Volume 3: Artifacts Chapter 14: Triumphal Fortress
The Triumphal Fortress is the northern gateway to the Tedega Hills. It is built on the mountain, with most of the structure inside the mountain. The barbarians also built a large number of suspension bridges on the mountain walls, which can be used to attack invaders from below. In the past, when the barbarian army fought for the empire, they walked out of the Tedega Hills from the Triumphal Fortress; when they returned victoriously, they also walked through the Triumphal Fortress.
It can be said that the Triumphal Fortress has recorded too many honors of the Barbarian Legion, and now it has fallen into the hands of the Imperial Northern Legion.
During the tacit truce between the Northern Army and the Barbarian Army, the Triumph Fortress became a large military camp. On the top of the mountain, the Northern Army built a large magic tower, and the magic detection waves continuously scanned the surrounding area; in addition, based on the internal tunnels of the fortress, the Northern Army opened up many mountain passages to connect the surrounding hills.
The engineering troops laid tracks and built roads, so that the supplies shipped from the rear could be quickly unloaded and dispersed into the mountains.
The train from the Imperial Capital pulled into the Triumph Fortress, and Luke and Agatha got out of the carriage.
There was a small honor guard on the platform outside to greet them, but neither Sinclair nor General Joshua were seen. Agatha was the eldest princess of the Empire, and Luke was the Marquis of the Empire, as well as the second and third most important figures in the Empire, while the highest-ranking officer who came to greet them only wore the rank of colonel.
This was contempt and humiliation. One could feel that the entire Triumphal Fortress was filled with strong hostility towards the visiting delegation.
The colonel stepped forward and saluted Agatha and Luke. "Your Highness the Princess Royal, Lord Marquis of Falling Star, on behalf of the Northern Army, I welcome you both. Accommodation for the delegation has been arranged. Please follow me."
Luke scanned the mountain and the walled fortress and did not move.
Agatha did not follow the colonel. She asked with the aura of a princess, "Where is His Royal Highness Sinclair?"
The colonel replied, "His Royal Highness Sinclair and General Joshua are discussing urgent military affairs. Your Royal Highness the Princess and the Marquis can stay in the fortress first. When His Royal Highness Sinclair finishes his military affairs, he can meet with you two."
The colonel referred to the condolence delegation as a visiting delegation, and used the special term "receive" which is used to refer to a superior to a subordinate. His meaning was very clear.
Agatha said with a little anger: "Tell Sinclair that the Marquis of Meteor and I came to Triumph Fortress to solve the problem. If he doesn't see us, the problem cannot be solved.
He also told General Joshua that he had made a mistake once by not stopping Fania from launching a coup, and he should not make the same mistake again this time and harm Fania's only son.
We live on the train, and when Sinclair decides to meet us, we'll move into the fort."
After saying this, Agatha turned around and walked back into the carriage.
The colonel was left somewhat at a loss.
Luke walked up to the colonel and asked, "What's your name?"
"My name is Doyle Chester, fourth son of the Earl of Chester, of Burlington," replied the colonel.
"Colonel Chester. You see, the neglect of the Northern Army has made Her Royal Highness the Princess very angry. Think about the exquisite military uniform you are wearing, the delicious food and drinks you can enjoy every day, the cigarettes, coffee, and razors...
The Empire's treatment of the Northern Legion has never been reduced because of that incident. This time we brought a whole train of high-end gifts, including caviar and Western wine from the Bay of Ruth. Do you think we should unload this train of gifts or not?"
Colonel Chester did not react in particular, but the officers and soldiers with him couldn't help but purse their lips when they heard about the caviar of Lucern Bay and the red wine of Western Territory.
After all, this was a war zone, and no matter how good the supplies the Empire gave the Northern Army were, there wouldn't be too many luxury items. Most officers and soldiers could eat their fill, but they had almost no chance of having delicious food.
Colonel Chester said: "I'm sorry, Lord Marquis of Meteorite, this is not something I can decide."
Welcoming the Imperial Delegation was definitely a thankless task. If there was any mistake, both sides would be unhappy. Colonel Chester appeared calm on the surface, but he was actually panicking inside.
From Colonel Chester's answer, Luke roughly understood the attitude of the Northern Legion.
