Revenge
If you can't solve the problem, solve the problem by targeting the people who created it. The Moxi Duchy is powerless against the Beastfolk army that started it all, so they can only start with their own people.
Looking out the window, after hesitating for a long time, Chris IX said helplessly, "According to Marshal Hodge's suggestion, we will carry out a scorched earth policy."
Tell the nobles that the Beastfolk army is coming. The darkest hour for the duchy is about to descend; prepare them.
If the Alpha Kingdom could survive the invasion of the Beastfolk army, so can we.
There was no time to rush either the transport of grain or the repair of the fortress.
Let the serfs be displaced!
There's no need to leave everyone behind to perish. Except for the able-bodied men left to defend the city, the rest should be moved south.
The nobles along the way were to provide them with supplies, and all expenses would be settled between the duchy and the nobles.
Regarding the migration of serfs, the duchy will only offer suggestions, not force them. If the food problem can be solved, all the serfs can be left behind.
Almost all the castles and fortresses in the occupied territories have fallen. It has become clear that our preparations were insufficient to withstand the Beastfolk onslaught.
Scattered garrisons will only make the city easily defeated by the enemy. Instead, allow nobles from different regions to unite in their respective prefectures and fortify a single stronghold.
Similarly, no orders will be given. If one believes themselves to be exceptionally strong, they are perfectly capable of defending their own castle alone, or even launching a preemptive strike against the Beastfolk army.
Apart from the mandatory scorched-earth policy, all other orders were suggestions, which is enough to prove the inner conflict of Chris IX.
Scorched earth is a strategic resource. If we don't clear the crops from the fields ourselves as soon as possible, it will be too late when the Beastfolk army arrives.
No matter how heavy the losses are, it's better than letting the enemy benefit. The harvested grain is not ripe enough to be stored, but it can at least be used to feed livestock, which can somewhat make up for the losses.
Relocating serfs was a massive undertaking. Judging from the areas where scorched earth measures were implemented, the number of people who needed to be relocated was as high as one million.
In feudal times, this was undoubtedly a very crazy decision. Deep down, even Chris IX wasn't sure if he could accomplish it.
Especially since the able-bodied men were left behind on the front lines, only the elderly, women, and children were evacuated. The evacuation involved walking over a thousand miles from north to south, resulting in an astronomical number of casualties.
Even heavy losses are better than being wiped out by the Beastfolk. Although he didn't say it outright, Chris IX's inner turmoil was evident in his actions.
Even the King doesn't have faith in his own country. If this news gets out, it'll surely bring tears to the eyes of all the nobles of the Moxi Duchy at the front lines.
While it may seem that the relocation of serfs was merely a necessary measure to solve the food problem, in reality, it was still aimed at preserving manpower.
In Chris IX's view, with a breach in the defenses, it was only a matter of time before the several flat northern provinces fell.
The only region that could put up a fight was the southern province of the principality. By trading space for time and resisting step by step, they might be able to hold out until reinforcements from the Human Alliance arrived.
When the time comes to launch a counterattack and recover the lost territory, these serfs who have migrated south will be the main force for post-war reconstruction.
The serfs should be preserved as much as possible, and the nobles, who are the foundation of the duchy, should be saved even more.
With the precedent of the Alpha Kingdom as a precedent, Chris IX was quite confident that with the help of the Human Alliance, he could reclaim lost territory and regain his ancestral heritage.
The strategic plans being made now are already paving the way for the future.
The Moxi Duchy was preparing for the worst, and Crown Prince Caesar was suddenly under increasing political pressure.
Although no one explicitly stated it, the fall of Bertley Fortress was inevitably linked to the slow progress of the expeditionary force.
It's easy to imagine that once the news gets back to China, he'll likely be labeled as someone who disregards the bigger picture and acts unilaterally.
If timely remedial measures are not taken, and the strategic mission entrusted by the kingdom fails, all the prestige he has accumulated in the early stages will not be enough.
"Are the Moxi people all useless? The Beastfolk tore a hole in them so quickly. They're practically paper lake's defenses."
Now that Bertley Fortress has fallen, will Terence fall next, or perhaps even Dapes?
His heartfelt rant is enough to prove that Crown Prince Caesar was truly enraged. Judging from his furious expression, an uninformed person might mistake him for the Crown Prince of the Moxi Duchy.
