"Yes, that's what I meant."
In the apartment on Braleman Street, Anson, who had been interrupted from his nap, hugged Lisa who was still sleeping soundly, and looked at Sophia who suddenly came to the door with a happy smile on his face.
"Thanks to Major General Ludwig, let us, a small colonial army of the Storm Legion, be upgraded to a status equal to the eight standing armies. He is also willing to grant me a dedicated war zone and fortress. To be honest, even I am a little I'm a little scared, or rather..."
"Oh, do you understand the seriousness of the problem?" Staring at a guy who was not worried at all, the girl stomped her feet angrily:
"I said, he has done it so obviously, don't you understand why?!"
"for what?"
"for……"
Almost out of breath, Sophia almost hated this bastard who knew what he was asking: "In order to weaken the power of me, the Minister of War, and to prevent you from affecting his future control of the War Department, so that he can monopolize the War Department and seize The biggest fruit of the entire mutiny!"
"Obviously it was you two who saved the queen, and the Storm Legion did the most to put down the rebellion. Why should he have to fulfill his wish in everything? Speaking of which, what kind of effort did he have in the whole incident? If you think about it, the whole thing was almost destroyed. Bad idea to turn the city of Clovis into ruins?!"
Sophia, who became more and more angry as she thought about it, took a deep breath. She didn't know Ludwig's importance to the Franz family, but he clearly knew that Anson Bach and the Storm Legion were his most important support, but he wanted to end the mutiny. After that, he immediately transferred them and replaced them with his own southern legions to defend the city of Clovis.
This is not a seizure of power. What is a seizure of power?
"I don't agree with that."
Gently stroking Lisa's forehead, Anson suppressed his smile: "The whole mutiny ended smoothly in the end. Major General Ludwig contributed a lot; without him to stabilize the generals, they would not be able to unite and make choices. In the end, The result may be different."
He is absolutely sincere, without any falsehood: the whole incident continues to ferment under the bewitchment of little Périgord, and under the premise of deterioration, Ludwig is the only center that can control the situation; his existence alone, It is more important than all the troops outside the Osteria Palace.
Of course, this is also the prerequisite for Anson to be willing to share the plan with Ludwig. Otherwise, if he didn't even get this done and chose to hide it when he controlled the queen, why would he cooperate with him?
At least in the advancement stage of the plan, everyone cooperated quite tacitly, and neither of them concealed or harmed each other's thoughts and actions; now that the plan is over, and it's time to distribute the cake, Anson's idea of exclusiveness is completely understandable, because... …
...Well, cough cough cough!
"It's come to this point, and you're still speaking for him?"
Sophia shook her head in disbelief and sat on the sofa irritably, completely unaware of the figure coming from behind: "I originally wanted to discuss with you how to fight back, but now it seems that my trip was in vain! "
"But the first prerequisite for fighting back is to stand on the opponent's side." Swaying footsteps approached from behind, and a sudden sentence made the girl almost stand up:
"After all...how can you stab your opponent in the weak spot without getting behind him?"
Mrs. Bogner, wrapped in an old blanket, stooped her back. With the support of Christian Bach, she staggered to sit on the couch in the middle. She was still uncomfortable and squeezed into the angle between the armrest and the backrest. squeeze.
"You..." Sophia was stunned and quickly recognized the other party's identity: "You mean..."
"Let me tell you a story, little girl." Mrs. Bogner waved her hand irritably:
"I am an old woman without a family. My only source of income is the rent from a few nearby apartments. Most of those tenants are young people, couples, or friends. In short, all of them are more numerous than me. If If I really want to occupy a certain apartment, I will definitely not be able to defeat them, so...how should I collect rent from them?"
The girl showed doubts in her eyes, looked at Christian and Anson who were smiling silently next to her, and thought about it seriously:
"...Security company?"
