Chapter 3131

Bella seemed to be planning to announce the development plans for Moon Bay for the coming year, which should have been said during the Year-End Festival, directly at this ribbon-cutting ceremony, so the speech part of the normal ceremony was exceptionally long.

As for why she didn't choose to cut the ribbon on the day of the Year-End Festival, it was partly because the citizens were busy celebrating the festival and probably wouldn't have so many people coming out to watch the excitement, and partly because her divination showed that today was the most suitable.

In short, the ribbon-cutting ceremony that started at nine o'clock didn't enter its final stage until nearly ten o'clock. The high platform used for the ceremony was moved away, and the countess climbed into the carriage with the Belindell family crest that had stopped at the entrance of the bridge.

Then, amidst the thunder of salute cannons and the cheers of the people, the carriage, driven by Matilda, broke through the red silk ribbon blocking the bridgehead, and then drove along the bridge deck on the bottom floor of the Tower Bridge, driving across the smooth bridge deck amidst the sound of cannons.

The flashbulbs allowed cameras to record this scene from all angles. For many years to come, people would remember through black-and-white photos that on this most grand ribbon-cutting day after the great disaster, it was the countess's carriage that was the first to pass through the Moon Bay Bridge, which carried the city's hopes.

Colorful balloons were released into the sky from ships in the river, and the unlucky pigeons were driven to fly into the blue sky after the snow in the middle of winter. However, this batch of white pigeons was borrowed from the Zhengshen Sect Society, so they would fly back to the church courtyard by themselves later.

In short, the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which marked the "rebirth" of Moon Bay City after the great disaster and also marked the Belindell family's full control over the Moon Bay region, thus successfully completed all its procedures on this Sunday morning.

There were no assassinations, no voices of opposition, no bad weather, and even when the pigeons flew over the crowd participating in the celebration, they did not defecate on the crowd.

"So diviners are really amazing, today is indeed a good day."

Although the ribbon-cutting ceremony ended in the morning, there was a special banquet in the evening to celebrate this major event. The banquet was held directly in the grand hall of the City Hall, and this time, ordinary citizens were of course not invited.

Xia De accepted Bella's invitation to attend the banquet, and this time his identity was still "cousin". However, he spent most of the day with Mr. Albert, and before parting in the afternoon, the vampire coroner also gave Xia De a jar of "pickled jellyfish", which was said to be a specialty of Moon Bay, as a gift.

This was not a Year-End Festival gift; Xia De would come to visit again in a few days. This was just a casual gift, but looking at the appearance of the things in the glass jar, Xia De felt that neither he nor the cat would like it.

The grand banquet in the evening also tried its best to show Moon Bay's heritage as the "City of Wealth", with fresh venison and greenhouse-grown fruits such as raspberries supplied in unlimited quantities.

Although Xia De did not take out all his special cards, while Bella was busy socializing, he played a quite tense and exciting game of Luo De Pai with local players in the corner of the banquet hall.

Although he failed to win any special rule cards, because he achieved the best winning percentage, he finally received the "Moon Bay Bridge Cup Luo De Pai Tournament Commemorative Medal", which was specially crafted for this banquet by the local Diviner Society after receiving sponsorship from the Belindell family.

It was a pure gold commemorative medal the size of a palm. Before the dance started, Xia De learned from Matilda again:

"This was specially crafted by the young lady for you. She knew that when you attend the banquet, you would play Luo De Pai because you have nothing to do, and you would definitely win."

The two were hugging behind the curtains by the window at the end of the east side of the third floor of the City Hall, and the blonde maid's voice was very soft:

"Don't tell the young lady that I told you this."

"Of course I won't."

Then Matilda kissed Xia De lightly, and then narrowed her eyes and smiled, whispering a reminder:

"The dance will start in twenty minutes, be careful not to get my perfume on you, the young lady will find out."

The first dance of the ball was performed by Bella and Xia De. Today was also a big day for the countess, so she was particularly excited. Having been trained as a noble lady since she was a child, she almost stepped on Xia De's feet with her high heels while dancing.

"Only now do I feel like I'm standing at the peak of Moon Bay. In the past, the seven great families fought for this position, so it turns out it was because of this."

She said to Xia De with a smile amidst the dance music, and Xia De pointed out:

"The peak of Moon Bay is the Belindell Clock Tower, don't you often stand on it?"

"You know what I mean, the taste of power is really good. Of course, I still remember who I am, and mundane power cannot be compared with one's own great power."

The countess squeezed Xia De's hand lightly, feeling that she was quite fulfilled tonight:

"However, since I already have powerful strength and powerful power, shouldn't I also have..."

