164 – Ready for all-out war (8)

Late night time when you would normally be spending time with your family.

I was listening to Short’s report, who had just been promoted to captain, in the office without leaving work.

“According to His Excellency’s command, Colonel Samuel is now extending relations by giving beauty and money to young baron families or successors belonging to the eastern, central, and western counties. The operation hasn’t fully progressed yet, but the colonel ordered me to give an interim report, so I’ve come this far.”

Despite being pushed aside by Colonel Frost, who now commands the Matchlock Regiment, Commander Colonel Samuel, who admits his lack of ability and is able to suppress his jealous feelings with reason.

I entrusted the intelligence command to give him another chance.

And he has done his best to live up to my expectations, and now the fruits of his efforts will be revealed.

Will he reveal his talent in a completely unfamiliar field, or will he be pushed into a suitable job… I kind of look forward to it.

“First of all, report in detail the budget and details used, and the whole story of the appeasement operation toward the nobles.”

“Yes, I understand. The budget executed for one year is 10,000 gold coins, and 10,000 more will be executed in the future. Roughly speaking, 6,000 gold coins were consumed in the name of the Mons Merchant Merchant to find women that the nobles would like, and the remaining 4,000 were used to purchase wine, sugar, and valuables.”

First of all, there are two reasons why I had to change my name like that.

First, it is because any aristocrat, other than an idiot, is likely to be wary of contacting the corps under my name.

Then, thinking that I might use some trick, I don’t accept it as a meek favor, so it costs more money and time to persuade, and the possibility of success is drastically reduced.

However, it is very common to bribe and prod the heirs in order to obtain protection from the nobles in the upper dimension… I will open my guard and accept it.

The reason is that? Unless it was a giant merchant family like the Medica family, it was difficult for the merchants to hold back the nobles.

Second, anyway, the goal of this operation is not a highly political operation such as betrayal or conversion.

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Just to the extent of stimulating the blood of the young nobles, increasing the possibility that they will ignore orders or insist on charging when faced with a situation where they should not have attacked.

“What did you say to them while supporting women and goods?”

“I asked to be in charge of the military supply merchant for this war. Many of them said they would try, saying that they would be able to give more gifts if they did.”

“You fools… so? Then, what about the report from the beauties who went to the side of those nobles?”

“I brought some of the reports and letters so you can see for yourself.”

Then Captain Short handed me a bundle of papers.

[Kayle von Pompadour, the son of the Marquis of Pompadour, ‘You, as a great nobleman, will definitely be able to make a major.’ With the encouragement, I am focusing on martial arts training.

… … .

Baron Delon, thanks to the encouragement of the newly acquired beauty, often declares that he will establish a major that will not be ashamed of Elia.]

Reading the whole thing, it was about 60% of the nobles who were encouraged in bed by the newly acquired beauties and were burning up their fighting spirit even more.

When I ordered this operation, I thought it would be a great success if only 40% of the nobles to be appeased were eaten, but I never thought it would work this well.

“Good job. But do you have any idea why it worked so well?”

“According to Colonel Samuel’s report… I heard the women at my pillow say that I believe that you will prove that you are more worthy than the Marquis in this war.”

As the heir to the Baron Creutel family, I have been frantically striving for survival since my first reincarnation, and in the process I have fully proven my worth.

So there was no need to compare me with my father or other nobles, but the heirs of other nobles are different.

When they are heirs, their parents and vassals compare them with successive family heads and other nobles around them, and they develop a sense of inferiority towards themselves.

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Just like the second-class students on the news who are ignored by their parents because they can’t get first place in the school.

However, they are beings who endure only for the privilege of being nobles, endless efforts, and the privilege and glory that can be enjoyed by becoming a family head.

