I will be crowned king

Regarding the thoughts of the ruling lord, Roman's attitude is still non-committal - all the intelligence indicates that now is definitely not the best time to fight the empire, but since Ludwig insists, of course he will not object, and he has to think of everything possible ways to help him achieve his goals.

After a brief silence, the ice-like man finally spoke: "Indeed... if we can lure the enemy's main force to a specific battlefield, organize a battle of unprecedented scale, and cause huge casualties, it should be feasible."

After the words fell, Ludwig's tight lips showed a smile.

"But the premise is that the National Defense Army must be further reorganized and trained to increase the total strength to 200,000... Before that, each standing army must be stabilized as much as possible and block the empire's offensive as much as possible." Roman felt something was wrong. He quickly added:

"In addition, we should try to delay the decisive battle as much as possible. Even if we follow the most basic combat principles, we should not let the enemy get their wish, attack when they want to attack and retreat when they want to retreat."

"I understand all this. Even if you don't take the initiative, I plan to do it."

Ludwig waved his hand and poured Roman a cup of coffee very politely: "In short, our most important task at this stage is to further strengthen the base camp, enhance the strength of the National Guard Army, and at the same time deepen the control of various border defense lines and fortresses; To show the empire a tight defense is to give the illusion of not taking the initiative to attack, so as to avoid being discovered by them that we are reorganizing the army and waiting for an opportunity for a decisive battle."

"Your Excellency is wise." Roman, who remained calm, secretly breathed a sigh of relief:

"Although the empire is coming fiercely, the dilemma the emperor faces this time is actually no easier than Clovis, who has just lost his king. If the war drags on, he will soon expose his fatal weaknesses."

Yes, that weakness is that the empire must fight quickly, otherwise if it is unable to punish Clovis for "violating the rules of the world of order", the shameless Herred royal family will really be in danger, and may even lose the throne because of this. !

This is not surprising. Originally, the Hered family was only one of the blood descendants of the seven knights. Theoretically, the probability of "birth" of the emperor should be only one in seven. In theory, it is not that there are no heirs from other families who have been crowned. Emperor's situation happened.

Therefore, as long as Clovis can drag out the war without showing any weakness, then the prestige of the Hereid royal family will be gone, and the possibility of the empire destroying itself without an attack is very high.

This is exactly what Truth will do its best to think of, a way to break the "rules"... The disparity in size and strength cannot be reversed, but the new and transformed Clovis will no longer just fight for the king, she will fight for Fight for yourself.

As for what kind of power will emerge from a country that is freed from the shackles of the name "King" and fully awakened... The Free Confederacy, the new country born on the land of the new world, has already made sufficient arguments.

But this kind of words obviously cannot be used to convince Ludwig, so Roman can only find another way... Moreover, after following Franz's eldest son for so long, he also feels that the opponent's "grand army tactics" are indeed feasible. If the weak side cannot rely on defensive counterattacks and use vigorous decisive battles to destroy the strong war strength, how can it turn the tide of the war?

Use a vigorous decisive battle to determine the fate of the old continent and even the whole world... Is there any more amazing feat than this?

"In addition, even if it is to stabilize your authority as the ruling party, I still don't agree with your idea of ​​deliberately leaving Anson Bach aside and acting alone." Roman said solemnly:

"Not counting the Storm Legion, the ranger legion in his hands has expanded to more than 50,000. In addition, there is also the legion of his ally Hantu. Making good use of this force will greatly alleviate the military shortcomings of the National Protectorate Army, and even use it to fight Try to suppress the standing legions on the border."

"I agree with this. If Anson is deliberately excluded, it will look as if I am deliberately causing division."

Ludwig nodded, his expression even emotional: "Actually... putting aside his position, he is the kind of ally that is absolutely reassuring. You never have to worry about anything going wrong with him."

Yes, except for his unknown perfect plans... Roman nodded slightly.

