… The Special Wells Army, the Southern Frontier Garrison Corps, the Tyniec County soldiers and the lord's private soldiers have stopped the campaign plan for the southern border of Kodor and are stationed on standby."
In the barracks of Beiguan Army Castle Yate, Odo held in his hand a military order letter sent from the command camp of the Central Army of the Liberation Army. His face was full of doubts, "What? Don't we want to fight? Is that impossible?"
"Yes, sir, everything in this world can be compromised, but the struggle for power can never be compromised. The winner between the east and west realms must be determined by life and death." Angus also could not understand the mystery of this letter.
Bas and Kazak also nodded in agreement, "Sir, if there is no war, there is no need for us to rush to reorganize and expand the army. If there is no war, it will be too wasteful to support an army of thousands of people."
Matt turned his attention to Robert, who had just returned to the valley from Besancon. "Bishop Robert, you just returned from Besancon, tell me what you think."
Robert had just been promoted to bishop.
After Art was granted the title of Tynets County, the bishop who originally pastored Tynets County was transferred to the position of abbot of a monastery in the Lucese Province diocese. Of course, Art was behind all of this. Although Art had no grudge against the original Bishop of Tyniec, and the two had never even met, this did not prevent Art from "seizing power."
The church has a strict hierarchy, divided into clerical hierarchy and ruling hierarchy. There are three major clerical ranks - bishops, priests, and deacons; the governing hierarchy is divided into nine levels, from top to bottom, including the pope, cardinal (cardinal, such as the bishop of France), and chief bishop (purple bishop, the head of a country's church organization or the bishop of the capital, such as Burgundy) Bishop of the first principality), archbishop (bishop of an autonomous state under a principality, such as the bishop of Burgundy), provincial bishop (bishop of the diocese of Lucesne), bishop (county bishop), diocesan priest (such as the priest of the Diocese of Sarpburg), parish priest (such as Father Hamish), and deacon. There are other lower orders below the deacon.
There is a certain correspondence between the ruling hierarchy and the clerical hierarchy.
After Art was promoted to a frontier baron, Hamish, the parish priest of the wooden castle in the valley, was promoted to a parish priest by the bishop of the Lucese province, Olof. The presidents who temporarily assumed church duties in several villages in the valley were also successfully converted into deacons (lower than the parish priest).
After being promoted to Viscount of the Borders and granted the title of Tynets, Art thought over and over again and decided to leave the ecclesiastical rank of Bishop of Tynets County to Robert, who had been accompanying the army as a staff officer, but the church affairs of the entire Tynets County would be actually controlled by Hamish.
Robert is not a person who is content to be a saint, so he is only interested in the priesthood. As for taking care of church affairs, he is happy to leave it to Hamish.
Robert's original military priest only had the same administrative power as a parish priest, but Art directly changed his administrative level from parish priest to bishop, and his ecclesiastical level was also promoted from a second-level priest to a first-level bishop. Even though it was the lowest level among the ruling bishops, Robert was extremely excited.
Robert is a careerist, but he is a smart and sensible careerist. He knows what he relies on, so he also obeys Art's words and makes suggestions.
"My lords, my lords and commanders, this time I was ordered to go to Besançon Cathedral to accept my promotion and heard a lot of secrets. I believe these secrets should have reached your eyes and ears in the North, and you will receive the news soon."
After hearing this, everyone looked at Robert with bated breath. Robert lowered his voice and said, "I have many church members in Besançon. They told me that the chief bishop of the Principality of Burgundy sent an archbishop to Thorne City in early April. This is no secret."
"Think about it, my lords, the chief bishop of the principality has always had a close relationship with the Duke. At the critical moment of the dispute between the east and west of the county, the Duke's close friends sent people to the Saône Province. There must be a hidden secret..."
The guesses of a few little people in this stone house in the far south were not wrong, but almost everyone in the top management of Besancon knew about this matter, so there was no such thing as a "hidden secret".
Because just the second week after the "special envoy" of the Principality of Burgundy visited the city of Thorne, the church team passed through the east of Thorne Province and arrived at the palace of Besançon.
