Chapter 563: Zog’s War Preparations (Part 2)

This would allow Figxin’s new army to gain sufficient combat experience, while also drawing out the new King’s forces.

With the stalemate in the Northern Domain, the new King would surely come to suppress the “rebels” and aid his allies. It would be even better if he led the campaign in person.

Once both forces were gathered in the Northern Domain, he could wipe them out in one fell swoop. This would also serve as a demonstration to the other Lords of Sutton. The intelligent ones would understand that they shouldn’t get in the way of Figxin’s march to the throne.

As for why Zog was so confident he could take on both Duke Welton’s army and Sutton’s potential reinforcements simultaneously…

…it could only be said that the Deep Research Institute still had plenty of tricks up its sleeve.

Now, only one question remained: whether or not to share this intelligence with Figxin.

If he shared it, the current King of Sutton was, after all, her biological father, even if their relationship was strained.

Would the faint bit of affection remaining between them make Figxin want to rescue her father, preventing the plan from being carried out?

After much thought, he decided he should share the information. Trust was the key to any partnership. If both sides concealed things from one another, their collaboration would sooner or later devolve into a chain of suspicion.

So, Zog summarized the information he had and sent it to Figxin.

At the same time, he began preparing arguments—appeals to both logic and emotion—in case Figxin truly couldn’t bring herself to abandon her father.

However, just a few minutes later, Zog realized he had worried for nothing.

He had severely overestimated the familial affection of the Royal Family.

Figxin didn’t even mention the old King’s predicament, instead asking directly about the operational plan.

‘She certainly has her priorities straight.’

That being the case, Zog invited Figxin to Deepwater City. He also summoned the heads of Deepwater City’s various departments and key figures from the Zog Group to begin a pre-war conference on how to deal with the summer invasion force.

Zog decided to share the information with them. As the key functionaries responsible for keeping Deepwater City running, they needed to understand the challenges that lay ahead.

Including the part about getting rid of the new King.

He trusted they would understand. They had all been through Deepwater City’s new form of education; their ideological awareness was comparatively advanced.

They could all sense, to varying degrees, that Deepwater City’s system was different from that of the other fiefdoms, and different from the system of the nation as a whole.

An irreconcilable conflict existed between them.

A clash was inevitable. It was only a matter of time.

As people who had experienced both life in old Sutton and life in Deepwater City, they could all feel how prominent the advantages were here for the common folk.

Perhaps the privileged class wouldn’t be as comfortable as they were under the old aristocratic system.

But who cared about the privileged class? They were already comfortable enough. It was time for them to spit some of what they’d devoured back out.

The only potentially problematic detail was that their leader wasn’t a Human, but a Dragon.

But that was something one could get used to.

It was just like the words written on the flyleaf of Deepwater City’s elementary school textbooks: “Long live the great unity of Feilin’s sapient beings.”

Facing a room full of people staring at him, Zog got straight to the point. “Friends, the Northern Domain is facing an unavoidable war. According to reliable intelligence, the Loman Army, led by Duke Welton, will invade the Northern Domain this summer. The Sutton Royal Family will not offer aid. On the contrary, they will be accomplices in this invasion. After the Northern Domain, they’ll come for Deepwater City. They want to devour us.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room erupted into heated discussion.

Most of the people here had never experienced war. Feilin was in a rare period of peace, and “war” was a relatively foreign concept to the people of this era.

The closest they had ever come was probably watching the Devils send all sorts of “rockets” on the live-streaming platform.

Zog gave them ample time to talk. It was, after all, difficult to remain calm when faced with such sudden news.

A few minutes later, the room quieted down somewhat. A department head spoke up, “So we must help the Northern Domain. We can’t let a foreign enemy destroy what we’ve spent the last few years building.”

His words earned the agreement of most people present—another “benefit” of the feudal system of enfeoffment.

The people of each fiefdom didn’t necessarily feel a strong sense of national identity.

“Will the Devils help us?” another person asked.

