Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 599: Active Peace
Isengard, the royal capital of Iron Hill.

"Your Highness the Regent! An urgent document from Baron Ramirez of Foehn Hold!" A royal guard knight hurried into the palace hall and handed a secret letter that had just been taken from the eagle's claws to Prince Andrew who was sitting on the throne.

All the nobles immediately turned their attention to the Regent, waiting in silence for his subsequent reaction.

"Ramirez sent three consecutive scouts to the Wolf Fang Ridge area, and the reports he received all indicated...that Saint Valen's army hadn't made any unusual movements."

Andrew crumpled the letter in his hand and threw it at his feet. He patted the armrest of the throne and stood up. He looked around and said in a deep voice, "I believe that the newly enthroned Emperor Saint Valen also knows that with only a few thousand troops, he will not gain any benefits from us."

The councilor standing at the bottom of the stairs asked in confusion, "Then why are they still entrenched in the Langya Ridge area? They neither declare war nor withdraw their troops...are they just keeping the army going and wasting food?"

Prince Andrew shook his head, then gritted his teeth and said, "They've been planning an undeclared war from the start. They rashly sent a surprise attack on the border, then seized the Highland City closest to Langya Ridge and marched north... Their sole purpose is to contact those rootless people entrenched in the northern deserts and incite them to stir up civil unrest in our country... and then profit from it."

Andrew knew exactly what Emperor Saint Valen did in the Duchy of Barclay.

Launching lightning raids on the noble lords on the border of neighboring countries and robbing them of a large amount of wealth and slaves was a shameless act like that of a barbaric robber.

"He also took the opportunity to lure in foreign enemies from the north of the Divine Spine Mountains. That's how Bellec fell without any preparation! Even Duke Bellec himself..."

Thinking of this, Prince Andrew couldn't help but feel secretly happy. Although Bellec was only a border duke, he was a real candidate for the throne in terms of his distinguished background and personal ability. Isengard was different from other southern countries. The king was not hereditary... but was jointly nominated by the church and the country's high nobility council.

Although the king selection meeting was postponed indefinitely after he gained real power, the sudden death of a powerful competitor in the middle of the process was a real good thing for Andrew.

Isengard has a vast territory, half grassland and half desert. The scattered oases are mostly distributed in the north of the kingdom, while the southeastern border is mainly mountainous. It is a typical inland closed country.

There was a nearly thousand-mile desert between Bellec and the capital, Tieqiu City, with only a few trade routes connecting them. This meant that by the time the capital received the news of its fall, it was already nearly a month late.

The official letter that Saint Valen had previously passed on to him contained absurd news—something about a powerful northern alien enemy about to invade the southern border, something about the demon lizards leaving no grass behind wherever they went, and the need to quickly organize the migration of the people south while also preparing in advance to fight the aliens...

What a joke! What foreign enemies could possibly exist north of the Divine Spine Mountains? Aren't they just the fel orcs who occasionally cross the mountains and plunder the northern border? What terrible disasters could those damned barbaric tribes bring to the southern border?

It's not even worth sending an elite cavalry unit to wipe them out. The journey is long and costly, and what's the point of driving them away and slaughtering them? They'll come back again next year...

Anyway, the ones who suffered were only the rootless tribes in the remote areas.

The Minister of State thought for a moment, and then carefully suggested: "But this time the invasion of the evil orcs is much faster than before. The fall of Belek is not accidental. We should still do something to deal with it. After all..." Yes, after all, in the vast desert east of Belek, there are still several small oasis settlements. Although these settlements are not too populated and there are no high-walled cities built here, they all have gold and gem mines that are vital to the kingdom.

Many of these items are even Prince Andrew’s own private property, so we cannot be careless at all.

"Alright... even if they're a bunch of evil orcs who've gone crazy with burning, killing, and looting, they can't cause much trouble. Sending a thousand-man Iron Hill Cavalry to them, giving them half a month should be enough to clean them up."

Andrew raised his hand and ordered his guards to pass on the message. He then feigned regret, saying, "Also, have them send a team to Bellec to reclaim the city ravaged by the evil orcs and see if there are any surviving descendants of the Duke's family who need resettlement... Alas, His Majesty is now insane and unable to manage matters. Before the king election... I'm afraid we must first consider the issue of the Duke of Bellec's successor."

There was no need to think too much about these words, as they clearly expressed the Regent's intention to wipe out the entire clan… The nobles below knew what was going on, but due to his power, no one dared to stand up and say anything.

For Prince Andrew, using the king's sudden madness as an excuse, controlling the royal capital of Iron Hill is equivalent to controlling most of Isengard, with 5,000 elite Iron Hill Hussars in his hands... As long as the king is still alive, he has a reason to postpone the king election indefinitely and slowly eliminate the many opponents who can compete with him for the throne.

At this critical juncture, whether it is the evil orcs wreaking havoc on the northern border or Saint Valen who invaded the border without reason... the best option is to avoid a full-scale war with the other side.

Andrew raised his hand and called over the Imperial Scholar, whispering, "Has the messenger sent to the Holy City not returned with any news? Is His Holiness still avoiding the Pope? What is Bishop Bamoa's attitude?"

The scholar whispered hurriedly, "No news has come back yet... After the Spear of Light's defeat in Saint Valen's capital, the Bishop must have taken his anger out on the Divine Punishment faction within the Judgment Army. The only two remaining Judgment Legions in the country have been withdrawn and stationed back in Goris."

The Holy See, which has always had close relations with the royal family of Isengard, suddenly withdrew its troops... On the one hand, this naturally provided Andrew with a golden opportunity to take control of the situation, but on the other hand... it also blatantly expressed its disapproval of his rash seizure of power.

Andrew snorted coldly upon hearing this. "Since the Saint Valen people are occupying Wolf Fang Ridge and have no intention of moving... perhaps contacting them and negotiating would be a good option."

If they couldn't secure the Church's support, they could just try to win over some secular kingdoms that were openly opposed to them. Wasn't Saint Valen currently ruled by a wizard emperor? They could offer him an olive branch...

"Enclose my regent seal and letter to Saint Varen, telling His Majesty the Emperor that if he has no intention of invading Isengard... I can cede Wolf Fang Ridge to him directly, and they can also station troops in the nearby Highland City."

Didn't he just want a border crossing of Isengard that he could completely control, so that he could plunder the gold and gems from the surrounding noble territories, as well as the population of the rootless people?

Andrew felt that he could afford this price as long as he could reach a temporary alliance with them.

(End of this chapter)