How to Respond

After receiving the detailed battle report, Victor immediately began reading it. He needed to understand the situation on the battlefields throughout the Grand Duchy to make his own judgments.

Having received replenishment supplies, the Southern Marching Legion has recovered some of its fighting strength. Victor can now consider which battlefield the Southern Marching Legion should intervene in.

In the conference room of the Duchy Army headquarters in Sextus County, Viscount Borey summoned all the Legion Commander of the Duchy Legion, as well as several loyal nobles who served as Legion Commander of the Coalition of Nobles.

Everyone's expression was grim. Suddenly, Labia, the Legion Commander of the Seventh Legion, slammed his fist on the table in front of him. A loud bang was heard, and the entire room seemed to tremble.

He said in a harsh voice, "That Ursus guy ruined the Duchy's important affairs and destroyed an entire Duchy Legion. He must be held accountable!"

Kimberley, Legion Commander of the Fifth Legion, scoffed, "How can we investigate? The man is dead!"

"You!" Labia stood up, pointing a finger at Kimberley, as if venting his anger on Kimberley.

During this period, the conflict between the two men intensified. Because of the previous failure of their joint attack on White Earth City, Labia was frequently targeted by Kimberley.

Seeing the two men on the verge of battle, Viscount Borey was furious. The duchy was now facing its biggest crisis since the civil Civil War, and if not handled properly, it might really be defeated.

The thought of those War Department who had defeated the Fourth Legion suddenly appearing on the Sextus County battlefield makes one wonder if these two guys would still be arguing like this.

"Alright, you two, if you keep causing trouble, get out of here. I'll ask the His Grace the Grand Duke to replace the Legion Commander of the Fifth Legion and Seventh Legion."

Upon hearing what Viscount Borey said, Labia and Kimberley quickly fell silent and obediently sat down in their seats.

They knew Viscount Borey; he really might do that, especially since Grand Duke Mora always listened to his advice. They couldn't accept being stripped of his position Legion Commander. The two sat down sullenly, no longer looking at each other.

As for the two independent nobles who served as Legion Commander, they had an expression of watching a good show. Although they were also surprised by the sudden deterioration of the war situation in the Southern Region, they were happy to see two despicable guys fighting like dogs.

As Legion Commander in noble armies, they were of illustrious status and were mostly related to the Ducal House.

However, the regular legions of those duchies often regarded their legions as inferior beings, and unceremoniously ordered them to do all sorts of dirty, arduous, and extremely dangerous work.

Even worse, some would use Noble Legions as cannon fodder on the battlefield, sending them to the front lines to die.

Faced with such unfair treatment, they were filled with resentment and grievances, but even the Grand Duke himself chose to stand on the side of the Duchy's Regular Legion!

This means that no matter how hard they argue or how much they report the situation to their superiors, they cannot change the status quo.

Viscount Borey saw all this and became even more displeased. During this period, the Duchy had actually held the advantage on the main battlefield in Sextus County. After eliminating most of the Iron Knights, the gap in Cavalry strength between the Duchy and the Northern Alliance Army had been largely closed.

However, his use of the Noble Legions as bait created a significant rift between him and these Noble Legions. He tried to ease tensions with Noble Legions, but without much success.

As a result, Labia and Kimberley followed suit, often using the Noble Legions as cannon fodder and expendable pawns. Although they achieved some good results in this way, it made the two sides more alienated.

Viscount Borey really didn't want to deal with this mess. He missed the Count Lagos; if he were here, he probably could ease the situation. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister was still in Milan County in charge of the army's logistics and the operation of the duchy.

Viscount Borey Borre decided to stop thinking about these things and said directly, "The situation in the Southern Region has deteriorated so much that even Ursus has died in battle. Even if we wanted to investigate, there would be no way to do so. We might as well discuss how we should deal with the impact of this on us."

Kimberley, as Viscount Borey's friend and business partner, immediately chimed in. "Indeed, this matter is worth considering. Otherwise, if the Northern Alliance Army exposes it, we will be in a very passive position, and it may even affect the morale of our troops."

