Chapter 372
(Kyle Calendar Year 515: Age 22)
Northern Front ⑨ – The Changing
Situation
Translator : PolterGlast
When the stunning report was brought that the 5,000 troops
led by the King of Ville and the 1,000 troops of the Cain Kingdom army had respectively been
thoroughly broken and defeated by the Westlights Demon Territory Dukedom
army and the Gryphonia Empire army, it also had a major impact on each
invading column that had been pushing through the Empire territory as if advancing through uninhabited land until
then. Anticipating the immense, difficult situation ahead, the individual enemy
forces began to show cooperative movements and tactical coordination entirely
unprecedented thus far.
Alexis, who received that critical report from the espionage unit, also
returned the scattered, decentralized armies to counter the dispersed advance,
finding himself running around frantically to handle it.
「 I am sorry to have you gather again
so abruptly. Against the brand-new developments, I thought our command
structure also needs to take immediate countermeasures, and I hastily had the
generals gather today. 」
In the command tent of the main camp where he spoke so,
besides Marquis Gorman leading the First Army, Marquis Solis
of the Second Army, Commander Gail of the Third Army,
Acting Commander Baronet Glenn
of the Special Fire Corps, Count Falmus, and Viscount Bold,
from the Empire Army there was
Adjutant Dlements acting as a proxy for Viscount Durul, and
Viscount Kamin who had newly arrived leading massive reinforcements.
Furthermore, there was Army Commander Schultz, who had personally
steered 5,000 cavalry of the Royal Capital Knights from the Kyle Kingdom.
「 First, I will report the baseline
parameters from the situation. The various enemy columns that had previously
given us a glaring opening due to their dispersed advance up to now, have
officially reached this point and are taking up positions with the intention to
reassemble and solidify their formations.
」
「 Indeed. 」 「 As expected. 」 「 So those bastards have finally started moving too. 」
Just as the generals let out their impressions anew, the
deployment of each army was shown as fresh pieces on the newly presented map of
the war zone.
「 The main unit of the Istoria
Orthodox Theocracy, which had been lying low, has officially parted ways
with the civilian decoy unit here and materialized as a massive 20,000-strong
military force on the absolute furthest west side. And the Lute Kingdom army has successfully merged with
the fractured remnants of the Cain Kingdom
army, swelling their combined total number to roughly 13,000 to 14,000 troops,
and they are systematically moving their entire line to the west side. It feels
like they have beautifully solidified the left and right flanks of the refugees
that our main unit is lying in wait for with traps. 」
「 Then the fanatics who had been
politely watching from the sidelines until now are finally going to make a move
to launch their ultimate offensive too? 」
When Marquis Solis confirmed representing everyone, Alexis
offered a sharp, silent nod.
「 Yes. However, the single entity we
must absolutely not drop our guard against is the existence of the enemy's far
left wing, the Ville Kingdom
army. I believe everyone has already thoroughly shared the detailed report from
Lord Dlements, but it seems a remarkably tough general is steering their
banners. 」
「 Indeed. Beholding the unsightly
behavior and wretched humiliation of the Cain Kingdom army, we seemed to have arrogantly underestimated the three
countries as soft greenhorns 'who do not know actual warfare'. Based on the
technical data from the report, my engineers also examined the heavy ballistas
abandoned by the fleeing enemy army, and it seems their absolute effective
range is about 500 m. 」
「 My word! Are you honestly
suggesting their technical performance surpasses the legendary heavy ballistas
deployed by the Empire Army in the brutal battle the year before last! 」
At Marquis Gorman's words, Viscount Bold, who
had the firsthand experience of actually fighting the Empire Army and
enduring a catastrophic, fierce rain of iron spears, spat out a gasp of pure
marvel and shock.
「 Certainly, I heard that during that
historical siege, our forces received heavy casualties from attacks originating
from a distance of 300 m, a coordinate that sat comfortably outside the
effective range of our wind-magic synchronized crossbow volleys. And…… this is
a historical truth I also found out by investigating deeply into their lineage,
but I learned that in the past, taking the former First Prince's
wretched defeat in battle against those exact three countries as a lesson, the
technology was originally adopted and integrated by the Empire. 」
「 So that's how it is. In that case,
the original originators are those three countries, and they must possess a
flawless mastery in operating their deployment as well. 」
「 It is exactly as Marquis Solis
calculates. And the single most devastating factor we should be most concerned
about is the sheer volume of their ordnance. Five hundred units from the Cain
Kingdom army alone; if we total the
remaining two countries…… the total volume will probably easily top no less
than a thousand units. 」
「「「 What! 」」」
It was only natural for the generals to raise sharp voices
of pure surprise. The terrifying power of sheer numbers attacking with
industrial volume from outside effective range; raw tactical discipline meant
absolutely nothing, as a military cannot physically resist this.
