Chapter 389： bitter victory

Cecil hurried out of his intelligence department to the Lord's Mansion with a stack of papers in his arms, straightened his collar at the door, and went straight in. No one came to stop him. As the third eye of the lord, Cecil had the privilege of meeting Paul without notification.

After asking the servants in the mansion about Paul's location, Cecil hurried to a door on the second floor and knocked.

"Master Grayman, I have something important to report to you."

"Ah, Cecil, please come in." Paul's voice came from inside.

Cecil pushed the door and entered, and found that besides the Earl, there were two unexpected people inside—wells and old Hoffman, the alchemist in the chemical laboratory.

These two alchemists, as well as a bunch of their peers and students, are not seen on weekdays, and not many people go to them. People who deal with excrement stay away.

They came to report to Paul the progress of the nitrate experiment.

Paul frowned as he looked at the report in his hand.

"Guys!" The lord's tone revealed suspicion and dissatisfaction, "If I remember correctly... Uh no, I mean, according to my guess, the output of Nitrogen should not be so low."

The alchemists finally fiddled with some results, but Paul was still very dissatisfied.

"Do you remember correctly? The Earl has been in contact with the so-called nitrate field before?" The doubts in the hearts of the two alchemists flashed past.

"Uh... Cough! Lord Greyman..."

Old Hoffman explained: "I'm sorry, we haven't fully grasped the laws, please give us some more time."

Wells on the side also complained: "Temperature, humidity, ventilation, light... There are too many variables, and it needs to be adjusted bit by bit to sum up experience..."

Paul raised his hand to interrupt them: "Okay, [Tune Shenxia] guys! I didn't come to you to listen to complaints."

The nickname the earl gave to the alchemist made Cecil who was standing at the door laugh, and the two alchemists blushed.

"Leaving aside the matter of Nitian, I heard recently that the chemical laboratory has purchased a large number of glassware and experimental materials. Where did you get the money? It's not embezzled from the special funds for Nitian research, right?"

"This...this...Master Graiman...we are...you see, there are so many students who have never been exposed to alchemy, so...so...let them practice more..."

Seeing the stammering appearance of the two alchemists, Paul smiled secretly, but warned in a stern tone:

"Listen, you two, apart from the main task, I have no objection to you doing other research in private, maybe you can come up with something. But if you are short of money, you can report to me, but embezzlement of special funds is strictly prohibited happened again.”

Through investigation, Paul learned that the misappropriated funds were indeed not used in the personal lives of the alchemists, and given their enthusiasm for scientific exploration, let them go.

The old Hoffman and Wells, as if they were pardoned, swore and swore to strictly abide by the rules set by Paul.

"Okay, both of you, go back first. I hope that within a year, the nitrate field will allow us to reduce our dependence on ore."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Graiman, since we have created something from scratch, it shouldn't be difficult to optimize it on this basis."

The two alchemists bid farewell and went out.

Paul then turned to Cecil: "My intelligence director, what is the important thing?"

Cecil took a step forward: "Lord Graiman, I just received the news that the war in the south is over!"

"Oh? Who won, the royal army? Or the rebels?"

Cecil touched his chin and said, "The royal army won."

Regarding the intelligence director's narration, Paul was puzzled: "It's... what does that mean?"

Cecil explained: "Giles resumed his vassalage to the Crown..."

Paul asked: "So... what about the southern territories that were loyal to the royal family before the rebellion? Has Giles returned?"

Cecil shook his head. "Neither side mentioned it."

Paul guessed: "It seems that the royal family has tacitly allowed Giles to annex these territories."

"Yes, the losses on both sides are huge. Even if the royal army wins, they will not be able to go south."

This is an embarrassing victory for the royal family.

"Where is the Grand Duke of Veblen in the East?"

"Like Giles, he has surrendered to the royal family again. But the territories loyal to the royal family in the Eastern Region are also the same..."

It must have been cleaned up by Veblen, after all, the main force of the royal army was pinned down in the south.

"It seems that the royal family has essentially lost its influence on the southern border and the eastern border. From now on, these two places will become the private small kingdoms of Giles and Veblen."

Paul and Cecil jointly made this judgment.

"Well, after the war in the South is over, the business of Northwest Industries will be difficult." Paul was a little worried.

"Master Greiman, there will never be a shortage of wars in this world, you can rest assured."

Ah, have you fully assumed the role of a weapons dealer? sin!

…

"Your Highness! We should go."

Ofina walked to the princess and reminded her softly.

The two were standing on the majestic tower of the Thorn Fortress, looking at the land to the south.

Catherine was silent.

Will the kingdom finally lose its grip on the south?

Giles stopped the rebellion. The other party's slogan at the beginning was to replace the Aldo Kingdom, and now they have resumed their vassalage. From this point alone, the suppression of the rebellion is a victory.

But it was a bitter victory.

In the original southern region, there were not only Giles and his henchmen, but also a considerable number of vassal families loyal to the kingdom, but now their territories were all owned by Giles and his henchmen.

If these vassals were all loyal to the kingdom, it would be fine, but Giles politely sent them over after the armistice. How to resettle these nobles who lost their land is another big problem.

And Veblen in the East...

After the final battle, Catherine wanted to grit her teeth and persevere, but the huge losses and the instability in the rear finally prompted her to accept the peace talks.

There is news from JingyaoA large number of goblins are haunting the forest, and the army is needed to eliminate them. Moreover, there are also sporadic reports of pirate attacks on the west coast. Although the Northwest Fleet of King Nanxiaqin performed well, there are only a dozen ships in it. How to guard against such a long coastline.

"Ugh!"

The princess sighed.

"Ofina, let's go. But, I swear..."

…

"what!"

Giles' eyes were red, and he knocked the person in front of him to the ground with a loud roar, then he raised his sword and was about to strike down.

"Grand Duke, please forgive me!"

The fallen man hurriedly begged for mercy.

The war was over, but the results were far from what Giles had hoped for.

The accumulation of several generations of the family, and the years of planning by myself, all they got in exchange was only a separatist regime.

Originally, I should have been cheered by the people on the streets of Jingyao on a tall horse.

Originally, I was supposed to sit in Jingyao's palace to accept congratulations from the officials.

But now he can only vent his anger in the duel field.

"Get out!" Giles stopped.

"Thank you Grand Duke for your life!" The person who was captured as a duel opponent fled.

Giles wiped his sweat, then cursed those who made him unable to fulfill his wish.

"Damn Veblen!"

Without this "ally" holding back, the final battle should have been a big victory.

"Damn Northwesterners!"

The Northwest Gulf was also on the grand duke's blacklist. If they hadn't sold so many armors and weapons to the royal family, their own powerful army would have been invincible long ago, and intelligence showed that the Northwest Gulf had also supplied a large amount of military rations during the war.

"I'll take care of you one by one!"

"I swear…"