I will be crowned king

The intelligence about the empire's 20,000 troops marching across the border and about to invade Hantu did not cause any turmoil at the Storm Division's military meeting.

The reason is very simple - Anson had already talked about this matter at the meeting on the day the empire landed at Carindia Port two days ago; so Renault's "bad news about the collapse of the earth" only proved that "the deputy commander really has far-sightedness" "That's all. Everyone in the Storm Division has long been numb to this.

As for what to do? They are not worried about this, or it is useless to worry; there are only 5,000 Stormtroopers, and there is no need for the empire to send 20,000 legions for a head-on confrontation. It is not enough to fill the teeth of the thousands of imperial people who landed at Carindia Port.

Since they are a levy corps, they must have the consciousness of a levy corps; on the vast battlefield, they can ravage the Seven Cities Alliance's stinky fish and shrimps; if they collide head-on with the regular imperial army, there will be no second choice except being beaten. result.

This is the storm division, and it is also the general concept of all Clovis levy troops. If you win, you will move forward, if you lose, you will disperse; as long as Anson Bach is still paying wages on time, leading everyone to continue to "generate income", there will be no obvious defeat. Look, they don't care about unnecessary things, let alone care about them.

All they had to do was to execute Anson's orders perfectly - or at a discount.

It's Anson's job to win, and they won't hesitate for a second when it's time to raise the white flag and surrender.

Such a calm atmosphere made Leno, who hurriedly came to report, both reassured and nervous.

What's reassuring is that everything is going according to plan, and there is nothing to worry about; since Anson Bach is still sitting firmly here, it means that he must have a way to deal with the empire's pincer offensive.

He was nervous for the same reason... Since everything was going according to plan, on the other hand, he had guessed from the beginning that his father might defect to the Empire and betray Clovis in the Principality of Aiden.

In this case, if I had not restrained my impulse and chose to forcefully break into the room, or secretly lead the Aiden Legion to leave Iron Bell Castle, then...

Lenore Emmanuel couldn't help but shudder.

On the contrary, it was young Léon's intelligence that really surprised Anson; it was not that Count Arcade stood still - this was not surprising to him - but that Archduke Claude François actually deployed three enemy troops at Eagle Point Pass. Ten thousand troops.

And it's not "there", it's a 30,000-strong army that "has been assembled," is "well-trained," and is "ready to go at any time."

What does it mean to have 30,000 troops that can be deployed at any time?

This means that each soldier carries at least two to six days of weapons, ammunition and rations. The military camp warehouse stores at least thirty days of back luggage, and the starting point is very close to the supply depot, so stability can be quickly established. supply lines.

How do you say this?

The Grand Duke of Quattoun really has a sharp vision. Does he have a plan? Or is he actually so unsure of his allies that he is even ready to defend Eagle Point City for Crowe?

Either way, since Grand Duke Thun has made such careful preparations, he must be willing to send troops; after all, assembling an army of 30,000 will do nothing, and the daily expenses alone will be very scary.

The key to the problem is the price - the François family is not a philanthropic family. If they bet half of their army to rescue the Southern Army and invade Yser, the Clovis people will definitely have to pay a price.

Not only the Francois family, but also Emmanuel who rules Ayden, and Vessenia who rules Mist - if you want to defeat the empire, the 5,000 Stormtroopers alone are not enough to even fill the trenches, you must Only when the entire Hantu is fully mobilized can we be qualified to fight the empire.

The problem is that although these forces are vassals and allies of Clovis, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers and wants to mobilize them to fight against the empire. Just relying on the "unification of the vast land" pie...at most, only little Leon will take the bait. one.

After experiencing months of war, the nobles of the Han Dynasty have become increasingly aware of the gap between them and the world's powerful countries. Their mentality is similar to that of small entrepreneurs who have been operating poorly for many years and lack capital; compared with dreams and beautifully packaged "grand blueprints" , they care more about the more practical.

These people need logistics, guns and ammunition, reinforcements if they lose, and rewards if they win... Anson can't give them these. He even plundered the Storm Division's supplies from his own people.

