"This is left to Bes." Sean still felt a chill when he thought of the man who called himself Stephen.

But neither William nor Cecilia felt this way, so they couldn't understand the horror in Sean's tone. It's just that since Sean has decided to let Beth handle it, then the problem can basically be considered over, at least they don't think that anyone else can escape Beth's pursuit.

After finalizing the amount of foreign aid for the future of the territory, the meeting was basically over.

Cecilia also seemed to be a little busy, no longer doing as idle as before, so she got up and left after the meeting. Instead, William was still sitting in the conference room, his chin resting on the backs of his crossed hands, staring at Sean with interest.

After a while, Sean was the first to lose: "...... Do? ”

"Nothing." William smiled, but he didn't know what he was talking about, but his smile made Sean feel a chill.

"Don't laugh, the more you laugh, the more bottomless I am." Sean shuddered, and he quickly reached out and rubbed his arms, as if to keep warm, "Just tell me what's wrong with you." ”

Hearing Sean's words, William restrained himself a little, revealing a more serious face, and then said in a deep voice: "Now that the contract documents of the territory are in our hands, I can solve the upcoming troubles about the Peace Association smoothly." But have you ever considered how to deal with the affairs of the Imperial Family of the Millennium Covenant Empire and the Duchy of Lane? ”

"What do you mean?" Sean was stunned for a moment, and some didn't react.

"We all know very well that they are coming for Cecilia, but in fact, they don't know who the awakened person of the Phoenix bloodline is, so they may settle here for a long time in the future." With William's voice rang out. Sean's brow furrowed as he found that there seemed to be something crucial that he had overlooked, "The current standing army strength of our territory is close to 30,000, do you know what kind of concept this is?" ”

There are a total of ten armies officially registered in Sean's domain.

They are the Iron Wings of Anno, the Thunder Lion led by Alfred, the Cecilia Guards Regiment of Clov, the First Cavalry of Rena, the Infantry Cavalry Regiment of Aldolph, Stalin's First Infantry Corps, Nock's Second Infantry Regiment, Puda's Red Leaf Town Militia Regiment, the Void City Defenses, and the Black Wings currently under the command of William himself.

Among these ten legions, the Iron Wings, the Thunder Lion, and the Void City City Defense Army have all expanded to the scale of 5,000 people, while the Cecilia Guards, the 1st Cavalry Unit, the Infantry Cavalry Regiment, the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments, and the Red Leaf Town Militia Regiment and the Black Wings still maintain a strength of 1,000 people, plus there are more than 3,000 reserve recruits who are still cultivating in Panda Town and hundreds of Savage Land slaves brought by Vivien before, the total strength has exceeded 25,000 people.

And this does not include the two private armies under the command of the former Viscount Rude that can be drawn and put into the war at any time.

With an army size of 30,000 people, you must know that this is at least a force that a powerful earl with a vast territory can afford. And a powerful marquis like Asuna. Not counting the more than 7,000 Thunder Blades left in the Tonys Fortress, the regular strength of the private soldiers under his command alone is only 30,000, and even if the second echelon that can be temporarily formed has 50,000 troops, the total strength is only close to 90,000.

However, it is important to know that the Tonys Fortress has a permanent population of more than 100,000 and a floating population of more than 100,000. And with such a huge fortress, it only supports less than 50,000 standing troops. And Sean's territory, not counting the number of troops, has a total population of only 30,000 or 40,000 people. Although the floating population can reach 60,000 or 70,000. But with such a small population to feed an army of nearly 30,000 people, this cost is not ordinarily large.

In the past, Sean's approach was to solve the problem by fighting to feed the war, and a large part of the reason for this is because nearly two-thirds of the nearly 30,000 troops are composed of Northland barbarians and slaves, and these people only need to eat enough, and they don't need to be paid at all. But like the city defense army of Void City and the two private armies on the side of the Dayi Territory, etc. But you have to pay enough pay.

But as time goes on, there will inevitably be a lot of slaves who will gradually become lords, and if they are to remain in the army, then they will have to be paid. So on the side of the army. It's only going to get bigger and bigger like a bottomless pit, and there's no chance of shrinking — unless Sean disarts.

After hearing William's solemn words, Sean finally understood what William wanted to express.

The reason why Sean spares no effort to develop military affairs, and even makes way for military affairs in the event of a conflict between government and military affairs, naturally has only one purpose, that is, a war with the kingdom of Dabion. As the trigger and leader of the outbreak of the war, Sean's greatest benefit is that in the initial period after the outbreak of the war, as long as the Duchy of Ryan has not officially intervened, during the outbreak of the war between the Duchy of Ryan and the Kingdom of Dabiang, the territory and materials seized by Sean will all belong to his own property, and there is no need to distribute them through the Principality of Ryan after the war.

But now, if the envoys of the Imperial Family of the Millennium Covenant and the Duchy of Lane live in Void City for a long time, then it will inevitably have a significant impact on Sean's war plans. Not to mention that as the suzerainty of the Duchy of Lane, the Millennium Covenant Empire will definitely not want to see the development and growth of the Principality of Lane, so once this kind of sign is discovered, it will definitely try its best to stop it.

