Merging the four colonies into a single war theatre and handing over political and military power to a single person was something that had never happened since Aueras was founded.
But the kingdom had no other choice. Cromwell and Balingana were the two colonies they had to give up. Robisto and Anfiston, on the other hand, were the last line of defence. Even if Robisto fell, Ranger had to hold the Claude Defence Line and protect Anfiston.
Perhaps, the two sides had been on an unequal footing since the start of the war.
Shiks had practically used all of its power to send reinforcements to Nubissia without a care in the world.
Aueras, on the other hand, could only send out a folk of Ranger and form an overseas corps to fight the war.
Be it in terms of military strength or support, Aueras was at a huge disadvantage.
As Michelc said, Ranger's only advantage over the Shiksan army, which hadn't experienced the baptism of war for more than 40 years, was their advanced equipment and tactics, as well as their rich experience on the battlefield.
The enemy could send endless reinforcements while Ranger couldn't get any from within the kingdom. It wasn't that Aueras didn't want to send reinforcements, but that they were powerless to do so.
The five-year war in the east had depleted the kingdom's wealth accumulated over the past two decades. The treasury was now empty.
Even though they won the war, the situation was still dire.
Their mortal enemies, Nasri and Canas, were huge problems. Even though they signed a peace treaty, half of the kingdom's military strength was still heavily guarded.
On the other hand, the three newly conquered duchies had been reduced to rubble during the war. The kingdom needed to invest more in restoring the people's lives and it would take a long time to heal the wounds of the war.
At the same time, the kingdom had to form a new standing corps to defend the territories. That increased the kingdom's military expenditure and placed a heavy financial burden on the kingdom.
That was only external. The kingdom wasn't at peace internally either. Stellin X was bedridden and couldn't handle the affairs of the kingdom.
The new merchant nobles and the old noble houses were at loggerheads for the sake of the newly conquered territories. The two councils were in an uproar.
During the war, everyone could still restrain themselves and unite for the sake of victory.
But when the war ended, everyone wanted a share of the spoils of war. That was when conflict arose. The only thing Aueras gained from the war was three duchies, so there was no way everyone could get a satisfactory share of the spoils.
Faced with internal and external problems, the war with Shiks in Nubissia was one disaster after another for Aueras.
The seven colonies had been providing the kingdom with resources to recover its strength, which was why the kingdom couldn't reach a compromise with Shiks.
After all, Shiks was far too ambitious. They wanted to swallow the kingdom's three colonies in one go, which crossed the kingdom's bottom line.
Rather than saying that Ranger heading to Nubissia to defend against the Shiksan colonial forces was something the nobles of the kingdom wanted to do, it was more accurate to say that Aueras had no other choice. There was no better force to send than Ranger.
The kingdom's four ace corps, Crimson Dragon and Gryphon Corps, were stationed around Nasri and couldn't be moved easily.
Bluefeather, on the other hand, had just been reorganized to take on the heavy responsibility of defending Canas.
As for the royal guard, they were there to ensure the safety of the royal capital. If they were sent to Nubissia and suffered heavy losses, it would only make Shiks greedy and ambitious. They would then set their sights on the kingdom's remaining colonies.
The three newly formed standing corps had to defend the three newly conquered duchies and couldn't be mobilized.
Ranger, on the other hand, wasn't a corps, but it was made up of elite soldiers and was publicly acknowledged to be no weaker than the four ace corps.
Even the royal guard's two battalions against Ranger's reinforced battalion ended up losing all four rounds in a mock battle.
How could Ranger, who didn't have the responsibility to defend the kingdom, not step forward when the kingdom was facing such a crisis?
In less than half a year, Ranger didn't disappoint the kingdom's expectations. They wiped out two of Shiks's standing corps and Seaking's fleet without hesitation and reclaimed all their lost territory.
Aueras believed that Shiks had finally come to terms with reality, so they sent an emissary willing to cede an overseas colony to form a peace treaty between the two kingdoms.
However, they didn't think that the envoy would be ignored by Shiks. The heavy casualties of the colonial forces infuriated the Shiksan military.
Aueras's offer to cede an overseas colony in exchange for peace was seen as a humiliation to Shiks. They clamored that they would take back what they lost on the battlefield and decided to send five standing corps to Nubissia to continue the colonial war.
No one in Aueras was optimistic about the outcome of the war. No matter how valiant Ranger was, it was impossible to bridge the gap of one to ten against three hundred thousand.
As for the two overseas field legions that were ordered to be formed by the garrisons of the seven colonies, they were just cannon fodder that made up the numbers and had no combat power to speak of.
The colonial war would only end in defeat for Aueras.
Combining the four colonies into a single war theatre and having Ranger's General Micheli in charge of all military and political affairs was a clear sign that Aueras had given up on Cromwell, Balingana and Robisto. All he needed was for Ranger to defend Anfiston. That was the kingdom's bottom line.
In the private meeting between Prince Hansbach and General Michaelch, he had already expressed the kingdom's attitude towards the colonial war.
Despite the fact that the four colonies had merged into one war zone and General Michelqi was in control, Cromwell and Balingana had to evacuate all of the kingdom's citizens, fortify the walls and clear the fields, and turn them into battlefields. There was no civil administration to speak of.
It was the same for Robisto. They had to rely on the natural defenses of Dorinibla River to defend against the enemy and inflict as many casualties as possible.
If they couldn't hold on any longer, they would retreat to Anfiston and make use of the terrain and mountains to set up layers of defences to keep the war at a stalemate.
Maintaining Ranger's supplies and reinforcements in the colonies on Nubissia was already a difficult task for Aueras. The long distance increased the cost of transporting supplies by a large margin.