If the Northern Army really wanted to embarrass the Imperial Consolation Group, they would send a tougher person, who would definitely be a core officer of the Northern Army. According to the intelligence of the Secret Service, Colonel Chester was in charge of the logistics of the Northern Army. He had outstanding professional skills but was not a core member of the Army. Moreover, although he came from a large family, he was only the fourth son, and the rank of colonel was basically the end of his military career.
The Northern Legion sent such a person to welcome the visiting group, which was to push him out to take the blame, but it also meant that there was a lot of room for maneuver.
Now that Agatha has played the villain, it's her turn to play the villain.
Luke smiled and said, "You can't decide, so let me decide. This is the list of the relief supplies we brought this time. The Northern Army will unload the goods immediately, and the colonel and I will supervise the inventory of the supplies.
Let's hurry up and deliver the relief supplies to every soldier fighting for the empire as soon as possible."
Kylena, who was accompanying him, took out a list of relief supplies from her briefcase, and Luke took it and handed it directly to Colonel Chester.
Colonel Chester was so surprised that he forgot to take the list.
The Northern Legion treated the Imperial Delegation in such a humiliating manner that Her Royal Highness the Princess was so angry that she refused to leave the train. She thought she would not be able to receive this batch of relief supplies, but she did not expect that the Marquis of Meteorite would actually let her unload the goods.
"Mr. Marquis, are you really unloading the goods?"
Luke smiled and said, "Of course we have to unload them! Can we pull them back? The princess is angry with His Royal Highness Sinclair, it has nothing to do with you.
Don't waste time, everyone must want to taste the caviar and red wine as soon as possible. By the way, we also have a medical team and mechanical modification engineers with us. Let the injured soldiers and soldiers who need limb replacements go to them. All medicines and mechanical prostheses are sponsored by Raging Waves City. "
Luke's words instantly brought the two sides closer together. If it weren't for the constraints of military discipline, they would probably have cheered.
Colonel Chester took the list and said, "Thank you, Lord Marquis!"
Luke and Colonel Chester led their subordinates to the freight train to supervise the unloading. Prince MacDonald said angrily in the carriage: "Sinclair's grandson humiliated us so much, and Big Brother actually let the Northern Legion unload the goods. If someone offends me like this, I will pull the goods back intact and throw them all into the sea without giving them. Agatha...won't you stop him?"
Agatha looked at the lively scene outside with a smile on her face: "He is doing the right thing, why should I stop him?"
"Is this... still correct?"
"Of course. These are the soldiers of the Empire. They used to resist the Alliance of Art County in the North, and now they have entered the Tedegar Hills to quell the rebellion of the Celtic Duke. They shed blood for the Empire, so the Empire cannot treat them unfairly."
Prince MacDonald showed a disdainful expression: "Don't give me sensationalism. I would rather believe that Big Brother used these supplies to buy the hearts of the lower-level officers and soldiers of the Northern Army and let them arrest Sinclair and Joshua."
Agatha said, "You can see that, and you ask me?"
Prince MacDonald was shocked: "Really? Did I really guess right?"
Agatha picked up the coffee on the table and drank it. "I don't know if you guessed it right. In fact, I don't know what Meteorite wants to do. According to my previous experience... just wait here. Meteorite will win the Northern Legion back to the Empire's side."
"ah?!"
At this time, on a protruding platform on the mountain, the emperor's grandson Sinclair and General Joshull stood there overlooking the military train parked in the fortress.
The soldiers of the Northern Army were happily unloading the cargo. The Marquis of Meteor and Colonel Chester led the team to carefully check the list. The doctors who came with the condolence group set up a medical tent, which was filled with medical equipment and human mechanical transformation equipment, waiting to be moved in and installed once the tent was set up.
Sinclair, who had experienced great changes in his life, had matured a lot. He looked at the condolence train silently, and no one knew what he was thinking.
General Joshua also looked at the train and said to Sinclair after a while, "Agatha refused to get off the train, but Meteor allowed the unloading. They wanted to buy the hearts of the Northern Army. Your Highness, if you are slow to express your attitude, it will easily make the people below waver."
"Uncle Joshua..." Sinclair looked at the train and said calmly, "You know my ambition. I have regarded you as my role model since I was a child. I want to be a general like you and lead the army to fight for the empire. I have never thought about fighting a civil war, especially since this civil war may lead to the demise of the empire."
Qiao Xiuer looked at Sinclair as if he were his own son. He said, "Sinclair, you are too young. Your heart is full of burning ambitions, and you don't understand the cruelty of politics. At this stage of the battle for the throne, it's either you or me.
