Chapter 9:  The Window Opening Proposal

Lieutenant Colonel Wolsey’s words nearly made Ning Luo explode.

Although he had already anticipated that corruption in the Finance Department was severe, he hadn’t expected it to be this extreme.

To think that thirty percent was only the portion distributed to the General Staff Headquarters—there were still countless other factions demanding their share. After this layered exploitation, who knew how much actually reached the soldiers?

It could be said that the logistics system had reached a point where it absolutely had to be reformed.

However—

For Ning Luo, in a certain sense, this was also good news.

At the very least, if they could cut back on some of the corruption, the Empire might have a chance to win the next war.

Maybe.

And next—

Ning Luo could finally breathe a little easier.

All he needed to do now was choose a relatively balanced plan that the entire logistics system could accept, as long as no unforeseen events occurred.

Priscilla still remained by Ning Luo’s side around the clock.

After all, she was Ning Luo’s bodyguard.

Even though she already had some understanding of who Ning Luo was, his performance still exceeded Priscilla’s expectations.

From the first day they met, Priscilla had recognized that Ning Luo possessed insight far beyond others his age, able to grasp the true essence of victory and defeat in the war at a glance. Every night, she saw him buried in optimizing resource plans—his knowledge was clearly far beyond that of an ordinary person.

Yet within just a few days, Ning Luo had already become a key figure within the logistics system—and he hadn’t even shown any credentials.

That document was, in fact, genuine.

Isabella Bridge would never have risked Ning Luo’s life by giving him a fake ID. It was Priscilla who had intentionally claimed it was fake—back then, she simply didn’t want Ning Luo flaunting it around to bluff people.

But now, it didn’t even matter anymore.

While Ning Luo was organizing the files—

Priscilla asked,

“They actually handed power over to you willingly?”

“Strictly speaking, they handed it to the General Staff Headquarters. I’m merely acting on behalf of the headquarters. And… they didn’t exactly do it willingly.”

“What’s the difference from what happened at the field hospital?”

At the field hospital, Ning Luo had been able to secure authority, and Priscilla could have easily copied Ning Luo’s actions without drawing attention. But when it came to the Logistics Department, it was an entirely different matter.

Ning Luo explained,

“The field hospital was simple. I didn’t threaten Director Dominique or Major Alvin’s interests—in fact, they were hoping to use me in return. As long as our interests didn’t clash, and I could even be of help to them, then whether my identity was real or fake didn’t matter.”

“And the logistics system?”

Priscilla asked.

“My ability to gain power here is, at its core, because I stole authority from the General Staff Headquarters. They believe I’m a representative of the General Staff. The reason they’re willing to hand over power to me… more importantly, is because they need someone to shoulder the responsibility. The defeat in this war already forced the former Chief of General Staff, General Hastings, along with his entire staff, to resign. If they had to execute every logistics director for it, it still wouldn’t be too much.”

“So they handed the power to you?”

"That's not entirely accurate. In the end, it all depends on this resource optimization plan. The plan I’ve put forward is convincing enough for them to believe it's a carefully selected solution from the Empire’s rear command. If the Logistics Department follows this plan for optimization, then even if the war still ends in defeat, they won’t be the ones held primarily responsible."

Ning Luo picked up the file in his hand and gave it a slight shake.

Priscilla crossed her arms, not entirely convinced.

“Who knows how many optimization plans have been sent to the Logistics Department in the past—many of them were approved by the General Staff. Yet when it came time to implement them, there was always some ‘small problem’.”

Such things had already become rather commonplace.

Orders issued from the top could not be rejected, and the Logistics Department had no right to refuse them. But the officials underneath the department did hold the authority to carry them out.

All they needed was to prove that the plan couldn’t be executed.

That was easy—just push every policy to the extreme.

Ning Luo responded,

“Because of the war, for the past thirty years we’ve always held the upper hand over the Kingdom of Fontaine. But now, this defeat will become the fastest way to force progress. In a certain sense, I don’t even want to use this plan.”

“Why not?”

Priscilla wasn’t quite sure what Ning Luo meant.

From her perspective, the Empire’s defeat in this war might actually be a good thing. It could help cleanse long-standing, untouchable rot—like the current resource optimization system and the corruption within the logistics network.

Ning Luo closed the folder.

“This war has dragged on for thirty-three years. That in itself proves we’re incapable of fully crushing Fontaine. And Fontaine, under such hardship, has continued to iterate and improve. This defeat is, in fact, the progress the Kingdom of Fontaine has achieved through war.”

“And don’t we need to improve too?”

“Yes. To win this war, we must improve. But tell me—how long do you think it’ll take Fontaine to uncover our resource optimization plan? And how long after that before they begin optimizing as well?”

“We won’t be able to keep it secret?”

“We won’t. I’m telling you, it’ll take just two months. Two months after we complete our optimization, Fontaine will notice. Under the immense pressure of total war, they’ll have no choice but to follow our lead. Do you know what happens after that?”

“What?”

“This resource optimization plan won’t create more resources out of thin air. The total amount of resources remains the same. It’s merely a better redistribution of manpower and materials. Essentially, it’s about squeezing out the Empire’s very last reserves. If we can’t end the war quickly—then even if we win in the end, it’ll be worse than losing.”

Priscilla understood what Ning Luo meant.

In a war of this scale—

Plans that would have been impossible to carry out, proposals that never would have been approved, would all be pushed through under the crushing weight of war.

The Kingdom of Fontaine was no fool.

In fact, one could argue that its pace of progress was faster than Albion’s—this ancient and decaying empire.

Once the Empire adopted a more effective resource optimization plan, it was inevitable that spies embedded on both sides would uncover it. A plan of this scale couldn’t possibly stay hidden. According to Ning Luo’s calculations, it wouldn’t take Fontaine more than two months to catch up.

And then what?

Everything would spiral in the worst possible direction.

Ning Luo stood up.

He finished organizing the documents in his hands—there were two resource optimization plans in total. One was the so-called “Tear Off the Roof” plan, the other a more moderate “Open the Window” plan.

For Ning Luo, he actually leaned more toward supporting the “Open the Window” plan.

The “Tear Off the Roof” plan was far too extreme—it would push the logistics system to its absolute limits. Even Ning Luo didn’t want to go that far.

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