Sometimes, the slap in the face came too quickly when one spoke too much.
Just as Claude was about to say that he wasn't a traitor to Hansbach, he saw Bolonik, Skri, Eiblont and Birkin looking at him strangely. Skri took out a newspaper from the pile on the table and handed it to Claude. "You should take a look at this first."
It was a newspaper from Aueras' archenemy, Nasri. It was called the Herald Tribune.
It was also published three months ago and was probably bought by a captain or someone else on the ship before leaving it there.
Borkal bought all kinds of newspapers at a high price, so he brought the long-overdue newspaper with him.
The article was rather interesting. The title was' Cheers for the Coming of Peace 'and it was a celebration of Aueras's repentance, turning from hostility to cooperation and forging a new chapter of peace with Nasri.
There was a reason for their cheering. Stellin XI, Prince Wedrick, had sent an envoy to sign a treaty with Nasri, returning the prefectures of Kafreizit, Ralstonkelen and Botarnia, as well as the prefecture of Woodnisya that they occupied during the Eastern War five years ago to Nasri.
During the reigns of Stellin IX and Stellin X, Aueras fought three wars with Nasri. Aueras attacked Nasri's capital twice.
Kafreizit, Ralstonkelen and Botarnia used to be Nasri's territory. During the third war, Nasri sued for peace, but they couldn't afford to pay the reparations. As a result, the three prefectures were forcefully annexed by Aueras.
That was also the reason Nasri became Aueras' archenemy. During the Eastern War five years ago, Aueras' Reddragon occupied Woodnisya once more and didn't return it to Nasri after the war. It was their fault for not being able to pay the ransom and could only use their territory to pay off the debt.
However, the four prefectures had always been difficult to govern. The residents could easily incite Nasri to rebel against Aueras.
Fortunately, there was an analysis of current events at the bottom of the report that allowed Claude to understand why Wedrick did what he did.
It was simple. He wanted to get rid of the burden and avoid having to fight on two fronts. He wanted to give up all the territories that couldn't bring him benefits and could only be used to maintain order. He wanted to concentrate all his elite forces to suppress Prince Hansbach's rebellion and eliminate his rivals for the throne.
In late May of this year, Prince Hansbach and Prince Wedrick's armies finally engaged in a large-scale battle. Both sides attacked and defended.
This wasn't the traditional battle style of Freia, where the enemy would gather their forces and march in formation to determine the outcome of the battle. Instead, both sides would set up their own defensive lines and launch sneak attacks on each other in an attempt to force the enemy's line to collapse.
The situation of the battle was extremely intense. The positions of both sides were like interlocked fangs. Projectiles flew all over the sky, and the close combat lasted from morning to night. Corpses and severed limbs were everywhere on the battlefield.
However, both sides had set up their defenses well. Even if the first line of defense was lost, there were still a few more that could stop the enemy's assault.
The battle went on for more than a month. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, with each side suffering a hundred to two hundred thousand casualties. In the end, they didn't even have enough ammunition and had to stop fighting to recover.
In terms of combat power, Prince Hansbach's troops were much stronger than Prince Wedrick's. Prince Hansbach's commanding skills also gave his troops quite a bit of a boost.
But the problem was, as Marshal Michaelic had said, the current war was about logistics.
Prince Wedrick's troops were supported by the military industry of an old noble family, so they had far more resources than the enemy. For every grenade the enemy threw, they would throw three to four in retaliation.
In close combat, Prince Hansbach's troops were unstoppable. The moment they managed to break through the defensive line, they would be able to gain it easily.
However, Prince Wedrick's troops had also gained experience. As soon as a position was lost, they would immediately form a grenade team and throw a hundred grenades there. In the end, it was Prince Hansbach's troops who suffered heavy casualties.
The battle known as the "Battle of the Six Months" seemed to be a draw, but it wasn't all that great for Prince Hansbach. Be it in terms of manpower or ammunition, he couldn't compare to Prince Wedrick at all.
After the battle, he had no choice but to give up the four prefectures on the defensive line and withdraw his troops to Whitestag. He hoped to use the terrain to stop Prince Wedrick's troops in the mountains and buy time for his troops to recover.
