Book 7: Chapter 134: Being at a loss
Marquis Descartes had thought that Xu Yi’s unexpected strong stance was just a negotiation method, trying to force the Candra Empire to give more benefits.
This method was considered common, so he was only surprised at first and wasn’t that worried. He had reported the initial negotiation situation to the Candra Empire higher ups while also preparing how to further negotiate with the Rudson Kingdom and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce side.
However, what he didn’t expect was that whether it was the Rudson Kingdom or the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they kept rejecting his request to meet. He and the delegate had stayed in Baberel City for an entire week and didn’t even see any management people from the Rudson Kingdom or the Frestech chamber of Commerce, not to mention Xu Yi who had the power to decide.
A week later, there was a piece of news that reached Marquis Descartes that had shocked him and the entire delegate.
The Rudson Kingdom and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards had two days ago, which was May 3rd, broken through the defensive lines of Mobican City in the south of the Talaman Province and now they were approaching the capital of the Talaman Province.
“Lord Marquis, these fellows seem……like they really don’t have any intentions to negotiate with us……” A member of the delegate said to Marquis Descartes in a stunned voice.
Marquis Descartes couldn’t keep the calm look on his face and he revealed a weak smile that was filled with bitterness.
He never would have thought that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Rudson Kingdom really wouldn’t give them a chance to negotiate, directly attacking with their armies.
Could it be that they really thought that they could defeat the powerful Candra Empire?
“Lord Marquis, what do we do now?” Another member of the delegate asked.
Marquis Descartes shook his head as he revealed an expression that was a bit vacant.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s strength had surpassed his expectations and he didn’t know how to handle them.
After thinking for a long time, Marquis Descartes gave a long sigh.
“Wait, all we can do is wait. No matter what happens, it depends on the performance on the battlefield. So all we can do now…..is just hope that the commanders in the empire don’t disappoint us……”
The other members of the delegate looked at each other, seeing the smiles filled with bitterness on each other’s faces.
If the commanders of the empire didn’t disappoint them, how could they have come this way and endured the arrogance of those fellows from the Rudson Kingdom and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?
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From another perspective, the commanders of the Candra Empire army really didn’t disappoint the members of the delegation.
Because……just as everyone had suspected, they couldn’t resist the attack of the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces at all.
With the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces launching an attack that was even fiercer than before, the Talaman Province fell even faster than the southwest province.
In less than twenty one days, the Talaman Province’s capital had fallen. The Talaman Province’s governor Duke Lager had promised to fight to the death, so he had died in the battle.
The five Arch Magi that came from the Candra Empire army headquarters weren’t lucky enough to escape this time, with one of the Arch Magi falling. Out of the other four, two of them had been heavily injured and the other two had been forced to retreat.
After the province fell, the Talaman Province’s five northern cities directly surrender to the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces.
With this, the entire Talaman Province had fallen.
On May 29th, the southern province’s governor Duke Elman Windsor had announced that the southern province was succeeding, separating from the Candra Empire.
When this news spread, not just the Candra Empire, the entire continent was shocked.
On June 7th, the Candra Empire southernmost province, which was the Torea Province that held the most coastline, had also announced they were separating from the Candra Empire. They didn’t declare their independence, but rather they were joining the Stantine Duchy.
The Torea Province was the province that cooperated the most with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce out of the Candra Empire’s provinces. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had finished around a hundred projects in the Torea Province over these years, almost becoming related to every part of the Torea Province’s operation, so it could be the province that they had infiltrated the deepest.
When the Candra Empire announced that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had become a banned company, although some of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s businesses in the Torea Province had suffered some kind of damage, most of them had been preserved through other means. The influence of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was still deeply rooted in the Torea Province.
So the Torea Province announcing their separation from the Candra Empire and joining the Stantine Duchy, although it was shocking for countless people, it was still something that most people had expected.
But it was different from the southern province’s declaration of independence. The Torea Province’s separation had caused very serious damage to the Candra Empire.
