Claude was very busy for the next few days. He brought Bord and Sonia to the iron workshop he and Weyblon ran together to watch the production of firepower engines and projectiles. Much to Claude's surprise, Bord was very interested in the weapons and agreed to Claude's offer without hesitation. He planned to spend the next few days researching them.
Of course, he didn't resign from his position as supervisor of the workshop. It didn't matter if he went or not since there were inspectors there to keep an eye on it.
Claude agreed to let Bord take on the job as supervisor of the workshop as well. After all, it was an official position that would bring him a lot of convenience.
In the future, Bord could focus on his research and experiments in the ranch. The occasional trip to the workshop would be a way to relax and show his face in front of the inspectors. That way, everyone would be happy.
Since Bord and Sonia agreed to Claude's offer, Claude had to expand the workshop and expand the workshop so that the father and daughter would be satisfied with the facilities. At the same time, he had to build decent living facilities for the two so that they and Mark could enjoy a high quality of life.
So, the pitiful Myjack fell into Claude's hands. Claude tossed him a set of blueprints and told him to build a villa and a laboratory in the ranch. Once the construction was complete, he would be sent back to the army.
As for the cost, Claude told him to get it from the Shiksan military budget he had hidden.
Claude planned to invest a hundred thousand crowns into the villa and workshop. His only request for Bord and Sonia was to keep it a secret.
Time passed quickly as he busied himself with work. In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
On that day, Claude received a message from Skri's orderly that the royal general, Hereditary Earl Aljes Kai Osmolin, would be arriving in Lanu at around ten in the morning the next day.
Claude had to personally welcome him and hand over his duties.
It could only be said that the former commander of the royal guard was burning with impatience. After disembarking from the ship in Tyrrsim, he hurriedly marched towards Anfiston. He didn't even respond to the invitations from the governors along the way, fearing that his target, Port Vebator, would be taken.
Because he had not taken over the position of the highest commander of the theatre of operations, the five Division Commanders in the theatre of operations could ignore his orders. It was understandable that he was worried …
When Claude first arrived on Nubissia, the journey from Tyrrsim to Anfiston took around ten days. Back then, Tribe 131 was still a light cavalry tribe with high mobility.
General Aljess Khai Osmolin's Royal Guard was half infantry and half cavalry, but it only took him 12 days to reach Anfiston. It was clear how anxious he was.
On the other hand, Claude didn't have to be in charge of the welcoming ceremony the next day. He was used to being a hands-off boss. That would be handled by General Skriti and Sir Bennett.
Claude and the other four Division Commanders only had to salute the new highest commander of the theatre of operations during the welcoming ceremony before returning to HQ to hand over their duties and attend the banquet.
The next morning, outside Lanu Town, it was not until eleven o 'clock that the banner of the Imperial Guard Division appeared in front of the welcoming crowd.
Claude noticed that while the soldiers of the royal guard were dressed neatly, their eyes were bloodshot. Their steps were orderly but a little crooked. It was obvious that they were physically and mentally exhausted from the long journey.
While they had rested for a full night, the exhaustion from the long journey wasn't something that could be recovered in a single night. They were just forcing themselves to stay awake.
General Aljess Khai Osmolin appeared before Claude and the others. Compared to the soldiers of the royal guard, he seemed to be in better spirits.
He was riding a white horse, and the purple saddle was decorated with golden thorny patterns. He was still wearing the general uniform of the Imperial Guards, which was meticulously groomed and very tidy.
The former chief of the royal guard was in his fifties. He had a squarish, expressionless face, blond hair and a greyish-golden mustache.
He sat on his horse and looked coldly at the people who came to greet him.
"Play!"
Shouted one of the majors, and the orderly band behind him began to play the famous song, "The Great Kingdom."
Claude led the group of generals to Aljess Khai Osmolin's horse. They introduced themselves one by one, starting with Claude, before bowing to the general on horseback.
General Aljess Kai Osmolin also sat on his mount and returned the salute one by one. After all the people in charge of the war zone command saluted him, he dismounted from his horse with a smile on his face, shook hands with everyone, and greeted them one by one.
