After 36 days of recuperation, Weiss returned from injury and returned to the Gaston Military Academy.

At this time, the Batton Military Academy was still the premier army academy, but the atmosphere here was very different from before. The reason for the change was not that the Baston Student Corps had a bad luck at this year's spring convention, losing as many as eight students, nor that the venerable Rector Vanton resigned and retired early, but that the Ulster Free Federation was once again on the brink of war.

The Baseton Student Corps was converted into a wartime establishment, and the cadets practiced every day.

The trigger for such tension was the group of armed men who entered the exercise area during the spring parade and killed and wounded several Union soldiers. In order to arrest these heinous criminals, the top brass of the federal army did not hesitate to terminate the exercise ahead of schedule, mobilized dozens of flying ships and tens of thousands of active-duty soldiers to carry out a dragnet search, and found all nine uninvited guests, but unfortunately, these people were either killed in battle, or committed suicide by drinking bullets when there was no hope of breaking through, which made their true identity doubtful.

Of course, given the historical relationship between the countries and the current world situation, it is widely believed that the Norman Empire was the one who directed this surprising scene. After the news spread, the people of all walks of life in the Free Federation were deeply shocked, not only the media criticized the words, but also protests against the Norman Empire took place in many cities, and the radicals even made moves to attack the foreign affairs institutions of the Norman Empire. At the same time, the Ulster Free Federal Government also demanded a reasonable explanation from the Norman Empire based on the clues and evidence found on the remains of the invaders, and the Norman Empire government demanded that the Federal Government take strong measures in accordance with international conventions to prevent the situation from deteriorating further in view of the threat to its foreign affairs institutions and expatriates.

At the beginning, the Ulster Free Federation and the Norman Empire government still maintained their due calm and sanity, and the two sides held a series of meetings and consultations through diplomatic channels, which gradually made the situation develop in a positive direction, but as the Free Federation military intelligence department identified and confirmed that one of the invaders was a retired Norman officer, and learned from spy sources that the Norman Empire had made this move, and even intended to test the strength and military bottom line of the Free Federation army, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. In his speech to the nation, President of the Free Federation of Ulster, Leibold, said that although the soldiers and civilians of the Free Federation love peace and oppose war, in the face of threats from the outside, they will not hesitate to take up arms to defend the freedom rights that their ancestors bought with their blood and lives.

In response to the successive "deviances" of the Norman Empire, the Ulster Free Confederation announced that the level of national defense mobilization would be raised, and the full strength of the combat corps, garrison corps, and reserve corps would be increased to 100%, 90%, and 80% respectively, and the number of active soldiers would be expanded to 1.6 million. Correspondingly, the Federal Assembly quickly approved a special military budget of up to 900 million crowns, which will be used for the maintenance of combat readiness of aviation bases and the accelerated construction of flying ships, in addition to the training and equipment of various services and units.

After the Ulster Free Confederation announced an increase in the level of national defense mobilization, the Kingdom of Wessex in the north quickly responded by extending the service period of active duty personnel, recruiting new recruits in advance, etc., expanding the size of the active duty army to 600,000 men, and activating their reserve fleet. In this way, the allied forces of the Ulster Free Federation and the Kingdom of Wessex will have an absolute strength advantage of 5 to 2 over the Norman Empire, its colonial armies, and servant armies.

When Weiss returned to the Bathton Military Academy, he saw that some people were gearing up, looking forward to making contributions on the battlefield and becoming heroes praised by thousands of people, and some people were worried, because they felt that raising the level of national defense mobilization only expanded the number of troops in a short period of time, and could not quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the army, and in terms of military quality, the situation of the Ulster Free Federation and the Kingdom of Wessex was not satisfactory, and if they really wanted to fight with the Norman Empire, the alliance army would not be able to take advantage of it at the technical and tactical level. If the war were to be fought as it had been in the previous war, millions more Union soldiers would have perished, and by the end of the war, there would be few more people left in the prime of life......

As the level of national defense mobilization increased, the Basston Student Corps, as a constituent unit of the 22nd Federal Reserve Regiment, began to be called up and assigned by the Corps Command. In a short period of one month, they twice went to designated assembly areas to conduct joint training with friendly and neighboring troops. Through this moderate-intensity exercise, which was between regular training and live-fire exercises, Weiss and his companions were able to see first-hand the strength of the Third Division of the Free Federation Army—the backbone of which was officers and non-commissioned officers who had been retired for more than 15 years or over the age of 60, and soldiers who had been retired for more than 10 years or over the age of 50, and many of whom had experienced the brutal war against the Norman Empire twenty years earlier, but many of whom were far from their peak health. Some people can barely meet the physical fitness standards set out in the Army Soldier Regulations after a period of restorative training.

