119 – Episode 117
Ioanes heard the news that mercenaries from Babylon were crossing the border of Nicaea and coming to Byzantium.
He looks at his map with a thoughtful expression.
“Hmm…”
I organize my thoughts by looking at the troops deployed in the Duchy of Dupol, Epirus, and Egypt.
First, protect Epirus and Ezip… And quickly destroy the duchy of Dupol with Babylon’s mercenaries and frontline troops.’
Dupol will easily fall without the allies of the Duchy of Dupol having time to gather troops to save Dupol.
The troops to prevent the invasion of the powerful Babylonian Empire are lower in prestige than the Grand Duchy’s Giant Legion or the Golden Knights, but that does not mean they are weak.
Rather, in terms of numbers, it is overwhelmingly larger than the Golden Knights or the Giant Legion.
This is inevitable because a huge number of troops are needed to maintain a long border line of over 1,000 km.
Use those forces to collapse Kingdoms that are not ready for war with Dupol.
If the Babylonian Empire takes advantage of this time to attack, the empire may collapse, but the likelihood of that happening is very low.
It has not been long since Babylon’s expedition to the East ended.
The main force is deployed in the east, and they will not move due to a secret agreement that Ioanes made with the Babylonian royal family in advance.
You can start a war and report it to Congress later.
Nothing can be moved in Roman right now.
We need Ryan’s orders to move the troops, but Ryan is now in the Grand Duchy, so it is impossible to stop us quickly.
What is important is how quickly Ryan can take down the great nobles while he is unable to do anything.
If their territory is annexed without permission, there will be a huge backlash.
What he is about to do now is an act that would be considered a tyrant in a continent where territory is treated as private property.
But that doesn’t mean we can leave the territories owned by the great nobles alone.
Nothing, whether it be the materials or population coming from that territory, is unimportant.
That is why a merger is a must.
No matter what criticism you hear and what risks you take…
If you own the territory of the five great nobles, it is no different from taking half of the empire.
It is not a position that can be kicked out at any time like the existing imperial faction, but it truly takes over half of the empire.
Although there will be a lot of opposition, there is not much that those who oppose can do right now.
No, it would be accurate to say that it does not exist.
If you attack them without declaring war, as they are not ready for war right away, you will inevitably end up in confusion and collapse.
But the moment when such a huge territory is swallowed up.
All nobles will become uncooperative towards him.
I’m worried about how the young lion will use that gap, but I can’t ignore this situation.
If you combine Babylon’s mercenaries and your own regular army, you will have 130,000 troops.
In addition, if the fiefdoms of the great nobles, who are a strong support for the empire, come into my hands, the available troops in the empire will be reduced by half.
Time is also on our side.
If you take control of the territories of the great nobles, you will have more troops than Roman can use.
And if taxes are not sent to Roman, the empire will inevitably become weaker.
If things go this way, the empire will fall into their own hands.
But it is still too early to feel reassured.
When looking at the map. Ryan is also prepared to some extent.
Only God knows what will happen.
But we have come too far to stop.
A war in which the winner will have everything.
And the winner is clearly just trying his best to be himself.
“It should work out.”
If you move quickly in Romania and the Grand Duchy, you will find yourself in trouble.
If you move the Golden Knights, the Giant Legion, and the Emperor’s regular army and give the great nobles time to gather their troops, at that moment Nicaea will either be destroyed or, if you are lucky, there will be a standoff.
Look at the fortress where the Golden Knights stay on the map.
Although it is quite far from Roman, it is not that far from the Duchy of Dupol.
He probably had the Golden Knights deployed with the intention of moving quickly and blocking him when he made a move.
If they come forward, it will be quite difficult.
There is only one reason why the knowledgeable William listens to Debian.
This can be said to be because the emperor is being held hostage.
The Golden Knights are swords that have protected the empire and the emperor for generations.
Even though the current emperor is a woman, according to imperial law, she is the emperor of the empire.
Look at the letter in front of you.
According to the report sent by Sabinelli after his arrival in Rome, Theodora, who became emperor, and William did not meet very often.
In fact, I know that William has quite a high level of hostility toward Debian, considering his inability to protect the previous emperor and the current emperor as his incompetence.
“I think you should take this letter in stride.”
The letter in front of me was designed to look like an order written secretly by Emperor Xuan.
This is a letter telling you to advance to Roman immediately to save yourself and punish the traitor Devian.
Of course, if it were a formal order, it would need the emperor’s seal, but from what I heard, Debian currently has the emperor’s seal.
In other words… The current emperor cannot use a seal. It is easy to forge orders.
Because the emperor’s seal is an artifact that cannot be forged.
“This is how we tie up the army that Little Ryan trusts. And…”
We need to raise a big issue in order to prevent actions that condemn us in Congress.
