industrial lord

Chapter 749 Mobilizing Them
On a long and agonizing morning, the atmosphere in the allied camp was heavy. Three battle reports arrived in succession, like three powerful and heavy hammer blows that slammed into the heads of the three kings, leaving them dizzy.

The most critical maritime lifeline was ruthlessly severed, and thousands of elite Winged Hussars suffered a devastating blow. Enemy elite reinforcements, carrying a large amount of valuable military supplies, successfully broke through the blockade and entered the Redwaterwheel Village fortress in an endless stream, which suddenly increased the strength of the fortress's defenders, making the defensive situation even more solid.

Meanwhile, the battlefield cleanup was also being carried out in a suffocating silence.

On the opposite bank of the river, the bodies of the fallen Winged Hussars were stripped of all their armor, weapons, and other valuable equipment. These spoils, along with other usable supplies captured on the battlefield, were transported into the fortress.

The corpses and the critically wounded, barely alive, were deliberately arranged neatly on the riverbank, as if they were being inspected.

Subsequently, a priest dressed in the robes of the Church of Light was sent to the army camp of the Kingdom of Piast, where they could send men empty-handed to retrieve their wounded and the remains of the fallen.

This was not just a routine notification; it was a blatant psychological intimidation, a cold-blooded blow to the morale of the coalition forces.

In the afternoon, thanks to the efforts of the accompanying priests, several seriously wounded winged hussars struggled to regain consciousness.

As they lay dying, they pieced together fragmented memories, bringing a fourth, and even more unsettling, message.

"It wasn't Wei Senjun who came?!"

Inside the deerskin tent, Kings Kosdorf, Casimir, and Snellman gasped in disbelief almost simultaneously.

After a heated discussion at noon, their initial conclusion leaned towards the idea that the Weisen army had adopted a split-force strategy: one force was engaged in harassment and containment in the west, while the other main force struck like lightning, swiftly eliminating the Winged Hussars on the opposite bank of the river and successfully reinforcing the fortress.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why thousands of battle-hardened elite winged cavalry were defeated so quickly and so thoroughly, barely managing to put up any decent resistance.

The soldier carefully carried him into the main tent. He was a low-ranking officer, his face ashen, his breaths barely audible. He struggled to speak, "It's...it's the hussars...the leader...is that 'Blood Woman'..."

He couldn't identify the other two armies involved in the siege, but he was very familiar with the Osmarca Empire's hussars, and recognized Mary as the leader from their rose armor.

The Kingdom of Suomi was located on the periphery, and Snellman had limited knowledge of the distant and vast Osmaga Empire. Upon hearing this, he frowned and asked in confusion, "'Blood Woman'? Who is that?"

Kazimir's expression was grave as he replied in a deep voice, "Marie, the Protector of the Osmarca Empire, the younger sister of Empress Anna, the commander of the new imperial army, and also..."

He paused, then emphasized, and said, "...also Frederick von Wessen's lover."

Mary's arrival instantly elevated the complexity and potential scale of this local war to a worrying level.

The Osmarca Empire, this ancient and colossal imperial behemoth, though it showed signs of decline, never truly died.

In the past two years, with Frederick's covert support, Empress Anne has implemented a series of powerful and effective reforms.

Politically, they vigorously promoted talented and ambitious young officers and bureaucrats, while cleverly transferring conservative and inactive old nobles away from the center of power, allowing them to return to their territories to develop industry and make money.

This move not only consolidated imperial power and temporarily eased sharp internal conflicts, but also greatly stimulated the recovery of the empire's economy.

This ancient empire, for a time, presented a scene of withered trees sprouting anew.

The cloud of doubt in Casimir's heart swelled rapidly. Mary's personal appearance on this battlefield with the Imperial Hussars—did it represent her personal will and that of Empress Anna, or did it mean that the Osmarca Empire government had officially joined forces with the Duchy of Wessen and openly intervened in this war?
If it is the former, then the number of troops she brings may be relatively limited, and they can simply be regarded as a powerful mobile force that requires high vigilance.

But if it's the latter, the situation becomes extremely serious.

The Osmaga Empire's almost inexhaustible population potential, coupled with the unfathomable wealth and supply capacity of the Duchy of Wesen... not to mention the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops the Empire might mobilize to press on the border, just the top experts within the Empire—whether renowned military commanders or court mages—if they were hired by the wealthy Wesen to participate in the war under the guise of earning extra money, would be enough to completely break the current stalemate on the battlefield.

As is widely known, the wealthy Duchy of Weisen possesses the financial resources to pay such exorbitant commissions.

Kosdorf, who was also familiar with the history of the Osmarca Empire, had obviously thought of this crucial aspect as well.

As the main initiator and core leader of this war, his logistical lifeline has been severed, and the enemy situation on the front line is shrouded in mystery. The heavy pressure is like a boulder pressing on his shoulders, and the dangerous clouds are shrouding the future of the entire coalition forces like never before.