Even though Prince Wedrick had reclaimed the four prefectures, he wasn't having an easy time.
He had to borrow money to pay for his military expenses.
According to the map, Prince Hansbach occupied the new territory in the northeast and the three prefectures in the southwest. Prince Wedrick occupied the central territory of the kingdom.
Even though the central territory was the heart of Aueras, the "Battle of the Six Months" had damaged those prefectures. It was far from enough for them to recover and they wouldn't be able to provide much help to Prince Wedrick.
Prince Wedrick wasn't stupid. He knew that he couldn't give Hansbach any time to recover. He had to chase him down and force him to leave the three prefectures in the southwest.
However, Hansbach was currently in Whitestag. It was the place where Stellin IX had been revived and Prince Wedrick wasn't willing to let Hansbach become the second Stellin IX.
But Whitestag was a treacherous place. Without the royal guard mobilizing and the half-crippled Crimsondragon in need of rest, sending a second line of troops to attack would be akin to sending Hansbach's head to the prince.
Gryphon was the best at fighting in the mountains. However, they were stationed at Odin Mountain Range to stop the two standing corps from attacking and couldn't be diverted to attack Whitestag.
It was at that moment that Prince Wedrick decided to return the four prefectures of his mortal enemy, Nasri. Not only did the four prefectures not produce anything, the kingdom also had to invest a lot of military funds to maintain law and order and suppress riots.
For example, Reddragon had been stationed at the border of Botarnia to put pressure on the Nasrian Kingdom.
Another important reason was that the Gryphon Army stationed at Odin Mountain Range could now withdraw boldly after returning the four prefectures of the Nasri Kingdom.
Even if the two standing corps left behind by Hansbach occupied Odin Mountain Range, they wouldn't be able to threaten the kingdom.
That was because Kafreizit had already become Nasri territory. Unless they wanted to start a war with Nasri, they wouldn't be able to attack Aueras by land.
This was killing three birds with one stone for Prince Wedrick. First, he got rid of the burden on his shoulders and wouldn't have to invest in the four prefectures anymore.
Second, he could bring Gryphon back and continue attacking Prince Hansbach's territory in Whitestag.
Third, the kingdom wouldn't have to face a pincer attack. Even if Prince Hansbach escaped from Whitestag and returned to his new territory, he would find that it was no longer connected to the kingdom.
He would have to occupy Kafreizit, which belonged to Nasri, before he could pose a threat to the kingdom.
Of course, there was a huge downside to this. Prince Wedrick would be throwing away all the spoils of war won by Stellin X and Stellin IX. He would become known as the most prodigal king in the history of the kingdom.
However, Prince Wedrick didn't care about his reputation. All he cared about was chasing Prince Hansbach away from the kingdom or killing him so that he could sit on the throne.
The analysis of the Herald Tribune's report was very detailed, and the arguments were irrefutable. It could be seen that the person who wrote this analysis report had a good eye and level.
Claude put down the newspaper in silence and felt his face burn. That was a huge slap to the face.
Prince Hansbach only released 300 thousand Shiksan captives, while Prince Wedrick, who was crowned king, sent four prefectures to Nasri in one go.
While he didn't know if there was more to the deal, it was probably just compensation.
The problem was, could those territories be compensated with money?
In the eyes of the kingdom's military, Prince Wedrick's actions were akin to throwing away all the sacrifices the kingdom had made over the years.
He wasn't just squandering. He was trampling on all the glory Aueras had gained since Stellin IX and throwing away the glory and glory of the millions of soldiers who had sacrificed themselves on the battlefield.
Disregarding everything else, when the kingdom's main territory and the newly conquered territory were no longer connected by land, it meant that Prince Wedrick had legally given up his authority over the newly conquered territory.
Aueras had sacrificed more than 600,000 soldiers and more than 20 years of national finances. They had fought five anti-Auerian nations to the east of Freia for five years and annihilated three duchies in order to occupy this new territory.
Now, Prince Wedrick had given the three duchies to Prince Hansbach. He didn't care if Hansbach wanted to establish a new nation on the new territories or use them as a base to launch a counterattack on the kingdom.
Prince Wedrick only wanted Hansbach to leave the kingdom as soon as possible so that he could shut his doors and live comfortably as king.