"Well, that's an idea." Mrs. Bogner didn't say right or wrong, just nodded: "And you guessed it right, I hired the security company on Bleman Street, and I still have their shares, so They all listen to me."
"But I'm just an ordinary person, and the security company doesn't have the right to hurt innocent people. What's more, if the landlord treats tenants violently, who will rent my house?"
"Yes, so you must have other means..." The girl held her chin and thought for a moment: "You are the landlord here. The townhouses have independent gas and sewer pipes... You can cut off their gas, no. Let them use sewage pipes and deny them water supply, so they will not be able to live no matter what."
"Well said, and I've actually done that."
Mrs. Bogner shrank back to the sofa again, and Christian beside her brought her a cup of coffee: "But it's just like a security company. Doing too much will affect the landlord's reputation; this is my only source of income, and this is my only source of income. This kind of thing that damages your reputation cannot be done lightly."
"Then..." Sophia looked confused:
"I-I don't understand, how did you do it?"
"It's very simple, you don't have to do anything." The old man smiled kindly:
"The security company violently evicted them, cut off water and gas... There are probably two types of tenants who cannot be evicted or dealt with by these two methods. The first type is those who are really in difficulty. Of course, the number is very small. I usually treat them symbolically. I charge some rent, but it’s not very polite.”
"As for the second type... haha, all they want is to occupy the house. You don't need to do anything to let them get what they want; this kind of people often don't stop at coveting the house. They will take the opportunity to do other things you can imagine. Anything they do will arouse public outrage sooner or later, and you will definitely not be the one who kills them in the end."
The leisurely Mrs. Bogner said nothing more and just looked at the girl who was lost in thought.
"...I understand. Are you saying that not only should I not stop it, but I should try my best to promote my dear brother's greedy idea of driving Anson Bach and the Storm Legion out of Clovis City?"
"correct answer."
Mrs. Bogner said softly, but she turned to look at Anson beside her and raised her eyebrows meaningfully.
Anson smiled awkwardly.
"It's not about dispelling or organizing, it's about following the opponent's ideas and letting them see for themselves or fall into the most undesirable consequences." There was a hint of admiration in Sophia's eyes:
"What an ingenious strategy, ma'am, you really opened my eyes!"
"Of course, Mrs. Bognar is the unique think tank on Bleman Street." Christian said with a smile: "With her here in charge, the city of Clovis will never fall easily!"
"Okay, okay, you sweet-tongued young people, stop making noise here!" Mrs. Bognar feigned anger, but she couldn't help but smile:
"I'm just an ordinary woman. In the days when I was still prosperous, it was considered rude for women not to mention walking into a men's smoking room, but even standing outside; but we don't need to eavesdrop on them. During the conversation, these savage animals will take the initiative to brag to us about their brilliant ideas and genius plans after getting drunk."
"Just listening to them show off there, I learned a lot." The old woman finally looked at the girl: "And you, child, you can now walk among them openly and communicate with those men We are facing each other head-on. This is a blessing that your mother, grandmother, and even their mothers have never had."
"It's not enough to be as powerful as us. You have to surpass us, and you have to surpass them, to be valued; to make them jealous of you, envious of you, and afraid of you!"
"Um!"
The girl nodded vigorously, with a strange light shining in her eyes.
………………………………
"What, you want to leave?!"
Staring at Carl Bain across the desk, Ludwig stood up from his chair: "Now?!"
"That's right, right now."
The Chief of Staff, who was standing straight, had a smile on his face: "The Commander-in-Chief specifically ordered me to come and ask you whether our Storm Legion will be able to leave immediately in the next two days, and which fortress will be arranged for our Legion to be stationed?"
"Which fortress..." Ludwig was speechless:
"This is the winter of December. Are you planning to leave Clovis City during this season and march long distances to station in some fortress who knows how far away?
"Yes." Karl nodded matter-of-factly and winked at him: "Is there any problem?"
What's the problem...isn't this already a problem? !
