[h2][color=Maroon]Krasimir[/color][/h2]
* [@TokyoPewPew] [@Dyelli Beybi]

The grizzled soldier was the last to rise at Lady Ariana's arrival, getting onto his bad leg and rising with a keening groan of effort. He waited a moment, perhaps expecting the senior men in the room to address the question first but when no one spoke he entered the silence, clearing his voice. "In truth, Your Grace, I think our positions may not be so far afield as might first appear, for we can do both. We've won ourselves a costly victory here at Rodelkog, but the battle is only half done: we need to exploit this success to the maximum benefit of ourselves and the maximal detriment of our ultimate enemy: the Haltians. That mine is money kept out of our enemy's pocket, put into ours and I might add that cesspool has been dark shadow hung over the heads of every man, woman and child of Inbur born into chains Your Grace; that is where they send us to die. Taking it and freeing those people means something: there's hardly a slave in the Haltian Empire hasn't had someone they know go into that pit, never to return. If we tarry though: the Haltians will recover and the moment will slip past us. Meanwhile the Blacks and Calarians will still be dealing with each other, look..." He gestured to the map, pointing out the Calarian and Black army positions - and the area they would have to travel to come north. "Neither of them can come inland, at us, without exposing their supply lines to the other. I don't know much about diplomacy. Maybe the Blacks and Haltians hatch some unholy union. But I know the military situation: they still gotta deal with the Calarian threat before they come at us. Right now, we sit in the center of things. Until the Empire recovers - and it will sooner than I think some here imagine possible - no one is in a position to really hurt us: but we can hurt them. Let's use that.

"Now as for going south, I'm no diplomat but Skotinodasos fancies he's read enough of them books he collects like he understands such things. So here's what he wanted me to put forward. The army finishes exploiting the situation here, take the mine and whatever other fat targets our lads can get eyes and ears on. If we want a ruse, we can send an envoy north and make noise that we're preparing to move in that direction but the south is more defensible. Discretely, we can approach the Calarians. They have their own markets and industry that can provide everything we need to prosecute our war on an ongoing basis. The got a grudge with the Blacks and no love for the Haltians. There's a deal to be done there. On the other hand: dealing with the Calarians is climbing into bed with a snake with so many heads there'll be no being rid of them once they're invited in. The Blacks might be a claimant and sooner or later we probably will come to blows but we'd remain our own masters, and one good chop is all it will to be rid of them. They have the sea and access to foreign markets. They can also provide what we need to prosecute a war. This is our object: play both parties to ensure we always have access to what we need. The things we need to defeat the field army the Haltians will reconstitute and send against us are the same things we need to start taking fortified towns and fortresses. If we can get that, beat them, [i]then[/i] we'll be in position to end this war.

"In essence, it's the same plan Colonel Szaalm proposed only we shall be extracting what we desire before ever putting our forces in danger and rather than being seen as ransomeers - we appear rather as friends, allies even, providing solutions to their mutual problem: the other existing. We can help the Calarians deal with a notorious pirate who has, so far, kept one step ahead of them. Or we can help the Blacks pry open the gates of Calaria so their sea witch can climb inside and gorge herself on the merchant republic's guilded insides. Two envoys, by the time the operation to secure the mine is complete, Your Grace should ideally have two competing offers awaiting your signature to choose from. At least, that is how Skotinodasos sees it. We might even manage the negotiations with the Blacks, we have contacts in the area. There are those we trust in Calaria too, but they would require letters of introduction."