Chapter 457: Lorist's Calculations

Night had long fallen, but Lorist felt not the slightest hint of sleep. He lay alone on a reclining chair beneath the grape arbor, letting the silver-white moonlight filter through the lush vines and heavy clusters of fruit, casting dappled patches of light across his body...

Why was he unwilling to commit troops? Lorist asked himself honestly. It was none other than concern for the future safety of the Norton Family. In all fairness, he had to admit that the Second Prince possessed genuine talent and sharp strategic vision. His assessment was accurate and his timing impeccable — striking at the provinces the Commercial Alliance had seized from the former Empire, precisely while the Alliance's armies were tied down in the south of the continent.

And before the peace ceasefire agreement between the Qigeda Kingdom and the allied eight-nation coalition of the Central South was signed, the Commercial Alliance had no way to pull its main forces and elite legions back from thousands of miles away. They could only swallow this bitter pill. Under such circumstances, the Alliance couldn't even wage an all-out war against the Second Prince — otherwise the newly stabilized Central South would erupt into chaos once more, and all their hard-won gains and sacrifices would turn to ash. The only option available was to negotiate with the Second Prince...

Despite the Second Prince's loud proclamations about reclaiming all of the former Empire's territory, in truth he had no intention of retaking the two provinces of the former Luermu Duchy that had willingly defected to the Commercial Alliance. His purpose was to ensure that this preemptive war wouldn't truly enrage the Alliance into fighting him to the death without regard for consequences.

As Lorist saw it, the Commercial Alliance was no longer the weak, battered force that the Krisen Empire had ground into the dirt for over a hundred years. It had truly grown into a great and powerful nation of the Galentea Continent. Meanwhile, the Andinak Kingdom had been thoroughly drained of its vitality by more than a decade of civil war and strife. It had inherited the imperial throne's legitimacy from the former Krisen Empire, but none of its former strength. The balance of power had long since reversed.

The Second Prince launched this preemptive war precisely because the Commercial Alliance was preoccupied with the south and unable to attend to the north. This was the only favorable opportunity. Once the Alliance stabilized the situation in the central-southern continent, the Second Prince would never again have a chance to reclaim the seized provinces. On the contrary, he would face the Alliance's aggressive pressure. By then, he would be stuck on the defensive, let alone dreaming of reunifying the former Empire's territory.

The Kambona Province, Bodorog Province, and Andeovf Province of the Riedelis Kingdom — founded by Riedelis, the eldest prince of the former Krisen Empire who had first launched the rebellion and triggered the Three-Prince War for succession, plunging the Empire into seven years of civil war before its ultimate fragmentation — had all been seized by the Commercial Alliance. The Bodorog Province, a major mineral-rich territory, had even become the domain of the Vesia Trading Company, one of the Alliance's seven great powers. The northwestern region of the former Riedelis Kingdom had likewise become the territory of the so-called Zitulamu Duchy, a vassal state of the Alliance that existed plainly as a buffer against the Andinak Kingdom.

In addition to the two provinces of the former Luermu Duchy that had defected to the Commercial Alliance of their own accord, the Alliance now occupied five provinces and one region of the former Krisen Empire. If the Second Prince failed to reclaim these territories, his grand ambition of reviving the Krisen Empire would be nothing but an empty dream. Thus, the minimum objective for launching this preemptive war was the recovery of Kambona Province, Bodorog Province, Andeovf Province, and the northwestern region.

Then, by stationing his forces along the border of the two provinces of the former Luermu Duchy, he would compel the Commercial Alliance into peace negotiations, using the reopening of trade routes as leverage to demand the return of those two provinces. In this way, the great cause of reunifying the former Krisen Empire would be accomplished under the Second Prince's hand. He would restore the imperial house, ascend the throne once more, and become the great emperor who revitalized the Empire and earned his place in history...

But a well-laid plan didn't guarantee a beautiful outcome. Lorist acknowledged that the Second Prince's preemptive strike would catch the Commercial Alliance off guard, and the first strategic objective — recapturing Kambona, Bodorog, Andeovf, and the southwestern region — could be achieved with relative ease. However, the notion of stationing troops at the border of the two former Luermu provinces to force the Alliance into returning them was far too optimistic. Even if the Second Prince agreed to let the Alliance reopen trade routes in the Andinak Kingdom, it was highly unlikely the Alliance would bow to his demands. Most likely, the two nations would be locked in a protracted standoff...

