Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Antoro explained his reasoning.

That's how things are sometimes; the same situation can be described in different ways.

Look at it dialectically, you understand?

However, there was one thing that Antolo didn't say, and Rudolf understood it in his heart.

For this war, the emperor has essentially mortgaged the future. He recruited so many magicians with the promise of making them lords, and the consequences of failing to fulfill that promise are severe. The massive army he has assembled is also built on borrowed money and advances from the treasury.

He cannot afford to lose, nor can he afford to drag this out.

"Unite with the Weylanders and persuade the Suleimans," Rudolf advised.

"Let's get the Villans involved too. They're definitely not willing to pay reparations; they still have troops. As for the Suleimans, it's not impossible if we try our best. But dealing with the Weylanders is difficult. Those money-grubbing pirates—I don't have any money to give them." Antoro is currently out of cash, only offering empty promises. His people back home might accept them, but would the Weylanders accept them?

"Antolo said."

Rudolf shook his head upon hearing this.

"No, Your Majesty, it is precisely the Weylanders who are the easiest to deal with. They cannot see the Kingdom of Fas grow stronger. As long as we give them enough excuses diplomatically, they will do their part without spending any money."

"The Suleimans are a bit difficult to deal with, after all, they are heretics, and it will be hard for us to explain to the Pope, but it's not impossible to find a way."

"On the contrary, it is most difficult to persuade Villa to send troops again. After such a big defeat, the chaos at home is secondary. The key is that their local food harvest is poor. They are using food from the colonies, and this wave has almost depleted their resources. They probably won't be able to replenish their food supply in a short time."

After hearing these words, Antoro also fell into deep thought.

His prime minister was right. The most difficult one to deal with was Beria. How could they fight a war without food?

It must be said that in an era when transportation capacity was not well developed, the food consumption for war was enormous.

“That’s settled then. Send a batch of grain to my respected cousin through Venaya. He won’t need to cause any trouble for Fass in the south like before.”

Emperor Antolo said.

"Your Majesty, we don't have any extra grain either." Rudolf was troubled. Villa could still squeeze grain from the colonies, but they didn't have any colonies to squeeze grain from.

"Get more rye from Poland and send it to Villa, that's all."

Antoro's tone was firm; he didn't want to hear any more words of reluctance.

Four months later, in September 1602.

Within the framework of the "Anti-Protestant Alliance," an "Anti-French Alliance" was secretly formed. It is said to be secret because Wieland stated that he would not explicitly become an ally of either side.

Compared to the Thirty Years' War in Ronan's original timeline, the trigger for this war in this world is similar—internal strife within Shinra—but the developments are completely different.

In summary, it means faster and more intense.

It's even faster because the conventional military force in this world is stronger than in Ronan's original timeline at the same time, and with the addition of tactical arrows like magicians, the efficiency of killing is much greater.

The reason it was even more intense was because the Kingdom of Fass was completely different from France.

The act of conquering the Rhine and attempting to establish a unified state was a blatant display of ambition that provoked every major power.

If this isn't against the law, then there's truly no law at all.

In April of 1603, a new round of war began.

Why did the anti-French coalition take almost six months to start fighting again?

First, to repel external threats, one must first secure internal stability. No matter how confident the emperor is, he must first consolidate his own power base to prevent those Protestant princes from deceiving or launching surprise attacks.

Villa had just suffered a defeat and had to cleanse its internal turmoil and suppress rebellions. With poor harvests at home and a defeat abroad, how could it not rebel?

As for Weyland, the previous wars were fought without a king, as were the various diplomatic efforts, and they all went very smoothly. This led many people to have a bold idea: it seems that Weyland can function without a king.

This could really be fatal.

Second, and for a very, very conventional reason, war requires prior preparation.

Even with the most compressed preparation time, it would still take one or two months, and that's assuming we've just fought a battle and don't need full mobilization.

Third, winter is not suitable for fighting, as the logistical pressure is too great.

There are countless examples of people who fight in winter and suffer defeats because of inadequate logistics.

For these three reasons, the game was delayed for six months.

In the past six months, the Kingdom of Fas has certainly not rested. Previously, there were 100,000 troops on the northern front and 30,000 on the southern front. Then, after a year of training through war, another 50,000 troops were trained. Following that, a full mobilization was launched, and another 100,000 troops were mobilized.

Now, an army of 280,000 men.

This is far from the limit. The Kingdom of Phos has a population of over 20 million, with millions of young adults. Ronan is developing the economy while relentlessly exploiting workers and farmers, converting economic gains into military strength. Is that all? Of course not.

We could arm another 200,000 people without any problem.

