June 14th — seven days after the Battle of the Romani Sea. With all arrangements finally in place,
For the
On June 21st, Lorist arrived at Ametlin Port. Every senior knight in the family's four great corps — regiment commanders and above — came to welcome him.
Bodfeng reported, "His Majesty has been sending envoys every few days, pressuring us to march our forces to Brulviet City and join up with them to face the Commercial Alliance army's imminent offensive. We've been putting them off with excuses about military supplies and grain not having arrived yet. Now that a massive number of warships and transport vessels have shown up, there's no hiding it from His Majesty's eyes and ears. He'll assume our supplies and provisions have been delivered, and within the next couple of days he'll send someone to push us to the front lines again."
Lorist smiled and waved his hand. "No problem. If His Majesty sends another envoy, just tell him the Commercial Alliance army absolutely won't be launching any offensive this year. Their entire transport convoy was wiped out by our North Sea Fleet. Without grain and military supplies, what are they going to attack with? They'll be doing well just to hold their current lines."
"Then we'll still follow the original plan — attack Hidden Gold Bay and land at
"No need to attack Hidden Gold Bay. We'll disguise ourselves as the Invincible Fleet and its transport convoy, slip into Hidden Gold Bay, seize the docks, and take Morant City directly. Starting today, the Stone Corps and Royal Guard Corps will begin boarding ships. The Flying Tiger Corps and Hunter Cavalry Corps will stay here. Once we've captured Morant City, they'll break camp and head to the Mana Hill Plains front line. Without Morant City's logistical support, the Commercial Alliance forces at the front won't be able to hold out. When their morale collapses, you launch your attack — this will both relieve the pressure on us after we take Morant City and capture more prisoners. The development of Yungeshangdra Province is going to need a great deal of labor. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Highness. Understood." The senior officers in the command tent answered in unison.
What Lorist hadn't expected was that the
It was nearly July, and the Commercial Alliance forces locked in a standoff with the Andinak Kingdom army at Mana Hill Plains had strangely not launched a single offensive all year. This left the Second Prince deeply anxious, terrified that the Commercial Alliance was hatching some new scheme. It was why he kept sending messengers to push the Norton Family's forces toward the front lines. Regardless, having more troops on hand was always better — it meant you could take a beating for longer.
When the Second Prince discovered that soldiers from the Stone Corps and Royal Guard Corps were boarding ships, he blanched. Lorist, wearing a pained expression, told him that the Norton Family's North Sea Fleet had successfully raided Ailniba Port, a Commercial Alliance coastal city, and then intercepted and captured the Commercial Alliance's grain and military supply convoy. This was the reason the Commercial Alliance had been unable to launch an offensive against Brulviet City, defended by the Second Prince, at Mana Hill Plains.
But this meant the Commercial Alliance had now turned its gaze toward the Norton Family. Word had it they had mustered over a hundred thousand troops and ordered the Invincible Fleet to attack Shilovas Island and destroy the Norton Family's North Sea Fleet. Therefore, both the Stone Corps and Royal Guard Corps had to go to Shilovas Island to defend against the Commercial Alliance's impending attack. If Shilovas Island fell, not only would the North Sea Fleet no longer be able to threaten the Commercial Alliance's maritime supply lines, but the Norton Family's own sea routes would be severed. Supplying the family forces through long-distance overland transport would make the cost in manpower and resources an enormous burden.
The Second Prince let out a long breath of relief. Now that he understood why the Commercial Alliance hadn't launched their offensive, the anxiety that had been clutching at his heart finally eased. He then launched into an effusive speech praising the Norton Family's outstanding contributions to the kingdom, saying that Lorist's loyalty and dedication would be inscribed in the annals of the empire's restoration and shine through the ages...
He didn't stop until Lorist's face had turned completely dark. Only then did the Second Prince hold his tongue and, very considerately, suggest that if Lorist would hand over command of the Flying Tiger Corps and Hunter Cavalry Corps to him, he could order the front-line forces to launch several offensives against the Commercial Alliance at Mana Hill Plains, thereby relieving the pressure on the Norton Family's territory of Shilovas Island.
Wha—
Lorist pulled over a sea chart and pointed things out to the Second Prince and the others. "Your Majesty, the intelligence I've received says the Commercial Alliance has conscripted a hundred thousand troops in the southern part of the continent. In addition, the Qigeda Kingdom has dispatched another fifty thousand reinforcements — and it's supposedly the elite Firebird Corps again.
These one hundred and fifty thousand troops are the main force for attacking Shilovas Island. What worries me is that they might be feinting — claiming they'll attack Shilovas Island while actually landing here at Ametlin Port to outflank Your Majesty's army at the front. If that happened, the consequences would be unimaginable.
That's why the Flying Tiger Corps and Hunter Cavalry Corps must remain here to guard against a surprise enemy landing. With them in place, there's nothing to fear from a sneak attack. If enemy infantry makes it ashore, they'll run right into our two cavalry corps. I guarantee — however many come, that many will die."
The Second Prince wiped the sweat from his forehead. Lorist's description had genuinely terrified him. In all the military history of the Galentea Continent, there had never been an instance of an amphibious landing used to outflank an army from behind. Land warfare was land warfare, and naval warfare was naval warfare — the two had always been strictly separate. Though he wasn't sure whether Lorist's scenario was truly possible, he knew that the merchants of the Commercial Alliance had no noble traditions or moral bottom line. If they realized that landing at Ametlin Port to outflank his forces could bring down the Andinak Kingdom's three-hundred-thousand-strong army, they would implement the plan without hesitation.
"You really have thought this through, Lorist," the Second Prince said with genuine admiration. "Anything we can do to help — just say the word. We certainly won't refuse."
