I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 160 Two Foxes
As the floodwaters continued to surge forward, and with the Imperial Third Navy's warships launching a barrage of artillery fire against the enemy at sea, the soldiers of the Seventh Legion were inevitably swept away by the raging floodwaters and ultimately perished.

With the floodgates created by John's blasting spree that destroyed the entire Star Town, the surging floodwaters gradually subsided after about three hours.

At this time, the Third Navy had stopped in the shallow waters and used small transport boats to allow the Raiders land and sea combat troops on the warships to land and rendezvous with John's 1st Division. Together they were moving and burning the enemy corpses left on the ground to prevent them from rotting rapidly at high temperatures and causing the spread of plague, which would then infect their own soldiers.

"Squeak!"

"Marshal Bob, Major John Maslow, Battalion Commander of the 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Magic Division, 3rd Air Force Army of the Empire, reporting to you by order of support from the Imperial Military Affairs Department. May the glory of the Empire be with you!"

In the command room of the battlecruiser HMS Horst, part of the Imperial Third Naval Fleet, Bob Ariel, a burly and robust man in a dark blue Imperial Navy uniform, wearing an Imperial Navy cap and with graying temples, slowly turned around and gazed at him with his azure eyes. He was facing away from him.

At this moment, John was filled with a myriad of thoughts.

To be honest, before arriving in Faoken, he had imagined the scene of meeting the Third Fleet Admiral.

John envisioned this scene unfolding after he defeated the 1st and 3rd Orc Legions and the Allied 7th Legion, when the two sides would formally meet in Madfang City and agree to march into the Cocobia Rainforest to launch a final battle against the Allied forces.

At that time, having completed his plans to persuade or seize power from the two armies, he had enough confidence to directly attack the remaining two divisions of the enemy army and, through joint cooperation between the army and navy, take control of the Cocosbia rainforest.

This would allow them to seize control of the Crescent Strait, thus facilitating their response to the upcoming arrival of 241 Allied fleets and the enemy's Hellhound suicide puppet army, which had a significant advantage in ground warfare.

However, the sudden defeat of the 1st Division on the Tiemashan front forced him to bring forward his plans.

In addition to the subsequent unforeseen events, in order to ensure the complete annihilation of the Seventh Army without any unexpected incidents, he contacted Bob through Hawke and then called him for help.

This forced the Third Navy to abandon its current advantageous naval situation in the Aiken Sea and instead, with the help of the Demon Whale and Ian's magic, arrive at the Starry Sea at an unprecedented speed to support his ground battle.

From a tactical perspective, this joint sea-land operation was a success.

Strategically speaking, this voyage will result in the Third Navy completely relinquishing control of the Aiken waters, which it had previously gained through its superior firepower against the Crescent Fleet. This is undoubtedly a mistake.

After the Third Navy withdrew, the Crescent Fleet, which had been struggling under Admiral Bob's command, was able to catch its breath and begin resupplying.

It will likely be quite troublesome for the Third Navy to regain control of the sea areas it previously controlled.

John now only hopes that the other party won't hold a grudge against him because of this; otherwise, after losing this only reliable ally, it will be extremely difficult for him to seize victory in Faoken Bay.

"Major John Maslow, you did a very good job this time, no, very good, even perfect."

Just as John was feeling uneasy, Bob's calm voice slowly entered his ears, making him pause in surprise.

Seemingly sensing the guilt and unease in the excellent young officer before him, Bob smiled, a rare occurrence for him, and then looked earnestly at John and spoke:

"Although I don't know if Marshal Dormammu has mentioned me to you, to be honest, I rarely praise others, and I have never given anyone a perfect evaluation."

"But for your command ability to completely annihilate an enemy force that outnumbered our own by several times, relying solely on your own tactical skills, I think you deserve, no, you should deserve far more than this praise."

Bob spoke in a deep voice, recalling the battle report he had recently received from the communications department from the Iron Horse Mountain front. His gaze towards the young officer before him was immediately filled with admiration, and his tone softened considerably.

