Chapter 252
Northern Front ③ — Strategic Withdrawal
Translator : PolterGlast
The Allied Forces of the Istoria Imperial Kingdom and Uros Kingdom, having temporarily halted and
stayed in the territory of Marquis Cocyust, resumed their advance. It
was as if they timed it with the Griffonia Empire Army advancing north
from the south.
"Your Excellency the Archbishop, such a hurried
departure after the stagnation until now... Has something happened?"
"Ooh, Duke Cocyust. Thanks to the hospitality in
your territory, we have sufficiently restored our vigor. Therefore, we just
moved the advance party. Since our main unit will also move half a day later,
it would be good for you to accompany us. Preparations for departure are all
set, are they not?"
"Yes, certainly. I inferred that there was some
movement in the war situation, but..."
Saying this, Cocyust—formerly a Marquis of the Kyle
Kingdom and now appointed Provisional Duke of the Holy Kyle Kingdom—directed
a suspicious gaze at the other.
『Hmph,
this man doesn't seem to be just a fool.』
Thinking so, Castro continued
without showing his true feelings.
"It is merely that the date agreed upon for the united
front with the Empire has arrived. Timed with our movement, the
Empire will likely cross the border and advance north. The Royal Capital of the Kingdom is probably in an uproar right about
now. Defeated in the eastern border battle, with the Principality Army
advancing to a distance of two days from the Royal Capital in the west. And now, facing invasion from both the
north and south."
"Wh-What! The Principality was supposed to be
reinforcements for the Kingdom, or so I heard... Moreover, the eastern border
breached... what does that mean?"
"Hoh, even a Duke well-versed in strategy and
knowledgeable seems to find new surprises in the way this world progresses.
Hahaha, that is fine. The fire of the Kyle Kingdom's fate is already
fading to receive God's judgment. You should
take pride in your timely and good judgment for generations to come."
Archbishop Castro,
laughing at the Duke as he said this, actually did not yet know of the defeat
on the Eastern Front. Within the scope of his knowledge, his army was in an
overwhelmingly advantageous situation, the encirclement annihilation battle
ring was complete, and that ring was just about to close. That was his
perception.
Duke Cocyust
hurriedly excused himself from the Archbishop and returned to prepare for
departure.
"Your Excellency the Archbishop, will he be useful? His
true intentions are still somewhat unclear..."
One of the generals stepped forward and questioned his
thoughts with an unpleasant expression.
"Fufufu, Serpens. Show that letter to the
General as well."
Receiving the Archbishop's words, one of the Mages
called the Twelve Apostles, a Dark Mage, presented a letter to the
General. The General read the letter once and raised a voice of surprise.
"Th-That guy! He intends to betray us!"
"Exactly. It is written there that he shelves his own
blunders, realizes his current overwhelming disadvantage, endures temporary
shame to enter the enemy's bosom, and swears loyalty to the Kyle Kingdom
to raise an army from the inside when the opportunity arises, does it
not?"
"L-Let us cut him down. Truly a despicable fellow. To
leave no future trouble."
"He was originally just a timid and cunning opportunist
who could see his surroundings somewhat. If the situation becomes unfavorable,
he is the kind of man who would bow his head to us or the Empire without caring
about appearances to survive. Even now, he is probably walking a tightrope
desperately, searching for a path to survival."
"Then all the more..."
"He foolishly does not know that his own messenger has
fallen to us. He should have learned that subordinates follow the example of
their superiors' deeds. I hear there is a strategy taught in the Kingdom called
the counter-espionage ploy. We will
simply have him learn the Kingdom's teachings firsthand. Through Serpens,
I have sent him a fake reply. 『I will issue instructions when the
time is right; until then, fight the Kingdom Army with all your might to gain
the Imperial Kingdom's trust.』 So, Serpens, you disposed of
all the real messengers from the Kingdom, correct?"
"As Your Excellency commands."
"That is how it is. He will wait for orders that will
never come, become our vanguard, and fight desperately against his compatriots.
As God wills..."
From then on, the Istoria Imperial Kingdom coalition
army advanced south into the Kyle Kingdom, continuing their advance to a
point three days from the Royal Capital,
Kylar. And here, for the first time, they faced a full-scale
counterattack from the Kingdom Army.
"The Istoria Imperial Kingdom Army's vanguard of
about 10,000, mainly infantry, is approaching to cross the river. A large army
seems to be waiting behind them as well, but due to the dust clouds, the rear
cannot be confirmed. It is estimated that nearly another 10,000 troops
follow."
"They've come! We haven't spent this year idly either.
Order the soldiers hiding in the trenches to open fire simultaneously the
moment the enemy crosses the river as planned. There is no time other than now
to stake the survival of our motherland and show our pride. Everyone, move as
planned."
Receiving the scout's report, Count Model, Commander
of the Northern Area Army, reacted immediately. Messengers ran, entrusting
discretion to commence battles to the
frontline commanders.
The Count had prepared two interception points in advance.
One of them was this very location where they were setting up camp.
