I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 241 Analysis, Inside Story

The Empire sent 70,000 reinforcements to France.

They are also the army of the Rhine Military District, which is currently one of the top five military districts in the Empire, and a total of 1 magic soldiers of the First Air Force Army.
This……

Upon hearing this news, John was not happy to receive reinforcements. Instead, he immediately frowned, his eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty.

John thought it was somewhat plausible that Dormammu and Emperor William secretly sent reinforcements to him after witnessing the hardships of the Battle of Fauken.

If the reinforcements come from the Ministry of War, or to put it more bluntly, from the Conservative Party, then John will have to think twice about this so-called 'reinforcements'.

In his judgment, neither Wolf's own position as the leader of the conservative party nor Emperor Wilhelm's existing power was sufficient to persuade the empire to send reinforcements of such formidable strength to support the battlefield.

Leaving aside the destructive power of the 10,000 magic soldiers of the First Air Army, the 60,000 ground troops of the First Army of the Rhine Military District alone, assuming that the commanders of both sides are of equal or even slightly inferior skill levels.

Their combat capabilities are sufficient to ensure that the Fauken region, which they have already occupied, will not be successfully recaptured by the enemy.

After all, just eight years ago, the 8st Army Group of the Rhine Military District, under the leadership of Arias, launched a forced landing without any land resources, and crushed the Mad Fang Clan's garrison with overwhelming force, nearly wiping out the Mad Fang Clan's elite troops in the war.

Only Gary Mad Fang, the sole direct descendant of the Mad Fang clan and the young patriarch of the Mad Fang clan, led the 112th Division to successfully escape from Golden Lion Territory.

After completing the occupation of the Golden Lion Territory, the First Army Group was naturally attacked from three armies: the Morning Star Clan in the north, the Dark Moon Clan in the south, and the Black Swamp Clan in the west.

Despite having fewer than three times the enemy's strength, the First Army Group was not only not annihilated, but also, with its terrifying combat power, directly crippled the Morning Star Clan and Dark Moon Clan's army groups, leaving them with only a division.

Seeing the situation was not good, the Black Swamp Clan withdrew in advance, but under the pursuit of the Empire's First Army, their elite division was wiped out, and they fled in disgrace, sending a request for help to the Orc King.

Upon learning that the three orcish armies had not only failed to annihilate the Imperial forces during their siege, but had instead been routed, the Orc King was immediately enraged. He promptly mobilized the Blood Howling Legion, led by the Blood Wolf Tribe and a force that ranked among the top three in the Saga Kingdom, to launch an offensive against the Imperial Army's First Army Group.

Even after the previous fierce battles and the loss of a large number of troops, they are now facing the elite 1st Army Group.

Although heavy casualties occurred in the subsequent battles, with almost all of the mid-level officers killed in action [orcs do not follow the war laws set by the nobles and are very resistant to humans, and do not take prisoners].

But in the end, they managed to successfully withstand the Blood Howl Legion's attack and wiped out an entire enemy division.

Later, during the battle between the two Grand Generals, the Epsilon-class Annihilation Magic Cannon was used. With one shot, it shattered most of the enemy general's body and killed 'Shattertooth,' the first warrior of the Blood Wolf Tribe at the time. At the same time, it also leveled two mountain peaks, creating two artificial landscapes of 'Crescent Mountain' at the junction of the Golden Lion Territory and the Talzan Wetlands.

Due to severe troop losses and the complete death of their commander, the Blood Howling Legion, realizing they could no longer defeat the enemy, had no choice but to retreat.

Subsequently, Erias arranged for the construction of an imperial stronghold in Madfang City, which represents the core location of the Golden Lion Territory. He also carried out suppression work on the unruly orcs within the territory and deployed troops to deal with the remaining forces sent by the Orc King.

Under the constant warfare, Marquis Irias's already damaged unique spell circuits began to gradually collapse out of control.

His own rank also began to decline, falling from Grand rank to Super rank. Just then, a conflict arose within the Conservative Party between the Prime Minister and the Grand Marshal of the Army. After Irias chose the Prime Minister's side, he was recalled to the Empire by the angry Duke Mosilis on the grounds of his declining rank.

What followed was a political battle between the Prime Minister and the Field Marshal, which ended in the well-known victory of Prime Minister Wolff.

After winning this political struggle, as a price for his defection, Arias voluntarily handed over control of the Rhine Military District in exchange for Dolan's promotion to Field Marshal of the Second Army Group and his own promotion to Foreign Minister.

Subsequently, with the Empire's military base in Faoken being repeatedly harassed by enemy forces, the already heavily damaged First Army Group was recalled to the Empire by Wolf under the pretext of reorganization.

