King
Chapter 527 - 527 98 Difficult Start-up_2

527: Chapter 98, Difficult Start-up_2 527: Chapter 98, Difficult Start-up_2 In this situation, the strong combatant races that had escaped from danger had become unstable factors.

The human race will undoubtedly target them in the upcoming offensive, and it’s highly likely they will suffer significant losses.

If these powerful species are not suppressed, they could potentially become a major threat to their rule after the war.

Even if these species are not powerful, doesn’t the Alpha Kingdom, as their neighbor, will lend a hand?

The Human Race is skilled at playing politics, and will undoubtedly seize any opportunity to incite internal discord within the Orc Empire.

…

The woes of the Orcs are great, but Joseph II has even more on his plate.

At this point in the war, the royal bloodline’s power was reduced to the ten thousand or so people loyal to him.

Such an armed force, in the hands of a Major Noble, could only be considered pitiful.

While a Major Noble could maintain their status with this force, it didn’t mean that a King could do the same.

They may not vie for the throne, but they wouldn’t cede power within the kingdom without a fight.

Especially after the news of the withdrawal of the Orc Army, internal conflict became more intense.

The Eastern Aristocrats wanted to regain what they lost, while Western Aristocrats sought a larger share of the cake.

Both sides were in an unending dispute.

Underhanded duels even broke out more than once, causing deaths and injuries well into the hundreds, which enraged Joseph II.

But he couldn’t do anything about it.

A hint of unfairness on his part would result in criticism from the Western Aristocrats.

While there may be many people criticizing him for being “unfair”, it would be rare to openly say so in court on the Continent of Aslante.

The Orcs have just started to withdraw, and it might not be good for us to do so so soon.”

Joseph II said with difficulty.

They’re outsiders in the western regions, naturally the Eastern Aristocrats aren’t a match for these local tycoons.

Returning to their own territory is undoubtedly the best choice to turn the tables.

However, the current eastern part of the kingdom is not the prosperous East of the past.

After being ravaged by the Orcs, it has become a wasteland littered with corpses.

This type of hellish realm is simply not suitable for human survival.

If we forcefully move there, even if we are strong-willed and not disgusted by such sights, we still need to consider the reality.

Feeding an army and the entourage of the aristocratic houses that retreated early, totaling over a hundred thousand people, is a big problem.

The Western Aristocrats are only so arrogant now because of their vented up resentment and because they hold the upper hand over the newcomers.

Your Majesty, we might not hold much say in this anymore.

The Western Aristocrats are too greedy.

We have already promised concessions, but they aren’t satisfied.

Half of the positions in court, plus a fifth of the land in the Warhammer Great Plains still can’t satisfy them.

If we continue to compromise, I’m afraid the Warhammer Kingdom will become their kingdom!”

Prime Minister Guy said angrily.

If he had a choice, he wouldn’t want to confront the Western Aristocrats, especially now that they have the upper hand.

Even if they get back their homes, recovering their strength is not a matter of a day or two.

For a long time to come, the Western Aristocrats will have the upper hand.

But the problem is that the conflicts accumulated in the past are too deep, especially after the last war, where the Western Aristocrats were deliberately left behind as cannon fodder, which ignited conflict on both sides.

It’s easy to cause strife but hard to quell it.

Many things, once brought out into the open, mean that compromise is impossible.

The Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other important Ministers of the Kingdom were successively taken down.

If it weren’t for the King’s support, he, as the Chancellor, would have had to resign and leave in disgrace too.

Their arguments were all too convincing.

The deterioration of the kingdom’s situation meant that someone from the decision-making level had to take responsibility.

With the army continuously suffering defeats, the Military Department was unquestionably at fault.

Only sparing the Minister of Defense from further responsibility was doing him a favor due to their shared noble status.

On the diplomatic front, they lost out to the Alpha Kingdom and Moxi Duchy in securing the aid of the Alliance, which clearly showed the incompetence of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

…

With the situation deteriorated to this extent, few high-ranking officials in the kingdom could claim to be innocent.

Open this can of worms, and they would all have to roll down from their positions.

Joseph II strongly protected the Prime Minister, not because he highly valued this capable aide, but because he needed someone to draw the fire away from himself.

