In fact, Emilia had no reason to come to the front line from beginning to end.
In terms of the army, Emilia was not a warlord. The Duchess of the Empire seemed to be in a high position, but even in Nur, where she was the most powerful, Emilia acted more as the moderator and mediator of the Nur City Council. The Duchess of the Empire was considered to have excellent talent in internal affairs and diplomacy, but she was not good at military affairs.
Defeating Tarim Khan brought great prestige to Emilia, but everyone, even the dwarves, knew that the army was commanded by the Nur military and the Black Lady Elspeth von Drakken. The core fighting force was provided by the Knight King, Laing. All she did was to stand on the city wall with her son, Frey Derick Jr., in order to boost the morale of the army.
Therefore, it was normal for the dwarves to give her a military ability evaluation of 2. Emilia's military ability was limited to some basic common sense that she had learned after following Suria for a few years. There was nothing outstanding about her.
So when Emilia received a love letter from Laing in Nur, the Duchess of the Empire was very surprised. Laing actually wrote a love letter to her at this time?
This was not like Laing's style at all!
Don't even mention the love letters. I've been with Leon for many years, from my teens to my twenties. Leon was either out on expeditions all day long, or he was back to deal with internal affairs, looking for the two witches, his maid, or with Sister Sulia. If I hadn't made up my mind to break the ice before I left, Leon probably wouldn't have touched me from the beginning to the end.
Emilia opened the love letter happily. After reading a few words, she pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.
Tasteless.
What was tasteless?
To put it simply, it was not passionate enough. Laing's love letter was a little too shallow. Emilia wanted something more intense and bold.
After reading it again, Emilia understood.
This was not a love letter!
This was clearly an official letter! Her man, the Knight King, Laing, wrote a love letter in the name of blaming the southern Empire for the slow progress of the army! We have already arrived at Herzig, but we did not dare to advance because of the lack of troops. We have bought so much time for you, so why are you still dragging your feet?
The Duchess of the Empire put down Laing's love letter and made a decision. She would go to the front personally.
The formation and mobilization of the southern Empire's reinforcements did not take too much effort. The real problem lay in two places. First, who was in command of the army? Was it Marshal Rick, Helberg, or Marshal Nur, Urstein?
Brunick and Nur could not come to an agreement on this point, so the speed of the advance was naturally slow.
The second problem was the logistics. The logistics of the southern Empire had already been fully used to support the war in the northern Empire. Then, to provide for the southern army, the Empire's several major palaces, especially the important financial centers and large cities, had to fork out real money. Then, who was going to pay, how much, and how to distribute it was a very complicated political problem. This problem involved the political situation of the entire Empire and the struggles within the palaces. There was also the game between the major chambers of commerce and the unions. Purchasing supplies for the army was a huge fat piece of meat!
Annoying, right? Complicated, right? Boring, right?
But this was politics.
All the problems were solved when Amelia personally came to the frontlines. The Imperial Countess announced that she would be the commander-in-chief in name, and then appointed Marshal Rick, Curt Helberg, as the actual commander-in-chief.
Rick had no objections to this arrangement, and neither did the Nuer people.
After that, Amelia used her personal prestige and influence as a guarantee to borrow a large amount of supplies from the major merchant guilds and noble families in Tara Beheim to prioritize the supply of military supplies. The logistical problems that had not been resolved in the past were instantly solved.
Everyone was impressed by the Duchess' methods, and the army set out without a hitch.
Veronica suddenly felt a great deal of pressure when she saw the Duchess of the Empire walk out of the cabin gracefully. Witch Garland looked at the scene in front of her. More than two hundred Armoured Nur soldiers were all equipped with the best equipment and weapons produced by the Nur military factories and dwarven workshops. Their glorious history, achievements, and combat prowess did not need to be mentioned.
In addition, there was also a Blackstone Guard Legion of more than five hundred people. This was the personal guard of the Duchess of the Empire. They enjoyed a high salary and had high requirements. The Blackstone Guard Legion was recruited from the Nur Empire's Great Swordsmen. Generally, eight out of ten Great Swordsmen would be eliminated in various tests, and only the rest could join the Blackstone Guard Legion.
Just from this army of over 800 people, Veronica knew how much capital Amelia had. Amelia was now the most powerful woman in the Empire.
