People in Terra, governing a weird little country

But what do you mean, Duke of Wellington?

You know, ever since the Duke of Castor began to weave a siege against the Duke of Wellington and curb his development, the Duke of Wellington has disappeared from the Victorian political arena for nearly twenty years.

Although once something happens, everyone will basically look at the Duke of Wellington's expression and attitude, but there is no doubt that the Duke of Wellington rarely has the opportunity to "speak".

And since he boarded the Gastril high-speed battleship and began a grand parade in his own territory, in the nearly four years since then, there have been very few specific duke orders issued from the battleship.

Even the Duke of Caster felt that the Duke of Wellington was showing weakness.

But who would have known that this old bitch would not come early or late, but would give him a severe blow as soon as he came!

Why would the Duke of Wellington suddenly establish diplomatic relations with Kjerag? Doesn't he know that Kjerag is the place I like? Does he also want to break up with me?

Establishing diplomatic relations was not really a big deal, but Kjerag did not sign it with himself but with Wellington, which was somewhat insulting but not very damaging.

Plus, she's been having bad luck lately.

The plan to kill Kent Windermere went wrong and failed. The plot to use the Sarkaz to eliminate the opposition forces in Londinium and directly occupy the city went wrong again, and the Sarkaz turned the tables. The Duke of Windermere, who had reacted, was looking for trouble everywhere, and it can be said that bad things happened one after another.

This time, she was really a little defensive.

Duke Caister could only console himself in his heart: "Fortunately, it was fortunate that Shelagh was in contact with Wellington, not that crazy woman."

She waved her hand, signaling the Painter to leave if everything was alright, as she wanted to take her time.

[Painter] tactfully withdrew, and a few minutes later, another man in a gray top hat was summoned and stepped into the room.

The man in the gray hat, speaking with a Londinium accent, bowed to the Duke of Castor. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the Duke of Castor cough and interrupted:

"Any good news?"

Gray Hat was stunned, and replied in confusion:

"One piece of good news, one piece of bad news."

"Let's talk about the bad stuff first," said Kaister.

Gray Hat hesitated for a moment, feeling that he had come at a bad time. But the Duke had already spoken, so he couldn't leave now, so he could only bite the bullet and say:

"The Duke of Windermere announced that they have established diplomatic relations with Kjerag."

"........."

There was no response from the chair for a long time, and the man in the gray hat was a little nervous:

"Your Majesty the Duke?"

"Hold!"

Chapter 123: The Evacuation of Overseas Chinese from Londinium

Victoria, Duchy of Cattery, House of Cattery.

After a period of silence that was later known as "Grey Hat's Darkest Half Hour", the door of the Duke's Lounge opened a crack to Grey Hat again.

The trembling man in gray hat slowly moved in and saw the smiling Duke of Caster:

"Did you just see something?"

"No." Gray Hat understood immediately.

Caister nodded in satisfaction, shook the red wine glass in his hand, and taught in the tone of an elder: "Well, remember, as a member of Caister Duke's Mansion, no matter what you face, you must be elegant and maintain the good qualities of a Victorian aristocrat."

"Understood." The man in the gray hat lowered his head and accepted it humbly.

Duke Caister finally breathed a sigh of relief and returned to normal:

"What about the good news?"

The man in the gray hat, speaking in the Londinium accent, immediately replied:

"Your Excellency, the president of Victoria National University asked me to bring you a message."

"The Sarkaz in Londinium are a group of barbarians who are ignorant of etiquette, uneducated, and disrespectful of authority. In order to ensure that the inheritance of Victoria National University will not be cut off under the destruction of the Sarkaz, he hopes that the Duke will approve their relocation of the school."

Duke Caister raised his eyebrows with interest.

Although the National University of Victoria is not as prestigious as the Royal Victorian College of Guards and the Royal Victorian Academy of Sciences, it is also one of the top five higher education institutions in Victoria and the top ten in Terra.

In the Aslan era, it was the scientists of this academy who first proposed the [Steam-Originium Theory], thus helping Victoria gain an advantage in the first Originium Industrial Revolution.

