereditary dukes are already considered the masters of the country.

If the Kingdom of Grant is compared to a company, Richard has been promoted to a member of the board of directors, and his status is far more important than that of Special Envoy Morris Allen. So in the conversation between the two sides, Morris has to accompany carefully.

After getting Richard's support, Special Envoy Allen happily left the barracks and continued to go south to communicate with Duke Guise and Duke Duran.

The two Dukes of Guise and Duran were originally great nobles of the Kingdom of Delong. Because of the tragic internal conflicts, they joined the Kingdom of Grant with their territories. These two dukes not only have historical grievances with the Kingdom of Delong, but also have very deep conflicts of interest. Unless the royal family is willing to make greater concessions in the territory, it is difficult to agree to peace.

Duke Duran and Duke Loran have been in-laws for generations and have formed an alliance politically. Duke Guise has a great influence among the southern nobles. The two sides are enough to get the votes of three dukedoms. Moreover, in the war, Earl of Silver Moon Island lost his territory, and Earl Marcel suffered heavy losses. Without sufficient compensation, they are definitely not willing to make peace.

The two parties have already controlled nearly one-third of the votes in the noble council. If these great nobles strongly oppose it, it will not be easy for King Roger to stop the war.

King Roger is a man who can take it or leave it. Since he has decided to stop the war, he is willing to compromise on territory. Even if he gives up half of the occupied area and gives most of the expanded territory to the two dukedoms of Gis and Duran, the Kingdom of Roger is willing to exchange for peace.

Envoy Allen Morris communicated with the two dukes of Duran and Gis several times. After three concessions and compromises by the Kingdom of Roger, they gradually reached a consensus.

The Noble Council of the Kingdom of Grant decided to send Envoy Allen to negotiate with the Kingdom of Delong.

When Envoy Allen arrived at the Saint Sis Castle, the capital of the Kingdom of Delong, it was already late May.

Saint Sis Castle, the palace of the Dekter royal family.

King Henry of the Kingdom of Delong is already 109 years old and is an old man. This king has been a mediocre king since he was young, although he is a ninth-level epic knight with very strong personal combat power.

But since he took over the kingdom, it was first invaded by the Kingdom of Ryan and lost 160,000 square kilometers of land, and then attacked by the Kingdom of Grant, and suffered heavy losses again. In order to save the country, the Kingdom of Delong also transferred 80,000 square kilometers of land to the United Kingdom of the East Coast. In just a few decades, the Kingdom of Delong lost one-fifth of its territory. If it continues to develop like this, it may be extinct.

Although King Henry is old, he is still surrounded by young and beautiful women. Even when discussing matters with court officials, more than a dozen beauties follow King Henry, and military and national affairs are left to these court beauties to listen. These court beauties are exposed in their clothes, their smooth limbs are exposed to the air, and their waists are wearing high-slit silk skirts. Their faces are very ruddy, and they have just experienced an intense exercise.

Although King Henry is a ninth-level knight, his life span is much longer than that of ordinary people. After all, he is more than a hundred years old. He just had an intense exercise of one-on-eight, and he is also a little breathless and listless at this time. He waved his hand, embraced a young beauty, and said to the courtiers around him: "The Kingdom of Grant has sent a special envoy to sign a contract with us to restore peace. What do you think?"

"After the East Coast United Kingdom joined the war, the situation has changed a lot. The Kingdom of Grant has fallen into the dilemma of fighting on three fronts. According to the battle report sent by the East Coast United Kingdom, the Silver Moon Count's fleet was completely wiped out and Silver Moon Island has been lost. The Earl of Marcel suffered heavy losses and lost half of his territory.

Our ally, the East Coast United Kingdom, joined the war for only one and a half months and seized one and a half earldoms of the Grant Kingdom. In addition, they sent reinforcements to the Dukedom of Hubble, and the situation gradually turned in our favor.

Unless the Grant Kingdom withdraws its troops completely, gives up the occupied land, and compensates us for our losses, peace can be restored. "The speaker was Military Minister Pierce. As a military minister, he is naturally a hawk and his attitude is naturally very tough.

After hearing Pierce's words, Interior Minister Peron immediately retorted: "I think we should negotiate with the Grant Kingdom. Although the Grant Kingdom invaded us savagely and was a man-eating tiger, the East Coast United Kingdom was also a greedy wolf. And we gradually became fat goats, and our territory was divided up by nearby wild beasts.

The Grant Kingdom occupied more than 100,000 square kilometers of our territory, and the East Coast United Kingdom did not use any weapons, but also occupied 80,000 square kilometers of our land. From this aspect, the East Coast United Kingdom is not our ally, but also our enemy.

Since the Kingdom of Grant is willing to negotiate, we are the weaker party, so we should talk to the Kingdom of Grant and try to recover some of the territory through negotiations to end the war as soon as possible. Then we should select brave and warlike nobles in the country, integrate resources to train new troops, find ways to govern the country well, and restore the tradition of our ancestors' emphasis on military affairs, so that we can gain a firm foothold among the nearby barbaric countries and resist the invasion of neighboring countries. ”

】

Although Peron’s words were not pleasant to hear, they were rare truths in the Dekter court.

Because King Henry liked to be flattered, the Dekter court was full of lies and big talk. The court ministers fooled old King Henry every day to maintain a false prosperity.

Peron was King Henry’s nephew and an important member of the Dekter royal family. His status was unique among the court ministers, so he could speak a few truths. But his truth made King Henry unhappy. It’s just that Peron’s brother Anton was a legendary knight and the foundation of the Dekter family in the Dekter Kingdom, so his position was as stable as Mount Tai. Even if King Henry didn’t like him, Peron’s opinion was still very important in the court meeting.

