“Coalition forces repulsed back into Poznek! Queen Louise Alois has confirmed this morning that the combined Gallian, Lorathian, and Orlish Armies have pushed the CFN back into their starting lines in Poznek. General Elias Holl of Army Group Gallia has confirmed that allied forces have inflicted significant casualties on retreating coalition forces as well. On the other hand, in Southern Gallia, Lombardian, and Larissan forces have now withdrawn from their gains. With CFN forces digging in on the Western Front, MN forces are starting their preparations for a possible punch into the Pozneki Republic.”
- Geopol Press
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West Orland
Duchy of Rimwurz
November Palace
August 3, 2025
Amelie, Nia, and William entered the door toward the situation room. Inside, military personnel of the OHC and the Royal Guard filled the room. Members from the various intelligence agencies, the OPM, AFI, RIU, and the NID were also inside. On the seats were some of the most critical cabinet members of the Orlish Government as well.
Minister of Defense, Pristina Dubois.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adelaide Wallenstein.
And of course, Minister of the Economy, Anne Wittfield.
That, alongside Prime Minister Jacqueline Heiss and Deputy Prime Minister Walter Plock, and the Orlish civilian government was fully inside. Amelie immediately went to her seat just beside Jacqueline, while Nia sat beside her, and William sat beside Nia. In front of them, General Albrecht and Admiral Halberd prepared for the presentation as the rest of the room filed in for their seats.
Amelie immediately clapped with a smile.
“Alright then, everyone, I’d like to say once again that…congratulations, we have done great work for the past few months.”
She paused, watching as everyone fell silent.
“We’ve launched one of the greatest offensives to save Gallia, and we did save Gallia. We’ve stubbornly held in Kusari and Hebei. We’ve also finally placed some of our forces in Latia and Constania. That’s a lot of nations we have helped, right, Minister Wallenstein?”
Adelaide nodded.
“Those countries are very thankful for Orland’s help, Your Majesty,” Adelaide said. “Orland’s standing in the Mandate of Nations remains secure. They trust us…nominally. And that’s what matters. The alliance stands.”
Amelie nodded.
“Indeed. And most importantly, we stopped any undue escalation after that…incident in Northern Gallia. We’ve now also begun a process of creating another deterrence policy with our chemical weapons being publicly sent to our allies. And we’ve begun mass civilian drills and preparations to protect our people.”
“We’ve certainly done a lot…” Jacqueline nodded. “But there’s still too much to do.”
“Not of course discounting the reforms we finally got out,” Amelie said, as some men in the room smiled a bit. “And the increasing industrial production from our factories…”
Anne smiled on the side, a bit proud of herself.
“Now why am I saying this?” Amelie asked, as her smile turned into a determined expression. “Because I want you to know that you are doing good work, ladies and gentlemen. The setbacks we have suffered for the past few months have been great setbacks. But look at us. We’re all here in this room, still standing, and still working.”
General Albrecht grinned as he crossed his arms.
“Let’s do more good work then,” he said, as Amelie smiled and nodded.
“Indeed, do more good work, General. So, please! Tell us now what our next moves are. We made great strides, General. I want us to continue to strike. To strike fast, hard, and well.”
“If that’s what Her Majesty wants,” General Albrecht tapped his baton on the screen behind him. “Then let’s begin with our plan for the next few months. Operation Citadel, and Operation Eastern Jade.”
Amelie crossed her arms as she sat. The presentation finally began in front of them. General Albrecht looked back at the audience, as he prepared a question.
“Your Majesty, Miss Prime Minister, I’d like to ask. Which one would you like first?”
“Tell us about Operation Eastern Jade, General,” Amelie said.
“I’m of the same opinion,” Jacqueline replied as she focused on the presentation.
General Albrecht nodded, turned back, and looked at Admiral Halberd. The leader of the navy gave a quick gesture to one of the aides. Immediately the screens in front of them showed a map of East Vaeyox. Battle lines soon appeared. It showed the territories controlled by the Mandate of Nations in blue and the territories controlled by the Coalition of Free Nations in red.
“Admiral Halberd, I believe this is your job.”
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“Heh, if only Zimmerman was here,” the Admiral complained as he replaced General Albrecht. Many officers from the OHC smiled or laughed slightly at that.
“Well, ole Zimmerman is too busy bombing everyone,” the General patted the Admiral’s shoulder as he went to his seat.
“Now! Everyone, onto here,” Admiral Halberd said. “Operation Eastern Jade will be a mission conducted by the Orlish Navy, Orlish Marine Corps, the Royal Guard of Orland, and of course, the Orlish Air Force. Our goal: to secure Hebei and Kusari.”
The maps disappeared as the slides moved. First, it showed the reports from the recent months, as videos of combat were shown on the side.
“Ever since the ninth of June last month, when we started our counteroffensive in North Gallia, the east has been nominally neglected by Orlish forces for a while. The East Vaeyox Allied Command however have staunchly held on in Kusari and Hebei, with our forces and forces from the Asanian Empire aiding our beleaguered allies on the east.”
Then, he showed the rapid advances of the CFN with the next slide’s map. It was almost a timelapse of the last months.
“The enemy however are fast and powerful. Both Hebei and Kusari, with their woefully underequipped and undertrained armed forces, were pushed back deep into their interior. South Hebei fared well, yes. Empress Xue Li and her forces have been doing their best to stalemate the North Hebeian forces. But…but in the south…”
The red colors of the CFN plunged deep into Kusari, taking over the northwestern parts of the country. Then, it stopped near their Empire’s capital. Rajabad City.
