Tauren Overlord

However, the military strength of the New City Republic is not strong, and ordinary city lords are not capable of taking over the Aurora Province of Nagis.

After much thought, only the rising god of war in the New City Republic - the Minotaur Overlord - could take on this job.

At first glance, Yuli's proposal seemed to be very beneficial to Lu Heng, as it would allow him to add a new province.

But after thinking about it carefully, Lu Heng found that more land was not necessarily better. He had to consider his current situation and the cost of obtaining these lands.

What is Lu Heng’s current situation?

He already owns a lot of land, and the larger the land, the more difficult it will be to manage.

The reason why there are corrupt officials like Tyrell who will become corrupt at the slightest opportunity is because Lu Heng’s administrative resources are no longer sufficient.

Building an administrative team that can stand the test of time is not something that can be done in a day or two.

It is already difficult to manage the northern border now, and it will be even more difficult to manage a larger area.

Besides, Lu Heng has not had enough time to properly develop the vast area of ​​the northern border.

Perhaps less than 1% of this vast, sparsely populated land has been thoroughly explored.

Obviously, there are still many mineral resources being explored by the Survey Corps. If we develop new provinces at this time, it is very likely that neither side will be developed well.

Of course, the above is only about my side of the matter. The really important question is - what is the cost of obtaining this land?

In order to prevent any misunderstanding, Lu Heng checked with the cat girl Yuli with a puzzled look on his face:

"Xincheng hopes that the Empire will cede the Aurora Province in exchange for the Sea Alliance not to go, but do you think the Empire will accept it?"

In Lu Heng's opinion, there is no way the empire would accept it.

Even if the Empire accepted it, it would be insane to pay the price of the Sea Alliance not joining the war just for a broken place that they didn't know how to defend.

What should the New City Republic do if the Sea Alliance feels that it has been fooled and intends to abandon its protective treaty with the New City Republic?

At that time, the Empire can directly destroy the New City Republic.

In response to Lu Heng's question, Yuli shook her cat head.

"I don't think the Empire will necessarily agree, but if the negotiations are successful, what if we can gain a brief peace?"

"Think about it. If the Sea Alliance really goes to war with the Empire, it won't be a simple local war, but a war involving multiple continents."

"The Sea Alliance will definitely prioritize protecting themselves and try to destroy the Empire, but what about us?"

"We will never be their priority for protection."

"And over in the Empire, they will definitely not let us live in peace..."

"Once the war is over, no...it doesn't even need to be over. As soon as the war starts, they will destroy us!"

"So... peace is not good? Although war will come sooner or later, for a small country like ours, peace is the best it can be."

Listening to Yuli's explanation, Lu Heng couldn't help but feel that the top leaders of New City Republic were not that stupid.

Although the empire is an enemy they will have to face sooner or later, for a small country that finds it difficult to decide the direction of the war, staying alive is the most important thing.

This cannot be said to be a kind of stupidity, but more of a helplessness.

"There is another important reason!" Cat Girl Yuri added:

"The Sea Alliance is actually not that reliable. This is the collective consensus of the top leaders of the New City Republic."

"As a union of multiple countries, many important decisions of the Sea Alliance require the joint decision of the leaders of the member countries."

"In order to prevent the emergence of a totalitarian leader throughout the alliance, the Sea Alliance has a privilege that is exclusive to the leaders of member states: the veto power."

"For a major decision like launching a war that concerns the survival of the entire alliance, all leaders must vote together."

"Once any leader vetoes any bill or major resolution, the relevant bill or resolution will be invalid!"

"For example, whether they will fulfill the treaty and fight for our New City Republic is very uncertain."

"If any leader votes against the decision on whether to join the war, they won't have to fulfill this treaty."

"Anyway, their system only cares about opposing the totalitarians within their own ranks and doesn't care about our lives at all."

After hearing this, Lu Heng also felt that this problem was indeed quite serious.

A country without a unified will may seem very "progressive" internally.

However, this system of the Sea Alliance is obviously a disaster for friendly forces like the New City Republic that need military assistance.

The reason is simple: this alliance may not even be able to fulfill the treaty with certainty.

Even if we take a step back and say that such a country fulfilled the treaty, what would it matter? If it really fought with the empire, wouldn't it fall apart on its own?

Even though the Empire and the Sea Alliance were equally matched on paper, the balance of victory was already very much in favor of the Empire...

No matter how you look at it, this alliance between the seas will end sooner or later.

The mere existence of a veto power is enough to make the decision-making process of the entire alliance extremely slow and complicated.

Any important resolution may not be passed due to the opposition of a leader, resulting in the alliance being unable to effectively respond to crises in emergencies.

When this mechanism operates normally, it is inevitable to fall into a decision-making deadlock.

What if the Empire lays mines and trains some guides like the Leaders? Can this alliance still function normally?

Therefore, if Lu Heng and his camp want to survive in this world, they really cannot count on the Sea Alliance to perform ideally, they still have to rely on themselves.

……

Lu Heng and Yuli's worries are not without reason.

The leaders of the major member states of the Sea Alliance are indeed holding a meeting to discuss whether to go to war with the Empire.

