212 – Stockholm Attack Operation (3)
“They are heading towards Boros Castle, where our main force is heading, and they are marching very leisurely, perhaps because it is their territory.”
“Not bad. “Then are the barbarian light cavalry led by Ishtaven properly scouting?”
“We mainly only look at roads that are easy for many people to pass by, and we don’t pay much attention to places like plains where people and carts can’t travel.”
Often, when we watch cartoons, novels, and movies that deal with strategy and tactics, we see scenes of people scouting roads and military bases that people frequently come and go, and getting in trouble as a result, and we think this way.
‘If we had scouted a little more thoroughly and more broadly, we wouldn’t have been caught in an ambush like that. Aren’t you idiots? Tsk tsk’
However, in reality, in order to conduct reconnaissance to see every place without exception, a huge number of soldiers must be deployed.
If you run your army in that way, when you actually go to battle, you may end up losing without even being able to fight properly due to the mental and physical fatigue that has already built up on your soldiers.
I took advantage of the enemy’s common sense and went to a place where there were no rivers near the road for drinking water and almost no villages to supply food, and I came to a place where I could observe the enemy’s movements without being detected.
“Do you know where there is a good forest for us to hide in along the route the enemy army is expected to travel?”
“There is a huge pine forest about 15km from here, and nearby is a flat area that is good for camping for a large military unit.”
“It was good. Then, I will hand over the strategy from now on. “Everyone, please concentrate and listen.”
When I said this, Laura, Anya, and the northerners all pricked up their ears.
“As of the current time, as you just heard, we will hide in the pine forest 15km away from here and wait for the enemy to come.”
On the Rhineland front, they carried out a surprise attack by attaching several magicians to one company, and succeeded in invading the division commander’s location and seizing the division flag.
When fighting in Visochia, they acted as an advance reconnaissance company and fired a barrage of arrows and magic at the front reconnaissance company in order to physically exhaust the enemy forces.
Even now, I felt a thrill in my heart just from preparing a new operation called a surprise attack.
And I wonder if Laura, who fought on those two fronts like me, Anya, who has fought countless times in the North, and the Northern Chieftains feel the same way as me.
An expectant expression was clearly visible on his face.
“My heart boils at the thought of a surprise attack! As expected, Khan Slayer is hot.”
“I even gave up the alcohol I had stocked up to Triven in order to join the surprise attack force that only selected 1,000 people. But now that I think about it, I think it worked out really cheaply.”
“As I think about the Rhineland, I even feel nostalgic.”
…… If they find out that a lieutenant general brought only about 1,000 soldiers to directly command the surprise operation, everyone, including His Highness the Crown Prince and my father-in-law, will call me crazy.
The reason I am doing this as the Deputy Commander of the Northern Army is to give the Northerners here a chance to completely settle into the Imperial Army.
That may be true, but northerners are still considered barbarians and are shunned among the empire’s nobles and commoners.
Are you, like me, a symbol of rising social status as a war hero of the empire, demonstrating bravery in attacking the enemy’s main base with only 1,000 men?
Then, both the nobles and commoners of the Reich Empire, dominated by manliness and machoism, will have an opportunity to think of northerners as soldiers with true courage from barbarians.
So what can I do? These guys enlisted in the military with only eyes for me, so I have to make this happen.
After gathering my thoughts for a moment, I quietly raised my hand to calm them down and spoke.
“An army of that size usually moves about 12km a day, so the time we can prepare for an ambush and surprise attack would be a little over a day. “If you say short, it’s short, but if you say long, it means a long time, so you have to hide thoroughly to avoid being detected, and you have to be quick and accurate when preparing for an ambush.”
“Then how can we prepare? “What should I do?”
“First, our goal is to instill fear in the soldiers at the enemy base. Just looking at your horse archers is enough to make the soldiers of the Kingdom of Stockholm urinate. “I also enjoy playing with fire.”
Actually, the biggest goal is to instill fear, but if I had one more wish, it would be that the enemy’s food would be burned and completely lost due to a small fire.
The reason is that what causes the greatest decline in the morale and combat ability of soldiers is not the mass death of their surrounding comrades.
Since there is no food to eat tomorrow, you end up in a situation where you have to worry about starving to death before meeting the enemy.
“Long live the Commander of the Northern Army! This is our northern tradition!”
“It is the rule of the North to burn down the villages of hostile forces and instill fear in them to the point where they urinate at the mere sight of them. “I can’t believe you know this…”
“Wait, you damned Ishtaven. “After this old man rides his horse and raids the enemy camp, I will kill you.”
They say that what most humans like is seeing the fire across the river, and what’s more fun is watching their enemy’s house and property burn.
It’s not just the soldiers of the Reich Empire who like this kind of thing, it’s the northerners as well.
“Well, as all the brave northern warriors here know, what you need to prepare is courage, dry leaves or bark that burn easily when starting a fire, and oil that catches fire easily. That way you can play with fire at night. “Can we have enough?”
When the northern archers heard that, they just smiled and said.
“There are no cowards among us. No, standing on the battlefield with the Lieutenant General who personally killed Khan, wouldn’t even a cowardly child feel 100 times more courageous today?”
“You can collect leaves and bark from the forest, and you can use oil by finding a lot of it in the enemy camp.”
“It’s an honor to be invited to such a fun game of playing with fire.”
But this alone was still not enough.
To be precise, this level of preparation for the surprise attack was sufficient, but it was not enough to avenge our revenge on Ishtaven, who betrayed us and made the good soldiers of the Reich Empire come to Stockholm.
So, I came up with a plan to sow seeds of suspicion among the Stockholm guys by putting at least one false accusation on Ishtaven, who hated surprise raids.
“Everyone, pay attention. If we’re going to play with fire, shouldn’t we give all the credit to Chief Ishtaven who gave us this glorious opportunity?”
After saying that, I took off the plate armor I was wearing and changed into the leather armor worn by nomads that I had prepared in advance.
“So, when we go in to attack, we will also take a document with Ishtaven’s forged signature and stamp that we prepared in advance and scatter it in a place where we can see it. “If this is discovered, the Stockholm Kingdom military will be suspicious of Ishtaven.”
This is roughly what is written in the letter I wrote.
[Thanks to you informing Ishtaven, the chief of the Ishtaven tribe, about the location of the Stockholm Army, we were able to safely surprise the main camp. As promised, I promise to grant you the title of count of the Reich Empire and a countdown in the territory of the Kingdom of Stockholm.]
Seeing this, it is very unlikely that the Stockholm Kingdom Army would think that Ishtaven betrayed and revealed the location of the Kingdom Army to the Imperial Army.
However, if we continue to outsmart them and continue to achieve victories like that, the King of Stockholm will gradually become suspicious of Ishtaven.
Then the son of a b*tch’s head will fall to the ground without getting our hands dirty.
“Then let’s all move now and prepare for the operation.”
Although I have done it a few times, surprise attacks are always very thrilling.
**
Dawn of the next day.
The sky was dark, and the Stockholm soldiers about 500 meters away were yawning and standing guard.
It looked like there was no caution at all, but that defenselessness could have been staged.
All the Northern Archer cavalry, including me, were waiting closely and cautiously.
After a few minutes, the five northerners who had gone to scout came back and spoke carefully.
“There doesn’t seem to be any sign of the surprise attack. If you attack now, you can win.”