Chapter 27

“It’s Me, Isn’t It”

Flames scorched the earth.

They burned away all the sins and the past that had tainted this land.

In the end—

Dust returned to dust.

Soil returned to soil.

February 15th, 1064.

The Bloodstained Night.

The Imperial Cabinet issued a public notice: on February 15th, during the Brittany War Council, assassins dispatched by the Kingdom of Fontaine launched a surprise attack on the meeting, resulting in the casualties of seventy-seven imperial citizens. The Empire expressed its gratitude for their contributions and declared that their names would be eternally remembered.

The wicked Fontainians believed that with such a vile act they could defeat the Empire. The Empire promised every imperial citizen—

That Fontaine would repay its blood debt in blood.

.....

This incident stirred no ripples within the Empire.

Compared to the Brittany Campaign, the deaths of a few dozen nobles might only become the subject of scholarly monographs decades later.

However, for those directly involved—

Even several days later, Prime Minister Count Raxem remained deeply shaken. He understood one thing very clearly: Ning Luo had truly intended to burn him along with the rest.

And what truly terrified Count Raxem was not that Ning Luo wanted to kill them.

After all—

Everyone knew Ning Luo was a madman of war. They all wanted to use him to burn the other side first. In the end, Ning Luo repaid them all with absolute violence, letting everyone taste the consequences. What truly unnerved Count Raxem was the fact that the one who carried out the operation was Lieutenant Colonel Stewart, along with those security units that had been reassigned.

General Allenby and Marshal Asfled had not attended that banquet.

That alone said one thing: the army's high command was fully aware—and had tacitly allowed Lieutenant Colonel Stewart to act.

The military had gone out of control.

......

But—

As far as Ning Luo was concerned, there was no time to concern himself with such matters.

War remained the most important thing to Ning Luo.

Now that the war bonds were also being handled under Prime Minister Count Raxem’s supervision, even Ning Luo had little confidence in this matter. First, because he wasn’t sure how conservative the Empire truly was—the more conservative, the harder it would be to implement war bonds. Second, opposition from the Church could easily slash the bond issuance in half. Third, the Empire’s economy itself was already on the brink of collapse after years of prolonged warfare.

March 1st, 1064.

The Empire launched the first round of war bonds. In the first week alone, it reached 600,000 silver florins in sales. That meant the first round might bring in a total of around 2.75 million silver florins.

This figure was higher than Ning Luo had expected. Based on his estimate, the most optimistic projection was a tenth of the Empire’s fiscal revenue—about 1.5 million silver florins.

Still, it had been within the range of expectations.

First and foremost, the Empire had won the Brittany Campaign last year. That victory was a massive morale boost. It once again reminded the world of the Albion Empire’s invincibility—that not even the most ferocious offensive in the history of the Kingdom of Fontaine had made a dent in the Empire’s iron walls.

Even Marshal Asfled had converted to the Orthodox Church.

And most importantly—

The power vacuum left in the wake of the Bloodstained Night. Power never disappears—it only shifts. With so many high-ranking imperial nobles dead, a new space had opened up for others to rise. For other nobles and merchants seeking to fill the ecological niche of the former great houses, the price of ascension was naturally steep.

The majority of the war bonds had been purchased by them.

After settling the matter of war bonds, the affairs of the imperial rear lines no longer concerned Ning Luo.

Ning Luo’s position as Director of the Military Dispatch Division and Chief Logistics Officer meant he was responsible solely for the hundreds of thousands of troops in the Imperial Army.

The war of 1064 was destined to be a brutal one.

It might not have been as bloody as the Brittany Campaign, but often, it was the darkness before dawn that was hardest to endure. Both the Kingdom of Fontaine and the Albion Empire were nearing their limits. All the trump cards on either side had already been played. What remained was simply a matter of who could hold out for one last breath.

Fontaine wouldn’t just sit by and watch Albion advance through war bonds. They too were continuously optimizing and evolving. The previous Marshal of the Fontaine Army had already perished in Brittany.

March 15th, 1064.

Albion Empire.

Brittany.

Brittany Fortress.

Army  Conference Room.

“If the first round of war bonds closes with us gaining three million silver florins, and considering we've already taken virtually the entirety of the Empire's fiscal revenue, the situation still remains grim. We are severely short on manpower.”

General Cavaillé delivered the briefing succinctly.

Having survived the Brittany Campaign, Colonel Cavaillé, nominally the Director of the Military Dispatch Division, had since been promoted to general. One could say that anyone who had made it out of Brittany alive received some form of promotion or reward.

With the exception of Ning Luo. His reward had yet to be determined, though it didn’t seem to matter.

Even Marshal Asfled had completely forgotten about it.

He asked:

“What’s Fontaine’s situation?”

“Likely worse than ours. Fontaine is nearing collapse in terms of both manpower and finances. But their soldiers’ morale is somewhat better than ours. Our Rotation System has left many of our troops with extremely low fighting spirit. The new Chief of Staff of the Fontaine Army is General Cournan. He’s a typical conservative.”

“And what about this year’s operational plan?”

General Cavaillé picked up another document and began:

“The Military Dispatch Division has drafted a detailed operational plan for this year’s war. The Empire lacks the ability to end the war quickly. Therefore, the division has updated the attrition strategy. There are three primary strategic objectives:

First, weaken the Kingdom of Fontaine’s will to resist through psychological tactics such as spreading information, to make continued war support unsustainable.

Second, achieve local breakthroughs—retake the Samat River and capture Port Ansel from Fontaine.

Third, strategic countermeasures and blockades to cripple Fontaine’s logistics and resupply capabilities as much as possible.”

Typically, an operation of this level would never be openly discussed in a conference room.

Of course—

It certainly wouldn’t be finalized as late as March. Bringing it into the open meant one thing: they were preparing to make this public.

Marshal Asfled turned his gaze to Ning Luo, seated across from General Allenby.

“Sub-lieutenant, your thoughts?”

“The war must end before Christmas.”

Ning Luo replied.

It wasn’t a request—it was a statement.

A year ago, Ning Luo might not have fully understood the condition of the army or the Empire. But now, no one understood the military and the internal workings of the Empire better than Ning Luo. Precisely because he understood them so well, Ning Luo knew one thing very clearly: the Empire’s military could last only until Christmas—at most.

Once it passed Christmas, the entire force would be on the verge of collapse at any moment.

Ning Luo would never allow the situation to reach that point.

While everyone was preparing for the offensive in May, this year would be the war that decided the fate of the Albion Empire.

However—

Fate never favored the Empire forever.

It always failed at the most unexpected place.

April 4th, 1064.

At only sixteen years of age, Emperor Edward VII of the Empire died of illness.

Princess Maria Bernadette Alexandra de la Pe Albion ascended as the new Emperor of the Albion Empire.