The combined population of Wiland, Bilia, and the territories effectively controlled by the emperor did not even equal that of the Kingdom of Phos.

In May, the war officially began.

The Weyland Navy suppressed the Phas Kingdom Navy. The Phas Kingdom Navy was still a bit lacking, while the Weyland Navy had been developing rapidly since it defeated Bilia. It could only barely hold off these stinking pirates.

Bilia's minor skirmishes in the south forced the Kingdom of Phos to divide its forces. This time, the Kingdom of Phos could not allow Bilia to invade its territory again and had to deploy a full defense. The previous invasion had already caused significant economic losses, and it could not withstand another wave of attacks.

The real focus, however, is on the Rhine region, where the Imperial army has finally arrived.

This time, it was 150,000 troops from the Kingdom of Phos against 200,000 troops from the Empire, both of which were victorious armies that had just won a great victory last year.

Chapter 560 Attitude, Surprise, Is It Too Cautious?

The outbreak of war on the southern front.

The damned Belials actually tried to renege on a mere 900,000 taels of silver. This was the opinion of the high-ranking officials of the Kingdom of Phos. If war broke out, the reparations would definitely not be paid. 900,000 taels was not much to begin with, and they didn't even want to pay that little bit of money. It was simply heinous.

If they won't give it to you, then we'll take it.

This time, it absolutely won't work without ten million.

"Damn heretics and bandits, how dare they come again! This time we'll take it back!" This is the sentiment of the common people in the south.

Although they did not suffer heavy losses thanks to the organization of the farmers' association, they continued to farm and work even when the Belia attacked. They only had to pay tribute to the invaders, but who would be willing to pay tribute?

The Belia did not go to extremes in "borrowing food from the enemy," and the Kingdom of Faz did not resolutely implement a "scorched earth" policy. This was not because the Belia people were moral, nor because the Kingdom of Faz was not ruthless enough, but rather a tacit understanding: if the Belia went all out to rob, what awaited them was resolute resistance and a scorched earth policy as cruel as that used against both friend and foe.

So, what Villa never expected was that he only wanted to create some trouble, but after defending for a while, the southern front of the Kingdom of Fas turned around and launched a full-scale invasion of Villa, catching them completely off guard.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Wiland and the Kingdom of Fass entered a stalemate at sea.

Although Ronan's repeated efforts had allowed the Kingdom of Phos to acquire many skilled workers and shipbuilding experts from the Netherlands, a shipbuilding base, and the Kingdom of Phos also had money, iron, and decent firepower, it still couldn't defeat the Weyland navy.

However, the Phas Kingdom's navy is reckless; Willand is truly afraid of this kind of crazy, one-for-one fighting style.

For Weyland at this moment, it was a critical moment for them to fight for sea power. Suppressing the Fass was important, but sea power was even more important. If their navy suffered too many losses, how could they defeat the Belials?

So things just remained frozen in place.

Against this backdrop, the armies of the Kingdom of Fass and the Emperor of the Rhineland could go to war at any moment.

The logistical burdens of the two countries are roughly the same. The Kingdom of Phos mainly needs to get its supplies from the capital, while the emperor's supplies also need to come from his territory.

It wasn't really a matter of home and away. People in the Rhine region didn't welcome the French, but under the policy of "land reform," they weren't so resistant anymore. They also didn't welcome the "dog emperor," but since they were, after all, practically from the same country, the two sides were about the same.

The troop strength is approximately 150,000 in the Kingdom of Fas and 200,000 on the Emperor's side. These figures are approximate numbers for regular combat troops, excluding those responsible for logistics and support.

It's hard to say whether there are advantages or disadvantages, because the Kingdom of Fas is the one on the defensive, but it's not defending its own territory. Otherwise, the Kingdom of Fas could actually be said to have a numerical advantage.

"Our real advantage is that we are the army of a nation, while they are not."

The 51-year-old young general and chief of staff, who was the supreme commander of the northern front of the Kingdom of Fass and was the brother-in-law of the late King Lucien and now the son-in-law of the Duke of Loire, explained this to Queen Ambrina.

Could the emperor's directly controlled territories support an army of 200,000? Of course not.

His team included soldiers and generals from the vassal states of the Will Empire, who also belonged to the Old Cult, as well as magicians he had recruited using empty promises and their followers.

Of course, the core issue was still the hundred thousand or so people under the emperor's own command.

"Secondly, there is another advantage, namely the air force. In such a large-scale operation, and with so many enemy mages, I think it would be pointless to launch any more air strikes. It would be better to use them for reconnaissance and for transmitting signals directly between different units."