Beauty went to such poor people and said, ‘You will become a greater person than the Marquis Ciel von Creutel, who is most prominent these days. I believe in that.’ If you say…

“You will gradually get lost in the beauty’s sweet words and will not be able to properly grasp your subject. Then I’m sure I’ll have an accident and ruin the family, but… His Majesty the Emperor who gave me shit is bad. You’ve worked hard, Captain Short. Now, the intelligence company under your command will investigate the geography of the provinces of Architel, Iris, Simon, and Espresso as much as possible.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Also, if you successfully complete this mission, I will give you a formal promotion order. At the same time, a thug under his command… No, even the back alley guys will belong to the intelligence unit. Soon they will be given military ranks, salaries and benefits, so do your best.”

At that, Captain Short, or soon-to-be Major Short, said with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you for treating such a lowly person as me…” Also, the guys who help me sang a song about wanting to become His Excellency’s vassals, so I’m sure they’ll like it… ”

“It’s a difficult mission, but if you do what you’ve done so far, you should be able to do a good job at understanding geography. Let’s go.”

**

Three months after I ordered Short to investigate the territories where we were likely to fight, a map was handed over to me.

In it, the geography, routes, and locations of cities and castles of the Countess of Architel, the Marquis of Iris, the Duchy of Simon, and the Countess of Espresso were accurately recorded for a map of this era.

As soon as I received that map, I convened a military council to convene the barons who govern each province to set up a big plan for this war.

As always, the barons were in the meeting room talking before I came.

“The Eastern District Army’s advance is less than a year away… ”

“What on earth did we receive from His Majesty the Emperor? Is it necessary to go on an expedition like this?”

“Still, if you make a big contribution in this expedition, wouldn’t His Excellency the Marquis also be granted a fiefdom? Then, with that, the cost of war… ”

“I don’t like the idea of sending His Excellency and my soldiers into an expedition like this! Balt!!”

“Baron Frost, calm down… How would your Excellency the Marquis do well? If only those combat sappers and sappers were used well, the damage would be done.”

As those guys said, the emperor didn’t do anything for me, but being mobilized for such a ridiculous expedition makes me feel so bad.

Especially when I think about how much I almost lost due to the dukes of Brussels and Orléans, I feel sick to my stomach.

So I should take this opportunity to curse the emperor.

All the barons here are on my side anyway, so I don’t have to worry about leaking out.

“It is a ploy to reduce the economic and military power of the nobles through such an expedition because they are not confident in their legitimacy and ability. You’ve managed your hair surprisingly well, but could the Marquis of Creutel be broken by just this much? So, stop complaining about the Emperor… We have to think about how we can win.”

To that, everyone responded with one voice.

“Right!”

“Okay, then let’s look at the map and discuss countermeasures.”

With those words, I unfolded a huge map of the French and Alain Empires on the conference table.

“First of all, we will join the 80,000 eastern expeditionary force led by His Highness the Duke of Orléans at Champagne Castle on March 20 next year. Then, after completing the organization of the troops, we immediately attack the Earl of Akitel.”

And I painted an X mark on the Earldom of Architel.

“According to my anticipated investigation, Count Aquitel had already agreed to bring 3,000 knights under his command to join the garrison of the eastern part of France in the event of war. so… When you enter the Earldom of Akitel, you will be able to enter without much resistance.”

At those words, Balt nodded and said.

“According to Your Excellency… In order to raise money to support the knights, excessive taxation was done… Because of this, the lives of the serfs in the territory were devastated, and ‘I want to go to the Marquis of Creutel in order for this to happen.’ That’s about as common as I’ve heard.”

If there is such a thing as common sense, a commander… Do not station a large army in such a place.

This is because if you station an army in a place where the people have left, you will be resisted by the local people.

That’s why I don’t organize a righteous army to cut off supplies or carry out guerrilla operations like the farmers in Joseon…

The serfs who are friendly to us Kreutel secretly inform us of the location of the military camp, provide us with advantageous terrain when fighting them, and information they have confirmed.

And as those things accumulate, of course, the possibility of being driven into unfavorable situations increases.

“Of course, the enemy will know about this, and they will try to use it to devise. However, we will not fall for this trick. First of all, our unit…”