Deciding to Deploy

Maria didn't make an empty request . She might have had an epiphany during her conversation with Claude, but, regardless, when she reached Lanu, she quickly revealed her trump card to the five generals: new conditions offered by the kingdom . The council's decision had nothing to do with her . She was merely a messenger .

The council members agreed unanimously to all conditions Fredrey I proposed . The first was that the region was to remain a part of the kingdom . As such, the kingdom would be the final decider of all foreign policy . Beyond that, however, the region would maintain complete autonomy . They would, however, have to present annual reports to the king's government so it could stay up to date with the situation within and the condition of the autonomous region .

All produce from the territory would be sold at the prices they set . They were not given full free trade rights, but they did get ten permits for their primary produce .

The latest set of conditions were essentially a complete concession on the mainland's part . The councillors were at a slight loss to understand how this sudden turnabout had come around, but the declaration of conditions had the king's seal . Had the mainland's position become that desperate?

Maria also brought the five generals' orders of promotion, and the two corps' officiations . It had been three years coming . The king had personally bestowed each general with honorary t.i.tles for the part they'd played in the kingdom's recent wars .

Bolonik and Claude were made full generals . Skri, Eiblont, and Birkin were made lieutenant-generals . Seven other colonels were promoted to major-generals, among them Claude's minions and friends, Moriad, Berklin, and Dyavid . They had finally worked their way through the ranks to become general officers . Myjack was quite fortunate to be Claude's brother-in-law as he had been put on an even greater fast track . He was promoted straight to major-general as well . Four people from Thundercrash had been made generals, and three in Monolith .

The king was even more generous with t.i.tles . He'd given 24 officers new or first time t.i.tles in one go . Claude got the best of it . He was made a hereditary baron, probably due to his pre-existing county . He could now pa.s.s his t.i.tle to his descendents in perpetuity .

Bolonik was made a trigenerational viscount . Skri, Eiblont, and Birkin were made trigenerational barons . Moriad, Berklin, Myjack, and 16 other high-ranking officers were made honorary barons . The decree declared that the t.i.tles were awarded to the generals for their magnificent contributions to the kingdom's expansion in the recent wars .

Three other councillors were also promoted; the one-armed Bernard, made an honorary viscount — partly as compensation for the loss of his arm during the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt — Saljorak, the chief constable — he had retired because of that attempt but had later been made chief constable by Claude — and Weyblon . The last's ent.i.tlement surprised everyone . He had the meritorious achievements for it, however . The exorbitant amount of funds he had provided Liboyd to research and improve steam engines, which ultimately resulted in the railway, had changed the region's transportation landscape entirely . Without his support and keen eye, the railway would never have come to fruition . He was also made an honorary baron .

Seven people from the general populace also received t.i.tles . Only five accepted, however . Liboyd was made a hereditary baron for inventing the train and improving steam engines . The four rune magi that had helped him became honorary barons . Sonia and Angelina had refused their t.i.tles . They preferred to keep low profiles over the privileges afforded by n.o.bility .

Fredrey I gave out so many t.i.tles because he had two requests . The first was a million crowns in annual t.i.thes and taxes, and the second for their military aid .

“How is the mainland faring?”

“The ministry of the army set up two lines of defence in Kugria, Krimis, Blinmorrow, and Bagasantana . The first royal guard folk and all of Griffon's men are currently manning them . Coupled with another two irregular corps, they have a total of 200 thousand men . The ministry formed two more irregular corps with the Whitestag refugees .

“There are 430 thousand men among the forces of the Union, three corps which belong to s.h.i.+ks . Nasri has two corps, Canas has one, and the rest is the combined corps of Sidins and Rimodra .

“But as our royal capital is already occupied, the Union's seven corps no longer have much fighting spirit . In the past two months, they only launched two large-scale attacks and retreated after losing a few thousand men to maintain the standoff . However, there are signs they are sending six more standing corps to the frontlines, which will arrive in three months . They might be gearing up for a final attack…”

The gag order from the mainland was now lifted . Every two weeks, an update on the latest developments would be sent to the region .

“Do you think we should deploy?” Bolonik asked .

That question didn't need to be asked . The high-ranking officers were unanimous in their decision . Fredrey I's grand gesture was surprisingly successful . Troops from Thundercrash, Monolith and the patrol fleet alike were clamouring to return to the mainland to teach the darned Union a harsh lesson .

While the region had obtained true autonomy, its citizens still saw themselves as Auerans . Now that the kingdom was in trouble, public opinion was for the region to go to the kingdom's aid . Rows and rows of youths lined up at headquarters or recruitment camps to volunteer for the force to be sent back to repel the invasion .

The two corps were even keener . s.h.i.+ks' forces had lost time and again against them; the 500 thousand captive labourers the region now had was proof of that . Nasri was also the nemesis of Aueras, and they still hadn't paid Canas back for the losses they suffered at the end of the five-year war . As for Sidins and Rimodra, they were merely husks of their old selves and weren't taken seriously .

Their desire to fight soared through the roof because they didn't think the enemy to be threats and desired to make more achievements . That might be the stepping stone their households needed to make their big break . They also felt a little unused to the feeling of not having any wars to fight in the past few years . That was especially the case after they've been armed with new rifles and cannons . The only thought on their minds was to charge into battle guns blazing . Some even wrote formal requests to be let in to fight .