"These two advantages combined form a real advantage, which is that we have a more efficient command system than them."

Count Alain did not continue, for this was enough of a theoretical discussion.

Everything else is up to us to adapt to the situation. After all, the terrain in the Rhine region is quite complex, with lots of water and mountains, and no one knows what unexpected changes might occur.

"Then I'll leave it to you."

"Ambriina said."

She understands a little about politics, but she knows nothing about military matters, and there's nothing to say about them anyway. She, as the king, came here to be a figurehead.

In this respect, Ronan was no better. Despite leading his men in guerrilla warfare for half a year, that was only because it was a home-field advantage. Even so, all he could say was "we can fight" and "we should run away." He had absolutely no idea how to conduct large-scale operations.

“Soldiers will be coming in droves from the rear.”

That's all Ronan wanted to say.

With its state-owned enterprises, labor unions, large farms, and farmers' associations, the Kingdom of Fas boasts arguably the strongest mobilization capacity in the Western Continent.

Moreover, the Rhine River is now in the hands of the Kingdom of Fass, and by starting from the Lorraine region and traveling north along the river, they can support the front lines.

Of course, it's also possible that the Lorraine region could become the front line directly.

After all, in Ronan's original timeline, during the Franco-Prussian War, one of the Prussian armies fought their way in from here.

Three days later, the two sides officially exchanged fire.

The situation was somewhat unexpected; Ronan never imagined that the emperor would actually pull a fast.

The Imperial Army's muskets were inferior to those of the Kingdom of Phos, and their cannons were also inferior to those of the Kingdom of Phos. If it weren't for the effective magicians in the ranks, the Emperor's vanguard would have collapsed within a morning.

How come their firepower is so much weaker compared to the army of Villa?

Ronan never realized that the Villarreal army, which had been chasing him for half a year, disgusting him, and being disgusted by him in return, and finally had to slink away, was created by Villarreal, the "Silver Empire," and its firepower and the quality of its soldiers were among the best in the world and in this era.

It's not shameful for him to be chased; it's shameful for Villa.

He didn't realize that over the past decade, the small technological advancements he and a group of scholars in China had made, along with minor improvements to weapons, had made the Kingdom of Fas's army the strongest in the Western Continent.

If they were to truly deploy their forces and engage in a direct confrontation with equal numbers, no one could possibly defeat the Kingdom of Phos.

"Am I being too cautious?"

Ronan couldn't help but ask this question.

the other side.

When Emperor Antolo saw the battle report, he could hardly believe his eyes.

He had considered the possibility of failure, after all, the Kingdom of Fas could be considered to be well-rested and ready to fight, but he never thought that the other side would openly and honestly bring him out to fight him in the open, and then he would be beaten up.

In his eyes, his army was very strong.

Not long ago, when the Kingdom of Phos fought against Bilia, it didn't perform particularly well. Even when it fought against the three princes of the Rhine, it wasn't particularly swift. But he easily defeated all the princes within the empire, relying on either elite mages or regular troops.

How could someone like him be brutally beaten by the Kingdom of Phos?

Am I really such a weakling?

The emperor pounded his chest, regained his spirits, and summoned his advisors and generals to carefully study the upcoming strategies and tactics to turn the tide.

Chapter 561 The Plan, Plagiarism, and the Furious Emperor

The Empire's current challenge is how to effectively eliminate the enemy when its firepower is suppressed.

Wearing armor and carrying shields is impossible, because shields and armor can't even stop the muskets used by ordinary soldiers, let alone the powerful but recoil-prone muskets used by mages and musketeers.

The simplest way is to charge, get closer and fire, then engage in hand-to-hand combat.

The effective killing range of the muskets of the Kingdom of Fas was only about twenty meters longer than theirs. Twenty meters would mean taking one more volley of fire.

As for the cannon, this example is no longer about cannons.

But this requires fearless and well-trained cannon fodder. Being fearless is not enough; they also need to be well-trained. Otherwise, once they charge in, they will have completely lost their formation, which is no different from giving themselves away for nothing.

But the empire, a feudal state, truly lacked soldiers who were well-trained and fearless.

So this one can't be used.

However, after a brainstorming session, the staff officers and generals came up with several solutions.

Option 1: Remove the square array and replace it with a linear array.

Instead of advancing in thick, single formations, they spread out and thinned out to form a more extensive, semi-encircling fire network.

Although localized areas might be breached and broken through by the Phas Kingdom's phalanx, the overall formation wouldn't collapse, and they could still organize firing.

If we get really close, then let's fight hand-to-hand. Anyway, the Imperial Army is more than happy to engage in hand-to-hand combat right now, isn't it?