"Yes, the ancient prophecy is true - the end is coming. In the far north, the power of destruction has chosen a spokesperson who will fulfill the dark oath to destroy the civilized world."

There was a commotion in the room. The attendants who could only stand exchanged glances with each other, while the bigwigs who had seats sat up straight, all their eyes focused on An Jiyue who was presiding over the meeting.

"In the realm of Chaos, time and space are meaningless. The 13th Everchosen, the Doom Lord Archaon, may have just begun his adventure, or he may have completed the trials set for him by the Dark Gods. He is only waiting for the right time to lead his army south and turn everything we value and protect into a sea of ​​fire... This is the necessity of establishing NATO, because even the greatest country in the world cannot fight against the coming catastrophe on its own."

The ruler of Tyrell, Poggio the Besieger, raised his hand. When he was allowed to, the burly, bearded Prince of Miragliano asked, "So, what does the Greatest Realm of the World want? Allies, or servants? Who does the Celestial Court want to lead NATO as a military alliance?"

Hearing this, Thorgrim frowned and was about to speak when he saw An Jiyue cast a calming look at him. Then the High King heard the governor say, "You have chosen a good topic to start with, Besieger. Is this your own idea, or did the high elves teach you? Oh, no need to answer, I am not interested in listening."

The girl, wearing a purple round-necked robe with dark patterns, a crimson gauze cross-legged military hat on her head, and a belt around her waist full of various odds and ends, stood with her hands behind her back, looking at Poggio with a half-smile, who had a somewhat unnatural expression: "From the perspective of Ulthuan, the Phoenix Court must understand why NATO excluded them from the beginning. From the perspective of Tyrell, it is necessary to introduce foreign powers to balance Cathay and prevent the Celestial Empire from dominating NATO."

"After all, compared to the countries of the Old World, Cathay is a little too strong."

"When did considering the interests of your own country become a crime? Besides, your exclusion of the high elves is unreasonable in itself," Boggio said in a deep voice. "Not only Tyrell, I believe everyone needs an explanation."

"Mr. Poggio, please do not speak for others at will," Arwen Duskstar said. "Besides, if you have eye problems, I can recommend some good doctors to you."

"There is absolutely no need for you to recommend anyone else, Princess Arwen," said a male high elf noble sitting next to Arwen with a smile, "After all, your medical skills are better than many famous doctors in Ulthuan."

The two elves sang the same tune, squeezing the Tyrell lord until his face turned livid. Logically speaking, since Morgan was busy with war and scientific research and could not spare time, it should have been the court minister Nayis who represented the Crucified King's Court to attend such an important diplomatic event. However, in order to better control the situation, the Kaldorei's plenipotentiary representative was replaced by "Arwen".

Anyway, apart from Aunt Ostankia, there is no one else in the entire Kislev who can see through An Jiuyue's transformation skills, and there are no powerful wizards among the other "locals" who came to the meeting.

"The Akendorff Autonomous Region is just a group of exiles who can't stay in Ulthuan," Poggio said through gritted teeth, "They have no right to represent the Phoenix Court, let alone the High Elves as a race."

"Let's not talk about their origins for now, just tell me whether they are high elves." An Jiuyue said.

"……sophistry!"

"There is a rumor circulating in the Empire and Bretonnia, a story about betrayal and revenge. If you are not so isolated from the news, I believe you should have heard of this story. What I want to tell you is..." An Jiyue looked around, taking in everyone's expressions, "This is true."

"As is the god, so is the believer!" The High King spat on the ground: "Elves, ha!"

"A bastard who stabs you in the back is more hateful than your enemy," Boris Bokaha said with a frown, "Is that why you dislike Lothern so much? If this is true, then we really shouldn't accept those high elves."

"Except for us," said the representative of the Akendorff Autonomous Region, who was leading the mage. "Although Lord Dustan has, uh, a strange hobby, our leader will definitely not do such a bad thing."

Thorgrim looked at the high elf noble, his face full of suspicion.

"The Zhemu Royal Court and the Akendorf Autonomous Region are both trustworthy. The Heavenly Court can guarantee this," An Jiyue said. "As for you, Bogio, what price did Lothern offer to ask you to speak well of them?"

Lord Tyrell's face suddenly showed an expression as if he had eaten a fly. Before he could open his mouth to defend himself, the governor waved his hand and said, "Forget it, that's not important. You just deliberately brought up a delicate topic, just to remind everyone present that if there is no sufficiently powerful force to check and balance, as the initiator of NATO, the Heavenly Court will almost certainly have too much say in NATO, and this is obviously not in your interest."

