Another War

Golden Flower City was on the western edge of Kampaku's territory. The city was huge, housing over 2 million people; it was protected with two layers of walls. The first layer encircled the entire city, safeguarding everyone living within it, while the second layer protected only the important buildings.

The city boasted numerous factories and facilities; it was highly advanced for its time.

...

Defending the entire city was impossible; after all, the first layer was so vast that it required immense manpower to defend it. Therefore, the focus of defense was placed on the second layer. Nonetheless, they wouldn't simply roll over and let Jack take the outer city; they would defend the outer layer but wouldn't sweat over it when Jack took it.

As a strategist and supreme commander of Kampaku's forces, Hinode decided to use the outer layer to inflict as much damage as possible. Holding Golden Flower City was paramount; as long as Kampaku controlled this city, it would be borderline impossible for Jack to succeed in any invasion from the West.

The north was mountainous, so if Kampaku could keep Golden Flower City, it would greatly advantage the Empire for the rest of the war. As long as they kept the internal layer of walls, that would be enough to stop any invasion from the west; it wasn't necessary to retain control of the entire city.

...

Hinode sent 300,000 troops, most of them conscripted, to Golden Flower City. The city itself had 100,000 troops guarding it by default, so the total defending forces were 400,000: 200,000 guarding the outer wall, 100,000 watching over the internal wall, and another 100,000 waiting outside the city to counterattack and cause trouble for invading forces.

Jack's invading army comprised 300,000 soldiers from him and 200,000 from the Republic, along with cannons, ladders, and other equipment for breaching walls. The Jack-Republic alliance, who called themselves the Righteous Liberation Army (RLA) for short, could have sent more troops but didn't want to exhaust their army in the initial battle; they planned to use their fresh army to attack multiple cities once they took Golden Flower City.

The RLA attacked with cannons and managed to infiltrate the first layer. However, before they could accomplish much, the Empire's forces attacked the invading army from the rear, using the troops they had stationed outside the city. Unaware of the size of the Empire's army outside the city, the RLA was forced to retreat.

The first battle ended in the Empire's victory, with the RLA suffering 40,000 deaths and 25,000 incapacitating injuries, compared to the Empire's 25,000 deaths and 30,000 incapacitating injuries. The reason partially stemmed from the RLA's inability to retrieve many of their injured; any injured RLA soldiers who were left behind d were naturally killed by the Empire's forces. In contrast, the Empire, having control of the castle, managed to tend to the injured survivors promptly, thus accounting for their higher number of incapacitating injuries and fewer deaths.

Incapacitating injuries refer to those injured and unable to return to battle for the next two weeks. Despite many suffering severe injuries such as sword cuts or broken bones, it didn't mean they could never fight again; some might be able to rejoin the battle after a few months.

...

After the initial defeat, the RLA managed to obtain details of the Empire's army and, upon realizing they still outnumbered the invading forces, launched another attack, this time taking care to avoid being attacked from behind.

Using cannons, they breached the walls easily. Though there were ways to inflict serious damage to the city, such as destroying and setting on fire many factories exposed after breaching the outer walls, Jack and Kampaku considered the city their own and wanted to keep it intact.

The Empire defended bravely but couldn't hold onto the outer walls, which fell into the hands of the RLA.

The battle concluded with the RLA's victory, albeit at a higher cost in lives. In total, in the first two battles, the RLA lost 200,000 soldiers with over 100,000 incapacitating injuries, while the Empire lost 100,000 soldiers and 180,000 incapacitating injuries.

As always, the defending forces were in a better position. Despite cannons reducing defenders' advantages, it wasn't only the RLA who possessed cannons; the Republic also had cannons atop the walls, which inflicted significant damage on the RLA and contributed to their high casualties.

At this juncture, the invading forces no longer had the power to advance. The commanding council, led by Mike, acknowledged this and had already sent reinforcements of over 200,000 troops.

The Empire, also valuing Golden Flower City greatly, dispatched a reinforcement army of 1,000,000 troops, 950,000 of whom were conscripted. Conscripted soldiers were less trained but would at least consume the enemy's resources.

