Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 695: New Reinforcements

TL: Rui88

When Catherine walked into the tent, her fiancé was listening to Schroeder’s report on the latest situation.

Many faces Catherine had never seen before were clustered around Paul. They were all dressed in the standard-issue uniforms of the Alda army, and from the insignia on their shoulders, they were all relatively high-ranking officers.

Hearing the commotion, Paul looked up, and their gazes met.

‘I should take the initiative,’ Paul thought. So he walked around the table, went to his fiancée, and took her hand.

Catherine subconsciously wanted to pull her hand back but stopped herself in time.

“It is so good to see you are safe, my dear.”

Never having been addressed this way in front of so many people, Catherine’s heart skipped a beat, and a blush rose on her fair cheeks.

She shot Paul a somewhat vexed glare, reminding him to be mindful of the occasion—though she would not object to him calling her that in private.

“Thank you for your support, Count Grayman.”

Paul realized he had been a bit forward, smiled sheepishly, and greeted Ofina, Klein, and the others behind Catherine one by one.

They all took their seats around the conference table.

Paul began to speak of his entourage. “Catherine, many have been to Crystal Shine with me, so you already know them, but there are a few new faces I need to introduce to you. This is my Director of Artillery, Colonel Bryce Ald. He was originally a knight whose family served the Grayman family for generations. Since I brought almost all of the cannons, he came along as well.”

The powerfully built Bryce immediately stood up and paid his respects to his future mistress.

“My head of the logistics department, Ron…” Paul finished introducing all those qualified to attend the meeting.

Afterward, he spoke of the reinforcements he had brought.

After Alda had conscripted a large number of troops to expand the army, the remaining four and a half under-strength battalions were quickly brought to full strength, and Paul had brought them all to the front line.

At the same time, nearly all of the army’s artillery was brought along—40 cannons of various sizes, mostly 4-pounders or 6-pounders. Including the cannons Schroeder had brought earlier, the total number reached 60.

There were also the corresponding logistics support personnel, totaling over five thousand people.

The bulk of the logistics effort was ammunition. Gunpowder, cannonballs, and bullets added up to more than twenty tons, carried by over forty wagons.

Even so, because the total number of Alda soldiers from both batches was over 4,000, each person could only be allocated 50 rounds of ammunition, and each cannon could fire about 30 shells. The embarrassing part was that the gunpowder currently transported was not enough to fire all these shells and bullets; more had to be brought from the rear.

The four new battalions were filled with retired veterans. After a brief period of refresher training, they could be deployed to the front. The vast militia forces took on the heavy responsibility of defending Alda’s homeland.

Schroeder, in turn, told Paul about the enemy’s strength.

“According to the latest intelligence, the orcs have committed between fifteen thousand and twenty thousand cavalry in our direction, led by the orc general Kalem.”

“The orcs also have a large number of human soldiers from various sources: assigned by traitorous lords, forcibly conscripted locals, or those shameless commoners who have defected to them. This group numbers around twenty thousand, mostly infantry.”

Paul frowned. “An enemy of nearly forty thousand. The situation is very grim!”

On his own side, the forces from the various lords of Northwest Bay numbered around ten thousand, there were four thousand remaining from the Crystal Shine army, ten thousand from the Blackstone Plains, and a small contingent of reinforcements from the adjacent Great Elephant Plains. They were outnumbered by the orcs, and due to the series of previous defeats, the morale of most of the army was low, and fear was widespread.

He asked, “What kind of person is this Kalem?”

Schroeder replied, “He is an ambitious orc. At his current status, he is not yet within the inner circle of the King’s Tent. Therefore, Kalem is extremely eager to build his merit by conquering the kingdom’s northwest, in order to win the favor of the Grand Chieftain Abal.”

“Alright!” Paul said resolutely. “I have no desire to become a fruit on someone else’s tree of merit.”

He stood up and looked around at each person. “The claw the orcs have extended will stop here, and it will be severed.”

Apart from the generals from Northwest Bay, many felt that this young count was boasting. Although his troops had already achieved a small-scale victory, that victory was not enough to change the course of the war.

“Count Grayman!” Duke Osman Aranbru from the Blackstone Plains said with great concern. “I hope you will treat these aliens from the plains with caution. Although I had fully estimated their ferocity before the battle of Sunset Valley, when the fighting truly began, I found that I had still underestimated them.”

Duke Aranbru had been lucky enough to survive Sunset Valley, but not much was left of the ten thousand troops he had brought from his domain.

In the duke’s view, this Count Grayman possessed the confidence appropriate for his age, but when young people’s confidence encounters problems that are actually beyond their ability to handle, it often precipitates disaster.

The key was that Paul Grayman was also Princess Catherine’s future husband. The defeat at Sunset Valley had already cast a shadow on the princess’s reputation. Although the direct cause of the failure was the rash advance of the central army, as the nominal supreme commander, Catherine would inevitably bear some negative consequences.

If her husband were to fail as well…

“Thank you for your reminder, Your Grace. I will formulate a suitable battle strategy based on a thorough assessment of the enemy and the collective wisdom of everyone here.”

Paul smiled and nodded. He could sense that this old man meant well.

Just then, he felt a slightly hostile gaze from a young man next to Duke Aranbru.

“Do you have any advice, Sir Montret Tavares?” Paul knew the young man’s identity as they had already been introduced.

“None, Count Grayman.”

Osman suppressed the displeasure in his heart.

He knew he had to bear a large part of the responsibility for the defeat at Sunset Valley, so he had to keep a low profile at this time.

Nevertheless, having a fellow even younger than himself pontificating in front of him in a world-weary manner still stirred some unpleasant feelings within him.

What’s more, this fellow was going to marry Princess Catherine.

“Before I set out, Lakeheart Town received a telegram… I mean, a letter, from Crystal Shine.”

Paul took out a piece of paper, showed it to Catherine first, and then passed it around for everyone to read.

“Prince Jassim has already set out northward to open negotiations with the orcs?”

The crowd began to discuss the contents of the telegram.

“What is the royal government thinking? This is the time to send more troops to give the orcs a good thrashing, not to waste spit with them.”

Everyone found it hard to understand. Sending an envoy to negotiate after having already been defeated once had a certain flavor of begging for mercy.

Only Catherine and the others from Crystal Shine felt a bitterness in their hearts.

The reason for the negotiations was that the royal government did not have many troops to spare. After all, in the south, there were still the ill-intentioned Jars and Viburen.