Chapter 104: Defense or Offense?
Although the near-nonexistent secrecy awareness of the city-state people provided Robin Mancini with considerable operational convenience, after in-depth investigation, Robin's mood inevitably grew heavy.
Dolrcocha, Little Sassinian, Sudaman, Badan, Camela, Koloro – these were the six city-states included in Cleon's original plan for the North Soqya Frontline.
Among them, Sudaman and Koloro were the smallest, likely included just to make up numbers. The two city-states combined probably didn't even have three hundred extraordinary citizen-soldiers, similar to the Lanwan Viscountcy before Charlotte took over.
Small city-states like Sudaman and Koloro were quite common on the Soqya Peninsula, typically existing within the central mountain ranges. They resembled ancient Chinese villages or large families during wartime periods that banded together, occupied defensible terrain, built strong fortifications, and formed stockades for self-preservation.
Dolrcocha and Little Sassinian belonged to the second tier of city-states.
Little Sassinian's citizen-soldiers suffered minor losses in the great war with Ambratu. After the war, the Council of Elders even recalled the citizen-soldiers dispatched to the Ivy Alliance frontlines. Currently, Little Sassinian possessed at least one thousand extraordinary citizen-soldiers.
In terms of scale, the Dolrcocha city-state was much larger than Little Sassinian. According to intelligence Robin overheard in the tavern, Dolrcocha currently had approximately eighteen hundred to two thousand extraordinary citizen-soldiers.
However, Dolrcocha's situation was more complex. Firstly, it still had at least five hundred citizen-soldiers serving on the Ivy Alliance frontlines. Secondly, roughly two-thirds of Dolrcocha's citizen-soldiers were perennially engaged as mercenaries abroad.
This meant that, even calculated at the upper limit, there were currently only around five hundred-plus extraordinary citizen-soldiers within the Dolrcocha city-state itself.
If the Dolrcocha Council of Elders wished to initiate a war, they would need to issue a mobilization order to recall those citizen-soldiers scattered abroad.
Badan and Camela were first-tier large city-states.
Robin had not yet gathered sufficient information on these two city-states. Based only on snippets heard in the tavern, he speculated that both might possess four to five thousand extraordinary citizen-soldiers each. Even if half were conscripted by the Ivy Alliance, they would still have at least two thousand-plus citizen-soldiers each.
Among them, Badan was somewhat special because it possessed a powerful navy, no less formidable than its army.
In other words, if this North Soqya Frontline were to fully materialize and assemble its entire force, the Lanwan Viscountcy might face an attack from nearly seven thousand extraordinary citizen-soldiers, plus a navy of unknown size.
Meanwhile, the Lanwan Viscountcy currently had only just over a thousand knights, three griffins, and a weak Swordfish Island fleet.
In terms of military strength, the Lanwan Viscountcy was completely disadvantaged.
Robin Mancini immediately used messenger ravens to transmit the preliminary intelligence to the Lanwan Viscountcy.
Charlotte, on her end, was just preparing to depart back to the Green Plains Duchy – Andre was getting married, and she needed to return for the wedding.
Having just arrived in the Lanwan Viscountcy and barely rested for a few days, she had to go back again. This was precisely why Charlotte hadn't been eager to return to the Lanwan Viscountcy earlier.
However, before her luggage was even packed, Renee handed Charlotte a note. Naturally, the note contained all the intelligence Robin had uncovered.
Charlotte took the note, read it quickly, and her expression turned grave.
"Go fetch Knight Herman Green, Knight Eric Scamario, Knight Jack Moore, and Knight Rayne Nazares," Charlotte instructed Celine.
"Yes," Celine acknowledged and departed.
Charlotte sat down at her desk, picked up paper and pen, wrote three letters, and handed them to Renee, saying, "Have these delivered separately to Riverside Castle, Oak Castle, and Sister Monika. It seems the Lanwan Viscountcy is likely going to war. I won't have the chance to return for the wedding. I can only wish my brother and Sister Monika a happy marriage."
"Yes," Renee took the letters. Messenger ravens had limited reliability; personally written letters like these, meant to show sincerity, still needed to be sent via messenger to avoid getting lost or delayed.
Charlotte felt quite regretful about missing the wedding. After all, she had even attended Henry's wedding, yet she had to miss her own brother's and cousin's weddings. It felt like a significant loss.
