Dynasty: The Glorious Strategist (Dynasty Saga Book 3) (7 page)

“That is correct,” Alia nodded. “Sai,” she beckoned, signaling for her to explain further.

“What they need from us are supplies and a direct route to the capital,” Sai said. She reached down and started tracing her finger along the roads on the map. “Gon would like us to grant her and her troops military access through our lands as well as provide military and strategic support for their campaign.” Sai traced the most direct route from each dynasty showing how all but one of them went through Su Dynasty in order to get to the Capital.

Before the conquest of Bengui Dynasty this would not have been much of a problem. But for the past two years Su has been taking great advantage of having such a curtail trade rout pass through their newly acquired land. It was easy for many to get around if they were to so choose. Su was not so large to be that much of a hindrance, but for a large army going around could add weeks if not months to their march.

“We are to provide their coalition with supplies and any other support or equipment they may need for their campaign,” Sai finished leaning back and placing her hands on her hips.

“I can imagine there are worse things than helping them out,” Lymee mumbled.

“Or do we want to try and use this to get in the Empress’ good graces?” Alia suggested.

Lymee looked up at Alia narrowing her eyes. “That right there,” Lymee gestured at Alia with her finger. “That would be one of those worse things I was referring too. Your own mother rebelled against the Empress because of her utter misuse of power during the Long Drought.” Lymee looked at the others trying to get a read on their reactions. Keo seemed as blank and unreadable as ever and Sai was doing little to hide her reservations. That was good, Lymee thought. She would hate to think that they were both supportive of such an idea.

“That was the previous Empress,” Alia pointed out. “And the new Empress has done nothing directly against us for the past four years that she has held power.”

“Because she has been too busy exploiting her own people,” Lymee stated. “I saw some of the things she has been doing and I am sure I only saw the tip of the iceberg. Trust me when I say that the Empress in not someone we want to be in bed with.”

Lymee saw Keo crack a smile apparently finding Lymee choice of words amusing.

“I do trust you,” Alia smiled running her fingers through Kitsune’s fur. Then she stopped and looked up at Lymee with a calm but stern expression. “But the simple truth is that many lords are waiting to see what we do before they pick a side in this conflict. So we must think over every option that lays before us.”

Lymee frowned not sure why that would ever be the case. “Why us?” she asked, straightening her back and crossing her arms as she waited for Alia to explain.

“While many lords have buckled under the weight of the Empress,” Alia explained. “They still feel a sense of duty to following her. While others are simply not sure that the change that Gon and the other large Dynasties wish to enact is truly in their best interest.”

“It is likely that many lords think that Gon is simply using this situation to seize power for themselves,” Keo stated coldly. “To the point of maybe establishing their own puppet Empress allowing them to rule from the shadows. If not make themselves the new Empress outright.”

“You being one of those lords who think that I take it?” Lymee looked between Keo and Alia. Their lack of an answer was all the response Lymee needed.

“Su Dynasty has no allegiance to the Empress or any other Dynasty,” Keo stated instead. “So for Su Dynasty to pick one side over the other will go far in swaying the opinions of those lords still undecided in the matter.”

“Not to mention that many lords believe that we have the blessings of The Heavens themselves,” Alia added with a rather enthusiastic look at Lymee. “Even if they are unable to admit it publicly. To have the Gift from The Heavens take a side will add credibility to this rebellion or to the Empress.”

“Great, a holy war,” Lymee sighed crossing her arms. “Jesus Christ. Remember when I said I didn’t want to be some religious figure,” she half mumbled.

From the first day since she had arrived in this world people had thought her some sort of gift sent from The Heavens. Alia being the main one, but that might have faded into the background if it were not for a title that Alia had given her after winning the battle for Hu Province. Alia had said she was as crafty as a fox and a true gift from The Heavens and so she called her the Heavenly Fox.

Only the other Lords had taken the name seriously and thought she was in fact a fox sent from The Heavens themselves. The rumors about her spread like all false rumors do taking everything that had happened out of proportion and greatly exaggerating them.

Even when Lymee was all the way across the Kingdom she could still find people talking about the Heavenly Fox and how she had seduced her way in power and had personally slain entire armies with her magic, calling down storms and what not. She had even started to hear some talking about how she had managed to catch the assassin’s arrow right out of the sky.

“I fear there is little we can do about it now,” Alia stated. “For better or for worse the rumors of you have spread all across the Kingdom. I doubt there is any noble who has not heard of you. We simply need to figure out how to best use this situation to our advantage.”

“Sure,” Lymee nodded. “What would happen if we went the way of Switzerland and stayed neutral? Refused to side with one side or the other.”

“In all honesty,” Keo took a breath letting her arms fall to her sides. “Gon and the other Dynasties see this as a ‘for us or against us’ scenario. If we do not openly support them then they will assume that we are in league with the Empress. In which case-”

“The combined forces of Gon, Song, and Fu would wipe us out,” Sai finished with a determined look. “I doubt there is a strategist in the world who could beat their numbers with what we have.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Lymee said her eyes darting back and forth as she looked the map over.

Hannibal had decimated the Romans for years with a force about the size that Su possessed but Lymee did not think that she was anywhere close to Hannibal’s equal and did not wish to test it.

“But I see your point,” Lymee nodded. “And if we do chose to side with the Empress? Not saying I want too, but if we did,” Lymee clarified, holding out her hand to emphasize her point.

“More than likely,” Keo reached out tapping her finger on Hong Dynasty. Su’s neighbors and the Dynasty that stood between Su and the Empress. “Hong is, as far as we can tell, one of the undecided Dynasties. They are extremely loyal to the Empress but their Lord, like our own,” she glanced at Alia who simply smiled back, “is also an extremely devoted to The Heavens. If we sided with the Empress that would be all the reason they would need to do the same. In which case, if we were to petition them for aid they would no doubt send us reinforcements to help secure our borders.”

