Through Zoya’s explanation, Annan quickly understood.
…This was another plan arranged by Annan in his first life.
His initial guess was correct — rather, it was precisely because it was his own plan that Annan could guess it so well.
No one knew “Annan” better than Annan.
Just think about it… What kind of predicament was the Austere-Winter Dukedom facing ten years ago?
The Northern Brotherhood was already established at that time, but it had not yet started building the curse shaft. However, they were probably already affiliated with the Fallen.
Judging from the composition of Ice-shredders’ senior management, there were also many troublesome people among the group of Winter’s Hands represented by “The Right Hand” at that time…
Annan remembered that when he was in the Noah Kingdom, Daryl mentioned that “Austere-Winter blocked the news, and they couldn’t get any info.” Yet all external affairs were handled by the “Right Hand” of the Winter’s Hand.
This meant that Noah Kingdom could even get information from Winter’s Hand previously. Either someone was selling information, or spies had simply infiltrated…
In addition, the mainland nobles in Austere-Winter harbored ill intentions. The Curse of the Living Dead circulated within the Melvin family was undoubtedly an ongoing plan. Due to Ivan’s anti-corruption laws across various regions, many local nobles were dissatisfied with him. The Austere-Winter family had not taken any significant action for a long time… they truly lacked deterrence.
What if Annan back then had discovered something like “the Curse of the Living Dead” of the Melvin family and the ulterior motives of the various factions in Austere-Winter?
He might come up with a plan that utilized his “right thumb” Vladmir to administer this powerful medicine to the Austere-Winter Dukedom.
First, let the Winter Insurgent gather those from Winter’s Hands who were suspected to be spies from other countries or those with inferior abilities. Then, they would defect. In this way, all these members of Winter’s Hands would be eliminated… and the Grand Duke would have an excuse to gather power.
While these responsibilities were said to be incorporated into the “Left Hand”, they were, after all, powers that the Grand Duke had reclaimed and bestowed anew. Any actions had to first be approved by the Grand Duke… This was equivalent to bringing powers, which hadn’t been directly managed for a long time, back under his direct control.
During the subsequent settlement, there was an excuse to eliminate those local nobles who had once funded the Ice-shredder Army. This decision was also a large-scale centralization of power.
And as the final “recycling process”, allowing Vladimir to enter the underworld to continue consolidating anti-Winter forces… while expanding his influence, he could also plunder resources massively without worrying about his reputation.
In the end, Annan would defeat him, gaining these resources and simultaneously crushing the anti-Winter forces in one fell swoop.
—It was indeed a fantastic plan.
It truly followed Annan’s approach.
Annan’s plans often aimed to achieve multiple goals with a single action. At that time, Annan had been frozen by the Winter Heart for nearly ten years, making his emotions extremely subdued. It was understandable that he was more ruthless back then than he would be now.
“However, two years after he entered the underground, [the Winter Insurgent] suddenly stopped contacting us.” Zoya said so.
Apparently, the Winter Insurgent was still active underground. Although his presence was not very prominent, he was indeed gathering the anti-Winter forces and continuously building and strengthening his own power.
However, he suddenly stopped contacting Austere-Winter.
No matter how Austere-Winter’s side tried to change the method of contact to find him, either they couldn’t find him or there was no reply. In short, he completely cut off his connection with Austere-Winter. And on Austere-Winter’s side, they couldn’t turn around and claim, “The Winter Insurgent is actually someone we sent out,” or “This is our plan from the very beginning.”
All those people were settled. The fact that Austere-Winter orchestrated the event couldn’t be known.
Otherwise, there would be trouble inside Austere-Winter.
If the Winter Insurgent were to reveal this information, that would be the most troublesome — regardless of whether the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke admitted it or not. As long as he said so and someone deliberately publicized it, it would cause significant damage to Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke’s authority.
However, the question was that the Winter Insurgent didn’t do that either.
Vladimir held ample critical secrets.
Once the secrets were made public, it would cause considerable damage to Austere-Winter. However, that didn’t happen, so Austere-Winter didn’t send people to hunt him down nor did they hire a saint to capture him.
