Before His Majesty the King's opinion came, the two major factions of Northwest Bay couldn't wait to take action.
One of the Kent Family's vassal territories, Biduo Fort, was nestled between the territories of Earl Mairken and Viscount Johnston. It undoubtedly became a thorn in the side of the anti-Kent alliance. Therefore, after the two sides formally broke up, Mellon Family and Johnston Family immediately sent troops to surround Biduo Fort.
However, Biduo Fort's defense was so strong that the two families couldn't take it down for a while. According to the information, Kent Family had quickly gathered reinforcements and rushed towards it.
Earl Parker immediately wrote to other lords in the alliance, calling them to rush to Biduo Fort immediately to support Mellon Family and Johnston Family.
"The lord of Biduo Fort is the in-law of the Kent Family. Maltz Kent will definitely invest heavily in rescuing Biduo Fort, and the intelligence we have obtained shows that this is indeed the case. We must take this opportunity to have a decisive battle with them in Biduo Fort... eliminate a large number of the opponent's troops at once... This will help our side control the future situation..."
Chief Secretary Berna Wood stood holding a letter in both hands and read the content in a very clear voice. Opposite him sat Paul Greiman.
"The location of this area is very important. If it is still in the hands of the Kent Family, then the other party can use it as a springboard to invade the land between Biduo Fort and the coast of the bay, cutting us into parts."
Hearing this, Paul's brows suddenly wrinkled.
Chief Secretary continued to read, "Based on the current known size of the enemy's army, I request Greiman Family and Garnard Family to immediately send at least 1,000 Soldiers to Biduo Fort to join forces from other families to defeat the opponent in one fell swoop."
"May God bless us!... This is over, Lord Lord, the signature is Earl Price Parker. This should be a letter written by him personally. Do you need to read it yourself?"
Paul rubbed his temples and said with a slight headache, "No need, Berna, just put the letter away first."
He really didn't like this feeling. He always felt like he was being led by others. But Earl Parker is the organizer of the entire alliance, and his requests must be treated with caution.
Sigh... It's better to rush back to Lakeheart Town as soon as possible to discuss it with the senior military officials.
Paul is now sitting in a room in the Franklin Harbor port office building. The purpose of his coming to Franklin Harbor this time is to visit the fleet equipped with the new Full-rigged Sailing Ship.
After establishing a solid cooperative relationship with the Foster Family in Jiaowan, Foster Family successively sent several batches of shipwrights, which greatly improved the shipyard's production capacity. It is no longer comparable to the previous small shipyard that could only repair and build a few small galleys.
Thanks to the overtime efforts of the craftsmen and the concession of the navy, the shipyard has successively built four larger merchant ships in the past few months. Compared with the several warships built before, this merchant ship has made many improvements for the cargo transportation function. It is larger in size and has a higher cargo capacity. There are two masts standing on the deck. The canvas above is not the previous full-length sail. The main mast is hung with a scale sail.
Of these four transport merchant ships, two were retained by Paul for his own use, and two were sold to the shipbuilder Mr. Bennett Todd.
Today is the day when four merchant ships are about to sail away. The two ships of Paul will carry a large amount of porcelain and printed books to Cape Bay, while the two ships of Mr. Todd will carry a large amount of cans and salt to the southern port closest to Crystal Radiance of the Royal Capital. They chose the same date for their first voyage.
Berna took out Pocket Watch to take a look, and reminded Paul: "Lord Earl, the merchant ship is about to leave. Do you think it is...?"
"Really? Let's rush there immediately."
From the window of the port office building, he had already seen the dark crowd on the dock seeing off the passengers.
Seeing the arrival of the lord, the crowd quickly made way. Paul came to the merchant ships still staying in the berth with a little excitement. With these merchant ships, the long-awaited ocean trade could finally be launched.
Navy Commander Austin and ship dealer Bennett Todd were already standing at the edge of the dock, waiting for his arrival.
Mr. Todd bowed to him first, "Dear Lord, these merchant ships you have built are really fascinating! Thank you, this is exactly what a ship merchant like me needs."
After the arrival of the new year, Government Affairs Council sent a business delegation to Royal Capital. This delegation was composed of businessmen from Arda and Bairdin - of course, they were all people who had cooperated with the Lord's Manor.
During this trip to Royal Capital, the businessmen tried their best to sell their factory's products to the powerful people of Crystal Radiance. After all the hard work, canned food and salt received the most orders. After all, the Royal Family army would soon go south to suppress the rebellion. Canned food, which is convenient, easy to store for a long time, and tastes good, is naturally the first choice military supplies for the generals.
The two merchant ships of Bennett Todd accepted the entrustment of other merchants to transport goods to the south by sea.
Paul waved his hand. "No, I just provided some ideas. The ships in front of you are all made by the craftsmen of the shipyard. If you want to thank them, just thank them."
Mr. Todd nodded in agreement. He knew that the count in front of him had an unusual concern for those low-level workers.
A simple ceremony was held at the dock to bid farewell to the four merchant ships. Paul took the stage and repeated the same old tune about the importance of ocean trade and Government Affairs Council's strong support for private commercial and industrial activities.
After the ceremony, the four merchant ships set sail amidst people's farewells and slowly sailed away from Franklin Harbor.
When leaving the dock, Austin and Paul walked together. The two discussed for a while Sailor School, who had just started teaching. Finally, Austin quietly asked, "Lord Greiman, is there any chance for our navy to perform in the next war?"
Paul thought about it for a while. Although the territory controlled by the Kent Family is basically inland, the navy still has its place, such as letting sailors go ashore to serve as infantry like Maozi did.
"Austin, we may face the problem of insufficient troops in a short period of time. You can organize the fleet to continuously patrol Ves River. Once you receive a request for help from nearby land, immediately send sailors ashore for support. So, let your people strengthen their firearms training."
The current military is still unable to control the border very tightly. If troops are sent to cooperate with Earl Parker, the situation will be more severe. He needs a relatively "mobile" force to face emergencies.