Chapter 63
Southern Gate Defense Battle ②
(Day 1 of War)
Surprise
Tactic from the Rear
Translator : PolterGlast
"So that's the
archer unit that took out Goth. They're pretty good."
The First Prince, who
had suffered a painful defeat in the initial battle, showed no agitation.
"Then, let us
exploit the advantage of our large army and wear them down.
We shall teach them
the power of numbers, the difference in numbers!"
The Gryphonia Imperial
Army began to move under new orders.
※
"Commander
(Weiss), what do you think their next move will be?"
Looking at the
retreating enemy, Father and the Commander were planning their next move.
"Well, if I were
them, I would take advantage of the large army, carry out night raids in
shifts, and wear down the defending soldiers.
And I would also place
ambushes on the left and right sides of the fortress to defeat any incoming
reinforcements one by one."
"And what are the
countermeasures for that?"
"For shifting
night raids, they won't have many troops. We will also divide our unit into three
and take turns resting.
At night, the traps
laid by the earth mages from the Cornell Baronial family will surely be useful.
However, Lord Darek
and Kran will have to work hard in two shifts, so it will place a slight burden
on them..."
"I will speak to
the two of them."
"Regarding
reinforcements, I think we have no choice but to place messengers towards the
royal capital and have the reinforcements move only on our instructions."
"I will convey
that to the Margrave."
Thus, day turned to
night, and the area was enveloped in the shroud of darkness.
※
"Clatter!
Clatter!"
A simple alarm, with
metal objects placed at its base, sounded in the darkness.
My brother (or Kran)
immediately rushed to the scene and activated light magic, brightly illuminating
the area where the sound seemed to have originated.
The enemy soldiers,
whose eyes had adjusted to the darkness, were suddenly blinded by the dazzling
light, bewildered, and stood frozen.
"Now! Each of
you, triple volley!"
Along with the light,
about 300 arrows flew towards them.
And without a moment's
pause, a second and third volley struck them.
On the castle wall,
because they were resting in shifts, there were always over 300 on-duty
soldiers from the Solis Baron's army and the Second Youth Knight Corps
combined, standing by in battle readiness.
And the weapons of the
resting soldiers were held by the on-duty soldiers. In other words, each
soldier was using three Estol Bows (or crossbows).
The night raid unit,
discovered by sound traps throughout the night, was illuminated as if by
searchlights, and immediately met with three volleys, a rain of 900 arrows.
The soldiers who had
infiltrated to attack the south side of the castle wall repeatedly suffered
heavy losses and retreated.
This mechanism
involved the earth mages of the Cornell Baronial family creating three narrow
but deep ditches around the fortress.
Pebbles were scattered
around the ditches, and many soldiers continued to stumble in the darkness
without noticing the ditches, or even if they didn't fall into the ditches, the
falling pebbles would trigger the alarm. This exposed the movements of the
night raid unit even in the darkness.
Well, for the parts
where metal fragments were insufficient, we repurposed shields and weapons abandoned
in the initial battle to enhance the traps.
Surprisingly, in
responding to the night raids, the Kilias Viscountcy army, the Gorman
Viscountcy army, and the Cornell Baronial army, while not as effective as the
Southern Wall's defending army, also achieved considerable results.
In fact, their units
also all had crossbows.
Not only I, but Father
and Brother were also most surprised by this.
After the Southern
Gate Annihilation Battle, the two viscounts, aside from Baron Cornell who
received them for free, visited the Solis Barony as guests for the First
Champion Tournament and thoroughly inspected the actual crossbows.
It seemed they felt
something at that time and had been producing them in their own territories by
imitating what they saw.
I believe Viscount
Kilias, being the son-in-law of Margrave Hastburg, received the technology
transfer from the Margrave.
Probably...
Moreover, all three of
them had been test-firing their weapons at locations with sound traps since
daylight and had pinpointed their aim. I believe this was because they had
clearly observed our own test-firing beforehand.
According to
information from Baron Cornell, Viscount Gorman had two sound mages
accompanying him this time, who accurately pinpointed the locations where
sounds occurred with their specialized hearing, leading to attacks.
It was almost like
using sonar in a submarine.
The sound mages would
call out numbers indicating the enemy's position, and the soldiers would
concentrate their fire on the darkness indicated by that location.
I was surprised that
they had incorporated new ideas into their defensive battle, not just simply
imitating.
Still, did Viscount
Gorman's territory even have sound mages?
What I later learned
with astonishment was that they had identified individuals with an aptitude for
sound magic using methods I had never imagined. However, at that time, I had no
way of knowing this yet.
※
The next morning, the
First Prince received an unpleasant report.
"The night raid
unit suffered nearly 1,000 casualties! What in the world happened?!"
The First Prince
trembled with rage.
"Especially the
unit that attacked the south side, and also the unit that attacked the west
side of the castle wall, suffered heavy losses. There were also considerable
losses on the east side..."
The strategist
replied, clearly intimidated.
"Those accursed
wretches! At this rate, we have no choice but to put that plan into action as
originally planned!"
He felt intense anger
at not being able to overwhelm the enemy with more than three times their
strength, but he then regained his composure, deciding to take his time,
execute the plan, and thoroughly crush the enemy after throwing the enemy army
into confusion.
"Summon Marquis
Bradley and Earl Astray!"
The attendant hastily
rushed out of the tent to avoid the First Prince's furious outburst.
The Marquis and the
Earl, having been urgently summoned, quickly presented themselves before the
First Prince.
"The planned
operation shall now commence in your respective areas. Ravage the nests of
those accursed wretches lurking in their holes!"
"Yes, my
lord!"
"Marquis Bradley,
lead your 3,000 men and attack from the left. Ravage their nest!"
"Understood!"
"Earl Astray,
with your 2,000 men, ravage the farming villages near the border. That will
make them agitated."
"Understood.
We'll make them pay."
"Bradley, your
army will have to march a long distance through dangerous territory. Be
prepared to deal with it with light infantry, mainly cavalry units."
"Yes, my lord!
The formations are already complete!"
"It's dangerous
territory unfamiliar to us. Guides have also been prepared. Join them along the
way and deal with it.
Now, depart
immediately. Both of you are free to plunder your respective regions. We don't
need prisoners.
Do as you
please!"
"Yes, my
lord!"
"As you
command!"
The two immediately
left to prepare for their departure.
"While they cower
in their fortress, their own territory, where their wives and children live, is
being ravaged. How will they deal with that?"
The First Prince
smiled fearlessly, imagining their panic.
"Send a messenger
to Frontier Earl (Margrave) Goth, who is lying in wait on the west side of the
fortress as an ambush. Tell him it is about to begin.
And tell him to
slaughter those who enter and leave the fortress with his troops."
He too would be able
to vent his long-held resentment with this.
If so, he would regain
his lost territory, and the balance of power between us within the Empire would
again reverse.
"Now is the real
battle! They cannot withdraw their army and will be pinned to the fortress,
becoming our prey.
If I secure the entire
border region and use that military achievement to overthrow the troublesome
Third Prince, then next, I will conquer the Kyle Kingdom with the entire
Imperial Army. I shall become an Emperor who will leave his name in the
Empire's history as a conqueror."
The First Prince
imagined himself reigning as Emperor in the future and raised his goblet in
high spirits.
And from the Imperial
Army's camp, 5,000 troops secretly vanished.
From the Southern Gate
fortress, no one was able to grasp what had happened.
Thus, the second day
of the war began.
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