Because when the Frestech Chamber of Commerce signed a cooperation agreement with the Candra Empire, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s invested magic machine industry projects were concentrated in two areas of the Candra Empire.
The first was the product base near Wimbledon City which was mainly just a demonstration, so the scale wasn’t that big.
Compared to this, the true cooperation project between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Candra Empire was in the Torea Province.
Just the magic machine industry in the Torea Province was enough to occupy over 70% of the entire Candra Empire magic machine industry.
So now that the Torea Province had separated from the Candra Empire, it seriously impacted all of the Candra Empire and caused a nationwide panic.
The most important thing was that after losing the Torea Province, the Candra Empire lost their southern coastline, losing all their connections to the sea.
The current Candra Empire had become a landlocked country.
Of course, most people on the Sines Continent didn’t have a strong understanding of this.
What most people cared about was the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces that were still pushing into the Candra Empire.
After capturing two provinces, the Candra Empire army hadn’t seen any hope of victory in direct combat, which seriously hurt the morale and confidence of the Candra Empire.
Although the Candra Empire didn’t give up and wanted to find a way to turn the tides, they didn’t have a chance of winning in direct conflict. Even trying to ambush them was a joke because the Fresteech Chamber of Commerce’s Magic Airships that were everywhere had turned all ambushes into jokes.
As the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces pushed towards Wimbledon City step by step, the people of the Candra Empire didn’t feel much, but the higher level nobles were feeling more and more terrified.
After the southern province and the Torea Province, there were thirteen provinces that separated from the Candra Empire and announced that they were willing to cooperate with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to certain extents.
Just like this, the Candra Empire had already lost close to half their provinces.
In the near thousand year history of the Candra Empire, there had been chaos that had occurred for many reasons. Wimbledon City had even been broken into and the entire empire had fallen into war, coming very close to the entire empire being destroyed.
During those critical times, the Candra Empire had been able to come back and restore itself into a giant empire.
But this time…..it was different from all the crises in the past.
When the Candra Empire fell into crisis, it was mostly because of internal strife.
But this time, the Candra Empire didn’t have any internal strife and was at the most stable position it had been in the past hundred years, which could be considered a golden age of development.
Normally it would be impossible for this kind of Candra Empire to be defeated.
But with the appearance of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they broke through all the defensive lines of the Candra Empire and had forced the Candra Empire into chaos.
August 16th, it could be considered the hottest day of the entire year.
On this day, the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces took the southernmost San Antonis City of the Candra Empire’s central province, officially stepping into the central province and threatening the heart of Candra Empire, Wimbledon City.
Five days later, Marquis Descartes led the delegate once again to head to San Antonis City, appearing in front of the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces again.
However, it was completely different from the confidence with a bit of arrogance from four months ago. When Marquis Descartes saw the fully armed Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards again, he was no longer feeling the same superiority in his heart as one of the Candra Empire’s Lord Marquis, rather there was a strong bitterness and dispirited feeling.
Through the countless battles with the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces, everyone had learned that the powerful Candra Empire army in their minds collapsed at a single blow.
Starting from last year, it had been a year of continuous defeats. It completely crushed the confidence of the nobles, including Marquis Descartes, while also destroying their pride.
No matter how much they cursed in their hearts, they had to admit that the empire was at a loss when facing these “devil” military magic machines.
Even Marquis Descartes felt a bit of joy in his heart.
In these four months, the Candra Empire had asked the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for peace talks many times. Marquis Descartes had risked danger to come to the Rudson Frestech Allied Forces many times, but the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had never given any response.
But now the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had given a formal response and agreed to another round of peace talks with the Candra Empire, so naturally Marquis Descartes was filled with joy. The entire upper strata of the Candra Empire was also filled with joy.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce were willing to have these peace talks, which meant there were hopes of moderation.
As for how the Candra Empire would look like after the peace talks, that was something to consider afterwards……