Peron’s words severely hit the old king’s vanity and made King Henry very unhappy. However, although this king was a tyrant, he was good at political struggles. He changed the subject and said, “Since Peron is willing to solve the problem through negotiations, this negotiation will be handed over to you. I have only one request, the army of the Kingdom of Grant must withdraw from the territory of Duke Isaac. I cannot let the land of the Duke of Isaac be incomplete and disappoint the beauty of the head of the Isaac family. "

After the war broke out, the army of the Kingdom of Grant captured the Duke of Isaac. The Duke's family suffered heavy losses. Two legions were wiped out and many core members of the family died.

In order to maintain the status of the family, Duke Isaac sent the most beautiful woman in the family to the royal court of Decket, and let the seventeen-year-old Duke's lady become the court lady of King Henry.

Normally speaking, the marriage between the Duke's family and the royal family is basically equal. It is impossible for the Duke's daughter to be the court lady of the kingdom, and it is even more impossible to let the teenage Duke's lady enter the court of the centenarian king.

Duke Isaac's actions basically trampled on the honor and face of the nobility, and he has become a nearby The laughing stock of the country's nobles.

But this operation is very effective in the Kingdom of Delong. King Henry was obviously seriously affected by the pillow talk. The conditions set for Peron are almost impossible to achieve.

The Duchy of Isaac is located in the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Delong. If the Duchy of Isaac is abandoned, several provinces in the occupied area must be abandoned. The occupied area of ​​the Kingdom of Grant will only be half of the Duchy of Hubble.

The Kingdom of Grant mobilized its troops, won several battles, and occupied more than 100,000 square kilometers of land. If it agrees to such conditions, it will not be able to settle the internal affairs at all. Even if the Kingdom of Roger is willing to negotiate, the royal family will not expand any territory, and the dukes and earls in the country will not agree.

The conditions set by the Kingdom of Roger for Allen are just to give up. Abandon three and a half provinces controlled by the Dekter royal family, take over the entire Duchy of Isaac and most of the Duchy of Hubble. Abandon about 70,000 square kilometers of land and expand 80,000 square kilometers of territory. This condition is a concession, and there is a high determination for peace talks.

Knowing that this negotiation is a pit according to the king's request, Peron is still trying his best to organize negotiations for the future of the Kingdom of Delon.

Unfortunately, after the negotiations began, the differences between the two sides were too great. Because King Henry was determined not to make concessions, it was almost impossible to reach a peace agreement, and they fell into a stalemate.

While the two sides were negotiating, the war was still going on.

In order to create a good environment for peace negotiations, Richard asked to annihilate the Sixth The army's plan was not approved by Steven.

Although Steven did not agree to fight an annihilation war some time ago, Richard also made adjustments to the battle deployment. He personally led the elite soldiers of Harland Territory to cut off the retreat of the Sixth Army of the East Coast United Kingdom, and assembled a large army to surround the enemy soldiers.

Since the reconnaissance battle fell into disadvantage, the Sixth Army of the East Coast United Kingdom sent letters for help to the rear several times.

The encirclement of a main army is a very serious matter in the East Coast United Kingdom. The entire country has only 23 standing army corps, and the Sixth Army is still the elite of the East Coast United Kingdom.

Although there is a tacit understanding with the Grant Kingdom, in order to rescue this elite army, the East Coast United Kingdom still mobilized two army corps for reinforcement.

After the transfer order was issued, the 7th and 13th Legions of the East Coast United Kingdom divided into two groups and marched towards the Duke of Hubble. Along with these two legions, there was also a mage group of more than 60 people.

On May 23, the Lion Duck Cavalry of Harland first detected the enemy's intelligence and found that the enemy began to increase its troops.

As night fell, Richard's military tent was brightly lit.

The noble officers of the four provinces in the northern border were silent, listening to the officers of Harland arguing loudly.

"The superiors have not made a final decision. For the sake of the overall situation of the peace talks, we are prohibited from annihilating the Sixth Legion. Now the enemy has reinforcements, and there are high-level magicians in the vanguard who shot down our magic hot air balloon. The situation has changed. I think we should withdraw the siege immediately and withdraw our troops quickly, leaving the decision to the superiors. It depends on whether the superiors want to fight or negotiate. If they want to fight, they will mobilize reinforcements for us. If they want to negotiate, please ask the superiors to make the decision."

"Uncle Soros, what do you think?"

"We are the guest army. Since the superiors have asked for peace talks and we have not received the next order, I think withdrawing is the best choice. Even if the enemy successfully breaks the siege and cuts off Steven's retreat, we will still be able to open the passage when the reinforcements arrive. It's just that Steven will be the one who needs to bear the test next."

Listening to the officers' discussion, Richard knew that the subordinate officers had a lot of opinions about Commander-in-Chief Steven. The situation has changed this time. Steven's judgment is not up to standard. Asking for a withdrawal is actually to withdraw Steven's army.

Once Richard chooses to withdraw, it actually means that the East Coast United Kingdom has cut off Steven's retreat and put the army in danger. If the Royal Guards really lose two legions, it will greatly affect the prestige of the Grant family.

Richard knows that war is a continuation of politics. Steven's order is actually a political matter. He did not agree to the four-province coalition to fight an annihilation war in order to gain the initiative in political negotiations.

As the deputy commander of the intervention army, he has a large part of autonomy. At this critical moment, he should take responsibility. After all, the Duke of Harland relies on the Grant Kingdom in many ways. He and the Roger Kingdom are actually in the same boat. At this time, watching Steven's jokes and weakening the power of the royal family will only benefit the enemy.