Lorist had once tried to persuade the Second Prince that the Commercial Alliance's elite combat power surpassed the Andinak Kingdom's by several times over. Given the disadvantage on the battlefield, the Alliance would inevitably deploy the Storm Sword Saint to threaten the Kingdom. But the Second Prince believed that even the Storm Sword Saint wouldn't dare assassinate him, a reigning king, so brazenly. Surrounded by hundreds of thousands of troops, his safety was assured. Even if the Storm Sword Saint did come, he could simply overwhelm him with sheer numbers. He refused to believe that a single Sword Saint could withstand his army of hundreds of thousands.

Duke Kenmes was willing to commit troops because the Second Prince had promised that once the great cause of imperial unification was complete, the Snow Salt Trading Company would be made the imperial family's official trading house. It would be the foremost trading company of the new Krisen Empire, backed by the imperial court, enjoying extraordinary privileges and rights in taxation, shop establishment, real estate, and all other commercial matters. Duke Kenmes had been tempted.

Duke Filim was willing to commit troops because the Second Prince had likewise offered him excellent terms — immigration support, financial assistance, tax exemptions, and more. But most importantly, Duke Filim was a knight by origin. Defeating enemies on the battlefield and seizing their wealth was, to him, the most legitimate path to riches. He was a warrior who loved war by nature.

The prospect of claiming an entire province as his own family territory — just like the other three great families of the Northland — rather than being cooped up in the Deraimk Province under the Norton Family's jurisdiction, gave him the feeling of living under someone else's roof.

What the Second Prince offered Duke Shahin was a sworn decree: if Duke Shahin deployed his family's armed forces to help the Second Prince complete the great enterprise of imperial unification, the Second Prince would grant him the Kribia Province — the Andinak Kingdom's richest mineral territory — as hereditary family land. This was the province Duke Shahin desired most. Back when the campaign against the four central duchies was launched, he had demanded this very province, only to be refused by the Second Prince on the grounds that he had contributed nothing to the war. Now, with the bait dangled before him and the sworn decree as guarantee, Duke Shahin forgot all his earlier resentment toward the Second Prince and his oath never to serve him again, obediently climbing aboard the bandit's ship.

Perhaps the Second Prince had hoped that by getting three of the four Northland families on board first, they would then persuade Lorist to join the cause. But Lorist had rejected them without mercy. The Norton Family had nothing more to gain at this point — the next step would be establishing a duchy. And doing so would guarantee that the Second Prince turned his attention to dealing with the Norton Family first. It wasn't that Lorist feared the Second Prince's army of hundreds of thousands. He simply refused to bear the stain of treason and let the Norton Family's nearly three centuries of loyal reputation be destroyed in an instant.

Grand Duke Forlondo had visited the previous evening, telling Lorist that he too had agreed to commit troops. It was simple — the Second Prince had said that if the Empire were reunified, the Forlondo family could return to their original ancestral territory of Perorina Province. This was a temptation Grand Duke Forlondo could not refuse. For over two hundred years, the Forlondo family had lived and bred there, built their summer palace, and even their family burial grounds were in the suburbs of their capital, Pedro City...

Grand Duke Forlondo's decision to commit troops to the Second Prince's cause had disrupted the Norton and Forlondo families' joint plan to develop Yunshandra Province. All the initial investments made by both families would go to waste. If the Forlondo family returned to their original territory, Yunshandra Province would be reclaimed by the Second Prince as a directly administered domain. Any further development funds poured into it would simply be doing someone else's work, handing the Second Prince a windfall for nothing.

While expressing his deepest apologies, Grand Duke Forlondo proposed that the development plan be shelved for the time being, as he did not know whether the preemptive war would end well or badly. In order to return to his family's original territory, he was risking everything this time by committing all of his family's armed forces. However, if things didn't work out as hoped, he would return to Yunshandra Province and pay a much steeper price to ask the Norton Family to restart the investment and development plan...

Lorist expressed his understanding of Grand Duke Forlondo's yearning to return to his family's original territory and agreed to shelve the development plan for Yunshandra Province until after the war concluded. Grand Duke Forlondo expressed his profound gratitude and told Lorist that the Second Prince had offered Grand Duke Hanske the same terms — promising that after the Empire's reunification, he too could return to his original ancestral territory of Delama Province. Grand Duke Hanske had agreed without hesitation.

In truth, of the four central duchies, all except the Sabaji family — which was a later arrival — the Forlondo, Hanske, and Falker families had been among the first batch of territorial nobles enfeoffed in the central region by the Krisen Empire's founding emperor, Krisen I. Over more than two hundred years, these families had earned countless merits for the Empire, gradually rising from minor nobility to the rank of grand duke. The pull of their ancestral territories was therefore self-evident. That the Second Prince could manipulate events so deftly to secure two grand dukes' unwavering loyalty was something Lorist could not help but admire as thoroughly well-calculated.

