Chapter 11:  What Does It Mean to Win While Lying Flat?

When Colonel Hawkins returned to the conference room once again—

Lieutenant Colonel Wolsey's corpse was already slumped over the table, blood still pouring out.

Priscilla, who had killed Lieutenant Colonel Wolsey, continued to stand behind Ning Luo as if nothing had happened. It seemed like a trivial matter to her. The other department heads hadn’t even reacted yet; none of them had expected that Ning Luo would actually dare to order the execution of a logistics and finance department minister.

Colonel Hawkins pressed a hand to his aching forehead.

He regretted it a little. If he had acted decisively earlier, things wouldn’t have escalated to this point.

In theory—

For a captain to kill a lieutenant colonel, it should be reported immediately and handled by a military tribunal. As the war intensified, cases of soldiers killing their superiors weren’t uncommon. However, those incidents usually involved ordinary soldiers. A captain killing a lieutenant colonel? That was unheard of.

But—

If Colonel Hawkins reported it directly, it wouldn’t just be Ning Luo who faced the military tribunal. It would be everyone present.

Ning Luo tapped his finger lightly on the tabletop.

“Does anyone else have any objections now?”

.....

“Since no one has any objections, then from this moment onward, the Logistics Planning Bureau is established, with me serving as the Chief Logistics Officer. And let me remind everyone once more—if we win this war, we all rise in rank and title. If we lose, none of us will escape.”

Everyone present felt Ning Luo was a madman.

They had assumed he was just someone sent by the General Staff Office to conduct an investigation—or a pawn in some political struggle between the high command and the Empire’s leadership.

They hadn’t expected Ning Luo to be this ruthless.

If before, at most, they might have taken the fall for the war’s outcome—now, with a logistics minister dead, Ning Luo had effectively tied all of them to the same stake.

Just as Ning Luo had said—

None of them could escape. No—who even knew what kind of background this man had? If things really went south, it was entirely possible that they would be the ones to shoulder all the blame.

Now, the only way out was to do exactly as Ning Luo said—

Win the war.

Then any cost would be worth it. Any sacrifice would be acceptable. The life of a mere lieutenant colonel—in a war of this scale—

Was insignificant.

Lieutenant Colonel Manners from the Department of Transport cast a glance at the body lying in a pool of blood, then turned to Ning Luo and asked,

“Then how should we report this to the higher-ups?”

“I’ll report it to the Quartermaster Director in one week.”

“I have no further questions.”

.......

It was Priscilla’s first time seeing such an efficient logistics department.

After the meeting ended and the Logistics Planning Bureau was established, the entire logistics system began operating at an unimaginable pace. Not only Priscilla—even the staff of the logistics department themselves hadn’t expected they could work this fast.

In truth, everyone understood—right now, it was as if a Damocles’ sword hung over all their heads. Under the threat of death—

All power,

All interests,

Had to yield.

They had to build an entirely new logistics and transport system within a week. This logistics system would serve as the lifeline connecting Brittany City to the Brittany Fortress, providing the fortress with a continuous flow of supplies.

.......

....

Brittany Fortress

Imperial Army General Staff Office

Since the western front of Brittany Fortress had fallen a week ago, General Asfled, who was originally supposed to complete the handover from the rear lines, no longer had time. He hadn’t brought a single person with him; he immediately rushed to the frontlines of the war, merging with the Seventh Knight Order to reinforce the western side of Brittany Fortress.

By the time General Asfled arrived at Brittany Fortress, the situation had already deteriorated to its worst. He had to deploy the newly arrived Seventh Knight Order to the west, while also pulling troops to guard against a possible attack from the east.

The Kingdom of Fontaine’s strategy wasn’t hard to guess—

They were launching simultaneous offensives on the eastern and western sides of Brittany Fortress, intending to completely encircle it and cut off its logistics.

The biggest problem General Asfled now faced was—

Not enough troops.

The disastrous defeat in the Battle of the Samat River had cost nearly a third of the entire western front’s forces, leaving General Asfled without enough manpower to hold the lines. He knew that the Kingdom of Fontaine didn’t have sufficient troops either.

Fontaine couldn’t possibly sustain a full-scale pincer movement around Brittany Fortress with their available forces. But Fontaine knew that. And so did General Asfled.

They both understood one thing—General Asfled didn’t dare to gamble on where Fontaine's main force was concentrated: east or west.

If Fontaine guessed wrong, they would simply retreat.

But if General Asfled guessed wrong, the price would be one he could not afford.

From the moment he arrived at the front—

General Asfled and his staff had barely rested. The front line had stretched too far; they had to constantly redeploy and squeeze out whatever pitiful manpower they had to support different battlefronts. This was shaping into a long and hopeless war of attrition.

In just a single week—

General Asfled had grown unshaven, his eye sockets sunken. The man looked like a walking corpse. No one would have imagined that this was the Chief of General Staff of the Empire’s Army. The pressure of war was enough to crush anyone.

Up until now, the war seemed to have once again reached a stalemate. Fontaine’s offensives had slightly subsided, and General Asfled could finally catch his breath.

But that wasn’t good news.

Because now he had to face even worse news. General Asfled took a deep breath and turned to the staff officer beside him.

“How long… can our logistics hold out?”

General Asfled had good reason for asking that.

Even back when he was in the rear, he had known the Empire’s logistics system was already overwhelmed. And now, after yet another series of battles, he was fully prepared to receive the worst possible answer.

The staff officer didn’t answer directly.

Instead, he handed a document to General Asfled.

“It’s hard to explain the current logistics situation in a few words… This is a report submitted by the Logistics Planning Bureau.”

“Logistics Planning Bureau?”

General Asfled took the document with some confusion.

He had no idea when this “Logistics Planning Bureau” had come into existence.

However—

After reading through the document, General Asfled revealed a look of joy for the first time.

The materials provided by the Logistics Planning Bureau were far more detailed than what he had even hoped for, covering nearly every aspect that needed to be considered. And most importantly—according to the report submitted by the Logistics Planning Bureau, the overall efficiency of the logistics system had increased by nearly 80%.

General Asfled immediately turned to the Quartermaster Director, General Allenby, standing beside him.

“Allenby, you’ve done well, you’ve done very well! You’ve worked hard on this!”

General Allenby looked utterly confused.

Clearly—

He hadn’t yet understood what General Asfled was referring to. Still, he quickly replied,

“This is my duty.”

“Good, let’s go take a look at the Logistics Planning Bureau right away!”

General Asfled stood up, but the moment he did, he became dizzy and had to brace himself against the table.

General Allenby immediately said,

“General, you should rest. Leave the logistics matter to me for now.”

General Asfled frowned, but his body truly was reaching its limit. And the war still needed him.

“Alright. I trust your ability.”

......

After leaving the operations command room—

General Allenby turned to his adjutant and said,

“We’re heading to the Logistics Planning Bureau.”

Since the establishment of the new General Staff Office, he had arrived at the front three days later than General Asfled. Over the past few days, he had been on the front lines the entire time, with no chance to handle logistics matters. All he had done was issue an order for the logistics system to operate at full capacity. As for the Logistics Planning Bureau—he hadn’t even heard of it.

Even if the logistics personnel had taken it upon themselves to establish such a bureau, they should have at least submitted a report to inform him in advance. But he had received no such report.

The adjutant beside him added,

“Captain Ning Luo from the Logistics Planning Bureau is already waiting for you.”

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