"So we're just helping out," Bolonik said with a bitter smile.
On the table was a large map of the kingdom. The red lines on it were the routes Hansbach's troops would take to attack the royal capital.
All the generals understood why the first prince gave the secret order to return Port Vebator to Shiks and cede Cromwell and Balingana to Shiks.
They originally thought Hansbach had gone mad for the throne and made such an irrational decision to send Thundercrash and Monolith to increase his own forces.
Only now did they understand that the first prince's agreement with Shiks included ambushing Dreadnought and sending Bluefeather and a standing corps into the kingdom's hinterlands, bypassing Odin Mountain Range and appearing on Ibnister Plains.
It was truly a genius plan that exceeded everyone's expectations. The vast sea actually became a smooth path for the first prince's troops.
The only thing the bigwigs in the royal capital knew was to gather their forces at Odin Mountain Range to keep the first prince's troops out of the newly conquered lands. They were going to wait for Wedrick to ascend the throne to stabilize the situation in the kingdom before slowly grinding the first prince down.
No matter how one looked at it, Prince Wedrick, who occupied two-thirds of the kingdom's prefectures, was more powerful than Hansbach.
Prince Hansbach occupied one-third of the kingdom's territory, which was newly claimed by the kingdom.
While it had been ten years since the five-year war, the kingdom's economy hadn't improved at all. The people in the newly conquered lands were also in dire straits.
The longer things dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for Hansbach.
As Bolonik and Claude and the other generals discussed in private, no one thought much of Prince Hansbach's future.
Be it in terms of manpower or ammunition, the newly conquered lands couldn't compare to Wedrick's own kingdom at all.
War was a battle of logistics and economy. Claude suspected that the first prince wouldn't be able to sustain himself if he ran out of funds in a year or so.
Other things aside, Wedrick occupied the royal capital and had a righteous reputation. Most of the bigwigs in the kingdom supported his succession.
The other issue was the supply of ammunition. Wedrick had the support of the five major military industries of the old noble houses, while the first prince only had the unfinished military industrial complex in the three southern prefectures. They weren't on the same level at all.
That was why the first prince's secret order infuriated the other generals.
Claude also took the opportunity to break off his relationship with Hansbach and draw a clear line between them. He was afraid that after the war, Prince Wedrick would settle the score and the generals in the war theatre would be implicated because of their relationship with Hansbach.
Unfortunately, the bigwigs in the royal capital didn't take the first prince's secret order to heart. Instead, they reprimanded the theatre for issuing the order.
It was only now that they understood Hansbach's plan, but it was too late for regrets.
It was no wonder the first prince was willing to hand over three colonies to Shiks. Without the help of Seaking and the Alliance, the first prince wouldn't have been able to take over the royal capital.
Now, the generals in the theatre were in a difficult position. None of them liked Hansbach and refused to follow his orders. In a way, they were betraying the first prince's kindness.
But now, Prince Hansbach had slapped them in the face. The surprise attack had taken over the capital, and Prince Wedrick had fled in a panic. The entire kingdom's civil war had changed.
"We refused the first prince's secret order and didn't return Port Vebator or cede Cromwell and Balingana. Why would Shiks still help the first prince?" Eiblont didn't understand.
Skri shook his head. "Even though the three colonies are under our jurisdiction, don't forget that we don't have the final say in who they belong to.
We can reject the first prince's secret order, but if he defeats Wedrick and ends the civil war, we won't be able to stop him from handing over the three colonies to Shiks as a reward. "" That's right. That's right, we can't do anything about it. "
"More importantly, we've already offended the first prince, Hansbach.
General Birkin pointed out the key point. "If the eldest prince ascends to the throne, we believe that none of us will have a good end.
I know the First Prince's temperament very well. He is very magnanimous to the soldiers and low-ranking officers, but he is very harsh to high-ranking officers like us. He will never forgive us for refusing the secret order he issued. "
Skri nodded helplessly, agreeing with Skri's point of view.
When he was Hansbach's adjutant at the start of the war five years ago, he'd seen the first prince laugh and joke around with the soldiers and officers.
