Army Gathering
"... Your Excellency, that concludes the entire account of this incident."
After Michael escorted Viscount Trik and his men back to their lodgings, he returned to report to Victor.
After listening to Michael's words, Victor rubbed his head and said, "Very good. Overall, you've followed my ideas. However, your treatment of Blacklin was indeed a bit inappropriate. He is, after all, a prominent noble family in the Eastern Region with considerable family power."
"Your Excellency, given their proactive and hostile stance towards us, I feel it would be too lenient to let them off so easily."
Your order was for me to take advantage of Viscount Trik's selection of servants to expel all the influential prisoners from the camp, thereby reducing instability. This task has been accomplished.
But I think we can do more. This time we captured more than 5,000 people, which is a quarter of our total forces.
We have no way of sending so many prisoners back to the Northlands. We can only manage them on the spot. In order to prepare for the next battle, we cannot do whatever we want with them.
To guard this prisoner-of-war camp, we have dispatched two infantry detachments and also transferred some Logistics Department, totaling 2,000 men.
This directly affected our future combat strength, but the guard team formed by the few Serf Soldiers captured by Regimental Commander James gave me a new idea.
Less than half of these prisoners were from the territory's standing army; the rest were Serf Soldiers, who had no fighting ability and were easy to manage.
Moreover, these Serf Soldiers had no loyalty to their territory, and the reason they still obeyed the orders of their former lords was merely due to the inertia of their previous thinking.
We can completely change their mindset and try arming some Serf Soldiers to guard these prisoners, thus reducing the number of our garrison troops as much as possible.
Hearing this, Victor was also surprised. "Michael, the fact that you can think of these things shows that you've really grown a lot and are no longer just thinking about charging forward like before!"
Michael blushed and scratched the back of his head after being told that by Victor. Seeing this, Victor smiled knowingly. Michael had indeed grown a lot, but his little gestures were still the same as before.
When Victor went south, he brought all the Night Squads with him. Many officials in the territory and his father Wembley advised him to increase the number of guards, so Victor directly attached the Night Squads to his personal guard, and Michael was given the position of Guard Squad.
Michael had served as Victor's orderly and was friends with Little Paru, so he was well-liked in the Guards. Since the position of Guards Captain was vacant, Victor simply made Michael the acting Guards Captain.
This time, Victor assigned Michael to handle Viscount Trik and the prisoner-of-war camp, actually to train him. After all, Michael used to be known for not liking to study and preferring to practice combat skills, which is why Victor later arranged for him to be the captain of the Dark Night Squad.
Now that Michael has become the acting captain of the guard and is considered one of Victor's men, he can't be allowed to be so irresponsible. So Victor assigned him this task, and to his surprise, Michael completed it so well and even came up with new ideas.
Victor thought Michael's suggestion was worth a try. "In that case, Michael, since the Civil War, you can handle these matters as the captain of the guard. If you need anything, I'll give you a note, and you can coordinate with Lodan."
Upon hearing this, Michael knew that the Viscount had agreed to his plan, and he was very happy. "Your Excellency, rest assured, I will handle the prisoner-of-war camp as soon as possible and reduce our garrison troops."
Michael then left Victor's tent. Victor shook his head as he watched Michael leave in high spirits. "The kids from back then have all grown up and have their own ideas now."
Victor knows Michael quite well, after all, he is also his disciple, having studied under him along with Little Paru. Now, Michael's idea is definitely not his own; Little Paru is probably involved as well.
"Whether it's for credit or simply to help me solve the problem, the fact that they have this perspective at least shows that my education back then was indeed effective."
Victor didn't dwell on it any further; he had other things to attend to at the moment.
He opened a letter on his desk; it was intelligence that had just been delivered by Sodoma, brought by a fast ship secretly sent by Viscount Sonanda.
The letter contained a wealth of information; Viscount Sonanda had compiled a list of all the military forces of the duchy in the Eastern Region.
"The Coastal Defense Fleet led by Viscount Sonanda has joined forces with the fleets of other Suffolk County nobles, and now a massive fleet of more than 100 ships is heading toward the vicinity of Rotten Tree Beach."
This naval fleet is alright; it's less than twice the size of mine, and I have more large and new ships, so the gap between the two sides isn't too big.
Meanwhile, in Sunset City, the Duchy's First Legion had already set off, with the Great Oak Territory's army also advancing towards this location, a total of eight regiments.
The remaining Noble Army in Suffolk County have now assembled and are heading from the noble territories to the north, numbering approximately four regiments and several men.
These two units are expected to arrive here around the day after tomorrow.
The Noble Army of the other two counties are also marching here, and a legionary force has gathered in Cambridge County, which is only five days away.
Because of an agreement with the two viscounts of Olive and White Asparagus, both families in Boler County have used various excuses to delay sending troops. In addition, due to the aftermath of the battle at the end of last year, the nobles of the entire county have only mobilized three regiments of troops, which will take six days to arrive.
After these troops arrived, together with the forces currently in front of me, the total force was more than 100 men.
Phew, no wonder Count Colt made me open up a second front here.
Even just delaying this massive army would be a great achievement for me, but I want more.
Fortunately, with the cooperation of Count Black and the support of family allies, the disparity in troop strength on my side wasn't so significant, leaving me with many opportunities to maneuver.