Some time ago, Kampaku had called for volunteers, and over 1 million had joined, fearing conscription and potential use as cannon fodder. To maintain deterrence, even though Kampaku didn't need it, he still ordered his subordinates to conscript 500,000, hoping to persuade others who saw it to volunteer next time.

...

The 1,000,000 reinforcements for the castle were very conspicuous, surpassing the expectations of the RLA's leadership.

The invading forces altogether numbered 400,000, while the defensive forces exceeded a million. Usually, invading forces must be at least twice as numerous as defending forces. Additionally, the inner layer of the wall was fortified with many cannons, making it absolutely impossible to breach it easily.

Thus, the RLA initially opted for a siege. However, not all of the 1,000,000 troops went inside the castle; many remained outside. If the RLA laid siege, those outside forces could attack from behind, leading to a messy situation.

Both sides were eager to control the city, making the situation terrible for soldiers on both sides.

The war reached a stalemate before it even began.

It was clear that to defeat Kampaku quickly, enduring massive casualties was the only option.

So, the RLA became serious and sent a horrifying army of 5,000,000 troops, a number that overwhelmed the land. The city's entire population was only 2 million, so the horror of 5 million troops could only be imagined.

The Republic noticed this and sent another massive army consisting of 2,500,000 troops, with 2,000,000 conscripted and 500,000 professional volunteers.

The RLA didn't want to stall the war; supplying such a vast army was harder for them than for the Republic, as they were much farther from their base. Most of the RLA's supplies came from Grain City, the largest city under Jack's control, but it was far away, making transportation difficult.

...

Despite heavy casualties, the RLA invaded relentlessly and didn't retreat, regardless of the losses.

The war raged on for days, leaving both sides exhausted. Mountains of corpses, tens of meters long, were a common sight.

The results were devastating for both. The RLA lost 3,000,000 troops in one week of the war, along with 100,000 casualties. The Empire suffered fewer casualties, losing 2,750,000 troops with 250,000 casualties.

Despite being less trained and worse armed, the Empire's troops managed to hold their ground, aided by cannons mounted above the walls; they inflicted serious damage to RLA forces before being destroyed by invading cannons. The walls themselves were mostly destroyed by the RLA's relentless cannon fire.

The scene was filled with blood and the horrible smell of rotting corpses.

War is ugly; nothing is glorifying about it. Many countries try to deceive their populations by romanticizing war, but the reality is grim. Only crazy people think wars are cool or something to be celebrated.

Despite suffering massive casualties, the RLA was forced to retreat temporarily due to disorganization after losing so many on-the-ground captains. However, they quickly regrouped and invaded once more.

This time, the RLA had 2,250,000 troops, while the Empire had only about 700,000 usable troops left. Kampaku didn't have more ready troops to send, and after only two days, the RLA finally conquered the city entirely.

However, the battle was costly and not worth it. Much of the outer city was inevitably destroyed, and many ordinary people died. Repairing all the damage would require a huge amount of money.

...

Upon hearing the news of Golden Flower's loss, Kampaku could only grit his teeth. He immediately ordered the remaining reserves to be activated and called for more volunteers.

This time, the Empire activated its remaining reserves, totaling 2,000,000, and over 4 million volunteers stepped up.

By this point, the Empire didn't have many weapons or military armor to provide its soldiers, so they began building weapons and clothes by mobilizing all their production capacity; the new products were higher in quantity and lower in quality.

Kampaku ensured that the conscripted troops received inferior equipment while the volunteers received better ones.

After conquering Golden Flower, the RLA finally had options.

The city was connected to many freeways suitable for transporting cannons, with routes to major cities like Silver Flower, Shining Flower, White Flower, Reflection, and Water Flower, all with at least a million in population.

The RLA soon received a 1 million reinforcement and reorganized its troops, launching attacks on Silver Flower and Reflection cities, the easiest targets.

Kampaku also noticed this and sent reinforcements to both cities.