When he reached Claude, he extended his hands and shook Claude's hand. He even smiled and said that he had heard of Claude's name for a long time and that he had made a name for himself in the third colonial war. As expected of the rising star of the royal army.
Then it was Sir Bennett and the other local dignitaries who came forward to welcome them. General Aljis Kai Osmolin changed from his initial indifference and became like old friends at first sight. They chatted and laughed as they were escorted to the war zone headquarters.
Claude and Bolonik were at the back of the group, whispering amongst themselves.
"He came with ill intentions. He gave us a show of strength as soon as he arrived," Bolonik sighed.
General Bolonik sighed. "When we saluted him, he purposely sat high on his horse and put on a straight face to show that he was the supreme commander of the theater of operations from today onwards. He had the final say in the affairs of us soldiers and we had to follow his orders from now on.
There's nothing we can do about it. He's the general of the kingdom after all. "
"Then why did he get off his horse?"
Claude didn't think that Aljess Khai Osmolin was a simple man, but he didn't understand why the general would shake hands with him.
"You don't understand?"
Bolonik said as if he was ignorant, "The first time he sat on his horse and asked us to salute him, it was because we're superiors and subordinates. There's no need for that. Didn't you notice that even though he was sitting on his horse, everyone returned the greeting?
Then, he got off his horse and shook hands with everyone. That's no longer a military relationship. He's interacting with everyone as a noble, indicating that we'll be friends from now on … "
"Isn't that a little too much …" Claude didn't think there would be so many connections.
Bolonik smiled. "This is the tradition of those old noble families. No matter what they're thinking or planning, don't you think interacting with them is like a spring breeze?
Of course, for them to treat us with such an attitude means that we're valuable in their eyes.
Otherwise, you'll only feel their arrogance and disdain. Also, you have to walk faster. Don't wait for them to enter HQ first before you go over … "
Claude felt that Bolonik was right. He hurriedly walked a few steps, bypassed the crowd in front of him, and entered HQ. He stacked all the documents on the desk and waited for General Aljess Khai Osmolin to arrive.
Not long after, General Aljess, accompanied by General Skree and Sir Bennett, entered Claude's office.
Claude hurriedly got up to greet him and pointed out the documents on the desk to him, ready for the handover.
General Aljess was surprised. He didn't expect Claude to be so straightforward. General Skree smiled and said, "General Claude has been looking forward to you taking over his position for a long time. This way, he can spend more time at home with his wife and children …"
General Aljess was surprised. He didn't expect Claude to bring his family with him.
However, he didn't ask too much about it. Instead, he smiled and said, "Since General Claude is so eager, let's do the handover."
The documents on Claude's desk consisted of all sorts of official documents from the war theatre command. The amount of expenditure had to be checked by the auditors brought by General Aljess in case there was anything wrong with the accounts and they had to negotiate with Claude immediately.
However, Claude's accounts were rather simple. All his expenses were checked by the logistics department that Skri was in charge of. Claude didn't have the habit of using public funds to pay his bills either. Instead, he preferred to use his own money to make transactions, so there wasn't much to check on in that regard.
After the handover, it was time for a banquet. The guests and the host were all happy, but Claude was forced to drink to his heart's content by General Bolonik and the others.
When the banquet was almost over, everyone received a notice that General Aljess would be holding a meeting at nine in the morning the next day. He requested for Claude and the others to attend.
At half past eight the next morning, Claude rushed to HQ and found that quite a number of field officers were already seated in the meeting room. They were the only ones who could make it. The high-ranking officers of Thundercrash stationed at Wickhamsburg couldn't attend the meeting due to the long journey.
However, Myjack was there as well. He had been busy with the construction of the manor and lab as Claude instructed and didn't follow Tribe 131 to escort the new recruits to Wickhamsburg.
General Aljess entered the meeting room at nine. He seemed to be very punctual.
After announcing the start of the meeting, the first thing he announced was the rewards given by the ministry of the army for their victory in the third colonial war. Claude already knew that he would be promoted to lieutenant-general and made an honorary viscount.
The main event was the merger of Thundercrash and 3rd Monolith to form Thundercrash with Claude as the corps jarl.
