The year 1780 of the common calendar of the Galentea Continent was destined to be an era of upheaval. On April 3rd, when the
After a night of fierce battle, only forty-odd of the Norton Family's hundred large ocean-going merchant ships remained intact. Over fifty transport ships were either burned or too severely damaged to continue sailing, with devastating casualties aboard. Admiral Senbarwood of the Northern Sea Fleet, his eyes bloodshot with fury, not only dispatched Lightning Strike warships to chase down the fleeing pirate small craft and sink them one by one, but also led the fleet to bombard and burn all the docks and harbors of the Chikde Chamber of Commerce's territory. He issued a kill order: no ship from the Chikde Chamber of Commerce's territory — whether fishing boat or merchant vessel — was to be allowed to set sail. Any vessel caught would be destroyed on the spot.
While cannons still thundered across the southern seas, on April 8th, the autonomous committee governing
The newly established Free Alliance declared the Mana Hill Plains and the Cristo Hills as its territories. Externally, the Free Alliance would pursue a policy of peaceful independence, maintaining friendly relations with all nations and welcoming commercial exchange and trade from all countries. Internally, the Free Alliance would hold a general election every five years, in which all citizens would vote for members of the Council, who would in turn elect the Chancellor of the Executive Committee.
The Free Alliance's first Chancellor was Ledos. At the ceremony, he publicly announced that a peace and mutual aid agreement had been reached with the Andinak Kingdom. Merchants from Morant City would be free to travel to the Andinak Kingdom for trade, and the Andinak Kingdom pledged to protect the lives and property of Free Alliance merchants. As long as they abided by the kingdom's laws, Free Alliance merchants would be welcomed and received by lords across the land.
This was good news for the Free Alliance's newly established trading companies, who could now expand their northern trade routes into the Andinak Kingdom. Although everyone knew that years of war had left the Andinak Kingdom's people destitute — even the territorial nobles could barely afford to purchase bulk goods — as a source of abundant raw materials, it still held great appeal for many merchants. Moreover, the Andinak Kingdom had already pledged to protect Free Alliance merchants, and with the monopoly on trade routes by the big chambers of commerce of the Commercial Alliance no longer in place, the northern Andinak Kingdom was now gleaming like gold in the eyes of those merchants filled with adventurous spirit...
News of the Free Alliance's founding soon reached the Commercial Alliance. The furious Grand Duke Comberlate, president of the Two-Headed Dragon Chamber of Commerce, delivered an impassioned declaration on behalf of the Commercial Alliance. In his speech, he proclaimed the Free Alliance to be traitors who had forgotten the century-long enmity and glory of the Commercial Alliance's predecessors' bloody battles against the northern enemies, forgotten the blood with which countless forebears had fought to win the Commercial Alliance's freedom and independence. And now this so-called Free Alliance was consorting with those northern enemies. The Commercial Alliance would never let these traitors who had sold out their homeland to the enemy go unpunished.
Beyond declaring to the nations of the central and southern continent that the Commercial Alliance would never recognize the traitorous Free Alliance, the Commercial Alliance also publicly announced bounties on all members of the Free Alliance's Council and Executive Committee — two hundred and forty-eight names on the list. Ledos's bounty was the highest at a hundred thousand gold Forde, and
The Free Alliance responded to the Commercial Alliance's provocation in the newly published Freedom Gazette in Morant City. The headline of the first-page editorial read: "What Is Freedom? What Is Commerce?" It was a powerful essay that refuted Grand Duke Comberlate's fallacies. The Commercial Alliance's predecessors had not fought with their own blood for a rationing-and-distribution system and a Commercial Alliance where every industry was monopolized by various chambers of commerce. What they had fought for was a Commercial Alliance where their descendants could develop freely in every aspect.
The article reviewed the Commercial Alliance's history of development over the past century and what was hailed as the twenty-year Golden Age of Morant City, pointing out that the true culprit behind Morant City's decline was precisely the lordship system implemented by the Commercial Alliance. It had set the Commercial Alliance on the path of expansion, using its innocent people to sacrifice their lives and blood for the interests of various chambers of commerce. Though the Commercial Alliance had risen to become the Galentea Continent's greatest power by annexing numerous neighboring nations through war, it had also made itself the greatest enemy in the eyes of all its neighbors...
The first page of the Freedom Gazette, in addition to this rebuttal, also carried a brief statement from Lorist. In it, Lorist listed the names of the top twenty chamber of commerce presidents of the Commercial Alliance, then casually guaranteed that should any Free Alliance councilor be assassinated, Lorist would not hesitate to personally deliver the family of one of those listed presidents as burial companions — regardless of whether that president's entire family was innocent or not.
The Commercial Alliance clarified its position in return, explaining that the bounties on the Free Alliance's traitors were not assassination contracts, but rewards for capturing these traitors after the Commercial Alliance defeated the Free Alliance. What mattered was that they be taken alive — the dead were worthless. The Commercial Alliance needed to bring these traitors to the judgment stand for public trial and sentencing...
At the same time, Grand Duke Comberlate diplomatically criticized Lorist in his statement, saying that as a Sword Saint and a grand duke of noble birth, he should not resort to assassination threats against his opponents. After all, the Commercial Alliance also had a Storm Sword Saint, yet the Commercial Alliance had never used the Storm Sword Saint to threaten its enemies, and so on...