"The most urgent task is to stabilize logistics and ensure that the army does not collapse," Kosdorf said, suppressing his inner anxiety and taking the lead in proposing a solution. His voice carried an unquestionable determination. "We must act immediately and urgently transfer food and supplies from our camp in the north using our own transport fleet."

Fortunately, the allied forces still firmly control the seas, which is the only resource he can quickly utilize at this moment. Although this means that the Kingdom of Sverrières will have to bear enormous losses and risks alone, he must pay a heavy price first in order to maintain this alliance, which has become fragile under pressure.

Having resolved the most pressing issue of survival, Kosdorf immediately shifted the conversation to the more crucial strategic level: "Gentlemen, we have a core problem to solve."

Why did the Rhine Alliance's reinforcements choose to risk entering the fortress to provide reinforcements instead of helping the remaining troops inside break through and retreat?

"What is their real strategic intention behind this move?"

Understanding the enemy's thought process is the cornerstone of formulating the next countermeasure strategy.

Snellman frowned, thought for a moment, and then analyzed bluntly: "The people in the fortress have only two options: hold out to the death, or try to break out and evacuate."

“If they choose to hold out to the death,” he held up his first finger, “then they are using themselves as bait, stubbornly clinging to this place, with the aim of holding back our main force.”

"At the same time, they cut off our supply lines in an attempt to use time to wear us down and make us collapse on our own due to lack of food."

“If they want to leave,” he held up a second finger, “then it means the reinforcements went in to reorganize the demoralized and disorganized defeated army in the fortress, to avoid repeating the mistake of Rudolf’s hasty breakout that led to the annihilation of the entire army.”

"They wanted to organize an orderly and well-prepared evacuation to preserve as many lives as possible."

“But the most troublesome problem now is,” Snellman emphasized, glancing at the other two kings, “that main force of the Wessen army is still lurking in the shadows, like a deadly viper.”

"This made us constantly worried about being attacked from behind, preventing us from concentrating all our efforts on attacking the fortress. We were also afraid of falling into a carefully designed trap and dared not easily mobilize our main force to pursue the enemy who might break out."

"They don't even need to launch a direct attack; this invisible threat alone is enough to make us hesitant and unable to move forward."

Kosdorf and Casimir both nodded solemnly, agreeing that Snellman's analysis was incisive and hit the nail on the head regarding the current predicament.

The immense psychological pressure from a formidable enemy lurking in the shadows is indeed more suffocating and agonizing than a direct, head-on attack.

“I have an idea,” Kosdorf broke the brief, oppressive silence, a sharp glint in his eyes like a snow wolf in the dark. “Since this hidden Wesson army is our biggest potential threat right now, could we find a way to lure them away, forcing them to leave this battlefield?”

Snellman and Casimir's eyes immediately focused on him, holding their breath and waiting for his next plan.

Kosdorf walked to the huge map, pointed heavily to a key location in the south, and continued, "Currently, almost all of the main elite forces that the Rhine Alliance can mobilize have been drawn to the area around Redwaterwheel Village. Therefore, the defenses of Hanma City and its surrounding wealthy areas, which are the most important core fortress and economic lifeline in the northwest of the Rhine Alliance and the final destination of the Rhine Alliance army's retreat, must be more vulnerable than ever before!"

“We can secretly dispatch a rapid deployment force, mainly composed of cavalry,” he said, tracing a sharp arc on the map with his finger, “to launch a long-range raid on the Hanma City region!”

"Our objective is not to storm that fortified city, but to carry out large-scale looting, burning and destruction of the surrounding wealthy towns and villages, creating immense panic and chaos."

"Once the news of the attack on Hamma and the devastation in the rear spreads, the Rhine leadership will be shaken, fearing that their only way out will be lost and the morale of the people in the rear will also be severely damaged."

"To ensure that their escape destination is not captured by us first, and that they are ultimately trapped and die on this land, they will likely be forced to order the Weisen army to divide its forces, or even send the main force back to reinforce Hanma City!"

Kosdorf's eyes gleamed as he surveyed his two allies, and he finally said, "If they can be mobilized and some of their forces can be withdrawn, even just one main division, the immense pressure we face on the front lines at Redwaterwheel Village will be greatly reduced."

"With the deadly threat of this venomous snake gone, we can more easily concentrate all our forces and, with lightning speed, completely eliminate that damned Rudolf in the fortress!"

Snellman and Kazimir fell into a long, deep contemplation, repeatedly weighing the enormous feasibility, potential benefits, and accompanying risks of the plan.

Finally, the two nodded slowly and heavily.

Faced with that invisible yet omnipresent formidable enemy, this seems to be the only feasible strategy to break the deadlock and turn the tide.

It's far better to keep such a dangerous enemy away from the main battlefield than to let them continue to lurk in the shadows, ready to launch a fatal attack at any moment.

Once they successfully mobilize Wei Senjun, it might be the perfect opportunity for them to completely eliminate the major threat of the Hongshuiche Village fortress and turn the tide of the war.

(End of this chapter)