Chapter 293: Good News, Bad News

Dresden, Royal Palace.

The Saxon Empire Emperor, Albert II, was sitting alone in his spacious yet slightly empty study, carefully reviewing the final report on the Battle of Paris submitted by the General Staff.

Outside the window, the faint light of dawn had already bathed the entire city, but the fatigue on the Emperor’s face remained indelible.

From the perspective of the outcome, it was hard to say who the real winner of the Battle of Paris was.

The Saxon Empire paid a considerable price. Although Armored Airship No. L29 made a forced landing, it was basically scrapped.

The First Army Group also suffered significant losses in this final battle and needed a long period of rest and reorganization.

Fortunately, they successfully “captured” the Gallic capital and, in front of the whole world, staged a grand drama of “righteous Saxons fighting against the evil Undead Scourge,” achieving an unprecedented victory in politics and public opinion.

As for the Gallic Republic, although it avoided the humiliation of its capital being occupied… its capital was completely turned into a dead land, and the entire country lost its reputation in the international community.

In the long run, it was a foregone conclusion that the Gallic Republic would never recover from this.

Albert II gently placed the report on the table and rubbed his throbbing temples.

The report showed that the First Army Group and the Second Army Group, which had been urgently transferred from the rear, were currently resting and redeploying in the areas surrounding Paris.

Their primary task was to establish a solid defense line to guard against a possible counterattack by the Britannian Expeditionary Force entrenched in the direction of Rouen.

However, overall, the Northern Campaign Cluster had exceeded all the main tactical objectives set by the General Staff before the war.

Once they finished resting and replenishing, they would soon be able to march south.

Then, together with the various army groups of the Saxon Empire on the southern defense line, they would complete an unprecedented super-large arc encirclement of the Gallic main forces huddled in the south.

He picked up another document on the table, a memorandum from the Imperial Chancellor, Hollweg.

The Undead Scourge in Paris was like an unexpected lever that pried the political landscape of the entire Europa.

The most significant change was the attitude of the Papal States.

According to Hollweg’s secret contact with the Holy See a few days ago, the Papal States had clearly stated that they could send a professional team of clergy to the Paris area.

Then they would “purify” the land polluted by negative energy, attempting to save the city that was completely transforming into a “dead city.”

More importantly, the Pope himself had severely reprimanded the Gallic Republic for “indulging evil” in public speeches, both internally and externally, more than once.

In the memorandum, Hollweg boldly speculated that in the near future, the Papal States, which had always maintained neutrality, would very likely abandon neutrality and formally intervene in this war sweeping the entire continent.

After all, the Holy See and the “State Religion” believed in by the Britannians had been mortal enemies incompatible like fire and water since the Reformation in the 16th century.

It was a kind of religious war.

If it weren’t for the huge disparity in strength between the two sides and the separation by Gaul, the Pope would probably have wanted to launch a “Holy War” long ago.

Now that Gaul, this buffer zone, was about to disappear, and the Saxon Empire had shown strong power, it was reasonable for the Holy See to have active thoughts.

If the Papal States really chose to stand on the Saxon side, it would undoubtedly mean an additional powerful ally for the Empire.

Although the comprehensive national strength of the Papal States could only be said to be average… it had its own regular army and the four major Guardian Knight Orders with considerable combat power.

More importantly, it had unparalleled appeal in the entire Catholic world.

If the Papal States really entered the fray, the Saxon Empire would effectively gain a fairly powerful ally, which could greatly alleviate the current pressure.

Besides political gains, the economic benefits of the Battle of Paris were equally substantial.

With the rapid advance of the Northern Campaign Cluster, the Empire’s major agricultural and mining giants had responded to the call of the Imperial government and entered the United Kingdom of Flanders and the northern regions of the Gallic Republic in large numbers.

They were frantically harvesting local grain, transferring livestock, and simultaneously taking over large and small Magic Crystal mines in those areas.

The speed of the Northern Campaign Cluster’s advance this time indeed exceeded everyone’s expectations, including the Emperor himself.

The Flanders and Gauls simply didn’t have time to destroy and transfer these important strategic resources before confusedly handing them over to the Saxons.

This was obviously good news for the Saxon Empire, where domestic prices were soaring daily.

It also boosted the Magic Crystal strategic reserves…

With good news, there was naturally less good news, as well as bad news.

The “less good news” was about the Britannians eyeing them covetously from the side.

Although after the defeat in the Battle of Amiens, the Britannian Expeditionary Force had been huddled in the Rouen area, almost sitting by and watching the Saxon First Army Group capture Paris, putting on a posture of “standing still while allies are in trouble.”

However, according to information collected through various channels by the Empire’s diplomatic department and unreliable intelligence department, the Expeditionary Force Commander-in-Chief, Sir John French, was more like a cunning and patient lion.