A big bait is thrown to prevent the emperor from coming forward in person.
“Okay… I guess we’ll have to break up with Epirus.”
According to Savinelli, the current emperor does not know the secret agreement between the imperial and anti-imperial factions.
If the current situation finds out the contents, he may take a strangely friendly view of Debian.
Also, the Imperial Council does not know about Devian’s arbitrary granting of the emperor’s territory and the agreement between Princess Joy and my son to marry.
If this fact becomes known, the Imperial Council will become even more hostile towards Devian.
This is something you will find out when war breaks out anyway.
So, I will explode in advance and completely isolate Debian from the Imperial Council.
And if Alexander and Savinelli quickly take control of the Imperial Diet and turn public opinion in our favor, preventing us from condemning or declaring ourselves enemies of the state…
There may not be much Debian can do.
The council will be surprised to see the Emperor’s Knights attacking Roman. There will be confusion over the fact that Epirus and Ezib have been handed over to me.
Furthermore, the Emperor, who is knowingly or unknowingly cooperating with Debian, has no choice but to be suspicious of Debian.
In other words, it will be difficult to actively defend Debian.
So how does Debian work?
Most of his troops are located in the Grand Duchy.
It will take a long time to prepare and come.
Probably around this time, the fact that I own Epirus and Egypt would spread and the great nobles, realizing that the situation was serious, would begin preparing for war.
In the meantime, Dupol fell and I attacked the Kingdom of Erne and the Kingdom of Bohemi. Only then will the great nobles feel it.
They can’t control me anymore.
If it gets to this point, there is nothing the Imperial Council can do.
Even if I come here and declare myself an enemy of the country, there is no force that can compete with me.
In this chaotic situation, the Emperor faction will struggle to kill me, but that doesn’t mean I can easily trust Devian, who gave me wings, so I’ll be confused.
Even if opinions gather faster than expected to condemn me, it will be impossible to stop me from the moment I have already subdued the Kingdom of Ern and the Kingdom of Bohemi.
Because I will own most of the kingdoms that are important to the empire.
Epirus, Egypt, Nicaea, Erne, Bohemi.
If five kingdoms fall into my hands, the only kingdom-level titles remaining in the empire are the Grand Duchy of France, Roman, and Serin.
Among them, the Serin Kingdom is only a kingdom in title, but in reality it is the size of a principality, so it can be ignored.
“He who wins… Takes everything.”
And you will win.
***
Leopold Burg, Duke of Dupol, is very worried about the movements of the Kingdom of Nicaea.
Because of generations of bad relations with the Kingdom of Nicaea, the family’s territory was reduced over the centuries.
The military was expanded along the border between the Kingdom of Dupol and Nicaea, possibly preparing for war again, and Dupol began to claim territory as part of the Kingdom of Nicaea in 500.
In fact, Dupol was the territory of the Kingdom of Nicaea, but it was a time when a cruel tyrant ruled the Kingdom of Nicaea.
Your ancestors achieved independence with iron and blood.
At that time, the war ended on the condition of complete independence, but now 500 years have passed.
Leopold is lost in thought as he sees the Kingdom of Nicaea making an absurd claim that our duchy should be rejoined to the Kingdom of Nicaea.
‘I definitely intend to end our duchy this time.’
We have confirmed that many mercenary groups are currently employed by the Kingdom of Nicaea on the continent.
Leopold is not afraid of this situation.
After the previous empire granted the right to war to the Kingdom of Nicaea.
Because it was Leopold who had predicted that something like this would happen, sooner or later.
“I guess we should quickly tell our allies.”
If Dupol falls, nearby large and small fiefdoms will also fall.
Their cause is to regain the territory of the formerly independent Kingdom of Nicaea.
I don’t expect the pretentious and greedy Ioanes to devour Dupol alone.
They will definitely attack previously independent territories, including Dupol.
Duke Leopold soon took out a piece of paper from a drawer.
Take out the fountain pen and ink and fill up the paper.
‘There is still time. Moreover, if Nicaea has no choice but to fill its main force with mercenaries… The odds of winning are 50-50.’
Leopold predicts that since Nicaea faces the border with the powerful Babylonian Empire, there will be few regular troops available in Dupol.
The main force would be a mercenary unit.
If you are a greedy mercenary unit, there are many ways.
They don’t like siege wars that require a lot of sacrifice, so they try to waste time by doing things haphazardly, or they try to induce defeat by secretly giving bribes.
What is impossible with regular troops is possible with mercenaries.
-Srurr…
Leopold wrote the letter like that.
He won’t know.
Ioannes made a secret pact with the Babylonian Empire…
And the fact that the best mercenaries of the Babylonian Empire, not the poor mercenaries, are joining Nicaea.