"Do you think our Family should agree to His Majesty's request and send troops to reinforce him?"
"Is that even a question, Your Highness? Since the
"No! I don't think so. The Second Prince's life or death has nothing to do with us. Even if they're defeated, I don't believe the Trade Union would extend their reach to the territories under our Family's jurisdiction. Sacrificing the loyal and brave soldiers of our
The one voicing opposition was
Of course, Fatty Shi wasn't opposing reinforcement out of personal ill will—his opposition had sound reasoning: "Your Highness, next year is an extremely critical year for our Family. The settlement of new immigrants, the palace construction project, the expansion of the constabulary system, and the establishment of the Armed Forces Department, as well as the reorganization of the Family's several main legions and the reduction of local garrison legions—all require time to complete. Moreover, our Family territory has just gone through a major upheaval; hearts and minds are unsettled, and this requires Your Highness to personally oversee things in the Northland. So we can reply to the Second Prince, asking him to hold on for another year if possible. Once next year passes, it won't be too late for our Family to reinforce His Majesty..."
Lorist laughed wryly. Fatty Shi was hoping the Second Prince would suffer a bit more misfortune. But the problem wasn't just the Second Prince's alone—misfortune wouldn't be his alone either, but would drag down all the territorial nobles of the Andinaq Kingdom together. Whatever the case, the Kenmays Family, the Felim Family, and the Shazin Family were members of the Northland Four-Family Alliance. Lorist could not stand by and watch his allies suffer misfortune alongside the Second Prince.
"
Bodfinger frowned deeply: "Your Highness, we must send troops. If His Majesty and the others truly cannot hold and suffer a crushing defeat, I fear the Trade Union's armed forces will drive straight in, their spearhead reaching directly into our Family's jurisdictional territories. That would be a fatal threat to us. Beyond the border lies an enemy nation; better to set the battlefield on the Mana Hill Plains.
But the Mana Hill Plains are too far from our Family territory, after all. Traveling thousands of miles to reinforce His Majesty and the others, we might well end up, as Baron Shrade said, dragging our Family's armed forces into that quagmire as well. Especially since the Trade Union obtained so many weapon and equipment design blueprints from our Family—those trebuchets and giant ballistae, while not matching the power of our Family's weapons, would still cause massive casualties...
"Your Highness, based on the Trade Union's despicable act of sending Sword Saints to assassinate you and steal our Family's weapon and equipment design blueprints alone, we should deploy troops to teach these ungrateful merchants a proper lesson. We'll make these vile merchants understand that beneath the iron hooves of our Family's armed forces, no matter how many troops they possess, they'll merely add a glorious victory record to our campaign."
The newly appointed commander of the Light Cavalry Legion, Farea, stood up and spoke loudly, his emotions running high. It was understandable—all these years he had served as commander of the Guard Legion, responsible only for local defense and logistical support. Now that he'd finally encountered an opportunity to take the field, he wasn't about to let it slip away easily. Besides, this was also to retaliate against the Trade Union's despicable actions toward Lorist and the Family's dominion. Only by delivering a profound lesson to the Trade Union's armed forces on the battlefield, beating them until they hurt and feared, could they make them understand that the Norton Family's enraged bear wasn't an opponent these merchants could easily provoke.
"Well said!" Ross the Fierce Tiger clapped in approval of Farea's speech; apparently he was quite pleased to have another warmonger on his side.
Lorist glared at him, and Ross the Fierce Tiger immediately lowered his hands self-consciously and sat up properly. However, he began using glances and head gestures to signal Genorio, who stood by the door, to bring him another bottle of fruit wine to replace the empty one in front of him.
"Supervisor Spiel, what are your thoughts?"
"Your Highness, I believe Lord Bodfinger is quite right. Rather than letting the Trade Union's armed forces crush His Majesty's and the nobles' allied army and spread the flames of war to the provinces surrounding our Family's jurisdictional territory, it's better to set the battlefield on the Mana Hill Plains. If land must be ruined, let it be the Trade Union's territory. Therefore, I believe the Family can agree to His Majesty's request for reinforcement troops, because if Yunge Shandela Province develops according to the Family's development plan, it will also become a future convergence of wealth for the Family." Supervisor Spiel spoke with a calm, composed air.
