Imperial Crown.

Chapter 345: Resolute Nancy

Many thanks to Qidian Dad [Sun Liansheng] for the reward of 3100!

Many thanks to Qidian Dad [Wiley Warrior Invincible] for the 500 reward!

……

Inside Eagle City.

The warm sunlight shone through the window and onto Nancy's fiery red hair.

Since Raven's departure, Nancy's clothing style has become more simple.

Although she still had her hair tied in two ponytails, she was only wearing a light pink dress with long white silk gloves under her sleeves.

A pair of long and thin legs were crossed together, with the toes wrapped in white stockings raised, swaying slightly with the movement of her body.

Nancy is working on a paperwork.

Specifically, it was a plan drafted by Koru, the political officer of Holo Territory, reviewed by old Gordon, and then sent to her.

The roads in Holo's territory have been in disrepair for a long time. In order to ensure the stability of Raven's logistics next year, it is necessary to renovate the roads during the slack season this winter.

Footsteps were heard, the door was pushed open, and Jenny walked in with a tray of refreshments.

Putting the tray on the table, Jenny said softly, “Miss, take a rest first.”

Nancy didn't even raise her head, and gathered the hair that had escaped from behind her ears with her slender fingers: "Leave it there for now, and I'll deal with it first."

Jenny had no choice but to wait quietly by the side.

But after waiting for a while, Nancy finished processing one document and turned her attention to the next one.

Sighing inwardly, Jenny advised: “Miss, there is always work to be done, and you can’t tire yourself out.”

"Besides, there are quite a few students graduating from the comprehensive college. You can definitely let them do this."

Nancy then looked up, with a smile that seemed to be both angry and surprised on her bright face, and tapped Jenny's forehead with her index finger:

"You always think too simply."

"If it's anything else, I can let it go, but not these."

Nancy didn't quite understand what war was.

The closest moment in her life to war was the battle with Heleti on the Bloody Highlands with Raven.

This was enough to make her understand the cruelty of war.

Today, Raven and the Eagle Army he leads are no longer the same, and the enemies they face are no longer just horse bandits.

Therefore, she had to put the stability of Eagle Territory first and ensure that Raven's logistical supply was stable without any mistakes.

She was worried about leaving it to others.

"I know, but you have to take care of yourself, Miss." Jenny said with a hint of emotion, "You've lost a lot of weight recently!"

"I just received news that the master has defeated the coalition forces of Palmer and Faraday. The situation is very good now. Who knows when they will return triumphantly."

"If the master saw you like this, he would be so distressed!"

After hearing what Jenny said, Nancy scooped a piece of cake into her mouth with a spoon, took a sip of hot and strong black tea, and couldn't help but smile.

The news that Raven had defeated Palmer had now spread throughout the Nord province.

But Nancy got the news earlier than anyone else.

Because after Raven won, the first thing he did was to write a letter to Nancy, which was sent back by the Hippogryph.

There is no need to say much about the love words between the two. Raven also specifically mentioned Jon above.

He also said that if it weren't for Jon's help, the battle might have been very difficult.

Being able to help Raven is the happiest thing for Nancy.

The warm breeze blew in through the window, causing Nancy's loose hair to float slightly.

A master and a servant were chatting and eating snacks in the sunshine, just like an ordinary afternoon.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Jenny took the plate and stood aside.

Nancy straightened her clothes and said, "Come in."

"Madam, there is something I need you to take care of." Old Gordon said straight to the point as he entered the room.

Bent is back.

He was discovered by Eagle City's horned cavalry more than 20 miles north of the city.

When he was found, he had three bloody, infected arrow wounds on his body and was barely able to speak.

After being taken to Eagle City, he had only one request - that was to meet Mrs. Nancy, otherwise he would not say a word.

After hearing this, Nancy immediately rushed to Bent's ward.

Nancy had met Benter before, but now she could not connect the man in front of her with the traitor who had returned.

His face was pale, his exposed skin was swollen, and his eyes were cloudy and lifeless.

Pus and blood were still oozing from the gauze wrapped around his body, and a pungent stench filled the room.

Jenny frowned and looked at Patty next to her.

As an alchemist, Patty is now also responsible for the medical work of the entire Eagle City. She saluted Nancy and said, "Madam, his injuries are too serious. Even with the use of peganite, it is difficult to heal. Unless the infection in his body can be cured, I am afraid..."

Nancy waved her hand, indicating that she understood, and looked at the bed, and asked in a low voice:
"Bent? You want to see me?"

Bent's eyes, which were originally blank, began to move and focus on Nancy. His cracked lips moved:

"…'Blood Eye' Mongar and 'Pirate General' Joshua are about to launch an attack on Eagle Ridge!"