The familiar plot then unfolds: through a political exchange, the task of guarding Faoken is handed over to the Second Army Group led by Dolan, thanks to the efforts of Marquis Irias.

This is the entire story of the 1st Army Group of the Rhine Military District's capture of Faoken over the past eight years.

Whether it was the landing operation at Faoken, or the subsequent terrifying combat capability of fighting three or even four opponents at once, all of this proved the strength of the First Army Group.

Although a large part of it was achieved thanks to the support of giant magic cannons and resource-burning tactics.

However, this does not negate the combat capabilities of the First Army Group.

Especially after this army group was taken over by Michel, who was then the Secretary of Defense, and converted into the National Defense Force.

This unit has seen a qualitative improvement in both the power of its magic cannons and the skill level of its mid-level elite mages, thanks to the conservative party's heavy investment.

It can be said that compared with the First Army Group previously led by Arias, the current force is not only not weaker, but is even stronger than before! In John's calculations, the current First Army Group's combat strength is enough to rank among the top three of all the Empire's army groups.

This was precisely the question that John was most perplexed about at that moment.

Why would the conservatives agree to send out this elite force?

If the other party has recognized my talent and intends to suppress my brilliance by seizing power before I, as a rising star of the reformist faction, can achieve more for the reformists in the eyes of the world, then...

The conservative party only needs to send any army group to achieve this goal.

There was absolutely no need to mobilize such a large force, including elite troops, let alone the First Air Force Group Army.

So, is there another purpose?
The conservatives realized that their winning streak was a foregone conclusion, and since they could not stop it, they decided to intervene and try to get a share of the spoils.

Or perhaps the bait he had previously revealed to Conrad had worked, making Wolf realize that his plan to kill him had failed and thus attempting to send troops to find out the whereabouts of the Sage's Crystal?

"Something's wrong, nine out of ten is wrong!"

John couldn't help but frown and ponder. Just as he was racking his brains to analyze what the conservatives were up to, Yu Guangzhong suddenly noticed Mia, who looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't.

John seemed to understand something from the other person's flickering gaze, and then tentatively asked:
"By the way, Mia, do you have any clues about the details of the Imperial Military Affairs Department's support for our army this time?"

But after saying that, John couldn't help but sigh inwardly that he had really lost his mind.

What can you possibly come up with by discussing a question that even you yourself can't figure out with Mia, that dim-witted little girl?
It's unacceptable for this soldier, who just follows Wendy around all day, mimicking how the pig-headed squad leader curses, to actually help with intelligence analysis; that would be a miracle!

John rubbed his temples, a slight headache forming, then subconsciously lit a cigarette. He waved for the other man to leave, intending to analyze the situation himself.

"Never mind, Mia, just pretend I'm..."

"Um, Battalion Commander, I do know some things about this."

"Um?!"

John paused in his smoking, then abruptly turned his head, his eyes widening as he stared at Mia beside him in disbelief.

"!"

Seemingly not expecting such a strong reaction from John, Mia herself shuddered in surprise, but she quickly mustered the courage to tell the truth:
"In the intelligence sent by the Military Affairs Department this time, although the Military Affairs Department did not explicitly state it in the document, the mission coding instruction this time is not the common code name that starts with P, but N001."

"As far as I know, there seems to be only one mission that can utilize this mission number type within the Empire."

"That is the sacred vengeance in the 'Oath of the Thirteen Round Tables'."

"Furthermore, considering that among the members who participated in this battle, only Lieutenant Leia and Lieutenant General Dolan are descendants of the Thirteen Heroes."

"The execution of the Divine Revenge Order is only permitted in two situations: when a hero family is about to be extinct or has already been extinct."

"Furthermore, given that Lieutenant Leia is currently safe and does not meet the criteria for applying for a Divine Revenge Order, and that Lieutenant General Dolan, under your instructions and the negligible initiative of his subordinates, is now in a situation where the other party is returning to the Empire by merchant ship without any communication."

"Furthermore, given the rumors that Lieutenant General Dolan was greatly favored by his father within the Beat family, and the fact that Lieutenant General Dolan had many trump cards to protect himself."

"Based on all the clues above, I am about 99% certain that the support mission launched by the Ministry of Military Affairs this time is most likely a divine vengeance order requested by 'Marquis of Ravage' Elias, who mistakenly believed that Lieutenant General Dolan had been killed in action, and was driven by a desire for revenge!"

Mia spoke to John with a confident expression.

Upon hearing this explanation, John froze on the spot, his eyes filled with disbelief, his jaw dropping to its maximum. After a long silence, he finally uttered a sound:
"what?!"

……

(End of this chapter)