Albert and Ivon were arrested and taken to prison. Now that is done. "I want reports regarding our border issue, particularly about Duke Elmsworth ."
Louis stood up and said, "My lord, after your father's death, the health of the king is getting worse."
"Duke Elmsworth has suddenly started buying huge amounts of supplies. The reports we are receiving from our spies also inform us that. He is mobilizing the army as well".
"Last time when he invaded, how many soldiers did he have?" Lewis said, "My lord, from what I remember, he brought at least 40 thousand infantry, which included light infantry as well, and 10 thousand cavalry."
I sucked in the cold air, damn man, and how many soldiers do we have?
Lewis replied, We have 20 thousand infantry and 5 light infantry—those are mainly archers. We also have 5000 professional cavalry and another 5 thousand cavalry, which we can raise, but they are only useful in mountain warfare, ambushes, and hit-and-run tactics.
"As for the battlefield, it will be hard for them to face the cavalry of Duke."
"I want new forts to be built in our territory right away, as we all know our territory has many hills, so I want you all to start building as many forts as you can on these hills."
I want the duke bogged down besieging these forts, and we will also use hit-and-run tactics on the army of the duke in case he invades. And I want you to start training new soldiers and remember these are the new soldiers you will be training".
"Should know about the terrain of our territory like the back of their hand.... At least raise 5 thousand more cavalry and another 5 thousand infantry and train them rigorously. Also, start building watchtowers."
On our every border so we can get intelligence about the enemy movements."
I turned towards Jon. "I hope we have enough money in the treasury."
Jon replied, "It might be a little problematic, but I assure you, my lord, that our treasury is sufficient...
We have 18 thousand gold coins, 28 thousand silver coins, and 42 thousand bronze coins.
And with all the diamonds and jewelry we have, they can amount to up to 50 thousand gold coins."
'Woahh, that's a huge amount.'
"But my lord, what about the king? If he knows that we have started to build forts, he will protest against it." Degmon questioned
"As we know, the king is not healthy, and the factions in the capital have started to form; they are busy among themselves bickering."
"And even if the king warns us about building the fortification, we can just say that it was to protect the territory from the duke, and if he can send us reinforcements, we will dismantle the forts.
And I know for sure that king won't want the richest territory in his domain to fall into one of the dukes hands. After all, these dukes are already starting to become unruly towards the royal family."
"So just start building the forts. Am I clear?
Yes, my lord, I continued.
"And we also have a huge advantage over the duke, which is his overconfidence. He will invade, thinking it will be easy to conquer the land that does not have a mature leader.
And we will use that against him. And also make the defenses of City Zefo, Twinip, Nalthis, and Alister stronger, and once we get to know from which route the duke is going to invade,
"I want some of our soldiers disguised as villagers to spread in those villages that might face potential harassment for supplies from enemies.
"Their job is to burn the supplies after the army of the duke takes them away from the villagers and"
"Constantly attack the huge army of the duke when they are besieging any particular fort close to those villages; tell them to use hit-and-run tactics at night."
"For today this is enough. Immediately start following the orders, and remember this: we will be fighting a defensive war for the most part. When the enemy soldiers are completely drained, then we will strike ferociously.
"Lord Degmon, cavalry should be trained relentlessly; they will be important for the upcoming war."
"Yes, my lord," Degmon replied.
"All of you can leave."
As all three men left, they started talking in the corridor. The first one to open his mouth was obviously Degmon.
"WHAT was that? How can our Lord, who has not participated in any campaign, issue such efficient orders?"
"Not only were the orders efficient, they were logical as well. He knows fighting a pitched battle would be like inviting death, so he has decided to drain the Duke. And strike, as he said, when the time is right."
"Hmmm, whatever it is, it's a good thing our Lord is thinking maturely, after all the reports we are receiving indicate one thing: that duke is definitely going to invade." Jon said
In his office room, Victor was studying the terrain of his territory. It's extremely favorable; this kind of terrain can easily stop invading forces. The only thing I lack is forts.
That will be solved soon, but I won't be only on defense. I am going to attack as well and offer the battle to Duke when he is most desperate and will be losing his patience because that's when he will make a mistake.
I looked at the painting on the wall, which had Victor's father depicted in it. Even though my father was not a strategist or tactician, he was a good politician for sure.
He was only 52 years old when he died due to bad health. Hmmmm.
Then I looked at the sword and armor of my father just below the painting. Well, it looks like I need to protect our lands, old man.
I could still hear the bustling noise of Market, and people soon these cities will be gloomy because of the upcoming war.
But I have money; that's a huge advantage. It looks like diamond mines are really profitable.
And I also need to reform the army to my liking. I also need to make administration more efficient by adding a new Ministry of Agriculture, a Ministry of Education, and also a Ministry of Trade and Commerce.
I was tired already; there was so much to do. My father was only a good politician in scheming and other things; other than that, he was not much good, but at least he created a strong standing army.
Compared to other marquis, they might have the same number of soldiers as us, but the problem with them is that they are not all professional.
Even the infantry of those marquis is weak compared to ours. But if we compare our soldiers to Duke, the Duke can easily win a pitched battle using his numbers.