After issuing his statement, Lorist stopped caring about the verbal sparring between the Free Alliance and the Commercial Alliance. In mid-June, he sent off
According to intelligence brought by Tagel, the Commercial Alliance's Storm Sword Saint had recovered from his injuries and returned. But whether due to failing to agree on terms with the Commercial Alliance or for some other reason, the Storm Sword Saint had not yet accepted the Commercial Alliance's request to deal with Lorist. According to spy reports, it seemed the Storm Sword Saint had made some demand that the Commercial Alliance found very difficult to accept, leading the Commercial Alliance's magnates to hold several meetings without reaching a decision.
Time passed in anxious waiting until July 28th, when Lorist finally received the Commercial Alliance Storm Sword Saint's challenge. However, the date of the duel was set more than two months away — October 10th. Lorist found this puzzling, unable to understand why the Storm Sword Saint wanted to delay the duel date so long.
But the Commercial Alliance's armed forces movements in the latter half of August immediately made Lorist and the others understand. Eight fully staffed chamber of commerce legions, totaling over three hundred thousand troops, marched from Mawei Forest Province toward the Mana Hill Plains, advancing in two columns toward Bruvia City. At the same time, the Commercial Alliance raised its banner of "punishing traitors," issuing broad proclamations ordering the garrisons of several fortress cities in the Mana Hill Plains to see the error of their ways and surrender immediately...
Just as Lorist had anticipated, the Commercial Alliance's forces were preparing to settle everything in one decisive battle — not only to defeat the Norton Family's forces, but to destroy the fledgling Free Alliance and reclaim the Mana Hill Plains and Morant City. In terms of numbers, the Commercial Alliance's forces held an absolute advantage: over three hundred thousand elite troops against the Norton Family's three legions of just over a hundred and thirty thousand, plus the Free Alliance's seven Freedom Legions totaling over sixty thousand.
"Your Highness, all eight legions mobilized by the Commercial Alliance's forces this time are full-strength legions of forty-eight thousand men each. From captured prisoners' testimonies, we've learned that the Commercial Alliance's Seven Magnates each dispatched one elite chamber of commerce legion. Among them, the re-established Vesia Chamber of Commerce also sent its newly formed sole legion. The eighth — the Vengeance Legion — was recruited from released members of the Invincible Fleet and former inner-city residents of Morant City who had been ransomed back. They swore to reclaim the dignity and wealth we extorted from them at the expense of our family's forces..."
Deputy Corps Commander
The Commercial Alliance's forces are advancing in two columns without overextending, employing a strategy of cautious step-by-step progress. They don't seem in any rush to reach the front lines and seize Bruvia City. We also discovered that the Commercial Alliance appears to have brought along a large quantity of siege equipment. Some of it resembles crane-arm trebuchets, very similar to the lever-type long-arm catapults our family used to deploy. However, the enemy's defenses are tight, and we cannot get close enough to observe..."
"Your Highness, since our family's forces don't have the numerical advantage, why don't we take advantage of the Commercial Alliance's slow, cautious advance to immediately establish a comprehensive defensive position Bruvia City and repel the enemy's attack?" Fierce Tiger Ross stood up and pointed at the map. "We can use the Free Alliance's seven city defense legions to wear down the Commercial Alliance's attacking momentum, while our Flying Tiger Corps and Ranger Cavalry Corps lie in ambush on both flanks. Once the Commercial Alliance forces expose a gap, we charge in from both sides to disrupt their formation, and then the Royal Guard Corps delivers a frontal assault. This is certain to bring us a great victory."
Fierce Tiger Ross's proposal was quite sound. While there was no guarantee of winning the entire war, winning one or two defensive battles was virtually assured. However, Lorist shook his head. What he wanted was victory in a single decisive battle — one blow to shatter the Commercial Alliance's spine, leaving them unable to gather a great army to invade the Mana Hill Plains again.
"We don't need to defend. What we need to do is attack," Lorist said. "In a few more days, the Angry Bear Knights will land at Hidden Gold Bay. This time, they're escorting five hundred field bronze cannons, along with all the gunpowder produced in the family's territories last year — more than enough for this campaign. This time, we'll use cannons in combination with war chariots and steel crossbows to deliver a long-range bombardment that will make the enemy's formation collapse under our artillery fire. All we'll need to do then is pursue and destroy their fighting strength!"
So this was what Lorist had been planning. The family knight commanders in attendance all broke into delighted smiles.
"Fareya, Chosk, Yuri, Vasimma — you four continue leading the Ranger Cavalry Corps in guerrilla raids and harassment against the Commercial Alliance's advancing forces. Intercept their scout patrols, but don't engage the enemy head-on. Seize any advantage you can, and fall back when there isn't one. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Highness. We understand." The Ranger Cavalry Corps' four Gold Knights rose to their feet.
"El, Ovekis — tomorrow you will lead the Royal Guard Corps to Bruvia City. Baron Shrade, go negotiate with Ledos and have the Free Alliance dispatch four city defense legions to Bruvia City, and redeploy the light cavalry legion from the Cristo Hills to the front lines as well. They won't serve as the main force in this battle, but they must go to the front to gain experience. In the future, repelling the Commercial Alliance's incursions will depend on them."
The previous year, Lorist had had Fatty Shi reject Ledos's proposal to form four additional city defense legions, instead only establishing one new city defense legion and one light cavalry legion for the Free Alliance. The Free Alliance now possessed seven smaller city defense legions of eight thousand men each, and one light cavalry legion of five thousand men equipped with Northland warhorses.
"Yes, Your Highness," Fatty Shi acknowledged.
"As for the Flying Tiger Corps, they will remain here with me for a few more days. Once the Angry Bear Knights arrive, we'll advance to the front lines together. I will personally command from Bruvia City," Lorist said.
...