The "Special Envoy" did not hesitate to tell Flanders and Baldwin about the discussions with Bernard in Thorne.
It turned out that Bernard had long known through secret channels that the reason for the Duke of Burgundy's secret support for Flanders' faction was that Flanders promised to obtain the rule of the county and pushed for the return of the Free Count to the Duchy of Burgundy, so that the Count of Burgundy would become a ducal special area of the Duchy of Burgundy. In other words, it would give up the autonomous region of the Count of Burgundy and return to the jurisdiction of the duchy's palace.
Bernard was shocked. It took more than ten years of struggle for the old Marquis to gain autonomy for the County of Burgundy, but Flanders was actually willing to sell out the old Marquis's life-long efforts and vital interests for the iron seat.
However, as Bernard’s faction lost Besançon in the East-West Successor War and gradually headed towards destruction, Bernard’s bottom line became lower and lower - since Frandken sold his autonomy for the Iron Seat, he could also sell his territory for the Iron Seat.
So Bernard gave a strong dose of medicine when the situation was over - as long as the crown prince Robert could sit back on the iron throne, Burgundy was not only willing to return to the duchy and become a ducal jurisdiction, but also willing to donate Saône, the most fertile and rich province, to the Duke as a royal private property.
This is a piece of cooked fat. Bernard is the de jure and de facto lord of Saône. He is cutting his own meat and giving it to the Duke of Burgundy.
The court of the Principality of Burgundy was in a dilemma. Bernard not only offered a higher bargaining chip, but also the most real and attractive bargaining chip.
The so-called return to the clan only resulted in the conscription, taxation, and the right to appoint and remove dignitaries, but in essence, the Burgundy District after returning to the clan was also a legal territory separated by a layer of cotton; but the meaning of dedicating private property to the royal family was completely different, which would mean giving up all power in the territory.
Bernard gave a quarter of his territory in exchange for the Duchy of Burgundy defecting between the two factions.
Bernard's move is not crazy. Anyway, after the loss of Besancon, the Western Territory completely lost its advantage. Now fewer and fewer people support the Western Territory. If he didn't take this move, he would still lose the Saône Province after the Iron Seat changed hands in the future. It would be better to carve out the Saône Province now in exchange for the support of the Principality of Burgundy. After defeating Flanders, he would still have three provinces. In this deal, Bernard would definitely not suffer in the current embarrassing situation.
As a result, Flender jumped.
Seeing that the winter wheat in the provinces of Yona and Lucesne is about to be harvested, the second phase of the offensive in the Battle of the Successor has been deployed. As long as the grain harvest and the supply of military supplies are slightly sufficient, the Liberation Army will launch a final fierce attack on the Saone Province and regain the entire territory in one fell swoop.
But at this moment a "special envoy" broke all plans.
The greatest confidence that Flanders dared to march to the west with great fanfare was the secret support of the Principality of Burgundy. Not to mention the huge amount of food baggage and weapons and armor assistance during the war, the key was that the tens of thousands of troops from the Principality of Burgundy never entered the country and never interfered with Flanders' way of seizing power.
Just imagine, if the Principality of Burgundy sends ten thousand troops suddenly from the west and north, how can the four to five thousand troops of the Liberation Army cope with it?
Now that Bernard has offered attractive terms, it is hard to say which side the Duchy of Burgundy is on...
"...So I think the most likely possibility is that Bernard promised the Duke more attractive terms in exchange for the support of the principality, and our new king had to stop immediately and think about countermeasures because of this." After careful consideration of the news he had heard, Robert came up with the reason why the Liberation Army suddenly stopped all actions.
After listening to Robert's analysis, a thin layer of sweat broke out on Art's forehead inadvertently.
Robert's conjecture is very reasonable. Now Bernard's disadvantages are fully revealed. People who are about to lose everything have no bottom line and no worries. In this case, he can make any conditions.
On the other hand, Flanders is different. He is an ambitious man. He longs for the Iron Throne, and even more for the actual power under the Iron Throne. Seeing that most of the fruits of victory have been chewed, no one is willing to spit them out. Flanders is now a man wearing shoes, and the barefoot energy he had at the beginning is definitely gone. He cannot be allowed to spend all his efforts in exchange for the empty airs of a Marquis.
