The one presiding over this military council was Baron Malek, the Executive Deputy Director of the
This time, Lorist intended to employ military means once more to dismantle and suppress the Commercial Alliance, with the goal of beating this tenacious opponent into complete submission so that it would no longer pose a threat to the Free Alliance. He had specifically summoned Malek from the Northland because he wanted him to serve as the overall commander of this military operation, with full authority to direct the offensive campaign. This was also Lorist's way of allowing Malek to establish his command authority among the family's main field army legions, shedding the "Deputy" title and truly becoming the Director of the Armed Forces Department.
Lorist, Ledos, and Garrilando were the last three to arrive. The spacious conference room was already packed. Family knights holding the rank of battalion commander and above from the Flying Tiger Corps, the Hunter Cavalry Corps, and the Imperial Guard Corps, several senior officers of the Free Alliance's armed corps, and the commander of the Andinak Kingdom's White Lion Corps, the Golden Knight Seberg, along with five or six other royal knights, had already taken their seats and were waiting for the military council to begin.
Malek walked to the wall where a map of the Commercial Alliance was hanging, carrying a thin wooden pointer. He rapped it a few times on the table in front of him. "Silence! The meeting is now in session. Please refrain from making unnecessary noise. If you have any questions, raise them after I finish briefing the military operation, and I will address them one by one."
With an expressionless face, Malek waited for the room to fall completely silent before speaking again. "The objective of the military operation we are about to undertake is to completely crush the Commercial Alliance so that it can never again pose a threat to the Andinak Kingdom or the Free Alliance. At the same time, this is an offensive campaign designed to dismantle this behemoth. Our primary targets this time are four provinces: Casiloda, Tenarig, Feltonba, and Seruniga.
Please take a look at this map of the Commercial Alliance hanging on the wall. Have you noticed that the Commercial Alliance's territory resembles a very bloated T laid on its side? Of course, without the Mana Hill Plains, the Commercial Alliance's current territory looks more like an L lying on its side. The four provinces I just mentioned are located at the right-angle corner of that L. In other words, once we take these four provinces, we will have split the Commercial Alliance in two.
This horizontal line represents the territory the Commercial Alliance seized from the central-southern nations of the continent several years ago. The vertical portion is the territory of the Kingdom of Telinbo and three other nations that the Commercial Alliance annexed during the Glass Wars. However, these seven provinces in total have been under the Commercial Alliance's management for many years and now belong to the Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce, the Peterson Chamber of Commerce, and several second- and third-rate trading companies.
If we subtract the five provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains that have already become blank territories, and further subtract the Grand Duchy of Magrut and the Qikede Chamber of Commerce's territory at the southernmost tip of the Commercial Alliance's domain — which now belongs to the Storm Sword Saint — the Commercial Alliance currently actually controls twenty-three provinces. Our plan this time is to cut them in half at the waist, severing the seven northern provinces from the twelve southern provinces, so that the Commercial Alliance can no longer draw troops and supplies from the south.
One thing to note here is that Feltonba Province, which we will be attacking, is the territory of the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce, while Seruniga Province was originally the territory of the Grand Duchy of Qikeduo. This Grand Duchy of Qikeduo has long been famous for its exquisite gold and silver wares, and within its territory lie two gold mines and five silver mines, making it renowned for its wealth. After being annexed by the Commercial Alliance, the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce traded away the glass formula it had obtained to the Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce in exchange for moving its own trading territory to this location.
Although the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's armed forces were also completely destroyed during the decisive battle at Buluviya City on the Mana Hill Plains, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. The Mayflower Chamber of Commerce was wealthy and powerful enough to quickly reassemble a new trading company legion within its territory and conscript a new heavy infantry corps, which became one of the main forces among the ten garrison corps established by the Commercial Alliance. Reliable intelligence indicates that the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's leadership has been blaming the Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce's president, Grand Duke Comberlate, for incompetent command during the war, and seems eager to replace him.
