Soon after I finished talking to Marcus, Horus arrived and gave me two reports. The first one was about the spoils of victory, and the causalities of both armies. Reading it brought a large smile to may face, since we only lost 13 men, and 230 injured, while the enemy lost tens of thousands of men!
The second one stated that the reinforcements I ordered were on their way, but their was a notice at the bottom of the report from Darius warning me of the shortage of supplies and food if this war takes too long. Reading this I frown slightly.
Most of the Eclipse Empire's territory were dry and infertile deserts, but it did have two major sources of food. The first were the hundreds of oasis towns and villages that produced a moderate amount of food, and the second was from the Vitar River.
The Vitar River was an enormous river that originated from the east of the empire, and spills into the ocean in the west of the empire. It's this river that gave life to the nation by offering us large and plentiful fields to plant our crops, herd our cattle, and supplied us with ridiculous amounts of fish every year. Some even consider it to be more important than the capital itself.
But their was a problem. For years now the yield of crops and fish have been slowly decreasing. And in my past life, this continued until a few years later it caused a devastating famine that weakened the nation greatly! Eventually we learned that reckless overfishing, and irresponsible planting of crops caused the once bountiful river to lose much of it's fertility. And it took us years of agricultural reforms, and magically enhancing the soil for it to return to it's former glory. But right now my main concern was this war.
After I reorganized my thoughts, I quickly went to my tent, and began to make precise calculations, and I discovered that at most I have two and a half months to finish this war before the empire, and the army start suffering from supply issues. I kept racking my brain, trying to find any strategies to extend my very short time limit. I spent hours thinking and strategizing, and without me even noticing the sun had begun to set.
As the sun slowly hid in the endless horizon, Hamilcar wearing clean and noble black robes arrived and said respectfully "Sire, I just received news that the reinforcements will be here by midday tomorrow."
Hearing this I say with exhaustion obvious in my voice "I thought so...Sigh.... Fine then we will begin the march one day after the reinforcements arrive."
"My liege, are you sure you don't want to give the men more time to rest?" Hamilcar asked worriedly.
Listening to Hamilcar's worries I show him the message that arrived this morning, along with all the calculations I made. Seeing them Hamilcar immediately understood why I made my decision, and he said seriously "This time frame is too tight, and war is very unpredictable, we could easily find ourselves dragged into a war that remains years, if not decades."
I nod and say confidently "Indeed, but I think I have a plan to win this war within the tight time frame we have."
Hamilcar having already witnessed his young emperor's talent and genius in war, quickly asks in excitement "What's your plan, sire?"
I smiled mysteriously and replied "It's really simple actually, we just have to 'accidently' tell them that we have supplies that will only last us a month at most."
"....Sigh." Hearing my idea Hamilcar sighs and pinches the area between his eyes, as he thinks 'Why are his majesty's ideas so odd?' And he was right, after all it was common sense to not let your enemy know about your weaknesses, and yet here I was proposing that we basically publicize this information!
Although I was enjoying the confused and tired face of Hamilcar, I decided to stop torturing him, and told him my plan. After I finished explaining my little scheme, Hamilcar became excited, and started to share his own ideas and thoughts on the subject. And just like that we spent hours thinking, and strategizing ways to make sure everything was as perfect as it could possibly be.
We finished our talks a couple hours before the sun rose, a couple hours which I used for much needed rest. As the sun slowly chased the night away, I forced my exhausted body up. And just like that a new day of work began, but since I didn't have a lot to do before the reinforcements got here, I decided to train my divine blood, and martial arts until they do.
Around midday a unit that was assigned to patrol the perimeter reported that the reinforcements had arrived. I squinted my eyes in the direction the men pointed to, and I saw a small black dot in the horizon. The dot slowly began to grow larger and larger, until it became a terrifying black river of swords, spears and shields. The Chimera Knights who were in the air at that point described the army as a titanic demonic python carving a path through the hot desert sand.
The reinforcements quickly joined the army, and began to form camp to rest after such a long march. With their addition I now commanded an army of 74,000! And this great host of men and warriors was consisted of 10,000 Diomedes Knights, 3,000 Battle Mages, 3,000 Chimera Knights, 58,000 infantry men who were at least in the second level of martial arts, and as a cherry on top 80 Basilisk Cannons!
Basilisk Cannons were the greatest siege weapons ever invented. They were large beasts that turned almost all fortifications before them to smoke and ash. They used a variety of magical spells and alchemical ingredients to unleash it's devastating power. But no weapon was perfect, and these guns had quite a few. The first is that they were ridiculously expensive to make, and use. Even one shot from them could cost thousands of Darr (The common currency of the world).
Another problem of these things was that they were very heavy and cumbersome, and it would take the soldiers hours to set them up before a siege began. But I had other plans for these things. I knew their value from my past life, and my instinct told me that they will be critical in the coming battles.
As the men were busy building camp, the man who led them here, General Hasdrubal Tistra, walked up to me and knelt humbly in front of me. Hasdrubal was tall and lean, with long black hair and sharp grey eyes. He also wore pitch black armor and had two curved sabers attached to his belt, since he was a level seven martial artist, specializing in dual curved swords. Looking at him I had an urge to run to him and embrace him, but I held myself back.
In my past life Hasdrubal and I were close, and trusted friends. Slowly old memories that I kept buried began rising to the surface, and I remembered all the times we fought side by side. All the times we argued like children over the most useless of things, and how we supported each other with no hesitation in front of others, even when it felt like the whole world was against us. I remembered how I was his best man at his wedding, and how I was the first one to hold his daughter after she was born. My heart was pounding faster and faster in happiness as I remembered those joyous times.
But then a memory I had hoped to never see again resurfaced. I remembered how I coldly killed my dear friend. My jubilant emotions died as I remembered how I not only killed him, but also butchered his entire family; even the little girl who I held in my hands when she was first born.
I clench my knuckles until they turn white as I try to hold back the surge of emotions I felt at that moment. If my mother and family were my first regret, then this man was my second! And I swore in my heart, to make sure to not repeat the mistakes of the past and save him from the clutches of that despicable woman!
Hasdrubal was still kneeling, and could feel that his emperor was angry for some reason. Fearing that he might have done something to displease him, he said worriedly "Have I done something to upset you, my liege?"
Hearing this I was barely able to hold my sorrowful emotions, as I quickly replied "No you didn't, it was the opposite. Excellent work, you may return to your tent and rest for now."
"Understood, your majesty." He saluted, and as he left I could feel my turbulent emotions calm down.
The army rested for another day, and by the time the sun rose the next morning they were already prepared to begin today's march. As I slowly rode my horse to the front of the army with Horus, Abraham and a hundred Royal Guard, I could clearly see the enthusiasm of the men in their eyes. After a thousand years of pacifism, the feared Eclipse Empire was once again on the offensive!
As I reach the front of the army, I see Hamilcar and Hasdrubal, already waiting for me. After yesterday I regained control over my emotions, and I was no longer consumed by my guilt and sorrow when I saw him. After I saluted the two men I look at the fearsome, and excited faces of my men, and I loudly order "To the Luminous Empire!" Followed by the deafening cheers of the soldiers.