Chapter 1698: Chapter 104: The Era of Exhausting Soldiers and Wars
Time flies, and in a blink, three years have passed.
The Alpha Kingdom’s strategy of relocating citizens to settle the frontier has sparked a chain reaction in politics, catching everyone by surprise.
The relationship between the two major human powers has eased, greatly promoting internal unity within the Alliance, and there have been no disputes in recent years.
Seeing the internal conflicts among the human race ease, the Alien Camp has also been influenced, with different races continually strengthening their communication.
Anyone with a bit of political acumen knows this is the calm before the storm.
Based on past experiences, the more harmonious the internal relations of the two camps, the higher the chance of a continental war breaking out.
Feeling the pressure, all parties have been taking actions continuously, with the wave of reforms rising higher and higher.
The Conservative Faction, governing the Alpha Kingdom, has been exceptionally focused, implementing the migration and frontier settlement strategy over the past three years.
Nearly 3.5 million young adults have been gradually conscripted to head to the front lines to clear land and guard the borders.
As the Front-line Commander, Hudson’s power during this phase has significantly increased.
However, as Commander in Chief, he remains very low-key, rarely showing up apart from important military meetings.
The management of the serfs directly involved in frontier settlements has been entirely handed over to the local noble lords.
The responsibility of the serfs falls on their owners. If any trouble arises, Hudson only holds the serf owners and local lords accountable.
With responsibilities laid on individuals, naturally the land remains peaceful. Whether or not problems are being covered up is unknown, but at least nothing has escalated to Hudson’s level.
During busy times, they farm; during leisure, they train, which is the life of these reservist soldiers.
The results are very apparent. With everyone’s collective efforts, the relocated young adults have achieved self-sufficiency in grain production.
Compared to when they first arrived, these young adults are evidently more robust, indicating that life has been quite good over these three years.
To appease the people, the food standards for the frontier serfs have been raised by a level compared to before.
During reservist training, all soldiers receive an additional 0.2 pounds of dried fish every other day as a meat supplement.
If lucky, they might even get a bowl of meat soup.
In the feudal era, this was almost the limit of what logistics could handle.
If not for the Kingdom’s long coastline with many natural fishing grounds, such treatment would be a mere fantasy.
It’s evident that the Kingdom Aristocrats are serious about the issue of vanquishing the orcs.
“The frontier duty for those earliest serfs is about to expire after three years, notify the governors of each province to arrange for their rotation!”
Gazing at the newly opened farmland, Hudson directly ordered.
The gathering of numerous young adults has propelled the frontier regions’ development but also brought many issues.
The biggest problem is the severe gender imbalance.
Were it not for the military-style management preventing interaction with local residents, unknown troubles could have arisen.
Relying on military discipline as a deterrent also has its limits.
The best option would be to bring their families, but that’s impossible.
Three and a half million families equate to tens of millions of people. Such a large-scale migration is a tremendous pressure for all sides.
Moreover, the rear also requires labor; one cannot deplete the homeland just for the front lines.
If that were done, the old nobility might suspect it’s a scheme by the emerging aristocrats to undermine them.
In such a context, the three-year rotation plan becomes the best solution.
Though it’s a hassle to repeatedly switch places, it calms the military’s morale while strengthening the forces at the rear.
A significant reason everyone is willing to fully cooperate is that as reservists, they can receive training from Hudson.
The soldiers trained by Lord Ha are recognized throughout the Kingdom for their superior combat abilities. Even if others try to copy it, they cannot perfectly replicate it.
While formulating the strategy to annihilate the Orc Empire, the Kingdom’s top brass also considered possible external interferences.
After considering various factors comprehensively, everyone felt relying on outsiders was less reliable than depending on themselves, and ultimately decided to enhance the Kingdom’s military strength.
The increase in agricultural yields, coupled with vast expanses of sparsely populated land available for cultivation, provided everyone with the confidence to bolster the military.
Once the plan was made, the responsibility of its implementation once again fell on Hudson’s shoulders.
According to the plan, every young adult nationwide would need to spend time on the front lines to receive comprehensive infantry training.
Theoretically, after completing this strategy, the Alpha Kingdom’s war potential would be maximized.
Facing the entire Alien Coalition might be unrealistic, but the enemies aren’t unified, and can’t fully intervene at the outbreak of the war.
By the time the enemy makes up their mind, they’d still need to cross a few small vassals’ territories to intervene.
In the short term, the only Different Races capable of immediate intervention are the Ancient Heritage Alliance, already weakened by Hudson, whom the Royal Family can hold off with half their strength.
Hudson assessed that in the first six months of a major war outbreak, the Kingdom’s primary enemy would only be the orcs.
Even if interventionist forces arrive, these well-trained Tuntian Soldiers can defend the cities and hold out for a while.
In the worst-case scenario, the Kingdom still has a year to deal with the orcs.
Annihilating the Orc Empire might not be possible, but crippling the orcs is within grasp.
If it can’t be resolved in one go, then trying multiple times is worthwhile. As long as the Kingdom’s territory keeps expanding, the Orc Empire will inevitably be annexed someday.