The Sea Alliance has a total of five major member states, namely:

The Elven Kingdom located in the northwest of the Alliance is considered to be the hometown of Ennis;

The Treeman Kingdom, located northeast of the Alliance, faces the New City Republic across the strait;

The Centaur Kingdom, located in the center of the Alliance, often becomes the customary venue for the Alliance Parliament due to its special geographical location;

The Cat Country, located in the southwest of the alliance, is very close to the Shanhai College where Lu Heng is located;

There is also the vampire kingdom located southeast of the alliance, namely the Kingdom of Volachia, and to its south is the main force of the Empire's Marshal Celron.

In addition to these five major countries, the Sea Alliance also has ten other minority ethnic forces that are independent of the five major member states.

They are humans, dwarves, duckmen, ratmen, dogmen, satyrs, goblins, ogres, green dragons, and gold dragons.

These ten weaker member states or tribes are also important components of the Sea Alliance.

Their national or ethnic leaders also have a veto over major decisions of the Intersea Alliance.

If any one of the fifteen leaders is dissatisfied, an important resolution cannot be passed.

Whether such a mechanism is beneficial to survival is not discussed here, at least it is very effective in preventing the country from moving towards totalitarianism.

The only drawback is that this also makes every meeting of leaders very troublesome, as a large group of people are required just for translation.

The same applies to this meeting attended by the vampire king of Volachia, Degal. Everyone has to have their own translator.

What if you use other people's translations for everything? What if the other party translates it wrong intentionally or unintentionally?

Besides, Degar has his own special features. The other fourteen member countries or member tribes are all living people.

His Kingdom of Volachia is a kingdom of the dead. Who knows if you ghosts will try to trick the living?

If it weren't for the need to resist the overly powerful Holy Fortune Empire, these completely different races might have fought each other long ago and would never have united.

But at least on the surface, the alliance currently appears to be able to continue.

The leaders or representatives of the fifteen member states or tribes gathered together in the central meeting place of the alliance.

They are about to cast their solemn vote on the issue of "whether the Sea Alliance should go to war with the Empire because the New City Republic was attacked" for the Sea Alliance.

The author says:

Author's words: Happy New Year to everyone!

258. The Exiled Golden Dragon Queen

"For the sake of sacred justice, we cannot abandon the vulnerable who are under protection. This is our responsibility."

The Centaur Khan, who had called all the leaders to a meeting, was the first to vote in favor of the alliance going to war with the empire.

These centaurs have a human-like torso in the upper half and a horse's body in the lower half.

This unique body structure gives them both the intelligence of humans and the strength and speed of horses.

But they are not pure believers in violence. They are more eager to use violence to uphold kindness and justice.

The Centaurs' support for the war was in line with the Vampire King Degal's expectations.

It wasn't just the Centaur leader who was in favor of going to war. The Dwarf King also pounded his shield, strongly supporting the war.

"It's time to settle our long-standing hatred with the Empire!"

This is the reason why the Dwarf King voted in favor.

As a long-lived race, the dwarves once lived on the east coast of the western continent, the west coast of the eastern continent, and the Aurora Islands of the northern continent.

As the empire continued to expand, the dwarves, who had superb craftsmanship but insufficient population, were constantly strangled by the empire.

Except for a few dwarves who escaped to the East Continent, most of the dwarves were slaughtered by the Empire and turned into stories and legends in the Book of Great Hate.

For the surviving dwarves, if they surrender to the empire at this time, it would be a betrayal of history.

The human leaders of the Sea Alliance also voted in favor for similar reasons.

Although the region of Taimenia is where the highest concentration of humans is located, this tenacious race has long been spread across all continents, but in smaller numbers.

Some of them were former subjects of Taimenia, and some wanted to establish a commune with no nobles but only citizens.

There are also some who, even if they have never been from Taimenia, still care about their fellow humans and hope that humans can break free from the slavery of the empire.

These humans have long traveled back and forth between various regions, inciting more humans to rebel against the empire.

Now that they have the opportunity to go to war directly with the Empire, they are more than happy to do so!

Then, the leader of the goblins, or goblins, also voted in favor of going to war with the empire.

But anyone with a discerning eye can see that his motives for voting in favor may not be so pure.

These cunning and greedy creatures are not few in absolute numbers, almost as many as the Centaurs.

The reason why they did not become one of the five major member states is mainly because they are individually weak and it is difficult for them to form a united and mutually supportive collective.

However, being individually weak does not mean that they do not like to kill people. These poor little goblins love war very much!

They have a very high tolerance for chaos and poverty, and even if the Sea Alliance is destroyed, they can still adapt to the environment.

What if we win, grab more territory, more money, and more girls?

That would be a huge profit!

War is great for goblins! Must vote for it!

But not all leaders support the alliance to fulfill the treaty. The leader of the Sea Alliance can also abstain, which is also a statement.

The leader of the ratmen chose to abstain, so whether they participated in the war or not in the end, it did not seem to be the ratmen's problem.

According to the voting rules of the Sea Alliance, each of the fifteen leaders has a veto power, but this does not mean that choosing to veto is truly cost-free.

Especially when the other fourteen leaders all agree, but one leader exercises a veto, he will definitely be targeted.

So no matter whether the leader of the rat people is "short-sighted" or "peace-loving", he will not offend anyone if he does not use the veto power.

Next, it was the turn of the vampire king Degal to express his opinion.

He said nothing, only voted in favor of going to war with the Empire.

But his behavior has caused countless whispers from the living:

"Sure enough, the Undead voted in favor."

"Of course. The more wars there are, the more deaths there are, and the better it is for the undead, don't you think?"