He was actually silently accumulating strength, waiting for the arrival of a large number of reinforcements from the Britannian homeland and its vast colonies.

Once his troops were assembled, he would inevitably launch a large-scale offensive of unprecedented scale.

Therefore, in order to deal with the possible counterattack by the Britannians, the General Staff would have to continue to invest more troops in northern Gaul.

And this would undoubtedly disrupt the Saxon Empire’s original strategic concept of quickly ending the war on the Western Front.

As for the “bad news,” it came from the Empire’s unreliable ally—the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

If the Saxon Empire had been advancing triumphantly and sweeping everything before it in the more than a month since the start of the war.

Then the Austro-Hungarian Empire could be said to be “strategically retreating” all the way, embarrassing itself.

Since July 28, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire formally declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia, their army, known as “first-class in Europa,” had been beaten bloody by the opponent in the small Kingdom of Serbia.

Just a few days ago, the Austro-Hungarian Army had been completely driven out of the Kingdom of Serbia’s territory and was even invaded in return by the opponent.

The aged Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his ambitious but incompetent Chief of General Staff, Conrad, had sent emergency telegrams to the Saxon side for several consecutive days, requesting support.

However, over the past month or so, the Saxons themselves had been under great pressure of offense and defense and simply couldn’t attend to this hopeless ally.

Now that the war situation on the Western Front was slightly stable, Albert II and Little Moltke could finally free up their hands to consider how to deal with the mess in the south.

Should they let the Austro-Hungarian Empire fend for itself, or pinch their noses and send troops to give them a hand?

This was a headache-inducing problem.

However, compared to the predicament of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, what truly made Albert II feel a crisis was another piece of intelligence.

The situation in Russia didn’t look good at the moment either…

Since the revolution that swept through all of Russia, the huge empire had fallen apart.

With the respective support of the Saxon Empire and the Holy Britannia Empire, the Western Russia Provisional National Government and other scattered forces fell into a protracted civil war with forces like Kolchak and Denikin in Eastern Russia.

Originally, the two sides were evenly matched, and neither could do anything to the other.

But with the full outbreak of the Great War in Europa, the Britannians and Gauls seemed determined to solve the Russia problem as soon as possible so that they could devote more energy to the confrontation with the Saxon Empire.

With the strong support of these two countries, the armies of Kolchak and Denikin, as if injected with chicken blood, quickly annihilated several surrounding small and medium-sized warlord forces in a short time, greatly expanding their territory and troops.

Not long ago, in a decisive battle, they even frontally defeated the main force of the Western Russia Provisional National Government that had actively attacked, successfully completing a rendezvous.

Now, various intelligence indicated that the integrated Eastern Russia White Army would soon launch a large-scale general offensive against the crumbling Western Russia Provisional National Government with absolute military superiority.

Once the Western Lucia Provisional National Government fell, a unified Russia completely leaning towards Britannia would reappear to the east of the Saxon Empire.

By then, the Saxon Empire would fall completely into the nightmare of fighting on two fronts.

Albert II picked up the report on the situation in Russia, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table.

Although after the outbreak of the war, the Saxon Empire also increased military material support for the Western Russia Provisional National Government.

Those International Brigades supported by the Saxon Empire, withdrawn from the civil war battlefield in the Kingdom of Aragon, were also urgently sent to Russia, playing a certain role in improving its combat effectiveness.

But in the face of the huge gap in troops and technical equipment, all this seemed like a drop in the bucket.

The Army General Staff generally held a pessimistic attitude towards the war situation in Russia.

The report they submitted clearly stated that they must immediately start forming new army groups and prepare to send troops directly to support the civil war in Russia when necessary.

“Sigh…”

Albert II let out a long sigh and threw the report in his hand onto the table.

Before the war started, both he and the General Staff optimistically believed that this would be a war of quick decision.

They believed that with the Saxon Empire’s powerful military strength and industrial capabilities, they could cooperate with allies to defeat the forces of Gaul, the Serbian Empire, and Kolchak in a short time, forcing the Britannians and Gauls back to the negotiating table.

But now it seemed that this idea was too naive.

The incompetence of allies, the tenacity of the Britannians, and the dilemmas appearing on multiple fronts…

These made Albert II clearly realize that this war would probably be longer and crueler than anyone imagined.

He felt a deep sense of fatigue.

The initial joy of victory had long vanished, replaced by a heavy sense of responsibility that almost suffocated him.

He stared at the ceiling of the study for a while. When he looked down again, his gaze inadvertently swept to another corner of the desk.

There lay a separate document.

The cover bore the joint signatures of the Army Department, the General Staff, and his son—the Crown Prince Georg.

Albert II’s gaze lingered on that document for a moment, then he reached out and took it.

The title of the document was concise:

“Summary Report on the Combat Performance of the First Imperial Guard Instruction Assault Battalion in the Early Stages of the War and Future Expansion Plan”