Ch.223Rotaring Punishment War (3)

“Your Excellency, the various states of the peninsula, including the Grand Duchy of Lombardy and the Republic of Vines, have declared neutrality. You need not worry about the rear and can focus solely on the front lines.”

“…Tch. Well, I wasn’t expecting much from them anyway.”

The Imperial envoy who had urged the peninsula nations to join the war to punish Lotharing had no choice but to return empty-handed.

Things had gone awry due to the sudden death of the Emperor, but the Holy Empire had already mobilized troops to subjugate the nations of the Cisalpine Peninsula.

That was, of course, a disguise to deceive the Kingdom of Lotharing, but the disguise had been so perfect that the Holy Empire had become an incomparable threat to the peninsula states compared to the Kingdom of Lotharing. After all, they had actually sent ultimatums and mobilized troops for the perfect deception.

Although the Kingdom of Lotharing had a terrible reputation, one could not equate a powerful nation with a bad reputation to one that actually threatened their independence.

“Should we consider it fortunate that they haven’t sided with the Kingdom of Lotharing?”

“For now, I believe we should. Having to fight on two fronts would do us no good.”

“Not bad then. We can pour all our strength into the Lotharing front.”

Of course, no matter what, they couldn’t side with the villainous bastard king who had lost all legitimacy, and the peninsula states, which shared borders with the Empire and would suffer the greatest losses if war broke out, had declared neutrality from the beginning, leaning toward neither side in this conflict.

However, the Duke of Lombardy, who had been directly affected by Lotharing’s machinations, had been so enraged that he seemed ready to join the Empire, but that anger soon subsided.

As mentioned earlier, for the nations of the Cisalpine Peninsula, the Empire was an enemy that threatened their independence at any moment.

The Duke of Lombardy, who had been furiously insisting on joining the Holy Empire’s forces to fight against the Kingdom of Lotharing, had to abandon his intentions in the face of desperate opposition from his terrified vassals.

“What about using the Carolingian nobles to sow discord? I don’t expect immediate information here at the front, but surely you know something?”

“The information is ten days old, so it’s not the latest, but the issue isn’t about agreement or refusal—we can’t even make contact with the nobles in northern Carolingia. As soon as war broke out, all Imperial citizens traveling in Lotharing territory were detained, and approaches by sea were completely blocked by the coastal guard. The Elector of Meissen, who’s in charge of intelligence, was lamenting this fact.”

“Well, that’s…”

The Grand General leading the Imperial army let out a subtle sigh at this extraordinary intelligence.

Indeed, those people couldn’t be understood by common sense.

The fact that all Imperial citizens traveling in Lotharing territory were detained as soon as the war began meant that the Kingdom of Lotharing had been keeping track of all foreigners within its borders from before.

What country in the world would engage in such madness that yields no benefit and only wastes administrative resources?

Thanks to that, all Imperial spies heading to Carolingian territory were discovered, which was beneficial now, but conversely, if there had been no war, wouldn’t it have been just throwing money down the drain?

“…But the southern route should allow direct entry into Carolingian territory without passing through Lotharing, right?”

“It seems the bastard king has done something to intimidate the Carolingian nobles. An Imperial agent who managed to meet the Duke of Provence reported that the Duke was greatly frightened and asked him to leave quickly, saying he wouldn’t reveal that the agent had come.”

“Hmm… Perhaps he’s being blackmailed? Well, that’s possible.”

In reality, Claude had dispatched direct inspectors with guards to the courts of influential Carolingian nobles, including the Duke of Provence, and numerous undercover agents were collecting and sending real-time information to Dijon. Knowing this, the Duke of Provence had frantically sent away the Imperial envoy, but the Imperial Grand General evaluated the Duke’s response based on common sense.

From the Grand General’s perspective, it was inconceivable that the Duke of Provence, who surely harbored great discontent toward the bastard king, would behave this way unless blackmailed. Moreover, he could never have predicted that inspectors openly wielding authority and secret agents capable of assassination would be planted in a high noble’s court.

No matter how much of a political opponent, a noble was still a noble—the idea of monitoring nobles as if supervising serfs was not just absurd but completely unimaginable to the Grand General, who had been born a noble. It was like inviting an honored guest to one’s home and not offering them anything to eat or drink.

“Truly, the nobles under that vicious bastard king must feel like they’re walking on thin ice every day.”