"Whether I am proving myself or refuting, you will naturally lead the topic to the high elves. As long as Ulthuan is also drawn into NATO, the influence of the Celestial Court will be curbed, and Tyrell will have room to operate. This is not only good for Tyrell, but also for all human kingdoms preparing to join NATO. I should say that your calculations are quite good, but it's a pity that you have never thought about the reason why the Celestial Court excluded Ulthuan not because of profit."

"Look at that," the Red Tsar said, "Southerners are very cunning."

An Jiyue glanced at Boris Bokaha and said nothing more. The most fundamental reason why the Lords of the Holy Scripture excluded the toilet seat was that the elven gods were more powerful than each other: when GW used its amazing wisdom to come up with the extremely bad idea that "Malekith is the Chosen of Asuryan, and Tyrion is actually the Chosen of Khaine", the civil war among the elves was inevitable, and even An Jiyue could not find a way to break the deadlock.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell the real reason to the group of people in front of me, at least not now.

"Well, well! So what does the Court want?" Poggio cried in annoyance. "Allies, or servants?"

"Don't be impatient, I was just about to say this," An Jiyue raised a finger and shook it left and right, "NATO was established to prevent the end of time. I believe everyone should have no objection to this, right?"

The governor waited for a while. Seeing that no one spoke, she continued, "NATO is an all-round military alliance. Although its terms of agreement have yet to be drafted, one thing is certain, that is, the scope of effectiveness of NATO's relevant agreements is not the entire world. Our initial plan is the entire Old World west of the World Edge Mountains, including the mountains themselves and the Norse Peninsula, and then the land of the Arabs, the Land of the Dead, and the rest of the entire Southland."

"The specific daily operations of NATO will be handled by an institution I call the 'Council'. Each member state needs to send representatives with sufficient authority to the NATO headquarters. They are the members of the Council. All matters of NATO, big or small, are decided by the Council. If the Council itself cannot reach a consensus, an expanded meeting with more participants will be held for a second discussion. Of course, the above are just preliminary ideas and do not represent the final operating mechanism."

"Of course, all NATO member states need to pay their dues regularly, and the voting rights of a member state are determined by its proportion of the dues. If a member state fails to pay its dues on time for some reason, its voting rights will be automatically frozen. Sit down, Boris, I know you don't have money. Well, given the actual situation and practical difficulties of the Kingdom of Kislev, they don't need to pay NATO dues. Correspondingly, they need to make compensation in other aspects."

"That's the general idea. If you have any opinions, please raise them immediately, and then we can discuss it together."

Chapter 504 Basic Framework (Part 2)

The first person to ask a question was Boris Bokaha.

"If the more money you pay, the greater your voting rights, then how do you calculate Kislev's voting rights?" The Red Tsar said what he was most concerned about at the moment: "Also, what if new countries join in the future?"

"My idea is that except for Kislev, no country can be exempted from the obligation to pay NATO funds. The conditions and restrictions in other aspects are the same, and no one can enjoy special treatment." An Jiyue had naturally considered this a long time ago. "As for Kislev, which has a special situation, the Ice and Snow Kingdom enjoys a fixed voting right that cannot be diluted."

"That sounds good," Boris stroked his chin, "How many votes are you going to give us?"

"It's not how much I'm going to give you, Boris. The Tianting's proposal is just a suggestion, and it needs the consent of the majority to become a formal clause of NATO." An Jiyue shook her head, "I think 4.5% of the voting rights is an appropriate number."

"What? Not even one twentieth?! We are standing at the forefront of the fight against darkness!" The Red Tsar's eyes widened and he shouted, "No, we can't accept this condition!"

"So," An Jiyue ignored him and looked around, "Does everyone have any objection to Kislev not having to pay expenses and having fixed voting rights? If not, then it's passed."

"4.5% is too little!" Boris' voice was almost a roar.

"Perhaps we can follow the example of the Imperials when they elect their emperor," Poggio said at this time, "one country, one vote. What do you think? This is the fairest way. All countries are equal."

"Fuck you!" To the surprise of the besiegers, the first one to jump out and object was the Red Tsar: "Why do you Tyrells who bask in the sun on the beach and enjoy wine and soft cheese have the same voting rights as the Kislevites who shed blood and sacrificed their lives? Our voting rights should be higher than yours!"

Poggio was stunned. "I... <Tyrell expletive>! Damn it, I was helping you!"