The other three agreed with Kimberley, but due to their inner resistance, they didn't speak. They just shook their heads, seemingly agreeing and disagreeing at the same time.

Viscount Borey almost laughed out of anger at these guys. "Stop playing dead, talk to me."

"Whoever doesn't speak up will have their unit responsible for covering my retreat in the next battle."

This was not good news, so Labia and the other two quickly began a normal discussion.

"It would be better to keep the news secret; as long as the soldiers don't know, that's enough!"

"You're dreaming. Don't you know how many Northern Alliance Army spies are in our ranks?"

You can't block it even if you want to; those spies can spread rumors everywhere!

"At that point, it won't just be one Duchy Legion being wiped out, but two, three, or even more Duchy Legion being annihilated."

"Then what do you suggest we do? The deed is done, and speaking out about it will definitely affect the morale of the troops."

"What should we do then? Should we launch a large-scale attack?"

"Do you think the Northern Alliance Army and Count Colt are fools? The fighting in the Southern Region is over now. If they just wait patiently, new troops will arrive and join them. At that point, they will definitely hold out."

After discussing it for a while, they couldn't come to any conclusion, and Viscount Borey didn't have any good ideas.

Just then, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open. Viscount Borey thought it was the guards outside who had something to report and was about to turn around and scold them for not disturbing him unless it was something important when he saw that it was Grand Duke Mora who entered the conference room.

"Your Majesty the Grand Duke!"

Everyone immediately stood up and bowed.

Mora asked, "Your Majesty, what brings you here?"

For some time now, Grand Duke Mora has not been involved in commanding the Duchy Army.

He almost never concerned himself with military affairs anymore, instead spending his days in the city indulging in a life of pleasure and debauchery with the maids who had come with him.

They often drank and made merry together, enjoyed song and dance performances, and even held various lavish banquets.

So the sudden appearance of Grand Duke Mora in front of them surprised these people.

Mora casually found a chair and sat down. "Are you discussing the war situation in the Southern Region?"

Have you reached any conclusions through discussion?

The group exchanged glances, and finally Viscount Borey spoke up, "I apologize, Your Majesty, but the situation is rather complicated. We are still discussing some issues."

"So they just couldn't come up with a solution!"

Mora interrupted Viscount Borey's explanation and continued, "Your battle report was delivered by the Silver Maple Secret Guard. You can learn a lot about their capabilities. The battle reports received by the Northern Alliance Army are definitely not as detailed as yours. You can use that part to your advantage."

Viscount Borey was momentarily at a loss as he watched Grand Duke Mora speaking so eloquently. How could His Majesty the Grand Duke, who never participated in command, say such things?

"Your Majesty, what do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's simple. They probably only know that the situation in the Southern Region has changed in their favor, but they certainly don't know the specific battle reports. They might make wrong judgments because of this, for example..."

Kimberley spoke first, "They'll strike first and send an army to attack us!"

We could feign weakness first, stretch the battle lines, and then launch a counterattack, replicating the tactics used to defeat the Iron Knights."

Mora nodded in satisfaction. "Good, that's it."

Seeing that Kimberley had received the Grand Duke's praise, Labia quickly chimed in, "What if they don't launch an attack first?"

Mora glared at Labia: "Then we'll have to think of something else."

This is just a suggestion for your reference; you're responsible for the specifics. I've said from the beginning that I would delegate authority to you. If it weren't for... never mind, you can figure it out yourselves!

After saying this, Mora got up to leave. At this moment, the two Noble Legions commanders quickly spoke up, "Your Majesty, our legion has been involved in various battles during this period, and all the nobles' private armies have suffered heavy losses. We hope that this time we will not be used as decoys again."

Viscount Borey and his companions were caught off guard when the two suddenly complained to the Grand Duke.

After listening, Mora said to Viscount Borey, "To win, we must all unite. I believe you will handle this well!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"