Chapter 278.
As the war broke out, the vanguard moved quickly to the head of the frontlines, located to the southeast. The supplies were already moved near the frontline when the threat of war first occurred. So, all that was left was to deploy the troops. It would not take too long for the vanguard to be transported using all of the empire’s trains.
The command office, set up in the first compartment of the train heading to the frontline, was strictly barred to anyone aside from me, Uncle Bloody, and the chief of staff. My uncle crossed his arms, looking at the map of the frontlines on the table as he said, "Hmm, I did yell that we’d finish the war with just the vanguard, but that is possible, right?”
I laughed dumbfoundedly and asked, "You yelled that without any certainty?”
My uncle just shrugged. "No, but since you’re here, you said you’d end the war as soon as possible."
Uncle Bloody’s confident attitude made me laugh helplessly. Actually, I was thinking of ending the war with just the vanguard, so I didn’t say much.
"Well, that’s what I’m thinking as well, but the commander shouldn’t shout things without certainty."
My uncle smiled shamefully at my point. "Hahaha, who cares? You’d better think hard. After all, you’re my certainty."
My uncle patted me on the shoulder, and I shook my head as I looked at him. "I guess I can’t help it. Let’s take cowardice and cheapness as our motto for victory."
If I start using cowardice and cheapness as my motto, even Hestia noona won’t be able to handle me. When I ran away, I couldn’t resort to cowardly tricks because my conscience didn’t allow me to deal with the people of my hometown like that, but not this time.
"Well, I’m sure our great prime minister will bear all responsibility,” I said.
Uncle Bloody dissuaded me, telling me to take it easy. "Hey, Arcanta’s stomach is going to explode. Don’t do anything you can’t handle."
"It’s okay. I sent him two months’ worth of stomach medicine before I left. Let’s finish this quickly before he runs out."
In response to my serious reply, Uncle Bloody looked at me as if I were cruel. For him to direct that expression towards someone who sent the prime minister stomach medicine for his health and safety, a person overflowing with benevolence, was just too much.
"However, the map isn’t that helpful. Inside the empire, it’s pretty detailed, but the actual necessary section within the enemy territory is insufficient."
At my point, the chief of staff smiled bitterly, saying that it couldn’t be helped. "Since they’ve been an enemy country for a long time, the map is bound to be inadequate. Maps are the most important strategic materials."
"Yet, the enemy will clearly know the areas around the empire’s border since it used to be their territory in the past." The Dresden area, which became a frontline, was a region conquered during the Blood Emperor era.
I sighed helplessly and pulled out a new map from my pocket space, spreading it on the table.
"This! How did you get such a detailed map!"
"I told you, being cheap is my motto. This is the product of that cheapness."
It was simple to make such a product of cheapness. I asked Milpia to create a map from pictures taken by my magical satellite. Since the satellite was launched while it was still in its developmental phase, it boasted extremely poor cost-effectiveness in terms of efficiency, but it was all resolved with the Big Mama Information Agency’s funds.
Uncle Bloody touched the map in wonder, and I exclaimed, "Woah, take it easy. It cost about a tenth of the empire’s yearly budget to make that.”
In truth, it did not matter if the map got ruined because Milpia and my aunt’s subordinates were still working hard to make copies, but currently, there weren’t many available. At most, it could only be distributed to staff at the regiment level.
Hearing me, Uncle Bloody carefully put down the map. "This, this is that expensive? Where did you get that kind of money?”
The satellite’s size and performance were at the level of a junk computer, but it cost a lot of money to raise the satellite to orbit safely. Milpia coveted my satellite when she saw the picture, but because we launched an incomplete test product, the main memory device broke after sending the photo, which ended its lifespan. Actually, I didn’t know that the satellite would really work. There was only a 5 percent chance of success.
"Aunt gave me the keys to the safe, saying I could use it as I please. Aunt sure is wealthy."
