The morning after the sports meet, when Roland entered the reception hall, all the officials who had been waiting there stood up in unison.

"Sit down, everyone." He walked to the main seat, looked around, and said in a loud voice, "Presumably, you all know the reason I summoned you here—the war has begun!"

"This is not just a matter for the army. From this moment on, I require the managers of every institution in the kingdom, every department in the administrative office, to have a basic understanding of the war situation and trends, and actively play their roles to jointly respond to this expedition!" He said, word by word, "Since the establishment of Neverwinter City, you have certainly achieved remarkable results, but in the face of the Divine Will Crisis, all of this is like a floating ice palace—without taking down the ruins of Taqila, the red mist may engulf the entire continent at any time, and then the devils will have no obstacles. Therefore, this battle can only be won, not lost!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Barov and others said in unison.

"Very good," Roland looked at Edith, "Next, the General Staff will explain the specific strategic directions."

"Yes," the Pearl of the North stood up and gracefully placed her hand on her chest, "Please allow me to use the large map for explanation."

She walked to Roland's side and tapped the Western Region map on the background wall—after multiple revisions and supplements, this map almost encompassed most of the Barren Wasteland. Neverwinter City had also changed from the initial central position to an insignificant small dot on the edge. Anyone who glanced at it would realize the smallness of the human settlements, and this was also one of Roland's original intentions.

He hoped that his ministers and officials could broaden their horizons further, instead of indulging in the existing little bit of benefit all day long.

"The first thing to determine is that this Northern Expedition is different from what we have experienced in the past. It will last for a relatively long time." Edith said bluntly, "I hope everyone understands that we can't resolve this battle quickly."

The vision obscuring tactics used during the Battle of North Slope will definitely not happen a second time—the distance between the Hidden Forest and the Taqila Ruins is much greater than the destroyed outpost. The time to lay the railway is at least calculated in months, and it is impossible to make the devils unaware.

In the vast Fertile Plains, the enemy has absolute mobility advantages. Therefore, Roland initially gave up the fantasy of winning by surprise attacks and planned to invest superior forces to confront the devils head-on.

Undoubtedly, this will be a contest between spear and shield.

This plan was also something everyone knew early on, so no one seemed surprised.

Only Barov asked, "Then do you have an estimated time?"

"This depends on the intensity of the devil's counterattack." Edith said calmly, "The General Staff commissioned the Taqila witches to conduct multiple simulations. Assuming that the scale of each enemy attack is similar to the Battle of North Slope, once a week, we can put the fortress artillery on their faces within three months."

"But they are not fools, they can't repeat the same mistakes again and again."

"That's right, I think the devils will soon notice the role of the railway, or even the Hidden Forest in the rear. Of course, we are not unprepared—precisely because the war situation is full of variables, I hope the administrative office can allocate resources with the worst-case scenario in mind."

"The worst-case scenario is..." Barov frowned.

"From spring to winter, until the new Evil Moon descends." Edith replied frankly.

"Doesn't that equal failure?" The old chief steward grinned, "That doesn't meet His Majesty's requirements."

"As long as we don't retreat, the battle is not over, at most it's called a stalemate." The Pearl of the North smiled slightly, "Wait until the snow melts in the second year, and then fight again." Seeing the ministers of the administrative office looking embarrassed, she added, "However, the possibility of this situation is not high. After all, the devil's reproduction speed is only slightly better than the bullet output. I am just preparing for the worst."

Barov pondered for a moment, "In that case, I need to transfer food from other territories as a reserve—Golden No. 2 seeds have been distributed to all parts of the kingdom. If there are no accidents, there should be a lot of surplus this year. If we collect them all, it can basically meet the First Army's needs for a year."

"That's not a problem," Agriculture Minister Seni. Dali responded, "I will write letters to notify the city halls in various places later."

"The work of the Chemical Industry Department also needs to be adjusted," Barov continued, "Produce as much huoyào and zhàyào as possible."

"With so many people, unless we reduce the production of some perfume and soap." Chemical Industry Minister Kemo. Streel spread his hands.

"Perhaps we can borrow a batch of alchemist apprentices from neighboring countries to support Graycastle..." He looked at Roland, "I heard that Dawn also has several alchemy workshops, although they are not in Glowing City, but if His Majesty comes forward, the Lord of Dawn should do his best to cooperate, and will definitely not care about the return date. In addition... there are still more than a hundred people from the First Army stationed in the Cage Mountain area, the alchemists from Wolfheart and Everwinter can also be considered?"

"The principle is no problem," Roland nodded with satisfaction, "List a plan according to your ideas."

His performance was really gratifying.

At the beginning of the unification of the kingdom, he had thought that the new polity might need two to three years of running-in to发挥 its due role. After all, changing固有思维 is a rather difficult thing—for decades, these people have been accustomed to the secular rules that territorial affairs are归领主,领主之间互不干涉. It is too demanding to suddenly ask them to放开 their眼光and regard other territories as a可供驱使的一部分.

However, he found that he had underestimated the charm of power.

When the power in his hands suddenly expanded several times, even if he was not aware of the nature of the change, he would try to start using it. Barov was the most outstanding performer.

He not only saw the Kingdom of Dawn, but even thought of using the army to exert influence, so as to攫取 resources from farther places.

When everyone finished discussing, Edith continued, "However, directly destroying the devil's station is not enough. For some reasons, we must eliminate all the enemies as much as possible. This requires us to cut off the devil's retreat before the final general attack is launched, including the sky and the ground, and only witches can do this."

"Some... reasons?" Barov asked puzzled, "Going around to the rear will greatly increase their risk, right?"

"Because of the curse." Roland took over the topic, "There is a high-level devil among the enemies who can cast magic curses from a distance. The principle of its action is not yet clear, but it is likely to be similar to the church's witch Black Veil. If it escapes, the First Army will still be a pyrrhic victory even if it wins."

There was a collective gasp in the hall.

Killing people with just eye contact, sacrificing more than seven hundred people in the First Army in one encounter, which can be called the biggest casualty since the army was formed, that battle made everyone remember the name Black Veil.

If the devil can also cast curses through sight, then prioritizing its elimination becomes a matter of course.

Roland glanced at Lightning, who was burying her head in her chest at the end of the long table, and couldn't help but sigh secretly.

He could completely guess her mood.

Letting her sisters take this risk for her, even if everyone had no complaints, she would probably feel boundless guilt.

But now there is no better choice.

Roland stood up from the main seat, "In short, to completely eliminate the threat of the obelisk before the arrival of the Divine Will War, and at the same time weaken the devil's war potential, is the purpose of this expedition. The code name of the operation is "Torch", which is both the light of hope to destroy the enemy and the original Lihuo that illuminates the entire Fertile Plains. Please do your best to开拓 new territories for Graycastle!"

Everyone followed suit, standing up and bowing down with their hands on their chests.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"