“And Su would become one huge battlefield,” Lymee said grasping the situation. “Destroying countless fields, burning forest and razing towns,” Lymee sighed rocking her jaw back and forth. “Win or lose we still lose.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Alia said.

Keo and Sai both nodded in agreement.

“Alright,” Lymee stated crossing her arms. “So our only option seems to be siding with this alliance that Gon has offered. That was kinda my first choice anyway.” Lymee looked up from the map at the others. “What can we really expect the ramifications of this to be?”

“Keo?” Alia looked up at Keo.

“In the long term,” Keo shook her head. “We cannot be completely sure. The motivations behind the other Dynasty Lords is too unclear to know what they plan to do after this. Nor do we know if this truly is an ‘in the moment’ act of Rebellion.”

“You think some of the lords have been planning this?” Alia asked not seeming to like the idea.

“It’s possible,” Keo nodded. “Lord Yung of Fu Dynasty is a crafty one I hear. Even if she did not plan this, I am sure that she is manipulating things to her advantage. While it was the Lord of Gon Dynasty that sent out this call for an alliance, I would not be surprised to learn that it was Lord Yung who put the idea in her head.”

“Then we had better play it close to our chest then,” Lymee stated thinking over all the different possibilities. Lymee opened her mouth ready to explain the idiom that she had used then realized that they had card games in this world.

“Agreed,” Alia nodded. “While we may be united in a common goal now, we must see everyone as potential future enemies.” 

“So then the question now is how much of our forces do we actually commit,” Lymee chewed on the inside of her mouth thinking it over. Turning to Sai she asked, “What’s our military strength at currently?”

“Approximately twenty five thousand troops in total, spanning all five provinces,” Sai reported. “As well as two thousand reserve troops.”

Lymee nodded in approval hearing that Sai had followed through on Lymee’s suggestion to build a reserve army. “And as far as our unique forces go?” Lymee asked.

“We have one hundred phalanx soldier currently being trained,” Sai said. “The idea being to work out the chinks of using such a formation before trying to implement it on a larger scale.”

“Understandable,” Lymee nodded.

“We also have roughly two hundred crossbows that have been manufactured and we are currently training our men to use them,” Sai continued. “We have also managed to construct four trebuchets however we have still been unable to get them to fire at the range that you talked about. Though the accuracy is astounding none the less. And given it only requires three people to man they are still of great benefit,” Sai added as if to say that Lymee had not been completely wrong.

Lymee let the implication slide focusing on more important things. “And what of siege towers?”

Alia shook her head as her hand stroked Kitsune who was still curled on her lap. “I thought it more advantageous to focus funds into developing the trebuchet. If we knock the wall down then there is no reason to climb over it.”

“Fair enough,” Lymee nodded. “But I almost wonder if it better to leave all of those things behind.”

Sai frowned. “Why? Those things give us an advantage that no one else has.”

“Or knows about,” Lymee pointed out. Keo nodded seeming to agree with what Lymee was suggesting. “As you stated before our forces are but peanuts compared to the army they are raising.”

“I never stated that,” Sai said under her breath. “I do not even know what a peanut is.”

“Our new toys aren’t going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things,” Lymee continued ignoring Sai grumblings. “The only thing it would accomplish is letting the other lords know what we have and allow them to possibly plan against it in the future. They are all potential enemies after all,” Lymee looked up at Alia as she said it. “We’re just there to show our support. Let the other Lords do the planning and actual fighting and hopefully all the dying as well.”

“Then how many men do you suggest we send?” Keo asked folding her hands across her stomach again.

Lymee bobbed her head as she thought it over. “Five, maybe ten thousand. Enough to show we are serious but not so much that we leave ourselves open to attack from other lords who may wish to use this time to their advantage and attack us. I know there are several lords that are chomping at the bit to take a bite out of us. I am assuming Gon wants us to march out as soon as winter is over. That should give us more than enough time to get ready.”

There was a pause as the three all shifted uncomfortably.

“It would seem,” Keo started throwing a glance at Alia. “Gon has already deployed their forces and they will be here in a matter of weeks.”

“Wait. What?” Lymee nearly choked on her word. “How could they have gotten so far without us noticing before now?”

“Quite simply,” Sai let out a shamed breath. “Because I was not watching for them. Once summer came to an end I did not think that any Dynasty would risk getting caught out during the winter and would not bother to make any kind of move against us. A mistake I now understand and fully regret.” She placed her fist on the table and bowed her head, her long ponytail flinging behind her a bit as she did so.

“It’s alright,” Alia assured. “None of us thought they would make any kind of move this late into the year.” She reached out a hand intending to place it on top of Sai’s but she was too far away to reach with her confined as she was to the wheelchair. Alia paused for a second and started to withdraw her hand but Sai quickly snatched it, squeezing it tightly as she gave Alia a warm smile in thanks.

“As such it would seem that Gon intends to have a winter campaign,” Keo stated.

“She fears that if she delays until spring that the Empress will have too much time to prepare or make a counter offensive of some kind,” Sai stated looking away from Alia and back to Lymee but she did not let go of Alia’s hand.

“Correct me if am wrong, but it gets very cold in those mountains during the winter,” Lymee said pointing to the large mountain range that dominated the area around the capital city. “Can our troops even survive a winter campaign?”

“It would be very easy for them not too,” Alia said bitterly, withdrawing her hand from Sai and placing it back in her lap. It would seem that she did not like this situation any more than Lymee did.