Flanders' difficult situation will also become a fatal disaster for Art.
At present, Art has been firmly tied to the chariot of Flanders. Once Flanders overturns, he will not die well, and the foundation that has been built with countless lives for several years will also be destroyed.
Looking at the tens of thousands of territorial citizens, thousands of troops, and this territory that everyone longed for, Art was extremely anxious.
Such emotions reached their peak in the following week. The "Eagle Eye" stationed in Besançon and the "Task Force" lurking in the Saône Province quickly returned the news one after another. The bad news they brought back completely confirmed Robert's speculation.
At the end of May, the Principality of Burgundy closed the food transportation route from the northern border to the city of Besançon via the Black Iron Castle. The originally agreed upon 600,000 pounds of food aid suddenly stopped at only 200,000 pounds; the assembly of a thousand sets of weapons for the Liberation Army The armor purchase order was also terminated indefinitely; three thousand Burgundian troops gathered on the northern border of Besancon and seemed to be heading south overnight...
The Besancon palace was frightened overnight, and the central command camp of the Liberation Army was in chaos.
And Art gradually regained his composure after a few days of restlessness. He understood that no matter how anxious he was at this time, it would not help. This kind of overthrowing the old forces and establishing a new dynasty was inherently unpredictable. What he could do at this time was to believe in Flanders' ability and think of a response strategy of his own as soon as possible.
At the beginning of June, Art started to take action.
Have done three things externally.
The first thing he ordered was to take out all the 400,000 pounds of war-prepared grain stored in four warehouses in Tynets County, Lane Manor, Southwest Farm, and Wincheston Manor. He also requisitioned hundreds of carriages from all over Tynets County, together with the chariots of the Wells Army, to carry the war-prepared grain to Besancon. Art's confidant Odo personally led one hundred and fifty county soldiers to escort the grain to the north.
These 400,000 pounds of military rations were of course bought to Flanders, but the price was only the purchase cost of the grain plus some transportation costs, and there was almost no profit at all.
The second thing is that almost at the same time that 400,000 pounds of grain were shipped to Besancon, six hundred sets of weapons and armor purchased from all over the Principality of Provence were also sent to the north by the European Commercial Bank...
The new king Flanders, who was sitting on the iron seat of the Besancon palace, saw that he had come from a remote place. When the 400,000 pounds of grain and 600 sets of weapons arrived from Tyniec County, he was so moved that he could not speak. At this time of crisis, those powerful ministers and dignitaries who had been with him all day either abandoned him wisely or cursed the enemy and talked empty talk. So far, Art was the first person to express his loyalty and support to himself with practical actions.
Flanders is not short of money, especially after receiving the huge loan from the Holy Order's treasury. So with a wave of his hand, he increased the price of the 400,000 pounds of grain supported by Art by 50%, and also purchased all weapons and armor at high prices. Yate's righteous deed also served as an example. In the following period, lords at all levels from various places belonging to the Xinjun faction began to collect military supplies and military supplies for the Liberation Army.
At the same time, Flanders also reacted quickly to find a way out of the desperate situation.
The third thing, Art wrote a private letter to Flanders, in which he proposed several countermeasures he could think of. Regardless of whether Flanders will adopt it, at least he tried hard in times of crisis.
Internally, Art does three things.
The first thing he did was to order that after the winter wheat harvest in June, all taxes in the county would be converted into grain taxes, and all the grain collected would be brought back to the valley for reserve. All the food was brought back to the valley;
The second thing, Art ordered to speed up the reorganization and training of the army, temporarily integrating the Tyniec County soldiers, the private soldiers of the Baron of Fort Andermatt and the army of Sappburg into the Wells Army to prepare for the most difficult situation.
The third thing, Art sent an order to Felix to recruit soldiers in Sap Territory and sent people to Sap Fort to cooperate with Felix in training the army, and then increased the defense strength of Tiaoshi Fort.
No matter how well the territory is managed under the external instability, it will not help. Therefore, after all the arrangements were made, Yate put aside the civil affairs of the territory and joined the Welsh Army to start training like crazy...