The only thing Anson could give was an empty promise, plus real money and silver engraved with the symbol of the Ring of Order—or at least a white strip symbolizing real money and a promise.

As a young officer who is poor (referring to the gap with the Franz family), ordinary (not a thousand-year-old family), young and promising (23 years old, deputy commander), Anson is naturally prepared to take over. All the white notes that came down were recorded in the account of the Archbishop's own son.

So with the Storm Division officers' mood stable, Renault's panic, and little Leon's worries, another military meeting ended with everyone's applause.

………………

"So what are you going to do?"

As soon as the officers went out, Carl Bain couldn't help but speak: "Listen to what you mean, you are not planning to run away immediately if the situation is not right, are you?"

The reason why this kind of question is suddenly asked is not because the Chief of Staff who has been blamed for thousands of years suddenly becomes "loyal", but because the entire Storm Division has fallen too deep in this war.

If they were just trying to make money in the vast land at the beginning, then with the main force of the Southern Army being thwarted, the Storm Division, which was not important at all and no one cared about it, has unknowingly become a Clovis force. The "key force" in the southern battlefield.

In other words, what they are doing is no longer a small business, but is related to the overall struggle for hegemony between the Kingdom of Clovis and the Empire. The two countries that are in a stalemate on the western border are very likely to be ignored by everyone. Hantu breaks the balance.

Carl Bain panicked.

It wasn't that he was afraid of the empire's army approaching, but that he suddenly found that he, as well as the scumbag cannon fodder around him and under his command, suddenly became important.

For the first time, this veteran...soldier, whose purpose was to make money and who took scapegoating as his profession, was good at cleaning up others' rubbish and made extra money through smuggling, felt what "heavy responsibility" means and what "responsibility for mission" means.

Then he realized that he didn't want the things that once made him particularly jealous, but when it was his turn, he seemed to have to accept them.

So he was suddenly very worried, worried that his deputy commander still had the same idea as before - according to his theory of "living is everything, everything is for making money", what was best for the Storm Division's interests now? That is to say, the entire military line of fire was withdrawn to Eagle Point City to defend it and throw the vast soil to the empire.

After all, the oil and water that can be harvested has been almost harvested, and no amount of storm divisions can eat it; retreating to Eagle Point City to defend it will not only cover the southern legion, but also avoid the empire's encirclement.

As for the cost... Needless to say, Hantu will definitely turn to the empire in an all-round way. The Ysel elves can get unlimited support from the direction of Hantu. Clovis will definitely lose this battle.

Storm Master will most likely be the one taking the blame for this.

Of course it didn't matter in the past, after all, it wasn't once or twice. He, Carl Bain, had long been used to it; good things never happened to him, and he had spent half his life watching others glorify and suffering.

But this time is different, this time...this time is really, really different!

They won - two thousand men captured Eagle Point City, and five thousand men also captured the entire Hantu... In just a few months, the Storm Division needed people, equipment, and supplies... As rich as a regular soldier.

In the siege of Tiezhong Fort, the plan he drew up by himself was enough to mobilize dozens of artillery pieces, nearly a thousand cavalry, and 20,000 troops to fight at the same time - and just half a year ago, Carl Bain was still a man who relied on reselling guns in exchange for supplies. There is only one and a half companies of captains and battalion commanders in hand.

This time, they can avoid taking the blame;

This time, they have the capital to fight a powerful enemy;

This time, they can be the heroes who turn the tide.

"So, who said I'm going to run away?"

Anson smiled playfully at the frightened chief of staff: "Besides, is the situation really bad now?"

"Um?"

A question mark popped up on Carl Bain's head.

"To be honest, even if the empire doesn't invade, I will find a way to make them 'invade'." Anson put his shoulders and elbows on the table, shrunk his neck and looked at Karl:

"Now that they are taking the initiative to attack Hantu, actually...it's a good thing, really."

"A good thing?" Karl was stunned for a moment.

Anson nodded: "Yes."