"Leave your 'help' to those hypocritical high elves," Boris was not grateful at all. In fact, he looked even angrier. "Ersun's children do not need your high-handed pity!"

Before the dispute escalated further, An Jiyue coughed lightly. Invisible spiritual energy swept through the meeting hall, calming all the agitated emotions. "An obvious fact is that due to their geographical location, the Tirells lack intuitive understanding of the threat of Chaos," the governor said in a cold tone, "In the name of the two saints, on behalf of the Heavenly Court, I propose a new suggestion. I suggest excluding the Tirells from NATO."

"… Ridiculous!!" Now it was Boggio's turn to roar, "Just because we are unwilling to obey your arrogant orders like a lapdog, you are going to exclude Tyrell?"

"The Tianting initiated the initiative to form NATO in order to fight against the End of Time, while the Tyrells only consider their own interests from head to toe," An Jiyue glanced at the other party coldly, "In that case, you can leave."

Without giving Poggio a chance to speak, the governor waved the sleeves of his official robe, and the besiegers and their followers disappeared directly from the meeting room. No one spoke. A subtle atmosphere spread in the room.

"The Heavenly Court has no intention of forcing you. If you are willing to accept our proposal, then accept it. If you are not willing, then leave. Don't stay here to sow discord and make a scene," An Jiyue said. "I just hope you remember one thing. For the Heavenly Court, only the dwarves are worthy of the word 'friends'. Others can come if they are willing. If they are not willing, that is up to you."

For a moment, you could hear a pin drop in the meeting hall.

"Duke," Karl Franz took the initiative to break the silence, "the Tirells still have their value."

"A bunch of bastards who took advantage of the high elves and came here to cause trouble!" Thorgrim glared at the emperor in dissatisfaction. "Followers of Sigmar, how can you excuse a group of shameless profiteers?"

Among the many human kingdoms in the Old World, the one that the dwarves hate the most is Tyrell, because Tyrell's gold coins have the lowest gold content, usually only 60% or even lower; the highest is the Empire, where the Empire's gold coins are all 90% gold.

"If we simply add up the strength of the city-states, Tyrell's national strength does look pretty good," said Arwen, the plenipotentiary representative of the Crucible Court, who was actually the clone of a certain governor. "But they rely too much on mercenaries. As far as we know, most, if not all, of the mercenaries are rogues who only care about money. NATO is a military alliance. A country that relies entirely on mercenaries for its national defense cannot provide reliable military support."

Seeing that Karl was still trying to smooth things over, Al Wen looked at An Jiuyue and said, "Aren't you going to announce it yet?"

"In fact, I was just about to talk about this," An Jiyue shrugged. "Everyone, listen to me. Regarding the establishment of NATO, the Heavenly Court has actually prepared two plans. One is what we are discussing, and the other is a backup plan. In the backup plan, the scale of NATO will be much smaller. To be precise, except for Kislev, the backup plan will not absorb any existing human kingdoms in the Old World to join, and at most will only accept some of them as allies."

Carl's expression suddenly became serious: "For example, West Territory joins NATO alone?"

"If the Empire's overall position is to make more compromises and concessions in exchange for the joining of guys like the Tyrells, yes, we will let Westerland join NATO alone," An Jiyue met Carl's gaze without avoiding, "Maybe Middenland as well? Arwen, are you interested in going to Middenheim?"

"Politics is the art of compromise," Karl advised half seriously and half helplessly, "An overly tough attitude will only do harm to diplomacy, especially when the Heavenly Court is an outsider."

"You still haven't figured out the point of the matter, Karl Franz von Holswig-Schlistin. It's not that the Celestial Court needs NATO, it's that NATO needs the Celestial Court. The Celestial Court's purpose in doing all this is very simple. When we fight against the tide of destruction in the East, the Old World must not fall first, so that's why I'm doing everything I'm doing now."

Looking at the many leaders in front of him, An Jiyue's tone was not particularly serious: "Tian Ting has found a way to completely defeat Chaos."

There was a commotion at the entrance to the council hall, and one could faintly hear angry curses and the sound of swords being unsheathed.

"What?!" Poggio walked in hurriedly from outside with his entourage: "What did you just say?!"

"Do you really want this meeting to be bloody?" An Jiyue glared at this rough-looking guy who would not look out of place even if thrown into a group of Kislevites: "I won't warn you a second time, get out of my sight immediately."

Behind An Jiyue, the swordsmen, whose faces were covered by masks, all drew their weapons in unison.

