Since the nobles' core interests had not been touched, the reorganization proceeded fairly smoothly. Other than some criticism over military posts, there had been no major trouble.
The disputes over military posts were easy enough to handle. After all, this was not some regular army; there was no need to take it so seriously.
As Hudson understood it, to balance the interests of all parties, aside from the Fifth Army and the First Army, the other three armies had each been assigned several extra regimental designations despite not being at full strength.
The First Army was Count Pierce's direct force. Even if its men were not part of the Standing Army directly under his command, they were still his vassals. With their boss keeping them in line, naturally no one dared make a fuss.
The Fifth Army had simply been frightened by yesterday's battle. Many families had suffered heavy losses, leaving them without the means to stir up trouble even if they wanted to.
Otherwise, the position of commander of the Tenth Regiment would never have fallen to Hudson. Even if they merely needed someone to fill the slot, there were plenty more qualified than him.
Seniority mattered in noble circles as well. In a sense, that was one reason no one wanted to team up with him.
If Hudson had come from an illustrious family, or held a higher title, that would have been one thing. But he was merely a newly minted knight who had yet to receive a formal investiture. Serving under such a green youngster was simply too humiliating.
Others did not want to be his underlings, and Hudson was even less willing to become someone else's underling. Of course, no one overestimated themselves enough to try recruiting him either.
Hudson knew the soldiers under his command were a motley rabble, but that did not mean everyone else knew it too. In the eyes of outsiders, the several hundred troops directly loyal to him still possessed some fighting strength.
It was almost absurd. Other transmigrators pretended to be pigs to eat tigers, but for him, it had become pretending to be a tiger to scare pigs.
The reorganization had only just been completed, and before they could adapt, Count Pierce impatiently gave the order to set out.
From the overall perspective, there was clearly nothing wrong with that decision. Knowing that the Skull Society possessed the Blood Moon Horn, they naturally could not give the enemy more time to prepare.
But when it came to actual execution, problems sprang up one after another. Having only just undergone preliminary reorganization and still not adapted, the Noble Allied Forces were clearly incapable of launching a distant campaign.
Still, that had little to do with Hudson. The Fifth Army's assignment was to transport provisions. Under normal circumstances, they would not be sent to the battlefield.
Judging from his colleagues' reactions, Hudson knew this was a miserable assignment. If they did it well, it was only expected; if anything went wrong, they would bear the responsibility; and if the war went badly, they might even end up taking the blame.
As for military merits, Hudson had never heard of any being awarded to grain transport units. There was no point talking about the importance of escorting supplies. On the Aslant Continent, military merit was calculated by one thing—battle results.
Anyone could transport provisions. After all, people did not have a habit of raiding supply lines. At least, in Hudson's memories, no historical record mentioned anyone taking the initiative to send troops to cut off enemy supplies.
Ninety-nine percent of wars were wars between gentlemen. Everyone followed the rules, and few engaged in dirty tricks.
Of course, the Rebel Army might be an exception. Unbound by the rules of the noble game, they often did unexpected things.
But rebel commanders were usually hastily shoved into their positions, and their military abilities were generally poor. Most were suppressed before they even had time to learn through actual combat.
Occasionally, a few outstanding military talents emerged, only to be branded with labels like "despicable" and "shameless," nailed to history's pillar of shame, and scorned by the world. Their actual deeds, instead, went unrecorded.
"Commander, this is simply too much! They even claim it is for our benefit. If this is what they call looking after us, then all our previous sacrifices were for nothing..."
Baron McNamey's words were only the beginning. The regimental commanders immediately began voicing their opinions, condemning the Governor's Mansion's unscrupulous decision.
Although the Fifth Army had rendered tremendous service in the previous battle, they had ultimately failed to capture the Rebel Army's leaders.
That little merit, shared among them all, was clearly not enough to justify claiming a share of the unclaimed lands after the war.
Compared with the other nobles, the Fifth Army actually held an early advantage. The correct move now was to follow the main force into further campaigns and maintain that advantage.
Even if they could not play a decisive role in the coming battles, merely tagging along and claiming some credit would still allow them to compete after the war.
The mission of escorting provisions appeared to be consideration for the Fifth Army, but in truth it excluded them from the feast of dividing the spoils. No wonder everyone reacted so fiercely.
Chers raised a hand to stop the arguing, then sighed. "I know about these problems too, but the Second, Third, and Fourth Armies are jealous of our military merits and have joined forces to push us aside.
"And among the five armies, our Fifth Army is at the bottom in strength. Naturally, the miserable task of transporting provisions fell onto us.
"But do not worry. I have already appealed to the Governor. He promised that once we finish transporting the supplies, he will let us join the battle."
Hearing that explanation, Hudson rolled his eyes. He did not believe Chers had failed to see through such a simple attempt at sowing discord.
Without Count Pierce's tacit approval, how could mere exclusion have been enough to leave the Fifth Army out in the cold?
Knowing it was one thing, but this was an open scheme from the start. Governor Pierce had used land grants as bait, stirring everyone's greed and jealousy. Dividing the Noble Allied Forces was only a natural consequence.
For all Hudson knew, the army commander standing before them and sharing their outrage had already been secretly bought off by Count Pierce. After all, buying off one person was far easier than buying off an entire group.
Seeing through it did not help. The situation was what it was, and not something a minor figure like Hudson could influence. The smartest thing to do now was play dumb and wait for events to unfold.
Even when escorting provisions, the Tenth Regiment, with the largest number of men, still had an advantage over the other regiments. If anyone was going to make trouble, the others would do so first. He could afford to remain calm.
"Commander, you actually believe that nonsense?
"The Rebel Army has already suffered heavy losses beneath Ethel Fortress. No matter how cheap cannon fodder may be, rebuilding their forces will still take time.
"The Blood Moon Horn may be powerful, but it has many restrictions as well. Besides, that evil artifact has been sealed for over three hundred years. Without one or two million living beings as sacrifices, it cannot recover at all.
"As long as we move quickly enough, the Rebel Army will have no time to make a comeback. A force hastily gathered together probably could not withstand a single charge from the allied forces.
"Those rats in the Skull Society are all cowards. Once they sense something amiss, they will flee a thousand miles away at once, making them impossible to guard against.
"Even if Count Pierce fulfills his promise, there still has to be enemies on the battlefield for us to kill!"
The one who spoke up in rebuttal was Baron Brogitt. Hudson saw unwillingness and fury in his eyes.
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