It is worth mentioning that although the [Steam-Originium Theory] was born from the National University of Victoria, Steam Knight, the crystallization of Victorian technology and the highest product of the Steam-Originium Theory, was not created by the National University of Victoria.

The Royal Victorian Academy of Sciences created them.

For this reason, the National University of Victoria fought a lawsuit with the Royal Academy of Sciences of Victoria for several years for the honor of "Creator of Steam Knight".

The final outcome of the lawsuit was that the Royal Victorian Academy won.

The reason is very simple. The principal is a relative of King Aslan.

This is also why, during the Londinium Rebellion several years later, Victoria University was one of the few academic institutions that did not remain neutral in the chaos, but stood up directly to argue for the rebellion that united the parliament and the nobles and hanged King Aslan.

Today, the Steam Knights and the Steam Knights system have been pushed by the nobles to be physically abolished. It is meaningless to argue whether the final result of the sensational "Steam Knights Creator Case" was fair or whether there was academic plagiarism in the Royal Academy of Sciences.

After all, Victoria National University, which has since become a staunch aristocrat, no longer cares about the [Steam-Originium Theory] that it itself proposed and made the university so glorious, right?

The Duke of Castor knew exactly what Victoria National University meant.

The capture of Londinium by the Sarkaz was indeed beyond everyone's expectations. However, the Sarkaz did not start to commit crimes in the city like a group of upstarts, but instead held the city council hostage as a tool to issue orders, which made the Grand Dukes lose their legitimate reason to march towards Londinium.

Although Duke Caister now believes that the Sarkaz's occupation of Londinium may not be a completely bad thing - although she failed to take the city, didn't the other dukes also fail to take it?

But just because she and the dukes don't save them doesn't mean the people inside Londinium won't save themselves.

Victoria National University is one of those people and organizations trying to save themselves.

They came to him and asked for his approval, which was a signal from them that they recognized the Duke of Caister's position as the leader among the grand dukes.

Because in the past, approval for university relocation was decided personally by Emperor Victoria.

This was undoubtedly very pleasant news for the Duke of Caster, especially after she was successively insulted by the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Windermere, and Shelagh.

It is undoubtedly good news to have an obedient, submissive, influential and authoritative university that can bow down at one's feet.

Moreover, there are quite a few aristocrats among the students of Victoria National University.

Kaister's eyes flickered.

Most of the noble children who were sent to the National University of Victoria were not the eldest sons of the family, nor the first heirs. But even so, if they could be saved, would the nobles not show themselves a favor?

It is common sense that those in power do not care about personal feelings, but those in power can never say that they do not care about family ties.

Just like pillow talk, the advice of relatives is usually not much important, but at the critical moment, it can be as heavy as a thousand pounds.

"Do we have any way to transport these people out through our channels in Londinium?"

asked the Duke of Caister.

The man in the gray hat nodded firmly:

"Of course, Your Excellency. The Sarkaz are just a mob that occupies Londinium. They haven't even completely controlled the core area. They just rely on the parliament's power to bully others. We have been deeply rooted in that city for half a century. It is not a problem to send some people out."

"There are not just a few hundred people in universities. There are tens of thousands of people in national universities."

Gray Hat was stunned.

What, you want to save them all?

I thought you were enough just to symbolically transfer the school leaders or something, but it turns out that it's not enough at all, you're just good enough!

A university with tens of thousands of faculty and staff. The Sarkaz are disorganized and undisciplined, but they are not blind! How could they let so many people disappear out of thin air?

Perhaps realizing that his request was a bit excessive, Duke Kaster took a step back:

"At least transport the noble children out peacefully. As for ordinary people, the Sarkaz are also civilized people and should not harm civilians."

She nodded as a matter of course, ignoring the fact that she had just confirmed the National University President's evaluation of the Sarkaz a few minutes ago - they were ignorant of etiquette, uneducated, and disrespectful of authority.

"But there are nearly a thousand people in this group. Moreover, it is very troublesome to just screen them out, not to mention transporting them away under the eyes of other students..."

