Strategy is certainly important, but strength is even more crucial.
While these tactics might be useful for the Donic family, they don't solve the fundamental problem. If war breaks out, how many soldiers would the Donic family need to protect their interests amidst the turmoil of conflict?
Two thousand, three thousand, or ten thousand, or twenty thousand?
Arthas tidied the papers in his hand, picked up a charcoal pencil, and began to make rough calculations. Three hundred, five hundred, eight hundred, one thousand. No matter how you calculate it, it's only about three thousand people, less than four thousand. And of those, one thousand five hundred are Aruru mercenaries, and they're the mercenaries they plan to stop hiring at the end of the month.
“War is a ladder, but not everyone can climb it,” Arthas said with a sigh, spreading out the papers in his hand.
Yun Zhe suddenly felt that this statement was quite philosophical, and very much in line with the current situation. The war with the elves had led to a massive outflow of people, making it even more difficult to recruit a fully-staffed army that was already small.
It's hard to say whether Donic can afford another war like this now. Even more difficult to judge is whether, at this juncture, it should expand its military.
In the past, Serena would definitely have disagreed, and everyone felt it was unnecessary. What would be the point of having an extra thousand or two thousand people? But things are different now. Mithril has been discovered on their land, and saying it doesn't matter now seems a bit pretentious.
While the Donic family was worrying, the Galician royal family in the capital was in complete chaos. Their peaceful and prosperous rule over the past few years, coupled with their innovative tax system, had brought them considerable wealth. Of course, this also meant that the common people struggled to understand their good intentions, leading to constant commotion and unrest.
So when they heard that troops from other countries had invaded, the mentality of the common people underwent a slight change. They went from causing trouble every day to becoming honest and obedient. This was not because they wanted to cooperate with the Galician royal family to defend their homeland, but because they had completely given up and treated themselves as spectators.
Meanwhile, other dukes and marquesses were also beginning to stir, waiting to see how things would unfold. The Galician royal family was able to sense both situations because the results of their various summons and appeals for help had been unsatisfactory.
To make matters worse, they had just held a lavish royal wedding, which had cost them a considerable amount of cash. Now, their finances were running low.
At this point, they no longer had enough money to support a particularly protracted war.
Therefore, they plan to take the initiative and decide the outcome with a single strike.
The newly aristocratic Lunlang family, fresh from their grand wedding and upward social mobility, naturally took the lead in overseeing the entire operation. However, Leon Lunlang, who accepted this task, felt no sense of honor. Instead, upon receiving the order, he secretly wrote a will and entrusted it to his trusted secretary.
As for his son and daughter, he no longer trusted them much because of Adam's death.
The Galician royal family quickly assembled a force of over 50,000 men, which was not a small number in terms of sheer numbers. However, only one-third of these troops were regular royal soldiers. Of the remaining troops, one-third were mercenaries with their own agendas, and the rest were newly recruited soldiers and farmers with no combat experience or fighting spirit.
Upon seeing the composition of this force, Leonrenlang's mood was not exactly hopeful, but at least utterly despondent. Had it not been for the emperor's personal promise that the remaining 30,000 to 50,000 troops would soon be conscripted and mobilized, led by General Dolan Domingo and Marquis Juan Carlos, who had spent years fighting against orcs and barbarians, Leonrenlang would never have agreed to the attack.
The only hope for the Galician Royal Family and Leon Renlang now lies in the Marquis of Kurman's 20,000 men quickly reinforcing Fort Gular and establishing a foothold there. If he can hold Fort Gular, then his army will have considerable room to maneuver, using it as a base. Leon has even planned to send all the newly recruited soldiers and mercenaries to Fort Gular as cannon fodder, while he leads his elite troops in a flanking maneuver. Even if Belvaldo truly has 100,000 troops, he has no fear whatsoever.
But now many things depend on others, rather than being able to do them himself with absolute certainty. Leon found a military map and carefully observed each fortress on it. Then he realized with despair that after breaking through Gularburg, the western part of the empire was almost a flat plain. If there were any fortresses left, then Ordorf, a city nestled between mountains and a river, would be a favorable position for blocking attacks.
But this place… Leon smiled wryly. Ordorf had always been the place where the most fierce resistance against the capital was. The local governor, relying on his geographical advantage and years of cultivation, was already showing signs of wanting to declare himself king. If it weren't for the royal family's ruthless strategy of striking first, it would probably have been another wave of unrest that was difficult to quell.
Even more coincidentally, it was their own precious daughter, Catherine Lunlang, who prompted the royal family to strike first.
"What a coincidence..." Leon looked up and smiled bitterly.
While the royal family was grappling with this problem, in the Duke of Salder's conference room, a group of people were divided into two groups and were arguing fiercely.
The generals, led by Tedler, had already sat upright at one side of the table after Tedler's statement, "We simply obey orders; whether they tell us to advance or retreat is none of our concern." They watched their self-proclaimed clever staff members argue incessantly.
The crux of the argument wasn't whether or not to take advantage of the chaos to decisively replace Galicia—that was already agreed upon. The current disagreement lay in their strategy. The conservatives believed they should remain hidden behind everyone else, using the chaos to expand their territory, eliminate the surrounding marquises and earls, and then gradually take control. The radicals, on the other hand, wanted to seize an opportunity to strike directly, eliminate the external enemy in one fell swoop, and then use the resulting prestige to quickly overthrow the Galician family. As for the later chaos, they believed that with sufficient troops and supplies, victory was always possible.
Of course, some people think it would be better to act as a guide, make contact with Belvaldo in advance, and then have Belvaldo elect someone after Galicia is destroyed. At least they can get some land. As long as the territory is large, there will always be opportunities in the future.
Of course, this proposal was quickly rejected. The reason wasn't that Duke Salde had any principles, but rather that they were certain Belvaldo could not allow a presence on this land that could challenge them in the future.
Duke Salder was somewhat displeased. Everyone's ideas sounded rather dubious, yet it was impossible to reconcile both. Besides, they had been arguing for three days already. Three days was indeed too long for an old man.
"I heard that Serena always manages to escape danger because she has a man named Yun Zhe by her side who gives her advice. Why don't I have such a person by my side..." The Duke muttered to himself, quite unwilling.
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