The Duchess of the Council opened her mouth and thought for a long time. She did not even know if she should call her by the familiar name Emilia or her real name.
"Call me Emilia, Lady Veronica." The Duchess of the Empire looked at Veronica's conflicted expression with interest. Emilia raised her chin and said, "Laing also calls me that."
"Ha-welcome, Lady Emilia." Veronica squeezed out a smile.
Emilia did not move forward. Instead, she stood still on the dock. The Council Leader's expression became awkward.
A new b * tch had appeared!
How could she stay still?
As Laing's representative, Veronica could only bow to Emilia. "Welcome, Duchess of the Empire. Your support is very important to us."
"You're welcome, Lady Veronica. This is what we should do." Emilia smiled and accepted Veronica's bow. She then grabbed Veronica's hand and gestured for them to go together.
Veronica's face was full of anger. She knew that there was no way she could compete with Emilia, so she could only give in.
Damn it!
"It seems that Herzig is still safe for now." Marshal Rick Helberg looked at the situation of the entire city. The old marshal nodded. "It's getting late. Let's move faster!"
"Move faster." Marshal Nur Erstein also gave the order.
"Yes, sir!"
Out of trust for Emilia, Veronica and the Old Guard did a quick check of the supplies and soldiers' pay. After confirming that there were no problems, they accepted everything.
At this time, the human alliance army had all arrived at the gate of Herzig. Knight King Laing, Kurfürst Boris, Kurfürst Hildebrand, Morgiana, and Regent Laun had all arrived.
"Welcome, Emilia." Laing extended his arms and gave the Duchess of the Empire a big hug. "You came in person?"
"Am I not welcome?" Emilia smiled at Laing and said, "Who was the one who couldn't wait to write a love letter to me, hoping that I could come and reunite with you?"
The onlookers burst into laughter. Kurfürst Boris even mocked, "Brother, you already have two children. Why are you still doing this? Shameless, really shameless."
"Hahahahaha …" Everyone was laughing, but Morgiana's face was very ugly.
Veronica's face was full of displeasure and jealousy.
She was the one who bought Emilia in Marlin Castle!
"Well … Yes, I invited you here." Laing smiled. Knight King nodded at Helberg and the others behind Emilia and asked softly, "How many soldiers are here?"
"Not many, just three to four thousand." Emilia shook her head. "We are the first to arrive. We are all the most elite troops. The Rick Guards, Karonburg Sword Regiment, Brunswick Honor Guards, Armoured Nur, Blackstone Guards, and two other elite regiments are all here. The rest of the troops will arrive in two days."
"It's too little." Laing sighed. "We don't know anything about the situation in Auster. The more troops we can get, the better."
"It will take time for the army to arrive, my dear." Emilia gestured for an old gentleman standing behind her to come forward. "This is old Mr. Krupp. You must know him. When Tarim Khan invaded, it was his Krupp Chamber of Commerce that donated money and materials to help us get through the crisis."
"It's my honor to see you again, Your Majesty Knight King." The old gentleman was wearing a tall round hat and an exquisite black and gold suit. He bowed and saluted. "I've brought you and all of you help from the south. To fight against Chaos, we must work together."
Laing nodded slightly. The old man in front of him was the president of the famous Krupp Chamber of Commerce in Nur. He was also the richest man in Nur. According to estimates, his wealth was estimated to be hundreds of thousands of gold marks, comparable to Schultz.
The opportunity for this guy to get rich was the invasion of Tarim Khan eight years ago. During the crisis in Nur, although he was forced, old Krupp was the president of the chamber of commerce who donated the most money and was also the most determined to fight against Chaos. In order to protect his wealth, he almost took out the entire fortune of the Krupp Chamber of Commerce.
After winning this war, the Krupp Chamber of Commerce naturally became the biggest winner. The nobles of Nur supported him, and Lady Emmanuelle also admired him. Coupled with the many contacts with Laing, the first reaction of the nobles and knights to order cannons was to order the famous "Krupp Cannon" from the Krupp Chamber of Commerce. According to Suria's statistics, the Knight King's Kingdom had ordered a total of 648 cannons of various types from the Krupp Chamber of Commerce over the years.
Laing suddenly found it very interesting. The old Mr. Krupp in front of him relied on political speculation and desperate measures to finally become the richest man in Nur and the largest arms dealer in the Old World.
Even today, he had become the general logistics agent of this war.
