Chapter 13:  Can’t We Get a Moment to Breathe?

Several hours after General Asfled had gotten some rest—

General Allenby immediately sought him out to reconvene the meeting. They barely had any time to rest; the situation on the battlefield demanded their constant attention. Not to mention the issue Lord Ning Luo had brought up—this logistics system might look like it had resolved the problems, but in truth, it wouldn’t last long.

Ning Luo said it could, at most, hold out for a month. General Allenby didn’t even dare to repeat that number exactly. When he discussed it with General Asfled, he had already cut it down to half a month.

But the Empire’s Logistics Headquarters simply had no additional budget to spare, and the frontlines were out of manpower.

In the end—

The solution they came up with was to fully optimize the logistics of the Central Corps and the Eastern Front Corps, and then extract whatever resources they could to reinforce the Brittany Fortress on the Western Front.

War had a way of turning everything into the worst-case scenario.

Originally, General Allenby wanted to assign this task to Ning Luo. After all, he had already done it once and had experience.

However—

Ning Luo refused, citing the need to remain in place to deal with any potential emergencies. It was best if General Allenby's adjutant took on the assignment, or a senior staff officer from the General Staff Office was dispatched directly. Otherwise, Ning Luo wouldn’t be able to command them, and if it escalated into another “minister-killing” incident, things would spiral out of control.

In the end, a staff officer personally appointed by General Allenby was sent to the Central and Eastern Front Corps to handle the matter.

Brittany Fortress.

Staff Office.

Ning Luo was still at his desk working through documents, while Priscilla stood at the door, her slender fingers playing with a dagger.

When Ning Luo had instructed her to kill the Minister of Finance earlier, it had indeed taken Priscilla by surprise. But once she confirmed that Ning Luo wasn’t acting out of emotion, she had decisively carried out the order.

The Princess’s command was to execute Ning Luo’s orders.

Afterward, Priscilla came to understand Ning Luo’s reason for ordering the Minister’s death—only by eliminating the Minister of Finance could he create a Damocles’ sword hanging over the entire Logistics Department, forcing them to operate at maximum efficiency.

Priscilla tilted her head slightly and looked toward Ning Luo, who was still working.

“You didn’t have the authority before, yet you were willing to take the risk. Now that General Allenby has given you authority, why aren’t you going?”

“I never intended to enter the logistics power structure.”

“Why?”

“Because that structure would only restrict me. What I need to do is help the Empire win this war. And for that, I must attain even greater power.”

From the very beginning, when he first assumed the role of Chief Logistics Officer—

Ning Luo had already made up his mind. The so-called Chief Logistics Officer was no minor position. It came with full command over the Western Front’s logistics system. Under normal circumstances, the post should have been filled by a general-level officer at the very least.

One could say that for someone of Ning Luo’s age to hold such a critical and authoritative position— even if he did nothing else after this and simply remained in the military to accumulate seniority, within twenty years, he would surely become a general.

With a few notable achievements along the way, he could make general in ten years.

But Ning Luo refused.

Mainly because he didn’t want to become entangled in the existing power structures. His identity was that of an executor acting on behalf of the General Staff Office—a status that ranked above the logistics system. If he truly involved himself in it—

That would make the position official.

To Ning Luo—

The role of Chief Logistics Officer was...

Far from enough.

Not just for Isabella—Ning Luo was pursuing something greater: higher authority.

What Ning Luo wanted was the ability to win this war.

This war had to end.

Priscilla, for her part, wasn’t surprised. Someone like Ning Luo, who dared to kill the Minister of Finance, couldn’t possibly stay quietly within the Logistics Department.

“So what do you plan to do next?”

“Nothing.”

“You don’t exactly look like someone doing nothing right now.”

Ning Luo’s desk looked just like before.

Piles of densely written drafts were scattered about, full of mathematical formulas—just like earlier. It was the kind of thing no one else could understand. This was also the first time Priscilla had seen someone use mathematical equations to calculate war. She didn’t even bother asking how Ning Luo was calculating things this time. Just looking at those complicated formulas gave her a headache.

Ning Luo replied,

“I just won’t interfere with the General Staff Office’s decisions. But I must be constantly prepared for this war.”

“Why?”

Priscilla instinctively felt something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

“Power is a strange thing. You don’t need to fight for it—there will always be someone who delivers it into your hands.”

“You’re that confident?”

“I’m not confident. I’m simply preparing for the worst.”

“Having me kill that minister wasn’t bad enough...”

Priscilla suddenly froze.

She had been with Ning Luo for more than ten days now and had gained a deeper understanding of how power worked.

After resolving the logistics department issue, Ning Luo hadn’t taken a moment’s rest. He had immediately begun calculating the course of the war.

At the same time—

He made no move to participate in the military’s decision-making hierarchy, instead waiting for General Allenby to bring the authority to him.

Even someone as slow as Priscilla couldn’t miss the implication now.

The situation in the war was only going to keep getting worse—worse to the point that General Allenby would no longer be able to handle it. Then, he would be forced to come to Ning Luo for a solution.

Priscilla’s brow furrowed tightly.

“Wasn’t the situation supposed to improve after fixing the logistics system?”

“Remember what I told you at the beginning? Fontaine would only need two months to replicate our logistics system. But after investigating their current situation over the past couple of days, I realized my estimate was too conservative. It might only take them a month to replicate it.”

Ning Luo had indeed mentioned this to Priscilla when they first arrived at the Logistics Department—

But at the time, Priscilla hadn’t taken it seriously.

She thought Ning Luo’s so-called optimization plan was nothing more than a farce.

“So you’re just going to wait until General Allenby can’t hold on anymore—wait for him to come to you? But the talents you’ve shown are all in logistics optimization. Why would he come to you for something tactical?”

“That would mean the situation hasn’t reached its most critical point yet.”

What Ning Luo meant was very clear—only when General Allenby had exhausted every other option, when there was nothing else left to try, would he finally consider coming to Ning Luo.

Priscilla pressed further.

“Then how do you plan to solve it?”

“I don’t know yet. I still don’t understand this era’s warfare well enough. I need to study more material.”

“Is there no way to stabilize the situation on the battlefield?”

“No.”

This time—

Ning Luo didn’t hesitate in the slightest. He rejected Priscilla’s question outright.

Without leaving a single opening.

“Unless the war ends, it will only keep getting worse. There is no way to turn it around.”

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