"You must remind the Baron to take precautions early!"

These two sentences shocked old Gordon who came with Nancy:
"When and how many people?"

"Not sure, probably recently." Bent's physical strength had reached its limit. Sweat began to flow from his forehead, and his pupils gradually dilated.

"...a total of 5 people..."

Nancy nodded: "I understand."

Hearing these words, Bent finally relaxed his worries, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted completely.

"Mr. Gordon, please pass on my order to immediately gather Fili, Kuman, and Koulu to discuss this matter together."

Old Gordon hesitated for a moment: "But this is just his one-sided statement, do we need to verify it?"

"No need. Raven mentioned him to me before he left." Nancy said:

“He’s a man you can trust.”

Seeing Nancy's firm attitude, Old Gordon said no more, nodded, turned and left.

The order was issued in the afternoon, and all the personnel were present just after 9 o'clock that evening.

Fili, Kuman and Kolu didn't know what was going on and all looked helpless.

Now it is almost the end of the year, and it is the time to make various summaries and settlements. It is also the busiest time for these civil servants. Now they are being dragged into a meeting for no apparent reason, and they are all somewhat dissatisfied.

It is true that they are loyal to Raven and the Griffith family, and when Raven leaves, Nancy can indeed take power.

But Nancy was too young.

Although Lord Raven is also young, he is a true genius that ordinary people cannot learn.

Power can be spread through blood and sex, but political talent cannot.

Fortunately, Nancy has only been "willful" this once in the past six months, so they just have to bear with it.

Until Nancy appeared in the conference room.

"Madam!" The three of them collected their thoughts, stood up and saluted together.

"Everyone, please sit down." Nancy sat in the seat where Raven usually sat. "We called you here today because we received a message that a coalition of 5 bandits and pirates will attack Eagle City."

"We need to come up with a countermeasure."

Jenny came in and handed the documents to the three people.

After looking down at the content above, the three of them exchanged glances. Philip gritted his teeth and stood up first and said:

"Madam, I think this matter still needs to be discussed."

"Snow Chicken... No, Bent has betrayed the Baron before. I'm afraid his words cannot be trusted."

"My suggestion is to cure his injuries first, and then ask him about the cause and effect a few times. Once you are sure everything is correct, it won't be too late to take any action."

Nancy did not comment and looked at Kuman:

"What do you mean?"

In his heart, Kuman didn't actually think this was true.

After all, winter was coming, so there was no reason to march on a large scale at this time. And if they were just horse thieves, they might be somewhat credible, but pirates were a bit too outrageous - they would have to cross the entire Bloody Highlands.

If they have the time and energy, why don't they go fishing or robbing? Why do they have to come to the Eagle Territory?
But it was obvious that Nancy was not satisfied with Philip's answer, so Kuman carefully considered his words and said:

"I also think we should be cautious about this news -

It's not that I don't trust Bent, but winter is coming soon. At this time, if we mobilize a large number of people, it will greatly consume our food reserves."

"I don't know when Lord Raven's war will end. It won't be a good thing if we consume too much food."

What he said made sense, but Nancy did not express her opinion. She just fixed her eyes on Kolu, the only one who had not spoken yet.

Fili and Kuman were both secretly signaling to Koru, they didn't want Nancy to continue "making trouble" like this.

Koulu straightened his tie, stood up, saluted Nancy, and then said clearly:

"As the Baron often says, if you are prepared, you won't panic. So I think that no matter whether this news is true or false, we should take it seriously."

Nancy showed a hint of appreciation in her eyes.

Philip and Kuman's faces turned pale - this boy, could he be trying to flatter Mrs. Nancy at this time?

Everyone has selfish desires, and it is understandable that they want to gain some benefits for themselves.

But now the entire Raven's territory is in a thriving stage, and everyone is working together to make the pie bigger before talking about distribution.

Koru is a bit disregarding the overall situation.

But what Koru said next was beyond everyone's expectations.

He coughed lightly and said:

"Bent has a stain after all. His report this time may not be completely false, but it is also possible that he exaggerated the size and number of the enemy in order to raise his own value."

"So, my suggestion is that in order to guard against possible attacks by horse thieves, we can send out the Hippogryph Cavalry in the city to expand the reconnaissance range as a precaution."

"If we really detect the movements of the bandits, we will still have time to respond."

Fili and Kuman both breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that Koulu still takes the overall situation seriously.

Although the opinions seem different, the solutions they propose are essentially the same as what they proposed and will not cost manpower or money.

Nancy chuckled after hearing this and tapped the table with her slender fingers:

"Is this the conclusion you have come to?"