However, he was very sharp and unkind to the high-ranking officers who made mistakes. Mocking and ridiculing them was still a light punishment. Sometimes, he even ignored the presence of others and loudly reprimanded and cursed them, putting those high-ranking officers in a difficult position.
Claude could only smile bitterly. Hansbach's sudden attack was too amazing. He managed to turn a bad hand into a trump card.
Nobody could be sure that the first prince wouldn't have a chance. Taking over the royal capital would greatly increase their resources and manpower.
To put it bluntly, the balance of the kingdom's civil war was now tilting towards the first prince's favor. Similarly, the intensity of the civil war would only increase with the first prince taking over the royal capital. The entirety of Aueras would welcome a calamity.
However, Claude didn't regret rejecting the first prince's secret order. No matter what, he had to protect his family's name and honor.
If he had accepted the secret order, even if the first prince succeeded in ascending to the throne, the crime of ceding Port Vebator to Cromwell and Balingana would still be on him and Bolonik's shoulders.
Being called a traitor would haunt him and his family for the rest of his life. Claude would only be willing to take the blame for Hansbach if he had nothing better to do.
"Enough. Since we've already pledged our loyalty to Prince Wedrick, we have no choice but to follow this path to the end.
Even though Hansbach has taken over the royal capital, there are many in the kingdom who oppose him. Prince Wedrick still has Reddragon, the royal guard, and Gryphon under his command.
Three of the kingdom's four trump card corps occupy the royal capital, and they're in a righteous position as well. All he needs to do is make a call and the entire kingdom will rally their forces to attack. Who knows, Hansbach might even be chased out of the royal capital, "Bolonik consoled.
Claude nodded. "There's no point in us panicking here, unless we receive orders to return to the kingdom and join the war.
Let's settle on the matter of disarmament today.
During this period of time, I've thought of a plan. If we don't use the rearrangement of a full division and an empty division, why don't we use the three-three system and have two divisions in each corps maintain the same combat strength? "
"Three-three system? What's that like?" Eiblont asked curiously.
"It's actually quite simple."
Claude took a piece of paper from the table and started writing. "Our corps at full strength can be called the four-four-two system. Four squads make up a platoon, four platoons make up a brigade, four brigades make up a battalion, four battalions make up a regiment, four regiments make up a division, and two divisions make up a corps. Including the troops directly under the command of the various units, we have a total of 63,000 men.
My idea of a three-by-three system is to use three squads to form a squadron, three squadrons to form a brigade, three brigades to form a battalion, three battalions to form a regiment, three regiments to form a brigade, three brigades to form a division, and then three divisions to form a corps.
"That way, we'll reduce the troops of the various units and make it a three-three system. That way, a division will have around 21,000 men.
"For now, we'll have two folk in each corps. If there's a war in the future, we can expand and form a third folk. That way, we'll still have around 63,000 men."
Bolonik took out another piece of paper and started doing some calculations. A squad would have 12 soldiers and three squads would make up a platoon. Including the platoon jarls, there would be 40 people. In that case, a brigade would have 120 soldiers. Along with the jarls, guards, signalmen, medics, orderlies, an artillery squad, and a supply squad, there would be around 150 men.
Three platoons would make up a battalion, which would have around 560 men.
Three battalions would make up a regiment, which would have around 2,000 men. Three regiments would make up a brigade, which would have 6,500 men. Three brigades would make up a division, which would have around 21,000 men.
Based on Claude's three-three system, both Thundercrash and Monolith would be able to maintain two folk of similar strength.
What made the generals hesitant was that Claude's three-three system was based on small regiments. Aueras, on the other hand, had around five to six thousand men.
Thundercrash and Monolith, on the other hand, were made up of reinforced folk. Each folk had around seven thousand men. Adding on the troops directly under them and an additional reinforced battalion, they would have a total of 32,000 men.
Strictly speaking, the main fighting force of each corps only made up two-thirds of the total. The rest were the troops directly under them and the support staff. That made the corps look rather bloated.
