Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 405 The Last Chance for Peace (Part 1)

   The original name of the "Alliance Congress" held every four years was actually "Inland Sea Conference".

After the Battle of the Golden Saddle, at the urging of Ned Smith (who was not a marshal at the time), representatives of public opinion in the Piedmont gathered in Guitu, sitting in a room for the first time to "seriously discuss the status quo of the duchy and the The future", historically known as the [First Inland Sea Conference].

   In the context of the alliance, the first Inland Sea Conference was an important watershed in time, marking the end of the "partial resistance phase of the sovereign war" and the beginning of a vigorous and comprehensive uprising.

The official documents of the Empire refer to the so-called "partial uprising phase" of the southern rebels and the following "rebellion against the tyranny of the Duke of Arlean" as the "First Rebellion War" - after the defeat and death of the Duke of Arlean, It is distinguished from the [Second War of Rebellion] that Emperor Richard IV took personally.

   That is, the empire believed that there were two battles before and after the "war of retribution", led by the Duke of Arleans and Emperor Richard IV respectively, with a short truce of one year in between.

   And the Senas Alliance insisted that there was one and only one "sovereign war", whether it was the peaceful imperial petition in the early days, the tax resistance movement, or the tragic confrontation between the two armies in the later period, they were just different stages of the sovereign war.

  The reason why the two sides disagree is naturally because they have different interests and demands. Needless to say, let’s turn our attention back to the first Inland Sea Conference.

   There were fifty-five delegates at the First Inland Sea Conference, mainly from the autonomous cities in the piedmont, and only six from the hereditary noble territories and bishoprics.

  The titles of most popular representatives are self-appointed, not subject to any form of open election, nor are they formally authorized by the autonomous city they represent.

Even here in Guitucheng, there are still meetings, and there have already been formal resolutions passed by the citizens' assemblies of four municipalities, reaffirming their loyalty to the emperor for the first time, and to draw a clear line with the "rebels of Guitucheng", for fear of causing trouble upper body.

   The personal qualities of the delegates of the first Inland Sea Conference were also uneven. Most of them were young people full of enthusiasm and believed in Protestantism.

A month ago, they learned that the Protestants in Guitocheng had beaten away the brutal and incompetent Governor Count Chatillion, and they were gathering people to prepare for the final battle with Count Chatillion. , Pi Xing Dai Yue came to help out.

   Next is the "Battle of the Golden Saddle", which has written an indelible stroke in the history of the alliance.

  The militia from the municipalities confronted the allied troops of the royalist nobles on the hills east of the city of Kotterai.

The    royalist coalition, including 400 heavily armed heavy cavalry and nearly 2,000 infantry and crossbowmen, was their private army at the bottom of the box.

   And their enemies, the militias lined up on the small hills, although twice as many as them, were nothing more than lowly weavers and peddlers, and they had nothing to do with the heavily armed heavy cavalry.

   Therefore, the Count of Chatillion and the royalist nobles, who thought they were sure to win, did not take the rabble on the other side of their eyes at all. According to the normal process, the Count first sent crossbowmen to exchange arrows, and then put in the infantry. After a short hand-to-hand battle, the rebels retreated steadily and the front kept shrinking.

   Seeing that the rebels' morale had been shaken, Count Chatillion recalled the infantry and sent the heavy cavalry composed of noble children to the battle, in order to harvest the fruits of victory.

  The impatient nobles took up their guns and mounted their horses, scrambling through the retreating infantry, through creeks, ditches and mud, and scrambled to smash into the large phalanx of militiamen that had shrunk into a dense formation.

   smashed to pieces.

   They failed to break through the formation of the militia, and then found themselves trapped in shattered terrain, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

   Count Chatillion, who realized that he had made a big mistake, went into battle himself and led the last cavalry to launch a decisive charge, intending to break through the center and turn defeat into victory.

   Count Chatillion broke through the first and only front of the militia with a reckless assault. Then... he was pinned to death in the quagmire by his opponent's reserve team who hid until the last minute. Until his death, he could not figure out how he was defeated by a group of rabble.

   The battle ended, and the allied army of the rebel nobles suffered a crushing defeat. Their gold-trimmed saddles became the spoils of war for the militiamen. The nobility, big and small, who could not escape, were killed by muskets and halberds—the militia did not need prisoners. Since then, the royalist nobles in the piedmont have their spines broken, and they are no longer able to control the situation.

   Ned Smith, who led the militia to great victories, became the de facto leader of the militia—whether he wanted to or not, his name was gradually becoming a household name on the piedmont.

   Then, there was the Inland Sea Conference that marked the "official end of the stage of partial uprising".

  …

   At the first Inland Sea Conference, the enthusiasm caused by the glorious victory had not subsided, and the high-spirited "public opinion representatives" dared to say anything.

  You said that you would sweep away all the tyrannical nobles in the front of the mountain, and he said that you would send troops across the Shady Mountains to the Eternal City.

  Ned Smith had to pour cold water on the delegates over and over again, repeating the huge gap between the Empire and the piedmont, the Emperor's army and the militia.

   Perhaps it was because he poured the cold water so hard that the emotions of the delegates went from one extreme to the other, so that the only result of the first Inner Sea Parliament was that the delegates signed a document together.

   This document doesn't even have a title, the Alliance calls it the "First Manifesto", but that's all for later.

  Anyone who is literate and who has read the entire First Declaration will find the document ambiguous, humble in its language—and vague in its stance.

   It does not contain any words of insurrection, riot, revolution, independence, freedom throughout, nor does it indicate any denial of the authority of the emperor.