After the rewards and promotions were announced, General Aljess gave his first speech since taking office. He went straight to the point and said that the theatre's next mission was to take Shiks' Port Vebator and end the colonial war. He requested that all soldiers in the theatre work towards that goal and restore peace to the colonies as soon as possible.
General Aljess then announced that he would be inspecting all the troops in the theatre in the next half a month to accurately assess the overall combat power of the theatre.
After that, he would consolidate all the forces in the theatre and send troops to Port Vebator.
The meeting was almost over by then. But after the meeting was dismissed, Claude, Bolonik and the others were asked to stay behind. After a simple lunch, a military meeting was held.
It seemed like General Aljis did not trust the combat power of the divisions in the war zone. After all, these five divisions were second-line forces in the kingdom, and the second-line forces did not perform well in the Eastern Regional War five years ago …
This was also the reason why General Alsace rushed to the war zone anxiously and planned to spend half a month to inspect the troops.
On the one hand, he needed to let the Imperial Guard Regiment that had followed him here rest. The long and arduous march day and night had almost exhausted the entire Imperial Guard Regiment, and they would need at least ten days to half a month of rest to recover.
On the other hand, he needed to evaluate the fighting prowess of the five folk in the theatre. That wasn't just a request from the ministry of the army, it was also General Aljess's own.
Even though they won the third colonial war and wiped out three of Shiks' main corps, that didn't mean the five folk in the theatre were all that strong.
The five reinforced regiments that Marshal Michelic had drawn up were all focused on defense. This could be seen from the fact that there was only one offensive regiment, the Thunderbolt Regiment. The other four regiments were named after the Monolith Regiment, meaning that they were as sturdy as a monolith and focused on defense. The Thunderbolt Regiment, on the other hand, was an ambush in a defensive battle. Its role was to cut off the enemy's supply lines and harass guerrillas.
However, nobody expected that Claude would lead Thundercrash to wipe out three of Shiks' main corps and achieve such a great victory.
Strictly speaking, Thundercrash was the main force in the third colonial war. Monolith 3rd Folk was only able to contribute a little.
Thundercrash, on the other hand, suffered more than a third of its casualties. That was a heavy blow in the kingdom's corps and they wouldn't be able to recover in a short period of time.
That was why General Aljess wasn't optimistic about the strength of the three folk that didn't participate in the war. What he was about to do next would be to attack the city.
What he didn't expect was that Claude, Boronik, Sevict, and Beechkelin were all confident in taking Port Vebator. The report from Colonel Kofesler, the head of the war zone intelligence department, was an eye-opener for him.
The various defensive positions, the locations of the cannons on the walls, the distribution of troops of the corps defending the city were all presented to him in great detail.
As for the areas outside the city, that was where Thundercrash's Lines 1301 to 1304 reared their horses.
Port Vebator's garrison had been locked up in the city for nearly half a year. Even if they left the city, they wouldn't have anywhere to go. The nikancha in the northern mountains had started a rebellion against the Shiksans and formed an army to attack the Shiksan colonies. In just two months, they had taken over a fifth of the territory there.
Aljess was shocked. He didn't think that the situation in Vebator would be so favourable to the theatre. He asked curiously, "Then, why didn't you send troops to take Port Vebator?"
"Thundercrash suffered too many casualties. We need to rest and reorganize."
Boronik said, "Our mission is to defend Dorinibla River."
Sevict gave it some thought. "Like Monolith 1st Folk, we also need to defend Claude's defence line."
Beickelin shrugged. "Our 4th Monolith Corps has just been formed. We haven't even finished training yet."
Aljess was touched. It was obvious that they were giving him the credit for taking Port Vebator. The way he saw it, Port Vebator was like a ripe fruit that would fall at the slightest touch. Claude and the others were giving him face by not attacking it.
"I understand everyone's good intentions. The Osmolin Family will remember this favor.
Then, let's send troops to Port Vebator in half a month, "Aljess said.
"Why are we sending troops in a few days?"
Claude asked, "General, you don't actually need to bring the royal guard. Monolith and the others will definitely be able to take Port Vebator."
Aljess gave it some thought and shook his head. "No, this credit isn't mine alone. The royal guard has to bring it. They need it too."
Everyone understood.