The new forces joining the reserve corps are young adults aged 16-30 who are able-bodied and have no military training. Compared with the recruits recruited by the Union Army every year, these citizens who are called up to join the reserve corps are usually in inferior physical condition, and there are many cases of shortness, thinness, and short-sightedness. The 12-16 weeks of basic training equips them with the most basic military skills that will allow them to supplement the garrison corps as a reserve force – their role is mainly to patrol the rear of the battle line, protect vital facilities and wait, and only when forced to do so, can they go into battle to kill the enemy.

If the Baseton Student Regiment is used as a combat unit, its combat effectiveness is no less than that of a front-line combat unit, and the reason why the military placed them in the reserve regiment is to give future officers a chance to adapt in advance. During the joint training, the cadets are assigned to friendly units, some serve as staff officers, and some serve as junior non-commissioned officers or sergeant majors, leading recruits to train. Weiss had a chill during the spring conference drill, became a model for infantry to take out flying battleships, received first-class individual merit and second-class collective merit, and changed from a disgusting scumbag at the beginning of the semester to a star of tomorrow, after the departure of the principal of Van Don, he became a sweet spot in the eyes of the new principal, and was appointed as the acting commander of each recruit battalion like several cattle people who were at the top of the third-year cadet's comprehensive scores—a position that can only be held at least the rank of captain!

Although he was entrusted with the important task of not only adding a dazzling stroke to his military academy file, but also becoming the "enlightenment chief" admired by four or five hundred recruits, Weiss had nothing to be happy about. After experiencing life and death several times, and witnessing young lives fall like summer flowers, he developed a deep fear of war from the bottom of his heart. Once the Ulster Free Federation fought against the Norman Empire, even with the help of the Kingdom of Wessex in the north, it would still be inevitable that life would be devastated. Thankfully...... The tense situation did not continue to deteriorate, thanks to the restraint of the Norman Empire. They did not take measures against the national defense mobilization of the Ulster Free Federation and the Kingdom of Wessex, but actively cooperated with the investigation of the Free Federation, not only providing the file information of the retired soldier, but also allowing the Free Federation to send investigators into the Norman Empire to question relevant personnel and obtain relevant information, which was a gesture that the Norman Empire had never had in nearly a century. Although these investigations encountered many insurmountable technical difficulties and could not completely clear the suspicion of the Norman Empire, at least on a psychological level, the tension between the two countries was eased, and the chances of war breaking out were greatly reduced.

In August, the beautiful but short summer of the Free Commonwealth came to an end, and it was half a year before the spring convention. As the international situation continued to ease, the Federal Army announced that the level of national defense mobilization would be reduced, and the Baston Military Academy was lifted from the state of readiness and returned to the normal rhythm of teaching. Without Nikolai's company, Weiss's military school life was like a bowl of soup without salt, with a bland taste and no shortage of nutrients. He devoted himself to the training course, after a few months of adaptation and exploration, he gradually found a training and assessment method suitable for his own conditions, and different from the fat vice president's trick-based strategy, his method is based on hard work and hard work to bring a solid strength improvement, coupled with the "technical and tactical bonus" brought by the identification system of friend or foe, the autumn exam that determines the final results, his comprehensive score ranked 13th in one fell swoop, only a stone's throw away from the top ten.

Cold winds are rising, dead leaves are falling, and the cold winter is approaching, and the western border areas of the Free Federation are the first to usher in a large area of cooling and precipitation. In the early stage, due to international tensions, nearly half of the active troops of the Federal Army were transferred to the western frontier of the Norman Empire, and all military fortresses and base barracks were overcrowded, and many troops had to live in war fortifications with poor living facilities or even unsuitable for long-term residence. The onset of winter has brought a lot of inconvenience to the officers and men who have been transferred to the troops, the number of sick people has begun to increase, and the morale of the troops has also fluctuated to a certain extent.

Fortunately, months of diplomatic and military negotiations between the Free Commonwealth and the Norman Empire finally came to fruition, and authorized representatives of both sides signed a special memorandum stating that the investigation into the identity of the General Assembly invaders was only tentative, and that the Ulster Free Federation could reopen the investigation at any time in the future if necessary, and that the Norman Empire should cooperate unconditionally as long as it did not involve the core interests of the country.

With the two sides agreeing to withdraw their troops, the military deployment in the border area has returned to the previous situation, public opinion of the two countries has finally stopped fighting each other, and the people's lives have gradually returned to normal. This ferocious and wide-ranging crisis, which once pushed the world to the brink of a major war, seems to have ended so painlessly.