"Your Highness Bernard, Castile is not the crown of St. Istban, it is not a dependency of our country, it is an independent sovereign state. ”

"Yes. Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I know. ”

From both a legal and a practical point of view, Castile is not a territory of another country, not a subject state or a territory, nor a colony, but an internationally recognized independent sovereign state. Its monarch has the right to govern freely within his borders, without interference by other countries.

This is the basic norm of international relations, and even at the height of the Church's influence, the commanding Holy See has to take this into account and leave a certain leeway for its actions.

"Your Highness, since the 'Seven-Day War', the nations have been using a magnifying glass to keep an eye on our country's every move. ”

"Yes. Prime Minister, I know. ”

The second prince's answer was still lukewarm, but his anger was condensing little by little with the memory.

Seven-Day War. It was the first battle of the Titans after they were formed. That battle not only achieved fruitful results, but also greatly changed the world pattern, bringing a brainstorming for military strategists and generals from various countries. From that day on, Titans was shrouded in the aura of "invincible" and "invincible", and the myth of "Titans is invincible" was widely spread among the nations.

It was supposed to be a pleasant memory, but Prince Bernard didn't think so.

- That victory should have been more perfect, more brilliant!!

In the immediate aftermath of the war, Prince Bernard, like everyone else, was immersed in great joy and could not extricate himself, and after calming down and thinking about it, he regretted it.

It was a great situation at the time. With Titans' combat power and elite weapons, it is not impossible to annex Castile in one go. If this had been done at that time, the battle for the throne would have been very easy, with Castile as the foundation of his territory, expanding the power of Titans, and with this army as the backing, no contender would be worth mentioning.

However, due to the mediation of the pope, the increasing pressure of the nations, and the fierce opposition of the king and the prime minister, Castilla was able to avoid the fate of the country.

It was his territory! at the cost of the lives of thousands of Titans soldiers. It was something that should have been enjoyed by him, the commander of the Titans, alone! Prince Bernard could only watch Castile drool.

Next, everything that happened in Castile was constantly humiliating him. First, Philip II personally attacked him. It's easy to understand that after such a fiasco, any monarch would lose control. But giving the crown prince a harsher title than "uncultured wicked youth"—"a little madman with Charlemagne's disease, opium, and alcohol in his head"—still made Prince Bernard furious.

"That Habsburg mongrel with a bulging forehead. Does he just want to die?"

After hearing that comment. Prince Bernard smashed things while smashing things. While panting and scolding.

This is a shame of Yan zhòng, an offense, and a blasphemy.

An incompetent king who was almost trampled to death by the boots of Titans like a toad. He and his country must pay the price, and Titans will teach the Castilians a hard lesson, teach them how to respect the strong, teach them who is the master, and finally erase the disgraced kingdom of Castile from the map and indeed from the map.

His Royal Highness the Prince thinks so and does so. Prime Minister Richelieu has a great deal of evidence that Titans was involved, or even directly involved, in a series of political struggles in the Kingdom of Castile, and that there is a tendency to do more and more. In addition to the secret agents under the Prime Minister, some of this evidence was handed over to him by the Minister of Castile. There are bizarre prints such as "the independence and prosperity of Castile need to be built on the basis of three hundred years of colonization by the advanced powers", as well as muskets and bombs secretly delivered to the Civilizers, and every piece of evidence points directly to Bernard as the general backstage.

Charlemagne was mostly silent about this matter. On the one hand, everyone knows the childish thoughts of the second prince, and on the other hand, everyone doesn't think it's a thing. But Prince Bernard has his plans and timetable, and the Prime Minister has his own.

"That being the case. ”

The prime minister frowned and sighed.

"Why did His Highness instigate Viscount Bellamy's actions to take matters into his own hands?

Bernard looked directly at the old prime minister, and the tone and eyes of the old man in the red robe were not only calm but calm, as if he was just asking questions, not coming to question.

Suppressing the mockery, Bernard replied:

"Of course I do. ”

It can't be anything else, but a war with the Kingdom of Castile. This is what he has been looking forward to for a long time, and it is actually what Richelieu is looking forward to.

Charlemagne wants to truly unify the human camp, and then launch a new holy war against the infidels, sweep away the infidels, and finally realize the long-cherished wish of "eight Hong and one universe, the world is armed", and Castile is a threshold that cannot be bypassed. It is precisely because of the existence of the second power on the continent that Albion was able to calmly carry out their-stirring strategy of "uniting the second power and attacking the first power". Despite the current stalemate between the two allies over a series of issues, in the context of Charlemagne's rising rise, Philip II and his successors will eventually compromise with reality and seek to join Albiang's anti-Charlemagne alliance to contain this common enemy. Charlemagne will have to face a huge encirclement network, and even if the country is strong, it will be difficult to deal with the challenges of multiple fronts at the same time. A qiē ambition will be broken in front of this big net.

It is based on this judgment, coupled with the fact that the war in the north has ended, and the "Naval Arms Control Agreement" has just been signed, and other directions cannot be expanded for the time being, and the only thing left is that Castile still has a slight opportunity for the whole country to take a tacit attitude towards Titans' actions.