If you don't fight, the military families behind the Northern Army will have no reason to support you. When they give up on you, they will tie you up and send you to the Queen without hesitation.
You have no way out, and neither do we."
"Is there really no other way?"
"No!" Qiao Xiuer said affirmatively: "There are rumors in the palace that His Majesty has passed away, and the Queen is now acting as regent under the pretext of His Majesty's will. She is now wantonly eliminating dissidents and appointing a large number of officials recommended by Meteorite, making everyone in the palace feel insecure.
If Your Majesty were still alive, would you allow the Queen to do this?
If you continue to hesitate, the Augustine family's empire will be stolen!"
"But that's just a rumor." Sinclair said, "The Queen's regency was ordered by His Majesty himself at the Royal Cabinet meeting. The Queen's regent was confirmed by Princess Agatha, the Governor of Raging Waves, Marquis of Falling Star, and the Royal Chief Knight, Knight Milscom.
Facts have also proved the correctness of this will. The Snow Legion established by the Queen fought very well in the North. Many people are comparing the Snow Legion with the North Legion and believe that the Snow Legion is stronger than the North Legion. "
Qiao Xiuer said with a bad face: "The Snow Legion did a good job in the North, but we cannot conclude that the North Legion is weak because of this. This comparison is meaningless. Your Highness, the Duke of Celtic's envoy and the cabinet's envoy are here. When are you going to meet them?"
Sinclair did not change his train of thought because of Joshua's change of subject: "Let them wait, let's talk about the issues of the Northern Army and the Snow Army. I heard that the Snow Army was formed hastily, and many of the officers added were military academy students who had not yet graduated, and most of them were civilian officers."
Qiao Xiuer knew that Sinclair liked military topics, so he could only put the envoy aside for the time being and answered, "Yes. Before the spring, everyone was generally pessimistic about the war in the North. The Snow Corps had the Queen's background, and most of the military academy students from the family refused to serve in the Snow Corps. Therefore, the Snow Corps' supplementary officers were basically civilians."
Sinclair added: "Most officers of the Northern Army come from large families, especially senior officers, many of whom are heirs to their families."
Qiao Xiuer admitted: "Yes, many officers of the Northern Army have noble status. Your Highness, I know what you mean. The class structure of the Northern Army is rigid, and there is not much room for advancement for bastards of the family, let alone civilian officers.
But all our officers come from military families. They have received military skills training since childhood, and their military accomplishments are definitely not comparable to those of civilians who have attended military academies for a few years. Moreover, these families are loyal to Prince Fania, and now they are loyal to you. They all hope that you can become the emperor of the empire and bring greater honor to their families. "
Sinclair nodded and said, "Yes, our officers are excellent. But are they loyal to me? To the Empire? Or to their families?"
Qiao Xiuer didn't know how to answer.
Sinclair sighed and said, "Uncle Joshua, I am very confused now. Any decision I make now may ruin me and the empire. I hope you can understand. Father did a wrong thing, and I must not make the same mistake again."
Joshua remembered what Agatha had said and apologized immediately: "I'm sorry, Your Highness Sinclair. I didn't stop Your Highness Fania, which is the biggest mistake I've made in my life. This decision is indeed too difficult for you. But I still stick to my opinion. Only by seizing the military power of the Northern Legion will the Queen not dare to harm you.
Please consider this carefully.”
"I'll think about it carefully." Sinclair nodded. "What is the purpose of the Duke of Celtic's envoy coming this time?"
"It's still about the alliance. Now that the Duke of Celtic has lifted the factory restrictions, the factory in the Holy Mountain is being built very quickly. Rio and the Art County Alliance have given him a lot of funding. I believe it won't take too long before the Tedega Hills can support two legions.
With the Barbarian Army and the Northern Army, and the support of the ministers loyal to you in the palace, you can easily defeat the Queen and ascend the throne as the Emperor of the Empire."
When talking about the situation, Joshua was very optimistic and showed no reflection on Fania’s death in the coup.
Sinclair still looked calm. He looked at the meteorite below and said, "Many of the materials entering Tedejia Hill through the Triumph Fortress came from Raging Waves City. Some time ago, the charity organization in Raging Waves City also sent out an inspection team and a census team to prepare to invest in the construction of livelihood facilities in Tedejia Hill.
Uncle Joshua, you don't know Meteor, but I followed him for a while.
As his opponent, you should never be optimistic, but be afraid."
