Volume 1 - 121
Book 7: Chapter 122: It’s best if there wasn’t a direct confrontation
The Candra Empire’s daily morning court meeting, it had never been as quiet as it was now.
Since the emperor who was in charge of the meeting announced that the main topic would be how to deal with the Mero City situation, the entire hall fell into a strange silence. Not a single person said a thing and almost everyone tried to breathe as quietly as possible.
One could even hear the sound of a pin dropping in this situation.
Emperor Candra’s expression was dark as he looked at the faces of the ministers lined up in front of him, but he found that they all had their heads down. Not a single person had their head up as if they were about to speak.
After patiently waiting for a bit, the situation didn’t seem like it would change.
This made the flames of rage in Emperor Candra’s heart burn even stronger. He gave a strong snort and coldly said, “Very good, not a single one of you is willing to take the initiative? Then I’ll point you out. Marshal Sudman, the situation in Mero City is something your army headquarters is in charge of. Tell me, what is your army headquarters planning on doing?”
Marshal Sudman who was standing in the first row of ministers trembled before raising his head. He took a step forward and respectfully gave a bow to Emperor Candra before saying, “Your majesty, the army headquarters is still analyzing the situation in Mero City and there are no detailed plans currently.”
“Still analyzing the situation?” Emperor Candra gave a cold laugh, “Then you might as well say that you don’t have a method at all.”
Marshal Sudman’s lips twitched and he revealed a bitter smile that wasn’t easy to detect.
He wanted to say that he had no methods, but how could he say that in front of the emperor?
One of the empire’s important cities had been invaded and captured by enemies, so of course the army headquarters would be in charge of this.
However, the report from the frontlines had shocked everyone, they could even be considered at a loss as to what to do. Even Marshal Sudman wasn’t able to find a better method to solve this problem.
The reason was very simple, even an Arch Magus was defeated!
As the highest battle power that the Candra Empire army was most proud of, Arch Magi were the symbol of the Candra Empire’s strongest military force. It was the final card that the army headquarters depended on.
In a normal situation, the Candra Empire army wouldn’t even need to send out an Arch Magus and they would be able to dominate the enemy.
But this time they directly invited Arch Magus Laduca mainly because the enemy was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had two Arch Magi, which was rarely seen on the continent, so to be cautious, the army headquarters had invited Arch Magus Laduca. They hoped that they could take back Mero City as soon as possible to avoid important cities of the empire from falling into the hands of the enemies.
It had to be known that this was the first time this had happened in the recent decades.
Each day Mero City remained in the hands of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the more shame the Candra Empire army felt.
As for Arch Magus Ofalian, the army headquarters didn’t invite him to make a move. However, Arch Magus Ofalian had requested to participate on his own accord, so the army headquarters naturally wouldn’t reject him.
So that was why this time they sent out two Arch Magi at once, leading the most elite magicians squad under the army headquarters. It was to take back Mero City in one fell swoop and ensure that there weren’t any mistakes.
Everyone at the army headquarters believed that since two Arch Magi were participating, even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had powerful military magic machines, it was impossible for them to resist with their guards alone. Mero City would be easily taken back by them.
Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce dared to violate the unwritten rules of the continent, letting their company’s two Arch Magi join the Candra Empire invasion war, the Candra Empire wasn’t worried at all.
Moreover, it would have been a good thing for the Candra Empire.
Because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce violated this rule first, then the Candra Empire wouldn’t need to abide by it anymore. They could let the nine Arch Magi of their empire attack the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
At the same time, the Marlow Empire that had signed a secret agreement with the Candra Empire also had nine Arch Magi. Even the three Arch Magi in the Mana Magic Kingdom would have an excuse to move against the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
When the Candra Empire invaded the Rudson Kingdom, although they had suffered a heavy loss, because no Arch Magi had been involved, the Candra Empire was still filled with confidence.
If the Frestech Chamber of Commerce broke this rule, the two empires and the Mana Magic Kingdom could make a move and that would be the path of seeking their own destruction.
However……the facts had been a surprise to everyone.
The two Arch Magi had led the elite magicians squad to fight in Mero City, but they had actually been defeated. Not to mention taking Mero City back from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they hadn’t even been able to reach Mero City.
