Volume 4 Chapter 25: A Pyrrhic Victory

  The thousand-strong group of lawmakers' fancy fighting competition ended in a short time. Although most of them had taken bare-handed combat classes, the scammers who called themselves coaches swindled a lot of black-hearted money. However, the lawmakers were not professional boxers who made a living by their muscles. Even if they put on a show, those pampered seals' waists and mantis legs were absolutely not suitable for a long battle, and after just a few rounds, they were panting like cows and sweating like rain, almost having heart attacks.

  Those witch and vampire members are even more tense, of course not tired but afraid. What if they accidentally activated their racial abilities and killed or injured their colleagues? They would be in big trouble - the council hall is surrounded by a group of nosy great mages or voters who have been stationed there for a long time, and they can't escape!

  The members of parliament having exhausted their accumulated energy, Gammell very timely walked onto the "packed" rostrum full of "exhausted athletes", announcing that the bill was temporarily shelved due to failure to reach an agreement and would be voted on at the next meeting. The pastors who had been ready for a long time swarmed in, dragging back the exhausted members one by one, treating those who needed treatment, binding with ropes those who needed restraint, doing it very skillfully, obviously not for the first time.

  "Gentlemen! The time for free speech is now over, and I have some new news to report to everyone." Seeing that the members of parliament had basically calmed down, Gan Mei Li tapped on the hammer on the podium, announcing the transition to the next agenda item. "Today, we received good news from the southern front line," he waved a document in his hand, "our army has achieved a major victory in the Karinshan area after capturing the entire territory of Taysel, pushing the front line 120 kilometers further south with minimal losses. The Elf Army has abandoned the capital city of Karin Port and retreated to Manshaka City to organize its defense... Ah, Senator Shalik, do you have anything to say?"

  The members of the parliament below reacted coldly, with only one member from the Amm region, which is closest to the war zone, raising his hand to ask a question. After getting Gamel's permission, that member immediately stood up from his seat and spoke bluntly, "Your Excellency, we have heard many times about the Empire's victories in Tesser and Carinthal, but none of them have been able to help with the current dire situation. Have you captured any important figures who can force the Elf Kingdom to negotiate? Have you annihilated a large number of enemy troops so that the Elf army cannot fight back? Or have you seized a large amount of grain to alleviate the domestic famine? None of these happened in the previous times, what about this time?"

  "I'm afraid not." Ganmeryll flipped through the documents, "The highest rank among the captured elven officers was only a lieutenant colonel, and two majors were killed; The Elven army chose to retreat voluntarily when they saw that the situation was unfavorable, our army only eliminated two main auxiliary legions composed of human and dwarf pseudo-armies. Less than 2,000 elves were annihilated; As for the spoils," he raised his head, smiling bitterly at Senator Shally, "the report only mentioned some weapons and ammunition, I'm afraid that even if there were grain spoils, the quantity would be negligible."

  "In other words, in this campaign we got nothing but a piece of land that was useless for a short time." Councilor Shalik from Amm shrugged his shoulders. "It's not as good as the New Continent, where the Empire only has a bunch of hastily organized mobs, yet they captured a lieutenant general and killed a marshal, who was none other than the famous 'Ghost Rose' Sofia Ryliaton! What were all those regular army corps doing on the front lines?"

  "Representative Shalik, watch your language." Garmeil rebuked in a serious and low tone, "This is an insult to the soldiers on the front line!"

  "I did not mean to attack those who have bled for our nation." Senator Shalik spread his hands, "But what I said is indeed the truth. No matter how many victories Tassler-Karinson wins on the front lines, we still cannot force the Elven Kingdom to sit down at the negotiating table, and our citizens are still starving. Such victories have little value, but can exhaust the few remaining stocks we have." He looked around, and most of the senators nodded in agreement.

  "It's not just that," Gan Meirei pulled out the last page of the document and waved it at the audience below, "According to the frontline command's report, the Elf Army burned down most of the residents' stored grain before retreating, and contaminated some water sources. Now about 500,000 original inhabitants in the newly occupied area are basically relying on our military for food supplies, so the frontline is requesting an emergency allocation of grain and clothing as follows..."

  His words had not been finished, and the audience below was already in an uproar. The members of parliament were banging on the tables and chairs, loudly expressing their discontent. The scene was momentarily chaotic, even the eardrums of those in the spectator seats, including Ilmester, felt a sharp pain.

  "Our own people are still starving to death, where is there food for those weaklings who have surrendered to the spirits?"

  "Why fight a losing battle! Why don't they ask the spirits for food?"

  "Pull back the legions and let these guys starve to death!"

  ……

  "Silence, silence!" Ganelon hammered with his gavel. "Due to the Central Government's strategic reserves being completely unable to meet the sudden increase in material demands, I hereby request that a second round of war special taxes be levied on each autonomous region, and mainly in kind..."

  This bad news was like a stone thrown into boiling oil, instantly stirring up even greater opposition.