"Your Highness, the Beastfolk are determined to conquer a fortress, and it is almost impossible for a single noble family to defend it."
The Moxi people made a mistake in their judgment, underestimating the Beastfolk's determination to take Bertley Fortress and failing to provide timely reinforcements.
Slow action and inadequate control over the front-line battle situation are also their chronic problems.
The fall of the Augsburg defenses and the loss of Bertley Fortress both confirm this.
The Moxi people are unreliable in critical moments; we must learn from this lesson and never allow our army to be trapped in an isolated city.
Count Jose offered his earnest advice.
While seemingly discussing the issue of garrisoning troops, the conversation was actually a veiled message to Crown Prince Caesar: the Moxi people are unreliable, and you should quickly abandon that unreliable plan!
Good news!
Good news!
The sudden sound of "good news" interrupted their conversation. Immediately afterwards, a guard handed a sealed document to Crown Prince Caesar.
After a cursory glance at the contents of the victory report, Crown Prince Caesar's gloomy face suddenly brightened.
This "good news" came just in time.
Having just fallen Bertley Fortress, he received this pivotal news of victory, and now he could directly retort to anyone who criticized the expeditionary force for inaction.
The encirclement and annihilation of a full-strength Behemoth Cavalry regiment in open field battle was not only the first such feat since the start of the war, but also a rare achievement even over a period of several hundred years.
It's not that the human army can't fight; it's mainly about open field battles. To achieve a complete annihilation, one must have the right timing, location, and support.
Given the fighting strength of the Behemoth Cavalry, as long as they don't make any mistakes, they can break through and escape even if they can't win.
For a fully-strength Behemoth Cavalry regiment to be surrounded and annihilated in the open is simply pure bad luck.
"Count, you see! The invincible Beastfolk army is nothing special, not as powerful as the Moxi people say."
As they spoke, Crown Prince Caesar had already handed the report of victory to Count Jose. Ultimately, he was still too young and lacked composure, his inner thoughts written all over his face.
After glancing at the contents of the victory report, Count Jose was also shocked, but quickly recovered.
With this good news, their political predicament vanished instantly.
However, he completely ignored the criticisms leveled at Crown Prince Caesar. If the Beastfolk army weren't so powerful, the three northern kingdoms wouldn't have been constantly on the defensive.
"Your Highness, please send the news back home as soon as possible! It would be best to deliver the victory report to the Royal Capital before news of the fall of Bertley Fortress arrives."
That's how politics works: you try to amplify your strengths to cover up problems you don't want to expose.
"Um!"
"Our troubles are over, but we still need to take the Moxi people's plea for help seriously."
If they collapse prematurely, even the most brilliant tactical achievements we make cannot cover up our strategic failure.
The order is to increase the marching speed to forty li starting tomorrow, and strive to reach the front line as soon as possible.
The Behemoth Clan they sent someone to warn Count Hudson to be wary of the Beastfolk's retaliation.
When faced with self-interest, the conflict between the two men was utterly insignificant.
Fierce generals always enjoy more privileges.
Compared to the constant defeats of others, Hudson's two consecutive victories have significantly elevated his standing in the eyes of Crown Prince Caesar.
Before this, he wished Hudson would suffer a major setback, but now that's no longer the case.
Shared interests led Crown Prince Caesar to abandon his initial prejudices. Even if a rift still existed, it would remain deep in his heart.
They all learned it from their fathers. Even the powerful Caesar III was often rendered speechless by criticism at military conferences.
Under a system of inheritance monopolized by the aristocracy, the pool of talented individuals is inherently small.
Those who possess the ability to cultivate outstanding generals are the large and medium-sized noble families who control core resources; there are only about a hundred or so such families in the entire Alpha Kingdom.
With such a small pool of talent, it is already quite remarkable that they were able to cultivate a few capable generals.
Expecting them to possess exceptional emotional intelligence in addition to their fighting skills is simply too unrealistic.
Having been exposed to this environment since childhood, one's adaptability naturally improves. With the threat of the Beastfolk army present, the primary concern now is being able to fight; other issues can be postponed.
As for after the war, everyone went home, and only a few remained in the army to continue serving.
Most of the nobles and generals returned to their fiefdoms, and they might not see the King for eight or ten years at a time, a classic case of out of sight, out of mind.
