Wizard Earl

Chapter 289 Target of Conflict

If Connor remembers correctly, in the year that the original owner of this body, Connor Ferguson, came to Ruen to study, the Hoffenheim Kingdom, supported by the East Hoy Company, mobilized a massive force of 500,000 soldiers to conquer the Reims tribe. That war lasted for half a year. Although the Reims tribe had the support of major countries on the Byzantine continent, they were always being crushed in the face of the clearly superior East Hoy Company. In order to avoid being conquered, all the men in the tribe aged twelve to seventy went to the battlefield.

In the end, although the Lance tribe, through the joint mediation of the Fast Empire and the Persis Kingdom, successfully prevented itself from becoming a vassal of the East Hoy Company by paying only 10,000 gold pounds in reparations, they also paid a heavy price. Not only did the entire tribe completely open its market to the goods of the Fast Empire and the Persis Kingdom, but the tribe, which originally had millions of able-bodied men, was reduced to a mere million men after the war, ranging from ninety-year-old paralyzed old men to newborn infants.

It's only been a few years since the last war ended? A mere three years! In such a short time, the Lance tribe hasn't even fully recovered from the losses of the last war, let alone healed the enormous wounds inflicted by the war! Connor thinks the upper echelons of the Lance tribe must have had their heads slammed in doors countless times before daring to provoke a war.

Based on this reasoning, Connor simply did not believe that the report in the Rune Business Daily, which stated that the border region of North Lecce under the jurisdiction of the East Hoy Company had been taken over by the Lance tribe!

If North Lecce is really attacked, there are only two possibilities. The first is that the warmongers of the East Hoy Company staged a self-inflicted injury to silence the anti-war elements within the Empire so that they can seek the full support of the Empire to completely eliminate the Lance tribe, which they see as a thorn in their side and the gateway to conquering the Central Hoy Continent!

The East Hoy Company has been infiltrating the Central Hoy Continent for so many years, and its plans are no longer a secret. The upper echelons of the entire Kaman Empire are well aware of them. Their plan is to make an example of the Lance tribe by wiping it out to show off their powerful military might, thereby intimidating the hesitant and ambivalent Hoy tribes on the Central Hoy Continent and forcing them to obediently submit to the East Hoy Company's will and become part of the Hoffenheim Kingdom, the Hoy puppet regime supported by the East Hoy Company.

It is precisely because the East Hoy Company's plans are so well-known that the Lance tribe, a hopeless and incompetent group, has gained the support of so many countries and forces that want to stop the East Hoy Company. Otherwise, who would choose to spend millions of gold pounds on such a foolish, greedy, and profit-driven Hoy tribe as the Lance tribe?

Initially, the East Hoy Company also tried to appease and win over the Lance tribe, the gateway to the Central Hoy region. However, the Lance tribe chief, in order to obtain the one million Persis silver dollars promised by the Kingdom of Persis, brazenly killed the envoy sent by the East Hoy Company, which thoroughly angered the East Hoy Company. This made Lance the poor chicken that the East Hoy Company wanted to kill to scare the monkey!

Now, thinking back to the timing of De Sciglio's return to the Empire, although it seems very much like a ruse, Connor hesitated to speculate on this idea. After all, the events in North Lecce and De Sciglio's arrival were linked in time, making the ruse seem too obvious. In the past, although the East Hoy Company had acted domineeringly, it had never treated everyone like fools to be fooled like this!

However, if it wasn't a ruse... then the situation in North Leicester is very intriguing. The Lance tribe would never have launched a surprise attack on the East Hoy Company on its own. If North Leicester was indeed attacked as reported by the Rune Merchant's Daily, it's very likely that it was another Hoy tribe in the Central Hoy region, or a foreign legion of the Kingdom of Persis and the Fast Empire that used mercenaries hired by the Lance tribe as their name, or perhaps both of them joined forces and did it in the name of the Lance tribe!

Looking at the six large characters "Ruen Businessman's Daily" on the newspaper in his hand, Connor couldn't help but ponder. Connor never thought that he was the smartest person, or that he was the only one who could think of so many things. Although the ruling class of the Kaman Empire had many playboys, it was by no means lacking in insightful and far-sighted elites. What Connor could think of, those elites could certainly think of as well!

The reason why the Rune Merchant's Daily has become an authoritative media in the Rune region and has a great influence in Rune and even the western coast of the empire centered on Rune is largely due to the power it represents. The Rune Merchant's Daily is jointly held by many large merchant guilds in Rune, representing the merchant group of the western coast of the empire. It can be said that every article published by the Rune Merchant's Daily can be said to convey the voice of the merchant group of the western coast of the empire.

Although he hadn't read the reports from the Rune Evening News, which represented the lower-middle class, or the Imperial Daily, which represented the Imperial Government, Connor knew very well that these authoritative media outlets would inevitably engage in behind-the-scenes negotiations in the face of such significant news. Now that the Rune Business Daily had reported on it, it meant that these forces had reached a consensus on their views and positions!

Analyzing the dozen or so reports, large and small, in the Rune Businessman's Daily, we see that they all only mention the Lance tribe, without mentioning the foreign legions of the Fast Empire and the Kingdom of Persis, or other Hoy tribes in the Central Hoy Continent. What does this mean? Is it something that Connor could think of, but the elites of the power represented by these authoritative media outlets didn't think of?

Absolutely not! These media reports prove that various forces within the empire have reached a consensus to limit the conflict that broke out in North Lecce State of the Hoy Continent to only the East Hoy Company and the Lance Tribe! The East Hoy Company can deal with a mere Lance Tribe on its own; there is no need for the empire to intervene!

Although he was already certain of this idea, just to be on the safe side, Connor still left the apartment and, with the newsboy's profuse thanks, bought all the newspapers for the day. As expected, not only did authoritative media such as the Imperial Daily, the Rune Business Daily, and the Rune Evening News report on it, but other newspapers, like the Rune Business Daily, only mentioned the Lance tribe and didn't mention anything else!

(End of this chapter)