My uncle shook his head, convinced by my answer. "Indeed, Talaria noona is rich. I’m surprised my selfish sister gave you the key to the safe."
To be specific, she didn’t give me the key to the safe but instead gave me its location and instructed me to ask Milpia to open it so I could access it. But telling me the location of the safe was the same as giving me the key. Of course, of course. It wasn’t easy to undo the security magic as Elder Mirpa had placed it herself, but surely my aunt didn’t think that I wouldn’t be able to unlock it.
I spoke, pointing to the middle of the frontlines and the enemy’s capital on the map, "Using the disposable product of cheapness, I discovered the location of the enemy’s main forces here three days ago, and the vanguard was here."
"It’s possible to check things like that?”
When Uncle Bloody grew surprised, I grinned and nodded. "Yes, considering that the enemy has no state-of-the-art means of transportation such as trains, moving supplies will be more difficult for them. We can expect the location of the main forces to be here and the vanguard to be there."
The chief of staff saw the position I pointed out, and he looked critically at the map as if he was trying to poke a hole through it.
"If they were here three days ago, wouldn’t they have gone a little further? I’m thinking around here." The chief of staff pointed to a location a little further than where I specified.
"Hmm, let’s calculate using the distance that the Chief of Staff-nim and I pointed out as the estimated travel section.”
At my suggestion, the chief of staff agreed and pointed to the mountainous terrain on the map. "That’s a good idea. So, it’s a week to ten days before the enemy’s main forces get to the front.”
"Then, I’ll set an early deadline of five days for when we have to decide whether we’ll attack or defend."
"No objection."
Uncle Bloody was unable to join the conversation between the chief of staff and me, and he looked at us curiously.
"To put it simply, after we get to the frontlines, we have five days to beat the enemy’s vanguard and charge in,” I explained.
The chief of staff put figures representing our troops and the enemy forces at the border. He then added, "Since time is running out, if the current frontlines are maintained, the enemy’s main army will be forced to defend itself on the current frontline, which is also the border region."
I opened a space between our troops’ figures which were placed by the chief of staff, and advanced the enemy pieces into the empire to explain further. "Therefore, we won’t be able to move recklessly until our main forces arrive. If we act hastily and our defense gets penetrated, the enemy will step into empire territory.
The chief of staff pushed the pieces back to their original positions before using a baton to move our troops towards the mountainous terrain in the enemy’s direction. He said, "But if we break through the frontlines in five days and defeat them, we can make the mountainous area the new frontlines."
I pointed to an enemy fortress beyond the mountainous terrain. "If we penetrate through earlier, we can try attacking this fortress. That way, we can use it as a base for guerilla tactics around here and go from place to place.”
The chief of staff stroked his chin. "That’s a very hopeful observation. We have to win in three days at the latest to get there. It’ll also take time to attack the fortress."
"Nevertheless, with this fortress alone, we’ll be able to relieve some of our worries in the rear."
The chief of staff nodded at my words and explained to Uncle Bloody, "That’s true. If we dig into enemy territory, our foe must deal with us before they attack the border. If they hastily go for the border, they’ll expose their back to us."
I talked about the drawbacks while swiping my finger between the fortress and the border. "But if we advance this far, we may have a problem with the supply line."
"There’s nothing we can do about that because the supply lines would still be in the middle of the battlefield within enemy territory."
"If we take over the fortress here, we would only need to be wary of the defeated enemy vanguard’s remnants. After all, in order for the enemy’s main force to hit us from behind, they would have to take a long detour."
This fortress was geographically the best place to defend itself from foreign forces. In contrast, if we take this fortress, we can grab the enemy by the throat.
The chief of staff nodded at my words. "If we take this fortress, for sure, the enemy would need to make a long detour to hit our supply line. Or they would have to cross the mountain with little troops since we’ll be in the way of their route."
