Realm of Power

"But sir, our army has taken over the Eighth Army and millions of urban people at once. What will we do about the food problem?" The adjutant heard what Hassen Rimbaud said and said hesitantly, "Our army is already in short supply of food. Now we have to carry such a problem." Even if our army is good at fighting, it will be in trouble!"

"Don't worry, it won't necessarily be bad!" Hassan Rambo smiled, "Don't forget, the north of Rusty is the grain-producing area of ​​Biros. It's a short journey from us, and it only takes a few days to get back and forth. , our army can first send people to Bilos to mobilize military supplies for emergency response , I will request this to the Ministry of Military Affairs. If everything goes well, food may be a little tight, but at least it will not be completely out of food. As long as this relaxation period can be delayed, our other reinforcements can arrive. A battle with the Northwest Rebels is also entirely possible!”

"Birushi? Well, you are indeed very discerning! The adjutant nodded. The Birus area that Hassen Rambo mentioned is a famous grain-producing area in the empire. Every year, the grain and various specialties produced here are It is an important product for supplying Gaul and Kyoto. In the three hundred years since the founding of the Gallic Empire, there has been no external war that could threaten this area in the core hinterland of the empire. He can be appointed as the governor of the Byrus region and has always been an internal affairs official of the empire. The fat difference in

While the western region of the Gallic Empire was in the midst of a fierce war, there was still an atmosphere of peace in the Biros region. In the mist and rainbow, pointed roofs, round statues, white marble monuments, wide and straight streets, and white paths carefully paved with cobblestones are vaguely revealed, no matter who is in sight Here, it is definitely an ancient, quiet, beautiful and warm city. The current governor of Byrus is Duke Atalius.

This is a regional governor who is famous for his love of red wine and women. Although he looks very strong, he is 1.9 meters tall and weighs more than 100 kilograms. With its red eyes and bearded face, the first impression left on most people is that this is a red bear from the northern wilderness.

In peacetime, the strong Duke spends most of his energy tasting red wine and cigars, or helping young and beautiful girls become real women. As for war, Duke Yadalius felt that it was simply impossible.

This is the hinterland of the empire, 1,400 miles away from the empire's border. Spanning two heavily-garrisoned provinces, even if the enemy army invades, they will not be able to reach here. Instead of spending energy thinking about such an impossible thing, it is better to enjoy the moment.

However, these days, Duke Yadaliu always feels that his eyelids are twitching. He heard that the northwest rebels' offensive is very fierce, and there are rumors everywhere that the southwest has been occupied by the northwest rebels. Half of the critical Rusty region was ignited. The empire's army suffered heavy losses in the Rusty region. This situation did not seem to be mentioned in the empire's internal battle reports.

Instead, it means that the imperial army is advancing with great success, causing the northwest rebels to flee in embarrassment. All the ministers are congratulating His Majesty the Emperor on the celebration day, which is prosperous and prosperous. The military power is stronger than ever before.

Duke Adariu was originally going to Kyoto to attend the celebration. Even a month ago, he had prepared a gorgeous carriage inlaid with various gemstones and presented various gifts to Kyoto's important ministers. There were also 40 beautiful girls presented to His Majesty the young Emperor as gifts. These girls were carefully selected by him and underwent strict etiquette training. They looked like flawless beauties in every aspect. He heard that not Few local governors are doing this. His Majesty the Emperor does not have a queen, or even a concubine. If he does not insert a few of his own people at the right time, then he is really making a fool of his own future.

But the order from Kyoto to stay in the local area seems to confirm the rumors. The northwest rebels will not really come here, right? On the one hand, Duke Adariu felt disappointed, but also felt hesitant in his heart. Kyoto asked him to make logistical preparations for war, which made him feel a little uneasy even when enjoying women.

"If it's like the battle report, do you still need your own Biros Province to prepare for the war?"

This thought made the things he loved to do the most boring. He had experienced war before, when he was young, when he had just graduated from the Imperial Academy and was ordered to serve in the southwest. The war between the southwest and the Congolese people broke out the day after he arrived to report. In just a few days, everything that was beautiful and peaceful was shattered

A large number of young adults were forcibly recruited into the army, preparing to accept the test of death. A large amount of supplies were also forcibly hoarded, especially strategic supplies such as grain and fodder. The vast majority of shops were forced to close because they had no source of goods and no customers to patronize them. Many residents began to feel the cruelty of the war because supplies were becoming less and less and prices were rising higher and higher. There are more and more news about the empire's army winning a great victory.

However, the lists representing the casualties and missing persons were plastered all over the stone wall in front of the Southwest Consul General's Mansion. Each time they were posted, there were hundreds of names of people, densely packed and stretching into one piece. Their relatives were on the stone wall. Howling in front of the wall. The grief turned this stone wall into a veritable wall of tears. The screams could extend to two or three kilometers away. It was also there that a noble girl he had always had a crush on, in the chaos of the war, was like a girl in the autumn wind. withering like leaves

If possible, Duke Yadaliu hopes that he will never be involved in war in his life. No one wants to experience that kind of hell-like scene again.

