Morale Plummets

Victor was delighted when the clerk told him how much they had gained from the operation.

With these supplies, I can expand the Southern Marching Legion a little. The two groups of Duchy Army soldiers captured in Ironvine Territory and Blackwater City will make just the recruits I need.

They're all regular Duchy Army soldiers, so their quality is decent. Between the two groups, there are over ten thousand prisoners. Once I weed out the old and weak and pick the best, I should have enough to equip at least two or three regiments without drawing on the territory's current manpower.

They won't be able to fight in major battles, but they'll be easier to control than the Coalition of Nobles. They'll do fine as garrison troops alongside the logistics units, freeing up more of my main forces for the front.

Besides, Jackson and Knight Jack have been deputy regimental commanders for too long. It's time they moved up. If they haven't become regimental commanders by the end of the war, it'll be hard to grant them titles afterward.

But many of these soldiers are Freemen from the Duchy's direct territory. I'll need to screen them carefully. Wright County locals would be best; they'll be easier to relocate to Golden Sunflower Territory.

After this expansion, the territory's army will have reached its limit. I'll probably need to reorganize it and cut its numbers after the war.

Victor had already begun planning for the postwar period. Given how the Civil War stood, the Duchy could no longer win.

During the fighting along the Carter Mountains, the Duchy had still had a slim chance of victory when a detached force nearly broke into the Northern Alliance Army's heartland.

But after the Raine Kingdom Navy attacked the western region and Victor took Blackwater