The Anniversary Celebration Cannon Blast, Ten Thousand Gold Taels, Truly Not Just Empty Words

According to the battle plan drawn up by Lady Hood and her subordinates, once the Transians' operation, known as the "Anniversary Celebration," began, Great Reef Province was to eliminate the small merman clan closest to the border within three to five days. That would give them a quick foothold, after which they could advance into the territories of the other merman clans in the Savage Sea.

The best possible outcome was to resolve the merman threat in the southern lands with a twenty-day war. But in truth, Lady Hood had doubts about whether they could achieve such a glorious victory.

After all, the five merman clans numbered nearly a million in total, while even at full strength, the warriors they had gathered numbered only around thirty thousand.

That was a thirty-to-one difference in numbers!

Even with the merfolk's advantage in individual strength, it would be difficult to defeat so many enemies in twenty days. If it were that easy, Great Reef Province wouldn't have been plagued by this problem for so long.

So, from the merfolk governor's perspective, even if the Transians were formidable fighters, surely they couldn't all be the sort who woke up in the morning, tore a merman apart, and then went to breakfast—or who crushed a group of mermen before bed each night.

Still, Governor Hood had weathered the turmoil of the Sang Empire. She was certain the Transians could fight, so according to her plans, eliminating three merman clans by the end of the "Anniversary Celebration" would count as a great victory. The merfolk could deal with the remaining two on their own afterward. That would also fit neatly with Great Reef Province's postwar plans to commit manpower and resources to building an "undersea defense line."

Actually taking all the underwater territory occupied by the