The man in the grey hat wanted to say something, but the Duke of Caster had already shifted his gaze to the books on the table.

She doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

The Gray Hat could only shut his mouth.

After a moment's silence, the man in the grey hat was about to bow and leave, but the Duke of Caster spoke again:

“That National University thing reminded me a little bit.”

"Although the Sarkaz have occupied Londinium, there are still resistance forces within the city."

"If I can use this power to become their leader and supporter, then when we finally take back the city, I can enter as a Liberator and gain the highest level of support."

A gentle but piercing arc appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"I leave this matter to you and Allarday Cumberland."

"Understood." The man in the gray hat bowed.

Chapter 124 Bottom Line

Duchy of Wellington, County of Leinster.

"Help is not without reason. The Duke of Wellington will invest in a down-and-out entrepreneur, but he will not spend his money on a beggar. You need to let the Duke of Wellington see your value."

Ahmoni said as a matter of course.

Ernst nodded in understanding.

Communication, especially communication between governments, cannot be based on friendship alone; interests must always be considered.

The Duke of Wellington is not a philanthropist. As a great nobleman who was strictly guarded by Castor and even surrounded by a siege, the treatment he received also proved his strength and skill to a certain extent.

If Ernst wants to gain some benefits from him, he must make some return.

"As long as it does not harm Kjerag's fundamental interests, everything else can be discussed."

His answer was flawless, and Ahmoni nodded in understanding:

"Don't worry, the Duke of Wellington has no claims against Kjerag. Victoria respects the independence and sovereignty of every country, region, and nation."

The business smile on Ernst's lips twitched and he almost couldn't hold it.

It's a little ironic coming from a Victorian like you.

But Ahmoni didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with this. She gave an example very fluently and with a clear conscience:

"Isn't it? Among the modern countries of Terra, Columbia became independent from Victoria, and the mining company consortium of RemBit was supported by Victoria. It was us who protected the poor Leitanians from the cannons of the hateful Gauls, so that their music and art would not be lost. It was also because of us that the Ursus barbarians were blocked from the civilized world of the core circle! Isn't Victoria worthy of being the beacon of democracy and the pioneer of freedom in Terra?"

Yes, yes, yes. After seeing what Victoria did, Nobel had to have a resurrection match with the prisoner and travel through time to award you a peace prize.

Ernst didn't know where to start complaining and could only mutter in his heart.

You are indeed a conjugated father and son. Your rhetoric is simply America from another world. You are going to take away all the ecological niches in Columbia!

In his heart, Ernst smiled, but he still had to pretend to admire her and echoed Ahmoni's words:

"You are right. Everything Victoria did was for Terra. It is a win anyway. The only difference is whether it is a small win, a medium win, or a big win. I just don't know what the Duke of Wellington wants us to do."

Ahmoni nodded in satisfaction and spoke more readily:

"His Excellency the Duke's idea is very simple. He hopes that you can give the Duke of Caister some trouble."

"What exactly?" Ernst asked.

He knew that the Duke of Wellington would not just give such a vague goal. Because the goal of making things difficult for the Duke of Castor was too broad. Ernst wrote to him every day, calling him the Stockholm Sungoat, which was making things difficult for her. Announcing Kjerag's declaration of war on Victoria was also making things difficult for her. Maybe the former would make things more difficult for her than the latter.

There must be something that he is not convenient to do himself but wants to use Ernst to do it.

It turned out that Ernst guessed correctly.

Ahmonie looked at Ernst with admiration and raised three fingers:

"Three things. As long as you can cause some trouble for the Duke of Caster in one of them, the Duke of Wellington will be generous. The more trouble you cause, the more help the Duke of Wellington can give. If you can make the Duke of Caster completely mess up one of his things, the Duke of Wellington will certainly not be stingy with his wealth."

She paused and looked at Ernst meaningfully:

"Didn't the Duke of Caister help your brother set up a company and train a military force?"

"The Duke of Wellington can do more than just help you accomplish this. As long as you are sincere enough, Wellington also has a number of high-speed warships that are on the verge of being scrapped and need to be dealt with."