Chapter 492 - Interlude - Legata Katerina - Military Machinations

Something was wrong.

Katerina’s [Legata’s Imperial Intuition] was hounding her. Telling her something was not right, and if she didn’t figure it out, they’d die.

That simple.

Water levels of Shuixi higher than usual for the time of year.

Annual festival next week. Likely to be held with additional vigor, due to surrendering and paying tribute to Zhao She and Wang Jian. Army participating.

Estimated 40,000 tons of raw clay in. 35,000 tons of pottery produced. Water is 20% of raw clay by weight. 3,000 ton discrepancy.

Iron composition of the Legion’s new armor: 84% iron, 8% bronze, 5% copper, traces of titanium, aluminum, tin, and other metals.

The Sixth Legion was attached to Zhao She’s army, who’d met up with their old employer, Wang Jian to siege the city of Shuixi. After some threatening and posturing, including threatening to let the ‘barbaric Ironside Brigade loose upon the women and children of the city’, and a three-day siege where the armies conspicuously built siege engines outside the wooden walls of the city, they’d capitulated with barely a shot fired.

High civic pride.

8% more cows than usual. 3% fewer sheep.

Utter lack of dinosaurs or other scaled animals.

Mountain snowcaps melting.

Katerina chewed on the inside of her cheek, a nervous habit, as she reviewed dozens of documents and thousands of pieces of information, debating if she needed to call a full officer’s meeting or not.

No, no. It’d be impossible to explain every piece of information she had available, and trying to corral the dozens of razor-sharp minds into a solution would take more effort than it was worth. If she knew what the problem was, she’d call the meeting in a heartbeat to find a solution.

City claims to have been founded on the remains of a slain celestial serpent. Densely packed, built up high as a result of the legend.

Primary export: leather and textiles.

Army’s food reserves: 20% pre-tribute, 80% post tribute. Legion reserves: 60%.

Mosquitoes seem unusually thick in Shuixi. Reported pests with levels.

Shuixi scents their streets with oregano.

Bridge tolls on three of four bridges.

There was something hiding in the vast reams of data she’d gathered. Some combination of effects trying to warn her of a tragedy.

It was hidden deeply, otherwise her skill would be highlighting it and screaming the details into her ear. Wasn’t the first time she almost had all the pieces of the puzzle and needed to work it out, wouldn’t be the last.

Primary construction material: wood.

Place reeks of leather chemicals and dyes.

Drills have been up 28% from normal. Friendly rivalry between Wang Jian and Zhao She? Burning off energy after prepping for the siege and not carrying through?

Legion morale at medium-high. The people spoiling for a fight are mad, the majority are relieved to have skipped a full battle.

The last datapoint had Katerina use [Of Two Minds] to think about the aspect in more detail.

We’re approaching three years, and the troops are tired. Should head home at the end of this season. Don’t tell anyone, they’ll be like horses smelling the barn. Too eager to get home, won’t do a damn thing properly until then.

“Get me Optio Coral, Optio Ardenus, and Tribune Hazel.” Katerina ordered one of her [Messengers]. They were out the door in a flash, the three officers making their way to the command structure.

Siege weapons being dismantled by Zhao She, but not burned.

Starvation likelihood over the winter for the city: near guaranteed. Problem is far future, not immediate, wouldn’t trigger [Intuition].

Library is regionally famous.

The officers entered and saluted, waiting for Katerina to acknowledge them. She gestured to the table, wordlessly asking them to join her.

“Something is wrong.” She said without preamble. “Coral, Hazel, Pierce. I’m calling an audit. Lean on Dawn, she’s got terrifying information processing abilities while being properly independent. Ardenus, I want all your scouts out on patrol. Tap a few extra lines from the 3rd cohort if you need the bodies. I want the patrols fast and light. Don’t get me full breakdowns of hostile forces, I just want to know if there’s any trace of a hostile force. Lastly, I want every scrap of information that hasn’t yet made it to my desk, and any ideas what could be wrong. Go.” The Legata ordered.

Offensive mage distribution is highly unusual for the army. 31% base Earth, 54% base Metal, 22% Wind, 13% Light, 8% Dark, 6% Wood, 5% Water, 4% Fire.

The distribution naturally didn’t add up to any nice number. Lava, for example, was counted in both Earth and Fire, while pure Metal was only counted once. The counting methodology was odd, but as long as it was standard, deviations and variations stood out in large sample sizes.

Correcting for Dullahan cultural quirks, the difference is more reasonable. Wind, Wood, Water are up, Fire, Dark, Light are down.

Full moons tonight.

Northerly breeze.

Rain likely tomorrow.

Pterodactyl migration season.

Immortal Cache discovered nearby.

“Legata. I have one unusual detail to report.” Tribune Hazel volunteered.

“Speak.” Katerina ordered. Hazel licked her lips, and Katerina prepared to suffer a less than amazing piece of information. Hazel was excellent at her job, but anything new would likely come from Coral or Ardenus.

“Wang Jian has invited us to participate in the Lunar Festival next week.” She reported. Katerina lifted an eyebrow, not wanting to reprimand Hazel for stating the obvious, but letting her know she wasn’t impressed. The tribune hurried to make her point.