If all the ministers were to step down, then the king would have to take responsibility.

The operation is very simple, pass the throne to his son.

As long as the king is willing to cooperate, everyone is the “loyal minister” of the kingdom, and there will certainly be no regicide.

“Shut up, you can’t talk about that kind of thing recklessly!”

Joseph II scolded sternly.

Now it’s just the struggle between nobles of two major camps, the Western Aristocrats are only dissatisfied with him, but it’s not yet to the point where they want to replace the king.

If they stand together with the Eastern Aristocrats, it’s hard to guarantee that the situation won’t escalate to that point.

However, to maintain the political balance of the kingdom and ensure the stability of the monarchy, he had no choice but to support the disadvantaged Eastern Aristocrats.

The contradictory situation made Joseph II particularly headache.

It is as if dancing on two eggs, and with a careless, the eggs will break, and the people will be desolate.

…

Without Bimon Cavalry causing trouble, a group of mobs led by the Cult organization are naturally not the opponents of the Expeditionary Army.

From the moment the troops were split, good news never stopped.

Three thousand were captured here, five thousand there.

The primary task of the Expeditionary Army soon became not fighting, but watching over the captured prisoners of war.

With more and more prisoners, the pressure on Hudson began to grow.

Up until now, the Alpha Kingdom has suffered considerable population losses in the war, especially in the northern provinces that have fallen, where the population losses are even more severe.

Especially now that they’ve recaptured the uninhabited provinces further north, the Noble Lords who will gain these lands after the war are even more worried about the population.

Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared.

Before the dust settled, the major nobles in the kingdom had started a race to grab people.

The large number of prisoners of war in the hands of the Expeditionary Army soon came into everyone’s sight.

One by one, regardless of whether they had connections, sent representatives over.

Faced with a group of aristocrats clamouring for people, Hudson was helpless.

There are many prisoners, but not enough for everyone to divide.

Moreover, he himself had to take a share and small subordinates under his command had to get a share, and what was left could be shared out.

With a limited number of prisoners in hand, whom to give and whom not to give became a test.

If everyone divides it together, no one would offend, but don’t expect anyone to remember his good deeds.

Everyone would just take it for granted, and most people would even complain that they had been given too little.

Because the result of fair distribution of the cake often falls short of individual expectations.

Hudson would not do such thankless foolishness.

Rather than getting complaints from everyone, it’s better to selectively offend a group of people.

However, Hudson had no idea in his mind how to distribute the cake at hand.

Who are friends, and who are enemies?

Right now, he can’t even tell.

This is the biggest drawback to climbing up from the bottom – he can’t immediately position himself accurately.

When it comes to deep-seated interests, a lot of things can’t be judged by the surface alone.

Friendliness doesn’t mean they can become friends; a bad attitude isn’t necessarily an enemy.

There are too many things to consider behind this, to determine whether a major noble is an enemy or a friend, not only the relationship between the two sides, but also factors such as the marriage alliances, the circles they belong to, the location of their territories…

As for this kind of thing involving the future, Hudson does not dare to leave it to others.

He can only rely on the limited data at hand, sorting and screening house by house.

The “enemies” are selected and put aside, potential competitors are picked out and put aside, these are the first to be excluded.

No matter who it offends, it can’t aid the enemy.

As for the neutral camp nobles, those whose stance is unclear, these are targetable objects, they require a different kind of treatment.

As for allies, it’s very regrettable.

The Koslow Family has not yet formed an alliance with any major noble houses, instead they have several enemies.

Not to mention making friends, even the major nobles they had dealings with, were few and far between.

People from different worlds forcefully joining a circle wouldn’t fit in.

Hudson was extremely embarrassed.

His rise was too fast; there simply wasn’t time to establish a network of connections.

Even if he had a network of connections, that was in the Moxi Duchy.

Where there were no conflicts of core interests, and he could make friends boldly and confidently.

When he was mingling in the middle and lower noble circles, he also had the network of the Koslow Family to use – the rise of Hudson was impressive.

But when Hudson arrived at his present position, and needed to face the nobles of the whole country, his family’s network of connections could not keep up.