The Reckless March
One has to realize that going to war is no laughing matter.
According to the saying of the sages and war strategists, before the troops set off, food has to go ahead.
Only two days ago, Lucian Drake had ordered the army to move. Even procuring supplies for such a large force—food, water, siege engines—would take two to three days. Getting them over the harsh northern steppes would take another three to four days.
Aside from logistics, soldiers' morale also had to be attended to. Troops had to be trained, motivated, and accustomed to the terrain first before being set onto a battlefield. Only then would a general dare dream of unity and victory.
By every estimation, it should have taken a week or more to prepare.
And now. the word had arrived: the army had attacked already.
How pressing—and how reckless—was this attack?
The Ironforge Kingdom's Emperor strode back and forth in his war room, robes rippling like turbulent breezes. His forehead was creased, eyes flicking to the shaking messenger in front of him.
"Is this… indeed so?"
The messenger knelt low, voice tight with urgency.
"Your Majesty, it is entirely true. How could I possibly lie to you?"
The Emperor shut his eyes tightly, taking a deep breath, as if to harden his mind against the madness about to erupt. When he opened them, his voice boomed like a war bell.
"There is no time to linger. Call out an army of three hundred thousand at once! Every soldier, every general — prepare to annihilate our enemies completely!"
One of the hesitant generals approached, bowing low.
"Your Majesty… our army is scattered throughout the country. It will take three to four days to round them up. And by then, I fear it will be too late…"
The Emperor's bellow made the walls vibrate, his voice echoing across the hall.
"Then what other strategy do you have? The Drake Kingdom's army is already moving! Move now! If they reach the Capital City… all of your heads will roll!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" the generals cried out in awestricken unison, fleeing as if the air itself behind them would buckle.
And thus, the Ironforge army rushed, calling its dispersed units to it, against a force already on the move.
______________________________________
Far in the north, meanwhile, Aries—the new General of the Northern Defense—led at the front of 200,000 Drake Kingdom troops, sweeping forward like a tide of black across the plains.
The Ironforge border defenses were frighteningly thin. The majority of their 200,000-strong army had been laid deep within the Red Rock Iron Mine, so that this northern line was weak and unprepared. City after city fell like autumn leaves before Aries's advance. Supplies and manpower were not enough to make any significant resistance.
Triumph, swift and ruthless, marched in tandem with Aries's boldness.
Four cities had already been overrun by the end of the first day, driving the northern border of the Drake Kingdom fifty miles deeper into enemy land.
Aries gazed over the conquered territory, chest heaving and falling with measured enthusiasm. He addressed the soldiers at his back, voice resonating with zeal and command.
"Soldiers! Let us push forward! If we take fifteen cities in three days, our northern border will have moved two hundred miles! Glory is ours!"
"Yes, General!" the army bellowed back, their shouts rolling across the plains like a wave of black and silver standards.
But not everyone was as uncontrolled as Aries. One of his subordinate generals, exhausted from endless marching, doubt etched across his sun-faded face, stepped forward.
"General… we have been fighting night and day. The troops must rest. Furthermore, our supplies are behind. We move too swiftly at the risk of being overextended."
Aries permitted a cynical smile to form at his lips, the edges of his eyes wrinkling with mischief and determination.
"Certainly, it is a problem… but we have no alternative. The instructions are specific. Before we set out, His Majesty commanded that we attack as rapidly and as far as is feasible. No delay, no hesitation!"
The junior ducked his head, voice barely above a whisper, laced with alarm.
"General… if I may be so bold… is His Majesty not acting rashly? Who starts war in this way?"
Aries's smile gave way to a reflective sigh.
"I well know," he muttered to himself, more so than anyone. "But the order of the military is not to be questioned. Discipline must prevail."
He gripped his sword tightly, his eyes scanning the horizon where cities were laid in shambles and troops marched onward unrelentingly.
An old war commander of this caliber knew the price of being reckless. He knew each choice had repercussions—sometimes catastrophic. And in that awareness, Aries also knew something else: to succeed, one may have to endorse the tempest before it hit.
And the tempest… had already hit.