Chapter 87: 6 Months After The Maldenberg War

Victor had now been taken over by Conrad for 7 years now. In the last 6 months, the Grand Duchy of Luxenberg was able to maintain peaceful relations with the Fontaine faction, despite the strain the 2 rulers had on their relationship. Both sides we aware that starting another war so soon would be bad for them. 

When the Fontaines left Archenshien, Victor, Marshal Bessières and Field Marshal Schwarzenberg returned to Hannover 4 months later. When arriving in Hannover, Victor was welcomed as an emperor. An enormous and bustling crowd had not only filled the streets of his capital but had formed along the Luxen Road for at least a kilometre.

Frolocking ladies gave flowers to some of the soldiers as they marched into the city. Military musicians played their tune in the background, welcoming their comrades home. The returning soldiers enjoyed their warm welcome home and proceeded to seek out their loved ones.

As for Victor when he returned to the Luxenberg Palace he was greeted by the 225 French Imperial Guard soldiers he had left to defend his family. They presented their arms and performed a salute to their ruler. Victor waltzed down the path to the entrance of the palace. 

Inside the lobby, he was greeted by his loving wife Clarisse, his 3-year-old son, Anton and his 1-year-old son Henri, as well as his sister, Veronica. The sight of his family almost brought Victor to tears. He hated being away from his family for long stretches of time. During the war, Victor had yet again missed out on both his children's birthdays.

His children were growing too quickly for his liking. Henri was beginning to learn to walk and Anton was already beginning to talk in sentences crudely. Victor knew that as a ruler, he would have to make sacrifices in his personal life to ensure that he could diligently govern his Grand Duchy. At the same time though, he wished to be a good father to his children.

Regardless of the mountain of work that awaited Victor, he spent his first few days home bonding with Anton and Henri. While doing that he was able to spend time with his wife and sister who were equally as important to him.

Resuming his duties as a ruler, Victor was now coordinating the deployment of his troops with the newest commander of the Luxenberg army, Field Marshal Schwarzenberg. They had a lot of work to do after the conclusion of the Maldenberg war.

The most important task was properly stationing soldiers where they were needed. Due to the tense relationship with the Fontaine faction, Victor emphasised stationing soldiers at cities that were near the borders. In total, there were 4 cities that needed their garrison reinforced. Bourbon, Vrague, Kreighelm and Jenkas. 

Bourbon and Vrague bordered the recently conquered cities of Inglefeller and Konitz. South of the Fontaine faction's border were Jenkas and Kreighelm, they were threatened by the Dukedoms of Godert and Hirschmann. Both Dukedoms could be considered weak by themselves but could prove to be serious threats that acted as staging grounds for Fontaine invasions.

General Hill still had his corps stationed at Bourbon which made life easier for the pair of men. General Rapp's corps at Gamburg would be split in half. Rapp would stay with one half of the corps, while General Kamensky would leave the other half to Vrague.

General Bertrand and his corps held a good defendable city like Jenkas so they were fine. The only issue was Kreighelm. General Bülow and his corps would hold the city but the issue was that 2 of the 5 bridges of The Hessen River were built in the region. 

The pair of bridges in the Kreighelm territory were widely apart and separated by a light forest. If a full Fontaine invasion force descended on Kreighelm they could stretch Bülow forces in half and use their overwhelming numbers to defeat a fraction of the Luxenberg army and put a lighter defended city like Leblanc at risk and potentially move towards Hannover.

Marshal Bessières suggested building small fortresses near the 2 bridges. It was a practical idea and gave the Luxenberg soldiers a better defensive position but Field Marshal Schwarzenberg advised against it. Any major troop movements or construction projects near the border could spark suspicion and cause conflict.

Victor thought about using the system to summon soldiers, he had 50,000 Store Points he had been saving, yet that could not buy him a lot of soldiers. In total, he could buy 1,000 infantrymen using that amount. 1,000 infantrymen would not help sway the course of a major battle so Victor had to think more strategically. 

Forced conscription and mercenaries were not viable options for Victor, most likely he would have to wait and let his army grow naturally. All he could do was ensure that his troops were trained to the best of their abilities.

Victor was trying to brainstorm ideas that could help develop his military further. Unfortunately, he was unable to come up with any viable option. Searching for inspiration, Victor turned to the overview tab and looked at 3 statistics.

'Army Size: 180,000 Infantrymen, 24,000 Cavalrymen, 600 Cannons'

'Personal Army Size: 2,225 Infantrymen, 420 Cavalrymen'

'Fleet Size: 1 Flagship, 10 Ships Of The Line'

With the addition of the 20,000 summoned infantrymen and the stabilising of the newly conquered regions, Victor was able to get his military to return to its original size before the war with the Maldenberg Family.

Victor could revive 4th corpse with the influx of new soldiers. Placed at the head of this corps, Victor had 3 talented commanders to choose from, Gimborn, Kamensky and Vandamme. Each were capable of leading a corps but in the end, Victor knew that Vandamme was the only option. He was arguably the best commander out of the bunch.

Marshal Soult was always an option but given his new status as a noble Victor thought it would be improper to draft him to be a commander . He should only focus on restoring Archenshien and making it flourish under his rule.

Setting the military matter aside there was an issue that Victor was trying to wrap his brain around. When he returned home to Hannover, Victor was made aware of a troubling situation by the officer in charge of the French Imperial Guard stationed to protect his family.

"Veronica is doing what?!"