A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 951: The Frontline - Part 3

This time, they were told that General Karstly would be following along behind them, and more Asabelian troops would be sent to man the border castle that they left behind.

It was in this part of the country that Oliver found himself scanning their terrain all the more studiously, for this would be the ground – potentially – that they would be fighting on. Of course, the aim was to push back towards the Verna's territory, so it seemed more likely that they would do battle there, but it was far from impossible that they would be pushed back to their own border.

In this end of the country, forests were plentiful. The Black Mountains still reigned supreme to the North and them. Oliver enjoyed their presence like that of an old friend. It was in the Black Mountains that he had gained much of what he currently had, after all.

With the forests, and the mountains, there were plentiful numbers of rivers, all of which they had to ford, making the going of their supply wagons even slower.

At points, there were bridges, but in other locations, it proved to be easier to simply run through the river itself, provided that it was shallow enough for the large wagon wheels.

It was increasingly obvious that this was not a part of the country well visited. Even villagers were hardly common. Forests were broad, and they were wide, full of coniferous trees and happy green spring wildlife, finally returning back to the world after a deep winter full of snow.

This was the part of the country that Asabel intended to have her roads built along, but to do that, the border to the east needed to be expanded, so that the road could make itself south along the eastern border, and into the Capital, directly from the Asabelian lands.

So too was there the hope that they would be able to pull in trade from the Verna, and have the Asabelian lands serve as the trading hub for all those exports.

As they were now, despite being the subject of valuable Verna trade – despite the war – any trade that they did have would be taxed by the Pendragon main house as it made its way through their lands and their checkpoints on its way to the Capital.

As with much of the campaign thus far, Oliver found that seeing the lands in person was far different to seeing them on a map. This was the part of the experience that he had at least expected, for every month for years he'd felt the same, as he circled a location for one of his missions on the map, and then travelled in person to find the lands rather different to what he would have expected.

"I wonder, why have we never tried to trade through the Black Mountains?" Oliver asked. "I am aware that the steepness of the mountain pass doesn't make it particularly favourable, but surely there would be opportunity. We would open trade with the Yarmdon as well."

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"I fear that is the very reason that we don't do it – the Yarmdon," Verdant said. "I do believe a General of a century past – his name escapes me – mentioned such a thing. He said 'if we ever wish to build trading routes into Yarmdon lands, then we'd better make sure we conquer those savages first, lest our road to trade becomes our road to ruin'."

"Interesting," Oliver said. "I've had this conversation with Volguard before. He's of a similar opinion, but now that I am here, seeing the true state of a supply train, I wonder if a road might be necessary for us to invade them in the first place. The Yarmdon are hardly a united people, are they? It would take years to fully subjugate them."

"You've been considering this?" Verdant said, surprised. "…Your solution is certainly one I can see working. You would need quite the team of engineers. It would be an interesting feat. Much like having soldiers make camp fortifications, you would be needing military men – or at least men of considerable resolve – to make that road as battle goes on around them."

He fell into thought. "Quite frankly, my Lord, I can most certainly see that working. Indeed, the Yarmdon are fractured. A strong group of men, willing to engage in years of attrition, as we gain group bit by bit… we could certainly invade with a road and see ourselves continually well supplied."

"Invasion talk?" Blackthorn said. She'd been riding with them for a little while, but had seemingly turned a deaf ear to most of their conversation. Now that it finally shifted back to battle, she joined in with eagerness.

"We were discussing how we might invade the Yarmdon, my Lady," Verdant replied patiently.

"The Yarmdon? Hm… Father has said that it would be best to invade them along the coast. But for that, he says that you would need the cooperation of the Emerson Silver Kings, and he says there's no chance of that," Blackthorn said.