In the Name of Empress-Chapter 340 - 233: The Unexpectedness of No Surprises
He held a certain disdain for the leader of the Golden Kite Wanderers.
Without Governor Roland’s help and Her Majesty the Empress’s leniency, her pretty head would have long been chopped off and sent to Xidai as a warning.
Bridges appeared relaxed, just about to put down the telescope when he suddenly noticed something seemed amiss.
Something’s wrong, it’s too quiet!
Although this beach was unsuitable for landing and not a port, being unguarded at night was understandable, but it shouldn’t be devoid of birds and animals.
The vanguard of the Golden Kite Wanderers landed on the sand, creeping towards the edge of the jungle, yet no roosting birds were startled awake.
Something’s not right!
Bridges didn’t have time to communicate with Roland; he pulled out his signal gun and fired a yellow flare into the sky to alert Roland.
He didn’t need to remind him; Roland had already noticed something was wrong.
If something that is expected to go poorly suddenly goes very smoothly, it’s usually not a good thing, but rather a trap.
Roland also fired a signal flare, shooting three red flares in the direction of the jungle depths.
Bridges only felt something was wrong, but Roland directly determined there was an ambush in the jungle.
Bridges blew his whistle, issuing an emergency order.
The battleships closest to the shoreline quickly adjusted their turrets and began a volley.
The soldiers who had landed withdrew from the jungle and quickly formed ranks outside it.
The first row of soldiers quickly dropped to the ground, the second row crouched on one knee, and the third row leveled their gun barrels, aiming into the pitch-black jungle.
"Boom!"
The battleship that had been prepared for fire suppression began its volley.
A significant portion of their shells were incendiaries.
These specially made shells have a potent effect on forests and grasslands.
Setting a forest on fire is extremely harmful, but given the dire situation, Bridges couldn’t afford to worry about that much.
After all, this isn’t Sussex, so let it burn.
This jungle, though dense, is not connected to the Southern Great Forest, so it won’t have severe consequences.
At most, it would just clean out this stretch of jungle.
Seeing the forest ignite, Alina, who was directing the Wanderers to form up, had her expression change slightly, but she only sighed to herself without speaking.
Having received the orders and about to head to the front lines, Romeo became anxious. He hastily protested to Alina in a suppressed voice, "Alina, this is our forest!"
Alina didn’t reply, merely warning him with her eyes to stop talking.
Romeo understood Alina’s meaning, clenched his fist, lowered his head, gritted his teeth, and turned away.
Watching Romeo’s retreating figure, Alina also felt somewhat helpless.
Romeo was different from her. He was a standard Golden Kite supremacist and secretly looked down upon the Sussex people.
Receiving Roland’s help made him grateful but also full of pain.
Romeo, Reyno, and Elaine understood politics and could consider the bigger picture, able to restrain their feelings, but Romeo’s attitude represented the true thoughts of many.
They were grateful for Roland’s refuge and willing to express their gratitude through actions. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
But they couldn’t accept foreigners meddling in Jin Yuan’s internal affairs.
She felt a headache coming; they had just landed and hadn’t even seen an enemy, yet it was already like this. She didn’t dare imagine what it would be like in the future.
Fortunately, she didn’t have time for idle thoughts. The screams, wolf howls, and roars from within the jungle proved Roland’s arrangement was entirely correct.
The cries from the jungle revealed their identities.
There were human soldiers, Centaur Nightwalkers, and Werewolves.
There was no time to ponder why the enemy knew of her return and the landing site. Alina bit her lip and gave combat orders to her followers.
Roland stood beside her, not saying a word the entire time, his expression exceptionally calm.
With a scepter in his right hand and the Governor’s Manual in his left, he looked less like a combatant and more like a young university lecturer.
After issuing a series of commands, Alina turned to look at Roland.
"Roland, I’m sorry, there might be a traitor in my group, I..."
"Don’t rush to blame yourself; it might not be a traitor."
Roland comforted her softly, "Such a large fleet sailing thousands of miles, with resupply in a neutral country along the way, our movements were hardly a secret."
"Moreover, the seas aren’t calm. The Grim Clan hasn’t made a move, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up on targeting us. With General Nephropidae’s personality, he will surely retaliate. He doesn’t need to act himself; he only needs to leak our route to the Jin Yuan Kingdom."
Roland’s words made Alina’s expression improve slightly, but not much. She asked softly, "Did you know from the start that the landing wouldn’t be smooth?"
"I don’t know how to divine, how could I have known all this?" Roland shrugged, spreading his hands.
He didn’t outright deny it, so he wasn’t lying.
Indeed, he didn’t know how to divine, but he had conducted countless simulations with Christine.
In all simulated outcomes, Alina’s counterattack was akin to a moth flying into the flame, doomed to failure.
There was only one way Alina could win: if Marco completely lost the people’s support.
Once Marco offended everyone, these people would yearn for the moderate policies of Mr. Carlo, who was compatible with all factions.
If it were Carlo himself landing in the south, it would likely succeed.
Alina may be Carlo’s daughter and could rightfully inherit the family title, but her father’s prestige and connections wouldn’t transfer through bloodline alone.
Only if Marco acts with utter disregard could Alina have a chance.
Is there hope?
Probably.
Even if there is only one percent hope, one must invest one hundred percent effort.
Only the strong have the privilege to be cautious; the weak can only go all-in, all-in, all-in again.
This isn’t gambling, but the only strategy where the mathematical expectation is not zero.