“Haha, I agree. Even just hearing and reading about it makes me shake my head. Ah, it seems the scout who went ahead is returning.”

The Grand General and his attendant, who had been chatting while marching, noticed the returning scout. The two, who had been chuckling just moments ago, immediately returned to a serious demeanor.

That scout had been sent toward the river marked as the battlefield, so he must be bringing information that would determine the course of the battle.

“A large Lotharing army has set up camp across the river! Forcing a crossing would be reckless. If we attempt to cross, you should expect casualty rates at least five times higher than the enemy’s!”

“Hmm…”

The information brought by the scout was extremely grim for the Imperial side.

Moisture was essential to render Lotharing’s weapons useless, but Lotharing’s fortifications were so perfect that they would lose that moisture advantage.

‘Crossing is impossible.’

His Majesty the Emperor had ordered them to force the Lotharing army against the river and push them so their weapons would absorb heavy moisture, but in the current situation, that was completely impossible.

Even thinking from the opposite perspective, there was no reason to ignore the advantage of their own fortifications and cross the river to attack the enemy. Especially when they needed to buy as much time as possible until mobilization was complete.

‘Should we go around? But then, unless it rains, Lotharing’s weapons will function at full capacity.’

With these thoughts, the Grand General looked up at the sky, which was covered with clouds so thick they blocked the sunlight, turning everything gray.

…It’s humid, and the air is cold.

The wind is strangely rising from the ground to the sky.

“His Majesty’s orders were to engage Lotharing at the river, but in the current situation, that order is extremely difficult to carry out. Moreover, if we cross the river only to have the enemy retreat, we gain nothing. Therefore, we will bypass the river.”

“Are you planning to focus on rain moisture rather than river moisture? But that would mean leaving our strategy to the mercy of heaven. The weather may be cloudy now, but isn’t it common for cloudy weather to clear without rain?”

“It doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t rain, we’ll wait until it does.”

“What do you mean…”

The Imperial noble who had been questioning the Grand General’s judgment fell silent upon seeing his expression.

His face showed nothing but seriousness.

In normal times, when nobles fought over the smallest advantages, he might have used this momentum to attack the Grand General’s position.

But this was the battlefield.

And not just any battlefield—this was a war to avenge His Majesty the Emperor, who had been unjustly murdered.

No matter how much nobles might squabble among themselves, they weren’t so dishonorable as to engage in such unseemly behavior in a place like this. On the contrary, at times like these, nobles should act with the dignity befitting their station.

“Think about it—why is the Imperial army rushing toward Dijon right now?”

“Well… isn’t it because things will go wrong if Lotharing completes its mobilization? We need to surround Dijon and bring down the bastard king before then.”

“Exactly. If the Kingdom of Lotharing completes its mobilization, the Empire will be in serious trouble. A war that could be ended quickly would drag on. But honestly, the idea that we can quickly end the war by rapidly capturing Dijon is rather naive.”

Even if they surrounded Dijon, would the Kingdom of Lotharing surrender? Judging by the bastard king’s erratic behavior so far, one could guarantee he would flee to the coastal regions, or to Lutetia in the Kingdom of Carolingia, or elsewhere before Dijon was surrounded.

And for the Imperial army, which had rushed to Dijon without properly establishing supply lines, only destruction would await after missing the king.

With an army approaching 100,000 men, they would need enormous supplies, and without proper supply lines, it would be nearly impossible to remain in the Kingdom of Lotharing for long.

While they could try to procure supplies locally… that option was already lost.

[Don’t drink the well water! It contains rotting animal carcasses!]

[Burn all the bread in this storehouse!!]

That madman was using any means necessary to win the war.

They hadn’t seen a single clean well on their way here, nor had they found any normal food in the many carts and storehouses they had captured.

Local supply was impossible against this insane bastard king who was devastating his own territory for victory in war.

“We slow our pace to allow the Imperial nobles who have raised their armies for the cause to join us, strengthen our supply lines, and advance slowly while waiting for the rain that will eventually fall and ruin Lotharing’s weapons. The Imperial army must move based on this approach.”

“What if… it never rains?”

“No, it will. This season typically brings rain once or twice every two weeks… and above all, how could God leave such a villainous bastard king unpunished?”

“Kuk… that’s true.”

While some might view this as irresponsible talk, others around them felt no such reservations.

The Grand General’s words were absolutely right.

God would not leave unpunished such an evil man who committed sins as easily as eating and took others’ lives without hesitation.