The cruelty of wars never came without destruction . Any idiot who walked on the street of Lissandra will come to realize it .

The city was a hot mess: blueish smoke was rising after magic spells rampaged buildings; weapons and armors scattered; bloodstains squirted by G.o.d-knew the enemies or my soldiers .

“Boss, I like this Amart guy . When I got here, the city’s defense system was already sabotaged . The enemies I’ve been chasing were busy entering the city, so there’s a mess . Plus, my men have infiltrated one of the gates . All in all, he’s made our loss to a minimum .

“I trust you didn’t kill all of them . I had you informed . ”

“Absolutely, I only attacked from 3 of the 4 directions . The last one was reserved for them to run . ”

“How many managed to escape?”

“The ones we chased up here were about 30, 000, plus the part who flee from the city, the sun is about 40, 000 . ”

“Good, 40, 000 are enough to keep Luhrmann’s heart at his throat . ” I told Wilder, “Now I have 2 jobs for you: A, send a team of riders to chase on as far as they can . Drive them to all nearby provinces . ”

“What about B?”

“See that broken wall your people torn apart? I want it back in one piece . Bring all your senior officers to meet me this afternoon . ”

Then I entered viceroy’s mansion that I grudgingly admitted it was ‘intact’ .

I spent the rest of the morning with Carlos checking our trophies and planning the future plan . ”

Ideas took form in my brain one by one, then one by one, I disproved them . I knew they were all very plausible ideas, but my logistics just cannot make any promises .

We have our first hot meal since the start of the war by noon .

As I received Fischer’s daily letter, I announced the senior officer meeting begin . All commanders and logistic leaders from 5 regiments, including Carlos and Wilder attended the meeting .

Since the warfare was currently going smoothly as planned, the general atmosphere was gentle . People gathered and sat along with waves of laughter and small jokes .

“Sir, all set . ”

“Good, first I’m summarizing these’s days operations . ” I stood and eyed around my subordinates, “Since the start of the war, our advancement is pretty fast . With the help of our underground power, we’ve taken Maple and Lissandra, almost at the same time, with very little effort . The two are crucial to our next strategic move . ”

“In the meantime, cooperation is a little rusty, but none of them cause any major problems now . ” Carlos took over the talk, “A detailed report is being read by Dark City’s officials as we speak . ”

“The reason that you are here is to plan our next move . Only by unifying the commanders shall we aim the troops more clearly . ” Said I, “What’s your ideas . How are we fighting the war next?”

“Sir, I think I ought to explain our troops’ deployment before we go any further . ” After I nodded, Carlos continued, “Amongst all armed forces, 70, 000 are currently stationed in the 2 provinces we just took, they are from Legion No . 1 and 2 . My staff members are on the way here . Legion No . 3 is 10 days away . However, the 3rd Legion’s main job is to guard the 2 provinces and to a.s.sist the defense of Dark City . It’s not to attack . Therefore, our only operation troops are the first and second legion and the troops under the staff members’ command, the total number is 90, 000 . ”

“Thank you, Carlos . Now, speak, people . ” Said I .

“Why are we set our base here? We’ve been winning, we should keep the streak and apprehend more provinces . ”

“I agree . ” Another regiment leader said, “If we make it fast, Luhrmann’s reinforcement will not be there in time . It’s a good chance that we attack . ”

I chuckled as I shared a look with Carlos .

“Yes, yes, we have good soldiers and high morale . We’ve defeated our enemies and it’s a good time to build on this . ” I nodded, “But it is exactly the thing Luhrmann wants us to do . ”

“Why?” Asked Wilder with a hint of doubt .

“I’d put it simply, we’d have all 120, 000 troops to attack if we only had Darkmoon and Dark City; but now we have 2 more, so only 90, 000 is left handy . Let me ask you, what if we grab more provinces? I doubt we’ll have enough to attack let alone manning the cities . ” I explained patiently, “The more you take, the more you need to systemize the defense . And that’s not a good thing for us . Think what is Luhrmann doing now? He’s collecting his finest soldiers and waiting out till we have diluted the last of our soldiers . Then he attacks . ”

“Sir, we could always not focus too much on defense work and concentrate on attacking . ” An officer spoke, “We are very capable to punch all the way to Divine City . ”

(Clearly he underestimated the enemies . )