After writing the letters, Charlotte didn't have to wait long before Herman Green, Eric Scamario, Jack Moore, and Rayne Nazares arrived at the castle.
Charlotte handed them the note containing the intelligence for them to read one by one.
After reading the intelligence, all four men wore serious expressions.
"If Knight Mancini's intelligence is accurate, we're in considerable trouble this time," Jack Moore said, sucking in a cold breath.
"It's precisely because it's troublesome that I called you here to discuss countermeasures," Charlotte made an inviting gesture. "Let's hear everyone's thoughts. How should we respond to this formidable enemy?"
The group pondered for a while. Finally, Rayne Nazares spoke first: "How about requesting aid from the Duke of Green Plains? If the Duke could send another five – no, three griffins over, we wouldn't need to worry about that North Soqya Frontline at all. We might even have a chance to counterattack and crush these city-states one by one..."
As he spoke, Rayne Nazares shook his head himself: "Counterattacking would be difficult. The scale of the enemy's navy is still uncertain. If they have enough ships, they could circle around by sea and cut off our army's retreat route. However, with three more griffins, defense would certainly be sufficient."
"I also agree with requesting aid, but just requesting aid might not be enough," Old Jack, who had become quite familiar with Rayne Nazares, spoke frankly. "Requesting aid from the Duke, reinforcements would need at least half a month to arrive. And the armies of those city-states? Little Sassinian, the closest to us, could attack the Viscountcy by sea in just half a day. Dolrcocha, the second closest, could reach Ambratu in just over a day's march if they force it. So, while requesting aid, we also need to do some work to try and delay the enemy's offensive."
"What kind of work? Building fortifications?" Rayne Nazares asked.
"No, building fortifications would definitely be too late," Old Jack shook his head. "I mean, we could actually try negotiating with those city-states."
"Negotiate?" Rayne Nazares was very surprised.
"Yes," Old Jack explained. "I think not every city-state in this North Soqya Frontline is necessarily eager to fight us. The Viscountess is, after all, a vassal of the Oran Empire. They would surely have reservations about fighting us. Except for Little Sassinian and Dolrcocha, which are adjacent to us, city-states further away like Badan and Camela... if we can bribe some influential figures, there should be room for negotiation."
Charlotte nodded slightly, frowning in thought.
"I agree with Knight Moore's strategy," Eric Scamario spoke up. He paused, then added, "Furthermore, I believe there might still be a possibility of negotiation with Little Sassinian as well."
"Oh? Why do you say that, Knight Eric?" Charlotte asked with interest.
"I believe the reason the Little Sassinians want to go to war with us is not solely out of... vigilance towards Your Excellency Viscountess, but also because they gained nothing from the war with Ambratu," Eric stated. "In the war against the Ambratu city-state, although the Little Sassinians won a great victory on the battlefield, they suffered heavy losses off the battlefield. More than half of their city's houses and docks were burned down, they lost a large number of sheep and almost all their stored wool and fodder. This is enough to cause Little Sassinian to have no harvest for three years, and they might not fully recover even within ten years. If they could have seized Ambratu then, Little Sassinian would have had a chance to recoup their losses. But Ambratu was taken by us, which is why the Little Sassinians resent us."
"You mean, if I offer sufficient economic benefits, Little Sassinian might also abandon the war?" Charlotte summarized.
"I cannot be certain, only that there is such a possibility," Eric quickly added.
Charlotte nodded, then looked towards Herman Green, who had been standing aside without speaking: "Knight Herman, what do you think?"
"I believe... if we could temporarily abandon Ambratu County, withdrawing all troops and supplies to the Lanwan Viscountcy. Then, relying on the narrow terrain of the Lanwan Isthmus, even with our current weaker forces, we would be sufficient to halt the main offensive of the North Soqya Frontline allied army."
Herman Green's opening words presented everyone with a completely new line of thought.
"The armies of the North Soqya Frontline belong to six different city-states. Badan and Camela, the farthest away, have the most troops. These armies cannot remain stationed in Ambratu for long. After some time, when the enemy withdraws or largely withdraws, we can then retake Ambratu. With the powerful siege capabilities of the griffins, this would be a very easy task."
Charlotte clapped her hands softly, praising, "That's truly an excellent tactic."
