359 Negligence
At a military camp of the federation army.
"General! We have lost all contacts with our periodical reports! I believe marching now will end in a disaster!"
One of the officers there plead to a man adorned with a splendid beard.
"The plan has been set in motion. There shall be no interruption. We are pressing on. We have agents that will open the kingdom's gate from the inside for us. There is no change to the plan. There are no obstructions. We have received the reports. We shall march on unimpeded."
The officer had a pensive look before saluting, 'Sir!', and went back to his seat.
"There is no turning back. The federation has come to the end of its tether. A big wave of change is needed. In order to survive. Even if it means throwing our lives away as sacrificial pawns, if that is what's best for our country. Succeeding here would still be most preferable however..."
The general in charge of the army muttered under his breath.
The federation is rotten. Rotting at the upper echelons. It's a union of many country states but the wealth is heavily concentrated in only three states, so much so the economy is barely functioning.
Those three states hoard so much wealth the poor don't get any while the rich live affluently.
This results in people fleeing poor states, accelerating the rot further.
You can't live without money. Therefore people go to where the money is. Thus young people go to big main cities.
But prices of commodities are high in such places, leaving those people no way to save.
Thus the rot kept accelerating. The main cities keep getting new people, they're bursting at the seams.
Hence how this plan came into being in order to reduce those people as disposables.
All is good if they succeeded in invading the kingdom. No problem either if the plan failed and the conscripted men died off.
Even the money that circulates in preparation for this war creates a temporary boom for the economy. The rich can also come up with a special tax under the pretext of 'war'.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
The rich only thinks of themselves while the politicians see their country and people as nothing more than money-making resources.
To them, people are statistics, they can't have too many or too few.
Their MO is all about profiting and exploiting off the populace.
Thus the federation is gradually headed toward its collapse over many years.
The army is 20,000 strong of mish-mashed men. Nevertheless it's a not insignificant number. It's large enough to sufficiently cause damage.
They also have covert operatives among the enemy ranks, from double agents to regular soldiers, lurking and awaiting their chances to sow chaos when this army gets close to the kingdom.
The plan is to take over the kingdom whole. They are to invade the royal castle amid the confusion before quickly capturing and publicly executing the royalty.
Part of the strategy is to spread the royal knights thin before they grind them to dust one by one.
(Such a crude plan... concocted by armchair analysts who know not wars. Those officials and secretaries hanging around the chairmen may have good heads on their shoulders. But all they do is looking down on others, none sees the reality.)
The general was about to grumble but knew better as doing that wouldn't change the situation. Hence he shut up.
(All that's left for me is to carry out my order and die in the line of duty. Besides, as things are now...)
His years of experience in battlefield has told the general. This plan is doomed to fail.
They're nearing the kingdom's gate. It's still closed even now.
The lurking agents should have opened it already by now. They have been acting there for years, having gained trust of the kingdom's officials.
"...It's not opening... That damnable Kuroin... He must have taken notice. But this is far from over."
The general never underestimated the kingdom's prime minister, but he couldn't help scowling at how easily his opponent saw through his longtime agents.
He had other operatives that should open the gate had the first plan failed.
Suppressing the gatekeepers through brute force and sheer number. Or so it should have been.
Yet the gate remained closed. There's not even a sound of battle happening behind it.
But then a lone man came out of the slightly opened gate.
He slowly made his way toward the federation army.
The general's intuition was spot on. But even he never dreamed it would end like this.
"Name yourself..."
"Ah, I ain't gonna chase you lot down if you turn tail now. But if you insist on keeping on, I'mma make you regret ever being born in this world. Also, who cares about me. Ain't gonna change a thing, I'm your enemy."
The man's face was still hidden behind his hood as he unilaterally said that.
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