CHAPTER 398: CHAPTER 345 ETERNAL DOMAIN MILITARY READINESS STATUS_1

Butler Attlee seemed to understand, yet not fully grasp, Count Theodore’s analysis. After all, Cloud Tower had long been imposing in the eyes of outsiders; the Empire was ultimately the Empire, and Marquis Anderson was renowned for his military prowess.

His strength was absolutely formidable.

And with the recent rise of Thunderous Swamp, Silver Mane’s strength was bound to be greatly diminished after losing Marquis Anderson’s Wildwind Highlands Legion.

If Attlee had to choose sides, he would definitely pick Cloud Tower.

Others would likely make the same choice.

So what benefits could Yan Xing possibly gain from going to such great lengths to expand the scale of the war? The larger the scale of the war, the more enemies he would have, wouldn’t he?

"Master, what should we do? It has been many days since the Marquis contacted you," the butler said, worried about the increasingly tense relationship between Count Theodore and Marquis Anderson.

"Sigh..." Mentioning Anderson, Count Theodore couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. "In this world, perhaps no one understands him better than I do. Right now, he’s probably busy preparing to receive the Imperial Emperor’s award..."

The butler asked in surprise, "Master, is the Marquis planning to betray the principality?"

"With his relationship with Duke Silvermane torn to this extent, betrayal is a matter of time. However, I still hope that his war with Yan Xing doesn’t break out, that he doesn’t become a pawn charging for Cloud Tower," Count Theodore thought for a moment and then said to the butler, "My birthday is in a month... make it grand. Invite both the Marquis and Yan Xing to attend. I hope to dissuade them at the last moment."

The butler replied, "Yes, Master."

「In the Eternal Domain, Yan Xing made final preparations for the spring war.」

Troops, trained and armed, marched out of Thunderous Swamp and into pre-built barracks.

New weapons were manufactured and then distributed level by level.

Ostensibly... the Eternal Domain’s main land army had been reorganized into five infantry divisions.

This included one Human division, three Werewolf divisions, and one Lizardman division. Each division comprised 10,300 personnel and was equipped with 10,000 rifles, 1,000 machine guns, and 500 assorted artillery pieces. Additionally, each division had 500 vehicles, a total of 5,000 other means of transport (such as bicycles, motorcycles, and motorized tricycles), 500 magic-state disc launchers, and 1,000 rocket launchers.

A single infantry division comprised: four infantry regiments, one divisional heavy artillery battalion, one rocket artillery battalion, two cavalry battalions, and one directly subordinate aviation squadron.

The Werewolf and Lizardman divisions also had a large number of Poison Flies accompanying them into battle.

One Cavalry division totaled 4,120 personnel. It possessed 4,000 Chocobos, 200 vehicles, and 100 magic beast warhorses. These troops were equipped with cavalry rifles, mortars, and rocket launchers. The division also had a directly subordinate aviation squadron.

One airborne brigade, totaling 3,000 personnel.

One heavy artillery brigade, totaling 3,000 personnel.

One special operations regiment, totaling 1,000 personnel.

Other garrison troops, sappers, and support units, as well as conscripted laborers for logistics, amounted to over 50,000 people.

The Eternal Territory Air Force had 314 Gryphon Fighter Jets, 30 dive bombers, 7 bombers, and 20 transport planes already in service.

An additional 40 transport planes could be requisitioned from civil aviation and other purposes.

There was also an experimental equipment brigade of 3,000 personnel, equipped with demonically modified weapons for field testing.

For the upcoming spring war in the Wildwind Highlands, the Eternal Domain mobilized an army of over one hundred thousand, half of which were front-line combat troops.

Thanks to continuous production by the Eternal Domain’s Alchemy Laboratory, and with Chui Chui overseeing the production lines, all combat troops had received usable weapons.

However, the stockpile of weapons was nearly empty, and ammunition reserves were also slightly inadequate.

Another concern for Yan Xing was...

On the front line, the Eternal Domain’s main forces were on par with Marquis Anderson’s Wildwind Highlands Legion.

In terms of troop quality, the Wildwind Highlands Legion was a veteran force that had fought many tough battles with Orcs and Elves. Furthermore, after being armed with Cloud Tower’s alchemical equipment, their strength was undoubtedly formidable.

The Eternal Domain’s main forces had only truly been assembled for three months, with a large portion having trained in Stenchwater Forest for just one month.

The battles they had participated in were only the Nuta City uprising and the Battle of Heize City.

They had leveraged their equipment advantage to win two favorable battles, and though this had helped build the army’s confidence, how much combat power they could exert against the Wildwind Highlands Legion remained an unknown.

As for the recruits who hadn’t even participated in the Battle of Heize City, they were really just fresh out of drill training and had only fired a few shots at targets.

Therefore, for the three newly reorganized Werewolf divisions and the one Lizardman division, I shouldn’t expect them to perform too well in the war.

Then there was the air force... which also had a whole host of problems.

How should the war be fought?

As winter was about to pass, Yan Xing summoned all of his military commanders, magic advisors, and technical officers.

Together, they held a royal mobilization meeting.

The old guard of the Eternal Domain, along with the new officials who joined after the unification of Thunderous Swamp—over thirty heroes in total—were seated to the left and right of the royal conference table.

First, the commanders of each unit briefed Yan Xing and the others on the combat readiness of the forces they commanded.

Then Gao Sipa reported on the material reserves prepared by the Eternal Domain for the war.

The alchemical robot Laura reported on the next stage of production plans for the Alchemy Laboratory.

Arlanda reported on the state of the residents within the Eternal Domain, along with intelligence collected on the Wildwind Highlands.

Lastly, Chui Chui controlled a projection device above the conference table, casting a virtual battlefield sand table and marking the positions of both enemy and allied forces.