It was no longer something the five generals could suppress . Even Bolonik and the rest hoped to go back to fight on the mainland . Perhaps, Claude's promotion to hereditary baron inspired them to take the next step forward . It was a hereditary t.i.tle which all their descendants could inherit, not just the trigenerational ones that eventually dropped off or mere honorary ones .

“We can deploy,” Claude said, calmly, “But we have to make sure we have full autonomy of our troop movements instead of being beholden to the ministry of the army . We are the autonomous region, after all, and our fighting style differs from that of the mainland troops . We also won't need the kingdom to supply us and take their orders . Sometimes, our allies can be scarier than our enemies…”

That finally snapped the generals out of their trance . Sending their troops to fight was fine and dandy, but they definitely wouldn't be taking orders from others, lest they were used as bullet sponges . The ministry of the army was definitely capable of doing something like that, so the region would require explicit rights over their own forces .

“Apart from discussing this with Lady Maria, do you have any other requests?” Bolonik asked .

Skri said, “Perhaps we can ask His Majesty to relax the migratory restrictions . There are up to three million refugees gathered at Whitestag, right? They managed to survive thanks to the aid we provided . If His Majesty allows us to move them to the region, we'll provide another s.h.i.+pment of supplies to the kingdom . ”

Ever since Thundercrash set off with industrial equipment and refugees from Whitestag, the royal capital forbade all migration to the region to prevent loss of manpower in the mainland .

But with the invasion resulting in another huge wave of refugees, countless people fled their homes to the southwest of the kingdom where Fredrey I resided . They believed the safest place they could be was near the king, and the unending wave of gathering immigrants put quite a lot of pressure on Whitestag .

However, all that was a great chance for the region . Claude had jokingly estimated that they needed up to 15 million citizens to be able to truly prosper . Right now, they were only hovering around seven million . The more developed states with more than a million citizens were only developed a third way through . The states with smaller populations only saw a seventh of their area developed . Other than towns and settlements, most of the land was uninhabited . Skri didn't mind bargaining for more people with military aid .

“Alright . I'll allow making that the second condition,” Bolonik said . “Anything else? Is that all? Alright, since we've decided on deploying, let's discuss how and how many . Claude, let's hear it . ”

Claude rapped on the table as he pondered . “I think both corps will have to deploy, but we'll leave a folk behind to defend here just in case . While we have 20 garrison lines armed with new rifles and won't have to worry even if the s.h.i.+ksans start another colonial war, it can't hurt to be more careful when it comes to our home .

“The ones who will stay back are soldiers who partic.i.p.ated in the five-year war . You should know that a corps or two won't make much of a difference in a battle of this scale . Take the attack on Rimodra, for example . The so-called strongest corps of our kingdom, the royal guard, were sent into battle and lost more than half their number before they were forced to retreat .

“This time around, the war is happening within the kingdom's territory . The enemy won't waste time attacking us and they'll also seek to do the most damage possible . So, we have to demand autonomy so we don't have to dance to the ministry's tune . As for how many we'll send, it's better to send more . The ministry won't be replacing our casualties, after all .

“So, we have to first expand our corps to make sure we have one additional folk each . Thundercrash is a light-cavalry corps most proficient in attack, so I hope there's a reliable force watching our backs . If we're going to send two folks to attack, we need at least one corps of troops to maintain our supply line so we can fight without worry .

“Same goes for Monolith . We'll add another corps to its roster and keep them here in defence . The other two folks will be sent to the kingdom to fight . The region's youths are flooding to apply to join, after all, so we shouldn't let their patriotism go to waste . Let's give them the initial three-month training . As for officers and veterans, we can transfer some from the local garrison lines . ”

Expanding the troops was something he had chosen to do through necessity . He didn't think the king would be so generous as to promote seven new major-generals in one go . Had Berklin still been colonel, it would've been appropriate for him to lead a line . But it wouldn't look so good for a major-general to do so, since people of that rank were usually appointed as folksmen . Since they were going back to the mainland, it couldn't hurt to have more troops around if they could transport them over effectively . They were granted some leeway with their numbers .

“Alright, we'll go forward with the expansion . ”

Bolonik was quite used to such tasks by now . After making sure Skri was fine with the expansion, he gave the order immediately . Eiblont and Birkin would be in charge of the new unit hierarchy and training of their respective corps to prepare for battle .

“Although we've reached a unanimous decision to deploy, we still haven't discussed the one million crowns the kingdom demands annually,” Skri said, curious to hear the outcome .

Unlike the decision to deploy, which Maria was quite nonchalant about, she fiercely advocated for this . The council voted and rejected that motion, only being willing to compromise at half a million, 100 thousand more than their previous offer of 400 thousand .

Maria angrily pointed out that the gross tax collected in the region was over two million crowns, and they were obligated to give at least half to the kingdom . However, Bernard, the council chairman, argued that the region had taken the kingdom's place to fund Thundercrash and Monolith's spending . If they demanded the region for half their collected taxes, they should start paying for the spending of the two corps .

Maria shut her mouth right away .

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