Chapter 393： secret preparation

After nightfall, Nissberg, which had been noisy all day, finally fell silent. But this kind of silence is only reflected in the fact that there are no longer large-scale crowds gathering together on the street, and there are still laughter and laughter floating out from time to time in various pubs and other leisure places.

People's excitement seems to have not passed.

In an office of the council, a dozen big names from the Horn Bay Alliance gathered. However, what was incompatible with the happy atmosphere outside was that these big men were all frowning and worried.

The current chairman of the council, Marcus, had a pipe in his mouth and smoked it. He hid his body in the thick smoke, as if this could relieve his inner melancholy to some extent.

Marquis Joe Foster was sitting on the speaker's right. He raised his head and looked around, but no one looked back at him.

"Ahem!" He coughed a few times, attracting the attention of others.

"Sir, sitting still is not an option. We should immediately send envoys to Collins to explain the situation to the Archbishop."

"It's too late now!"

Before the speaker could speak, Horace, who had always advocated a tough attitude towards the church, stood up.

"Master Speaker, I suggest that when the popular sentiment is high, we should immediately contact the countries in the corner of the bay that have a similar attitude to us, and form a formal alliance against the church. With a large number of people, they will not dare to act rashly."

"This is too risky..."

Just as the debate started in the room, there were thumping footsteps outside.

Everyone looked at the door. The person who came was the second son of the Marquis Fortes, Quiller Foster, who is currently the captain of the Nessberg Guard.

After he came in, he bowed to the people present, and said in a deep voice: "My lord, my lords, the situation outside is basically under control. The cathedral has been sealed off, and the idlers have been cleaned up."

Speaker Marcus raised his eyelids, his eyes looked cloudy, and asked, "Are there any casualties? On both sides."

Queller's face was ugly: "Five people died on the public side, thirteen people were injured, six people died on the church side, and more than 30 people were injured. However, it seems that the knights of the church made the first move."

"Hey... It doesn't make sense whoever strikes first. Is the archbishop's envoy still in a coma?"

"Uh... yes, judging from the injury on the head, it should be that it hit a hard object when it landed."

"Where's Bishop Angelo?"

"Although he was mentally frightened, his body is fine. The cathedral is currently under his management."

Speaker Marcus nodded, "Okay, thank you for your hard work, go back and rest first."

Quiller rested his chest with one hand, and said with shame on his face: "Master Speaker, the guards in charge of public security in the city have an inescapable responsibility for something like this to happen. Please punish me."

The speaker waved his hand and said, "No one could have expected this kind of thing. The guard may have some responsibility, but it's not enough to punish you. Let's sum it up internally and go on."

Quiller said heavily, "Yes."

He looked up and exchanged glances with his father next to the speaker, and left the office.

After the door was closed, Marcus puffed out a puff of smoke, put down his pipe and said, "Everyone, I decided to hold both hands. On the one hand, I will send someone to Collins to meet Archbishop Elvis to explain what happened today, and propose Our reasonable demands, this is an open action. At the same time, on the other hand, we contact our allies who have the same demands as us and obtain their support. Of course, this is a secret thing.”

He looked at everyone in the room one by one with scrutiny.

"I hope that the second measure will be kept strictly confidential, and it must not be brought to the council for discussion. Everyone here is someone I can trust, and I hope no one will live up to my expectations."

Foster took the lead to stand up and solemnly assured: "Speaker Marcus, please rest assured that I will keep it strictly confidential."

Others followed suit.

Speaker Marcus nodded and said, "Very well, let's discuss the specific arrangements."

Everyone moved their seats and sat down around Marcus, lowering their voices and discussing in a low voice.

Who should be chosen as an emissary to Collins, what to say when meeting Archbishop Elvis, how to secretly contact potential allies, these things have all been carefully deliberated.

During the process, someone raised the question, in addition to sending an envoy to Collins to meet the Archbishop of Jiaowan, whether another envoy should be sent to the Holy See headquarters to meet the Pope, asking him to mediate the conflict between the Jiaowan Church and the Alliance.

Many people have doubts about this suggestion. After all, the Holy See is the superior of the Jiaowan Church. There is no reason to "turn the elbow". It is likely to protect its shortcomings. Didn't the alliance not only fail to drive away the wolf, but also attracted the tiger? .

"When I went on a pilgrimage to the holy capital, I was fortunate enough to meet the Pope. He is a kind, just, and kind elder. If we explain our difficulties clearly, the Pope will uphold justice for us...at least not Cover the other side."

Marquis Foster stood up to support the proposal, and Speaker Marcus agreed after much hesitation.

The people continued to discuss until midnight, and then dispersed in the still solemn atmosphere.

"Joe, walk slowly for a while, I still have something to explain to you."