In the local Governor's Mansion, a scene of drunkenness and dreams was also being staged at this moment. The smell of red wine and cigars blended together, intertwining into an alluring smell, seeping out from the gaps in the sealed window paper, bringing with it a slightly cool night. Slowly drifting in the wind.

At the door of the hall, stood a knight in full armor, and luxurious carriages parked in Guangping. If there were not symbolic military patrols along the way, no one would think that it was just the scene of a military meeting, but this That is, compared with the tense situation on the front line and the solemn formation of the regular army, the military meetings of the local army are often linked to banquets and banquets.

In the spacious banquet hall, low and plaintive dance music echoed softly, but no one was dancing on the dance floor. There were only a few beautiful dancers dancing on the stage next to the dance floor with their elegant postures. The colorful costumes and charming postures reflect very professional dancing standards. In the interior of the Gallic Empire, there are unified dance academies, drama academies, and even fighting academies. Most of these academies recruit from commoners and minor nobles. Students mainly provide entertainment for the nobles,

A nobleman wearing a local army uniform. Holding wine glasses in their hands, they stood together with people they knew, talking and laughing. Next to the dance floor, there were only six small round tables, and there were only four carved mahogany armchairs next to each small round table. Almost all of them were seated. Full,

There were more than a hundred local officers participating in the military meeting this time. This is why local military meetings are often tied to banquets. There were too many people. Regardless of whether they hold office or hold a false position, they are all famous nobles in the region, and many of them have connections with the big families in Kyoto. Even the local governor does not dare to offend these people at will. Instead of taking it seriously, it is better to call everyone together like a banquet and discuss it happily. Anyway, there will never be a real war, it is just a matter of entangled interests.

"Have you heard? Even the Sixth Army of the Imperial Tiger Army was dispatched this time!" There was a lot of discussion among the local officers. The recent wars in the western part of the empire are all within the scope of the blockade, but as an area bordering Rusty , I still have some understanding of Rusty’s battle situation,

"No way. Is that rumor true? Our Emperor has mobilized an army of 200,000 to wipe out the northwest rebels in one fell swoop?"

"It's hard to say, after all, the northwest rebels are too arrogant!" A local noble said hesitantly, "I heard that the Eighth Army suffered heavy losses this time!"

"Bang" The door of the banquet hall was pushed open, and a thin old man walked in. He was dressed in a straight local military uniform and had more than a dozen medals of various sizes on his chest representing outstanding military achievements. He looked very strong in body and spirit. He is also very strong, with piercing eyes in his deep-set eye sockets.

"Keep your voice down, it's Lord Tanik!" The nobles who were talking in low voices stopped talking.

This old man's name is Tanik. He is an old general who retired from the front-line army three years ago. He previously served in the Empire's Second Army and was the commander of the Third Infantry Regiment. He is a truly war-experienced figure. Because his body has gradually deteriorated. Old, physically unable to support field operations, he was transferred from the front-line army to the local army and served as the head of military affairs in the Biros region. It is said that this person had a close personal relationship with Duke Lazaré, who is currently the undersecretary of the Ministry of Military Affairs of Gaul.

Compared with the local governor, Duke Yadarius, Tanik looked much thinner, but he was a true soldier.

In the past twenty or thirty years, he has been on the battlefield many times, and his body is riddled with scars and scars. Although he has outstanding military exploits, he is very self-disciplined. Unless there are special circumstances, he will rarely appear at regional military meetings like banquets. He has his own local army conference room, as serious as a regular army. There once was a local military meeting Because the officer was one minute late, He ordered him to be whipped ten times in accordance with the military order. To most local officers who were accustomed to laziness, Tanik was simply a devilish figure. However, the local officers were also lucky, and that was Tanik, the military affairs officer. Still very partial to local military affairs.

"Okay, everyone, be quiet!"

Seeing Tanik's arrival, Governor Yadaliu asked a few dancing girls to leave. When everyone was quiet, he waved to his adjutant, "Bring up the order from the Ministry of Military Affairs!" The adjutant hurriedly came in and handed over For the last order, Duke Yadalius opened the order book in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and handed the order to Tanik, who was in charge of military affairs. "Your Excellency, take a look, the latest order is very detrimental to us!" "

This order has just come from the Rusti area, requiring the Birus area to enter a state of combat readiness and form a garrison of 20,000 people. If necessary, it is necessary to go to the Rusti area to accept the instructions from frontline commander Hassan Rimbaud. Dispatch. At the same time, the order also requires us to mobilize all resources and forces in the entire Birus region to support Hassan Rambo's frontline operations, including personnel replenishment and logistics supply. Throughout the entire battle,

"Are we responsible for all the supplies? Is Hasen Rimbaud of the Sixth Army a little crazy? He Hasen Rimbaud is an army commander, but that does not mean he is a local governor. He has no authority to order like this." Tanik deserves to be The experienced officer quickly read the key points from this order.

