Chapter 95: The Lion’s Bargain

Chapter 95 – A Lion’s Bite

The atmosphere in the parlor finally eased.

Paul smiled and asked, “I wonder what I can do for Earl Kent?”

Let’s all open up the sky.

Emerson was slightly surprised by Paul’s bluntness, but since the other party had already opened up like this, he couldn’t be bothered to beat around the bush.

Emerson took out a roll of paper and handed it to Paul.

Paul took it and unfolded the roll of paper, and Myron brought his head around to look at it as well.

At first glance, both of them shook a little with anger.

The paper lists the conditions of the Kent family:
One, the current revenue gained from papermaking and porcelain in the territory of Alda to take out one-fifth to the Kent family, and then one-fifth to Duke Ferdinand;
Second, Bairdine by Emden and Alda “co-management”.

Mellon was so angry that he was about to stand up and argue with Emerson, but was again pulled back by Paul.

He said with difficulty, “Sir Emerson, you bring these conditions, we are a little unable to accept.”

Emerson’s expression began to stiffen again, “Lord Greymane, these conditions have already been carefully considered by Earl Kent, if you can’t recognize reality anymore, I’m afraid that Earl Kent will have to take some measures that you don’t want to see.”

Threat! Naked threat!
Paul held back the impulse to lash out, maintained a stiff smile on his face and said, “Lightly allow us to discuss and discuss before making a decision, come on, send Mr. Messenger back to the post house to rest.”

“Hmph! Lord Gleeman is better to make a decision early, I am fine with it, but Lord Kent doesn’t have too much patience.”

Emerson revealed a smile that seemed very underhanded to Paul, and after dropping such a sentence, he went out with the servant.

Myron twisted his head to look at Paul and asked anxiously, “What now?”

In this part of the Northwest Bay, Earl Kent is simply a small one of Giles, but where he set his sights on any target, he will not stop until he bites off a piece of meat from the other side, and this guy, as a direct bannerman of Duke Ferdinand of the Northwest, has a very good relationship with his bannerman, and will definitely not forget to pay tribute to the duke after obtaining any benefits. Duke Ferdinand is also happy to see his own this loyal dog to raise fat and strong, so that in their own to some people are not happy when put out to bite people.

On the one hand, Bilding is now also threatened by the Kent family, on the other hand, the Garnard family’s money used to invest in Paul’s factory, in public and private Cameron is difficult to accept the other side of the conditions offered.

Paul patted Myron’s shoulder to comfort: “I have heard of a saying – the car to the mountain, the boat to the bridge naturally straight. Let’s find everyone to discuss it, there must be a way.”

……

Soon, the top brass of the Council of State and the army were summoned to the Lord’s Mansion.

After Paul explained to everyone that the Kent family had sent emissaries and made many excessive demands, the crowd was first shocked and then had mixed reactions.

The officials on the administrative side were all worried, they were all worried because of the Kent family’s strength, knowing that the other side was a powerful family that claimed to be able to pull out several hundreds of knights at a whim.

Those in the army were outraged and clamored to gather their troops to fight in Emden now.

“Lord Greymane, this is clearly extortion, clearly blackmail, it’s simply an insult to you and us, make war on the Kent family!”

“We now have three companies of muskets and 10 cannons, one round of unison fire will blow apart their gang of peasants who just put down their hoes.”

“As for the knights, as you saw last time under the city of Butua, they were merely a pile of rotten meat under the fire coverage of the cannons.”

The loud Bryce stood up and voiced his opinion on behalf of the military, the other officers nodded their heads in agreement, the last time they fought under Butua City had boosted their confidence.

Chief Ford immediately rebutted them, “How can you lightly talk about using force? Think everything can be solved by force?” This bunch of martial artists, they just won two battles and got carried away.

“Even if we win a Kent family, what can we do, behind him stands Duke Ferdinand of the Northwest – the largest bannerman in the Northwest of the kingdom, with a territory more than ten times the size and population of ours! Can our army, no matter how powerful it is, make up for such a large disparity in numbers?”

“Once the Kent family pulls Duke Ferdinand down, which is very likely, don’t forget that the Kent family has always been the duke’s loyal dog in the eyes of outsiders, we don’t need them to send their troops to attack us, we only need Duke Ferdinand to prohibit the vassals below himself from trading with us, and blockade the trade routes southward of us, and our income will have to shrink to the point of opening the spring of this year at that time.”

“At that time, where will the money come from to pay the soldiers, where will the money come from to buy the raw materials to make weapons?”

“That ……” Bryce was stumped.

Hansel also frowned and advised, “Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back and properly examine the situation.”

Army Chief of Staff Schroeder was in a dilemma, not knowing which side to support.

Chief Ford’s words startled Paul, he had only considered the other side’s large territory and population before, but with the social system of this feudal era, these two advantages could not be effectively transformed into military power, and he might not be unable to fight with one of them.

But the words of Ford’s chief steward were something he hadn’t thought of, so sad, Alda and Bairdine are in the northernmost part of the Northwest Bay, in case his trade route to the south is really cut off, what can be done ah?

Whether it is paper or porcelain to sell in order to exchange for money, in the case of the sea route has not been opened, once blocked by the surrounding lords, their own nearly half a year of work will be all for nothing.

Paul tapped on the table and listened to the arguments of the two groups of civil and military people without saying a word.

There were still people among the officers who were unconvinced, proposing to concentrate their forces and ruthlessly fight a few beautiful annihilation battles to force the other side to beg for peace.

But Paul is not very agree with this kind of suggestion, the Second World War foot basin military department is also wishful thinking that although the United States empire in the comprehensive national strength has an absolute advantage, but in the Pearl Harbor hard to the other side after the pain, rice beasts will run to the door to beg for peace, the results of the later hard by the reality hit the face.

War is not something that develops only according to the will of one side.

After half a day of hesitation, he finally made a difficult decision and tapped the table, and the crowd in the argument fell silent.

“Gentlemen, I have decided to temporarily compromise with the Kent family.”

He gave a reassuring look to Myron, who was sitting next to him.

“But Baildin will never agree to co-manage with them, and I’d rather give up a portion of my profits more.”

No one objected to Paul’s decision, the officers argued merely because they couldn’t swallow their breath, of course they knew the disparity between the enemy’s and our power, since the lord had already made a decision, they could only accept the reality.

Humiliation, anger, unwillingness, all kinds of negative emotions lingered in everyone’s heart.

“Bernard.” Paul lightly called out to his chief secretary.

The chief secretary immediately answered, “Lord Gleeman.”

“Arrange for that Emerson to come to the castle tomorrow and I’ll talk to him again. “

“At your service.”

Paul added, “Chief Steward Ford, Hansel, Cecil, Schroeder, and Bryce come along.”

“Yes, Lord Earl.” Those who were named answered.

(End of chapter)