Chapter 14: I Want to See General Asfled

It was raining in Brittany.

Drip, drip.

It was raining in Brittany.

Drip, drip.

Even the unending rain couldn’t wash away the nauseating stench of blood and gunpowder that lingered over Silistra.

The Kingdom of Fontaine’s offensive had weakened compared to its initial onslaught—at least enough to give the Empire a brief moment to catch its breath. But the assault, like the rain, showed no sign of stopping.

There was no doubt about it.

The Battle of Brittany would go down as the longest and most frenzied war in the history of the Empire.

It was like slicing open the Empire and letting it bleed endlessly.

General Asfled, Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Army, was now facing the most severe of issues—manpower shortages.

Brittany had only eleven divisions left. Not a single one could be considered fully manned. The newly transferred Seventh Knight Order, roughly equivalent to two divisions, had already lost one-fifth of its troops. The total strength on the Western Front amounted to only seventy thousand men.

It could be said that the General Staff's daily operations now consisted of scraping together bits and pieces of forces from wherever possible to send to the front lines.

No matter what.

The Brittany Fortress could not be lost.

And manpower was only one of the many massive problems General Asfled had to face.

There were also the tactical challenges. In the early stages of the war, the Empire had gained the upper hand and seized a large portion of Fontaine’s territory. But that advantage no longer existed—in fact, it had disappeared as far back as ten years ago.

The war had killed off a huge number of the officers the Empire had painstakingly trained, while Fontaine had been steadily improving throughout the conflict.

Now that most of the Empire’s old-generation officers were nearly all dead, the Empire no longer held the edge in military leadership.

Even if they were the enemy, General Asfled had to admire the speed at which the people of Fontaine progressed—

The price for that progress was this blood-soaked banquet.

And then—

There was the looming crisis of logistics.

When General Asfled scrutinized the new logistical system, he had no choice but to recognize one thing: the newly optimized logistics plan was truly a revolutionary design. It pushed the current system to its absolute limits, and any small failure in any part could bring the entire thing crashing down.

But—

Even when pushed to the extreme, it didn’t change one fundamental truth: the Empire no longer had the funds to fill the endless pit that was logistics.

All they could do now was rob Peter to pay Paul—keeping the Brittany front from collapsing by sacrificing everywhere else.

The Battle of Brittany would be a war so long, it would drive people to despair.

The Kingdom of Fontaine seemed to be betting everything on the Empire’s eventual collapse.

General Asfled believed that Fontaine’s strategy of throwing everything into their offensives regardless of cost couldn’t last much longer.

But every single second on the battlefield was deadly.

This war would grind the soul out of every soldier.

July 1st, 1063.

This damn battle had already dragged on for more than a month.

General Allenby received the last thing he wanted to hear: Fontaine’s army was reforming its logistics system.

Fontaine had spies in the Empire—just as the Empire had spies in Fontaine.

It was practically inevitable. There was no truly effective solution. This war had lasted so long that the two sides had grown overly familiar with one another.

Spies planted years ago could easily blend into the opposing society, even into the upper echelons.

It was basically impossible to prevent.

Even though he had expected it, Fontaine’s pace of learning still shocked General Allenby.

This was the reform plan that Ning Luo had pushed through by forcefully killing the Minister of Finance—and in just a month, Fontaine’s army had managed to implement it.

For the Empire—

There was virtually no way to break the deadlock. If things continued like this, no one could predict which side would collapse first on the battlefield.

General Allenby decided it was time to speak with Ning Luo.

At this point, what General Allenby hoped for was whether there was any possibility of further optimizing the logistics system—or creating a logistical infrastructure that Fontaine would be unable to replicate.

During the Battle of Brittany.

Although Ning Luo held the title of Chief Logistics Officer of the Logistics Planning Bureau, he had almost never involved himself in the daily operations of the logistics department. He would only step in when consulted or when problems arose.

Even though he had never truly exercised the authority that came with his position, the rank of Chief Logistics Officer was second only to the Quartermaster Director. This allowed Ning Luo access to the most classified information on the front lines.

…

When General Allenby saw Ning Luo, the man was still immersed in his work.

The disorganized papers were Ning Luo’s personal notes. The rest of the documents were almost entirely related to the Brittany front. If a spy were to sneak in here, they could basically grasp the entire structure of the Empire. The densely packed documents nearly filled the whole office.

Even Priscilla could only sit on top of a stack of files.

It made it difficult for General Allenby to even find a place to stand, let alone sit. It was out of the question to expect him to imitate Priscilla by sitting on documents like that.

But General Allenby didn’t fuss over it.

“My adjutant told me you haven’t been going to the logistics department lately. Is something wrong?”

“The less I have to go, the better. The more I’m needed there, the worse the logistics system is.”

Ning Luo didn’t even look up.

General Allenby was quite displeased with Ning Luo’s attitude. As the Quartermaster Director, he stood to the side, while Ning Luo, merely a captain, remained seated. Anyone walking in might think the roles were reversed.

But there was nothing General Allenby could do about it. Ning Luo was a specialist. Many times, administrative authority had to yield to professional expertise—just like how Director Dominique at the field hospital didn’t need to answer to anyone.

And—

General Allenby still couldn’t determine Ning Luo’s true identity.

General Allenby gave a reminder:

“Captain, I have to tell you some bad news. Fontaine has already copied our logistics system. Our logistical advantage is about to vanish.”

“I’ve already received that report.”

“Is there any way we can further optimize our logistics system?”

“There isn’t. This system already pushes the Empire’s efficiency to its absolute limit. Pushing it any further would put it beyond what the Empire can handle.”

Ning Luo replied coldly.

Optimizing the logistics system wasn’t just a matter of calculations—it had to be executable. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been stalled for all these years.

Even the current logistics system Ning Luo had prepared was constantly at risk of collapsing at any moment.

General Allenby rubbed his forehead in agony.

“So, from your perspective, we have no way of resolving this war?”

“No.”

This time, Ning Luo finally looked up.

“There’s still one best option.”

General Allenby turned to him, eyes lighting up. “What option?”

“Abandon the Brittany Fortress.”

“That’s impossible!”

General Allenby rejected it without a second thought.

Ning Luo continued,

“If this were a localized or small-scale war, the Brittany Fortress would hold great strategic value. But this is an annihilation war that has lasted thirty-three years. In a conflict of this scale, the fortress holds no real meaning. Abandoning it would allow us to shrink the front and reduce logistical pressure. Even if we handed it over to Fontaine, they wouldn’t be able to sustain such a long supply line.”

“Captain, this isn’t what you think—it’s not something I can decide!”

Of course General Allenby understood the logic.

But this was not a decision General Allenby could make. It wasn’t something even General Asfled could decide.

In fact, it wasn’t something anyone could decide.

The Empire was the Empire—

Because the Empire could not afford to lose the Brittany Fortress.

Naturally, Ning Luo knew General Allenby wouldn’t agree. But just like before, back at the logistics department, the principle remained the same:

First, you had to propose an option so extreme that no one could possibly accept it.

Then, you could put forward the real compromise.

“So that only leaves other options?”

“You have another plan?”

“I want to see General Asfled.”

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