“Since he has not done any actual harm to Austere-Winter, we cannot be 100% sure that he has indeed defected. However, he has been amassing power and has never contacted us even once for so many years… This is obviously not normal and doesn’t make sense.”
“I must also admit that Vladmir is the strongest Winter’s Hand. He is proficient in various espionage techniques, tracking, and counter-tracking techniques. If he were being monitored, he could easily leave a signal… not to mention that no one could stealthily monitor him.”
Zoya said cautiously, “This is really bizarre, but I suggest you not concern yourself with it for now.”
Her opinion was to continue to wait and see — at least not to push “the Winter Insurgent” to the opposing side, making him the real “the Winter Insurgent”.
Annan thought so too.
In comparison, the situation at the Winter Insurgent was blurry.
The Melvin family and the Northern Brotherhood were much more blatant.
The former had “the Curse of the Living Dead” and the “gold refining plan”, while the latter was “secretly affiliated with Fallen” and “using sealed forbidden technology”.
The contrast was stark.
They didn’t have that many confusing tricks clouding the situation.
At least Annan wouldn’t hesitate when he was ready to take action, not knowing whether they were friends or foes.
Annan never liked to wait, and he acted decisively and cleanly.
When Citalopram and Suuankou logged in at noon, Annan asked them to teleport over directly.
Having three players, Citalopram, Suuankou, and Wandering Child, as well as two high-level Winter’s Hands, “Left Ring Finger: Zoya” and “Left Little Finger: Zorgen”, Annan and his party set off directly.
This was the second day after Annan ascended the throne.
It wasn’t even 24 hours before he inherited the title of Grand Duke that he left the Frostwhisper Province.
At this time, Dmitri, who had just left the province not long ago, had just heard the news that Ivan had transformed into a dragon and Annan had succeeded to the throne. He was preparing to rush back… However, Annan had already left before he could set out.
And he even took with him the symbol of the Grand Duke’s authority — the “three-color scepter”.
This was a decisiveness completely different from the frail-bodied and gentle-natured Grand Duke Ivan.
However, at least Zoya and Zorgen were agreeable to Grand Duke Ivan.
Grand Duke Ivan was the type that no one could dislike…
He usually acted with a lot of caution. In general, he would choose to mediate and resolve disputes. He enforced “prosperity” to override instability… Among all the dukes in history, he handled the winter years the best. During his reign, the fewest young people fled from Austere-Winter.
But this also meant that Ivan had inevitably not been too assertive in high-level power struggles.
Annan was different.
People of Austere-Winter knew that Dmitri began assisting Ivan with state affairs over a decade ago. However, what they didn’t know was that Ivan’s youngest son, “Annan Austere-Winter,” had been offering strategies and advice from the age of four. By the age of six, he had personally woven and thwarted numerous conspiracies.
Even when he couldn’t run smoothly, he was already capable of performing complex rituals. By the age of eight, he had penned timeless poems and novels, and invented over ten new innovations, including the internal combustion engine.
While accomplishing these great achievements, Annan even consciously hid himself… Only the high-ranking Winter’s Hand and his immediate family knew what he had done.
Of course, in Zoya’s opinion, there was no need to hide those feats.
Because it sounded too fantastical — anyone who heard it would have thought that Ivan was building momentum for his young son.
In other words, it sounded like bullshit.
Zoya and the others had already carried out several “not so gentle” but effective actions under Annan’s command. It was precisely because of this administrative approach of carrot and stick that Grand Duke Ivan, who had to walk on crutches, was feared by the nobles.
Yet, none of them could have imagined that the “carrot and stick” approach actually involved two people, one giving the reward and one administering the punishment.
To outsiders, Grand Duke Annan had just ascended the throne and was too young. The Winter’s Hands must have many ill thoughts in their minds.
However, only they, the “Ten Fingers”, knew… They had been operating under Annan’s command for a long time.
Compared to Ivan’s decision-making style, they preferred Annan’s approach.
For example, before Annan and his party went to Frangell Province, Annan looked for his “left index finger” and wrote a decree.
First, move the Frost Beast troops over and quietly place them at their doorstep.
Would that be terrifying?
—Absolutely yes.
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