“Your last opinion has a take as far as I see what weak enemies we’ve come across till now . ” Said Carlos, “But pay attention, we haven’t made any contact with the enemy’s main forces . Maple City and Lissan City are indeed under Luhrmann’s trusted men, but he’s never paid much attention to them . ”

“But why? Okay, in a military operation, losing a city might not bring too much effect to the general picture; but Luhrmann is a politician, he has to factor in the negative result of losing 2 provinces . ”

“Only if the war is between 2 empires or 2 allies, losing will demoralize people . However, that’s not how we’re related to the rebels . They surpa.s.s us in many ways . Losing a city, not a big deal . I suspect their only objective is to disperse our forces and find the edge to attack . As long as they gain that goal, Luhrmann will be more than happy to losing more cities . ”

“So what do we do now? We attack, we don’t attack? Waiting here will not give us more troops . ”

“Who said we’re not gonna attack?” I grinned, “The waiting serves a purpose because another operation is undergoing as we speak . ”

“And afterward we attack?”

“Positive, but pay attention to 2 things: A, we have to do our best to take the rebel alliance apart . Look at the map now, our initial success of taking 2 provinces have given nearby viceroys the chills . They’re on a scale now . Do your best to make them lean to us . ”

Wilder asked, “what about B?”

“The supply . ” Said I, “I agree to the opinion earlier he said we can punch our way to DC . But we’d all starve to death till the day we saw DC’s wall . ”

“No way!” Only Wilder could talk to me like this .

“I’m not talking blank words here . I’ve thoroughly counted what we have including the gain during recent battles . The final result allows no room for optimism . Remember what we did to the enemy’s supply chains during the last P/A War? There’s a chance that Luhrmann’s army will do the same to us . ”

Carlos’s comment supplied my conclusion, “If no new goods are arriving, we’ll never make it to DC alive . ”

“What do we do now?”

“I will do my best to gain support from our neighborhood provinces . The viceroys are stuffed with food, weapons . Only in this way could I keep you all well-fed . ”

“Isn’t that what His Majesty is doing?” A regiment leader worried, “If we abruptly make contact with neutral-standing viceroys, wouldn’t that bother His Majesty’s plan? Besides, no offense, boss, dealing with n.o.bilities is a pain in the a.s.s . ”

“The king’s diplomatic outline is purely strategical that concerns Swabia’s fate and the holy temple . And our diplomatic objective is only tactical . We find the rich viceroys, say our offer, give them some pressure, gain their support . It shouldn’t be a big problem . ”

“Will it be enough?”

“I’ve done the calculation . We’re not politicians . As long as our operation is uninterrupted, it’s enough . ” I explained, “As I said, what seems strong is not steady . Whoever is funding the rebels will not forever babysitting them . All viceroys, excluding a few Luhrmann’s die-hard fans, are watching, balancing . And we’ve made it clear it’s not a wise choice to be against us . We’ve shown them with our army, now it’s time for something softer, something political . ”

“So… is there anything we can do, politically?” The men shared looks, baffled .

“Sure there is . I will personally invite them into this city for negotiation . Your job is to make pressure, more pressure of any kind, even death, and slam it into their faces . ” As I said, my palm made a crisp noise on the face of the table, then I realized the deck is made from stone by the pain that came, “Supporting me, your viceroy t.i.tle is safe; those who refuse to take the ultimate reality and choose to defy me, terminate them . ”

“Yes, sir . ”

“If I were you, I’d go for constant hara.s.sment . ” I told Carlos, “Consider the hara.s.sment as training . My head staff, I want an operational outline today before the ideas go cold . ”

“Understood . ” He nodded, “I’m sending the boys tonight . ”

“Good, but have some boundaries . Last thing I want is to turn them into real enemies . Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir . ”

“That’ll be all, dismissed . ”

I entered the inner chamber as Carlos followed .

“What’s your take on my idea earlier?” I poured water for us then lowered my voice .

“Commander, the way I see it, you were able to suppress your eagerness and stopped at capturing 2 provinces . That’s very wise . I doubt the rebels will antic.i.p.ate it . ” Carlos too lowered his voice .

“However, my intelligence showed the rebels are gathering troops . Will we be able to finish my plan before the day they are actually at our door . ” I loosened my weapon, tossed it aside, recessed on a lounge, “I don’t know what to expect . ”

Carlos remained silent on the other end of the lounge .

