Shadow King Chronicles: Building a Kingdom From Behind the Scenes
The arrival of Petersburg
The Empire's main army had already set out towards the kingdom along with the army of nobles and mercenaries. Their motorcades were enlivened by the cheers of the Kiev residents.
The emperor himself did not take part in this expedition because of his age. Instead, he appointed his first son and sole legitimate heir to the Moskov imperial throne, Nicholas Moskov, who would later become emperor, to be awarded the title Nicholas IV.
He sat on his horse, leading the expedition. If depicted, Nicholas is a younger version of Romanov. Their faces are very similar. Just as ambitious. He was determined to unite the continent of Lantos under one imperial flag.
At least, Nicholas brought 200,000 troops. They are equipped with the best equipment. They also had magic cannons and magic rifles imported from the eastern continent.
Shifting slightly, Duchess Petersburg had set out first with 70,000 troops. He would come as an aid to defend Lostov's territory from the royal army on direct orders from the emperor.
Arguably, the quality of the Duchess Petersburg's personal army was second only to that of the emperor's army. Initially, their number was 250,000, but since Maria took over her father, she cut her private army by 150,000.
This he did to save the Dukedom coffers that were dying at that time. His father and the previous generation Duke were too fixated on quantity. In the end, it took a lot of money to feed their 250,000 soldiers.
As a result, the soldiers were forced or willing to seize the property of the population and the transportation of merchant property to fill their stomachs. Of course, this made the inhabitants of Petersburg to expand into other territories and traders were reluctant to enter their territory. I don't know how much loss that Petersburg suffered at that time.
In the end, Mary had to make a firm and hard decision. He cut the number of soldiers by a third. Maria also fired top officials who had committed corruption and harmed Petersburg's finances.
Mary had a policy of relying on quality rather than quantity. Although only a third remained, his private army was trained by the best veteran mercenaries Maria could recruit.
As a result, Mary's private army competed with the emperor's army, which to some extent disturbed Emperor Romanov III and his successors.
The Duchess of Petersburg was assigned to measure the strength of the Heinz kingdom. That's why they were dispatched 14 days before Prince Nicholas and his army moved.
Emperors, officials, high ranking nobles, as well as princes had their own views of the Duchess of Petersburg. There is no denying that in less than ten years, Maria managed to make the Petersburg family the most prosperous noble family in the empire.
Even the Emperor and his own retainers enjoyed it. But they also considered that Maria Petersburg was a potential threat that would weaken their strength.
There were at least two reasons why the Emperor decided to send Petersburg first. The first was to measure how much power the kingdom of Heinz had.
Second and most importantly, they intended to make Mary a pawn. It did not matter if Petersburg's military power was destroyed by Heinz's kingdom. Even if they were not destroyed, the Emperor and the others had a backup plan for this matter.
Their main purpose is simple. Seizing all assets belonging to the Petersburg family to fill their own pockets. That was why, the Empire had prepared gifts for them there, on the frontlines.
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Friction often occurred between alliances consisting of several nobles with the royal army of Heinz. To date, no major battles have taken place. But such a war of attrition overwhelmed the nobles.
Their combat strength was clearly not as great as the Kingdom of Heinz. Whether it is in terms of quality or quantity. More casualties fell on the part of the nobles than the Kingdom of Heinz.
That was why the arrival of the Petersburg army became a breath of fresh air for the nobles, especially Alexander Lostov. If the friction is allowed to last longer, he will obviously not last much longer.
The meeting between the alliance of the nobility with Maria Petersburg was held outside the Lostov Territory.
"We don't have much time. Mr. Lostov, please explain the actual conditions that are going on."
Lostov nodded and began to explain the problems he and his partner were facing.
"The initial number of our troops is 40,000. According to our informant, the royal army is at least 70,000. One month ago, they started a provocation and sent a number of his soldiers to fight us.
"Usually they sent at least a hundred and at most 300 cavalry. Of course we do not stay silent and send 1000 troops consisting of 700 infantry and 300 cavalry.
"But every time this little battle began, the kingdom of Heinz always benefited. Their cavalry is terrible! 300 Of them are enough to destroy 1000 of our people.
"At the end of the day, our food stocks are dwindling. So too with drugs. The Priests tasked with healing the wounded soldiers were already exhausted and were beginning to run out of mana. We're in an unfavorable position."
Alexander Lostov ends his explanation. Mary who had been silent had finally begun to speak.
"70,000 royal soldiers? Is the information your informant brought in valid?"
"Sure Miss Petersburg. I dare to guarantee it."
Maria seemed to be thinking a little hard. He anticipated that the kingdom might conduct a disinformation operation on a spy sent by Alexander Lostov. But given that the kingdom dared to play so far, that was not the case.
Perhaps, the real purpose of the kingdom was to give a snapping power to the nobles. Deliberately divulging that their differences had nearly doubled, the kingdom thought that with it, the enemy would more quickly surrender without putting up a fight.
But since she had already come, Maria thought everything would be fine. Things have turned around. This time the number on his side grew.
With the coming of Mary, he would ensure that the kingdom could no longer play games like this. Seriously time.