Although the Commercial Alliance's major trading companies have developed deep rifts due to the war's setbacks, for us, anyone who doesn't want to negotiate peace is our enemy. Based on the intelligence we've gathered, the Vesia Chamber of Commerce, the Forde Chamber of Commerce, the Livord Chamber of Commerce, and the Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce — all of which have lost their trading territories — are the most die-hard war hawks. The Mayflower Chamber of Commerce and about a dozen second- and third-rate trading companies also support the war, but their goal is to supplant the Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce's leadership. The Peterson Chamber of Commerce is a fence-sitter, and the Qikede Chamber of Commerce is a traitor, though its territory is far to the south of the continent and the Commercial Alliance currently has no means to deal with it.
The reason we're targeting the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce this time is to make all those wavering trading companies, large and small, understand that the fate of being our enemy is destruction. Only by negotiating with us to end this war is there any way out for them. Once we have occupied these four provinces, the Qikede Chamber of Commerce will declare independence from the Commercial Alliance and establish the Kingdom of Qikede. I believe this news will deal a fatal blow to the Commercial Alliance."
He drew a red line on the map over the Qikede Chamber of Commerce's territory and the five surrounding provinces, then pointed at the map with his thin wooden pointer. "The Qikede Chamber of Commerce's armed forces will declare independence after occupying these five surrounding provinces. In this way, the Commercial Alliance's twelve southern provinces will be reduced to just seven. But I believe the central-southern nations of the continent will not let this heaven-sent opportunity slip by, and soon these remaining seven provinces will disappear from the Commercial Alliance's map.
This is the main purpose of our expedition: to deliver another devastating blow to the Commercial Alliance's forces, to split the Commercial Alliance's territory, to strip it of all its provinces in the central-southern continent, and to weaken its war-making capability. At the same time, we will open overland trade routes from the Free Alliance to the various central-southern nations, build good relations and form alliances with those kingdoms to jointly blockade the Commercial Alliance's overland trade routes, and force the Commercial Alliance to change course, bow its head, and submit through a sustained siege and blockade."
The White Lion Corps' commander, Seberg, stood up. "Lord Malek, I have a question. Why don't we continue to press our attack on the Commercial Alliance and completely destroy it, instead resorting to a siege? As you just explained, after losing its southern provinces, the Commercial Alliance will have only seven provinces left. We could certainly join forces and continue attacking until we've eliminated it."
Malek replied with his expressionless face: "Please sit down first, Commander Seberg. Your question is quite simple. It's not that we haven't considered completely destroying the Commercial Alliance — we simply don't want to suffer massive casualties. Unless you'd like to go through another three-year bloodbath like the one on the Mana Hill Plains."
Pointing at the seven northern provinces on the Commercial Alliance's map with his thin wooden pointer, Malek explained: "These seven provinces have been developed by the Commercial Alliance into their most solid stronghold. According to intelligence, these seven provinces have a population of nearly four million. The Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce and the Peterson Chamber of Commerce have invested nearly all of their financial resources and manpower here. They funneled all of Morant City's revenue into their own trading territories. During the three-year bloodbath on the Mana Hill Plains, the Twin Dragon and other trading companies would rather forcibly conscript troops and seize supplies from the distant southern provinces of the continent than lay a finger on these seven provinces or the Mayflower Chamber of Commerce's territory.
This is the Commercial Alliance's foundation, and the source of their confidence. Since Grand Duke Comberlate of the Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce recovered from his injuries and returned to power after the decisive battle at Buluviya City, he has been aggressively building castles and fortifications at strategically vital points across these seven provinces, preparing to resist our invasion. According to our intelligence, to attack or occupy these seven provinces, we estimate casualties of approximately three to four hundred thousand troops. That is why we have abandoned the offensive approach in favor of a siege to force the Commercial Alliance to bow its head and admit defeat."
"How can that be possible?" Commander Seberg retorted, unconvinced. "Doesn't your Norton Family's armed forces have artillery, that supreme siege weapon? Nothing is impervious to it — what castle or fortification could withstand an artillery bombardment? Just blast through with artillery and the enemy won't be able to stop our advance. Where would casualties of three to four hundred thousand come from?"
Lorist stood up. "Commander Seberg, artillery is not omnipotent. Don't put all your hopes on it. In truth, without gunpowder, artillery is completely useless. To attack those four provinces this time, our family has marshaled every bit of gunpowder we could acquire — we even brought over more than half of our fleet's gunpowder reserves. After capturing those four provinces, I estimate we will have exhausted all our gunpowder. Without artillery support, attacking the Commercial Alliance's remaining seven provinces would require the flesh and blood of our soldiers. Our estimate of three to four hundred thousand casualties is not an idle boast."
