Chapter 9: Backstabbing on a grand scale (Planning)

Name：Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich Author：
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Chapter 9: Backstabbing on a grand scale (Planning)

It's almost 5 am. A thick layer of fog permeated every corner of the port city of Arash. Due to its proximity to the sea, early morning tends to have extremely low visibility, even when you turn on a floodlight to see.

So it would be no surprise when the guards on the city battlement got spooked by an army of 2000 men that suddenly appeared at their doorstep. Thankfully, they managed to keep their fingers off the triggers, allowing enough time for the runner below to announce their identity. What came out of his mouth scared them shitless.

" White Rock has fallen!"

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The city gate opens, and walking out is a group of soldiers escorting what seems to be the one in charge of guarding the Eastern gateway of the city. By now, the first ray of sunlight is dissipating the annoying fog, giving the leading officer a clear view of the tattered state that the 2000 men ahead of him a sporting.

The men are bruised, bloodied, and running ragged out of breath. Some are missing their rifle, while others don't even have their full uniform. Many lay on the ground, trying to regain their strength after facing untold hardships. The luckier few are those on vehicles or what's left of them. He can see a tank that is missing half of its turret, and on the tank are six guys with various degrees of injuries. Frankly, even a poor group of bandits looks better than this regiment he's seeing right now.

" The hell, they look like they fought a monster and barely managed to run away." A soldier next to him commented. A fair assessment.

Having decided that gawking at them is not gonna help anything, he addresses a wounded soldier nearby. Even though he outranks everyone here, they're too tired to perform a salute. Not that he minds anyway. " My friend, can you tell me who's in charge here?"

Before the soldier could even bat his last intact eye, a voice interrupts. " That would be me." Followed by a series of footsteps.

Turning to look at the new arrivals, the officer sees a Colonel approaching him. He performs prim and proper military salutes as he's just Captain. " Sir! I'm Captain Huynh, in charge of guarding the Eastern gate of Arash. I'm sorry I block your entry to the city but this is standard procedure, sir."

The Colonel, Erwin Rommel, calmly nods. " I understand. I won't fault you for it. It's just that I hope you already informed your superior because I need to discuss with them a lot of things." Technically, Rommel isn't lying, so the Captain fails to find faults in the Colonel's words.

" I've already passed on words of your arrivals to Colonel Francis. He's tasked with guarding Arash, and he should be moving to meet you from our Headquarters right now, sir."

" Good to know that. Do you mind if I come in and take a seat?" Rommel asks. Per Ustian military tradition, an officer rarely shares a rest with his battered subordinate. Rommel has to act the part, even though he dislikes it.

Again, understanding the pickiness of an officer, the Captain doesn't see anything wrong with allowing a few people inside first. " It should be fine for you and your adjutants to head in, sir. Let me lead the way for you."

The Captain politely waves his hand, motioning the Colonel and his crew to follow him inside. Under the watchful eyes of the regiment, Rommel disappears behind the walls of Arash. Now, he just needs to have a private chat with the insider. After that, things should be smooth sailing.

Being led to a guest house, Rommel and his adjutants make themselves comfortable in the somewhat luxurious building. The Captain bows and takes his leave. " Sir, me and my men will be outside if you need me, we will also send someone out of the city with food and drinks. Hopefully, it will alleviate some of the fatigue from your troops."

With a smile, Rommel says. " That is much appreciated. I'll make sure to put in good words for you later."

Nodding appreciatively, the Captain moves out of the premise. They will be waiting for the men under the City Colonel to takeover. Giving himself a mental pat on the back, the Captain thinks he managed to score a good point on Rommel's book. Maybe his career good will be a bit more smooth sailing later on.

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In the compound, Rommel is served a cup of coffee after his adjutant checks it for poison. The supplies here seem to be fine to consume, so he also tells the rest of his crew to get comfortable and procure them some snacks.

" Not a bad cup of coffee. Though I like our Belkan brands better." Rommel commented after he took a sip. " But at least we are being treated hospitably, the way here didn't treat us all kindly."

His adjutant chimes in while placing a tray of biscuits on the table. " I doubt the men would mind it, sir. They know what they're getting themselves into, after all. As for the coffee, it does seem to lack a punch like the ones we are used to drinking. Though I heard that the coffee beans, grown in Indochina, are of exquisite taste. I do not doubt that Ustio should have access to a large quantity of them, seeing that Indochina is a colony of Ustio."

" I see, I hope we can procure some of them for the Princess later. She has a penchant for a good coffee." Rommel says, making it up a bonus objective for them on the spot.