"What did you just say?" Ignoring the various weapons pointed at him, the strong man who had been hit by a cannon but survived quickly came to the front of the Jiedushi... and was blocked by Karl Franz.

"Be polite, Poggio," the emperor warned. "Don't be rude to a lady."

"I just reflected on it. Maybe I misunderstood what the Heavenly Court meant." Boggio looked at Carl gratefully, then turned his gaze to An Jiyue. "Um, if I heard correctly, you just claimed that the Heavenly Court has a way to completely eliminate the threat of chaos?"

"Get out of the way!" Boris Bockaha came over and pushed the besiegers away with one arm. The current Tsar of the Ice Kingdom stared at the governor with burning eyes and breathed heavily: "You are not kidding, right?"

"How could I possibly joke about something so important?" An Jiyue's voice was not loud, but everyone in the room could hear it clearly: "Modheim, Praag, and the Brass Fortress, aren't these enough evidences?"

"If the Heavenly Court can really do what you promised and guarantee the benefits that the Tyrells deserve," Boggio nodded, "then the Tyrells can accept the Heavenly Court's proposal."

"Are you asleep and haven't woken up yet?" An Jiyue laughed angrily: "You have been excluded."

Just as the governor was about to use magic to throw the Tyrells out again, he heard Boggio quickly say, "No! Don't rush to use your magic. Listen to me, I did meet with the envoys of Lothern before I came here!"

The girl slowly lowered her half-raised hand and said, "Go on."

"Is such that……"

The author says:

Author's words: I heard that scumbag was admitted to the hospital, good!

Chapter 505 Basic Framework (Part 2)

Lothern is actually very interested in the idea of ​​NATO.

The current Phoenix King Finubar dare not say anything else, but even An Jiyue recognizes his talent in diplomacy. After learning about NATO through various channels, Finubar immediately realized that Ulthuan must join this international organization and become its leading force - at least one of the leading forces.

However, this was not easy, because the initiator of the NATO, the Cathay Dynasty, had never considered accepting high elves from the beginning. Finubar had to send envoys to Weijing, but the reply from the Heavenly Court was that Duke Wu was fully responsible for handling matters related to the NATO, and all decisions made by Duke Wu on this matter were equivalent to the decisions of the Heavenly Court.

This is very difficult to deal with. An Jiyue has never concealed her rejection and alienation of Ulthuan. In the second anti-interference campaign, she rolled up her sleeves and personally fought a fierce battle with the high elf expeditionary force. Well, whenever she thought of this, Finubar would think of the cousins ​​who called themselves "Kaldorei". They also participated in the battle that made Ulthuan lose face, and chose to stand on the side of the Westers.

In order to take care of the feelings of the people of Chrace - they suffered heavy losses in that battle, and it was the Kaldorei who beat them - Finubar had to give up the idea of ​​sending envoys to the Court of the Casterwood King. The Phoenix King tried to find a more appropriate opportunity to ease relations with the Kaldorei and try to establish normal diplomatic exchanges. After all, not everything has to be resolved by war. Sometimes diplomatic means are more effective than resorting to force.

In any case, after internal discussions, the Phoenix Court decided that they should try to join NATO, and for this the high elves must have a suitable handle. After some screening, they chose Poggio.

"...I have been short of money recently. After all, the cost of building a flying fleet is not a small amount," Lord Tyrell said, glancing at An Jiyue. "I sent expeditions to Lustria and the Badlands successively to try to obtain additional funds, but both expeditions were ruthlessly massacred."

"The expeditionary force heading to Lustria encountered the 'Wanderer', an ancient lizard monster that was said to be able to slaughter an entire legion on its own... My army was annihilated, and this expedition suffered the most complete defeat. As for the expeditionary force heading to the Badlands, their fate was not much better. Who would have thought that a high elf wizard was actually a demon in disguise? Those undead from the land of death are the most ruthless killers..."

"Allow me to interrupt for a moment," said Atum, the only Lord of the Codex present at the meeting. He had just finished settling matters in the Bronze City and had hurried over to attend the meeting. "I also participated in that battle. Settra gave you the opportunity to surrender, but you refused."

The meeting hall was crowded with people, but there was a small space around the Great Bone. Except for the Kislevites who didn't care about it, all the living people kept their distance from the Nehekhara people intentionally or unintentionally.

"Atum appeared there because he accepted my commission," An Jiyue said with her arms folded before Poggio spoke. "At that time, I thought the floating city was ownerless. Since it has no owner, it will naturally belong to whoever grabs it. In this matter, Besieger, you have no right to blame others."