Just as Marquis Foster stood up to leave, Speaker Marcus stopped him.

The two sat down again, and there was no one else in the room at this time.

"Marcus, what's the point of keeping me here?"

The speaker stared into his eyes: "Joe, we have to prepare for the worst, the sooner the better."

Foster asked in surprise, "You mean..."

"Yes, war!"

"Is it going to get that bad?"

"That's why I say it's the worst."

The room fell into silence, Marquis Foster remained silent, and the Speaker picked up his pipe again and started smoking.

After a long time, the Marquis raised his head: "Okay, what do you need me to do?"

Marcus replied in a low voice: "To enrich our armament warehouse, we need to stockpile a large number of weapons for emergencies. But be careful, you must keep it secret."

"Okay!" Foster agreed without hesitation, but Marcus also saw the doubt in his eyes.

"You must be wondering what I would arrange for you to do this?"

"Yes."

The speaker stood up and stomped a few steps around the room.

"Not long ago, the Aldo Kingdom ended its civil war."

"I know, but does it have anything to do with what we're doing right now?"

The speaker nodded: "It has a lot to do with it. The merchants brought me back important information-the equipment of the Aldo royal army is unusually good. It's not about how excellent the quality is, but in terms of quantity and scale, almost But it is said that everyone wears armor, and damaged weapons can be replenished and replaced in time, which greatly reduces the casualties of soldiers, thus contributing to the surrender of the rebels. You know how important experienced veterans are to victory. Of course , which to a certain extent has affected the business of our country's merchants, because of the existence of competitors, they can't sell at the price they want."

The Marquis understood what the speaker meant. If he wanted to hoard weapons in large quantities, naturally the more supply channels the better.

"You mean to purchase weapons from the weapons workshop in Aldo."

"That's right!" Marcus gave an affirmative reply, "However, I just emphasized that we must do this in secret, so our procurement scope cannot be too wide, otherwise it is easy to leak information. We must lock in a few Suppliers with strong manufacturing capabilities and stable channels.”

"I understand, I will go to the screening quietly."

"Well, what I'm going to say next is related to why you were chosen to be in charge of this matter. After my investigation, I found that most of the equipment of Aldo's army comes from an organization called 'Northwest Industries' in the Northwest Gulf."

"Northwest Bay?"

"Yes, the Northwest Bay. That wild place in people's impressions before, even many people don't know about this place. Now it is continuously sending exquisite porcelain, cheap paper, and easy-to-use paper to Jiaowan. Honeycomb fuel, canned food popular with sailors, and...a great deal of ironwork. Lord of Light, something wonderful must have happened in that land. And I hear..."

Marcus paused.

"Your family is somehow connected to the Northwest Bay? Oh...don't get me wrong."

"Yes." Marquis Foster nodded, "My second son is a very good friend with a lord there, and my family's caravan often goes there to do business."

There is nothing to hide about this kind of thing. In fact, a large part of the goods mentioned by the speaker were shipped to Jiaowan by the Foster family.

"Let me add that the things you mentioned just now basically come from a place called Arda, and the lord there is the friend of my son I just mentioned."

The speaker nodded and said: "I suspect that the so-called 'Northwest Industry' is also likely to be related to Arda. If so, I want to use your family's relationship with this lord to complete our plan to enrich our armaments. I don't know if you how about?"

Foster replied solemnly: "This is my bounden duty."

"Very good, I knew it was right to choose you as an old friend." The speaker was a little emotional, and immediately reminded: "Your status is special, and you will attract attention if you go there in person, so you must arrange for someone who is trustworthy and strict. .”

"I know, let my two sons go there in the name of discussing business, anyway, my family's caravans often go there."

"Very good In addition, regarding the lord, we need to find out a few things: one is his attitude towards the church—of course, don't let him know about the conflict between us and the church; How much influence can the royal family have on him—so as not to cut off our supply after the church puts pressure on him through the royal family.”

"I'll figure it out one by one."

"If the lord is a reliable person and values ​​the friendship with your family enough, I would like to hand over all our early orders to him. Of course, the premise is that he has enough supply capacity."

"This..." Marquis Foster was taken aback, "Speaker, you can't put all your eggs in the same basket."

Marcus shook his head, "Concealment is more important. The fewer people who know, the better. Wouldn't it be very passive if someone with a heart knows about our actions to enrich our armaments? Others will think that we have an active attempt to provoke a war. And the horns The weapon workshop owners here, hum, I don’t know how many are faithful believers of the church. The northwest bay is far enough away from us, and it is a good place to manufacture and store weapons. interference."

"alright, I got it."

The Marquis nodded in agreement.

"Hmm." Speaker Marcus squinted his eyes and took two puffs of his pipe. After explaining everything clearly, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"By the way, what is the lord's name?"

"Paul Grayman."