“Kusari is getting closer and closer to a crisis reminiscent of what Gallia faced. South Hebei in comparison is doing well. Their capital, Yanhai City, is nearly a thousand kilometers from the recently lost territories in the Ginzhu Province. The frontlines however are now only two hundred kilometers away from Rajabad.”
The map emphasized that greatly on the next slide. It was a full-on battle map of the region. Amelie looked at the units on the frontline. She could see multiple KDUs and Marine Corps units positioned side-by-side with their Kusari counterparts. She even saw what appeared to be two Asanaian armored brigades.
Against them were multiple divisions of the Larissan, Pozneki, and North Hebeian forces. It doesn’t look good. Amelie frowned. Our forces seem to be lacking in numbers and quality. Meanwhile, they have entire armored and mechanized divisions poised to plunge through those flat lands. This will be a disaster soon.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we’re not looking very fine here. We are, in no short words, at risk of losing Kusari’s most important city and region. That is unacceptable. And, as you may know well, their Empress and government have been railing in the MN for support and assistance. That will be the focus of Operation Eastern Jade.”
Someone suddenly barged inside the room. Amelie turned to look at who it was. Breathing deeply, almost as if he ran to get here, it was Chief Air Marshall Zimmerman. Amelie chuckled.
“Apologies everyone,” the leader of the Air Force said. “I had to deal with emergencies in Hebei. They almost nibbled on two of our squadrons. I had to oversee the engagement quite closely.”
“And I have no problem with that, Chief Air Marshall,” Amelie replied. “Please take your seat. Admiral Halberd, do continue please.”
“Now, onto what Operation Eastern Jade will do, our goal is to stop them at all costs at the gates of Rajabad and retake a more defensible position over the northwest. But we cannot do that without strategic bullshittery. We will bait the enemy into the wrong direction before we launch our attack there.”
Next, the Admiral showed the coast between the North Hebeian Republic and the Asanaian Empire, also known as the East Hebei Sea. Units were then shown, both the identified coastal control by the North Hebei Navy and the combined navies of South Hebei and Asanai. And of course, the two Orlish Strike Forces present.
“Empress Xue Li has lost the Ginzhu Province campaign, but…but, everyone, the Ginzhu axis is still contested. Thus, it is unfortified. Forming in the eastern coastlines of South Hebei are two Asanaian armored corps, made up of nearly seven hundred tanks. On the coasts are Strike Force Seven and Strike Force Five of the 2nd Fleet. Made up of yes, Your Majesty, your brother is in it. The venerable ONS Rebenslof, and its sister ship, the ONS Cuirassier.”
Amelie breathed in deeply.
“And what will my brother Albert find himself in?” Amelie asked, now shifting to a more uncomfortable tone. “I hope this operation won’t be needlessly dangerous like the last ones. He had himself nearly sunk many times already.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Your Majesty,” Admiral Halberd waved it off. “The North Hebeians only inherited four conventional carriers from the Imperial Hebeian Navy. Which means Albert can pull it off. They’ll be joined by one of the Asanaian carriers anyway for this diversionary attack. And trust me, the IAN Shokaku, while not nuclear powered, is capable of launching three air wings rapidly like a normal Orlish carrier. So it’s a three to four lineup…not bad.”
“I am not very convinced of this, Admiral,” Amelie said. “This is very close to the Hebeian coastline, and I’ve heard that they have so many anti-ship land-based missiles that they can throw at us. Not to mention the planes they can just sortie and send out of their airbases.”
“Yes, but this is a needed operation, Your Majesty. While we are rerouting three hundred aircraft in Kusari, alongside twelve KDUs and eight Marine Regiments to support a Kusari counter push, we have to make sure that the seas and skies are swept in the battlespace of Ginzhu. That will force the North Hebeians to recall their forces in Kusari, and the Larissans to reroute some of their reinforcements to Ginzhu.”
He then moved it to the next slide.
“Once the diversionary attack pinned enough CFN forces in the Ginzhu province, our forces in Kusari would have finished their build-up, and then we’ll strike with full force there. Unlike in Hebei, which will be an operation mainly done by our Asanaian and Hebeian allies on the ground, the offensive in Kusari will be led by our KDUs and marines.”
He looked back at the audience, then to the Defense Minister.
“It’ll also test the mettle of the Royal Guard in warfighting at last. Because their armored KDUs will be forming the spearheads of the attack. On the skies, the Orlish Air Force will achieve total air supremacy within hours—and ravage the combined CFN forces on the ground.”
“How long is the operation’s timeframe?” Amelie asked.
“A few days for the naval campaign off Ginzhu. That’ll allow us to lock down their ports and bombard them from the sea. With Asanaian armored units swinging northward, their front would be off-balance, and they’d be forced to retreat or get encircled without chance of resupply by sea. That’d take another two weeks. Once the campaign at Ginzhu sufficiently distracts the enemy, we will commence the Kusari operation. That should take another two weeks, with our goal being the recapture of the eastern part of the Laresh Region.”
Amelie looked at the maps of the projected gains by Operation Eastern Jade. First, the naval task forces clashed near the coast of Ginzhu. Then, Ginzhu was retaken by combined Hebeian and Asanaian forces. Next was down south, with Orlish and Kusari forces pushing the CFN back into the Laresh region.
By the end of it, the MN would have reversed most of the critical gains of the CFN when they were distracted in Gallia.
It will restore the initiative to my side.
“I see then…” Amelie nodded. “Prime Minister, is this a good plan?”
“I believe it is, Your Majesty. Reversing our losses and placing the enemy off-balance will save our allies. I think since we already prevented the collapse of Gallia, we should do this.”
“Then we shall do it.”