Chapter 256: Chapter 255: Noble Assembly

With most of the nobles having arrived at Wushan Fortress, a grand mobilization meeting officially commenced.

Although Lurans made an appearance, he only greeted everyone briefly before taking his seat at the head of the assembly, leaving the rest to Wiggin, who was in a wheelchair.

Wiggin seemed to be well-versed in handling such mobilization meetings.

He began with a rousing speech. He spoke of the dangers on the border, the tragic death of Hahn and many other Knights, and painted a picture of the enemy’s wickedness. Finally, he addressed the objectives of the war.

To put it simply, although the forces would be split in two, the goals were to retake Chishan Town in the southwest and to crush the Black Gold Brotherhood’s current troop buildup in the southeast.

He no longer mentioned things like retaking Casier Town or even annihilating the Polante Thief Gang, thus lowering expectations.

Of the two forces, the Black Gold Brotherhood was stronger and more ambitious. If they were not stopped swiftly, they would continue to invade deeper into Wushan Ridge.

The idiom “inviting a god is easier than sending him away” applied here; once they were in, forcing them out would cost far more effort and result in greater losses.

Therefore, the most troops were committed to the southeastern front for this battle.

After some debate, Kabil, the Leader of the Second Knight Order, was appointed Commander of the Alliance Army to crusade against the Black Gold Brotherhood, with Barrington as his Deputy Commander.

But clearly, the Hyde Clan was not satisfied with this arrangement. They felt that Barrington should have been the Commander for the southeastern campaign, arguing that their Count on the border was contributing the most.

For this reason, Alan and Negan, who were present at the meeting, argued with Wiggin and the others for a long time. In the end, it was decided that Alan and Kabil would duel; whoever won would take the role of Commander.

Ronin was truly surprised that appointing a Commander would involve a duel. ’Isn’t this the same as fighting amongst ourselves before we even face the enemy?’

’If one of them was careless during the duel and they both got injured and couldn’t fight, wouldn’t that mean crippling ourselves before we’ve even engaged the enemy?’

In any case, Ronin couldn’t understand it, but everyone else seemed to think the arrangement was quite reasonable.

And so, halfway through the meeting, everyone ran out of the fortress to watch a duel.

Fortunately, the outcome was a good one.

Kabil defeated Alan, securing the position of Commander. Moreover, neither was seriously injured in the duel, so it wouldn’t affect the coming war.

However, it was clear that Alan and Negan were still not convinced by the outcome. Who knew what kind of trouble they would stir up later?

Compared to the campaign in the southeast, matters in the southwest were much simpler to handle.

By tradition, whenever someone from the Wushan Clan went on a campaign, they would hold the title of Commander. Since Ronin was leading the expedition this time, the command naturally fell to him.

The key issue was the choice of Deputy Commander.

Lurans had previously planned for Toru, Kabil, and Marvin to assist Ronin, essentially acting as his deputy commanders. But now, with Kabil and Sandro both assigned to the eastern front, only Toru and Marvin remained.

Fortunately, one of them was the Leader of the First Knight Order and a Golden Knight, making him powerful enough. The other was one of the few Viscounts in Wushan Territory, giving him sufficient seniority, and his strength was not lacking either.

No one had any objections to them serving as deputy commanders.

After the matter of the commanders was settled, the next step was the detailed division of forces, which was another contentious task.

The nobles could all see that facing the Black Gold Brotherhood in the southeast would be a tough battle. Furthermore, with the dispute over the right to command, the complexity was extremely high.

As for the western front, although in their eyes Ronin had no battlefield command experience and was like a reckless greenhorn, he at least had Toru and Marvin to assist him. Considering Ronin’s recent performance, they figured he probably wouldn’t be worse than Wiggin.

Therefore, after weighing the options, they were all more willing to go to the western front to face the Polante Thief Gang.

After all, the soldiers sent to the battlefield, regardless of their quality, were the nobles’ property. Who wouldn’t want to minimize their losses?

And if they were lucky enough to win, there might even be some benefits.

The issue of troop allocation was argued over from morning until afternoon, and a decision was only barely reached as the evening glow filled the sky.

The forces for the eastern and western fronts were split roughly seventy-thirty, with most of the powerful Knights assigned to the eastern front.

On Ronin’s side, besides Toru, there were no other Golden Knights.

If Coren hadn’t said there was a Golden Knight on the opposing side, Toru probably wouldn’t have been assigned to him at all.

This arrangement clearly didn’t account for potential changes on the battlefield. What would they do if the Polante Thief Gang suddenly produced two more Golden Knights?

Ronin brought up this possibility during the meeting.

But Wiggin had few Golden Knights to deploy. Of the five Knight Order Leaders, only Toru and Melonika were actually Golden Level. There was also Kabil, who could go toe-to-toe with a Golden Knight.

Kabil was the commander of the eastern front, and Melonika was responsible for Lurans’s safety. Neither of them could be moved to the western front.

Left with no other choice, Wiggin could only assign two more Silver Knights to the western front.

In any case, Golden Level wasn’t invincible. Several Silver Knights working together had a good chance of dealing with a Golden Knight. Even if they couldn’t win, fighting to a draw would be enough.

“Marvin, Philip, Solstein, Coren, Vitorino…”

Ronin counted them off. He had five confirmed Silver Knights on his side. If the nobles also brought their Silver Level Vassals to the battlefield, the number would be quite considerable.

Adding Ridder, Elron, and Macken from his own ranks, they would have enough strength to handle it even if the Polante Thief Gang produced two more Golden Knights.

With strong high-end combat power, more than a hundred Professional Knights, and the addition of Cavalry, Infantry, and Archers, the total force was estimated at two thousand.

Besides the main force, there were also support personnel traveling with the army, such as Grooms, artisans, transport workers, and construction crews for the camps. All told, the entire host might number close to ten thousand.

Ronin had suddenly become the commander of a ten-thousand-strong fighting force.

“Ronin, don’t forget our agreement!”

That evening, Wiggin found Ronin and reminded him in person, “Although the plan hit an unexpected snag, the men I’ve assigned you are more than enough. Taking Chishan Town shouldn’t be a problem!”

He was still fixated on the Chishan Town Iron Mine.

“Don’t worry, Father. I will do everything in my power to take back Chishan Town.”

Ronin appeared full of confidence. “However, Father, to win this war, I’ve even committed my only Knight Squad. I’ve gathered the combat personnel, but I’m short on supplies like grain and fodder for the horses. You have to help me.”

“That’s easily arranged!”

Wiggin readily agreed. “Leave the logistics to Galier. I’ll let him know. Wushan Castle will cover all the grain, fodder, and other logistical needs for Wubei Territory on this campaign!”

Generally, when Vassals went to war with their Lord, they were expected to cover their own supply consumption. Although some Lords provided support, it was a rare occurrence.

But for Wiggin, who was counting on his son to develop the Chishan Town Iron Mine and bring him huge profits later on, such supply costs were a trivial matter.

This suited Ronin’s intentions perfectly.

If he had to manage the logistics for the Wubei Territory’s Knight Squad himself, he would have had to conscript Peasant Slave soldiers and also purchase grain from outside sources, as Wubei Territory’s food supply was not abundant.

Now that Wushan Castle was taking care of his troops’ logistics, it saved him a great deal of trouble and effort.

And just like that, the boisterous meeting of nobles came to a smooth conclusion.

The next day, the nobles hastily departed from Wushan Castle, returning to their respective territories to make final preparations.

As the end of June approached, the forces dispatched by the nobles set out one after another, marching majestically toward their respective battlefields.

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