“The Devils can be one of our allies, but the number of them who can reach Feilin is limited, and they have their own wars to fight. So while they can offer assistance, we cannot be primarily dependent on them. Ultimately, we must rely on ourselves.”

According to Zog’s plan, as soon as the defense of the Northern Domain was over, they had to push into the Royal City and seize all of Sutton.

Because after the invasion failed, Loman would very likely make another move on Sutton. They would either be allies or enemies.

At that point, Sutton would inevitably be drawn into a continent-wide war.

But that was a matter for later.

Zog first emphasized the necessity of this battle to everyone present. He reassured them not to be overly nervous, explaining that the scales of victory were tipped in their favor, and finally, he laid out the necessary preparations.

Once these items were assigned, the public portion of the meeting concluded. Elsa, Furin, Figxin and her advisors, and the director of the armaments factory remained in the room to discuss other, more specific matters.

Namely, how to actually fight the war.

A map of the entire Northern Domain was displayed on the wall. Thanks to technological advancements, it was probably the most detailed map ever created.

Aside from its terrible climate, the Northern Domain’s terrain was also far from ideal.

Farther north was permafrost, a land of polar days and nights. Summer didn’t exist there, making it impossible for a large army to campaign.

To the east was the sea, but Loman did not excel at naval warfare. Besides, they would have to take a huge detour to travel by water.

To the south lay Deepwater City and Sutton’s other fiefdoms. Even if the new King allowed the Loman Army to pass through this way, the attitude of the various Lords was uncertain.

Furthermore, these areas were of high economic and agricultural value. The new King would be unwilling to see such valuable land destroyed.

Therefore, the only theoretically feasible direction for an attack was from the west.

Mountains and forests, with a narrow strip of plains sandwiched in between.

They hadn’t obtained the complete operational plan from the documents, but from the fragments they had, it was clear that Duke Welton also considered this difficult terrain. He planned to concentrate his superior numbers, enter through the plains, and strive for a rapid breakthrough to end the battle in days. If they were hindered, he had a backup plan for a war of attrition, but this was considered a last resort.

“My idea is to use our superior equipment to block their first wave, turn their blitzkrieg into a war of attrition, and drag them into the mountains and forests to the west. This will also give your army some real combat experience,” Zog said.

“That’s reasonable. The Northern Legion has no actual combat experience,” Figxin responded.

This approach might increase casualties, but this wouldn’t be the only war. Temporary losses now could reduce greater losses in the future.

“As for specific tactics, I haven’t done much research in that area. I’ll have to rely on you for that.”

“Understood.”

Figxin already had the air of a great commander; her expression showed no obvious emotional fluctuations.

“What I can provide is the most advanced weaponry and equipment. I’ll give you the detailed specifications later. Tomorrow, I’ll arrange for you to watch the live-fire tests at the Deep Research Institute. How you apply them will be up to you.”

The Deep Research Institute’s “new toys” were very different from the tools of traditional warfare and required some getting used to.

“The Factory’s production capacity needs to be prioritized for armaments.”

“What about the orders that are already scheduled?” the factory director asked.

“Uh, are there any orders from the Sutton Royal Family? Or from any national organizations that are close to Loman?”

As far as Zog knew, while Loman didn’t import products directly from the Zog Group, they certainly bought plenty through third parties.

The stuff really worked, which was evident from their enthusiasm for trying to copy Zog’s network.

“Yes, and quite a few,” the factory director replied.

“That makes it easy. Just say the factory caught fire. If you’re worried a fake fire won’t be convincing, I can arrange for a fire using an Illusion Technique. Then, just postpone all those orders. Tell them the equipment and raw materials burned up.”

‘Who knows, after a few delays, we might not even have to deliver the goods at all.’

This trick was inspired by memory chip manufacturers, who’d have a fire every now and then to jack up prices.

But that trick only works when you have a monopoly. Once others could make the same product… well, their fire safety measures suddenly got a whole lot better.