Supervisor Spiel actually had such far-sighted vision—it was truly astonishing.
"Of course, since His Majesty only agreed to incorporate Yunge Shandela Province into our Family as a new jurisdictional territory in exchange for our Family sending reinforcement troops, without granting us any other rewards or subsidies, our Family still needs to bear the costs of deploying our armed forces ourselves—logistical supplies, casualty pensions, and the like. This will be a massive sum, and a heavy burden on the Family. Therefore, I hope this deployment can be as Lord Ross the Fierce Tiger said—plundering more wealth on the Trade Union's territory to compensate for the Family's losses..." Supervisor Spiel continued expressing his thoughts while stroking the goatee on his chin.
Lorist rolled his eyes right then and there. He knew this old fellow didn't have such good vision after all—turns out he'd been dazzled by the massive wealth the Flying Tiger Legion and Light Cavalry Legion had plundered when they swept through the five provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains last time, and wanted to do it again. He was dreaming! Had the situation report on the Mana Hill Plains campaign that he'd specifically had Tagan prepare at the start of the discussion not reached his ears? A year and a half of bitter fighting between the Trade Union's armed forces and the Andinaq Kingdom's army commanded by the Second Prince had long since reduced the once-prosperous Mana Hill Plains to a ruin. Even if you wanted to plunder, there had to be a place for you to plunder!
"Your Highness, this is what I think." Supervisor Spiel, sensing the hostility in Lorist's gaze, hurriedly tried to salvage things: "Since the battlefield between His Majesty's army and the Trade Union's armed forces revolves around Bruvik City on the Mana Hill Plains, our Family's armed forces can simply bypass this location and penetrate deeper into the Trade Union's other provinces to plunder. On one hand, this can relieve pressure on His Majesty; on the other, we can plunder wealth to lighten the Family's burden. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"
Lorist was amused into laughter by Supervisor Spiel's words. Nice dream, but was it possible? He knew Supervisor Spiel was a military idiot, but he never expected the man to be an idiot to this degree. Why had he even bothered asking for his opinion?
Fatty, though the Norton Family's highest administrative supervisor, was no stranger to military matters. Seeing Steward Spiel spout his so-called "kill two birds with one stone" countermeasure with such self-satisfaction, Fatty didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He simply pulled the Trade Union's map over in front of him and began explaining to Supervisor Spiel: "Supervisor Spiel, your idea doesn't hold water. Doing that would only make things worse."
"Last year, the Flying Tiger Legion and Light Cavalry Legion caught the Trade Union off guard, which was why they achieved such great results. At that time, the Andinaq Kingdom held the initiative on the battlefield. His Majesty was commanding troops to capture the remaining fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains, preparing to strike at
"You should know that even when the Flying Tiger Legion and Light Cavalry Legion swept through the five provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains, they frequently encountered resistance and lost over twenty thousand men. You also heard Lord Tagan's report just now. After the Flying Tiger Legion and Light Cavalry Legion returned to the Northlands, His Majesty dispatched Duke Felim's Pegasus Legion, Grand Duke Fisablen's Reserve Legion, and the Border Ranger Legion to take over the tasks of clearing the surrounding provinces and intercepting Trade Union reinforcements."
"But by now, those three light cavalry legions have each lost nearly half their men and horses. The entire battlefield space has been compressed by Trade Union reinforcements, making mobile guerrilla warfare impossible. The Trade Union's armed forces have used a step-by-step consolidation method to weave a defensive network across the five provinces neighboring the Mana Hill Plains. They likewise employ deep-trench fortified positions, combined with carriage-mounted crossbows and trebuchets, preventing light cavalry legions from using their mobility to penetrate behind enemy lines."
"Of course, even if our Family's Flying Tiger Legion and Light Cavalry Legion did penetrate deep into enemy rear areas, the Trade Union wouldn't care. On the contrary, they would use those very deep-trench fortifications to cut off our Family's armed forces' retreat, attrit our manpower, and then—while our Family's armed forces lacked sufficient supplies and baggage—use a strategy of strict defense with their main army to trap us alive."