Ludwig took a sip of coffee and turned his attention back to the map with a sigh; he didn't understand that now was not the best time for a decisive battle, but the battle situation was changing rapidly, and no one could be sure that the standing legions on the border would not be persuaded. Being seduced to the side of the empire, he really thought that he was a righteous anti-rebellion army, defending the stability of the ordered world.

But he also admitted that Roman's point of view was indeed very reasonable, or that the truth behind him would... indeed be one of the few forces that he could believe in and rely on.

If even their all-pervasive intelligence network concludes that now is not the right time to start a war, no matter how confident Ludwig is, he has to consider whether he is really absolutely sure.

So after finalizing the decision to "temporarily avoid war", Ludwig immediately started what he was best at: coordinating and building.

Different from the construction of a siege position from scratch outside the Thunder Castle Fortress, and the construction of the Cliff Fortress to attack the base camp of the Iser Elf Kingdom, this time it is necessary to use an entire province as the core to control all the defense lines and fortresses on the border. big project.

At present, the Red Moon Valley province where he is located has one of the most dense rivers in the country and abundant water resources. It is one of Clovis's important traditional agricultural areas. It is mainly responsible for providing high-quality grains to the kingdom and is an important "bread basket".

This has to be mentioned in the Kingdom of Clovis's definition and division of its own regions: Needless to say, the central province is an important political center, economic center and productivity core of the kingdom, and with it as the core, the kingdom is divided into four parts. It can be roughly classified as the west providing food, the east providing livestock and meat, the north undertaking marine industries such as minerals, fisheries, shipbuilding, ocean trade, etc., and the south developing forestry and plantation economies, especially grapes, cotton, and sugar. Lord.

There is also a small episode, that is, because the South was conquered the latest, it will bear the most taxes. Once the conscription begins, it will basically start from them; because conscription in the west and north will affect food supply and important The ocean trade of the South is "insignificant" and "dispensable" in comparison.

Therefore, when Ludwig began to establish a base camp in the Red Moon River Valley Province and organized recruitment, he immediately found that the supply of soldiers here was extremely abundant... After many years of Clovis war, the western part closest to the war front line was not affected too much. Accept There are many young people who have gone through reserve training but have not been drafted into the army.

As for the problem of how to ensure grain production due to the reduced labor force in the countryside, Ludwig's solution was simple and crude: optimize storage and transportation.

According to what he obtained after investigating and sending people to visit, although the western provinces provided a large amount of grain to the kingdom, the influence here from the central provinces was not deep, and the local nobles were not particularly special. Strong, small pieces of land are scattered in the hands of a large number of rich farmers. When they pay for grain, they often need to be responsible for transportation and storage. Not only is it inefficient and difficult to manage, the losses are also quite serious.

In addition, important positions in local towns and villages are controlled by nobles, and false reporting of figures and "intentional loss" are almost the norm. This leads to an absurdly high "loss rate" during grain storage and transportation, almost as high as 50:50. Degree.

So Ludwig directly used the name of power to send "special envoys" to various towns in the Red Moon Valley Province, called inspectors. In fact, he directly seized power from the local town council and snatched the keys to the granary; and the dispatches had just been drafted. The local recruits formed a new grain collection team and were responsible for grain transportation.

At the same time, Ludwig also raised the price of grain, mobilized horse-drawn carriages and ships, and built a large number of small docks along the river to facilitate grain transportation.

In addition, he also heard that many provinces in the north were beginning to see the emergence of "steam boats" that could be used on inland rivers. They did not have a deep draft and were very powerful, making them very suitable for transporting bulk cargo, so he wrote a letter to Sophia in Clovis City. , begging my dear sister to find a way to purchase a batch.

In addition, in order to reduce logistical pressure, Ludwig also mobilized soldiers to build small military factories and grain processing plants around the base camp, as well as garment factories, shoe factories, and even built several smelting furnaces, as planned. The scale can fully meet the metallurgical needs of the four western provinces and reduce the local price of metal products.