As for Grand Duke Sabaji, his family had been transferred to the central region by Krisen VI, and he felt little attachment to any original ancestral territory. Besides, he knew full well what a state the Qikesai Province had been reduced to by the combined armies of the four Northland families and the Fisablen family's armed forces, and he had no desire to return and clean up the mess. The Second Prince's offer to him was the Bodorog Province as his new family territory. Trapped in the impoverished southwestern provinces just like Grand Duke Hanske, Sabaji immediately struck a deal with the Second Prince and agreed to commit his family's armed forces to the war.

At present, apart from the Fisablen family, whose terms for committing troops remained unknown, all the other territorial nobles had agreed to join the war. Lorist did some mental arithmetic — if each of the six grand dukes committed one family armed corps, that would amount to nearly two hundred and seventy to two hundred and eighty thousand troops. Add the Second Prince's own five hundred thousand, and the total approached eight hundred thousand. If the Fisablen family's forces and the private armies of the territorial nobles were included, the number might even exceed one million...

No wonder the Second Prince was so confident about forcing the Commercial Alliance to negotiate. With a million troops arrayed at the border, the Alliance might actually be intimidated into accepting all his demands. However, if the Alliance chose to stand firm against the Second Prince, then the provisions and logistics he had accumulated over three years of diligent governance could sustain a million-strong army for at most two years. If a ceasefire agreement wasn't reached within two years, the Second Prince's grand offensive would end in nothing but failure.

This was an era of sweeping grandeur. The preemptive war the Second Prince was about to launch against the Commercial Alliance would shake the entire Galentea Continent like a thunderclap. It was a pity that the Norton Family could not participate. This wasn't Lorist's personal pessimism about the war's outcome — he was certain that once the Second Prince achieved his strategic objectives against the Alliance and signed a ceasefire agreement to reunify the former Krisen Empire, he would withdraw his claws from foreign affairs to ensure the Empire's long-term stability. Very soon, the Second Prince would turn his gaze toward the Norton Family, and he would not rest until he had compressed their power to an acceptable level.

But from a personal standpoint, no matter how much he criticized the Second Prince's character and dismissed him as anything but a wise ruler, he still couldn't help but admire the Second Prince's indomitable will and his obsession with reunifying the former Empire.

"With strong resolve, one will prevail — the hundred and twenty passes of Qin finally belonged to Chu. With painstaking effort, heaven will not forsake — three thousand soldiers of Yue could swallow Wu." These two lines of verse were what his grandfather had loved quoting most to educate the younger generation in his previous life, urging them to study hard and improve every day. Now, when Lorist recalled them, they seemed the perfect portrait of the Second Prince. Look at how he had weathered countless twists and reversals, yet never wavered in his purpose, single-mindedly focused on reunifying the former Empire to fulfill his ambition.

Having an opponent like the Second Prince was truly a headache. Especially given that, as the Norton Family's overlord, he had learned his lessons well. He now deftly calibrated his approach to the Norton Family — each time making you uncomfortable yet leaving you unable to lash out. On the surface, he was magnanimous and generous toward Lorist, but in truth, both men were well aware of each other's wariness and guardedness.

Take this instance — when Lorist bluntly refused to commit troops, the Second Prince had brushed it off as no concern at all. Yet he immediately promised Grand Duke Forlondo that he could return to his family's original territory, instantly reducing the Norton and Forlondo families' joint development plan to ashes. In reality, Lorist understood full well that this was a show of force. The Second Prince hadn't needed to entice Grand Duke Forlondo with the promise of returning to his ancestral lands to secure his participation — but he had done so anyway, leaving you with nothing to say.

For the Norton Family, participating in this war would bring nothing but harm. As a subordinate lord, the Norton Family's power and prestige had already reached their zenith. The Second Prince could not very well offer terms to further strengthen the Norton Family just to lure Lorist into joining the war. Nor would Lorist sacrifice the Norton Family's armed forces in vain for the so-called great cause of imperial unification. But Lorist understood all too well the Second Prince's character — he would never stop until he achieved his goals. The Second Prince would never allow the most powerful family's armed forces to simply sit on the sidelines and watch. It was simply that Lorist couldn't yet imagine what means or methods the Second Prince would employ.

Thinking about it all gave Lorist a headache. He rose from his chair, intending to take a stroll through the garden. A faint whisper of wind reached his ears, and Lorist stopped in his tracks. "Who's there? Come out!"

Jenorio, who had been following behind, drew his sword and stepped in front of Lorist, assuming a protective stance.

A figure emerged from the shadows of the rockery ahead. "It's me."

The voice belonged to none other than Grand Duke Fisablen.