"you mean……"

"If the empire doesn't come, don't we have to obey Ludwig's orders?" Anson looked at him meaningfully:

"If the empire doesn't come, how can I legitimately become the 'real' deputy commander of the Southern Army?"

"If the empire doesn't come, won't we always be a group of conscripts who can be disbanded at any time and no one cares?"

The conference room suddenly became quiet.

In the dead silence, there was only Anson's voice.

"When I was in Eagle Point City, I said that I had figured it out and wanted to become the leader of the battle between Clovis and Yser." Anson looked at Karl in front of him very calmly, and there was someone else who dared not say anything. Fabian and the little clerk:

"The first step is to conquer Eagle Point City with your own hands."

"The second step is to get rid of Ludwig Franz and conquer Hantu alone."

"Now...I have to take the third and most important step - turning the battle between Clovis and Iser into a battle between Clovis and the Empire!"

"Ludwig didn't understand one thing from the beginning, and that was that if this battle was with the Ysel elves, or with Han Tu, he would never get the real attention of the upper echelons of the kingdom."

"The reason is simple, they don't care - in the eyes of those people, as long as Clovis becomes serious, crushing a small Ysel Elf is a matter of course; only defeating the Empire head-on is a victory that can turn the world around and make a sensation. The whole kingdom!”

"So I know that the empire will definitely invade Hantu. Even if they don't do this, I will try every means to lure them to take the initiative to attack - because this is the only way."

"any solution?"

The little clerk in the corner couldn't help but speak, his childish voice trembling slightly.

"The way to win." Anson replied with an extremely sure tone:

"We don't have that advantage to take the initiative to attack the empire - don't look at it, we conquered the Iron Bell Fort in just one day; the regular army on the western front of the empire's border fortress didn't even get a single bulge in half a year; if we switch to the Storm Division, we can't even fill it in Even a moat would be considered too few.”

"So if we want to win, we must take the initiative to let them in and fight on our home court; this will also facilitate the gathering of superior forces and the deployment of supplies."

Home battle... Carl Bain thought for a while: "That's why you must occupy the entire Hantu, even if you have to let go of the Grand Duchy of Mist?"

"To a certain extent, yes." Anson nodded:

"The army and the Privy Council certainly didn't expect that the empire had already planned to attack and conquer Hantu, nor did they expect that we could conquer the entire Hantu with just over 5,000 people. Of course, we didn't actually conquer the entire Hantu. But that’s not the point!”

"The point is! There is a window now. Before the Army and the Privy Council react, we will have a chance to be the savior who can turn the tide. At the same time, we can lead the army against the Empire without interference from the Army."

"As long as we can win... we don't even have to win at all, as long as we don't collapse at the first moment and withstand the empire's offensive, it will be considered our victory!" Anson became more and more excited as he spoke:

"Think about it, the tens of thousands of troops carefully prepared by the empire were blocked by a mere 5,000 Clovis levy troops in Hantu - even if it is a draw, they will suffer a big loss!"

Carl Bain thought about it seriously, and it seemed that this was indeed the case.

"So what exactly are you going to do now?"

"The most important thing now is to maintain our unbreakable alliance with Hantu!"

Anson said sternly: "The life and death of Grand Duke Mist is now completely in our hands, so we can basically ignore it; Grand Duke Claude Francois of Thun, the 60,000 troops in his hands are the key to the next battle, but Figure En has long been tied to Clovis’s chariot, so there’s no need to worry.”

"Finally, it's Duke Eden - I need an excellent scout, the kind who can be placed next to Duke Eden." Anson turned to look at Fabian: "Is there anyone you can recommend?"

"The kind that can ensure that Duke Eden will not betray us?" asked the former Guards officer.

"No." Anson shook his head:

"The kind that makes Duke Eden believe that we absolutely trust him not to betray us."

"If so, I have a perfect fit."

Fabian thought for a while and then added: "Jason Fruhauf, Army Lieutenant, has a good character but is a fool. He has rich combat experience. He once served in a fortress in the east. He was born in a minor aristocracy, so he also understands aristocrats. That way, it should be no problem to send him there.”

"Oh, then what did he do?"

"The commander of your cavalry company."