Commander Seberg immediately bowed his head in apology. "Forgive me, Your Grace. I was simply unaware of the situation and did not mean to question your judgment. Please pardon my presumption."
"It's nothing," Lorist said. "You're eager to destroy the Commercial Alliance completely, and I understand that. If the Commercial Alliance refuses to submit this time, we'll simply besiege them for another two years. Once our family has stockpiled another batch of gunpowder, we can launch a new offensive — taking one or two provinces a year, we could destroy the Commercial Alliance within four or five years at most. Sit down now. Let's hear more of Baron Malek's arrangements."
"Yes. Thank you, Your Grace."
Commander Seberg sat back down, but Ledos rose to his feet. "Lord Malek, I have a question. Will the four provinces we plan to occupy this time end up as blank territories again, just like the five provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains?"
No wonder Ledos asked this question. The last time the Norton Family's armed forces had swept through the five provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains, they had been like locusts — stripping and carting away everything of value and abducting all the residents, artificially creating nearly seven hundred thousand refugees. This was only made possible because those five provinces had not been valued by the Commercial Alliance. During the three years of bloodshed on the Mana Hill Plains, the original residents of those five provinces had been ravaged by war, and more than half had fled or deserted. But even so, the remaining seven hundred thousand refugees had nearly overwhelmed the newly established Free Alliance. If Lorist hadn't relocated nearly four hundred thousand refugees to Yungeshangdela Province, the Free Alliance might well have collapsed under the weight of those seven hundred thousand refugees — after all, they didn't have the experience that the Norton Family's armed forces possessed.
Malek concluded: "Our goal this time is not to depopulate those provinces. Once we occupy the four target provinces, we will transfer as much of their wealth as possible to our own territories while maintaining the siege and blockade of the Commercial Alliance."
Ledos let out a long sigh of relief, his heart finally at ease. Seeing that no one else had questions, Malek tapped the map on the wall with his wooden pointer. "Next, we'll proceed with task assignments. This offensive will be launched from Jidelinke Province. The Commercial Alliance has deployed ten newly formed garrison corps along the borders of the five blank provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains, forming a defensive line. No matter which province we attack from, we must guard against the Commercial Alliance's forces flanking us through the other four provinces. Therefore, the Hunter Cavalry Corps' mission is to pin down and conduct feint attacks in the remaining four provinces, preventing the Commercial Alliance's garrison corps deployed there from diverting their attention. If the situation permits, you may conduct guerrilla operations into the enemy's rear provinces, but note that you are not authorized to sustain heavy casualties in order to capture the enemy's castles, fortifications, towns, or villages."
"Yes, we will accomplish the mission," answered the Hunter Cavalry Corps' commander, Farea, standing up.
"Jidelinke Province will be entrusted to the Flying Tiger Corps to conduct another sweep and ensure the safety of the main assault force," Malek said. The main offensive force launching from Jidelinke Province this time would be the Norton Family's Imperial Guard Corps and the Free Alliance's armed corps. The provinces of Feltonba and Tenarig adjacent to Jidelinke Province were mostly hilly terrain, and the Commercial Alliance had constructed numerous castles, fortifications, and defensive positions there, deploying four corps. So the Norton Family was dispatching two artillery battalions to deal with these defensive installations. Only after these two provinces were captured would the Flying Tiger Corps have room to maneuver. The remaining provinces of Casiloda and Seruniga were flatlands, perfectly suited for cavalry to roam freely.
The White Lion Corps' Commander Seberg was quite displeased, as his corps had been assigned the task of securing the logistics corridor. Last time, their cooperation with the Norton Family's forces in sweeping the five provinces surrounding the Mana Hill Plains had netted them a fortune, and their spirits were high — they were hoping to make another killing. In the end, Lorist made the final decision: after the Imperial Guard Corps and the Free Alliance's corps captured Tenarig and Feltonba provinces, the White Lion Corps and the Flying Tiger Corps could each attack one province. This turned Seberg's anger into joy, and he expressed his gratitude profusely.
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