With everyone seated, a servant brought in a map of Zandar to be shown to everyone. It was placed on the table in the middle so everyone could view it. The continent was almost identical to Simbar; they were exactly the same shape, but the culture and environment were extremely different.
Luca began to brief everyone on the current situation of the war and what the key objectives were. "If you look at the map, gentlemen, I have taken the liberty of drawing a line across the centre of the land. This represents the current borders between our faction and the Red Viscontes."
"At present, we are outnumbered; 15 out of 25 counties are under the Red Viscontes' control. My father's declining health has swayed a couple of our supporters to change sides, but with the addition of the Luxenberg Army, we are now firmly the superior force."
A County was a singular territory ruled by a Count; higher-status nobles like Duke Sozzini ruled over multiple counties. A Marquis would have two Counties under their control, one of which would be their fief, while the other one would be ruled by a vassal Count. A Duke would rule over three Counties, one of them being their fief, while the other two would be ruled by vassal Counts.
Victor studied the map intently. At first glance, it looked like a simple war between North and South, but with the recent defections, enemies were now lurking on their doorsteps. There were two counts whose territories were a month away; they were not major threats, but if left unchecked, they could come from behind and stab them in the back.
Count Beluga and Count Lamaro were once supporters of the Green Viscontes, but as the years slowly passed, their allegiance wavered. Then, when Duke Sozzini recently fell ill, they took the plunge and switched sides. They may have been insignificant compared to some of the other nobles on the continent, but losing them shifted the balance of power to favour the Red Viscontes; hence why Alphonse sought out Victor for aid.
Field Marshal Wellesley asked Victor if he could translate his words, since he could not converse with them. Victor happily agreed to do so and relayed the Field Marshal's words. "Our army has brought 315,000 infantrymen, 45,000 cavalrymen and 1,350 cannons. How many soldiers do you have? And how many does our enemy possess?"
Alphonse promptly replied, "The Green Visconte Army has 240,000 infantrymen, 33,000 cavalrymen and 1,050 cannons. My half-brother's faction has 310,000 infantrymen, 41,000 cavalrymen and 1,450 cannons."
The difference between the two Zandarian armies was not slight. If the fighting had become more volatile, the Red Viscontes would have crushed the Green Viscontes eventually. But now, Victor's Army had tipped the scales and almost had the enemy outnumbered 2 to 1.
Luca began to discuss the key places that needed to be secured and conquered for this war to be over. "If we truly want to finish this war, we need to secure the capital city, Milano. If we can peacefully occupy the city, the war will be accelerated. If we can not peacefully capture the city, we may find ourselves fighting against the Papal forces stationed in the city."
It was a troubling thought that the Papal forces would join the fight to support Lorenzo Visconte. The Pope had a force of 30,000 infantrymen, who were often referred to as the Soldiers of Christ. They were elite soldiers who fought for the Christian faith and sought to eradicate all heretical faiths.
If they were to join the war, it could be seen as the Pope declaring that the rightful ruler is Lorenzo and that all Christians on Zandar should declare their support for him. This is why the capital needed to be peacefully secured; there was no way they could risk drawing in the Papal forces to fight.
"Other key targets are the city of Florenzia and the port city of Madena." Luca continued to say. Both of these cities were highly important cities for the Red Viscontes. If either of them were captured, it would make any chances of victory slim for them.
Florenzia was the second grandest city in Zandar, and it was ruled by Queen Maria's brother, Marquis Tommaso Florent. He was Lorenzo's biggest supporter. It was his troops that helped secure the throne for Lorenzo. And it was his influence that drew many southern lords to declare for Lorenzo.
If Florenzia were captured, many of the nearby Southern lords would panic. If the stronghold of the south were captured, then their lands would easily fall. The lands surrounding Florenzia were also the main suppliers of the Red Viscontes' military supplies. Food, warhorses, and uniforms were mainly supplied by the Florent family; if the city was lost, then so too would the steady supply of these essentials.
Florenzia was not the only city that was important to the Red Viscontes; Madena also played a vital role in their war effort.
Madena was a popular port city that drew the largest amount of trade in the world. Since it was a major trading port in the world, the city was rolling in wealth. Its ruler, Marquis Pietro Garbisi, was essentially the bank of the Red Viscontes. If they needed to outsource their supplies, the Garbisi family would purchase them internationally.
Victor had small dealings with both the Garbisi family and the Sozzini family. It was them that he had sold his artillery surplus to. Pietro Garbisi was slightly younger than Victor, but his intellect and trade skills had made him a powerful figure on Zandar.
If Madena were captured, the funds of the Red Viscontes would fall into Alphonse's lap. There would be a limited amount of resources to purchase supplies and pay soldiers their wages. The Red Viscontes would collapse without those funds.
Before the combined forces of Victor and Alphonse could think of these places, the counties of Count Beluga and Count Lamaro needed to be dealt with. With this in mind, Victor suggested that Alphonse's army march southwest to deal with Count Beluga, while he and Field Marshal Wellesley marched southeast to deal with Count Lamaro.
When the had succeeded in conquering the places, they would meet at the faction border and begin their three pronged assault into the Red Viscontes' territory.