When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 865 - 816: Breakthrough Point of the Leia Army
After the grand meeting, Horn followed the usual routine and held a smaller meeting on the second floor.
The door of the meeting room on the second floor was half-open, with faint candlelight spilling out.
The air in the room was filled with a slight smokiness from burning candles, mingled with the scent of ink and old paper.
Inside the meeting room, only a few attendant monks were waiting. Seeing Horn and the others arrive, they smoothly exited through another door.
As soon as Catherine entered, she frowned, and reached out to close the open windows one by one.
"It's so cold, I knew we should've installed a fireplace in the church too," she muttered softly, then walked over to sit beside Horn, wrapping her shawl tightly around herself.
Horn chuckled and said, "Where would we get the funds for that? Besides, if we had the funds, they should go to the frontline first."
Catherine casually flipped through a few documents on the table and turned to ask, "When will the next batch of aid from the Falan arrive?"
"They said it would be delivered in March, so about one more month," Madlan answered in Horn's stead after glancing at the calendar on the wall.
Ignoring Catherine's complaints, Horn focused his gaze on Madlan, "How's the progress on the Hot Spring City plan?"
Hot Spring City was a name agreed upon by the elders after extensive consultation.
One might say that the elders are a peculiar entity within the political system of the Holy Alliance.
They seem to have no power, yet they can write to the Pope's Palace about almost anything, and the Palace must respond.
After all, they were noble pioneers. Although Horn granted them their rightful power, their abilities couldn't keep up.
At least, on the surface, they were given the power to voice their opinions.
The elders also served as an important channel for public expression.
Besides, they had enough prestige and connections within both the military and the public, especially among the civilians of Langsande County.
In the current chaotic judicial system, there are several cases where these elders have helped civilians overturn false charges.
Many of these elders operate industries or have primary roles in the ry Court Barracks, with some being workers in textile factories, making them among the first middle class in the ry Court Barracks.
Those who mixed crimes while relying on elders' allowances were still subject to detention and stripped of their elder status.
"Progress is steady. After Her Highness Moliat expressed her stance, North Mangde County also relented."
In this political upheaval, various forces in Mountain County either switched sides or remained neutral, and Harbin deserves great credit.
He rallied the Reformed Dwarves to storm the Dwarf Elders' residences, called for strikes among the lower-level artisans, and even deliberately directed Shattered Stone refugee to Cold Spring Castle.
These Shattered Stone refugees defiled the various hydraulic facilities that Cold Spring Castle's people prided themselves on.
At any provocation of these refugees or when suppressing strikes, newspapers would wield the moral high ground to smear the Cold Spring Castle populace.
Ultimately, under overwhelming public opinion, the noble forces of Cold Spring Castle couldn't muster a response to the bloodless winter night.
With several Mountain Counties siding with Horn, they facilitated a pretense of submission.
It was only afterward that they tried to redeem themselves by hastily producing a newspaper.
After Horn successfully led the Holy Alliance government, following Her Highness Moliat's statement, many nobles harbored a sense of betrayal by saying, "We were ready to fight to the death, why did Her Highness surrender first?"
However, even more people inexplicably heaved a sigh of relief.
Under intense pressure, the dwarven elders, who had been battered and weary for nearly half a year, finally relented.
Only then could Harbin take away a large number of dwarf artisans.
"In addition to that, Harbin recruited a large number of Reformed Dwarf citizens and artisans.
He also recruited a large group of Shattered Stone people displaced by the floods to go to South Mangde County to build a city and mine.
We promised them that once the city is built, they would be granted citizenship along with a house or a piece of land."
After hearing this, Horn turned to Madlan, "What about those dwarf artisans?"
"They are currently undergoing intensive training in ry Court Barracks and will be ready to officially join the ordnance factory in about a week," Madlan replied.
Horn nodded in satisfaction.
Horn asked Madlan about some dwarf-related matters, and Madlan answered fluently in each instance.
However, as the questions continued, Madlan seemed to remember something and suddenly said, "Your Excellency, when I came here, Her Highness Hilov asked when you and Her Highness Jeanne would return to ry Court Barracks?"
Horn was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "I'll tell her in my next letter."
At that moment, the meeting room door was pushed open, and several officers from the Staff Department and the core Secret Monks entered.
Horn glanced over them, noting quite a few new faces.
During this period, the Secret Monks recruited many newcomers from the university students of ry Court Barracks.
Even within the newly established Battle Group, there were quite a few university students from ry Court Barracks and even students from Frick Middle School serving as Legion Secretaries or Military Chaplains.
"Is everyone here?" Horn sat between Madlan and Catherine, taking a sip of hot tea, "Let's start the military meeting."
The Secret Monks quickly spread out maps on the table.
Horn scanned the room and said in a deep voice, "The transformation of the Holy Alliance will undoubtedly displease the Pope of Holy Seat City. He cannot tolerate the Holy Alliance as an aberration encroaching on Miseria Church's discourse power, and so he will surely do everything to oppose us. Presently, they have sixty thousand troops, but that might not be the limit."
He paused for a moment, his gaze cutting across each face.
"Now, they are relatively weak. If we don't strike decisively now, the future situation will only become more difficult."
Madlan frowned, "I thought the plan was to defend and then counterattack?"
Dass smiled and shook his head, "What we're doing is not just a defense followed by a counterattack, but a counterattack amidst defense.
Our army's advantage isn't in numbers, but in more advanced organization and training." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
He extended a finger, lightly tapping on the map, "In other words, our command transmission is more efficient, and task execution is more swift. Whether marching or battling, we are faster than them."
Seeing Madlan's confused expression, Bernardo on the side added, "In terms of spatial dimension, they indeed have more enemy forces than us.
But in the dimension of time, our numbers can absolutely surpass theirs."
Horn nodded, "Very well said. This is exactly the greatest advantage of our new-style army.
People always assume that the battlefield they see before them, with skirmishes and confrontations lasting a few days, encompasses all the time and space there is.
But in reality, I dare say the upcoming war's span across time and space far exceeds direct perception.
The traditional empire strategy of gathering all forces for a decisive battle is outdated!"
Catherine looked at the densely marked map, feeling dizzy, "So what exactly should we do?"
Horn was about to directly answer but suddenly paused.
He glanced at Petier, Bernardo, and Dass, smiling, "Let me test you all; each of you write down where the breakthrough for Leia Army lies, then show your answers."
The four of them immediately picked up quill pens and wrote a word on their palms.
Then they simultaneously opened their palms, each involuntarily smiling or laughing.
Catherine curiously leaned over but saw that Horn had written in his palm a single clear word—"Haji Castle."