For some reason, seeing this scene, Kuman and the others couldn't help but think of Raven.

Nancy's voice was not loud, but it was full of irresistible persistence:

"I wanted to discuss this with you guys in detail, but since you guys have this attitude, I will just give you the order directly."

"From now on, all territories will enter a state of war."

"Build three layers of defense in the north of Eagle Town and Shining Gold Town to block the entrance from Bloody Highlands to Eagle Territory. Spare no manpower or effort. I want to see results within a month."

"At the same time, build large-scale shelters in your respective areas of jurisdiction. At least you can deal with the attacks of bandits who don't have heavy siege equipment. Fire prevention and material reserves must be in place for ordinary people to hide."

"In addition, all male citizens between 18 and 45 who are not involved in the above construction must be recruited and trained together."

"I don't ask them to form a decent fighting force, but at least they should know how to hold a spear and how to line up."

"Also, we need to select at least a legion-sized militia to assist in the defense of Eagle City."

The series of orders completely stunned the three government officials.

These actions directly disrupted all their plans and would cause serious damage to the production and economy of the entire territory.

They all stood up and tried to persuade Nancy to take back her decision.

But Nancy didn't give them a chance to speak:
"This is an order, not a negotiation."

"I want results, not excuses!"

"Also, don't even think about going around me and going straight to Raven."

"The war is still going on. Anyone who dares to disrupt his pace..."

"Don't think that I don't have any means just because I'm a woman!"

As she spoke, a cluster of azure flames flourished in her palm.

At this moment, the three political officials finally remembered.

Nancy is not only the wife of Baron Raven, but also a third-level magician!

The title of Fiery Rose is not for nothing.

She really dares to kill people!
"Yes, ma'am!" The three of them had to obey the order in unison.

After they left, Nancy breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest.

Although she had done many willful things before, this was the first time she had received such a formal order and threat.

"Jenny, how did I behave just now?"

"Excellent, young lady!" Jenny said with a smile, "You looked just like Master Raven."

However, the three political officials did not return to their respective posts immediately, but instead found old Gordon, hoping that he could persuade Nancy to take back this "random order".

Old Gordon just sighed, shook his head and sent them away.

Old Gordon had his objections to Nancy's move, but he was powerless and could not persuade Nancy to change her mind.

Moreover, it was a consensus between him and Nancy not to disturb Raven's military operations.

In fact, before this meeting, Gordon Sr. also approached Denise.

I hope she can step forward and suppress Nancy’s “nonsense” behavior.

After all, it is totally inappropriate to react so strongly to a statement without any substantiation from the mouth of a former traitor.

Denise also agreed with Gordon Sr.'s opinion, but rejected his proposal.

As a woman, she understands women better.

Nancy's temper is very similar to Raven's. Once she makes up her mind about something, she will never turn back.

So it would be better if Denise didn't intervene at this time. Once she intervened, the whole incident would most likely change from a discussion of right and wrong to a personal dispute between her and Nancy.

It is even possible that this will open the Pandora's box of internal struggles within the territory and evolve into an internal fight that tears the territory apart.

Just let Nancy do it, at most it will just cost her tens of thousands of gold coins.

At the very least, it's a good idea to be prepared.

Nancy's actions did not stop there.

Next, she used the Sky Eagle platform to send a message to the five northwestern counties that a large number of bandits and pirates were about to attack the Nord province from the Eagle Territory.

The response was actually quite average.

Most people don't think this news is of any value.

It was unheard of for horse thieves and pirates to team up, especially since winter was coming soon.

If we launch a massive attack at this time, those bandits must be completely crazy.

In other words, Nancy's head is filled with paste.

The most common one is a conspiracy theory.

That is, although Raven promoted it so well and won three battles on the front line, he actually consumed a lot of troops. Now, he wants to use the horse thieves as an excuse to steal troops from the nobles of the five northwestern counties!

Under this kind of public pressure, the top leaders of Eagle Leader were somewhat ashamed.

Even Nancy began to doubt herself, wondering if she had overreacted.

Until February 10th.

Bent, who had just recovered, was found hanged in his room.

He left a suicide note.

Bent swore that what he said was true. Now that he saw the Eagle Leader mobilized, he had completed the Baron's entrustment.

Now, it's time to reunite with his family.

At Nancy's instruction, his body was buried in the Eagle Army Cemetery, along with his comrades who died on the Bloody Hill.

His suicide note was also circulated among the high-ranking officials in Raven Territory, which increased everyone's motivation to work.

In the blink of an eye, November is here.

Snowflakes are falling in early winter.

The bandits and pirates finally arrived.