chsdbacks #497 - Lacuno's analysis
#497 - Lacuno's analysis
"Give it up, Charles. There are protesting knights outside."
Lakunio closed the window of the turret and said earnestly to Prince Condé.
"What's there to fear? We haven't raised enough money for the war yet. If we back down now, they'll think I'm scared," Prince Condé scoffed dismissively.
Listening to the rising and falling shouts outside the window, Lakunio shook his head.
He knew that with Charles' personality, no amount of persuasion would work.
He didn't waste his effort and continued the previous topic in the small study: "Our focus next, besides military funds, is the southern Kashya County."
"Kashya County has built a lot of castles recently. It would have made sense to attack at the beginning of the year, but it's already October. What's the point of attacking now?" Prince Condé had also done a lot of research on the situation in Kashya County.
"Shut up and listen to my analysis."
Lakunio wasn't someone with a good temper. Being interrupted repeatedly, he also became annoyed.
Especially on such crucial matters, having been a commander for so many years, he naturally had a certain authority.
Prince Condé choked for a moment and sullenly closed his mouth.
"Your lancer system of providing food is a bit crude, but since it's done, it's done. After all, it can quickly raise military funds.
As long as we can win, these are all minor details. The problem is, how can we win?"
"I'll attack the north, the Osla family's army will attack the south, and then we'll improvise," Prince Condé said without thinking, which was his usual approach.
When the Pope was alive, whenever he needed to take action, the Pope would propose the goal, Prince Condé would propose the ideas, Mizam would propose the plans, and then they would cooperate with the local army.
Now that Mizam and the Pope were dead, there were problems with strategy and implementation, leaving only Prince Condé's tactics.
"The general direction is correct, but the details are a complete mess," Lakunio shook his head helplessly and took out a map from behind him.
He knew that Prince Condé had risen from humble beginnings and hadn't received much education as a child, always being trained as a brave general.
If you asked Prince Condé how to charge in battle, how to control the speed of the march, or how to detect the enemy's intentions, he would be an expert.
But if you asked him about grand strategy, he could only babble like he was doing now.
"Currently, the main rebel forces in Thousand River Valley are divided into two groups: the Horn Salvation Army in the south and the Duchess Moirai's army in the north.
The northern Moirai has been operating for a long time and has almost no internal loopholes, making it difficult to divide them. It is correct that they are the main enemy, you did guess that correctly."
But your act of actively attacking them may not necessarily be correct.
However, Lakunio didn't say the second half of the sentence. Prince Condé was stubborn and couldn't be easily changed.
Based on the premise that the north must be attacked, Lakunio had roughly figured out the next plan after a month of investigation and planning.
"Since the north must be attacked, we need to think about how to suppress the uncertainty in the south. We need them to become internally chaotic.
The southern Salvation Army seems monolithic, but it is actually composed of four parts: Rapid Stream City merchants and citizens, Great Marsh Township Salvation Army headquarters, Golden River Township Kush Knights, and Kashya County Bragho Monastery.
They are basically the strongholds of the Huannuo and Saintly Path factions.
The biggest difference between the Huannuo and Saintly Path factions, who came from the same origin, is their attitude towards nobles and land.
The Huannuo faction advocates [Public ownership of church property, fixed tax without increase], which means that the church's land should be owned by the public, and a fixed tax should be collected per acre of land, with the specific amount negotiated by the church with the people and the lords.
The Saintly Path faction is more radical, implementing [Direct management by the Holy Father, nobles are useless], which means depriving all religious and secular nobles of their status and power.
In other words, if a knight converts to the Huannuo faction, although he loses some land, he can still retain his knighthood.
But if a knight converts to the Saintly Path faction, he will lose his knighthood and can only retain some of the land. If he resists, he may even be arrested and hanged.
The first three have all been tempered in war, making it difficult for us to divide them, but the Bragho Monastery is different. It is the only one that united peacefully.
The Shadowless Ones have investigated and found that the Bragho Monastery's attitude towards the Salvation Army and the church is somewhat ambiguous. To be precise, the Salvation Army's large-scale land distribution has scared them.
The Bragho Monastery is a monastic system, and there are also some Huannuo faction religious nobles within it, not to mention the secular nobles.
Their main goal is to break the invisible upper limit of promotion within the existing system, not to break the existing system.
After the Battle of Rapid Stream City, the Salvation Army became powerful, carrying the momentum of two victories, and even sent troops to garrison Little Pond City, an important city in Kashya County.
For their own safety, they allowed Dean Ludwig to visit the Salvation Army, trying to consolidate the alliance.
That Horn, who came from a farmer's background, is a rare genius. If he hadn't rebelled and had chosen to join the church, he might have even become a cardinal... What a pity... Oh, how did I get off topic...
That Horn is now summoning Dean Ludwig, and I think he probably saw this point.
I think with the one-system-per-region he implemented in the Salvation Army's territory, and his methods against the Kush Knights, he should come up with a one-army-three-system to temporarily appease the Bragho Monastery.
It's not that it will be too late then, but it will be much more difficult then."
Prince Condé sat on the armchair, his eyes as clear as an elementary school student's: "Huh?"
Lakunio took a deep breath and touched below his nose: "Do you know what to do?"
"Win over Kashya County," Prince Condé savored the words for a moment and still gave an answer. He wasn't stupid, he just couldn't see the big picture, "But what can we offer to win them over?"
"Satisfy their Huannuo faction's demands? Rehabilitate the Huannuo, allow Kashya County to have public ownership of church property, and exempt them from taxes. Isn't that easy to think of?" Lakunio casually rattled off a bunch of things.
"Won't that anger the church?"
"The reason you maintained your relationship with the church in the past was because you were afraid of becoming a target, reminding other nobles of your former royal identity and targeting you.
The Leia Civil War has already split the church, splitting military and financial power, greatly reducing its power.
The other nobles are trapped in the civil war, and you have the Osla family as your backer. Why do you still need to be on good terms with the church?
Mizam was somewhat useful, somehow getting Duke Omes to support you, but that old thing isn't one to suffer losses, he must have had some conditions attached.
Anyway, whatever the conditions are, just give him as much as he wants."
As Prince Condé nodded pretentiously, Lakunio held out two fingers:
"You just need to do two things.
First, marry into the Osla family and take the opportunity to establish an alliance.
Second, send out all the witchers and Shadowless Ones, using both soft and hard tactics, and tell them that we are willing to give them autonomy, taxes, armies...
Everything will be managed by themselves, and swear not to use troops on the land of Kashya County. The Salvation Army cannot offer such conditions.
The only requirement is to remain neutral in the war and grant us military passage..."
"And then we take the opportunity to destroy them?" Prince Condé asked with great interest.
"As a king, your words must be consistent," Lakunio glared, "That's how your words have influence. Passage is passage."
Prince Condé stretched his philtrum and nodded blankly.
This kid, after leaving home for half his life, how come he still looks like he did at birth? Lakunio rubbed his forehead:
"We don't expect Kashya County to surrender immediately, but as long as it's in chaos, the Salvation Army's bandit defense line will suddenly double, and we may even have the opportunity to contact the Kush Knights."
Picking up a charcoal stone, Lakunio drew a black line along the Ibe River:
"At that time, the Salvation Army will lose the ability to attack and can only defend. If the south can't move, the battle in the north will be easier."