「 To counter an existential threat of
this magnitude, it seems our command structure has zero alternative but to
finally bring out our ultimate trump card. 」
At Gail's muttered words, Alexis offered a
silent, heavy nod. But that was also a deeply bitter decision. Because
originally, he had desperately craved to preserve it, intending it to be a
definitive, campaign-shattering weapon against the main force of the Istoria Orthodox Theocracy which boasted an
overwhelmingly large army.
「 My fellow generals, I must extend
my deepest apologies, but we will forcefully change our entire organizational
structure and deployment formations
once again. 」
Saying so, Alexis displayed a freshly drafted organizational
chart.
Left Wing Army:
9,500 troops (Commander: Army Commander Schultz)
·
Royal Capital Knights Third Army
·
Third Army (Under Gail's command)
Central Army: 12,500
troops (Commander: Viscount Kamin)
·
Viscount Durul Army
·
Viscount Kamin Army
Right Wing Army:
10,000 troops (Commander: Marquis Gorman)
·
First Army (Marquis Gorman)
·
Second Army (Marquis Solis)
Mobile Unit: 2,100
troops
·
Special Fire Corps (Baronet Glenn)
·
Attached to Main Camp
Actually, looking strictly at the tactical configurations
inwardly, Alexis profoundly wanted to move the veteran Empire Army
to hold the absolute right wing. But…… currently lacking Viscount Durul
on the active board, Viscount Kamin's raw capacity to execute high-level
macro-command remained an unknown, absolute wildcard, and forcing his
unverified caliber to square off directly against the single toughest
opponent—the Ville Kingdom
army—would be a structural burden far too hazardous to risk…… this specific
placement was the final calculation
of thinking so. On that point, Marquis Gorman or Marquis Solis
should absolutely do work worthy of ironclad trust even if left somewhat
independently alone to hold their ground.
But there was one specific person who aggressively objected
to this organization. He raised his hand silently, and upon being officially
permitted to speak, he delivered his words with absolute, flat composure.
「 When steering a campaign of this
magnitude, there is zero necessity for polite hesitation towards fresh
newcomers like my house. Executing the fluid command of the entire massive army
demands a profound reservoir of raw combat experience and strategic wisdom. If
so, I humbly request you to leave the official command to Lord Dlements,
and our banners shall gladly enter under his absolute operational command. 」
「 My word! 」
At Viscount Kamin's profound remark, the generals
could not hide their surprise. To voluntarily strip oneself of command and
enter under the authority of a lower-ranking Knight Peerage was something impossible for the pride of an Imperial noble.
「 Are you entirely certain, Lord Kamin?
」
「 Because warfare is hardly an
exercise fought via the weight of one's noble peerage, Commander-in-Chief.
Submitting oneself to the tactical command and seasoned wisdom of one who
excels in superior experience is a baseline truth I thoroughly learned through
navigating the commercial merchant trades. What is more important than anything
else is strictly to win the battle and definitively protect the common
citizens. 」
「 Oh…… 」
At the profound conversation between Alexis and
Viscount Kamin, Marquis Gorman and the other generals let out
deep murmurs of genuine admiration.
『 I
see, there's a reason Lord Takuhir dared to reach out and personally
extend his mantle of protection to save his house from a predicament. Does this
mean My Lord saw straight through his outer shell and foresaw this monumental
caliber of his soul, making a move long before he marched onto this field…… 』
Those who knew a part of the classified circumstances, those
who knew the history of how Viscount Kamin (the Bottakuri-na Trading
Company) began trading with the Westlights Demon Territory Dukedom,
were completely impressed anew by their sovereign's keen, terrifying eye.
But…… if Takuhir in question actually knew that, he
would have denied it in a great, frantic panic while feeling absolutely,
excruciatingly ashamed himself. Whatever it may be now, initially Takuhir
merely heard his intensely 'cringeworthy', over-the-top confessions, found him
thoroughly amusing as an entertaining individual, and casually let him
participate in the commercial bidding strictly for his own personal amusement;
he certainly hadn't seen through to his true essence…… To intentionally follow
up, afterwards he evaluated his slightly misdirected but profoundly sincere
seriousness and his relentless attitude of moving to single-handedly save his
own impoverished domain from financial ruin, and merely extended a helping hand
to support his infrastructure. It was much, much later down the timeline that Takuhir
decided to truly believe in him and welcome him into their innermost circle of
trusted comrades in the true sense.