"Although this support operation was somewhat unexpected for me, and our military relinquished control of the Aiken Sea area as a result, in my opinion, the order to abandon the Aiken Sea area and provide support was indeed meaningful in light of the current outcome."

"So, there's no need to hold a grudge or be nervous. As someone personally recognized by Marshal Dormammu and an Imperial hero who turned the tide in the Battle of Horseshoe Territory, Major John, you can relax a bit."

"Because in my opinion, you do indeed qualify."

At this point, Bob stepped forward to stand in front of John, then smiled and patted the young man on the shoulder, saying with a touch of emotion:

"Moreover, compared to those so-called allies from the conservative party on the ground, we who come from the reform party are the real ones. So, Major John, you don't need to be so nervous, really."

"Yes, Marshal Bob."

Hearing the other person's frank and undisguised words, John immediately understood what they meant and smiled at them, going along with it.

Seeing this, Bob understood that the major had not misunderstood him, and his smile immediately became even wider. He then took the initiative to invite John to sit down and personally poured a cup of coffee for this true ally.

However, instead of inquiring about John's own casualties, he started chatting with him casually:

"By the way, Major John, speaking of which, how is Field Marshal Dormammu doing lately?"

"Marshal Dormammu is doing well, but due to being granted the title of Earl of Fellot and the duty of guarding the Lake of Walden, he has not had time to go to the capital. However, the Marshal has always been thinking of you and Duke Ostan."

John, without batting an eye, fabricated a story. He didn't know whether Dormammu truly missed Bob and Ostan, but that didn't stop him from saying a good word for his old superior to Marshal Bob, thus bridging the gap between them.

Anyway, the other party is unlikely to take such a trivial matter seriously and ask him what Dormammu specifically said about his concerns, right?

"Oh? He still thinks about me? That's quite surprising. I thought he was still resentful about me marrying Lia back then. I didn't expect him to have let it go!"

Upon hearing this, Bob raised an eyebrow in surprise, then turned to John, who was covered in cold sweat, and asked with interest:

"How did that old guy talk to you about me? Did he mention the time when we were both pursuing Leah, and he was the one who was ruthlessly rejected?"

"Uh, this..." Upon hearing this, John's expression involuntarily stiffened, and his heart was filled with regret.

No, brother, I was just being polite, why are you asking?

The game's lore only mentions that you two are comrades-in-arms; it never says that you and Dormammu are rivals in love.

If I had known earlier that you and that old geezer Dormammu were in such a complicated relationship, I wouldn't have said a word even if you killed me!
Also, is my mouth blessed? Why does it always seem to work for bad things but not good ones?
It's absolutely toxic!
At that moment, John felt like a hundred thousand alpacas were galloping through his mind, and he felt terrible.

"Hehe, judging from your expression, that old man probably didn't say anything good about me. But given his prideful nature, it makes sense."

"After all, he lost the battle for love because he couldn't bring himself to admit it, plus he had a gloomy personality and was far less attractive than me. This allowed me to win the heart of the beauty. It's normal for the loser to be unwilling to accept the fact of defeat, so I can completely understand."

Bob rubbed his chin with a smug look on his face.

Clearly, Bob was very proud of his past success in winning the heart of the Empire's infamous white-haired devil, and he even raised an eyebrow at John in a suggestive gesture.

He subtly hinted to the young imperial hero to flatter him, so that he could complete his act of showing off.

"..."

John dared not utter a word about criticizing his superior. He could only give the other man a wretched smile, implying that the humorous marshal should stop teasing him and that he didn't want to be berated by an enraged Dormammu after returning from his mission.

Seemingly sensing John's predicament, Bob, somewhat dejected at not receiving the expected flattery, took a sip of his coffee. After observing out of the corner of his eye that John had relaxed, he casually asked:

"By the way, Major John, speaking of which, how is Major General Tony of the 1st Division? Did he die in battle?"

"!"

Upon hearing this, John felt a chill run down his spine, and he almost jumped up instinctively.