" How about this, Colonel." Another officer, who is munching on a biscuit, adds. " Me and Tim will scout out the local shops to procure some souvenirs for the Princess and the rest of the boys. After we formally gain access to the city, of course, I reckon some of the guys would also like to hang out in the city too. We can disperse and grab as many as we can before things go South for the city. As Arash is a port city, there should be a lot of specialties that can catch the eyes of our Princess."

" Umu, good idea. As long as you all don't raise any suspicion, I will allow it. The troops also need an outlet, after all."

Rommel ponders. " The Princess's division is but a couple of days out at max, we will be scouting the surroundings and setting up a proper battle plan in the meantime. She tasked us with capturing the shipyards, and the Bank, and blowing an entry point for the division. It will be great if you can delay the transfer for at least another day, by that time our scout should have announced their presence to the entire city. Meaning you can have an excuse to lockdown Arash, effectively preventing anything from leaving the place. As for the navy, I doubt you can block the destroyers from heading out for the sea... Can you do anything about those?"

Francis touches his chin, thinking up a plan to bag everything in one go. " I have a plan, we can do this lethal or non-lethal. So what interest you the most?"

Rommel replies. " If possible, we should go for non-lethal. What do you suggest?"

Francis nods. " Here's my thoughts. Before the Belkan division arrives, I will host a party for both the army and navy officers. I can arrange for the chefs to spike the food, those that consume it will be paralyzed for around a day. Poisoned food will also be sent to the barracks to take out as many soldiers as possible. After the poison acts up, we can just secure them and move them to an empty warehouse complex. By then, the city will be ours, we just need to wait for the Princess to arrive."

" It can work but the numbers will be too much no?"

" I have under me around 1500 trusted men, you have 2000, and the opposition has 4200. While we are indeed outnumbered, the effective enemy strength will be reduced quite a lot and they won't have cohesive leadership. We can also use the poisoning incident to lock down the city to search for a nonexistent culprit."

Rommel gives the plan a thought. It's feasible and combat will be kept at a minimum. They can save the hassle of dealing with the civilians also.

" I'll admit, the plan has its merit. But can you ensure that the poison will be delivered successfully to the troops below?"

Francis gives a chilling smile. " Don't worry, I got this covered. Just like you, Belkans can't say no to a good cup of coffee, we Ustians can't say no to a glass of wine."

Rommel just laugh at that.

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After the clandestine discussion was concluded. Francis allocated transportation for Rommel and his troops, moving them to one of the empty barracks. Along the way, Rommel and his troops were watched with gazes of pity by Ustian citizens. They seemed to think that Rommel and his troops were defeated at White Rock and barely escaped with their lives. Oh, how they couldn't be more wrong.

Back to Colonel Francis, he goes back to his Headquarters and finishes up today's paperwork then calls it a day. It's half past noon when he's done with everything, he wants to surprise his wife today so he boards his private car. Telling the driver to take him to a confectionary store, he's surprised to see the soldiers under Rommel buying cookies there. Spotting him, the undercover soldiers salute him, he waves them off before buying a tiramisu cake for his wife.

Francis thinks to himself once he gets back in the car. ' I'm surprised they can speak with no accent.'

He then resumes his ride back to his villa on a hill, overlooking an untouched sandy beach. The gatekeepers of the villa, noticing the master of the house is returning, quickly open the thick steel gate. One of them runs inside to announce the return of Colonel Francis. As the car grinds to a halt beneath a few steps of stairs leading to the villa lobby, Francis steps out only to be greeted with a tackle-like hug. Francis had to tense up his pose just to not let them crash back into the car. Though he soon relaxes his body once he feels a very familiar warmth.

Francis smiles and says. " Alia, you surprised me there you know? What if we ended up with a bump on our heads?"

" What? I can't hug my husband after two days of not seeing each other? Or is it that you have no need for this vixen of yours anymore?" Alia, his kitsune wife, jested.

Alia is a mature woman with brown hair and green eyes and a loveable person once you get to know her. Her two tails and fox ears are hidden away by illusion magic, though she can reveal them when they are alone.

Francis says wrily. " It would have been nicer if your hug isn't like a bear grip, Alia."

Alia whines. " But you love it when I give you the fluff."

" Yes, but you risk me dropping the tiramisu cake I got for you."

" Cake!" The moment she heard the word tiramisu, Alia swiftly dispossesses the box Francis has been holding. Yeah, this fox lady has a penchant for sweets.

She then runs inside with the cake, preparing dishes and utensils for them to dine on it. This leaves Francis standing at the front door, stupefied. He turns to his driver and asks. " Do you think she loves me or the cake I brought?"

The young driver just shakes his head and pats Francis on the shoulder. " I know your feeling man. My girlfriend is just like the lady, though she likes cookies instead of cake. No idea how they can eat that much sweet but still want to worry about their physique."

They both sigh at that, women can be very weird sometimes.