"Lorope Empire began a war against us?" I asked Kajar, disbelieving what he had just said.

The old man Lupus, opened his eyes wide at the news. Vin Chaldoon almost choked his white cat. While Vizier Vold began estimating the future war expenses with his silver abacus.

"Yes, Emperor Lustratous sent us a letter confirming it," replied Vizier Kaljar by handing the letter to me. "It is sent to you."

I opened the letter, and this is what it said:

"You will not remain a king for too long." - Emperor Lustratous

What a bold letter.

"Though the surprising fact is that a mere army of 5,000 soldiers is marching toward us," Kaljar said. "The whole Lorope Empire army is about 100,000 or ten legions. Yet they are only sending against us half a legion. Are they mocking us?"

A single legion equals 10,000 men. A legion is a square block of sturdy men that follow a precise formation. Inside this square block are ten other square blocks called cohorts.

The cohort blocks at the front of a legion usually carry a heavy shield, and a are heavily armored. This protection guards them against the initial clash of swords and arrows of the opposing legion. We call these cohorts the shield cohorts.

The cohorts behind the shield cohorts are the sword cohorts. And behind the sword cohorts are the bows cohorts. As their names imply, they wear light armor and are equipped with swords and bows of every kind to deal as much damage as possible to the enemy.

This legion formation I have described is the standard formation we use in the kingdom. Obviously, the structure of the legions and their composition differs widely from one general to another, and from one country to another.

"It could either be a mockery or a strategy," I replied. "Do you know the location of the rest of Lorope's army?" I asked.

"The remaining 9 legions are close to the Lorope capital. Quite far away from causing any immediate danger," Kaljar replied.

"This is good," I said. "If Lorope's 10 legions were to march against us we would be in trouble for our whole army size is 5 legions only. Isn't it Kaljar?"

"Yes Your Majesty," Kaljar replied. "The army was undergoing naval training. Three legions are currently on the south-west shore while the remaining two legions are on the south-east shore. Because of this, we need about a month for the whole army to be fully equipped and ready to battle."

So we will have to drag this war for a month to use our full strength. This is not looking good.

"A whole month is too long," I said. "How much time do you need to bring up a single legion to the war?"

"I can arrange a fully-equipped legion within a week," Kaljar replied. "But I will need 100,000 gold coins to prepare a single legion with arms and horses and pay its salaries for a single year."

"So we will need 500,000 gold coins to maintain our 5 legions each year," I said. "Vold, how much can we use from our treasury for our legions?"

We need to know for how long we can entertain this war before we run dry.

Vold fiddled with his abacus for a minute then said, "We can use half of our gold coins for the legions, Your Majesty. We currently have about 2,000,000 gold coins at the treasury, using any more than half of it will harm our economy."

"This means that this war can only last for two years before we get into debt," I said.

"Wars usually last for five years and more. We may enter into debt rather quickly," said Vold.

"So we need to find another source of income," I said. "But what about Lorope Empire's financial standing?"

"This is what makes the war even more peculiar Your Majesty," said Kaljar. "If they used all their 10 legions, they can only fight this war for a single year before they fall into debt. I suspect this is why they had only sent half a legion to against us, to get a sense of how strong is our army. Then based on that they will deploy more legions as needed."

Is this even a proper strategy?

And as we were focusing on understanding the situation, we received a spear of negativity.

Chaldoon who was listening to us with an open mouth spoke up. "Your Highest Eminence, let us give up this war. We cannot win."

"And why is that?" I asked.

"They have Salamander," Chaldoon replied. "Or have you all forgotten about what it did in the Three-Year-War?"

Chaldoon's hands shivered.

"Fine," I replied then eyed the two viziers. "What do you think about Chaldoon's argument?"

"Salamander is certainly a major threat," Vizier Kaljar replied. "But we cannot give up our kingdom to Lorope after the massacre they did to us in the Third-Year-War. We must avenge."

The death of the 190,000 out of the 200,000 soldiers in the Third-Year-War is still recent. Countless wives had lost their husbands. Some cowered in fear, and others leaked their rage to their kids. Opening up the topic of the Third-Year-War to the kingdom's public is always accompanied with boiling hate and anger.

Kaljar had lost his father, general Laiman, in the war who was shining with many successful campaigns. Surely Kaljar was waiting for this moment to avenge him.

"I agree with Kaljar," replied Vizier Vold. "Also, just because Salamander had appeared in the last war does not mean that he will appear in this one. Salamander's last appearance before the Third-Year-War was 500 years ago. So it would not be illogical to say that he will only appear after another 500 years."

"And what if he appeared in this war?" said Chaldoon. "What can we do besides wait for our inevitable deaths? If we give up, Salamander may spare us."

"Chaldoon you misunderstand," I said. "What you should be afraid of is not Salamander, but humans. Remember, I still have not punished you."

I stood up from my throne.

"Vin Chaldoon, I hereby confiscate all your possessions; gold, banks, production houses, and other assets for harming my Vizier and delaying your suppliers' payments. You will remain in jail until further notice."

Chaldoon looked awestruck. "What? Do you realize what you are doin--"

"Guards take him away," I interrupted.

Two guards dragged Chaldoon from his legs outside the palace hall, while his white cat followed him.

"And as a reward for being silent, Lupus shall only be whipped 10 times," I said.

A single guard dragged Lupus from his leg while the old man shouted to get his brown stick back.

"Well then, back to the war," I said. "Since the public is afraid of Salamander I will have to give a speech to clear things up."

"A great idea Your Majesty," said Kaljar. "The soldiers looked anxious after they realized that Lorope started a war. Your words will soothe and steel their hearts."

"I hope so," I replied. "Vold, with Chaldoon's gold how long can maintain this war without debt?"

"Chaldoon has 1,500,000 gold coins," Vizier Vold replied. "So we can sustain the war expenses for three more years to total five years."

"I am glad Chaldoon did his wrong deed," I said. "With this, we are done with the war expenses."

"But the manpower difference remains," Kaljar said. "It is difficult for an army of 50,000 soldiers to win against 100,000 soldiers. But I have a suggestion, Your Majesty."

"Say it," I said.

"How about we start military conscription?" Kaljar asked.