However, the discussion about the internal power struggles within the Raine Kingdom soon ended. A messenger reported to the two men that the Northern Alliance Army, the troops dispatched by Two Rivers County, and the logistical units were all ready to depart at any time.
James, Alex, and Victor naturally stopped their discussion. Alex was delighted that the Allied Army had everything so well in hand.
Although this was partly due to the deterrent posed by Victor's troops, it also showed, to some extent, that the Northern Alliance Army was now far better organized than before. It was no longer the rather loose force it had been during his father's tenure.
At least according to his current investigations, all the private armies of the Northern Alliance Army's nobles had begun professionalizing to varying degrees.
Since the end of the civil war, although every noble's territory had carried out large-scale troop reductions, the proportion of professional soldiers and standing troops within their private armies had risen rapidly.
Previously, standing troops might have made up less than a tenth of the private armies under many Northern Frontier nobles. Now, after three or four years of development, that proportion had climbed to half or even more.
Although this had reduced the Northern Alliance Army's overall troop strength, its fighting power was on the rise, so Alex was very confident that it could defeat the Barbarians.
All these changes had actually been brought about by Victor as well. Many Northern Frontier nobles had copied the mobilization system he had established within his territory, consisting of a standing army and a massive militia force.
Compared with Two Rivers County, their territories were as far apart in strength as heaven and earth. Still, through their grassland entrepôt trade with the Raine Kingdom over the years, they