“Frankly, no one can expect next . ” A good while later, he spoke, “Neither we, nor Luhrmann . Need I remind you, sir, he’s been getting all the bad news these days . ”

“Combat-power-wise, we got the upper hand; we’re still seriously under-manned given that we have killed 100, 000 enemies . ” I grew uncertain, “Have you read the papers from liaison? Huge amounts of goods and armies are pouring into DC from the border . ”

“Huh, sir, admit that you’re afraid . ”

“That word’s not in my book . I’ve seen too much blood and danger, not afraid . But what about my soldiers? Every decision comes out of my mouth will define the wound, death of a whole bunch of them . Mr . Head Staff, now, do you think my soldiers are willing to take all that?”

He respectfully stared at my face . Then he fetched a piece of doc.u.ment and started reading . However, I could swear to G.o.d he was pretending it .

“Boss, I can’t speak for others besides myself . Do you want to know how I perceive you as a commander?”

“Ok, but tell only the good part . ”

“Before our epic first encounter, I have a bright expectation and thought that day could actually be the day all the dream come true . At the thought of that, I could feel my blood boils . ” Ignoring me, Carlos just started, “Then I learned that His Majesty is making me serve the notorious hoodlum viceroy . I became sad and dreary . If only I could cry, I would . ”

“Puff…” I can’t keep the water in my mouth .

“Then, boss, you slaughtered men in front of my face . The scene in which dozens of heads fell still haunts me at night . ” The jest was gone from Carlos, “I marked you a man who has a thirst for blood . ”

“I remember your pale face and panic . Were you pretending?” I replied, “Were you thinking I was an a.s.shole?”

“I wasn’t pretending and you can’t stop me from thinking . ” said sly Carlos .

“What followed was I learned your impressive ways of dealing with things . You dared to rob the MMS, what else you dare not . ” Carlos stopped reading, “But I want you to know, boss, the soldiers like such a commander . They wors.h.i.+p you, they think you’re the best leader on this continent . ”

“What of it?” said I, “The best leader made mistakes . ”

“The clay city battle took the wors.h.i.+p to the highest point . ”

“Come again?”

“I won’t repeat that . Now, indeed, Luhrmann has a ma.s.sive amount of troops, goods . ” Carlos said with his eyes contacting mine, “But he does not have soldiers’ respect, nor does he have an army that would die for him . Our prior victory is enough to shock the rebels and enough to affect Luhrmann’s judgment of the whole picture . ”

“So to speak…” I grinned, “You’re very positive to go diplomatic during the war?”

“Of course . The only thing I feel pitiful is the early date of the king’s dancing party . I know many ladies will attend, and I’m a pretty good dancer .

“Uh-huh, you poor bachelor . ” I stretched my body, eyes on the beautiful relief on the roof, “Luhrmann, I pray for you . Don’t die before I kill you . ”

The next few days saw several rider squadrons march into the provinces adjoining Maple and Lissandra . Wherever those riders came, turmoil followed . They appeared in many places then reappeared near the viceroy’s mansion like ghosts . Local garrisons were useless to stop them .

I intended to only display my army’s power so I had strict order for the riders to not kill or rob or set any fire if there was no resistance .

I, on the other hand, wrote a letter to each nearby viceroy with sincerity and my own handwriting . It was an arduous work to be done, but if it meant that I could impress him . ”

“Not enough, boss . ” As I was drafting my letter, Carlos approached, “Add one more thing, all goods received from rebel leader Luhrmann are private properties, there is no need to turn in . ”

“Is it really necessary? That’s a lot of money . ” I said with agony . ”

“Oh, my wise commander will earn back all that gold overnight . It’s just pocket money deposited in their places . ”

“I’m not that kind of a commander . ”

Several days, Legion No . 3 under Moya’s commander has arrived and taken over the defense job of both provinces . Moya’s army was the best of all at defending . From this moment, the defense line of the 4 provinces that belonged to me has wrapped as one . I could finally spare some time for other businesses .

The rest of the 90, 000 army were all stationed outside of the city and ready to mobilize . As for its operation destination and duration, they depended on how much supplies I had .

“Supply… supply… supply…” This was how I talked during sleep according to Malphite .

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