At that moment, reminded by Bob, he finally realized what he had overlooked before the evacuation.

Those were Major General Tony and Colonel Max, whom he had locked up in a dark room after seizing power!

He completely forgot about the two of them when he evacuated Horseshoe City!

Ok?
Wait a minute, if these two are captured by the Allied forces, does that mean I can completely resolve the potential crisis that existed during the previous power grab?
After all, once the Allied forces captured these two men, they would likely claim, for the sake of appearances, that they had captured them in battle, and then use them to request the Empire to exchange for prisoners.

In addition, there was his own framing, and the subsequent testimony of the rest of the 1st Division and Bob.

Those two unfortunate souls could then legitimately transform from victims into incompetent losers.

In this way, it seems even more reasonable for Samuel to take over command of the 1st Division.
Given their status as defeated by the Allied forces, no matter how much these two try to clarify things, the Imperial Military Affairs Department will likely only see them as incompetent individuals deliberately framing themselves to absolve themselves of guilt.
Furthermore, if things go well, one could even take the opportunity to extort money from these two people and demand a considerable amount of compensation for emotional distress.
Haha, that was absolutely brilliant!
John, who had instantly regained his composure, was overjoyed, but he quickly suppressed his excitement and instead sighed helplessly at Bob:

"I dare not deceive the Marshal. In the battle with the Seventh Army Corps, the enemy used despicable assassination tactics against our army. Although I and four regimental commanders of the 1st Division were lucky enough to escape the enemy's assassination, Major General Tony and Colonel Max were taken hostage and captured by the enemy. They have been missing for many days now, and their fate is unknown."

"In order to complete the subsequent operations, Colonel Samuel of the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division had to take over command of the 1st Division in a time of crisis and cooperate with me to complete this battle with a huge disparity in strength."

Meeting Bob's ambiguous smile, John sighed with feigned sadness:
"Alas, I truly did not expect that Major General Tony and Colonel Max would be captured by the enemy so easily. Although I had warned them that the enemy might launch an assassination attempt against us, these two gentlemen did not heed my warning, which led to the current situation."

"But ultimately, it was my fault. If I had been more vigilant, I might have been able to thwart the Allied forces' scheme and save those two esteemed gentlemen."

"I see. That's a real pity. But Major John, you don't need to blame yourself too much. It's all because those Allied troops were too despicable. They actually carried out assassinations against our troops so openly. I will definitely write to the Political Department later and have them condemn those damned Allied troops!"

Bob spoke with a look of righteous indignation, as if he, a shrewd old man, had failed to see through John's deliberate act of feigned innocence.

But as their eyes met in mid-air, the undisguised smiles on the lips of the two foxes, one old and one young, made the truth self-evident.

After concluding that Tony and his companion were the losers in just a few words, they had a general understanding of John's power grab and knew that the other side had already prepared a way to clean up the mess.

Bob abandoned his idea of ​​advising this cunning little fox, and at the same time, he grew to appreciate the young man more and more, as both his strategy and personality suited him quite well.

Especially after recalling the suggestion that Duke Ostan had mentioned to him in Dormammu's letter, and witnessing John Maslow's talent firsthand, his already strong interest in John Maslow intensified at this moment.

However, he did not directly tell the other party the condition. After all, the battle in Faoken was not over yet, and it was too early to talk about trivial matters unrelated to the battlefield before truly achieving victory.

But this doesn't stop him from further considering the young man's talent to determine if he is qualified.

Thinking of this, Bob's eyes suddenly flickered, and the smile on his face slowly faded.

After taking a sip of his coffee, he asked John directly:
"John, what are your thoughts on the future direction of the Faoken front?"

Finally, seemingly feeling that his tone wasn't serious enough and might make the other person complacent, Bob thought for a moment and then added with a smile, his tone still calm, but carrying an undeniable air of authority:

"As the Third Fleet Admiral of the Empire, I would like to hear your specific insights. Therefore, please consider carefully before answering my question, Major John Maslow."

……

(End of this chapter)