Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 1282: Chapter 700: Situation Analysis (Filler) (2)

So he’d already foreseen the situation Hamlet would face back then, and had been preparing ever since?

What a terrifying level of foresight!

In truth, Lance’s foresight wasn’t as exaggerated as Grendel imagined. A transmigrator is born surrounded and besieged; all this he did was simply because that intense anxiety drove him to stand on his own feet.

That part was hard for Grendel to grasp. What stood before her wasn’t just Lance, but thousands of years of historical experience; he knew very well what one should do in times of chaos.

”So according to what you’re saying, our primary enemies are those Lords around us?”

Grendel mulled over Lance’s words and realized he kept talking about all kinds of factions, yet never mentioned the noble domains in the region, which was why she asked.

Lance still shook his head at that. Clearly Grendel truly wasn’t sensitive to military matters—but that was also because Lance had never let any military authority fall into her hands. She herself feared arousing Lance’s suspicion, and consciously stayed away from that side of things.

”War isn’t that simple. You don’t just say ’fight’ and then fight. The logistical preparation before the first shot is fired is a massive headache.

Do you remember how long we prepared, and how much materiel we mobilized, back when we mapped out the Beast Lair tunnels and got ready for a large-scale sweep of the wilderness?

Because of the problems involved, Tiffany had me chased to the end of my rope. That was just here in our own Hamlet and already that troublesome. Have you considered what the efficiency of those feudal domains must be like?”

”Let me take the recent war between Bastia and the Mountain Barbarian Tribe as an example. For the sake of that...”

Lance could casually bring up details of Bastia’s situation back then—things not even many of their own people knew.

You could imagine how good Lance’s intelligence work on Bastia was; his reach extended all the way to the Earl’s right-hand men.

”You should know the Earl’s control over his domain is extremely strong, and then there’s that organization, the Eagle Flock. Yet even so, they still had warehouse shortages, and below that was a mass of noble interest disputes. You can picture what it’s like in other places, can’t you?”

”So even if those domains are controlled by the Ascension Sect, it’ll still take them a long time to make a move?”

”You’re only half right. More importantly, large-scale troop and materiel movements cannot be concealed. We have a huge intelligence presence in the surrounding areas; we don’t even need to deliberately collect information—just keep half an eye on prices and we’ll know.

And Ovando is in our hands now, yet outwardly doesn’t show any direct connection to us. During this period Walter has already hooked into channels on the Imperial Army side.

As for those factions wanting to move against us, I don’t know whether the Romani will agree, but Sela definitely won’t, because her interests are deeply bound to ours. Any intel will reach us first.

Let me put it this way: if they move, no matter on which front, the first to know will not be the troops under those guys, but us.”

She had still been somewhat worried, but after hearing Lance’s breakdown, she finally let out a breath.

At the same time she also understood why Lance disliked those Romani yet still chose to cooperate with them, and was so generous with Sela, even giving up a portion of the profits from those potions.

So it turned out he’d bound Sela with利益, and by leveraging Romani channels he could not only stabilize Hamlet’s biggest external trade route, but also learn more.

At the same time Hamlet had its own information channels. You could say there was almost nothing that could be kept from him.

But at this point Grendel suddenly realized why Lance was saying all this. She gave him a strange look and pressed him:

”You’re not planning to deal with the dungeon first, are you?”

”Yeah.” Lance answered without much hesitation, which was enough to show he’d already thought everything through.

But Grendel did not agree with that answer, nor did she understand it. Rarely, she refuted him:

”Isn’t there a Church seal left there? It won’t cause trouble in the short term. Shouldn’t we be dealing with those people around us first right now? And all those factions that have infiltrated and gone to ground—those are our real enemies at the moment!”

Unlike some people, Grendel truly had very little ambition of her own. Her temperament was gentle; previously she’d been forced into handling certain affairs, all of it basically following plans Lance had laid out. If she really couldn’t settle something, she’d shelve it and wait for Lance to come back.

So she inclined more toward taking the opportunity to strike outward first, putting the dungeon aside for now. After all, the evil cult’s main nest had been wiped out; as long as they finished off those remaining guys, they could expand Hamlet’s living space.

”Counting on others leads nowhere.” Lance criticized Grendel, then stressed again: ”The evil cult isn’t important. Those nobles and various factions aren’t important. What matters is the Dark Dungeon beneath the old manor. What matters is that evil ritual.”

As he spoke, Lance fetched that ancestor’s map and spread it out in front of Grendel.

”I know many people don’t understand why I’ve never expanded outward to seize more land and people, but instead turned to opening up the wilderness and gnawing on those tough bones.

But in fact, haven’t you noticed: although we haven’t directly seized land, the grain in the Hamlet Region has all been monopolized by us. As for population growth and strength, you should be very clear.” Lance lifted his hand and circled a mark on the map.

”The reason is that most of the Hamlet Region has already been swallowed up. The remaining villages and towns are scattered and broken up by vast stretches of wilderness.

If we move to swallow those places, we’ll have to split our forces, we’ll be cut apart, and more importantly, controlling those places also requires bureaucrats. Where am I supposed to find that many people right now?

We’ve already seen corruption arise within Hamlet while under our own eyes. Once they’re far away, to be blunt, they’ll degenerate into corruption in a very short time. In that case, can we even be said to be controlling those places?

They’d just be dead weight. By contrast, our current continual siphoning of population from the surroundings and concentrating our strength for development is far more useful than occupying those areas.”

”And another thing: I have to refute your claim that Hamlet isn’t expanding. Haven’t you seen Ovando, including the surrounding farms, are already under our control?

The Empire chose that place because once you control Ovando, you control Hamlet’s external route. It’s exactly the same for us.

After taking Ovando, the remaining areas stop mattering.”

Conquering territory is easy; governing it is hard. Besides, the grain from those places can be bought up by caravans anyway—why go to the trouble of administering them?

When the investment and the returns don’t match, Lance chose only to control Ovando, and then turned around to develop the wilderness and strike at the cultists.

”Now do you see why I’ve always opposed expanding outward? Us pulling back isn’t retreat—it’s concentration of strength. Only like this can we have real power.”

Lance stretched out his hand toward her, then clenched his five fingers into a fist and said viciously:

”And then we kill them with one punch!”

Once that sacrificial ritual was shattered, Lance could send out troops with no scruples. All those scum and trash—none of them could fight.

Grendel realized she’d been convinced and stopped arguing. Her task now was to help patch any potential holes in these plans.

”Can we leak the connections between the cultists and those nobles, make it the Church’s headache, and let them collapse from within?”

”No. Right now we need stability, and they need to stay stable too. Bringing the Church in does us no good.”

”Then all we can do is step up intelligence work and keep close watch on them. Can we get in touch with Tamara? She might be able to find out the Romani’s internal attitude toward us. Relying on just one Sela is a bit risky.”

There was no one else present, so Grendel spoke without the slightest courtesy, clearly stating her lack of trust in Sela—or rather, that the Romani truly had a foul reputation.

Lance, who had just been high-spirited, suddenly fell silent. On this question he truly couldn’t give an easy answer, because his contact with Tamara had been cut off.