What was certain was that Shiks would have to pay a huge price to maintain five standing corps on Nubissia.
Aueras could only hope that the colonial war would drag on and make Shiks bleed to death on Nubissia until they couldn't hold on any longer.
Before Prince Hansbach left, he also announced the establishment of a firearms repair workshop in Anfiston. The workshop would be responsible for repairing and modifying old firearms to make up for equipment lost on the battlefield.
It was the first firearms workshop Aueras had set up in the colonies. It was only set up because they had no other choice. It would take at least half a year to transport a batch of firearms to the frontlines.
Ever since Aueras started expanding their colonies on Nubissia, they basically treated the colonies as the source of the kingdom's mineral resources and forbade the establishment of any workshops related to the people's livelihood in the colonies.
They had to transport the minerals and resources back from the colonies and process them into finished products before selling them back to the colonies.
Gunsmiths weren't allowed to be set up in the colonies either. Every time, the gunsmiths needed by the colonies' garrisons would have to be transported from the kingdom's mainland to the colonies.
The kingdom had no choice but to set up a firearms workshop in Anfiston. The hundred thousand standard aubass mark 3 muskets that the first prince brought with him were mostly used up after Ranger expanded into a corps and formed a second corps in the colonies.
If they had to replace the garrisons with new equipment and take into account the losses incurred on the battlefield, they would need at least another hundred thousand of the latest precision shooting muskets.
That wasn't something the kingdom could do in the short term, nor could they transport them to Nubissia before the war.
In the end, he could only decide to set up a temporary firearms repair workshop in Anfiston. The first reason was to repair the muskets that had been damaged on the battlefield, and the second was to modify the old muskets used by the colonies to meet the needs of the battlefield.
According to the spies sent to Port Vebator, it would take at least three to four months for Shiks to transport five corps to Nubissia to continue the war.
The reason was simple. The consumption of resources for five corps of three hundred thousand soldiers wasn't a small amount. While Shiks had a large colony on Nubissia, it wasn't fully developed and was mostly exploited for resources.
Other things aside, the colony's food consumption alone had to be purchased from the colonies of Aueras. That was also why Shiks coveted the colonies of Cromwell, Balingana and Robisto.
With those three colonies, Shiks would be completely self-sufficient in terms of food and meat.
After transporting three corps to Colony Vebator in one go, the Shiksan army was dumbfounded. Not only did they not send enough people, they couldn't even defend the colony, let alone fight a war. Without food and ammunition, how were they supposed to fight a war?
However, Seaking could only transport so many supplies each time. After a round trip of two months, they would often find that the supplies from the first shipment were almost depleted.
That was the shortcoming of the Shiksan strategists who hadn't experienced war for more than four decades. They had no experience in managing a colony war on a continent thousands of kilometers away.
The colonies on Nubissia lacked everything. Any resources needed for war had to be transported from the mainland.
Not to mention, shipping by sea wasn't safe either. Storms, pirate attacks, fog and all sorts of other incidents happened one after another. Even communication between the two places would take a month to arrive.
Almost all the Shiksan logisticians lost all their hair in that half a year. In the end, they had no choice but to hire the joint fleet of Nasri and Canas and commandeer most of Shiks' ships. Only then did they manage to maintain the sea route to Nubissia.
The spy who infiltrated Port Vebator reported that there was a mountain of supplies in the military base. Shiks probably only needed to make two more trips to stock up enough supplies to last the war.
Coupled with the two standing corps that had yet to arrive, it was likely that they would be able to finish preparing for war in four months and launch an attack on Cromwell.
The spy asked whether there was a need to send elites to infiltrate the military base in Port Vebator and burn down some of the supplies to delay the war.
However, Michelic rejected the spy's request. To him, four months was enough time for Ranger to finish preparing for war.
There was no need to use petty tricks like infiltrating the enemy's base and burning down the supplies to delay the war. Ranger needed to lure the enemy in and surround them before wiping out the enemy corps one by one.
That was the only way they could truly teach Shiks a painful lesson.
The loss of five standing corps might make Shiks understand that the colonies of Aueras weren't something they could covet.
The migration of the citizens of Cromwell and Balingana was already progressing in an orderly manner. All the young men of suitable age in the seven colonies received orders to be sent to Anfiston to form the second corps.
Michelic didn't intend to send them to the battlefield as cannon fodder. He only wanted the corps to undergo a short period of training before taking over the Dorinibla River and Claude Defence Line.
"Colonel Claude, how is the expansion of Line 131 coming along?" Michelic summoned Claude urgently.
"General, the expansion of Line 131 has been completed. All the new recruits have been selected from the local garrison forces of the appropriate age. This saves us the time to train new recruits.
Currently, they're familiarizing themselves with the new aubass mark 3 muskets. They're also receiving training on Ranger's new tactics, "Claude replied.
"Are there any problems?" Michelic asked.
"General, we don't have enough warhorses. We need more than two thousand warhorses at the moment.
However, the logistics department said that the next batch of warhorses will arrive in half a year. They suggested that we use healthy horses to temporarily replace the warhorses. "
Michelic pondered for a moment before making his decision. "I will order for the four mobile corps under my command to provide you with enough warhorses.
Colonel Claude, you only have three months to complete your regiment's training.
Because in three months, the enemy is likely to launch an attack on us.
I need Line 131 to move to Cromwell after the enemy enters Balingana. Cut off the enemy's supply lines and create the conditions for Ranger to annihilate the enemy's five corps. "
Claude stood at attention once more. "I understand, General. We will complete the mission."