Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1673 1645. Capital
This city boat, unique to Lang Exeter, traveled through the river, and the Redanian ambassador who came to receive it remained silent.

Lan listened to the sound of the oars stirring in the cold and dim river water, and recalled the past of Kovir.

The history of this country is not long, but if you talk about the hundreds of years, it would be endless.

But to put it briefly: the rise of this richest and most open-minded country in the North is like a refreshing story of counterattack and slapping oneself in the face.

Kovir originally belonged to Redania, the first kingdom established by the northern humans in this world.

But a certain King of Redania hated his brother so much that, to exaggerate a little, he hated his brother more than the plague.

But the younger brother was not a real threat and would not kill anyone, so the king gave his younger brother a fief in this remote and desolate far north.

Originally, according to the legal responsibilities between vassals and their lords, as well as etiquette, customs, and other reasons, on major holidays such as the national anniversary of their lord, Redania, and the king's birthday, the vassals would send teams to the capital to congratulate.

But the king really hated his younger brother, so he simply turned a blind eye to him and told his younger brother not to come to Cui Tog to get in the way during these days.

And considering that Kovir was a wild land outside the "civilized world" at that time, Redania did not even collect taxes.

As time went by, the people of Redania even forgot that there was a place called Kovir among their vassal territories.

People don't care. After all, in people's impression, this place is a remote and poor place where no one lives.

During this period, Kovir seemed to have encountered some targeting from neighboring countries, and they asked Cui Tog for help.

But the court of Redania said: vassal and lord have equal rights and obligations.

Redania never collected taxes from Kovir, and Kovir never sent people to congratulate Tretog on major festivals, so in a practical sense, they had no rights or obligations at all.

Therefore, there is no so-called "aid" at all.

The Kovirs were sent away, and no one cared. But the country survived the wars and became stronger, but no one cared.

Not only that, there are also dissidents in Redania, scholars, mages, and scientists who are not accepted by the mainstream.

There are also young and enterprising farmers who are eager for land, but all they see are already owned by owners.

They all went to Kovir, the 'unexplored wild world'.

Another period of time passed, almost several generations.

The new King of Redania had a conflict with Aedirn, and he gathered troops everywhere. He found that he had vassals in Kovir, so he simply ordered them to send troops to support him and pay a tithe to support the war finances.

But the Kovirs quickly responded, and their reasons were not far different from those of Redania several generations ago.

——You said I was your vassal, but anyone who checks the information and records can find that we have never paid taxes to Redania, nor have we ever participated in any major festival celebrations in Redania.

This is enough to prove that we are not a vassal and lord relationship. At most, our royal families are related by blood, but this is too common, isn't it? In short, Kovir is a free kingdom.

The King of Redania was furious when he received the reply.

Perhaps out of some kind of "pacify the country before fighting foreign enemies" thinking, he temporarily suppressed the friction with Aedirn, and instead encouraged the other three northern countries to start implementing high tariffs and blockade policies against Kovir.

Redania itself began to gather troops and also sent some troops to Kaedwen, preparing to march north directly for a hard attack.

Two weeks later, the two thousand surviving Redanian soldiers fled back from the north to the south, and the survivors of Kaedwen also fled back to their homeland in disgrace.

So people are now realizing that Kovir is no longer the worthless wilderness that they imagined.

He almost monopolized the glass market of the entire continent, and all the glass products were printed with the Kovel logo, but because of the stereotype, no one paid attention to it.

And this country is literally sitting on a gold mine, literally a gold mine!
Kovir has 25,000 standing troops alone! They are all professionals who are proficient in war and looting. They come from all corners of the world and are loyal to the royal family because of the unprecedented generous remuneration and pensions promised in the contract.

The Kings of Redania and Kaedwen even knew them, as they had previously served in their nations' armies.

The King of Redania was not a fool after all, and at least he knew how to learn his lesson.

He forced himself to suppress the humiliation and swallow the bitter fruit.

He did not listen to the generals who advocated war, nor did he listen to the merchants, who continued to oppress Kovir with tariffs and blockades.

He began to ask for negotiations.

