Julia still served as the Vice Commander of the home fleet.
Although Lorenzo had been transferred to the Southern Archipelago colonies to serve as the governor-general, Julia had not been promoted to Commander-in-Chief.
After Domenico realized that it was impossible to simply cast aside the team left by the former governor, he appointed Emilia as the Commander-in-Chief.
Emilia Sforza.
She was the eldest daughter of the Sforza family.
Her father had died young.
From then on, she had shouldered the entire burden of the family, taking over all of the family’s connections within the navy.
During the war 10 years ago, Emilia coordinated naval resources, effectively assisting the navy in annihilating a portion of the fleet that the Kingdom of Saint-Rémy had hastily dispatched.
However, she herself was not capable of commanding a single warship in combat, nor did she have years of experience serving at sea.
She was a staff-type talent.
When Lorenzo served as the Commander-in-Chief, he valued Emilia’s advice above all else.
None of that mattered now.
Domenico needed to win over the navy so they would not oppose the Governor’s Office over the next 6 months.
Otherwise, he would have long since appointed his own daughter — who knew absolutely nothing about the navy — as the Commander-in-Chief.
Thus, today was Julia’s first visit to Emilia as her subordinate.
Emilia was in the naval office by the marina, carefully studying the plan for this expedition.
Julia walked softly into the office, making sure not to disturb Emilia as she remained huddled over her desk, writing.
Julia already knew the plan for the 1,000-man expeditionary force, but she didn’t know if she should tell Liv.
Julia knew all too well that her father would take advantage of the Kingdom of Elves’ friendly attitude to exploit the elves to the greatest extent possible.
He might even mislead the Kingdom into believing that the elves were, to some degree, aware of the brutality of this operation.
Last night, Julia had repeatedly asked her father if there was a more moderate way to solve the problem.
Her father had asked her back sternly:
“Do you think there’s any other way? Have the Kingdom of Saint-Rémy cross the Polani River to help us defend? Or persuade those fence-sitters north of the Grand Duchy of Tiro?”
“Those dukes, marquises, princes, and bishops, mayors and knights, driving the steppe cavalry out of their territories? Are you kidding me!”
“We have no other choice. We either fight them in the Grand Duchy of Tiro or in the river basin. I still want to choose the latter.”
Julia knew that her father had already spoken with Emilia and the others who were most proficient in military affairs; there was already no other good way.
She watched quietly as Emilia studied the map, repeatedly erasing and rewriting parts of the plan.
After a long time, Emilia looked up, her eyes bloodshot.
“Julia, you’re here. Your father told you about the plan, didn’t he? Today, the Council passed the army’s budget. We lied and said it was only to expand a force to guard the capital.”
Julia nodded.
“Yes, I know.”
Emilia continued, “You have to understand your father. This is a last resort. Now we must use all our wisdom and sweat to ensure this raid has the maximum effect.”
“Also, I heard that you have a good relationship with Her Majesty the Queen of the Kingdom of Elves. Is that true? Can you persuade Her Majesty to give us enough support, just like the time we intimidated the Kingdom?”
Julia did not answer the first question.
She answered the second one directly.
“Last time, the Kingdom only had a small branch of steppe cavalry for deterrence. This time, the Kingdom has mobilized a large number of conscripted peasants and serfs. They won’t give up so easily.”
Emilia nodded.
She knew that asking the Kingdom of Elves to conduct a larger-scale deterrence was almost asking the impossible.
So, she stopped asking.
She called a subordinate and had them bring up some desserts and lemonade.
Emilia told Julia to eat some as well, and then she took a piece of almond candy herself to relieve the headache caused by overthinking.
Julia didn’t stand on ceremony either and took a cheese pastry.
The two women stared at the map while they ate.
Emilia had precisely marked the location of Pwonin on the upper reaches of the Great River.
She had also marked known turbulence, hidden reefs, and shoals in various sections of the river.
She even noted the suitable ways to travel upstream.
In some places, they could sail in a zigzag pattern using side winds; some places had backwater zones, but in many places, they might only be able to advance through strenuous rowing.
Fortunately, the river gunboats were not large.
Otherwise, they would have had to hire a massive number of trackers, which would have made it impossible to keep the secret.
The dwarf ports, the elf ports, the Republic’s ports, and even the ports of those minor lords were all marked one by one.
The positions of the Kingdom’s forts and even the signal towers on land were marked as much as possible based on known intelligence.
However, much of the intelligence on the signal towers was completely outdated.
The current deployment of the Republic’s navy was also fully marked on this map.
It was evident that for this operation, some warships had already been concentrated in the military port at the mouth of the Great River.
In the port, Emilia had even marked the elven warships.
The elves’ current flagship, the Larorweiya, was also docked in the military port.
Most of this intelligence came from Luca, the Governor of the Estuary, who co-managed the estuary with the elves.
Julia spoke up.
“If we give the Nameless Great Ship to the Kingdom of Elves at the right time, they will be very happy.”
Emilia looked up at Julia and nodded naturally.
“Yes. Of course. Although the ship’s gun turrets and deck facilities are not yet finished, I think it is very appropriate for you to gift it directly to Lady Livyat. This ship, as well as the Landingst Shipyard under the jurisdiction of the Shipbuilding Bureau, can all be placed under her personal control.”
“Julia, this is a favorable bargaining chip for your negotiations. Use it. Win as much elven support for us as possible.”
Julia nodded, but having briefly served as the General Administrator of the Shipbuilding Bureau, she had one major question.
“Lady Emilia, this giant ship has occupied the dry dock of our shipyard for far too long!”
“Have we not produced many fewer warships in these past few years because of it?”
Emilia was surprised by Julia’s insight.
“Yes, Julia. Due to the occupation of the dry dock and the deteriorating financial situation, the number of new warships we have commissioned in recent years has greatly decreased. Many old ships past their service life are still holding on. This includes our capital ships; some of them should actually have been decommissioned and scrapped, but they are still being patched up and used.”
“Most of the newly produced ships come from Kioran Port. This is also the reason Baur Dandolo has had the confidence to openly oppose the Governor’s policies in recent years. Her power base is right there. It’s a pity, though; the former Commander Lorenzo did not follow her wishes and instead chose to quickly side with Lord Domenico.”
“I think if the financial situation deteriorates further, we might truly become an obsolete navy.”
Emilia finally narrowed her eyes into slits and asked Julia tentatively: “Julia, your father’s policies clearly cannot be sustained much longer. Governor Marino also lacks the ability to stabilize the political situation. If this 1,000-man expedition fails, will you jump ship?”