Claude's three-three system was based on small regiments, which were mainly used for field operations. Then, he added a brigade unit in between the regiments and divisions. The generals found it rather strange and thought that the brigade unit would serve the same purpose as the big regiments from before. It was just a name change.
After that, the generals started arguing. Some agreed with Claude's idea of small regiments, while others felt that it wasn't a good idea to change the military system so randomly. However, they all had the same opinion and rejected the idea of a brigade. They believed that an additional unit on the battlefield would only cause more trouble. It would make it harder for intelligence to be relayed to the next level and cause more inconvenience.
Claude believed that large regiments were outdated. In the past, the main method of warfare on Freia was to line up and shoot, so the more troops one had, the better. A regiment was the main force for offense and defense, so it was easy to expand. Sometimes, it was even tempting to stuff an entire division into one.
However, the five years of war in the eastern region and the colonial war in the colonies had shown that the method of waiting in line to be shot was outdated. Flexible and mobile ambushes and accurate shooting, as well as relying on strong defensive positions to defend, were the mainstream of war.
Be it Thundercrash or Monolith, they had long since abandoned the tactic of marching in formation and shooting. Instead, they relied more on accurate shots to attack and defend. Now that they had the help of grenades, Claude felt that it would be better for them to go back to small regiments. That way, it would be more flexible and convenient for them to command.
Even though everyone agreed with Claude's explanation that small regiments were beneficial in battle, they didn't support the three-three system.
Among them, the one that everyone hated the most was the brigade system. The addition of a brigade made it very different from the Aueran military system. It would be difficult to answer to the Ministry of the Army, and changing the military system without permission was also a crime.
However, Claude's three-three system and small regiments gave the generals some inspiration. After an intense debate, they finally came to a consensus. Bolonik, as the acting commander-in-chief of the theatre, decided to use the four-four system.
The four-four system meant that the regiments from small squads to regiments would remain the same. Four squads would form a platoon, four platoons would form a brigade, and four brigades would form a battalion. Each battalion would have 800 men, and four battalions would form a regiment. Each regiment would have about 3,600 men. A division would have 21,000 men, divided into five regiments, a reinforced battalion, and other support personnel.
That way, Thundercrash and Monolith could have two divisions of equal strength. If there was a war in the future, they could expand by another division and the two corps would still be at full strength.
After deciding on the reorganization plan, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. However, General Birkin immediately proposed that the nine local garrison regiments that were to be formed should also be reorganized in the same way as the reserve forces of the two corps. It would be best if they could maintain the same military system.
However, if the local garrison regiments were to be reorganized in the same way, there would be twelve local garrison regiments instead of nine. Bolonik finally decided to deploy two local garrison regiments at Port Vebator and Port Patres, as well as the City of Silver's Monknad Castle, to strengthen the garrison forces at the three strategic locations.
In the latter half of the fifth month, Bolonik headed to Tyrrsim to meet with the governors and generals of Tyrrsim, Mormaly, and Arturas to discuss the issue of military expenditure.
Before he left, he handed the task of reorganizing the two corps and forming the twelve local garrisons to Claude, Eiblont, Beechlin and Skri.
In the middle of the sixth month, Bolonik sent a messenger eagle. It was said that the talks with the governors and generals of the three colonies didn't go well and he planned to return to the war theatre in the first half of the seventh month.
In the end, Bolonik suddenly lost contact in July. The war theatre HQ sent a few more messenger eagles, but none of them received a reply.
On the 23rd of the seventh month, Weyblon barged into the war theatre HQ and brought Claude a shocking piece of news.
The governors and generals of Tyrrsim, Mormaly, and Arturas declared their loyalty to Prince Hansbach. They detained Bolonik and used their private forces to seal off the borders of the colonies, intending to use the general's life to threaten the war theatre.
How is that possible?
His first reaction was to not believe Weyblon's news at all. Were the viceroys and commanders of the three colonies out of their minds?
What right did they have to threaten the war theatre? There were two corps in the war theatre. No matter which one of them went north, the three colonies wouldn't be able to escape unscathed. Did they really think the private forces of the governors and generals could stop the attack of the war theatre's corps?