Xiao was the supreme commander of this Shatla Expeditionary Force. Another man had come along as well: Joyce.
This time, however, Joyce served only as Xiao's adviser. His successive defeats had sent his standing in Shatla plummeting.
Had Shatla's leadership not reviewed the previous battle afterward and concluded that the fault truly did not lie with Joyce's command, this family that had long flourished in Shatla politics would likely have faced a fierce offensive from Duke.
After all, no political establishment, whatever its ideology, could tolerate a family with such tremendous influence over both military and political affairs.
Joyce knew it himself. Had the defeat and death of his daughter, the undefeated Valkyrie, not already weakened the Pierre Family once, his own failure would surely have been made much of.
But the Pierre Family was not Shatla's only great military-political family. To maintain a balance among Shatla's various powers, the Pierre Family needed to be weakened, not eliminated.
Duke's methods were masterful in this regard. He supported a group of newcomers to establish a Leader Faction answerable solely to the Supreme Leader while suppressing the great families whose prestige was soaring, keeping Shatla's political establishment diverse without letting it become bloated, all under the influence of his will.
Xiao was a leading figure in the Leader Faction, a trusted subordinate Duke had personally promoted. His youth, immense potential, and formidable strength were his greatest assets.
This time, Duke had not only placed the elite troops of one of Shatla's Three Peaks under Xiao's command, but also assigned Joyce, the head of a long-established Military House, as his adviser. That alone showed how seriously Duke took this operation.
Joyce understood why. Who could have imagined that the once-obscure Mechanicus would have such a tremendous impact on the balance of power in