"Therefore, even if we dispatched the Flying Tiger Legion and Light Cavalry Legion to the provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains again, the Trade Union would have no reason to panic. They might even seek to first crush the allied army of His Majesty and the other territorial nobles, seize Bruvik City. At that point, our Family's armed forces would be an isolated army deep in enemy territory, unable to advance or retreat—unable to withdraw even if they wanted to."
Fatty put it simply: just look at the map. This vast region from the central to the southern Galentea Continent—half of it is already the Trade Union's territory. Even the Irdanini Mountains have been completely encircled by the Trade Union. Beyond the Mana Hill Plains and the five surrounding provinces, there are thirty-odd more provinces. This is why the Trade Union can be the nation with the largest territorial area on the continent—this is their greatest reliance.
The Trade Union can fully utilize its abundant manpower, financial resources, and materiel to wage a war of attrition against the Andinaq Kingdom until the Andinaq Kingdom is toppled. Last year, when the Second Prince led a great army to attack the Trade Union, he relied on the Trade Union not having reacted yet. But now the Trade Union has carried out a total national mobilization. Those provinces further south on the continent have been sending reinforcements streaming to the Mana Hill Plains front without cease. Conscripting twenty-odd thousand poor, able-bodied young men from a single province is child's play; thirty provinces means six hundred thousand troops. No wonder the Second Prince rushed here to beg for aid.
The Andinaq Kingdom is the same.
But if they don't reinforce the Second Prince, then once the Second Prince is defeated, the Norton Family will be next. As Bodefenge said, it's better to have the battlefield on the Mana Hill Plains than to have the fires of war burning right next to the family's territories. Moreover, from a profit perspective, the various goods produced in the Norton Family's territories are currently sold throughout the Andinaq Kingdom via the Snow Salt Merchant Guild. If in the future, even if the Trade Union's armed forces don't invade the Norton Family's territories and jurisdictions, the Norton Family can't just shut their doors and play by themselves. With this ebb and flow, in another ten or so years, even if Lorist is a Sword Saint, he won't be able to suppress the Trade Union's strategic advantage over the Norton Family's territories.
This is also where Lorist feels troubled. Sending troops to reinforce the Second Prince is a must, but he can't just throw the Norton Family's armed forces into that big quagmire either. If the Trade Union's armed forces are determined to fight a war of attrition, even at a five-to-one ratio they can afford it, but the Norton Family's armed forces can't keep up!
"Your Highness, I've thought it over. Strike at the snake's seven inches—besides attacking here, there's perhaps no other better way to force the Trade Union to admit defeat and sign a ceasefire peace agreement with the Kingdom." Malek stood up, strode to the map, and pointed loudly at Morant City's position.
"Impossible!" Tiger Ross blurted out: "We simply can't reach Morant City. Lord Tagel just described the situation on the Mana Hill Plains—besides one main road leading straight to Morant City, the Mana Hill Plains are covered in artificial canals and irrigation ditches, and now many tunnels have been dug and countless fortresses and strongholds set up. Combined with the Trade Union's ample troops and countless trebuchets and ballistae, we simply cannot cross the Mana Hill Plains to reach Morant City. And that main road has six heavily defended fortress cities—unless we capture them one by one, we'd have to fly over to attack Morant City."
"We won't attack Morant City from land," Malek said. "Lord Tagel just explained that Morant City is the Trade Union's headquarters, their main logistical supply base—whether grain or military supplies, everything is stored in Morant City. Even the reinforcements dispatched from those southern provinces and the Qigeda Kingdom can only reach Morant City in the shortest time via sea transport.
Since that's the case, why don't we attack Morant City by sea? Lord Senbaud has always boasted that the family's North Sea Fleet is invincible under heaven, and Your Highness has always believed the same. Then let's deploy the North Sea Fleet to destroy the Trade Union's Invincible Fleet in Hidden Gold Bay. Once we eliminate the Invincible Fleet, our family's armed forces can land at Hidden Gold Bay just like they did on the Hanayabada Archipelago back then. You should know, on the Hidden Gold Bay side, Morant City doesn't have any city walls..."
...