"The girl got help."

Thordor Red gets right to the point:

"When she disappeared on the battlefield and her life and death were unknown."

Part of the doubts in the Imperial Council disappeared, but more questions followed.

"help?"

Viscount Coney, the Minister of Commerce and Trade, laughed and said rather teasingly:

"Could it be a giant dragon?"

Thales's mind moved, and he remembered the scene of the unkempt, silly little slider sitting in the ruins, silently looking at the huge and graceful dragon head.

But Viscount Conney soon discovered that no one supported his joke.

On the contrary, Duke Cullen, who was always smiling, had a stern expression, and Financial Controller Juke Mann looked ugly.

Clapham, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, woke up from his drowsiness again, his eyes suspicious, while Stylianides, who had been silent all this time, lowered his head in thought.

Thales sat next to Gilbert, suppressing the curiosity and eagerness in his heart, and concentrated on watching the foreign minister hurriedly flipping through the information in his hand.

At the end of the long table, the king's figure remained motionless, like a stone sculpture.

The entire imperial meeting seemed extremely silent.

Viscount Connie's smile gradually faded.

"No."

In silence, Advisor Thordo made the final decision, ending Viscount Connie's embarrassment:

"They are poor people."

The military adviser put his hands on the table and looked at everyone.

Thales could feel that after Soduo said "no", most of the important ministers present breathed a sigh of relief.

"The local poor people of Xitao."

Soduo frowned, and his palms passed over the roads and towns on the map, tapping lightly on the blank spaces where there were no chess pieces.

"They helped the Grand Duchess survive the battlefield."

"And finally gathered them together to retrieve some of the elites belonging to Longxiao City."

The military advisor grabbed a few white chess pieces outside the map and placed them back next to the white queen.

Thales felt relieved.

Therefore, Thelma received help from the local people and survived the dangerous battlefield safely.

But then he felt strange.

"Wait a minute, didn't Count Castle say that?" Viscount Connie asked in confusion:

"Suriel Walton once massacred Freedom Castle and had a deep hatred for the people of the Freedom Alliance? If the poor people knew the identity of the Grand Duchess, why would they still..."

Many people looked at Gilbert.

The Foreign Minister held up his glasses, his face looked a little ugly, and he flipped through the documents faster and faster:

"About this - sorry, give me a few seconds - I remember these pages..."

Soduo coughed and looked at the visitor from the secret department.

The scar-faced man stepped forward calmly and relieved Gilbert of his embarrassment:

"The Secret Department thought so at the beginning - the poor people of the Freedom Alliance and the Northlanders were fighting to the death."

"It was only afterwards that we discovered that the information we had was incomplete."

"So we quickly contacted the local intelligence station and then corroborated it with the historical data from the Foreign Affairs Department."

The Foreign Secretary finally turned to the page he needed. He exhaled and continued:

"Ahem, gentlemen, the national conditions of the Freedom Alliance are rather special."

Gilbert raised his head and transformed back into the star cunning fox that Thales was familiar with:

"In fact, unlike the poor people in Qiyuan City, most of the poor people in the Freedom Alliance - especially the part that Sodo mentioned - mainly live in the suburbs and countryside, with low status, extreme poverty, and suffering discrimination

, even if you go to Freehold to earn a living, you will still be doing the lowest-grade jobs."

"The people who really have a deep hatred against them are not the Northland invaders who are specifically targeting the noble families, but the upper class living in Free Castle."

Thales frowned. He remembered that Ronny had hinted to him that the suffering people were one of the problems faced by Qiyuan City under his rule, but he never knew that the suffering people's problems were not limited to Qiyuan City.

"A bit...complicated?" Viscount Connie asked what he felt.

"No."

Everyone stood upright and looked at the person who spoke.

"It's not complicated at all."

King Kessel stared at the ring on his hand, his eyes turning on the brass luster:

"Just like what happened last night."

last night.

The imperial meeting suddenly fell silent.

Thales subconsciously turned his head to avoid everyone's intentional or unintentional glances.

Gilbert's words sounded at the right time, attracting everyone's attention and relaxing the atmosphere:

"A hundred years ago, the Conmas Alliance implemented the 'Hundred Nations Business Road' strategy, expanding its power eastward, and the entire Golden Corridor was turbulent."

"The person who ruled Exeter at that time was 'Broken Steel' Nun VI who had just succeeded to the throne. He had a back-and-forth game with the Conmas people and finally reached a compromise: to support local forces at the eastern end of the Golden Corridor and establish an open trade

Road, but still a country where Exeter is the suzerain."

Advisor Thordo frowned:

"Freedom League."

Gilbert nodded:

"As an intermediate product of the compromise between the two major powers, the structure of the Free Alliance was inherently deformed: its source of power and foundation of rule were not internal but external, and it did not respect inferiors but only superiors. It developed in the cracks of the major powers with the help of huge profits from trade routes.

."

Gilbert turned the page and looked extremely serious:

"After nearly a hundred years of rule, the high-ranking elders and their powerful families in Freehold, although they share the same blood as the poor people, have become accustomed to being aloof, exploiting, holding positions, and enjoying privileges. They have long stopped treating themselves

Consider yourself a member of the poor people."

Thales was relieved.

I see.

The real reality is far more complicated and specific than the dry sentence in the book: "The Free Alliance lives in the west of Qiyuan and in the east of Qiyuan, enjoying business interests."

As for Thelma, what she has to face is much more difficult than what I have to face.

"So, the lower-class poor people in the alliance are actually local forces that can be recruited to fight against the higher-ups in Freedom Castle."

Prime Minister Cullen scratched his chin, looking silly:

"It's just that in the past few decades, the eyes of the people of the North have stayed on the nobles in the castle, and on the regime they supported through compromise with the Conmas people?"

Gilbert sighed:

"Don't talk about subdividing the poor and the nobles... To be precise, in the past few decades, the entire Freedom Alliance has not been taken seriously by the people of the North."

The Foreign Minister frowned and said nothing: Even we were shocked when the battle report came out, so we hurriedly updated the information?

Thales calmed down his mood, but he couldn't help but have another doubt.

But what happened to Selma...

"So, that girl got a few waves of support from the poor people of the lower class, but..."

"Money Bag" Qiu Keman narrowed his eyes and asked:

"What we are talking about is a war with real swords and real guns, which costs money and money, not logging to open up wasteland or plowing the land."

"Can a group of ragged poor people really help her win?"

This question brought up the most confusing point for everyone. Even though all the gentlemen present here are well-educated, they still couldn't help but lean forward in anticipation of the answer.

"cannot."

Thordo's answer was as vigorous and resolute as ever:

"But at least it can give her a way to sneak into Freedom Castle secretly, which only low-class people who do dirty work know."

Thales' eyelids twitched.

"According to our intelligence, one night after the Freedom Alliance returned from the victory, the Grand Duke of Longxiao City led the elite Grand Duke's personal guards around her - many of them were white-blade guards from the era of King Nun - and quietly invaded
To be continued...