𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐𝟔.2: 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐞 (1)
“Now that we have captured the enemy’s Archduke and decimated a significant portion of their forces, we must purify the Chaos-contaminated areas in the northwest and eliminate the remaining remnants.”
“That’s right. If we delay any longer, additional Armies of Sin might descend, so it’s best to eradicate the enemy now.”
Prince Zhu Yongluo of the Great Zhou Empire presented a compromise to their arguments.
“Then, the main force of the Allied Forces will take the lead, and our Great Zhou Empire, along with the Imperial and Saharan Empires, will participate as rearguard troops.”
Having witnessed the vanguard nations suffer at least 20,000 casualties against the enemy, the New Continent Alliance and the Gigas Alliance were reluctant to take the lead.
Therefore, they tried to push the three vanguard nations with their strong military power back to the front lines. However, having suffered significant losses, the three nations were determined to retreat to the rear and maintain a ceasefire.
As a result, the Allied Forces meeting became deadlocked, and despite the CID’s mediation, it ended without any concrete decisions.
Meanwhile, someone began to move in the shadows: Amelia of the Principality of Paranos.
She met with neighboring countries that shared interests with the Principality of Paranos and began to recruit them. These were mostly countries located in the southern and southwestern parts of the Principality , such as the Duchy of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Iroquois tribe, and the Cherokee Kingdom.
The Queen proposed to these countries the establishment of a federal state similar to the Commonwealth of Texas to maximize their interests and advance into the now-purified and unclaimed northern territories.
In particular, she advocated for the inclusion of the territory entrusted to the Sun Mercenary Group by the Principality of Paranos for military administration into the federation’s territory for joint management. . . This naturally increased interest in the north, which was rich in underground resources such as gold, silver, iron ore, and coal.
At that time, the Miocan Union also received news that the countries in their east were planning to form a federation. The Miocan Union, realizing that they would be better off choosing one side or the other rather than being squeezed between the newly formed federation and the Comanche Kingdom, decided that joining a federation centered around the Principality of Paranos, which had the Empire’s backing, would be more beneficial than siding with the Comanche Kingdom.
They agreed to contribute to the establishment of the federation, with the leaders of each country that agreed to its formation being designated as electors. It was decided that the first Grand President of the federation would be elected through an electoral vote.
Soon after, Amelia of the Principality of Paranos was unanimously elected by the electors as the Grand President of the newly established New Millennium Federation.
The New Millennium Federation was born through behind-the-scenes negotiations.
The Comanche Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Texas, and the Republic of Libertas were shocked by their emergence. They then objected to the recognition of the federation, claiming that they could not allow it for their own survival.
However, the Principality of Paranos, with the Empire’s backing, asked Oswald, who was present as part of the expeditionary force, for support. Oswald decided to inform the Empire’s central government of this matter and await instructions.
Soon, the Imperial Empire Parliament held a meeting to discuss the approval of the New Millennium Federation, which had been born in the New Continent. Of course, a majority supported the federation with Princess Amelia as Grand President, and ultimately, the Parliament voted to approve it.
Grand President Amelia then met with the Great Zhou Empire and the Saharan Empire, two of the three vanguard nations, and requested their approval of the federation, stating that it would take the lead. The Great Zhou Empire immediately responded by approving the establishment of the federation, and Sahara followed suit, effectively granting official recognition to the New Millennium Federation.
The CID seemed indifferent as long as the subjugation could be carried out quickly in any form.
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Empire Parliament, some proposed increasing the size of the expeditionary force to expand their influence in the New Continent, taking advantage of this opportunity.
In particular, those who supported First Prince Valentine argued that Oswald should be promoted to Lieutenant General and the expeditionary corps should be upgraded to a field army. If upgraded to a field army, they would gain two additional corps, effectively deploying 300,000 troops to the New Continent.
The electors from the western regions, led by the Third Prince, opposed this, but the lords from the central, eastern, and southern regions expressed their enthusiastic support. When put to a vote, a majority agreed to upgrade the expeditionary corps to a field army and appoint Oswald as its commander.
Considering that he had been promoted to Major General just a short while ago, it was no exaggeration to say that it was a very rapid promotion. Moreover, the fact that Oswald had captured one of the Archduke demons was recognized as a merit, so it was sufficient in terms of justification.
With that, the formation of additional troops began. Naturally, they decided to mobilize reserve forces rather than deploying additional troops from the standing army currently defending the Empire.
Of course, as forced conscription could lead to negative public opinion, they gathered reserve forces through voluntary enlistment and additionally recruited volunteers from the western occupied territories. Surprisingly, a large number of reserve troops responded to the call for enlistment.
In reality, as the Empire’s industry developed, the gap between the rich and the poor widened, leading to a situation where the poor became even poorer. In the midst of this, the Empire offered substantial salaries and called for reserve troops to be sent to the New Continent expedition, prompting many reserve troops to respond to the call and decide to participate.
This was made possible by the surplus magic stones resulting from the conquest of the Great Desert and the introduction of oil as a new energy source, which led to increasingly abundant national finances.
Thus, they were able to gather 80,000 reserve troops.
On the other hand, the western occupied territories had just been conquered and were economically much poorer compared to the Empire’s mainland. As occupied territories, they had various interests taken away, so. . . it was only natural for the lives of the people in the occupied territories to become difficult.
For them, the military, which promised high salaries, became an indispensable choice for survival.
The Empire managed to recruit 120,000 new soldiers from the western occupied territories. After basic combat training, they would need at least three months before being deployed to the New Continent.