It is only restrained, and even a little trivial, expounding the hardships and dilemmas faced by the people in the mountains: corrupt governors, unreasonable taxes, reckless garrison, suffocating religious atmosphere... All these, I hope His Majesty the Supreme Emperor can understand The sufferings of the people in the frontiers of the mountain, and the tyranny of evil laws and so on. It's more a petition than a declaration.

   The original declaration signed jointly by fifty-five representatives was sent to the Eternal City as soon as possible. After this was done, the representatives wanted to leave.

But Ned Smith worked hard to persuade more than half of the delegates to stay in Guitu, preserving the form of the Inland Sea Council, making it a "temporary permanent body" that temporarily assumed the authority and coordination of the Governor of the Piedmont. Militia of the Free Cities.

The reason why the old marshal went to great lengths to keep the Inner Sea Council in existence was not because he liked that someone was taking care of him, but because he was pessimistically and calmly aware that after losing a common enemy, the militia had returned to a mess of loose sand. The state; if there is no bag that can put all the militia armed into it, these people who are still fighting side by side today will sooner or later fight each other because of old grudges and new hatreds, and then fall apart.

   However, he soon stopped worrying about the "lack of a common enemy", because after the First Declaration was presented to the imperial court, Richard IV responded quickly.

The    emperor saw it as a head-on challenge to imperial power—though it was a humble petition. In response, Richard IV sent his most vicious war dogs.

   The war rekindled, then the 2nd Inland Sea Conference, the 3rd Inland Sea Conference, the 4th…

There are more and more representatives attending the meeting. In addition to the public opinion representatives in the front of the mountain, envoys from the city-state of Veneta gradually began to appear next to the long table... In addition to a small group of fake people who thought they were seamless, but were actually weird enough to be seen at a glance. The surname is the blunt frontier accent of the observer.

   Counting from the Battle of the Golden Saddle, the "second stage" of the Sovereign War lasted for twelve years, and the Inland Sea Conference held eleven sessions, almost once a year.

Representatives and officers of the    Provinces, Veneta, and Palato often quarreled in this temporary permanent establishment, and it was not uncommon for fistfights to take place.

Everyone is dissatisfied with this temporary permanent agency, but it is the only agency that can coordinate the armies, materials, and manpower of different factions, regions, and systems. The platoons are all packed together in bags.

   By the time of the imperial calendar 531, when Richard IV retired and the republics won the final victory in the Sovereign War, the Inner Sea Council had become the substantive highest authority of the alliance.

   It’s just that it needs a new name. After all, with the merger of the Monta Republic and the Vine Republic, the alliance’s territory is no longer limited to the “inland sea coast”, and the proportion of inland areas has already surpassed the proportion of coastal areas.

   Therefore, in the same year that Richard IV retired, the Inland Sea Parliament was officially renamed the Union Congress.

  According to the vision of the old marshal, the name from the Inner Sea Parliament to the Alliance Congress was just changed, and all the structures, functions and operation methods remained the same.

   As long as the alliance can continue along the established path, although there are still gaps between the republics, they will sooner or later become an inseparable part of each other.

   As long as the great alliance of the Republics is unbreakable, they will never have to fear any external enemy.

  But Ned Smith failed to discover that the legacy he wanted to leave to future generations was not what he thought it would be. Perhaps he never thought of taking control of the army and country he built, but the army and country he built were objectively out of control, and he couldn't and didn't want to follow his wishes.

  The old marshal thought that the name change was just a name change, but in fact it was the collapse of the Inner Sea Council.

  The United Provinces, Veneta and Palato all launched the attack together, and the Alliance Congress was put on hold. Since it is the Alliance Congress, it will be "only responsible for the affairs of the Alliance" - that is, not responsible for any actual affairs.

  The republics divided up the Union Army, and the armies from the United Provinces, Veneta, and Palato returned to their own territory, and turned into the real armies of the republics.

   Although they inherit the same set of tactics, systems and regulations, they are already distinct from each other.

It's like raising a child, you can make him strong, wise, dexterous, and you can watch with pride as he goes from a toddler to a sturdy young man, but you can never be sure that he will go down a path what kind of road.

  In the year 532 of the imperial calendar, the Union Army Academy was officially established. Ned Smith personally served as the first president. He chose to pin his hopes on the future.

   In the same year, the representatives of the republics unanimously passed a new proposal at the 13th Union Congress, which changed the original annual Union Congress to every four years.

  Because once a year is too troublesome, none of the high-ranking officials and members of the republics are willing to be exhausted for this defunct institution once a year.

   So either assign the number of delegates to those insignificant minor roles, or increase the interval between conferences, the representatives of the republics unanimously chose the latter - after all, the members of the alliance still have at least a little reputation.

  Increasing the interval between conferences saved the last shreds of decency.

  Inadvertently, because the status of "Public Opinion Representative" is automatically assigned to the heads of government and parliamentary leaders of the republics, the Alliance Congress inadvertently becomes a rare opportunity to gather important figures from the republics in one place.

   Naturally, the four-yearly Alliance Congress has become the most important "diplomatic occasion" within the Alliance, allowing the men in charge of the republics to look into each other's eyes and talk face-to-face.

  In the year 560 of the imperial calendar, when the United Provinces and Veneta were at war with each other, the 18th Union Congress hosted by the Republic of Vine will be the last chance for peace.

   [I am guilty, Or2]

   [From the 17th to the 20th, I went to save Aurora, I am guilty...]

   [But from the 20th to the 22nd because it was too cold, it was really too cold...≡(▔﹏▔)≡]

   [Slowly repay Or2 in the next few days]

   [Thank you for your collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)