Ludwig suddenly had the urge to overturn the table and asked the guy in front of him if he planned to be a snowman in the cold wind, or if he was already prepared to reduce the number of troops by one-third in two months.
But he soon realized that the guy in front of him was the chief of staff of the Storm Legion—the one who had climbed over the Ice Peaks of Dawn, crossed the turbulent sea in winter, and marched long distances in the extremely cold new world, the chief of staff of the Storm Legion.
This kind of seemingly serious task for ordinary legions is probably commonplace for them; if they can come and ask themselves directly, they must be fully prepared.
But the problem is, Ludwig can't let them leave now!
Yes, he really wanted to get the Storm Legion and Anson Bach out of Clovis City to reduce the influence of this force within the War Department, as well as Sophia's ability to occasionally "talk non-stop".
He was not a fool. Whether Anson was in private contact with Queen Anne, joined the Shotgun Club, or attracted the middle- and lower-level officers' organization "Red Heart", he was obviously preparing for his own intervention in the core of power of the War Department.
As a friend, boss, or even... Ludwig can pretend not to see some things, but that doesn't mean he doesn't react. Of course, everyone is still a partner, but that doesn't mean he can remain indifferent when he sees the other party's power expanding.
So Anson Bach and the Storm Legion must leave, but that should be after the Southern Legion arrives in Clovis City!
The current situation is that once this legion is gone, his influence as the actual person in charge of the Ministry of War will immediately be greatly reduced. Those eight legions and generals will 100% no longer obey his orders!
"Give me a reason, a reason that convinces me."
Ludwig looked frosty: "Why are you leaving in such a hurry? Convince me and I will agree to your actions."
He had a straight face here, but Karl opposite him seemed to be shy and couldn't speak. He muttered for a long time and looked at the boss carefully: "Sir, do you really want to say it?"
"Of course it's true. Do you think I'm kidding you?"
"No, no! But...it's not good after all, right?"
"What's wrong?! Say, I agree!"
"Then, what did I say?"
"explain!"
"I-after I tell you, you won't send someone to arrest me and silence me, right?"
"Don't worry, it won't happen!"
"Okay, I, did I really say that?"
"Say it!"
"Have you thought it through?"
"Stop being so nagging!"
...The two of them exchanged words with each other. Looking at Ludwig, whose face was getting more and more ugly, Karl finally showed his extremely cordial smile again: "My Major General, you have already told me about this." Miss Sophia, how could we not know?"
Ludwig had a dark face, obviously not wanting to speak.
"Yes, we also know who we are. We are a group of scum and cannon fodder from the levy corps. We are here today because of your support. The entire Storm Legion is grateful to you..." said Karl. She even shed sincere tears:
"In this case, sir, you want us to leave, so of course we should know better. We can't wait until you speak. Then
It makes you look too ruthless and arrogant; if we leave voluntarily, we can avoid this embarrassing situation, what do you think? "
Ludwig Franz: "..."
"So, you just need to tell us which fortress the Storm Legion will be stationed in next, and we will station there without any hesitation." Karl, who suddenly became serious, suddenly smiled again:
"Of course, if you still want us to stay for a while, sir, we will definitely obey your orders and will never refuse - don't worry, we...understand you!"
After saying that, the chief of staff quickly took half a step back and stood there like a javelin.
Staring at him silently, Ludwig's back teeth were almost broken with a frosty expression.
What does it mean to "understand me"... It means that as long as the Southern Legion is still on its way to Clovis City, the "sensible" Storm Legion will immediately leave without saying a word, leaving itself and the generals of the standing army to face them.
"So...that's what happened." After a few seconds of pause, Ludwig almost tried his best to squeeze out a smile that was uglier than crying, and sighed softly:
"In fact, I have never had the idea of letting the Storm Legion leave. Anson Bach, I also think that letting him stay in the Army Department can better utilize his intelligence; as for the things he told Sophia, haha..."
"...just...playing...laughing..."
