It’s May now.
The warm sea breeze from the Mediterranean has blown to the Apennine Peninsula.
The entire journey from Verona to Bologna is 128 kilometers. The Emperor's coalition forces could only advance a short distance every day, often at a heavy price.
Imperial soldiers continued to die in the frequent attacks of synthetic forces, so that the morale of the army almost fell to the bottom.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Holy See was fighting a technologically asymmetric war with the Empire, where the latter was losing real lives, while the former was simply spending money.
If it weren't for the fact that the remains of the synths could be sold for a very high price in the military market after being killed, the soldiers from the various principalities would probably have rioted long ago.
The emperor and the dukes held high-level meetings one after another to discuss the next battle plan. The dukes said that the chances of winning were very low now, so it would be better to retreat to the foothills of the Alps before the Holy See cut off their retreat and completed the siege of the emperor's coalition forces.
However, the emperor refused.
Because the result of doing so is obvious. Once they retreat (whether it is a strategic turn or a rout), the soldiers will inevitably lose all faith to move forward, and it will be extremely difficult to drive them south to attack the Vatican.
Not to mention that launching this campaign itself has already overdrawn too much political prestige of the royal Saxon family. If they retreat and regroup at this time, all the previous efforts will be wasted.
As long as they entered the foothills of the Alps, which were easy to defend but difficult to attack, "leading the troops back home" would become another option that the dukes would have to consider along with "continuing the attack."
The emperor didn't even have to think about it to know which dukes would delay and which dukes would immediately propose to return home... or even instigate the knights to start a riot, forcing the emperor to submit.
Therefore, it is impossible to retreat. The most we can do is to be nailed here like a nail. If anyone dares to stir up civil strife and rebel against me, and the Vatican army breaks into the camp, we will all die together!
Faced with the old emperor's stubbornness, the dukes were helpless.
Everyone knows what the only belief that supports the emperor is:
The third demonic tide.
The first demonic tide was in July last year, and the second demonic tide was in January this year, so the interval was about half a year. But this thing is like menstruation, it may come earlier or later, and even the Vatican cannot predict it several months in advance.
Maybe the demon tide will come by June? Maybe it will come next week? After all, it is already May.
As soon as the demon tide comes, not only the synths and drones, but also the Templars equipped with prosthetic limbs will lose their combat effectiveness. Then the Emperor's coalition forces will be able to march southward like a hot knife through butter and secure victory in one fell swoop before the Vatican can react.
The emperor was gambling, using the reputation of the Saxon family and the lives of all the coalition forces, gambling that the devil's tide would suddenly come early.
Just when the situation was at a stalemate, a message from a Blade Knight spy reached the ears of the emperor who was presiding over the meeting, immediately making the old Frank man furious.
"Bring me that damn market!" Emperor Otto overturned the entire desk.