“We’re mercenaries, or so they think. We never get invited to participate in things. Why now? Why here? The city’s just surrendered, they don’t want us ‘barbarians’ ravaging the poor townsfolk. Usually they’d give us busywork sixteen miles away, not invite us to join. Not invite us to make lanterns for them. Granted, that’s busywork too, but a third of the Legion is busy making those red paper lanterns they love so much.”

Katerina drummed her finger. She’d made similar noises back when the invitation had been extended, but as uninspired as Hazel’s information was, she decided to look at it in new light.

Main gate is double barred with a murder corridor. Still taking down the siege barricades.

Leather consumption up 11%. Boot repair primary culprit.

Legion has taken a liking to yak.

Zhao She’s banners have been torn, are under repair.

Average recruiting age is down.

Arrow production is up.

“Walk with me.” Katerina ordered, clasping her hands behind her back and strolling out of the command structure.

Circling round and round in the same environment was getting her nowhere. A change of pace, a pair of fresh eyes on the various elements could be just what was needed. That, and a thought had occurred to her, a famous lesson every officer of Exterreri studied.

War Sentinel Flood had gained her moniker for a reason, and the combination of flat plains, snowy mountains, high water levels and impending rain had Katerina concerned that they might be flooded out. Looking at the situation could give her new perspective on the matter, able to identify if the Legion was about to be flooded out, potentially devastating the Legion.

The Legata climbed up onto the walls, her guards escorting her, while her scribes followed along dutifully. Reed, second-in-command Pierce, and the rest of her command staff came along.

“Legata. Legata.” Pairs of soldiers snapped to crisp attention as she passed, throwing enthusiastic salutes.

“At ease.” Katerina replied with a smile to each one.

Adjustment: Morale higher than before.

The nagging sense of doom didn’t diminish with the new information. Instead, it was only going stronger.

Katerina looked out onto the field around Shuixi. The armies had almost entirely encircled the city, and now that the siege was lifted, hadn’t bothered to reform back into a tight tent, instead choosing to simply party where they were.

Booze rations down significantly across the board.

There was far less drinking and alcohol flowing than Katerina anticipated, leading her to think that maybe the reports they’d gotten on how much tribute had been paid were wrong, or her estimates of their reserves were off. That, or they were anticipating one huge party at the festival itself.

Was that the missing piece of the puzzle? Was that what was wrong?

The sky darkened and the moons rose, full and foreboding. As red as the lanterns they were designing. Wang Jian himself came along with a large escort and collected a batch of the lanterns. It grated a bit to be used as base manual labor like this, but what could they do? It was part of the cover, and it was more fun than thousands of other tasks they could’ve been asked to do.

Katerina forced herself to remain stately. To pace at an appropriate speed. Everyone looked to her to see and set the mood, and if she was running in a panic, the Legion would get into a panic. If she was seen as calm and in control, the Legion would be calm and in control. Panic beget panic. Calm beget calm.

Katerina scanned the Legion, picking out dozens of faces and names out of the crowd. Always-reliable Wren noticed her glance and waved. Tribune Callus was laughing with his centurions and a number of other members, all of them making the red lanterns as an activity and drinking. Dawn and Auri had made their own, although the phoenix - a phoenix - had decided to light her own a little early.

It promptly went up in flames, like everything a phoenix did. Katerina smiled at the pair bickering like an old married couple, the Sentinel losing to a non-stop stream of brrrpts.

Her smile faded as she got the last piece of the puzzle. As it all clicked together.

As a thousand lanterns all along the south side of the encampments were lit.

As a thousand burning torches took to the sky.

The resisting city. The densely packed wood. The [General of a Thousand Jade Scrolls]. The slight increase in Wind mages. The city not being a Wei city, the sheer brutality of a civil war.

They were going to burn the city to the ground.

With everyone still inside.

And that meant…

Katerina whirled on Optio Coral.

“Population of Shuixi! Now!” She ordered.

Coral stammered out a number.

Katerina swore and put a hand on Reed’s shoulder. He could let her ‘borrow’ his skills, at the same time he could borrow hers. It worked nicely, and she roared out to the entire Legion, damn the diplomatic consequences.

They didn’t matter at this point, not if they all died.

“Sixth Legion! TO ARMS! Full assembly! Every last one of you, get out there, now!”

“Get me Dawn.” She snarled at Reed, and a little click in her ear let her know the channel was open.

Flighty, bleeding-heart Dawn wouldn’t be able to resist trying to save the citizens of Shuixi, and Katerina grudgingly approved. It was the same instinct that had led to her current power level, and one here again, gone again Dawn was still worth more than an entire line of Optio Henrietta’s.

It didn’t mean Katerina wasn’t going to try and steer Dawn to protecting the Legion, and with the right knowledge, she would.

“Dawn, when you get the notification, immediately return.” Katerina ordered.

Only the fastest [Speedsters] were assembled on the field outside the fortress, but it was enough. Enough for Katerina’s trump skill [Empire of Nightmares, We Fight In The Shade, We Are Masters Of the Darkness, Rise Up, Shadows of the Legion!].

“Arise!”

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Got a little bit of a note on this chapter. I wrote (mostly) this version, then went back and edited in ~1500 words. I tried something new, something possibly interesting. Betas HATED the new version, so I reverted because I'm not a stubborn old goat and I can listen to feedback. However, I kept it around - if you want to read it, it's here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i9LH9onNO70g8eTLcG5EvCeLRv0vuzqaCM0SkCszVHA/edit