Prince Phrames asked, "Will the Prince of Vesthar pose any problems?"
Chartiphon shook his head. "Vesthar is in terrible shape after being hit first by the Army of the Trygath and then by Styphon's Grand Host. The Prince is dead, Vesthar Town is in ruins and the new Prince is fourteen winters old; he doesn't even have a mustache yet!"
There was a chorus of laughter.
"The Great Queen and I decided not to incorporate Vesthar, the easternmost of the Trygathi princedoms, into the new Kingdom of Rathon, since it would only end up being a bone of contention between us and the Styphoni, as they must have control of the area beyond the Nyklos Trail for their supply trains. Furthermore, there's nothing left in that backwater Princedom worth fighting over. Tarr-Vesthar was a wooden stockade that the Styphoni burned to the foundations the first moon quarter they were in Vesthar. The Styphoni have put up a few watchtowers along the Nyklos Trail, but they could be picked clean in a matter of days. The Styphoni believe they have the initiative, but as Kalvan and I discussed last night, it's we who have them in the pincers from behind and from the front."
Chartiphon sat back down and Kalvan said, "Thank you, King Chartiphon, for that concise and accurate account." Everyone was starting to talk, so to grab their attention Kalvan banged on the table with the handle of his poignard. "As you can see, we are not just going to sit and wait for the Grand Host to dictate the terms of this war. King Chartiphon will head the Army of Rathon and we will support him with another two thousand Royal Cavalry, mostly cuirassiers. It will be their job, along with the Rathoni Royal Cavalry, to keep the auxiliaries honest and see to the division of spoils. This may not seem like an important part of the war against the Host, but it may be the most critical arm of the campaign, or even the war itself, in terms of our ability to survive the next winter.
"The Grand Host of Styphon is on its way here with the sole mission of utterly and completely destroying Thagnor City. It is up to us to see that mission is thwarted. Our new earthworks and walls are almost finished; they are the strongest fortifications in the Middle Kingdoms. No, not the biggest, but the hardest to penetrate. If the Grand Host was baffled by the walls around Rathon City, they will be completely stopped in their tracks by our fortifications. The strength of our walls will force them to besiege the City, which means the siege will not be over until winter arrives. Therefore, we will not be able to plant any crops outside the city walls and they will strip every field and farm they find like locusts. To stop them, we will raze and burn all the fields outside the walls before the Styphoni reach our walls; all farmers and landholders will be compensated for their loss by the Throne. We have the advantage of being able to plant some crops in the area between the second and third walls-unless they're breached. I do not consider that a real possibility with the artillery that the Grand Host presently has at its disposal."
King Chartiphon nodded to get his attention. When Kalvan recognized him, Chartiphon said, "Your Majesty, the Styphoni had all their guns aimed at our earthworks around Rathon City and they were as useless as spit on armor! The earth accepts shot like a woman's embrace and the Host's only recourse will be to attack in towers, which only go to the edge of the earthen walls-if they can get past the trenches and redoubts. At the base of the earthen wall, they are underneath the hoardings, giving our handgunners an opportunity to shoot them into tatters. The walls of Thagnor are higher and deeper than those the Styphoni faced in Rathon, although my subjects are now at work laboring to build our own walls higher and wider."
"Well said, King Chartiphon," Kalvan replied. "Therefore, with this siege running through the fall, our real enemy will not be Styphon's House but our subjects' stomachs. We will be able to import foodstuffs from Gytha, Vulthar and Zykthos, but not enough to get us through the next winter. We will own the Sea of Aesklos and will be getting some supplies from Hos-Agrys, but don't be surprised if the Styphoni begin work on a fleet of their own as soon as they can bring in shipbuilders from Tarr-Ceros. Thus, the real war this year will be over food, not land."
Kalvan paused to let that sink in, while knocking out the dottle from his pipe bowl. Here-and-now armies before the Fireseed Wars had been small affairs numbering less than ten thousand men on both side, who'd foraged most of their foodstuffs from local farmers and towns; thus logistics had never been part of here-and-now's Art of War. With armies in the high tens of thousands on both sides, foodstocks and military supplies might well determine who won the war.
"Therefore, our first and foremost goal in this campaign is to deprive the Grand Host of reinforcements and provisions from Hos-Ktemnos and Tarr-Cerros. By holding the Nyklos Trail we can keep the majority of materiel, recruits and victuals from reaching the Host. However, since our own supplies have been greatly diminished by the winter, we will need to fill our granaries and warehouses with the foodstuffs intended for the Grand Host."
"Ha, we'll bugger the Grand Host from the outside, where their arse is hangin' in the wind!" said Sarrask.
There was laughter and a loud chorus of "Down Styphon!"
When the uproar was over, Kalvan continued, "This war is going to be won at the end of the day by he who has a full stomach. And I mean to see the Styphoni are on thin rations!"
There was another round of cheering with lots of "Long Live Great King Kalvan!" and "Praise Dralm and Galzar Wolfhead!"
Kalvan raised his hands. "Next, I would like to have Trader Kostran, who has just arrived overland from Greffa City, come up and tell us about the current political situation in Grefftscharr. Kostran."
The Trader stood up and made a half-bow towards Kalvan. Then he turned to face the seated Hostigi dignitaries. "As most of you know, we did manage to blow up the Verkan Fireseed Works after Trader Tortha's departure, which means that Theovacar no longer has a reliable source of fireseed. A number of smaller fireseed works have sprouted up, but without Verkan's experience-learned in Hostigos-it will be several winters before they perfect the formula and get their production up enough to provide a steady source of fireseed. However, before I left, a wagon train from the Grand Host arrived with several tons of fireseed and maybe a thousand arquebuses and old calivers."
"Down Styphon!" cried several voices.
Kostran waited until it was quiet before continuing. "Fortunately, most of Theovacar's soldiers are not accustomed to fireseed weapons and much of the fireseed will be wasted in training exercises. The guns appear to be battlefield scrapings and many are the worse for wear."
There was a sigh of relief from several generals.
"As you can see, General Verkan who was badly wounded in Sashta has returned from the dead! Praise Galzar!"
Verkan rose to his feet and made a half-bow.
There was an enthusiastic chorus of hoots and cheers.
Uncle Wolf Tharses rose, saying a brief prayer of thanks to the Wargod for delivering their friend and ally when he was needed.
When he was finished, Kostran continued, "This winter King Theovacar entertained Great King Lysandros and others of his party. They will probably continue to send him enough fireseed to get the Grefftscharrer Army through the spring campaign season and aid King Theovacar in setting up his own fireseed production. Knowing Theovacar, I don't believe this means Styphon's House will be allowed to set up their own temple farms and production sheds. It's safe to assume that Theovacar and the Styphoni have worked out an alliance."
Kostran had to pause as a rumble of voices broke across the room. King Kalvan held up his hand to quiet the room down.
"The plan, as it was described to me by one of our agents, is that the Grand Host will attack Thagnor from the south, while the Greffan Navy will attack from the north and the Army will trek across the lower peninsula to hit Thagnor from the west. In return for his military support, Grefftscharr will be given full suzerainty over Thagnor once it's been conquered, with the addition of the Princedom of Gytha."