883: Chapter 87, The Reversed Alliance Council_3 883: Chapter 87, The Reversed Alliance Council_3 “It seems that some people are so afraid of death that they want to become deserters at the battlefront, so they fabricate excuses on purpose.
Anyone with the slightest bit of common sense knows that if the countries on the prairie fall, there are only two evacuation routes for the public.
The few ships at sea, aren’t even enough for some selfish deserters, let alone tickets for ordinary citizens?
Our Kingdom’s willingness to accept refugees is out of a noble spirit of responsibility and compassion for the weak…
The reason these slanders have appeared is mainly because we refuse to accept cowards who flee without a fight.
These degenerates, who have enjoyed noble glory without being willing to fulfill their obligations, have fabricated these accusations to take revenge on the Kingdom!”
Politics, after all, is about having thick skin and getting enough to eat.
No matter how numerous the accusations from the Prairie Five Countries are, they refer to things that haven’t happened yet; as long as the Alpha Kingdom just refuses to admit anything, it’s impossible to determine guilt.
Originally, when proposing the motion, the Five Countries had no illusion that they could do anything about the Alpha Kingdom; they only wanted to create public opinion pressure to force the Alpha People to abandon their plans of using them as cannon fodder.
Unfortunately, though the uproar in public opinion did start, the direction of its development was a bit off.
The Alpha Kingdom, which should have been busy explaining themselves, simply turned around and bit them back.
“Deserter,” a seemingly simple word, is an unforgivable and severe crime during times of war on the Continent.
Once it sticks, even if they evacuate from the prairie unscathed and return safely, there would be no place for them on the Continent.
Friends and family members from the past would take their desertion as a disgrace, and the shame would extend to their families as well.
“Count Predrag, this is complete slander!”
“While we’re busy fighting on the front lines, you’re just watching from behind, deliberately standing by…”
Watching the representatives from the Five Countries continuously making accusations, the smile on Count Predrag’s face grew brighter and brighter.
The immediate panic from the other side can only mean one thing: they really were planning to run away!
Now that their plan has been exposed, it will undoubtedly severely affect the evacuation plans of the Five Countries.
Any slightly larger action could cause a huge uproar.
Once the paper window is punctured, even if there’s a chance to evacuate their main forces, they certainly wouldn’t dare to do so now.
If they really evacuated tens or hundreds of thousands of people by sea, the spit from within their own Human Race would be enough to drown them, not to mention any chance of restoration.
“Whether it’s slander or not, everyone is clear on that, and many of the Council representatives here are not blind.
In recent days, there surely have been a lot of you visiting home!
It’s wartime now, and all resources should be leaning towards the war.
If tens of thousands of people can visit home every month, it seems your war potential is quite substantial.
When it comes to using allies as cannon fodder, I think the representatives from Xilong Duchy and Omega Duchy have something to say.
After all, the tens of thousands of troops that broke through from both duchies now number less than five hundred; they’re just short of sending their monarchs onto the battlefield.
Facing allies like you, morally bankrupt and eager to become deserters, we too are afraid of being undermined!
You can rest assured that when needed, the Kingdom will step up, because after all, we and the Orcs are mortal enemies!”
An aggressive defense, yet strangely, it sounds pretty reasonable to everyone.
The surge in the number of the Prairie Countries’ relatives visiting is an undeniable fact.
According to the rules, relocating family members in advance also constitutes crossing the line.
However, such issues are usually overlooked by everyone, turning a blind eye, with no one really wanting to push things to an extreme.
The matter of undermining allies is also known amongst the Council members present; when it happened, both the victims, Xilong Duchy and Omega Duchy, sought justice from the Monarchs.
Unfortunately, the reasoning of the Five Countries of the Prairie was compelling, everything was done in order to resist the invasion of Orcs.
Since at that time they only forcibly conscripted people and had not yet used them as cannon fodder, it wasn’t possible to accuse them of a crime in advance.
After the incident, the Xilong Duchy and the Omega Duchy both became blank slates, and even the investors behind them chose to cut their losses, naturally, no one would come forward to defend them.
Convinced it was a lost cause, the representatives of the two countries in the Council no longer bothered with futile efforts and prematurely started their retirement.
At this moment, Count Predrag’s words once again pushed them to the forefront.
“His Excellency the Count is right, our two countries were wrong to trust five shameless allies, even investing our duchies’ last seeds into it.
Even our King is under their house arrest.
And with this as leverage, they forced us not to appeal to the Alliance Council!
Compromised by His Majesty’s safety, we had no choice but to compromise.
Today, we finally got the opportunity to speak out, and in front of many Councilor representatives, I don’t believe you dare commit regicide!”
“You traitors, today we will seek justice for the wronged souls who died for our duchies!”
The accusations from Count Carlis and Count Houston instantly brought the Council’s atmosphere to a climax.
“Cutting off trade routes,” “watching allies defeated,” “deserters,” “using allies as cannon fodder,” each topic was sensitive enough on its own, but now a “monarchs’ house arrest scandal” was implicated.
If anything were to happen to either Philip the First or Baird I, a regicide case would immediately ensue.
As the situation escalated, the Councilors, originally there to watch the drama unfold, began to grow restless.
The previous issues were manageable, and the responsibilities of the countries involved could be investigated slowly after the war, but a regicide occurring under their watch was absolutely unacceptable.
Even the mere possibility of such an event was not permitted.
The once silent chamber, now tense and dreadful, cornered the representatives of the Five Countries of the Prairie, who hastily began to explain.
Unfortunately, as soon as they began to speak, they were interrupted by Duke Bergson.
“I don’t care about any grudges between the Prairie Seven Kingdoms, but detaining the monarchs of other countries is not allowed.
The mere thought of regicide is an extremely serious crime!
I propose that the Alliance deploys a fleet to bring back Philip the First and Baird I, and during this period, you must ensure the safety of the two monarchs.
As for the other issues, we will convene a meeting to discuss them after the two monarchs arrive in Lutesya.”
It seemed as though Duke Bergson was suppressing the Five Countries of the Prairie, but in reality, he was saving the situation.
If the discussion were to continue, not to mention forcing the Kingdom of Alpha to abandon their plan, the Five Countries of the Prairie might very well become the prime suspects in a regicide case.
The Five Countries of the Prairie were ultimately politically immature, bringing up issues that had not yet occurred to the Alliance Council, which was a major blunder in itself.
Not to mention their own unclean hands on the treatment of the Xilong Duchy and the Omega Duchy gave Alpha Kingdom the perfect opportunity to leverage, which they would not forgo.
The Alliance Council meeting had just begun, and the Five Countries of the Prairie were already in a complete downfall.
In plain terms, they had not managed to commit any of the crimes they accused the Kingdom of Alpha of, but rather the same accusations were prematurely placed on themselves.
If it weren’t for Duke Bergson’s timely intervention, within a few days, the Alliance Council might well receive news of the assassination of Philip the First and Baird I.
By then, the Five Countries of the Prairie would become coal, unable to wash off the suspicion even if they jumped into the sea.
With multiple charges accumulating, any action taken by the Kingdom of Alpha against them would become legally justified.
Even now, their status had shifted from plaintiffs to defendants.
At this point, their issue was not how to accuse the Kingdom of Alpha of crimes, but how to persuade the Kingdom of Alpha to release their grip.