Ambratu's economy had not yet recovered. As long as its storage facilities, and even its population, were moved entirely to the Lanwan Viscountcy, then even if the whole of Ambratu were ceded to the enemy, Charlotte would suffer no loss. The enemy couldn't take away the city and land; she could simply recapture it later.
After carefully considering it, the other three knights couldn't help but admire Herman Green's strategy.
Charlotte synthesized everyone's ideas and pondered for a long time before saying, "There's no need to request aid. The situation in the country is currently severe; I don't want to trouble Father and distract him. Negotiation efforts can proceed, not just with the more distant city-states, but with every city-state in the North Soqya Frontline. We can negotiate with all of them. As long as they are willing to remain neutral, or even ally with us, any price we have to pay can be discussed."
Charlotte's reluctance to seek aid from Jose Mellerfield was not solely because the Green Plains Duchy's surroundings were fraught with conflict and her father needed to prepare for war. More importantly, she couldn't run to her father for help every time she encountered conflict. This would damage her own prestige and hinder her control over her subordinates. Being the eldest daughter of the Duke of Green Plains could be one of her labels, or a trump card, but it couldn't be her entirety.
"Additionally, Knight Herman's defensive strategy can be kept as a backup..." Charlotte stood up, walked to the map on the wall, stared at it, and continued, "Before resorting to that, I don't want to simply defend. Compared to defending, I'd rather take the initiative and attack."
"Attack?"
All four knights were extremely surprised.
"That's right," Charlotte nodded. "It's convenient for Little Sassinian and Dolrcocha to attack us. Conversely, isn't it just as quick for us to attack them?"
"Especially Dolrcocha," Charlotte pointed to the Dolrcocha city-state on the map. "There are no natural defenses between this city-state and us. At this moment, their citizen-soldiers are still scattered abroad, leaving their city's defenses very weak. If we launch an attack proactively, they absolutely cannot withstand our three griffins!"
An imposing aura emanated from Charlotte's face.
"But, but the matter of negotiation..." Eric was confused. He didn't quite understand why Charlotte was talking about negotiation one moment and then wanting to launch an offensive the next.
"Negotiation is negotiation," Charlotte smiled brightly again. "Fight while talking, talk while fighting. The two don't interfere with each other."
Soqya Peninsula, Little Sassinian City-State.
After the Council of Elders decided to join the North Soqya Frontline and launch a counterattack against the Lanwan Viscountcy, the Little Sassinian city-state also began orderly war preparations.
As a renowned general on the Soqya Peninsula and the savior who had just led the citizen-soldiers to annihilate Ambratu, Apo was naturally appointed general once again, responsible for commanding the Little Sassinian citizen-soldiers in battle.
"Please take me to see Salius."
One day, Apo found Elder Matt, who was responsible for managing the city-state's slaves, and said this.
It took Matt some time to recall that Apo was referring to the captured Ambratu elder, Salius. After Salius surrendered with the Ambratu citizen-soldiers, he and his subordinates were thrown into the slave camp.
"What do you want to see him for?" Matt asked strangely.
"I don't just want to see him," Apo said. "In fact, I want to see all the Ambratu citizen-soldier prisoners of war. I hope they will fight for me."
"You are the general of Little Sassinian, not the general of Ambratu," Matt, being on good terms with Apo, joked with a smile.
"I know that, of course," Apo didn't smile; he spoke seriously. "But relying solely on our Little Sassinian citizen-soldiers, I'm afraid it will be difficult to withstand a full-scale offensive from the Lanwan Viscountcy. We need more combat power. These Ambratu prisoners of war are an excellent reinforcement. I think they would also be willing to fight to reclaim their homeland."
"Wait..." Matt noticed Apo's wording and said with astonishment, "You're talking about an offensive? You think the Viscount of Lanwan will proactively launch an attack? And a full-scale offensive at that?"
"Of course," Apo nodded. "Once the forces of the North Soqya Frontline begin to assemble, it will be difficult to keep the news secret. At that time, the Viscount of Lanwan will surely learn of our strategic intentions."
"But, we have six city-states, several thousand troops..." Matt held up six fingers, still finding it somewhat hard to believe.
Apo's thinking was the exact opposite. He smiled faintly and said, "That's right, we only have six city-states. From near to far, taking one out reduces their number. If I were the Viscount of Lanwan, I can't think of any reason not to attack proactively."
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