And just when she had distracting thoughts because of her overly beautiful life, and then had some thoughts that did not fit her identity as a witch, that is, wanting to keep Xia De overnight, Matilda came to them, who had just stepped off the dance floor, with a piece of paper in her hand, her expression very nervous:

"Young lady, urgent intelligence has been sent from Wilndale, and the signal given is the highest danger signal."

"What, does the Anru royal family still want to take Moon Bay from me through violent means?"

Bella opened the secret letter sent through special means with some displeasure, and after translating the code in her heart, she translated the content.

"What happened?"

Xia De asked, and Bella frowned slightly, saying in a very low voice:

"War has started."

"What?"

"The Principality of Sete and the Principality of Milsen have gone to war. Both are located on the north and south sides of the Pantanal Wetland. Regarding the trade route dispute after the normalization of the Great Wetland, these two principalities are also the main participants."

Xia De knew the names of these two small principalities. The other player in the championship battle of the "1853 Great City Player", Virgil Cameron, was rumored to be the lover of the Grand Duke of Sete—both were male, and this principality was affiliated with the northern Delarion Kingdom;

And the Principality of Milsen was affiliated with the southern Karsenrik United Kingdom, where the headquarters of Megan and Audrey's "Paradise Island Pharmaceutical Company" was located.

Their father, Alphonse Edwards, settled in that small principality after fleeing Green Lake with his brothers and sisters. Megan and Audrey grew up there, and of course, choosing a small principality also had the reason of tax avoidance.

Because both the Principality of Sete and the Principality of Milsen contained a part of the Pantanal Wetland, the land area of the principalities could be considered relatively large among the series of small principalities interspersed between Karsenrik and Delarion in the central part of the Old Continent.

But also because of the originally harsh environment of the Great Wetland, the actual usable land area of the two countries was not very large. Even though their "territories" bordered each other, the two countries rarely appeared together in newspaper news in the past, except for the dispute over the Pantanal trade route, and it could even be said that there was almost no interaction known to people.

"Who fired the first shot?"

Xia De asked, and Bella looked at the intelligence and replied:

"I don't know yet. At first, it was just friction between workers at a construction site around a railway inside the Great Wetland, and then a swamp border patrol team from both sides intervened. What happened afterwards was described differently by both sides, but there were casualties on both sides. This evening, both the Principality of Sete and the Principality of Milsen sent people into the Great Wetland, and then both sides officially declared war."

She looked worried:

"Although I had guessed it would be like this, hearing this news still makes people worry... Matilda, continue to pay attention to the intelligence from Wilndale. Also, although we don't have many intelligence personnel in the Principality of Milsen, do we have a chamber of commerce?"

"Yes, young lady, it is the people of the Eddington family who are mainly responsible for the situation there."

"Old Martin doesn't have any Ringed Shushis under him, so he probably doesn't know about the situation there yet... Communicate with the Eddington family, find a way to contact the chamber of commerce, and let them continue to pay attention to the situation there."

As a region with strong independence, Moon Bay had its own agents trained by the seven great families during the era when they were in power. Although they could not be compared with the Secret Intelligence Service and the Grey Gloves, it was better to have them than not in such a special period.

Bella originally planned to try to keep Xia De overnight, but she felt that she was in no mood at the moment. She estimated that she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. The two principalities that declared war would definitely break out in battle in the Great Wetland tonight, and no matter what the outcome of the battle was, it would profoundly affect the order of the Old Continent in the future.

Looking at the grand banquet now, clutching the note in her hand, she felt that she had suddenly perceived the light and shadow of civilization. Xia De also saw Bella's worry, so he said goodbye and went home after the ball, which instead made the blonde countess feel guilty, feeling that she had neglected him today.

Similarly, Miss Jia Lin Na, who was far away in Tobesk, naturally knew about the two principalities declaring war on each other. Xia De asked her one morning later whether she knew before the war started or received the news after the war started, and Miss Jia Lin Na's answer at that time was very vague:

"My nephew trusts me very much, but the information he told me involved four place names, and it seems I guessed his hint wrong."

The war between the Principality of Sete and the Principality of Milsen became the hot topic of discussion in almost all newspapers on the entire Old Continent in the days following 1854. Even tabloids like the "Tobesk Citizen Newspaper" that were keen on discussing noble gossip would use one or two pages to tell people the story between the Grand Duke of Sete and his lover.

Since the steam revolution, there had never been such a serious military conflict on the Old Continent. The last time the two principalities officially declared war on each other, according to Priest Ao Gu Si, his grandfather was still picking up cow dung as fuel for the winter.

This winter of 1854, which was already exceptionally difficult due to the weather, reached the end of the year amidst discussions about the war.

(End of chapter)