As mentioned earlier, this profession was a super lucrative one. Laing could say that all the rich merchants in the Empire, including Marlinburg, Brittany, Tyrell, and even the High Elves' big chambers of commerce in the Old World, all wanted to fight for this position.
It was not a problem of embezzlement, selling shoddy goods, or collecting "transportation losses". In this situation, no one dared to do too much. Once they were found guilty of "colluding with Chaos", their whole family would be burned at the stake, and all their wealth would be confiscated. No one was that stupid.
What everyone had their eyes on was the huge profits from purchasing firearms, cannons, food, medicine, clothes, and other military supplies for the army. The Motekin invasion was so huge that the scale of the military supplies was naturally huge. The profits were calculated in the tens of thousands of gold coins. This could not help but tempt the big merchants. They bought low and sold high, hoarded, and hoarded. Gold and silver rolled in as they moved around.
However, although this kind of job was a first-class job, there was also a necessary condition, and that was that the chamber of commerce had to have a very strong financial strength and enough trust from the officials. This was because in the process of purchasing military supplies, the funds prepared by the Empire's officials and the money that was about to be paid would often be "disconnected". The military supply agent had to often advance the money for the officials, and then wait for the officials to settle the supplies and the final payment. If there was a problem with the capital chain in the process, the job could turn into a nightmare at any time. At the very least, they would go bankrupt, and at the very worst, they would be burned at the stake.
Looking at the polite old Krupp, Laing could not help but think that it was impossible to become a top tycoon if one wanted to make money and do things in a down-to-earth way. No matter where one was, to become the richest man, one had to be involved in politics.
Just like the three major chambers of commerce in Brittany, the Oliver Chamber of Commerce and the Hadrian Chamber of Commerce were backed by him, while the other famous chamber of commerce, the Aniug family, was fully supported by the three dukes, Lauen, François, and Bodrick. The three parties were in both competition and cooperation, and they were in a dynamic balance, serving the knights and nobles together.
This was the highest level of business. At the two ends of the trading scale, one was gold, and the other was the ring. This kind of trade could really give birth to the top tycoons.
However, when involved in politics, it was destined that it would be difficult to escape unscathed and get a good end.
To be honest, the quality of the Krupp cannons was really good. Laing wondered if he could help this guy if he committed a crime later.
Everybody walked into Herzig City. Although the White Wolf Knights, the Grail Knights, and the Old Guard had all been ordered to stop and disperse the crowd in advance, Emilia could still see that Herzig was chaotic and weak. The lady of the Empire said softly, "Why are there so many refugees? Are you not going to do anything about it? "
"How? This is the internal affairs of Hawk. " Laing shook his head. "You know, Emilia, when it comes to logistics and the distribution of resources, it is not rare for the bureaucrats, the Church, the court, the army, and the chambers of commerce to come together and fight for benefits. With multiple management layers, everybody thinks that they have the right to cut a piece of the big cake. In the end, it often has to be resolved by the Kurfürst himself."
"Hasn't it always been like this?" Emilia could not help but laugh. "I'm not asking about that, Laing."
"It's the same when it comes to disaster relief." Laing also laughed. "Disaster relief is a typical case where there are no benefits to be gained, and it's easy to be blamed. So, everybody avoids it. The bureaucrats say that we should ask the Church for help, but the Church says that we have to wait for the money from the court. The Kurfürst says that the most important thing right now is to ensure the supply of the army, so we should ask the merchants for loans. The merchants agree to provide some food for relief, but they ask the bureaucrats to endorse them. The bureaucrats refuse and ask the merchants to go to the Church …"
"Documents, documents, and meetings?" Emilia covered her mouth and laughed so hard that her eyes narrowed.
"Hmm …"
The vanguard army from the south of the Empire entered the city. Although Herzig was already a bit crowded, there were still many places in the suburbs for them to stay.
At night, the Kurfürst Edbrand of Hocke Hill prepared another grand venison banquet.
However, on the second day after Emilia arrived in Herzig, when most of the troops from the south of the Empire were still slowly arriving at the frontline in batches, Herzig received an uninvited guest.
He was looking for the Knight King, Laing Macado!
After the two of them met and exchanged a few words, the army stationed in Herzig immediately received the joint order from Laing and Emilia.
The army was to set off immediately and move out at full speed in an hour!
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