I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

Trench warfare was something that dealt a direct dimensionality-reduction strike against feudal dynasties.

For the attacking side, having an entire division wiped out in an organized manner within ten minutes was not considered anything particularly unusual.

Without a systematic education system to cultivate a strong sense of national identity, winning favorable battles was one thing—but expecting an army to fight desperately for you like this was no simple matter.

Or rather, the cost of training and selection, along with the effort invested, was simply too immense. The number of such troops could never be large. And for those who were truly willing to die for the kingdom, the royal family would most likely be reluctant to expend them in such a manner.

Although the security situation in the White Zone had not been very good over the years, the small regimes that managed to rise to power had all fully adopted the standardized military training of the Seris Alliance. Their combat capabilities and ideological conditioning had both been comprehensively strengthened.

Their weaponry and equipment were also systematized—tanks, artillery, machine guns, rifles—all were in place, sufficient to support a medium-intensity war.

Most interestingly, the Kingdom of Cabansia was the invading side, which provided the Seris Alliance with ample justification in terms of international morality. Moreover, the corrupt discipline and behavior of the kingdom’s forces had stirred intense resistance among the people of the White Zone.

Citizens from the White Zone working within the Alliance either returned directly to their homeland to prepare for enlistment, or organized protests within Alliance territory, widely spreading the atrocities committed by Cabansia soldiers and arousing public sympathy.

Small-scale riots also broke out in Muller Port and Tagra Port, where Cabansian military personnel and civilians stormed the governor’s office, leading to bloody clashes and the deaths of several government staff.

Taking advantage of this, the Alliance’s military command quickly obtained official authorization and formally deployed nearby state air forces to conduct bombing strikes on military-industrial facilities within Cabansia.

A Gringol Bomber aviation division was redeployed to the nearest Red Zone—Manarazani State.

At present, the division was the largest organizational unit within the Alliance Air Force. It consisted of four 64+4 aviation groups and an additional 4 aircraft under the division headquarters, totaling 276 aircraft and over a thousand ground personnel.

Within a single month, including the capital of Cabansia, the kingdom suffered over 800 sorties of aerial bombardment by the Alliance Air Force.

Industrial cities and rear transportation networks were successively destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Kurgs State Front Army in the White Zone had largely eliminated the small-unit Kingdom forces that had infiltrated its territory. Relying on tracked infantry fighting vehicles and all-terrain vehicles, they conducted wide-area mobile sweeps, gradually pushing the front line back to the original border.

On the Putum front, the Kingdom’s forces suffered devastating blows. After accepting the surrender of enemy troops in the main battlefield region, the Putum State forces shifted from defense to offense, advancing into Cabansian territory. The overall situation was completely reversed.

Meanwhile, on the Main Continent, the Kingdom of Pue Lent signed a non-aggression treaty with the Dmitria Church, while six nations re-signed a new strategic military alliance agreement.

At the end of September, the Kingdom of Ikesia and the Kingdom of Pue Lent simultaneously launched an undeclared war against the Kingdom of Suria. The two kingdoms formed a coalition army of nearly 500,000 troops and launched a fierce offensive.

King Bratt Surya of Suria was completely stunned.

Having relied on the Alliance for nearly fifty years, the Kingdom of Suria had grown accustomed to stability. It had never imagined that neighboring nations would dare attack. Caught off guard, it suffered heavy losses, losing several major regions in succession.

To make matters worse, both the Britian Empire and the Dmitria Church also acted behind the scenes. Based on the newly signed secret strategic alliance treaty, they too joined the war.

In an extremely short time, Suria lost nearly half of its territory.

Kawaventar State, once Bratt’s personal fief, had been the region he invested the most effort into developing. It managed to withstand the first wave of invasion by the Kingdom of Pue Lent, but its situation was far from optimistic.

Given the momentum of the multi-nation coalition, it would not take long before Kawaventar State was encircled. At that point, no matter how strong its defenses were, it would be unable to withstand pressure from all sides.

Even more fatally, the former Crown Prince Belam appeared within the allied forces, shaking King Bratt’s legitimacy.

Especially at a time when the kingdom was in turmoil, Belam’s appearance provided the people of Suria with psychological reassurance: even if they surrendered, the kingdom would still remain the same kingdom, with no real change.

This greatly weakened the people’s will to resist.

News of the sudden upheaval on the Main Continent quickly reached the Alliance through intelligence networks. When Mitia saw the report, she could not help but gasp.

A thought emerged in her mind: ‘How dare they?’

Then she recalled that the Seris Alliance had indeed not fought a war for many years, and she realized that her own arrogance had been the mistake.

The allied nations owed massive debts to both Seris and Suria, while internal instability was rising. Their motivation to jointly launch a war to default on those debts was more than sufficient.

Mitia also realized she had overlooked the consequences of previous economic exploitation. In the Dmitria Church alone, the people’s savings had been completely drained, and they still owed enormous debts. Without launching an external war, internal collapse was inevitable—they had been driven into a corner like trapped beasts.

The Alliance’s displayed strength might have been sufficient to deter others in peacetime, but it had never truly been demonstrated. Their decision to take action was unexpected to Mitia, yet logically consistent.

Madness required little rationality. As long as they could secure benefits from Suria and the Ernesto Republic, it would be enough to relieve their internal pressures. If they could also take a bite out of the Alliance, even better. That alone was enough to ignite war.

Moreover, because the two kingdoms had long stationed large forces along their borders, they used these border troops as the main force at the outbreak of war. This allowed them to evade early detection by the Alliance’s intelligence network, delaying the Alliance’s response.

In the short term, the Alliance could not provide Suria with much more than material support. Aside from deploying heavy bombers to devastate coalition logistics, even the navy could not be sent.

After all, given the posture of the allied nations, a naval blockade against the Alliance was inevitable.

According to intelligence estimates, the surrounding nations possessed over thirty export-version Zhiyuan-class cruisers. Forming one or two joint fleets would pose no issue.

As for the Alliance itself, it maintained 50 cruisers to ensure absolute naval superiority, along with a total of 7 newly launched battleships.

One fleet—composed of one battleship and five cruisers—was still stationed in the country where Mitia’s blood relatives resided and had not returned. Another fleet of the same scale had escorted support personnel to the Ernesto Republic.

The remaining five battleships were hidden as a strategic reserve, currently undergoing outfitting and sea trials at shipyards on the opposite side of Seris. Even if deployed immediately, it would take at least two weeks to reach the front.

In other words, the Alliance’s current frontline naval strength was not significantly superior to that of the coalition. It was sufficient for defense, but dispersing forces for support would expose gaps along the Alliance’s extensive coastline.

However, doing nothing was not an option either.

At the very least, a ground force had to be deployed into Surian territory to maintain a strategic foothold, reducing resistance for future landing operations.