But the position was reversed - as the King of Redania, he had to go to Long Exeter, the winter capital of Kovir, to negotiate in person. When Lan thought of this, he glanced at Dijkstra beside him. At this time, the fat and strong spy chief was wrapping his cloak tightly in the cold wind on the river, with a calm face.

But Lann assured that what he was thinking about now was probably the King of Redania who came to negotiate.

The reason is very simple, because the two of them, who are separated by a hundred years on the timeline, are like beggars begging for help when they come here.

At that time, the King of Redania and the King of Kaedwen, along with the mediator Archbishop of Eternal Flame of Novigrad, and their entourage were so surprised by the city that they were speechless.

They thought they knew what wealth and magnificence were, but Long Exeter, which had been developing silently for hundreds of years, was richer and more prosperous than they could have imagined.

And they also saw the measures that Kovir had prepared long ago: fleets that spread out across the sea to deal with possible tariffs and blockade policies!
The King of Redania's sobriety saved him from a more disastrous defeat.

Whether intentional or not, the route that Lan and his crew took to Ensenada Palace was the same as that taken by the King of Redania and his entourage.

They first passed the imposing Royal Navy Building and the offices of the Merchants' Guild.

The sidewalks along the riverbank were filled with people in brightly colored clothes, walking between rows of noble houses and merchants’ mansions, and the canal reflected the ornate, solid, but unusually narrow facades of the mansions.

This unusually narrow wall was related to Long Exeter's tax policy: homeowners had to pay taxes based on the size of the front wall of their house.

The only building with a front wall that was too wide to be useful was the royal residence of this winter capital, the Ensenada Palace where Lan and his companions were going.

Dijkstra tightened his beaver fur collar again, looked at his country's ambassador who had remained silent after greeting him, and asked a casual question to liven up the atmosphere.

"Sir, how long will this bad weather last?"

"It started in mid-September last year, Your Excellency," the ambassador replied. "When will it end exactly? Excuse me, the weather has been getting colder and colder in recent years, and the duration is getting longer and longer, so it's hard to say. In Tager, it is said that the first snow fell in October last year."

"Oh, I thought it snowed all year round in Tager."

The ambassador looked at Dijkstra and confirmed that this was a joke and not out of ignorance. So he had a strategy for his response.

"In Tagel, winter starts in September and ends in March," he joked. "There's spring and autumn there, too. There's even summer, which usually starts on the first Tuesday in August and ends on Wednesday morning."

Dijkstra didn't laugh.

"But even there," the ambassador's face was clouded, "it's unprecedented to see snow in October last year."

Lan En listened to the talk about the weather and abnormalities without saying anything.

Like most of the Redanian nobility, the ambassador could not stand Dijkstra. Just hosting the spymaster was humiliating enough.

It was even more shameful that the Regency Council, which was responsible for managing state affairs after King Vizimir was assassinated, had appointed him instead of himself, the ambassador to Kovir, to negotiate!

The ambassador almost vomited because he had to call this upstart bumpkin "Lord Earl"!

In fact, he was not only disgusted by Dijkstra's title of "Count", but also by Lan's title of "Duke".

But as a diplomat, he was very skilled in concealing his true emotions.

"Are we going directly to Ensenada Palace? Without any ceremonial procedures?"

"Yes, Count," the ambassador confirmed. "The Foreign Minister specifically instructed that he hopes to see you all as soon as he arrives, so I will take you directly to the palace."

"In the evening, I will still use the boat to pick you and Duke Lan up to my humble abode. I hope you will both have the honor of having dinner with me."

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency the Ambassador." Before Dijkstra could respond, Lan, who had been silent until now, spoke first, "Let's test the waters first. The schedule is tight, so it's best to be brief. We can only sacrifice the time for enjoyment."

Dijkstra seemed to agree with Lane.

"We can have dinner together some other time," he said, his belly bulging. "Some other happier and more peaceful day."

The ambassador bowed and breathed a sigh of relief.

The boat finally stopped at the back door of the palace, which made Dijkstra feel relieved.

Because the style of the main entrance is similar to that of ancient Greek architecture, with huge columns and a large dome, and the marble steps extending downwards connect all the way to the Grand Canal. It is magnificent but extremely long.

Going through the back door made him feel much more relaxed.

(End of this chapter)