  "Our Komi Autonomous Region has never supported the start of this war!"

  The deputy from Komil stood up, waving his fist and loudly protesting, "Having suffered severe locust plagues, droughts and terrorist attacks by the Harp Hand, we are already burdened with heavy war taxes. If the central government disregards the lives of the people of Komil and continues to forcibly collect material taxes, our legion will withdraw from the front lines on its own initiative and hold a national referendum on whether Komil should continue to stay in the imperial system!"

  "We also strongly oppose the introduction of new war taxes!"

  "If the tax increase bill passes, we will reserve the right to secede from the empire!"

  "If you like fighting so much, then go tax the guys who are for war, and leave us alone!"

  ……

  Members representing various autonomous regions and some churches jumped up to echo the calls, even threatening to withdraw troops or secede from the empire - the regular army of the empire was very small, with only twelve legions of 15,000 people and a guard of 10,000 people. Although these can be considered elite, in actual combat, they still have to rely on auxiliary legions recruited from all over the place to make up for the scale. Otherwise, they will be overwhelmed by the enemy's human sea tactics. And the auxiliary legions are fully controlled by local governments, with their own military expenses, and during peacetime, the central government has no right to intervene in the auxiliary legions of autonomous regions. The looseness of the country's politics and military can be seen from this.

  "Which place hasn't suffered from natural disasters these days? Which city hasn't been turned upside down by the evil hands of the harpists?" The members of parliament from the central district also stood up to rebuke, "This war wasn't started by the empire, but was forced upon us by the kingdom of elves. You're not thinking about how to unite and cooperate to achieve peace through victory. Instead, you're jumping up and down in parliament threatening the central government, does that make sense?"

  "Can such a Pyrrhic victory lead to peace? If we continue to win like this, I fear the whole country will fall into chaos!"

  "No matter how bad it gets, it's still better than having the Elf Army invade the Empire!"

  "This is disregarding people's livelihood!"

  "This is treason!"

  ……

  In the midst of the commotion, Erlinster glanced at the several elven representatives from the Comanso Forest with the corner of his eye, discovering that they were looking at other representatives with disgust, their faces full of arrogance and disdain, as if the disturbance before them had nothing to do with themselves. Some even had a somewhat schadenfreude expression. They probably didn't consider themselves part of this country at all.

  The great sage sighed and couldn't help but think of yesterday's discussion with Lavok about the current situation on the carriage.

  "The current situation is just a paralyzed person, a self-abuser and a paralyzed person who likes to abuse themselves, each with their own little followers fighting enthusiastically, but the blood that flows out in the battle has all fattened up the little dwarf who stabbed the self-abuser in the belly! The old witch Lavoque, who lived for thousands of years, made the following comment on the global war that broke out at the beginning of 1991, which is actually a vulgar but accurate summary of the current situation."

  Now several main characters in this war. The Niseral Empire is a giant among nations, with a vast territory and strength, but due to its poor loose system, it has become a paralyzed patient, with strength that cannot be exerted. The Elf Kingdom is also a giant, without the problem of paralysis. However, it has become a thorough self-torturer due to excessive autocracy, busy with internal power struggles, military coups and civil wars all day long, and its powerful military machine has to focus on suppressing internal rebellions, similarly unable to exert much strength in external warfare.

  The last giant, the Sel Federation, was even more miserable. Having contracted a debilitating disease and enjoying self-torture, they were still embroiled in endless internal strife despite the massive invasion by the Spirit Army. Fortunately, Sel was too far from the Spirit Kingdom's sphere of influence, and the Spirit Army's deployment of troops was extremely limited. This chaotic and vast nation narrowly escaped destruction for the time being. However, it was a common occurrence for several hundred Spirit soldiers to bring one or two cannons to the outskirts of Sel's capital, Eltabar, for an armed parade. It's easy to imagine how much combat power such a "great nation" could have.

  Other participating countries and forces are relatively weak, unable to play a significant role in the gap between the three major powers, usually only suffering from the elephant's fight. However, there is one exception, that is Tekumseh, the great chief of the Maizka continent. At this stage, he is the only one who has gained tremendous benefits from the battlefield...

  Erlinster had just thought of this when he was pushed by Kalsa, and before he could come to his senses, he heard Gamelir on the podium banging a hammer and loudly calling out his name.

  "Silence, silence! Please stop talking. Today, a noble guest will attend this meeting and give a speech. He is the respected Elder Irmminster! Let's applaud to welcome him!"

  The applause in the hall was sparse, probably because of the false report at the beginning, which offended everyone. The members seemed somewhat listless and mostly just glanced sideways as Dae Hyun walked down from the spectator's seat without any intention of applauding. However, Il Mung didn't mind.

  He stepped up onto the podium, took a deep breath, and the rough voice of Ilminster, amplified by the extension charm, echoed through the debating chamber.

  "Honorable members of the council, good evening! Today, I represent the 200,000 residents of Shadow Valley, and have come to seek your help..."