MM Racing Chapter 79 Risangor's Foolish Decision
Chapter 79 Risangor's Foolish Decision
Inside the White Legion's camp, Tiberius and Jules were working on a sand table, planning the possible routes of the Valantis' advance, while Vito sat nearby, idly wiping his crossbow with a blade of grass in his mouth.
"Something's not right, something's very wrong..." Jules frowned, placing a small figure on a ferry crossing on the east side of the River of Controversy. "...That General Mitrista, he's having it way too easy!"
"Broken Sword Fortress, this is a very, very important crossing point in the middle reaches of the River of Controversy!" he said, frowning. "From here downstream, we can join forces with our navy, one moving down the river and the other moving upstream from the estuary. We can eliminate the Valantis' strongholds in the lower reaches of the River of Controversy one by one. Alternatively, simply holding this position is also a good option. By using the river to transport food, we can force the Valantis to launch an attack on this place. This will inevitably force them to divert troops from other areas to besiege it. At that point, the initiative will be in our hands..."
"So, Uncle, how could General Mitristar capture such an important crossing point with such ease?" Tiberius asked, looking at the reports from the front lines and the "Battle Report from Headquarters" from the Three Daughters Kingdom.
"...Our army will advance steadily based on our current victories, consolidating the entire eastern corridor from fifty miles north of Broken Sword Fortress to the Weeping River, a tributary of the disputed river to the south. The General Headquarters, under the wise and great General Mithridates, is planning the next phase of the offensive, targeting the core stronghold of the Valantis in the disputed territory. All units must maintain high morale and be ready to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy! The dawn of victory is breaking; glory belongs to every warrior of the Three Daughters Kingdom who fights! Our legions advance unimpeded, unimpeded..." Tiberius chanted.
"Don't believe that stuff, Tiberius," Vito said lazily. "The army is a place where good news is reported and bad news is not. Generals and nobles will try their best to hide news of defeats, but if it's a victory, they want every soldier, even the lowest slave, to know. So my advice is, don't look at these battle reports, or treat them as some kind of specially made collection of jokes."
[Good grief, so they're already popping champagne before they've even won!] Tiberius thought to himself.
Lisanro Luojiaer rushed in excitedly, his face showing a mixture of excitement and unease.
"Tiberius! Good news!" Lisanro's voice broke the silence in the tent.
Tiberius looked up, but before he could ask what the good news was, Lisanro's next words struck him like a thunderbolt.
"My father! Governor Lisanzhuo, he's coming to the front lines in person! He'll be there soon!"
"What?!" Tiberius abruptly straightened up, the wooden puppet representing the Valantis cavalry in his hand falling to the sand table with a "thud." He could barely contain his rage, his teeth grinding together as he forced out the words: "Lisandro! Say that again? Your old man Lisandro... wants to go to the battlefield himself? Has he been spending too much time in the warm palaces of Ries, letting slave girls and gold coins seduce him into madness?! This is a contested land! Not some damn noble hunting ground!"
Seeing Tiberius's face turn ashen and his eyes practically spitting fire, Lisanro was startled and quickly waved his hands, explaining, "Don't be angry! Tiberius, let me finish! My father isn't here to command the battle! He's here as a war ambassador, representing the Governor's Council of Ries, to... well, mainly to inspect the areas east of the Controversial River that we just occupied, to assess the situation and stabilize morale!"
He paused, seemingly feeling that this reason wasn't convincing enough, and quickly added a "real" benefit, blinking as he said, "Oh, right! This time he brought the latest batch of top-priority supplies! Weapons, armor, medicine, food! All the best! And..."
He lowered his voice, a hint of smugness in it: "My father said that this batch of materials will be prioritized for our White Legion and Lightning Regiment!"
"Well, I really should thank him!" Tiberius roared inwardly, practically cursing Lisandro. "Who wants his resources? I just want to lie low, why is that so hard?"
After Lisanro left, Vito placed the cleaned crossbow beside him, snorted coldly, and his face was full of mockery:
"Latest batch of supplies? Priority supply?" He spat. "Easier said than done! I bet the situation on the front lines is getting tense, and they've remembered us 'elite' troops who've been stuck in the second line. They're thinking of giving us a little something, feeding us well, and then quickly sending us to fill the gaps on the front lines as cannon fodder!"
He looked at Tiberius, his eyes sharp: "Kid, don't let those supplies fool you. Lisandro coming here personally at this time, with 'generous gifts,' he's definitely up to no good! These governors and wealthy merchants, every single one of them, are shrewd enough to talk a better game than any opera singer from Risso!"
Before Tiberius could process Vito's warning, Lisanro returned, looking somewhat embarrassed and troubled.
"Tiberius... there's one more thing I forgot to mention." He rubbed his hands together, somewhat avoiding Tiberius's eyes. "Regarding my father's safety... he... he wants the 'Lightning Corps' to be responsible for his security during this inspection."
Tiberius's unease intensified. He suppressed his anger and asked as calmly as possible, "Oh? Just my 'Lightning Legion'? What about my uncle Jules's cavalry? What about the core mercenaries of the White Legion? And your father's guards? Wouldn't it be safer with them protecting you?"
Lisanro's expression became even more awkward. He helplessly spread his hands: "Ahem... this... Gasto Ferrero, he proposed at the Governor's Council that Commander Jule's 'White Legion' is one of the few mobile field forces in the disputed colonies of Ries that has maintained its complete structure. It should not be easily mobilized and should be ready at any time to deal with the main offensive of the Valantis."
He lowered his voice: "To put it bluntly, we want to exclude Uncle Jules from this operation and don't want him to get too close to my father."
"As for the armed slaves, my father thought they weren't strong enough after watching that bloody battle, and that the Lightning Squad was more reliable..."
Tiberius nearly slammed his fist on the table upon hearing this. Veins throbbed on his forehead, and he took several deep breaths to suppress his rage. His voice was hoarse from the pressure: "First of all, the White Legion is a mercenary group hired by your father, not one funded by the city government of Ries! Because of those damned political schemes, your father's safety on the front lines of the Valantis war depends solely on my 'Lightning Legion'? We only have a little over three hundred men at most! And most of them are infantry!"
"Secondly, even if those servants are useless, they are still human beings! They are loyal guards to your Rogal family. Don't tell me your family can't even find fifty people willing to die for your father? What was your father thinking?"
Lisangluo also felt that the order was unreasonable, but he was powerless to change it, so he could only say with a bitter face, "I can't do anything about it... but now I can only rely on you and the 'Lightning Squad'. After all, the 'Lightning Squad' is nominally my team, even though we have a cooperative relationship with the 'White Legion'!" He emphasized this point.
"Although the highest command is in Uncle Le's hands, the specific tasks... well, now the guard duty can only be handed over to the 'Lightning Squad'."
Seeing Tiberius's dark and almost gloomy face, he quickly added, "But don't worry, I won't let my father go to the front lines. We'll stay at Broken Sword Keep for three or four days, and he'll be back after completing the mission of comforting and observing assigned to him by Governor Bambaro of Ries!"
Tiberius looked at the equally helpless Lisanro before him, knowing that complaining was useless. He could only grit his teeth and begin to think about how to use these three hundred-odd people to ensure Lisanro's safety and... their own survival on the perilous front line.