'I think Zordias' basic policy of attacking the surrounding countries is correct. But the objective is different. It's not to draw them out, but to confine them. Instead of attacking a very small part of the country, we will need to draw Gulli and all of the surrounding areas into the territory of King Rosais' country.

　I mean, we're talking about a major cartographic siege...
　But to do that...

　'We'll have to negotiate with King Gilbed's country...'

　King Gilbed's country was adjacent to King Zoldias' country.
　As I recall, the two countries were hostile, so I don't think King Gilbed would ever support King Zoldias...

　Friendship between countries is an autumnal sky.

　If our country is alarmed, it's a different story.

　And besides.....

　I don't know how many years it's gonna take, the way you're going about it.
　To begin with, His Majesty has ended the war in too short a time. To begin with, His Majesty has ended the war in too short a time, it is not unusual for a castle siege to take several years. The victory and territorial expansion in a short period of time up to now is due to General Bartolo's ability and the technical superiority of the explosive spear. We need to calm down a bit more...''

　Alexios said, and then began to talk about specific measures.

　'First we will isolate and besiege Zordias, both diplomatically and geographically. Next, we will place about 10,000 troops at each of the gates of King Zoldias' country in a place where the mountain does not rise to the surface. I attack it again and again and turn back. And when you have an opening, you can attack from a place that King Zordias would not have expected.........................Romalia Forest. ........I heard that His Majesty can pass through the Romarian Forest, right?

　Right, from what I've heard, it sounds realistic and certain.　
　But.....

　How long will this take?
　It's going to take two or three years.　To begin with, a castle with a great general in it won't fall even with a tenfold difference in force. Even more so if the castle has a good supply of food and water inside. If we were to defeat King Zoldiers' country head-on, I think we would need more than 100,000 men.

　Yeah, I can't.
　But it's going to take some time.

　Well, I guess that's realistic...

　It's not a choice.
　That's what war is all about in the first place. Let's give up on this one.

　In the first place, King Zoldiers' country is worthless, except for the copper mines.
　It's not that we want it for nothing.

　''Well then, let's make a truce with Zordias and focus on conquering the west and internal politics for a while...''
　I think that would be best. Don't be in a hurry.

　When our country offered peace to King Zoldias's country, King Zoldias's country readily accepted it.
　For one year, a treaty of mutual non-aggression was signed, in which King Zoldias's country and King Evil's country would not invade King Zoldias's country, and King Zoldias's country would not invade King Rosais's country and King Evil's country.

　In the meantime, the salvation of King Evil's country, which was raised as a cause, was a success, so we can say that our country won.
　However.........

　This was my first time in a war where I didn't get any reparations or territory.






　

　In the past, King Gilbed's country had a truce with King Domorgal's country and tried to expand its territory to the south.
　However, it was blocked by my country and Zordias by King Domorgal and Gilbed's country, and the plan was abandoned.

　After that, because of the mess with Roselle, Gilbed never reached out to the south.
　I suppose there were plenty of opportunities...
　The situation is different in our country and in Gilbed.

　Even before my accession to the throne, our country had been gradually becoming centralized by the Lossies, which became decisive after my accession to the throne, and with the recent reversion of the Imperial Throne, all military authority was in my hands.

　In the event that I wanted to start a war, my edict would fly around the country on fast horses and hawk flights, and commoners from all parts of the country would gather in the outskirts of the capital, armed in accordance with a predetermined method of selection, and after the centurion was elected on the spot, he would be formed.
　Those who live in distant regions or close to the battlefield gather in the largest city in that region, and are still organized in the same way, and gather on the battlefield.

　If it's about ten thousand, it's a week; if it's twenty thousand, it's about ten days.
　If they waited for the Alliance countries, it would take two weeks.


　On the other hand, Gilbed still retains the nature of a coalition government of great clans now and then.
　The reason for this is that the Gilbed clan itself is not keen on centralization, and the number of powerful clans is several times greater than that of Lossies.

　If King Gilbed were to start a war........
　First, King Gilbed's fast horses and falcon flights fly across the country to reach the great families.
　The big family will organize soldiers in their own territory and head to the site or capital.

　However, in reality, things never go as smoothly as this.
　Some of the big families do not even want to fight in a war.

　They buy time by slowing down their march or lying that their formation is taking too long.
　Some of them are absent due to poor health.

　And so the formation of the soldiers finally begins, but this is a tussle.
　For example, let's say that Mr. A, a wealthy man, brought 2,000 troops with him. On the other hand, Mr. B, a wealthy family member, has two hundred.

　If Mr. A is placed on his right flank and Mr. B on his left flank, his troops will be concentrated only on his right flank.
　King Gilbet would like to divide his troops up by a thousand and a half and assign them to each side, but there was no way the great families would agree to that.