But there is always a priority in things, and even if Richelieu agrees that the annexation of Castile will be a matter of time, it is only possible to see the form clearly and follow the steps to achieve it. How can there be a dignified minister of a country with a group of soldiers who are no different from bandits, the moon is dark and the wind is high. Open flames, storming the palace, killing people and setting fires, burning corpses - what era is this?

The next day, Minister Bellamy's frenzied act spread to the high-level leaders of various countries and spread to the people, causing public opinion to boil.

"With the exception of the protest of the Minister of Castile, each country expressed its displeasure and demanded that they allow the diplomatic establishment in Charlemagne to strengthen its security. Minister Albion asked me, 'Can the Charlemagnes think in the way of modern people?' Minister Emile declared, 'His Majesty the Pope is eyeing your country,' and Seres and Lapland said, 'This is incomprehensible......

Richelieu's tone remained flat, and the eyes that looked at Bernard grew stern.

Although this kind of deed, even more brutal atrocities, are common in the history of nations, the current strong is surprised by Charlemagne's "cruel methods". It's a bit of a crow laughing at a black pig. However, it is now the modern age in which mankind prides itself on being "civilized" and "progressive". It is really shocking that the minister of a country dares to personally lead people to rush into his king's palace to kill people and set fire, and it is no wonder that friendly countries are surprised by this, and fall into the self-question of "whether they can have fun with Charlemagne".

Now. Charlemagne was completely passive. Letters of protest almost flooded the Prime Minister's desk. Charlemagne, who were stationed abroad and abroad, endured strange, if not unfriendly, stares - if this embarrassment and predicament could be exchanged for actual control of Castile, it would be considered earned, but what made Richelieu angry. Bellamy and the lunatic got the hell out of it.

It's not that they let the anti-Charlemagne Queen Anna run away, Queen Castilla ushered in the end of her life in a way that suited her identity. Telling her attendants begging her to flee in makeup, "Purple is the noblest shroud," she dressed up in full costume and brandished her wand to fight the soldiers who stormed the palace until the last moment. After killing and wounding more than a dozen people, the queen, who was beloved by the people of Castile, was shot several times and died of excessive blood loss. To vent, Bellamy ordered the queen's body to be dismembered and burned before being thrown into the pond.

The first task was accomplished, but the second target, the crucial Philip II, managed to escape.

The exact circumstances are not clear, but from the information gathered so far, it should be Philip II, under the cover of the Marquis of Sandiana, who escaped before Bellamy and his men rushed into the apartment. The Titans soldiers found their target fleeing and pursued them, but just as they were about to catch up, they were stopped by a group of orc soldiers guarding the Duchy's embassy. Without waiting for a reaction, Philip II took the young prince and princess and hid in the embassy of the principality, led by Count Lobanov, minister of the United Principality of Rus. Not daring to break into the embassy of the principality, and fearing that they would be surrounded by the Castilian army that had rushed to King Qin, the soldiers and ministers who had been crazy all night had no choice but to retreat.

This incident, which the Castilian people called the "relocation of the open hall", is now a temporary end, but the results and significance of its guidance are extremely far-reaching.

There was no conflict between the Duchy and Charlemagne, and even though the Dauphin Louis had recently conquered the territory of the Duchy, and the two countries were at loggerheads over issues of faith and race, there had been no fundamental conflict of national interests between the two countries before this incident. Richelieu didn't know what agreements and promises Castile had made with the Duchy, but the reaction of the furry bears in this case was so fierce that they even threatened with force – which did not bode well.

Intervening in the human camp has long been the expectation of the Duchy, and no matter how strong the faith of Philip II is, he will inevitably seek to improve relations with the Duchy and form some kind of alliance. If the cunning Count Witte had been clever enough, he would have sent a secret envoy to Albion to mediate the dispute between Albion and Castile, and to demand the conclusion of the Triple Alliance against Charlemagne......

"As a courtier, I have no intention of commenting on His Highness's behavior. However, I believe His Royal Highness also understands the principle of putting state affairs first. In view of the adverse effects of the matter, the persons concerned must be repatriated and put on trial. ”

Bernard's cheeks twitched, and he was about to get angry when he was forced back by Richelieu's cold eyes.

The Prime Minister's meaning is no longer clear, he wants to use Bellamy's head to solve the diplomatic dilemma, and no matter what, he can't make an alliance between the three countries. Bernard wanted to shelter the criminals, exonerating his men with excuses such as "the perpetrator was a Castile and the prisoner had committed suicide in fear of crime" – such a small calculation would not work.

"Please also say hello to Titans, please stay in the barracks honestly for a while now. In order to improve the efficiency of the use of military spending, we will conduct a comprehensive inventory of the army, navy, and Titans. Once discovered, we will never let go of the acts of eating empty quotas, embezzlement, and dereliction of duty. ”

The anger in his heart was suddenly extinguished, and Bernard, who had always been arrogant, couldn't sit still at this time.

