Chapter 398: Caught Off-Guard
Silence fell over the small gathering again when those words were uttered, with more than a few lowering their heads guiltily.
Together, the people standing at this dock represented most of the powerful forces in the Rockwell Kingdom, yet none of them had caught a whiff of the Darr Kingdom’s activities before the former queen brought it to their attention.
This raised a number of questions, first among which was how the Darr Kingdom managed to hide this kind of large-scale operation.
Even if it had been a slow, gradual process, with the extensive network of spies and informants they had relaying information back to the Rockwell Kingdom, it was very difficult to believe a years-long effort had managed to evade everyone’s detection.
Additionally, where was the Darr Kingdom getting the money for this kind of military expansion?
A single suit of fine armour and a sharp spear weren’t all that expensive, but what about 100? Or 1,000? Or 10,000? Or 100,000?
Properly equipping an army cost millions of Gold, which was no small sum.
What’s more, unlike the Rockwell Kingdom which possessed vast fertile plains and numerous valuable ore deposits, large swaths of the Darr Kingdom were covered in arid desserts where mining and growing crops was nigh-impossible.
Only the southern half of the Darr Kingdom had a few scattered mineral deposits and enough arable land to support large-scale agriculture.
In terms of natural wealth, the Rockwell Kingdom was vastly superior to its eastern neighbour. There was really only one commodity that the Darr Kingdom possessed that other nations wanted, sugar.
That being said, so much of the available farmland in the Darr Kingdom was dedicated to growing sugar that it constantly had to import food from other kingdoms, making basic sustenance much more expensive for the average commoner.
There were plenty of reasons for the animosity between the two nations, but the hardship citizens of the Darr Kingdom had to endure compared to those who lived to their west, where rumours said everyone ate their fill and lived leisurely, was undoubtedly the biggest.
Now, these stories were mostly just propaganda used to stir up resentment, but what was real was the desire many in the Darr Kingdom had to conquer the rich, fertile land of the Rockwell Kingdom, whether they were powerful nobles or orphan peasants.
All this was to say that the rulers of the Darr Kingdom suddenly exporting significantly larger amounts of sugar and then diverting the profits to purchasing war supplies should have easily been detected.
Gritting her teeth angrily, Commander Vanessa Clark cursed, "Damn it! What the hell are our spies doing? How could we have missed this when it was happening right under our noses? Have we really gotten this complacent, or are our foreign agents just incompetent!?"
Vanessa had always been outspoken, so her harsh words didn’t surprise anyone amongst this elite group. None of them moved to rebuke her either, as many were wondering exactly the same thing
"There’s plenty of blame to go around," patting her friend and current bodyguard’s shoulder lightly, Second Queen Summers stepped forward and declared calmly, "I should have noticed something different in the spending patterns of the Darr Kingdom, but nothing of the sort has come to my attention so far."
"We need to do a thorough review of our information gathering capabilities," the scholarly looking Thaddeus Turner, Brother of Earl Eiran Turner and the Great Elder of the Turner Family which governed the Southern Province said flatly, "But our primary concern must be responding to this threat."
"Agreed," Cora Eashan, Marquess Devlin Eshan’s eldest daughter and heir , nodded, "If the enemy is preparing for war, we need to immediately begin making preparations of our own."
"That... may be difficult," Langston Ford, second son of Earl Rosalie Ford who governed the Western Province, uttered, "The kingdom isn’t in the best shape right now."
Frowns were seen all around when this was brought up.
The Rockwell Kingdom had just experienced a massive catastrophe, and although Marquess Balfour had swiftly taken action to mitigate the damage, the explosion in the Great Western Forest and its subsequent fallout had still caused massive disruptions to the entire country.
Although not hit as hard, the Western Province, which also bordered the Great Western Forest, had not escaped completely unharmed from the primary, and secondary consequences of the giant explosion.
As heir to the Ford Earl Family, Langston had been extremely busy these past few months, trying to maintain both social and economic order in their territory, so he knew very well how vulnerable the Rockwell Kingdom was right now.
"We also need to pay attention to the increase in smuggling we’ve seen these past few years along the borders," General Caldwell added, "After the recent attack the Raging River Legion suffered, I don’t think we can assume profit is the sole motivation for these criminals."
"The two situations may even be related," Allina Crest commented, "We already suspected some kind of deeper plot behind these smugglers, and now we hear that the Darrs are acting suspiciously. That can’t be a coincidence."
"We shouldn’t jump to conclusions," Cora shook her head, "Increased smuggling is a problem at the northern border as well. It may be unrelated."
"Whatever the case," Ava Dalton, Duke Gregory Roth’s second wife and Olivia’s mother, cut in abruptly, "The simple truth is we’ve been caught off-guard and find ourselves a step behind our enemy."
"The first thing we need to do is gather accurate information," Elizabeth Carlson spoke up softly, "Only after we know who we’re fighting, what their objectives are, and what kind of timeline we’re dealing with, can we make appropriate preparations."
"En, when we return to the capital, I will take this matter to the King and Council personally," Haydan Rockwell snorted, "If it comes from me, those old laggards won’t dare dismiss the matter lightly."
"In the mean time," Celestina turned to her fellow South-East Province Generals, "We can increase the intensity of our armies’ training and patrols, as well as ramp up production of equipment. We can use the increased smuggling activity as a cover-story for now to avoid alerting the enemy, but we’ll need to come up with a longer-term plan in the near future."
General Oscar Caldwell of the Swift Current Legion already had similar plans in the works, so he had no objections.
As for the taciturn General Henley Dagley, who led the Forest Ranger Legion, since he was the youngest and weakest of the three, he saw no reason to refuse his more experienced colleagues’ suggestion.
"In that case, I will try to quietly direct more funding to the South-East Province," Natasha Summers stated, though her face scrunched up slightly as she did, "However, don’t expect much. The national budget is extremely tight right now."
Waving her hand, Celestina flashed a grin, her usual confident, composed attitude returning, "Don’t worry about that. A few months from now, if all goes well, money won’t be a problem for us anymore."