"What a beautiful speech. ”

Maintaining his usual elegant smile, Li Lin commented.

It would have been more flavorful if you had added an epifix like "Suffering, chicken plague!" or "Lick your brain, onboard!" at the end of your speech, but these are just minutiae and you don't need to pay too much attention to them.

The speech is the masterpiece of the company's royal literati, and after layers of review and checks, it was finally finalized by Li Lin. Prince Bernard merely recited it from the script, but thanks to his outstanding performance, the speech had more effect than expected.

Everyone is excited, passions converge into an irreversible torrent, and fanatical will will become the driving force that drives the war, and no one can stop it. In comparison, the voice of peace is pitiful, not even a stumbling block, at best an inconspicuous little stone on the side of the road.

It is not until the head is broken in the face of the cold and bloody reality that calmness and intelligence return to people's heads, and they think carefully about what they have done and what they should do.

This kind of drama is always happening, but human beings are always happy to do it, and what they learn from history is that they learn nothing.

"That's good, but that would make it impossible for humanity to turn back and go to war?"

Elder Osiris's tone was still full of doubt, he was really shocked by what had happened in Rundinium, and he could even imagine the power of so many humans to explode when they were directed in one direction. However, it is not the passion of the people that determines the direction of national policy, but the result of rational thinking, and the weight of a single speech does not seem to be enough to change the whole country or even the world.

"The meaning of the speech itself is quite limited. But in this state of imminent action, His Royal Highness the Prince's speech is an opportunity. ”

An opportunity that all parties desperately need to trigger a chain reaction.

"The Church Needs to Borrow" The prince praised Albion for bridging the differences between the two countries and promoting synergy between the two most powerful military forces in the human camp; Albion used this incendiary speech to cover up his tactical failures and the incompetence of his front-line commanders; Charlemagne not only earned enough points of morality, but also expanded his voice in the human camp, and finally they jumped into the chariot in the name of righteousness; Lapland hoped to take advantage of the east wind of war to regain the lost territory, Castile and Seres hoped that the duchy would weaken Charlemagne; it must be said that everyone got what they wanted, everyone is happy. ”

He did not mention the people. The reason is very simple. Firstly, their attitude is not important, and secondly, the attitude of the people is already clear and does not deserve attention.

For people who are almost out of breath under the pressure of life, religious belief is their greatest spiritual sustenance. When the slogan of "jihad" reached their ears. They can't help but recall the heroic martyrs who fought against the infidels throughout history. Naturally, there is a certain yearning for "jihad". Secondly, under the triple pressure of the big capitalists, the feudal lords, and the church, their standard of living is mostly not very good. And war provides an opportunity to change fate. The story of the triumph of Charlemagne's army in Lüdes after the Seven-Day War with large bags of real money and silver is a profound inspiration, compared to Castile, the principalities did not have as many precious metals, but they had a lot of fertile land. For the landless peasants, it was an irresistible temptation to become small landlords with hundreds of acres of land, for which they were willing to pay with their lives.

The peasants were realistic, and the educated, especially the literati and young people, were much more radical. Charlemagne's writers Victor Hugo and Chateauel Briand, Byron of Albion and the great poet Percy Bisy Shelley - many literati waved their pens and spent their days shouting in their poems and writings such tunes as "We are all Albions to-night" and "Burn the heretics at the stake", and constantly stirred up trouble in the arena of public opinion and on university campuses, calling on "young men of conscience" to join the army and contribute to the holy war.

In fact, there is no need for indignant poets to incite them, young people have long been impatient after listening to Prince Bernard's speech.

Whether it is a conscientious young man who is in a rebellious period and likes to express his "spirit of independent thinking", so he is keen to go against the mainstream of society and like to discover or invent the truth, a fanatic who is not much different from the mob and is widely known as "angry youth", a naïve teenager who wishes to believe that foreign public opinion will always be fair and objective, and a popular young man who expects to become famous and return to his hometown to marry his beloved girl after filling his pockets...... Basically, almost all kinds of young people have one thing in common: they are easily deluded, taking what they see or hear as truth, and then stubbornly clinging to it, as if defending their lives.

This is still a stubborn disease shared by all kinds of wisdom, regardless of era, country, nation, or creed, and the main group is also young people, which has not changed from ancient times to the present day until the foreseeable future.

Of course, there will always be people who will come out to rebel against this phenomenon, but the ignorant will always be the overwhelming majority, and in the face of overwhelming numerical superiority, the rebels will shout at most a few times, and then retreat to the side in a circle in frustration.

-- It's like a young man who wants to form a trade union within the monopoly chaebol and hinder the pace of the war by striking at the side.

Smiling meaningfully, Li Lin spoke again.

"Prince Bernard openly praised Major General Parkinson's propaganda as satisfying the needs of all types of young people, that conscientious young people would use his speeches to refute Charlemagne's parents and the government, that naïve teenagers who were superstitious about foreign opinion would enshrine these things as golden rules, that patriotic and indignant youths needed a model to promote the legitimate deeds of dedication to the Queen and Albion, and that the speech of a foreign royal family would undoubtedly show its authenticity and credibility. Next, the people of Albion will spare no effort to promote the bravery, worthlessness and loyalty of Major General Parkinson, and the armies of various countries will follow suit, or find their own Major General Parkinson, and then raise the banner of defending the faith, and in the name of the Almighty Mother Goddess, take these fearless young men into the meat grinder-"

Li Lin stopped. Spread your hands.

