323 – Battle of Brito Plain (1)
A month later, Brito Plain.
After declaring the march in front of Duke Philolence, the 150,000 men of the Reich Imperial Army under my command chose to head straight to Veneta via Prato Castle.
The Milanese Allied Forces, led by General Giuseppe, decided to lead 100,000 troops and join them at Veneta via Tosrau.
If the two armies had been able to cooperate properly, they would have moved along the same route and joined forces to take over the enemy country to avenge Philolence.
“Giuseppe, I can’t believe that such a greedy person would say such nonsense to get his share…”
Even now, I just sigh when I think about how absurd it is.
I never thought that that crazy person would make such an idiotic suggestion that since we both have equal status, we should jointly own his commanding authority.
If that happens, when war breaks out, there is a possibility that the nobleman and I will give contradictory orders.
The price would be paid in the unnecessary deaths of his soldiers, so he had no choice but to give up fighting on the same battlefield.
While I was lost in thought in my barracks, I heard someone calling me from outside.
“Captain Jaeger, all other commanders have gathered in the command barracks.”
“Is that so? “Let’s go right away.”
**
When I entered the command barracks, the officers inside were discussing with serious expressions.
“According to the words of those who infiltrated the area of Perosia, I heard that the militiamen conscripted from the civilian population are no better than a ragtag group. So shouldn’t we focus our attacks on the militia?”
“The problem is to find out which units are elite units and which are militia units…”
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“Wouldn’t you be able to immediately recognize a militia and a proper soldier just by looking at them walking from afar?”
It gives me a happy feeling to see everyone discussing the strategy with such enthusiasm.
As I walked and arrived at the head table, everyone stood up and bowed.
“Then let’s start the real meeting now. “Search leader, please begin the report.”
The search leader, who was sitting at the end among the commanders, stood up in an appropriate posture.
“This is Lieutenant Colonel Harnbester, the search leader. According to information gathered by scouts, their size is estimated to be around 220,000. It was found that half or more than 60% of the troops were made up of mercenaries imported from countries such as Zagreb and Ljubljana.”
Medieval Europe, even until the 18th century, most European countries did not conscript their own citizens to fight in wars, but mobilized mercenaries to fight.
If people died in battle, there was a huge economic loss, and there was no money to train them and provide them with proper equipment.
So, even though Europe was a country that fought a lot of war until modern times, most of its people did not even know how to properly hold a spear.
The Farosian City Federation followed that custom and used mercenaries to fight wars, so upon hearing the news that a large army from the Reich Empire was invading, they brought in mercenaries as soon as possible.
“According to those who succeeded in infiltrating inside, Duke Veneta paid a huge fee to hire them.”
“The morale of the mercenaries will skyrocket. “Is there any other information you got other than that?”
“According to the information that our spies obtained by bribing the executives of the mercenary group, they will set up a mercenary corps at the vanguard, place militia in the middle, and elite mercenaries as reserve units.”
If the source of the information obtained by Lieutenant Colonel Harnbester was a Perosian officer, we would have to be suspicious, but if the person selling the information was an executive of a mercenary group, it would be trustworthy enough.
In the first place, mercenaries are people who join the side of those who pay a lot of money.
If there is an exception, it would be Swiss mercenaries directly managed by the Principality of Switzerland.
They are busy right now because of the civil war, so they can’t come, so it’s meaningless here.
“From now on, I will talk about the operational plan that this commander has in mind. “If there is something you don’t understand, ask for understanding and ask questions.”
Everyone’s eyes were focused on me.
“The strategy chosen by the commander of the Veneta Coalition is expected to be to hold out by taking advantage of numerical superiority. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered to place the militia in the middle.”
If they had planned to take advantage of their military superiority and attack us all at once, they would have placed the most elite mercenary unit at the vanguard.
If the elite unit takes the lead in the fight against our imperial army, it will mobilize less capable mercenaries.
The mercenaries will try to dig into the gaps in the imperial army’s formation, gradually destroy the allies, and then mobilize the militia behind them to increase the damage to the allies as much as possible.
“When the enemy forces engage in a long-term battle when the friendly forces are small, the standard way to fight is to pretend to fight back from the front, bypass the reserve forces in the rear, and surround the enemy as if surrounding him. “This commander wants to use a tactic that is a little different from the general strategy.”
The officers’ expectations were focused on me.
“The Reich Imperial Army will fight in the same formation as the enemy, but will engage in close combat with its forces concentrated in the center of the front. By doing so, we focus the enemy’s attention on the front.”
After saying that, I moved the horse symbolizing the knight and moved it to the rear of the enemy army.
“When the battle heats up, we will move our knights to break the power of the reserves, which will be the biggest obstacle when our infantry breaks through the center. To be precise, while the allied forces of the Veneta faction, including the enemy commander, were concentrating on fighting the infantry, our forces should divert the knights and attack the rear, where the elite mercenaries are said to be, and pull out all their molars.”
It is crazy to aim for a one-point breakthrough when the number of enemy forces is greater than ours, but if these variables are accumulated, it is a worthwhile task.
Duke Veneta’s army is very hard and sturdy like a crustacean on the outside, but the soldiers inside are militia no better than new recruits just conscripted from the Reich Empire.
So, even if we succeed in defeating the vanguard by mobilizing all the power of the imperial army, it will only be a matter of time before a breakthrough occurs if a close combat occurs with the soldiers inside.
If you penetrate the center of the Venetian Allied Forces like that, the enemy army will be split in two and the impact will spread throughout the entire army…
“If we succeed in breaking through the enemy lines, the Veneta Allied Forces will be split into two pieces. If the center is breached, the enemy will think they are losing and their morale will drop. After splitting, our army will also be divided in half to surround and attack the enemy.”
In the art of war, it is often said that there is no business in numbers and that numbers are irresponsible, but this only applies when the enemy’s morale is maintained to a certain degree.
Soldiers with low morale cannot defeat a small number of healthy troops, even if their numbers differ by several times.
As an example, Yasuharu Wakizaka, famous as General Seaweed in a certain drama, led only 1,500 troops in the Battle of Yongin.
Joseon had a large army of as many as 50,000 people, so anyone could see that the Joseon army had no choice but to win.
However, the Joseon army, whose morale was so low that they had crawled to the bottom of hell, was so scared that as soon as the Japanese army fired a few shots, they all started running away like crazy.
There is also an example of General Miyeok performing a miracle of defeating 50,000 troops with 1,500 men.
So, if we succeed in breaking through the center, the mercenaries and militia will be afraid to fight because they are afraid that if they continue to fight like this, they will only end up dead.
If I move as I think, there will definitely be a chance for our allies to win.
After suggesting a strategy to achieve victory, I kicked up my chair and said,
“Make sure everyone is thoroughly prepared.”
**
And the next day, I led an army of 150,000 men and went into battle.
I wanted to place the 7th Division in the location where the most intense fighting would occur in the center, but it was judged that wasting them away from the beginning would not be a very efficient choice.
So, the 7th Guards Division was deployed right behind the vanguard, and was given the role of an awl that would dig in when the vanguard unit created a gap in the enemy formation.
Also, the archer cavalry commanded by Anya was ordered to turn to the left wing of the enemy army as soon as the battle started and charge towards the place where the militia was positioned.
At this level, I think we are fully prepared to deal with Duke Veneta.
I declared at the main camp while holding my sword out in front of me.
“All troops advance. “Severely punish those who invaded Your Majesty’s wife’s home, the Duchy of Philolence!”