As for the source of craftsmen, land requisition and the infrastructure required for various factories...there is no need to worry about these. All of them were directly requisitioned from the original local public property of the Osteria royal family. Even Ludwig's " "The Base Camp" was originally a luxurious palace built by the royal family here.

While carrying out large-scale construction projects, he also did not miss the plan to win over the officer group... The royal family has been wiped out, and the old War Department has also been wiped out. The control of the new War Department is not enough to firmly control all the standing corps in its own hands, especially They are those large legions with independent strongholds and fortresses. Almost all of them have temporarily become the "personal property" of the commander-in-chief of the legion.

Having had previous experience in winning over the commander-in-chief of the mutiny army in Clovis City, Ludwig no longer has any trust in these senior officers. In other words, these people can actually be regarded as his "potential competitors"... Now it is a war During this period, if a senior general with military power could win the favor of the National Assembly like Anson did, he would actually have the opportunity to challenge his authority.

Therefore, this time he changed his style, from the original sincere "equal cooperation" to a low-profile show of weakness, saying that as a ruler he did not intend to stay on the western border for a long time, and that the National Guard was only to deal with the people. According to the requirements of the parliament, the military still relies more on "experienced and senior commanders-in-chief."

A good lie often has a special element, that is, it is not a complete lie: Ludwig was indeed eager to return to Clovis. After all, he had left the War Ministry to form the Chancellery and had been away from power for too long. It is indeed possible that the rear area will be taken advantage of by others.

As for the reason for building the base camp, it is of course to reduce the logistical pressure on the border front... This is actually a commonplace topic. As the scale of war becomes larger and larger, in the past, thousands or tens of thousands of people could make decisions. There are fewer and fewer things to do about a war. Both the offensive and defensive sides must invest a large number of troops on the border, and the logistical pressure suddenly increases.

If the war can end within three months to half a year, then the situation is actually not bad, but the situation last year is enough to prove that powerful countries with the size and scale of the Empire and Clovis cannot win in just one or two years. A protracted battle to determine the outcome is almost inevitable.

"In this case, a stable and powerful base camp is a must."

While speaking, Ludwig, with a proud smile on his face, raised his wine glass and led a group of generals with their own ulterior motives through the banquet hall to the window. They suddenly opened the window and a fiery scene immediately appeared in front of them. In front of everyone.

With the royal palace as the center, the entire manor and the surrounding forest land have been leveled; tens of thousands of soldiers are carrying materials continuously transported from rivers and roads, and are in an orderly manner within the planned area. There are factories, campsites, and large warehouses under construction.

The lively scene... just looking at the scene of construction is enough to imagine how grand and magnificent this base camp will be in the future; and whoever takes control of this place is almost like having half of Clovis in his pocket!

"Therefore, I plan to form a war committee to be responsible for managing all affairs of the base camp." Ludwig raised the corners of his mouth slightly and looked at the generals whose eyes were dull: "Just calculating the upfront costs that have been invested so far, this building The future asset value of the base camp will not be less than tens of millions of gold coins; of course, I cannot judge such an important national wealth alone, and I have to work with everyone to supervise the operation."

"And use this place as the core to build the western border into an impregnable absolute barrier to ensure that the imperial people cannot step into our Clovis territory, and to block the war outside the national border... This is the only purpose of my trip .”

That's right, and then "leak" this news out, so that the empire will relax its vigilance and think that Clovis has really unilaterally given up the plan to counterattack and completely ignored such a large-scale military base, which can also become a heavy troop concentration. Engine, creating an army powerful enough to destroy an empire.

And Anson Bach... what will you do when you bring the Ranger Corps and your friends from the Western Front to the Western Front and see the War Council that I have roped in and bundled into a community of interests?

There were several power outages in a row, and Kong Kong was almost going crazy. I’m really sorry...