「 Excellent. Then, we will officially
ask Lord Dlements to be the Supreme Commander of the right wing, and ask
Viscount Kamin to assume the post of Vice-Commander, directly steering
the consolidation of the Empire Army units. I will personally command
the mobile vanguard army and inject tactical support into various places
according to the demands of the war situation. For our basic deployment formations, the Special Fire Corps will be split into two independent
strike detachments of one thousand troops each; we will entrust one unit to
Baronet Glenn, and deploy them to lock down two highly specific
locations. 」
※
On this exact same day when the dynamic military
reorganization was being conducted on the Westlights Demon Territory Dukedom
side, a unified war council was also held for the very first time among the
invading coalition armies since crossing the borders, hosted at Lugner's
urgent call. Participating inside the massive gathering were the arrogant First
Prince leading the Lute Kingdom
army, the humiliated Second Prince steering the broken remnants of
the Cain Kingdom army,
General Golpa alongside the King of Ville as generals
representing the Ville Kingdom
army, and the inner cabal comprising Azel and Lugner.
「 Calling us out and forcing our
presence into a gathering of this nature at a place like this now, what is the
meaning of this?! In the first place, you called it a synchronized strategy
meeting, but originally you explicitly framed this expedition as "free to
seize as we please for plundering", so there shouldn't be any purpose for
a strategy! 」
From the absolute beginning, the Second Prince of the
Cain Kingdom was spitting out
the opening volley, breathing heavily with unvarnished rage. It might have been
because he was desperately trying to assert and emphasize his own royal
position before being heavily blamed for the wretched, unsightly annihilation
of his vanguard in the opening battle.
「Exactly as you say, Your Highness. Even though you are free to seize as you
please without restrictions, because the seizing results are insufficient, I
thought I would impart some collective wisdom…… 」
Lugner met eyes
with the King of Ville for an instant with a thin, chilling smile, then
smoothly continued his words dispassionately. Actually, prior to this grand
meeting, he had orchestrated a private audience to meet only with the King of Ville
first, and smoothly told him he wouldn't do anything bad to him, reassuring his
interests would be safeguarded. The King himself also possessed the stinging
political weakness of a lost battle, and had readily accepted that safety net.
「 Listen well, it is the same exact
metric in everyone's countries, but results are the single absolute thing that
dictates everything across a campaign. The Lute Kingdom army successfully used its terrifying majesty to terrify
the enemy defenders, and penetrated deep into hostile enemy territory. The Ville
Kingdom army boldly advanced deep
amidst the enemy to bait out the hidden strength of the enemy army, dealt a
severe, bleeding blow to their command structure, and executed an organized
withdrawal. Having laid the parameters bare and spoken this far, surely a mind
as sharp as yours can perfectly understand? 」
「 Wh—t…… 」
「 Our cabal is not trying to
disparage or diminish the magnificent glory of your armies, Your Highness. We
are merely assembling our collective wisdom to discuss a synchronized plan to
systematically strike those wretches in cooperation, to brilliantly create an
ultimate opportunity for your military to restore and redeem its honor upon the
field. 」
「 …… 」
The Second Prince of the Cain Kingdom had absolutely no choice but to
sink into a sullen, resentful silence, entirely unable to mount a
counter-argument. He occupies the fragile political position of the secondary
prince domestically, and at this stagnant rate he completely cannot hope for
inheriting the imperial succession. Reverse that locked position with a
monumental military victory, or violently start an independent branch country
making the seized newly conquered territory his own personal territory; holding
such desperate, vaulting dreams, he had passionately volunteered and faced this
war.
「 Within a matter of days, our main force shall officially resume the frontal invasion with a fresh
elite military force of 20,000. Prior to our primary breach, we will move the
fanatical, death-defying vanguard of God, who thrust forward without fearing
death, and violently throw the absolute core of their center into suffocating
chaos. 」
「 And our individual militaries are
expected to synchronize and move in concert with that disruption, is that it? 」
「 Precisely. As expected of Your
Highness, whose terrifying brilliance and name are known perfectly to
neighboring countries as wise, exactly as you calculate. 」
Lugner
deliberately and smoothly flattered the First Prince of the Lute Kingdom with a wave of superficial,
unctuous flattery. Knowing with absolute clarity that in reality, beneath the
royal mantle, he was merely a crude, brutally violent warmonger who possessed
zero interest in civil administration or domestic affairs, and merely channeled
his unhinged, nowhere-to-go impulses exclusively into military slaughter……
「 First our fanatical vanguard shall
fracture them, and next our primary forces will move to initiate the breach.
Everyone, please synchronize your lines and move in concert with that movement,
and let us systematically together annihilate the brat's soldiers who came out
of their secure enclosure (Izumo) and the surviving remaining soldiers
of the invaders (Empire) into powder. 」
「 The Ville Kingdom officially agrees to that
arrangement. 」
「 Not a bad
strategy…… 」 「
I suppose I have no choice but to agree. 」
Driven entirely by their individual, conflicting agendas and
speculations, the King of Ville, the First Prince of the Lute
Kingdom, and the Second Prince
of the Cain Kingdom
formalized their absolute agreement to Lugner's proposed strategy.