I smiled and nodded. "With our elite soldiers, it would be too difficult for them to hit our supply line with a small number of troops. And if they recklessly try to make a detour, it would give us an excuse for further advancement."
If the enemy does not use the extreme method of Qingye tactics, there should be plenty of food collected for military provisions in each territory. [1]
I made a broad swipe through the rugged mountainous terrain with my finger and smiled. "That is why we must decide; whether we will choose safety or risk."
"It’s not a poor idea to camp in the mountains, as Chief of Staff-nim mentioned. In reality, if you advance too fast, you are bound to have greater losses."
The chief of staff and I looked at Uncle Bloody. Uncle Bloody thought hard and shrugged his shoulders as if he had no idea before asking, "Den, you’d choose adventure over stability, wouldn’t you?”
"What makes you think so?” I asked.
My uncle spoke proudly, "My instincts, of course!"
"Uh-huh, try thinking about it, damn you!"
The head commander in charge of the entire army was unequaled in his irresponsibility.
"Ayy, I said it after thinking about it."
I was dumbfounded by Uncle Bloody’s protest, and I inquired, "Where are you going?"
"Based on your personality, when you brought up the idea of taking over the fortress, didn’t you already come up with a plan to occupy it while minimizing our losses?"
I had no choice but to be shocked by my uncle’s logic. "Oh my god! Uncle Bloody is getting smarter!”
"Hey! I’ll hit you!"
I laughed playfully when my uncle clenched his fist and continued, "Well, I’m not 100 percent sure either, but since I said I was going to be cheap, I’ll use a cheat key.”
Like ‘black sheep wall’ or ‘noglues.’ [2] For ‘show me the money,’ I’ve already used my aunt’s safe. [3]
Uncle Bloody and the chief of staff shivered as if they were cold when they saw my smile. The air conditioning in the train must be too high.
I looked at the map and said, "What’s truly challenging isn’t the process of taking over this fortress, but what comes afterward."
"After taking it?"
Uncle Bloody looked at me as if he didn’t understand, and the chief of staff thought about it intensely and asked me, “You mean the supply problem?”
I shook my head at the chief of staff. Then, the chief of staff looked at me curiously and said, "Even if we block their path, it’s meaningless if our enemies encircle us and block the supply line just before it reaches us."
"We are going to use teleportation. To be exact, one of my subordinates will send supplies to my pocket space after I order it." Percival was now gathering food with Queen Arietta. As expected, the food will be taken care of with my aunt’s money.
"Is, is that possible?!"
"Yes, compared to maintaining the supply line, it’s an issue because it costs money each time, but it’s better than starving to death."
It was easily doable. In the past, when Arietta went on a trip, she used the pocket space to send me a present in real-time.
"Huhhuh, this is something beyond innovation. I’m not too familiar with it, but I heard that spatial magic is on a whole new level of difficulty."
Actually, teleporting supplies for tens of thousands of people was crazy enough to be used only by the Great Madosa Spatial Magic Specialist. My method will just be expedient.
"I don’t understand too much, but that’s good news. So then, what’s the problem?" asked the chief of staff.
I smiled lightly and said to the chief of staff, "Enemies attacking after we take over the fortress.”
The chief of staff laughed, saying that I was worrying too much. "That’s something to worry about after taking over the fortress. Even if we’re able to get enough time to go to the fortress, it won’t be easy to occupy it."
"Hahaha, certainly."
I also laughed and agreed, but when the time comes, and we are attacked, there’s likely to be a high chance that it’ll be more troublesome than what the chief of staff is vaguely thinking about. Obviously, before that, as the chief of staff said, the most important thing was to push the enemy out of Dresden.
1. Qingye tactics refer to the strategy of removing all food and supplies that could potentially be used by the enemy in order to exhaust them.
2. Cheat codes for the game ‘StarCraft’. Black sheep wall is a code to show the entire map. Noglues prevents Protoss from using psionic storm.
3. StarCraft cheat code to get lots of resources.
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