Even if a war broke out under such circumstances, but now that there is such an envoy of the royal family of the Duchy of Lane in Sean's territory, then he is equivalent to occupying the name of orthodoxy. In this case, even the nobles are not just a pioneer knight Sean, all the territories and resources he fought must be counted into Asuna's name, and under the supervision of the royal envoys, as long as this war starts, it will be the official intervention of the Duchy of Lane, so it can be said that Sean is not beneficial at all.

William knows this, Neil also knows it, and now that William reminded him like this, Sean has completely woken up.

After all. In the orthodox history of the game, when a war broke out between the Duchy of Ryan and the Kingdom of Dabion, the Millennium Covenant Empire had no chance to intervene at all, and by the time the Millennium Covenant Empire wanted to intervene with a tough stance, the war between the Duchy of Ryan and the Kingdom of Dabion had ended with the destruction of the Kingdom of Dabiang. But now in this world, because Cecilia awakened the phoenix bloodline, she drew the visit of the royal envoys of the Millennium Covenant Empire and the Duchy of Lane, which completely disrupted Sean's steps and plans.

"And what do you and Neil think?" Sean knew very well that since William had already said so, he must have negotiated with Neil. Thinking about each other with other clueless. It's better to hear from these two professionals first.

"The quickest way to do this is naturally to meet the requirements of the Millennium Covenant Empire and let them leave as soon as possible." William spoke.

But before he could finish his words, Sean had already interrupted mercilessly: "Impossible! There's no way I'm going to hand Cecilia over the city. That's not a good thing, if Cecilia is allowed to go to the Millennium Covenant Empire to further her studies. Maybe I'll agree, but it's a living experiment! Do you know what this means? ”

"Of course I know." William nodded very calmly. "I'm just saying to meet the requirements of the Millennium Covenant Empire. It didn't say that Cecilia should be handed over. ”

Hearing this, Sean was slightly stunned: "What do you mean?" ”

"They're looking for a Bloodline Awakener, right?" William continued, "But the problem is that they don't know who the Bloodline Awakeners are right now. It is entirely possible to deceive them by fabricating some illusions on this matter, such as the fact that this Bloodline Awakener has left our territory......"

"Such a shoddy lie. Do you think they'll believe it? ”

"It doesn't matter if they believe it or not, the most important thing is that we have more advanced intelligence than they do." William spoke, "Some time ago, Ruby caught several spies of the Millennium Covenant Empire's intelligence services. These people are indeed very tough, worthy of being from the Seven Great Empires, and they didn't say anything even in the face of our interrogation......"

"Is it okay to get to the point?"

"Okay." William gave Sean a somewhat boring look, and then said reluctantly, "For these spies, we directly punished them severely, although these people all died in the end, but we still got some useful information." …… It's been a month or two since they've infiltrated our territory, but they haven't gotten any useful clues about the Phoenix Bloodline......"

"Isn't this what I'm doing in Tinchiin during this time?"

"Yes." William nodded, "They collected data by eliminating some important people in our territory, and finally targeted Rena, Sheena, and Cecilia. But just as they had just fed back this information to the head of the intelligence department of the Millennium Covenant Empire, these spies were captured by us. And according to the way the intelligence department of the Millennium Covenant Empire handled the problem, this information should still be in the hands of the chief in charge, and it has not been passed on to those envoys of the Millennium Covenant Empire. ”

Hearing this, Sean had fully understood: "So as long as we catch the head of the intelligence department of the Millennium Covenant Empire, then the other party will have nothing to gain in this question about the Phoenix Bloodline, and at that time, no matter how ridiculous the excuse we give, they can only choose to accept it and cannot continue to stay in our territory to investigate......"

William suddenly supported his chin with one hand, the index finger of his right hand lightly tapped the tabletop, and his eyes suddenly exuded a look of excitement: "You say, could this Stephen be the head of the intelligence department of the Millennium Covenant Empire?" ”

"Probably not, right?" Sean was a little stunned, "Such a dangerous thing, it is impossible for a noble guy like the head of the company to take action personally, right?" ”

"I can't say for sure." William said lightly, "Anyway, since we all want Bess to make a move, why don't we do it right away?" …… Even if he wasn't, being able to hide from me and Neil's counterintelligence methods was enough to prove that this man was anything but simple, and maybe he had any more important information or other clues on him? ”

"I'm going to find Bess right now." Sean didn't hesitate to get up.

"No, I'd better do it." William gave a very attractive chuckle, his face flushed a little drunkenly, and his snort began to become a little heavy, which made his whole person suddenly feel a little more overwhelmed.

But Sean knew that once William showed that smile, it meant that he was really excited. And once William gets excited, the prey that is usually targeted by him, I'm afraid life will not be so easy. (To be continued......)

PS: When will this book be able to exceed 40,000 collections?