　I'm the one who brought you here!　
　And in the first place, the centurion commanding the soldiers the men of the big family wouldn't follow him.

　So, as the next best thing, he would pair up Mr. B with Mr. C, a man of a wealthy family who had brought one thousand eight hundred soldiers with him.
　However, Mr. B and Mr. C are actually members of different clans and are opposed to each other.

　In this case, they can't work together.
　Then, even if the two factions try to team up, they may have a territorial dispute, or they may have a personal grudge against each other because their wives were betrothed to each other, or they may have an equal number of soldiers and the same level of family background, and they may argue over which of them should be placed under which command... .........

　And so I waste time like that.

　It's not uncommon for me to take a month or two to complete a project.
　This is no longer a good story.

　And the fundamental problem is that the country that we are about to attack (let's say Zordias...), the Zordias King's country and its neighbouring country's own powerful family members are in fact often married to the Zordias King's country's powerful family members. .

　In this situation, it is impossible to know who is the enemy and who is on our side.
　This is the problem before the war.

　By the way, the law in our country regulates the marriage of grand families under the reign of the previous king, so it's not as bad as it was.
　At any rate, the reason why I can run the war smoothly now is because of my father-in-law.

　I digress.
　At any rate, King Gilbed's kingdom has not reached south since his last failure.

　But I believe its ambitions are still alive and well.
　It's not something that can be given up so easily.

　That's why he said to King Gilbed: "Let's attack Zordias together. Let's decide on a territory for the small and medium-sized countries to the south as well" is not bad in itself.

　But.........

　'The problem is that you can expect our country to look pretty bad.
　Well, I've done a lot of things...

　A list of all the bad things our country has done.

　Benefiting only myself through reparations fraud.
　Allegations of being secretly connected to Roselle (true).
　Arson in Rezad.
　Invasion of the Cilician states.
　Centralization of power, disrupting the political systemic order of the old monarchy of the Adelian peninsula.

　These countries are sneaking in more territory behind the scenes.
　This is frightening.

　It must have been a small country, much lower in rank than my own not long ago, and it must have been unpleasant for me to have the king (me), who is the same age as my son, to look at me in a big way.


　Therefore, Ial. You'll have to go and do something about that as well!
　He's a bit reckless...

　Ial sighed.
　But, you're the only one who can do it, right?

　Well, I'm not out of options.
　What?　Tell me.
　'It's down-to-earth diplomacy. Gilbet prides himself on being the greatest power on the Adelian peninsula. And our immediate rivals are Fardham and my country. I'm sure the King of Gilbet will be happy to cooperate if we bow our heads and pay our tribute to him.

　Okay, let's go with that!
　Are you sure?

　No problem.
　We're going to get Gilbeds in the ground anyway.

　So, the fact that I bowed to him cancels out the historical fact that I bowed to him.
　I'll remain a diplomatic king who can bow to you if need be. Or, rather, I'll have Aomei write it.

　No problem.

　''The tribute in question is.....
　'There's no point in handing over wheat, you know. Spirits, paper, boxwoods. And the silk, spices, spices, spices, spices, goldsmithing, jewels, glasswork, pottery, and Alice's thread, all obtained by trade. That should do it.

　From the country of King Gilbed in the countryside, they are all hard to come by.
　It may not be a lot of money to our country, but to them it's very expensive.

　''How much do you want to give up?　You don't mean to tell them that we're going to have all the western countries...?
　Why don't we just divide the area east of the Adelian Mountains and west of it?

　It can be divided just once and for all.
　King Zordias will also act as a buffer zone if he leaves a little bit behind after the invasion.

　''Then most of the western part of the country would be in the territory of King Gilbed's country, but...''
　Gilbed is not that good. "Gilbed doesn't have that kind of power. We can support you to that extent. But that's not all. That country is not capable of a long-term military campaign.

　Once we have conquered Zoldias, we are next in the land of Gilbed and King Carnu.
　There is no need to hesitate.

　All that matters is that they win.

　 Of course, I don't think it's logically impossible. In fact, it's odd to declare it impossible. In fact, I don't think Gilbed is something to be feared anymore. But.....
　Sensory overload... or...

　The Adelnian peninsula was united by the same regime in history during the time of the horsedomadic Etzel the Great.
　And that was only for a moment.

　It has never been ruled by the same regime in the long term.
　That's why few will be aware of my intentions.

　As far as I'm concerned, though, the hardest part will be after we unify.
　...later?
　It's not that hard to unify them.

　There are plenty of countries that have expanded their territory, united, and gone one step further.
　But in the end, those regimes rarely last long.


　

　........well, if you can do that much, it won't be a hardship.
　At least we won't leave a negative legacy.