The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

"Where did the enemy get so many muskets?"

Anjou's commander anxiously observed the battlefield situation. The dense barrage of fire from semi-automatic muskets and machine guns completely extinguished any thought Anjou might have of launching another attack.

Something's not right, something's really not right. You know, while the principle of a musket is simple, it's not an easy task to manufacture a standard musket and then improve upon it.

Leaving aside the many complicated procedures in between, the crucial gunpowder alone required constant trial and error.

Anjou also had its own Anjou muskets modified from captured muskets, but the enemy's muskets were clearly a major version ahead of Anjou's, not to mention that compared to the original muskets, it was like upgrading from a slingshot to a cannon.

Whether it's Doug, the capital, or even Anjou, which hasn't been involved with firearms for long, they all have their own firearm production lines. Among them, Anjou started the latest, but made the fastest progress. Alberto has even determined the direction of firearm improvement and is just waiting for mass production.

Moreover, Anjou has the strongest control over its own country, and there is already a concept of a production line within its borders.

However, some key components still need to be handcrafted by alchemists and old rune artisans, and the efficiency is far from that of an assembly line; it is still a combination of assembly line and ancient methods.

Even so, the production efficiency of the Kingdom of Anjou is already far ahead of that of the capital of Capet.

That's why the commander of Anjou was baffled that the entire Capet force could be equipped with the new muskets overnight.

Whether it was the intelligence from the scouts or the commander's own observations on the battlefield, the enemy was clearly not the main force; at most, they could only be considered a detachment.

In other words, the main force's equipment will only get better.

Although it's still unclear, the commander of Anjou has already noticed the gap in productivity.

There is a force that, with a production capacity far exceeding that of the capitals of Anjou and Capet, has directly transformed the Southwest Allied Army, which was originally being suppressed by Anjou, into one with equipment on par with Anjou.

"Don't rush, we have the advantage in terms of range."

The commander of Anjou was unsure whether he was reassuring himself or his advisors and knights.

That's true, but the spellcasters here can't pry open the turtle's shell with ranged magic alone.

The Capetian army only needs to defend now, because the Capetian mission is neither to achieve a great victory nor to annihilate the Anjou army. It is enough to hold off the Anjou army. In fact, as long as they do not suffer a crushing defeat, the Capetian army will have achieved its goal.

"But Commander, enemy reinforcements might arrive before ours."

The staff officer carefully tugged at the commander's sleeve and reminded him, "Commander, this is not a siege battle. In open field combat, the enemy's reinforcements are faster than ours."

Anjou's professional legion was indeed unparalleled, and had previously been crushing the Southwest Alliance of the Kingdom of Capet in both open field battles and skirmishes.

However, the total number of professionals will not change. Those who specialize in one type of magic cannot be considered true professionals; they are merely specialized soldiers.

Therefore, the professional legions responsible for a region are generally quite scattered, and their support speed is definitely not as fast as the enemy's model of several professionals leading a team. It's just that Cape didn't have an army that could hold out in open battle until teammates came to support them.

In reality, once the Anru army figured out the enemy's firepower limits, it was only a matter of time before they could break through the enemy's defenses.

Even if the enemy's main force comes, Anru's side is not necessarily unable to fight back. In fact, because the enemy's main force is coming, Anru's side can use more trump cards. The professional legion is not just a bunch of useless monsters.

However, the commander of Anjou remained calm. The events of today were too bizarre, and Anjou needed to go back and process the information they had received.

"Prepare to retreat."

Anjou sounded the horn, and despite the incomprehension of his soldiers and subordinates, the commander still chose to retreat.

Besides needing to digest new intelligence, the commanders of Anjou were mainly afraid of being hit by piecemeal tactics. After all, this was just an encounter battle, and the Anjou army had no solid camps, no terrain to take advantage of, and most importantly, no pre-arranged cooperation plan with other legions.

The cost of the two armies is completely different. Professionals are not monsters; they can be killed. Every one that dies is one less. If it becomes a war of attrition, even if you win, you will still lose.

Although it wasn't a major defeat, and the Anjou army even seemed poised to crush the enemy with their superior range, it was Anjou that initiated the attack and then withdrew.

Even though Anjou's casualty ratio looked better, and even though Anjou obtained intelligence on the enemy's new weapons and equipment, from both Capet's and Anjou's perspectives, Anjou's army lost this time.

However, Alberto did not reprimand the commander in his letter. Instead, he comforted him, saying, "You did a good job. Retreating was a wise choice. However, the initial attack was indeed too hasty. Suspend him for now and reinstate him after some time."

This was the first defeat against Capet's army, and this punishment was actually protecting the commander.

Alberto carefully examined the intelligence gathered from the front lines and the bards after sending the letter, while also scrutinizing the newly captured musket on the table.

Not only did the retreating commander encounter the Capetian army equipped with new muskets, but two other legions also clashed with the Capetian army. The results were not good; they could only be said to have not lost. What should have been an overwhelming victory turned into a hard-fought battle.

"This is a musket developed by white-collar workers."

Seeing Alberto's great interest in the muskets, Cassius began to explain: "It has always been the Gray and White Collars who supply the capital with muskets, which are then distributed by the capital to the Southwest Allied Army."

"But according to the intelligence we just received, the Gray Collars have not only started selling weapons to the capital, but have also started trading firearms directly with the Southwest. This is why Capet's Southwest Allied Army was able to replace all its firearms with new ones overnight."

Alberto didn't reply, but instead picked up the musket, opened the window, and fired a burst of bullets out.

"It's simply a work of art."

Alberto blew out the smoke from the muzzle while gently stroking the musket.

Cassius continued, “I obtained some information about the northern border of the Kingdom of Capet through some special means. In addition to selling muskets to the capital and the southwestern border, the governor of the Grey-White Territory even sold muskets and cannons to his enemy—another governor of the northern border, namely Doug Lars.”

"Were these the same kind of muskets sold to Doug?"

"No, they're a bit inferior, but Doug's side was the first to fight against muskets and the first to understand them. Their self-made muskets might be more advanced than ours. It's just that they can't integrate alchemists and craftsmen for large-scale production like we can, so they have to buy weapons from their enemies."

Hearing this, Alberto couldn't help but laugh and said, "They really are a pair, one willing to buy and the other willing to sell."

"Because gray-collar workers also have more advanced firearms."

Cassius seemed oblivious to the joke and continued explaining in a serious tone.

"Try to buy the muskets from the gray-collar workers, even if they're not the most advanced. If you really can't find any, then buy the muskets that Doug and his crew produce themselves. Don't worry about the funding; I'll make this my top priority."

Cassius nodded, then retreated back into the shadows.

"What a man with no sense of humor."

Alberto put down his musket and gently stroked a letter on the table.

To be honest, Alberto was now somewhat regretful. Although he didn't know how much his sarcasm had influenced the Gray Collars' direct involvement in Southwest affairs, judging from the governor's reply, his sarcasm had been far too successful.

The governor, who was in a gray-collar position, wrote only one simple sentence in his reply to Alberto: "You've overreached."