This is a very weighty warning, if Titans has more trouble, the prime minister will not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity of the army to kill those generals who dare to "go alone" and "go violent". Although the crown prince and the army were quite invincible, before the prince of the charr established his own power. Titans is needed to contain it. But Richelieu also did not allow a warlord who was even more arrogant and domineering than the crown prince! Before the situation became out of control, he did not hesitate to offend the consortium and the second prince, and also to get rid of the military leaders of Titans.

Watching Bernard slowly collapse on the couch, Richelieu breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that this matter will end happily.

Just as he was about to comfort Bernard. When giving the other person a step. A bell rang, hesitated, Bernard pressed the button and asked:

"What's wrong? Don't you know I'm talking to the Prime Minister?"

"Your Highness. Emergencies. ”

A juggling voice rang out over the loudspeaker, and with his report, Prince Bernard swept away his frustration, and the prime minister's mood was shattered.

"One of our soldiers went missing during the border exercises, and when he searched the Castilian army defense area, he asked to enter the search, but the other party not only refused, but also shot and wounded our soldiers, and our troops were forced to return fire in self-defense, and now the front line is in a fierce exchange of fire. ”

The loudspeaker continued to say something, but Richelieu didn't listen to a word, and the self-proclaimed shrewd Archbishop Li couldn't have imagined that Titans was more than a star and a half stronger than the army in things like "going down" and "disobeying orders", and even he, the prime minister, was smacked hard this time......

＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃

When the smoke of gunfire was rising on land, and the sea was calm in the far south, a lieutenant of the royal family of Albion looked up at the clear blue sky and stepped onto the deck.

In the prosecutor's opinion, the old commercial sailing ship is in terrible condition, with a wet deck with a lot of seaweed and kelp, and the sailors are cleaning the deck - apparently, the irregular cargo ship from Lapland has just been hit by a violent storm. At this moment, under the threat of the guns of the cruiser "Achilles" of the Royal Navy of Albion, it stopped on the high seas against the wind and accepted the provisional inspection of the Royal Navy.

In this pirate-infested southern sea, this is all too commonplace. The battle doctrine of the royal navy stipulated that ships that could not be immediately judged to be on the right side should be intercepted and inspected. The captain of the cargo ship, Mr. Knutsson, issued a detailed document and a fitting affidavit to prove his identity and the purpose and destination of the ship, the 1,500-ton three-masted galleon "Hero", which sailed from Christiania in Lapland to Charlemagne's southern colony to load high-quality pine timber from the fjords of Lapland.

After inspecting the voyage documents, the captain of Lapland, while spitting a large amount of saliva from chewing tobacco, invited the prosecutor in Lapland, with a strong accent, to check their documents and cargo in the cabin, as well as his wife, who was suffering from a toothache, and to celebrate the chance encounter at sea, he also brought out a treasured gin.

Yiqiē looked as cheerful as a festival, and the Albiang prosecutor, who had always kept a straight face, was also infected by this atmosphere and accepted the captain's hospitality.

Finally, after the inspection was completed in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, the logbook, the operating certificate, the cargo, and the personnel were all proved to be fine, the Albiang prosecutor announced:

"Mr. Captain, there is no problem with all the documents, please set sail after our ship sends a signal. ”

After the prosecutor and his men were contained, the "Achilles" lifted anchor and sailed straight towards the "Hero", passing the port side of the cargo ship, and the signal flag of "Have a good trip" fluttered at the stern.

"Our Albion friends were really welcoming. ”

Captain "Cnutson" said with a slight teasing expression, and the signal flag of "Happy Journey" was also hung above his head. The whole crew watched the good-hearted "Achilles" go away until the white spinnaker disappeared below the horizon.

"Enemy ships stay away!"

The childish lookout shouted loudly, and then began his work: looking far away, searching for all kinds of suspicious signs of the sea and sky, and the sailors on the deck were quickly busy, lifting anchors, cleaning anchor chains and decks, and pulling full sails. But unlike before, they speak Elvish now.

It wasn't a cargo ship at all, and her name wasn't "Hero", her real name was "Seahawk" (SMS. Seeadler), a seemingly innocuous cargo sailing ship, but in fact a camouflaged assault ship belonging to the Wehrmacht Navy. The ship was fitted with panels that concealed several passages through which heavily armed marines could suddenly appear on the deck, with two retractable 105mm guns hidden in the bow and concealed gun emplacements and detachable 88mm anti-aircraft guns on the upper deck, ready to sink unsuspecting prey. Below the waterline, there is a specially reinforced keel, and a 900-horsepower steam engine is installed, which can rely on mechanical power to hunt down prey when the ship is in a headwind state. The ship also carried two motorboats, which could carry boarding groups aboard enemy ships.

“Nice.Boat。 ”

Spit out the tobacco and bite into the finely crafted pipe, "Captain Knutsen", Rear Admiral Felix Lucknar, looked at his crew and battleship with a satisfied smile. (To be continued......)