Moreover, it would have been fine if they had lost because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s two Arch Magi which included chairman Xu might have acted. But according to the report that the two Arch Magi had brought back, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s Arch Magi hadn’t even made a move. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t even send out a magician and had forced the two Arch Magi along with thirteen Great Magicians into a desperate situation.
If it wasn’t for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman Xu making a move to save them, including the two Arch Magi, they might not even have left corpses!
Everyone was shocked by this result.
They didn’t need magicians to force two Arch Magi and thirteen Great Magicians into a desperate situation? They could even kill them all?
This had completely subverted their general knowledge.
In the traditions of the Sines Continent, magicians were the key to deciding victory in a battle.
Whichever side had more magicians or high grade magicians would be the side with the absolute advantage on the battlefield.
This was something that had been confirmed countless times in the history of the Sines Continent and no one doubted this.
However, now the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had used solid facts to crush the concepts that everyone recognized.
Not only could Arch Magi be defeated, they could be defeated without even facing a single magician!
This fact had sent the Candra Empire army into a panic.
If they couldn’t even deal with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards with an Arch Magus, what would they do?
The Candra Empire army held countless strategic meetings to discuss a method of dealing with this, but the news that the two Arch Magi brought back had shocked everyone. They had fallen into chaos, so they hadn’t reached any conclusions in their meetings at all.
Marshal Sudman was the marshal of the Candra Empire army, but he also couldn’t do a thing.
He lived his life on the battlefield and had participated and commanded over a thousand large and small battles, but this was his first time encountering this situation.
Even the Arch Magi couldn’t be relied on, how were they supposed to fight this battle?
“Marshal Sudman, I’m asking you again.” The aloof emperor didn’t care about the bitterness in Marshal Sudman’s heart at all. Seeing that he was silent, he was filled with even more rage as he coldly asked, “Your army headquarters really doesn’t have a solution? If this is true, there’s no need for you as the marshal anymore and you can be replaced with anyone who has a solution.”
Hearing the final words of the emperor, everyone at the meeting was shocked. They looked up at the emperor and Marshal Sudman with shock.
Marshal Sudman was considered the war god of the Candra Empire army, he had a very high prestige in the army and the empire. If they lost a marshal like him at this time, it would definitely create a large disturbance in the empire.
Marshal Sudman was silent for a bit before giving a sigh. He bowed to the emperor and seriously said, “Your majesty, it isn’t that I’m struggling to keep my position, but at this time, I hope that your majesty can still give this old minister another chance. Let me continue as the marshal of the army and deal with this crisis.”
Emperor Candra gave a cold snort, but he still leaned back and his expression calmed a bit.
For the stability of the Candra Empire, naturally he couldn’t remove Marshal Sudman from his position. He only said this as a way to force Marshal Sudman into action.
“Then tell me, is there really no way to deal with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce? If we can’t even deal with them after they’ve seized Mero City, if they continue invading further into the empire and even come for Wimbledon City, what should we do?”
Marshal Sudman was silent for a bit before saying with a heavy voice, “Your majesty, with the current situation, we can only determine one thing. It’s that we should avoid direct confrontation with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards as much as possible.”
Hearing this, everyone at the meeting was in a bit of a panic.
The other ministers all exchanged astonished looks as they made it clear that they were scared by what Marshal Sudman had said.
The Lord Marshal actually said that we couldn’t directly engage the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards?
What a joke!
The empire had hundreds of thousands of troops and they had the best equipment and supply chains. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards added together had less than twenty thousand guards.
Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards had some powerful military magic machines, so what? Could it be that they could still face the Candra Empire’s elite army that was countless times bigger than them?
Emperor Candra wasn’t too surprised as he just asked, “If we can’t face them directly, how should we chase those fellows out of our empire’s territory?”
“Your majesty, what decides a war isn’t just direct conflict, it also includes many other things. In a direct conflict, there is a big disparity between the empire’s army and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards, but in other aspects, the empire is countless times better than a small Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Of course, to do this, it won’t just be with our army headquarters……”
As he said this, Marshal Sudman turned his head to look at the other ministers as his expression became much more solemn.
“Your majesty, during this special time, we must adopt some unusual methods.”
The other ministers all felt a chill fill their heart and all of them couldn’t help turning to look at Emperor Candra.
However, the emperor also looked over the ministers before giving a nod.
“What you said is very reasonable.”