"Your Majesty, the front-line army doesn't need to do anything special — just continue holding the line against the Commercial Alliance. However, to boost morale, you could select some strategically insignificant positions to attack, take out those Commercial Alliance strongpoints and outposts that are weakly defended, maintain consistent offensive pressure, and wear down their stockpiles of supplies and grain...
After all, their transport convoy has already been raided and crippled by our North Sea Fleet. For the next two to three months, they won't be able to sustain an offensive posture at the front. So we should keep them tied down and increase their attrition. Once we've defeated the Invincible Fleet and destroyed their one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-strong landing force, the balance of the battlefield may shift enough to force the Commercial Alliance to sign an armistice and peace treaty with our kingdom, bringing this war to an end."
Lorist's words were like a tonic for the Second Prince, who perked up immediately. "Good! I'll follow your lead, Lorist. I'm certain your family forces will be victorious in every battle and crush the Commercial Alliance Invincible Fleet's plan to attack Shilovas Island..."
Mm. The Second Prince had always been generous with moral support.
"Your Majesty, there's one more thing. I hope that in the battles ahead, you'll treat the captured Commercial Alliance nobles humanely. If this cycle of hatred keeps spiraling, this war will be nearly impossible to end. Our kingdom and the Commercial Alliance have both paid far too much blood for this conflict. Peace will require us to restrain our desire for revenge." Lorist's expression was solemn.
The Second Prince was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. "Lorist, you're absolutely right. Enough blood has already been shed. I'll give orders to treat the captured Commercial Alliance nobles humanely..."
Finally having hoodwinked the Second Prince and his entourage into leaving, Lorist returned to the command tent to find every senior officer of the family corps absolutely delighted.
Lorist was puzzled. "What's there to be so happy about?"
Tiger Ross grinned. "Your Highness, aren't we being a little too rough on His Majesty with this ruse? If he found out the Invincible Fleet had already surrendered to us, and that the Commercial Alliance's hundred-thousand-strong conscripted army and the Qigeda Kingdom's Firebird Corps had all become our prisoners, he'd probably spit blood..."
Lorist let out a long sigh. "You all know what our king is like. If we let him in on the real situation and our plan to capture Morant City, just imagine what he'd do next.
Simple — he'd stick his nose right in and try to get his hands on Morant City. On one hand, he'd covet the enormous wealth and prestige that would come with its capture. Keep in mind, Morant City's riches are our family's primary objective — it's the compensation for our participation in this war. His Majesty's involvement would throw our post-capture wealth collection plans into chaos, and could even provoke the nearly one million residents of Morant City into open revolt.
On the other hand, I worry that capturing Morant City would inflate His Majesty's ambitions beyond all bounds, making him think he could permanently occupy Mana Hill Plains. If that happened, the war between the kingdom and the Commercial Alliance would drag on. Not only would the Andinak Kingdom's three hundred thousand troops be ground down over the coming years, but even our own family forces might not be able to extricate ourselves from that pit.
I'm not being an alarmist here. If the Commercial Alliance lost Mana Hill Plains and Morant City, they would fight the kingdom to the bitter end. They have over a hundred years of confrontation with the former Krisen Empire behind them, and now they've forged a blood feud with our kingdom. Even if the kingdom occupied Mana Hill Plains and Morant City, it could never govern them in peace. Rebellions and skirmishes would erupt one after another, quickly bleeding the kingdom of its last drop of blood.
Is three hundred thousand troops really that many? With external attacks from the Commercial Alliance and internal resistance from the uncooperative population, the kingdom simply couldn't establish itself here — not unless it killed every last resistor. But the more you kill, the deeper the hatred grows and the fiercer the resistance. Within a few short years, the kingdom would exhaust every last drop of its vitality on this land, and only then would it be far too late for regrets.
We could sign a peace agreement. If the Commercial Alliance refuses, we can even burn Morant City to the ground — that would be no burden on our family at all, since our territory is in the Northlands. What's the Commercial Alliance going to do about it?
But if His Majesty gets involved, then capturing Morant City becomes the end goal. Once the city is taken, His Majesty's fame will spread across the entire Galentea Continent. I don't really care how much prestige he gains, but the problem is, he'd then have to hold Morant City permanently. Unlike us, he couldn't simply abandon the city or hand it back to the Commercial Alliance whenever he pleased. Morant City would become a crushing burden on the kingdom — defending and governing it would consume countless resources and energy. The costs would far outweigh the gains.
Do you all understand now? All this talk is meant to help you see clearly: the plan to capture Morant City can only be carried out by our family's forces. Only in this way can we keep the situation under our control and prevent any unexpected turns. Ending this war depends on all of us working together. The family is counting on each of you to earn new honors."
"Yes, Your Highness! We won't let you down!"
"Good. Bodfeng and Elgar — speed up the boarding of the corps soldiers. We aim to sail for Hidden Gold Bay by tomorrow afternoon. Tiger Ross and Farrell — once you receive word that we've captured Morant City, march to the Mana Hill Plains front line.
The Commercial Alliance has over four hundred thousand troops massed at the front. Even if Morant City falls to us, they won't surrender immediately. You can subtly hint to our three allies and Grand Duke Fisablen that the moment the Commercial Alliance shows any sign of withdrawing from the front, they must press the attack relentlessly and keep them tied down. It won't be long before they collapse on their own.
Only after we've destroyed the Commercial Alliance's four-hundred-thousand-strong force can we send envoys to negotiate peace and an armistice. And with the fortress cities on Mana Hill Plains and Morant City in our hands, His Majesty won't get any wild ideas about occupying Mana Hill Plains and Morant City permanently. Do you all understand what needs to be done?" Lorist asked, his expression grave.
"Your Highness, we understand." Tiger Ross and Farrell both straightened their backs, snapped to attention, and gave Lorist the knight's breastplate salute.
...