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Louis
The Supreme General walked into the command center. Another war was inevitable, and he needed to check the Rocklands’ military power. Highest ranking officers were waiting in the control room, filled with maps: the biggest one was on a huge table in the middle of the room.
Officers stood up and saluted the General when he walked in.
“At ease.” Louis said, allowing the men to sit down. “All right people, talk to me.”
“The city defenses are standing by,” the captain of the City Guard said. “I had men build some extra trebuchets, just in case.”
Louis nodded, and turned towards the artillery captain.
“We currently have about seventy catapults at our disposal, plus about twenty portable trebuchets.”
“Battering rams?” Louis asked.
“No less than fifteen, sir.”
“Good. How the professional troops, captain?”
“We currently manage five thousand professional soldiers” the captain replied.”All are ready for action.”
“And Rocklands’ feudal lords?”
“If every feudal lord answers the call, we can raise an army between thirty and fifty thousand,” the captain reported “but I suspect some of them might need some persuading. After what happened five years ago, some lords are not too keen of going to war again.”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Louis smirked “I’ll see that they have enough reasons to join our cause.”
He carefully debriefed the rest of the officers, and then moved to the next phase of their meeting: tactical plans. Louis knew that in the worst case scenario all the three countries would connect against them, like five years before. Coastlands would need to be dealt with first: they could muster the biggest military force among all countries on the continent. Frostlands and Heatlands had smaller armies, but they were not to be underestimated as well. Heatlands had the Great Wall, a massive defense structure that could take months to breach. Frostlands, on the other hand, had natural defenses: steep mountains on the southern border and cold climate, which could decimate a whole army if taken lightly.
“Battling all three countries on three different fronts won’t give us an advantage.” Louis said. “If we can get at least one country not to join the alliance, we could gain the upper hand.”
“Well, I’d bet my arms and legs that Coastlands would join sides with Heatlands,” one of the captains remarked “though I’m not so sure about Frostlands. They would join whatever side they believe to win in the end. I any way, it would be sure nice to know what our enemies are planning.”
“If you ask me, they have already started preparing for war,” another officer replied “Lord John wasn’t exactly subtle with whatever he is doing. They know we are planning something.”
Trust me, you don't want to know what he's doing. Well, I couldn't tell him even if I wanted to. Lord John was clear: he mustn’t tell a living soul about his doings, until the preparations were ready.
“We will soon find out” he said instead “I have already sent a spy to Longshore. I expect the results in a few days.”
“That’s settled then,” a captain said “but what of the Frostlands?”
“We will send a messenger to Lord Freeze. Maybe we can convince him to stay out of the fight this time. It will be a lot easier to deal with him when we have Coastlands and Heatlands under our rule.”
“That’s a wise move, but I suspect Coastlands or Heatlands of doing the same.”
“It is already taken care of. Any travelers to Frostlands would eventually pass the Tai Hom Village, since travel by sea is not possible anymore. I informed Deep and his mercenaries that messengers from our enemies might stop there. He will see that they never reach Frostlands.”