『 Hmph,
what a pathetic, thoroughly disgusting farce.
Had these fools possessed even a single shred of genuine intent to
cooperate, they should have synchronized their command structures and done so
from the beginning. Moreover, those fanatics (Istoria) occupy the
absolute safest, most tactically dominant far right wing, with their right side
completely shielded by the natural barrier of the mountain ranges and taking
the absolute shortest physical distance even to their own national border,
occupying the most advantageous location, yet there is zero need to arrogantly
show it off so much and deliver these high-handed directives. 』
Though he had been formally invited to the table, the rigid
laws dictated that without being explicitly asked by his sovereign, a military
general had absolutely no right to speak. General Golpa, who was
watching the fragile structural situation of the council with a grim, sullen
face while sealing his words deep in his heart, felt the profound, burning
danger and anxiety of this unified war council.
「 Regarding that, to guarantee the
absolute success of this breach, how about a final proposal? Leaving your
greatest tactical strengths, the heavy weapons capable of unilaterally
trampling those wretches into the dirt, under the absolute centralized command
of a veteran general, dealing them a severe, catastrophic blow, and then
effortlessly trampling their remains again with the armies of each country. 」
『 What
did he just say?! 』
The exact instant the words left Lugner's lips,
General Golpa instantly realized the true, sinister depth of the trap
and learned here the exact reason why an old veteran like himself was uniquely
invited to a high-level royal war council he shouldn't have been called to
originally, and the exact political circumstances of how his foolish master had
been checkmated into agreeing to it prior to entering the tent.
「 How shall the ultimate distribution
of territories and war results be redistributed when the dust settles? 」
「 Naturally, the distribution shall
be calculated in perfect proportion according to the exact volume of heavy
weapons each nation provides to the unified battery…… 」
「 Magnificent! Very well, the Lute
Kingdom army shall gladly entrust
and surrender absolute control of the 600 heavy ballistas we possess to the
centralized battery. 」
「 Hmm. General Golpa, we shall
combine our nation's 700 units alongside theirs, erecting a colossal battery
making 1,300 unit; let us expect great things from the legendary capability
of you who personally participated in the historical campaign that once
successfully broke and defeated the Empire Army in the past. 」
「 ……As Your Majesty commands. 」
Confronted by the direct decree of his King, there is
absolutely no human way the old general could defy this decision. Heavy
ballistas are a specialized piece of engineering possessing catastrophic
difficulty in movement, and while they are a highly effective, unparalleled
attack means for the defending side anchoring a static perimeter or in
prolonged siege battles, across highly fluid field battles, moreover when
actively going on the offensive, they merely become a monumental hindrance, and
in the catastrophic event of routing and retreating, they become nothing but an
absolute death anchor and hindrance that completely locks down an army's
mobility. So to speak, they were weapons plagued by an incredibly wretched,
extremely poor operational usability.
『 Good
grief…… They have effectively bound a monumental, bleeding baggage and burden
to my back, while simultaneously ensured that the total institutional
responsibility for any future failure rests squarely upon my head…… Moreover,
it was also flawlessly used as a political pretext to systematically strip and
take away my direct authority over the 10,000-strong army under my command. 』
Indeed, the King of Ville had just sustained a
devastating attrition, losing as many as 2,000 personal direct subordinate
soldiers across the crossroads. Therefore, utilizing this centralized artillery
battery as his lever, as a political pretext to forcefully siphon and pull
fresh soldiers from the general to replenish his own hollowed ranks, this
strategy was an absolute masterstroke and exactly a boat at a crossing for a
desperate king.
At this exact juncture, at least three individuals around
the table, the King and the two arrogant Princes, harbored absolutely zero fear
regarding a potential defeat in battle. Even though their numbers were reduced
and they sustained casualties across the opening skirmishes, the combined
invading coalition still possessed a terrifying, staggering military force of
56,000 active combatants including the fanatic vanguard, and their espionage
networks indicated that the defending forces on the enemy side was probably a
meager number short of 40,000 troops. This numerical reality had also been
verified with absolute precision by reconnaissance and espionage before the
outbreak of war. And on their side, their lines now possessed a legendary,
undefeated veteran general who had already proven his masterly caliber by
effortlessly kicking away the enemy army and showing his true strength during
his very first clash. Through a sickening twist of pure irony, the very fact
that General Golpa, by executing a brilliant withdrawal and showing his
true strength, had functioned as the absolute catalyst to bloat his allies'
minds with unhinged, arrogant complacency, and ended up in a catastrophic
situation where an immovable set of iron shackles were put straight onto his
own hands.
Staring down the abyss, General Golpa himself could do nothing more than close his aged eyes in a silent, desperate prayer at the harsh, grueling destiny that would surely visit and close around his division after this.
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