As for the strong objections and protests from the people of the Royal Kingdom, he completely ignored them.
Bolonik let out a long sigh and broke the awkward silence in the meeting room.
He forced a smile and said, "For the sake of the throne, the two brothers fought each other to the death.
The late king, Stellin X, vigorously expanded Nubissia's overseas colonies to such a scale.
Then, he used more than 20 years of national finances to wipe out three duchies and occupy large swathes of new territory, establishing the kingdom as the sole ruler of the eastern part of the continent.
"In the end, the two princes became more and more wasteful. Prince Hansbach asked us to give the colonies to Shiks.
Prince Wedrick even gave four prefectures to our mortal enemy, the Nasrian Kingdom, and gave up his authority over the newly conquered territories.
"The kingdom's achievements in the past hundred years of expansion were completely thrown away by the two brothers.
"As a soldier of the kingdom, it's our tragedy to have two monarchs like that, but that's no reason for us to abandon our duties.
"As long as we wear this uniform, we will protect the colonies from being invaded by our enemies.
"It doesn't matter if Shiks has gathered ten standing corps or not, we will do our best to defeat them.
"The situation is clear now and you know the kingdom's current state of affairs. I believe that even if Prince Wedrick wins in the end, we won't be able to get any help from him. He might even send envoys to plunder money from the colonies for him.
"So, we shouldn't pin our hopes on the prince. Let's think of a way and rely on ourselves."
General Skree nodded. "The only thing we can rely on right now is ourselves. Almost all the newspapers on the west coast don't think that we will be able to win.
After all, Shiks had gathered ten standing corps of around six hundred thousand soldiers. Five of them were made up of veterans and captives, while the other five were made up of the nobles' private armies and the youths of the nobles' territories after Majid III assessed the nobles' rebellions. They all had a certain amount of fighting power.
"To some countries, six hundred thousand soldiers is enough to destroy a nation. Shiks is planning to use them all in the upcoming colonial war, probably taking into consideration the lessons they learned from the previous three colonial wars.
Therefore, renting the Cape Loducus Colony of the Fox Islands United Kingdom, gathering all the troops, and relying on their strong combat power to push south was their best strategy.
"Shiks knows very well what our weaknesses are. We won't be able to get any support from the kingdom and can only use two corps to stop them. They'll be able to wear us down with a war of attrition."
"That's why we have to first occupy the northern mountainous region and use the terrain to build a sturdy defensive line. We'll have to rely on our advanced weaponry to stop the ten standing corps!
If the nikancha don't know what's good for them, I won't mind wiping them out first! "Birkin retorted.
But this time, it wasn't Eiblont's turn to retort. Claude looked at Birkin coldly. "What makes you so sure that the ten standing corps of Shiks will come south from the northern mountainous region?
"If you occupy the northern mountainous region, build a defensive line and deploy troops for a defensive battle, but the Shiksans just so happen to circle around you and not come south from the northern mountainous region, what will you do?
You'll even offend the nikancha and add another mortal enemy to our theatre. Do you think we won't die fast enough? "
"But … But if the Shiksans don't come south from the northern mountainous region, can they fly over from the sea?"
However, he knew that Claude had a better eye for strategy than he did. Claude must have noticed something was amiss for him to criticize him like that.
Claude got up and walked in front of the large map on the wall. He knocked his fist on the mountainous region at the eastern border of Bay Loducus. "Don't forget that most of Shiks' inland colonies are in that direction. The damned nikancha still haven't conquered them completely.
If Shiks gathers their forces and is ready to march, he can, or should I say, must first rescue their encircled colonies and mining companies.
"Also, they're mortal enemies with the nikancha. To Shiks, the nikancha are slaves who rebelled against them. The nikancha occupying their colonies and establishing an independent nation is a humiliation to Shiks.
That's why I believe they'll toss our theatre aside and focus on wiping out the nikancha nation and teaching the nikancha slaves a lesson. Recovering the colonies is their first priority. "
Claude looked at Birkin again. "If you occupy the northern mountainous region and build a defensive line, the Shiksans can completely ignore that region.
They can break through from the eastern mountainous region. As long as they occupy the nikancha nation and recover the colonies, they can choose another route to enter our theatre. "