Parallel to the river flow, camouflaged trenches extended in
various places, with a bridge spanning the center. However, while a few
thousand troops might be manageable, it would take considerable time for an
army exceeding ten thousand to cross the bridge, and the vanguard alone could
be bathed in concentrated fire from archers and annihilated.
The remaining option is to cross the river all at once and
establish a bridgehead on the opposite bank.
"Listen up! The moment they cross the river, draw them
in to a distance of 100 m and annihilate them with volley fire. Never show your
faces until the signal bell rings."
Under the instruction of each commander, the Kingdom Army
held their breath while gripping their crossbows, waiting for the signal.
Behind the billowing dust clouds raised by the 10,000
infantry of the Uros Kingdom and Istoria Imperial Kingdom armies,
dozens of exceptionally large objects were being towed by multiple horses.
"Listen up! They will use a bell for the firing signal.
Watching the timing of the bell, we will also conduct an attack. Kingdom Army,
hiding in holes to attack as usual? Do they think we are fools who know nothing
of the art of war? I'll correct that arrogance!"
The General of the Imperial Kingdom Army puffed out
his chest arrogantly and declared while staring beyond the dust clouds. The
weapons the General mentioned had already advanced to a position capturing the
opposite bank of the river, where the Kingdom Army was thought to be lurking,
within range.
"We will now conduct suppression fire in response to
the enemy army's bell signal! Line of fire: horizontal direction for each
vehicle! Honorable Apostles, we ask for your favor."
They could also hear the sound of the bell ringing from the
opposite bank by the Kyle Kingdom Army. It was just when it was about to
switch from rapid ringing to a slow three strikes.
"Now! Begin linked fire!"
Responding to that voice, as many as 100 mobile catapults
swung down their massive arms all at once, matching the timing.
On the opposite bank, it was just when the bell rang the
second strike, and the Kingdom Army archers popped out of the trenches,
readying their crossbows to bring the Imperial Kingdom soldiers crossing
the river into their line of fire.
Before their eyes, there was no enemy figure to be a target.
To be precise, they held shields horizontally overhead like umbrellas, crouched
down on the river surface where the water was waist-deep, submerging most of
their figures underwater. Those crossing the bridge also solidified into a
group, overlapping shields to create an impromptu ceiling.
And just before the third strike, the firing signal, rang
out...
"What? Gwah!" "Uwah!" "They...
Gugeh!"
The Kingdom Army archers were bathed squarely in the upper
body by stone projectiles flying from the front with tremendous force, tumbling
over with short screams.
The stone projectiles flew in a low trajectory with magical
support from about 400 m behind the enemy infantry on the opposite bank. Some
hit directly, while others landed on the near riverbank and attacked the
Kingdom soldiers as ricochets. At that very moment they leaned out of the
trenches and readied their crossbows.
Of course, the Imperial Kingdom soldiers crossing the
river were also assaulted by stone projectiles, but thanks to their shields and
the water current, they suffered almost no damage.
What the Istoria Imperial Kingdom—no, Archbishop
Castro—had devised as a countermeasure against the Kyle Kingdom and
its archers was these mobile catapults. With the support of Wind Mages, the maximum range was 400 m, surpassing the Kyle
Kingdom's archers. Each catapult had the ability to fire about 200
fist-sized stone projectiles at once.
However, with only four Wind
Mages, it was difficult to
guide as many as 100 catapults perfectly. The training devoted to this was
solely to maintain initial velocity and fly stone projectiles in a low
trajectory to avoid losing power as much as possible.
"Now! Sound the signal for all forces to charge!"
Under the Imperial Kingdom General's command, the
river-crossing unit began to run out of the river all at once. Receiving an
unexpected surprise attack, the Kyle Kingdom Army archers couldn't even
crawl out of the trenches, and the passages running vertically and horizontally
were overflowing with those who had fallen from stone projectiles.
The fleeing Kingdom soldiers were overrun one after another
by the Imperial Kingdom soldiers.
"Kuh! Those bastards, did they learn our tactics and
conversely exploit our signals...? Pull back the archers in the trenches!
Cavalry units, charge and assist their retreat! At this rate, the losses will
be significant."
Count Model
realized the disadvantage of his army and took in the routed allies while
suffering sacrifices.
"It cannot be helped. We will retreat temporarily to
the final defense line and attempt to reorganize our forces. It seems the
battles ahead won't go as they have until now either. It's a pathetic story on my part, but... If I hadn't received the report from Margrave
Hamish, we would have suffered damage impossible to recover from."
Yes, when Count Model received reinforcements from Margrave
Hamish, he knew the history of the battle on the eastern border and that
the Istoria Imperial Kingdom was adopting unprecedented tactics.
Therefore, he had exercised a certain degree of caution and had not committed
his prized Mages to the very front lines.
However, even so, the casualties dropped in the opening
battle amounted to 2,000, and the Kyle Kingdom Army suffered a painful
defeat. Thus, the Northern Front was forced into a planned retreat for
unplanned reasons.
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