Poggio cursed loudly: "But they are dead! Why the hell do you allow a dead thing to sit with you like it's dinner?!"

"We can discuss Atum's problem later," An Jiyue said, "You've strayed from the topic."

"...Anyway, Lothern's envoys came to me and offered me a price I couldn't refuse. I could either accept Lothern's friendship or die in a mercenary uprising or a city-state rebellion due to financial collapse. There was no third way," Poggio said bitterly. "This is the truth. Ulthuan didn't want to be excluded, so they came to me."

"My intuition tells me that you omitted a lot of details in your description," An Jiyue's eyes glowed with a barely perceptible silver light, "but I don't have to know. Listen carefully, in view of your inappropriate behavior today, I will give you two choices. First, Tyrell will be removed from the founding member states. Second, Tyrell can still join NATO, but the voting rights will be frozen for five years, and you will still have to pay NATO dues on time during this period."

"Let's discuss it. Can we have one year? Otherwise, I won't be able to convince other city-states."

“You don’t have to join NATO.”

"...You devil! Fine, I accept, damn it, I accept your terms!"

"We have wasted a lot of precious time today because of the Tyrells," An Jiyue stopped looking at the annoyed Poggio and turned to face the crowd. "If you have different opinions, you can raise them. There is nothing that cannot be discussed. But if there are others who have similar ideas to the Tyrells, remember that the Heavenly Court has never been known for tolerance."

"I have an opinion!" Boris Bokaha shouted: "4.5% of the voting rights is too little!"

"Today we need to finalize NATO's infrastructure first, and we can discuss voting rights tomorrow," An Jiyue didn't even bother to look at the other party. "As I have said before, the daily operations of NATO are the sole responsibility of the Council, and each member state can nominate a plenipotentiary representative to join the Council. Do you have any objection to this?"

Everyone shook their heads. So An Jiyue continued, "NATO member states need to pay dues regularly as operating expenses for NATO. This is not a small amount of money, because in addition to various NATO institutions, NATO's biggest expense is financial assistance. When NATO member states fight against a certain type of enemy, in addition to direct military assistance, they also need to provide funds to restore the military strength of the country concerned, post-war reconstruction, and other necessary expenses."

"Not bad!" The Red Tsar nodded with satisfaction: "This is good!"

"Since NATO provides funds, it naturally has the right to review where the funds go," An Jiyue said. "It is unacceptable to misappropriate funds for other purposes, and NATO has the right to arrest and try the bastards who embezzled funds."

The Red Tsar's expression froze, and everyone who had been frowning began to smile.

"And corresponding to the obligations, since the member states have paid their dues, they will naturally have voting rights equal to the proportion of the dues. For example, if Tianting pays 50% of NATO's total dues every year, then after deducting Kislev's fixed voting rights and converting the percentage, Tianting's actual voting rights are 47.75%."

"Then whoever has the money has the final say in the council? Isn't the bloodshed and sacrifice of the soldiers a kind of sacrifice?" As the poorest person among the many forces present, Boris immediately said, "This should also be converted into voting rights!"

"So how do we calculate it specifically?" An Jiuyue asked back.

The Red Tsar was about to speak, but when he opened his mouth he was speechless. His mind was a mess, all kinds of thoughts were mixed together like a ball of wool, making his mind dizzy and almost unable to organize words.

"Look, this thing is impossible to calculate. Your request is reasonable, but also completely unfeasible. Just how to convert this kind of contribution is enough for us to argue until the end of the world without a conclusion, so I think some things should be simplified and not made so complicated," An Jiyue sighed, "If you are really not satisfied, how about handing over the materials to NATO and converting them into funds and including them in the membership fee?"

"The prices of goods fluctuate, ma'am," someone reminded me.

"That's why I didn't bring it up at the beginning," An Jiyue replied, "but if the Tsar insists, then we can only try to add this clause to NATO's organizational terms."

"Then add it!" Boris said, "Kislev must enjoy a status commensurate with his contributions!"

"Then let's all vote by raising our hands. Only the leaders or plenipotentiary representatives of each faction can raise their hands. Do you accept the Tsar's request?" An Jiuyue said, looking like she had no intention of raising her hand at all.

Boris was the first to raise his hand, then he looked at the others. They looked at each other. Karl Franz thought for a moment, then he raised his hand. Then more hands were raised.

"Just over half," An Jiyue counted, "so this one has passed. Next one, the public enemy list."

Chapter 506: Bold Words

NATO is a military alliance - if it is a military alliance, it naturally has enemies.