He'd said enough, and now it's time for His Excellency Elder to make a decision.

To cooperate, or not to cooperate?

The Archon of Alfheim leisurely sipped the black tea, waiting for an answer that was no longer in suspense.

"One last question. ”

After hesitating for a moment, the Dragon Clan Elder slowly exhaled a breath, his blue pupils met his bright red eyes with some kind of determination.

"What if the principality defaults?"

A mean smile like a knife appeared on Li Lin's face again.

Trustworthiness is a cherished virtue, but it is never spontaneous. When the borrower is unable to repay the debt, he will always choose to repay the debt without thinking, whether he is an ordinary person, a nobleman or a king. As we all know, the credibility of the woolly bears has always been relatively low. Always hovering between 0 and negative. Therefore, it seems reasonable to consider the issue of debt collection in advance.

However, in Li Lin's view, this is a false proposition at all.

It may be difficult for other forces to collect debts from the principality, but the dragons ...... The Principality's little force was not enough for them to stuff their teeth. When the dragon debt collection army marches into the bay of Lapland. When bombarding the capital of the principality with various large-scale attack techniques. Naturally, the principality will obediently give every gold coin.

What else is there to ask about such a simple matter?

The only explanation was that the elders wanted to profit from Li Lin's plan. I don't want to get on the pirate ship in Alfheim. If the principality does default, the dragons will continue to uphold their neutrality, and then leave the debt collection troubles to the elves, without any responsibility, just sit back and enjoy the consequences......

What a cunning old slippery old man.

"If such an unfortunate thing happens, I will order my men to send warships and bombers into St. Petersburg, and help the Tsar and his ministers to understand the importance of keeping their promises. In the worst-case scenario, we will have to use force to defend our interests and launch a military operation against the principality, codenamed 'Infinite Justice' or 'Assault on Freedom', to recover all the arrears. ”

The contemptuous smile disappeared from his face, and the sincere, compassionate "Great Good Man" continued to speak:

"I have no ill will towards the Principality and its people, I just want to keep our share of interests. If the Wehrmacht really launched indiscriminate artillery coverage and carpet bombardment of St. Petersburg, it would be a tragedy of history, a serious humanitarian crisis and a humanitarian catastrophe. I would like to set up a foundation for the reconstruction of St. Petersburg and other cities, for the rescue of orc culture, and for the construction of a museum in Alfheim to preserve and exhibit various artifacts and historical texts. In addition, I also want to carry out charity activities in the war-torn area, give relief to the victims and orphans who have lost their parents, and arrange for them to work and live in my factory......"

For a moment, the Elder's face became very strange, and after a while, he finally suppressed the stomach acid that was rushing to his throat. Although he had lived for so many years, Elder Osiris had never seen a few hypocritical speeches, but Li Lin's hypocritical performance full of evil taste still made him feel disgusted.

The mother goddess is above, even the golden dragon who has lived for 5,000 years has never seen anyone who can say such an extremely shameless thing so high-sounding!

Just before His Excellency Elder couldn't bear it anymore and was about to plug his ears, Li Lin's performance ended, and the discussion returned to its original track.

“...... However, the probability of the above situation is quite small and almost negligible, and once the war begins, the principality loses the possibility of defaulting on its debts. ”

"What do you mean......"

"A protracted local war will inevitably lead to a decline in the national strength of the Principality, which is not a good thing for a multi-racial country like the Principality. ”

Elder Osiris immediately understood what he was talking about.

For a long time, the dominant Bears were the largest ethnic group in the Principality, but they were not the absolute majority, accounting for about 40% of the total population. Although the other ethnic groups were nominally members of the principality, they had almost zero say in politics and lived the life of second-class citizens, only slightly better than human serfs. Therefore, the seeds of rebellion and independence have been buried in the hearts of other ethnic groups, and from time to time they have turned into various uprisings.

When the Principality is strong, even if two or three ethnic groups rebel together, it is not a big deal, and it will be extinguished quickly. However, in the face of continuous bloodletting and a decline in national strength and internal control, independence movements large and small have become a hot potato and a heavy burden.

"The war will not end, it will only continue in another place, as long as there is a war, there are enemies to fight with, the principality needs enough gold coins to maintain the operation of the army and the state. Under this premise, the principalities could not and did not dare to repay their debts, and in order to keep the principalities operating, they would ensure their creditworthiness. ”

There is another point that Li Lin did not say, for a long time, the principality will face the trouble of internal independent separatist forces. This was not only to prevent the principality from defaulting on its debts, but also to prevent this temporary land-hungry ally from jumping out and stirring up trouble in the event of a large-scale military campaign in Alfheim in the future.

Although he has positioned the dragon clan as a collaborator, he will not expose his hole cards at any time, especially in front of an old dragon who has been tempered by the years.

"Well, I have no problem, I will do my best to convince the other elders to agree to cooperate with Your Excellency. ”

The last bit of hesitation dissipated from his mind, and Osiris announced.

"Now for the last thing. ”

Determining the distribution of benefits, signing agreements - the last and most important task, past, present, and future, will always be so.

Li Lin handed over the documents that had already been drawn up, and then waited leisurely. (To be continued......)