Chapter 59: Ruler Of The South

Duke Cassell's statement sent the whole room into silence. Lucious asking to be vassalized was a huge deal for the political landscape of the continent and a momentous step towards Victor's goal of becoming king. If the Cassell Dukedom were to join into Victor's dominion, the entire south of the continent would be under his rule. 

Victor remembered the previous family meeting they had after his wedding. He remembered his declaration to be king of the continent. His grandfather asking to become a vassal would mean that his territory would become a size on the scale of a small kingdom. Victor made an effort to give away a region from the Grand Duchy of Maximillian so that he could not have the means to create a kingdom out of impulse.

But now he could create a kingdom. The only issue in doing so would be the reaction of the rest of the continent. The 2 Grand Duchies had evenly formed factions with the other dukedoms. In truth, the power of each faction was equal to that of Victor's new domain.

What worried Victor was the thought of the 2 factions joining hands and going to war against him. Victor was already suspicious of the Grand Duchy of Maldenberg, they were a military powerhouse of the continent who in recent months had conquered the last remaining marquisate on Bulgar.

The Maldenberg family was notorious for always producing a skilled commander. Their family's military prowess was far renowned all over the Bulgar continent. Unluckily for Victor they now shared a border with such a threat. Thankfully a major river called, The Hessen River flowed from the eastern end of the continent to the western end, separating Victor new found domain from the rest of the continent.

From a defensive standpoint, the river served as a good place to repel enemy invaders due to the limited number of bridges throughout the territory. At the same time, however, it served as a risky way to cross over into enemy territory. 

While on the one hand, the Grand Duchy of Maldenberg was scary, the other pillar of the continent, the Grand Duchy of Fontaine was an elusive mystery. They had grown their domain through peaceful annexations, the regions they took were given through pledges of fealty, similar to what Duke Cassell has done.

Victor had no reason to refuse his grandfather's kind gesture, even if it meant throwing himself into the fiery gazes of the Maldenberg and Fontaine families. With a smile, Victor walked in front of his grandfather and lightly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course, I will accept you and your family as my vassal. I may not create a kingdom right away, but having you as my vassal now means we control a third of the continent." Victor said in a cherry tone.

The room erupted in cheers. Victor was now the sole power in the South and could be considered the newest of the 3 pillars. Everyone continued to drink and laugh and enjoy each other's company until they all retired to their bed chambers. 

A month went by after that dinner and that symbolised the 4th anniversary of Victor being taken over by Conrad. Life was great for the most part, minus the screaming newborn baby. By day Victor was busy trying to manage a total 7 cities and their villages, while at night Victor and Clarisse were trying to manage a crying Anton.

Clarisse was insistent on letting Anton sleep in their chambers with them. Victor was all for the idea at first but then Anton regularly began crying during the middle of the night. It was exhausting, he possessed the same spirit and energy as Victor, meaning he was loud and unrelenting. 

Some nights Victor resorted to sleeping in his study, so he could have peace and quiet. Apart from little Anton being loud everything else was great. Through the expertise of his commanders, the Luxenberg army was being drilled into a fully functioning war machine that could implement the Army Corp Organisational tactics.

Excluding garrisons and Victor's elite guard, the Luxenberg army was now at 160,000 infantrymen, 22,000 cavalrymen and 500 guns. After the war with the Maximillian family, a surplus of cannons with no crew proved to be wasteful. 

As a result, Victor sold off all his cannons to overseas buyers from the continent of Zandar. The constant feud between the 2 powers on that continent meant there was a market for selling extra cannons and war supplies.

The Luxenberg army was now composed of 5 corps. All corps consisted of 32,000 infantrymen, 4,400 cavalrymen and 100 guns. General Rapp was in command of the 1st Corp. General Bertrand was in command of the 2nd Corp. General Tauentzien was in command of the 3rd Corp. 

The last 2 corps were tricky to find commanders for, no one in Victor's territory had the skill or experience to lead a corp. Victor had assigned the most promising youths who had passed the officer's college to be staff at the disposal of the 3 generals. It would more than a decade for them to become adequate officers, let alone generals. 

There were some options to choose from to remedy the absence of commanders. The first option would be to assign both Marshal Soult and Marshal Bessières to the remaining corps and have key positions like the commander of the elite guard and the commander of the Luxenberg army. 

The next option would be to buy or earn more commander summons. Even if they are 3-star generals, many of them would be sufficient enough to take command of a corp. The Army Corp Organisational tactics revolutionized warfare during the Napoleonic Era, it became the standard of all militaries. The likes of Russia, Prussia and Austria were able to replicate it in the later years of Napoleon's reign.

Any general would be ideal, especially French generals. France definitely had some of the best commanders of the time in the Grand Armée. Napoleon, Davout, Lannes, Bertheir and Soult were good examples.

With the idea of more summons in mind, Victor checked the store. He remembered that a Legendary-Level Commander Summon cost 100,000 Store Points. It was an automatic 5-star commander but it was too expensive. 

Browsing the 20-item store there was 2 Medium-Level Commander Summons that were worth 25,000 Store Points each. It may have only guaranteed him a 3-star general but there was always the slight chance of a greater commander.

Instead of saving up for a guaranteed 5-star commander Victor used his 50,000 store points to recruit commanders. In his inventory, Victor redeemed the 2 yellow paper talismans that had a silhouette of a bicorn hat on them. 

With his fingers crossed Victor prayed for some amazing commanders.