At the Behemoth camp, Crown Prince Alex's face was terribly grim. A full-strength Behemoth Cavalry regiment had vanished from the battlefield.
Such an unprecedented event, encountered by a commander whose prestige was already insufficient, was undoubtedly like pouring cold water into a pot of boiling oil.
"I only sent Royeyinia to lead some men to check out the Bearmen camp, how could they suddenly disappear?"
Even among the Five Great Imperial Courts, competition is inevitable. When a major explosion occurred at the Bearmen's camp, each clan naturally sent people to investigate.
Sending people over from the air to scout would be too impolite. If they were mistaken for "human spies" and killed, there would be no way to reason with them.
The cautious Crown Prince Alex dispatched a cavalry regiment. Theoretically, such a force would be sufficient to handle any unforeseen situation.
"Your Highness, a skirmish took place between our camp and the bear-men's camp."
However, most of the traces on the battlefield have been destroyed, making it impossible to directly determine the identities of the combatants.
Judging from the location where Royeyinia sent out the distress signal, the two locations almost overlap, which roughly suggests that the side in the battle was his cavalry regiment.
About three or four hours after the explosion, the Bearmen sent out their last remaining Eaglemen to investigate, and we found several Eaglemen corpses nearby.
According to intelligence from our sources, the Bearmen suffered heavy losses in the attack on Bertley Fortress, with one main legion almost completely wiped out and no fewer than 30,000 auxiliary troops lost.
In addition, several other powerful individuals fell victim to the enemy's scheme and remained in Bertley City forever.
It can be preliminarily determined that the Bearmen were not responsible. The other three royal courts have not recently deployed their main forces, so they can also be ruled out as suspects.
It can be basically confirmed that the cavalry regiment led by Royeyinia was ambushed by the elite human army, which led to their tragic fate.
Just at the time of their incident, a human army passed by nearby. It was the First Army of the Alpha Kingdom's Expeditionary Force and the Newly Formed 23rd Legion of the Moxi people.
These two forces have been operating together for some time now. The last time the Silver Moon Imperial Court sent troops, they encountered them on the way and were almost completely wiped out.
With their strength, if they had made prior preparations, they could have easily wiped out one of our cavalry regiments.
Prince Butzwig analyzed the situation with a serious expression.
Royeyinia was someone he had personally promoted, Behemoth Cavalry Regiment he led was also his old subordinates—truly his core force.
He did nothing but go out on a single mission and his entire army was wiped out, which significantly weakened his strength.
If he hadn't been certain it was a coincidence, he would have suspected Crown Prince Alex of using someone else to do his dirty work and taking the opportunity to eliminate his supporters.
Of course, this is just wishful thinking. Although the internal strife within the Behemoth Clan was bloody, they were not so despicable as to hand over an entire cavalry regiment to the enemy for the sake of internal conflict.
The entire Behemoth Clan less than 300,000. The loss of a thousand-strong group at once is a major event that needs to be reported to the Imperial Court.
Crown Prince Alex, as the supreme commander, is equally culpable for what happened.
After a long silence, Crown Prince Alex slowly said, "Your Highness, I'm entrusting this matter to you."
Locate them, kill them. Use their heads to honor our fallen warriors!
The truth is not important; the key is to find a target to eliminate and give an explanation to the country.
"Your Highness, the enemy's location has been determined. Judging from the direction they are heading, they are likely heading to Flying Bear Fortress for a troop rotation."
Judging by the timeline, they're almost there. Intercepting them halfway is too late.
Flying Bear Fortress has a history even longer than the Moxi Duchy. Its fortifications are extremely strong, and a direct assault would not be possible overnight.
Furthermore, we must remain vigilant regarding the Bertley Fortress. The foundation of the old human noble family should not be underestimated.
My Behemoth Clan are all cavalry, not skilled in siege warfare. It's best to find an opportunity to settle things with the enemy in open field battles.
Moreover, Flying Bear Fortress is not within our jurisdiction; a large-scale cross-border operation would require negotiations with the Bearmen.
Prince Butzwig resolutely refused.
Knowing there's a pitfall, yet still jumping into it, is definitely not the act of a wise person.
Unable to leverage the strengths of the Behemoth Cavalry, relying solely on a ragtag army to attack a heavily fortified enemy stronghold— Butzwig isn't completely out of his mind.
Tasks that are destined to be impossible should naturally not be accepted.