"This is what I'm worried about!" Yadaliu looked at Tanik, his face also looked unnatural, and he frowned and said, "Although the Biros region is not a front-line combat province, it also has more than 20,000 standing local troops. Therefore, it is not a problem to form a garrison, but it requires mobilizing the entire force. It is difficult to say that the province supports the battle in the Rusti region. The Rusti region has two main battle legions of the empire, with nearly 200,000 imperial troops. This is not something that a province can bear independently, so I cannot Do you understand what this Legion Commander actually means?"

"As the empire's defense, the Rusty region has always had its own food reserves! As far as I know, these food reserves should be enough for the front line," Tanik said with certainty.

"That's not necessarily the case!" Duke Yadaliu turned over the report in his hand with a gloomy expression, and curled his lips slightly. "It is not a secret in the local army to manipulate the local food storage. And I don't think Rusty The guys didn’t do that! And according to the news we got in the Rusty area, the northwest rebels burned most of the new grain in the Rusty area, and you know what that means.”

"Hiss, no way, that's not killing people!"

Tanik glanced at the letter in his hand again, and took a deep breath of cold air on his thin face. It was no wonder that his face turned slightly pale. As the commander of the army, Hassan Rimbaud would be so eager to leapfrog orders and issue orders. He was really in a hurry.

Although he has only been in office for a short time, he has stepped into the quagmire of the local army. Moreover, he is also the highest military officer of a local army, so he naturally knows something about the dirty tricks inside. With 200,000 troops trapped in a foodless land, how can we fight this war?

There must have been a problem with the Sixth Army.

"That's why I called everyone here!" Duke Yadaliu's reaction was not as big as that of Tanik, as he was the leader of the local nobles. The first thing he thought of was to take care of local interests. This year, the food revenue of Bilus Province was average, as it is a province directly under the jurisdiction of His Majesty the Emperor. Three-quarters of Biros's grain must be turned over, and what can be left is only enough to be shared by dozens of noble families. To bear the battle of 200,000 troops at once is tantamount to putting a weight directly on the shoulders of a young child. For a barbell weighing a hundred pounds

Although the commander of the legion did not have a lot of pressure on him as the governor of the region, he had to be very cautious when he thought that His Majesty the Emperor was involved in Rusty.

He seemed to be still worrying about something. After pondering painfully for a while, Duke Yadaliu said hesitantly, "This matter requires all of us to work together. If one person has a problem, everyone will have a hard time. Confiscation of property is considered a minor matter." , I’m afraid that if I become someone’s scapegoat, everyone will die!”

"Then what do you want to do?"

There was a hint of pain on Tanik's face. As a soldier, he knew what his current attitude meant, but thinking about the terrible consequences of this incident, he couldn't help but hesitate. This matter involved too much. Once it was exposed, , How many local armies are there in the empire, the rolling heads must be counted in thousands, Hassen Rimbaud! What do you want to do?

"After all, this is an order signed by the commander of a fighting army. If we don't execute it at all, we are disobeying the military order. If we execute it, we will be ruined even if we lose everything." Duke Yadaliu said with a decisive look, "So we only have Drag it,

This time, I ask you to lead the army and delay it as much as possible on the road, so that the army can set off first. Set off in a big way, but walk slowly. You can spend more time on the road and watch as you go. We can pretend that we are halfway through, and then suddenly remember that we did not bring enough military rations, so we send someone back. Then the army returned to escort, coming and going for half a month. We are a local army, and our requirements cannot be too high. We have no actual combat experience, and it is inevitable to make some mistakes. . . . . . In the past half month, we have been collecting local food, and we can help a little bit! "

"Then what if Rusty's defense line collapses?" Tanik said with an ugly face.

"Ahem, do you think the 200,000 imperial army will be defeated by the northwest rebels in half a month?"

Duke Yadaliu deliberately pretended to be surprised, as if to say, this is too much of a joke! Explained, "Master Tanik is thinking too much. We are just trying our best to reduce the number of support as a show. It does not mean that we will not support at all! After all, we cannot rely on our strength to put all the pressure on our shoulders. This is also What you mean is, after all, we are all soldiers of the empire, how can we ignore the life and death of the imperial army? "

"Yes, we are also soldiers. Naturally we will not sit idly by and do nothing, but we must do our best." The local officers below quickly followed the instructions.

"Okay, I'll do my best!" Under the eager gazes of everyone, Tanik finally nodded helplessly. Seeing that he relaxed and agreed, everyone's faces showed a look of joy.

"Okay, what are you waiting for here? Come on, play some music, and let the banquet begin!"

Duke Yadaliu laughed luxuriously and shouted to everyone who had been waiting for a long time. The melodious music came to mind again. Countless girls in beautiful long dresses walked into the arena like butterflies. Behind them, there were still people who were drunk and dreaming. Does anyone remember that frontline soldiers are still starving (To be continued...)