334 – Attack on Veneta Castle (1)
When I was a professor at the Imperial Army Staff College, I said this during lectures about once a week.
‘Avoid siege warfare as much as possible. ‘No matter how numerically and qualitatively superior your allies are and your enemies are the opposite, if it is a battle that can be avoided, avoid it at all costs.’
The old school professors who heard this cursed at me, saying I lacked the spirit of courage and that I lacked courage, but this belief of mine has not changed from that time until now, when I had to take down Veneta Castle. .
Seeing the Venetian soldiers standing tightly on top of the castle wall, which is over 6 meters high, makes me want to just pack my bags and go back.
“Wow, sh*t. It’s extremely high and long, and it’s the worst. “If you try to take down a castle like this without a proper plan, countless soldiers will die.”
I was worried about the fact that I had to attack such a huge castle, and I felt like I wanted to just give up and go back, but at this time, I heard a voice from above the castle wall criticizing me and the imperial army, as if someone had ordered me to do so.
“Reich Imperial Army, you filthy bastards who are no bigger than pigs! “This castle is like the Cheolong Fortress that could not be dropped even when the pagan army that burned the entire continent came 300 years ago!”
“Isn’t it unfair that the prices are so high? But you can’t do anything?! “Can’t we just pack our bags and go home quietly?”
“Peter Jaeger, you son of a b*tch! If you return quietly now, I will allow you to return with your life preserved! Go straight home and suck on the breasts of your favorite wives like they are babies! Wah wah!”
It is absurd to see the weak creatures who had been massacred to death by our imperial troops in the Brito Plain, and their morale soared to the sky as soon as they gained the huge shield called the castle wall.
Of course, taking a castle is extremely difficult and requires a lot of sacrifice, but to see idiots running around after losing half of their troops in a battle on the plain… It feels so trivial.
However, this provocation seemed to work well for Anya, as she pointed her finger at the castle wall and said,
“They brought 250,000 men and were completely destroyed by an imperial army of less than 150,000, losing more than half of their troops. They are barking dirty, hiding behind the walls! Let’s be honest, you also really like women and want to take a concubine, but you can’t do it because you don’t have the money, ability, or energy! Besides, we all know that your wife’s face is as ugly as a pizza that has been stepped on by a horse’s hoof. I know that people talk nonsense because they are jealous. If you’re jealous, how about honestly saying that you’re jealous? “But that won’t make your wife’s face look pretty.”
Although Anya rarely uses such harsh words in front of me, she was the chieftain of the White Wolf tribe in the northern region where barbarians lived, and now she has risen to the rank of major general, commanding the archers.
Unlike Laura, she did not receive any education as an aristocratic daughter, so it was reported that when she gets angry to the core, her mouth becomes foul-mouthed.
After actually listening to it, it’s really no joke. It makes me feel sorry for the guys on top of the castle wall.
Furthermore, Anya who says these words is objectively a beautiful woman who is not criticized for her appearance even when she is often criticized by enemy commanders, so the power of those words is more than a thousand times…
As I was so surprised, Lieutenant Colonel Kisev, a former archer cavalryman who graduated from the Staff College and became a staff member at the headquarters, quietly approached me and said.
“If Director Kergit is properly angry, that amount is nothing.”
“……Is that so?”
“Yes, sir.”
As I was chatting behind the scenes with the lieutenant colonel, cheers rose up among the soldiers.
“Long live Director Kergit! “Damn you guys, you can’t say anything because you’ve been beaten with the inexplicable fact that your wife has an ugly face.”
“As expected, she is called the goddess of battlefield along with Laura.”
“Beneta bastards, just try to climb over the castle wall. “I will check whether the director’s words are correct or not by looking at the women’s faces in person!”
Hearing that story, I once again thought of a way to capture that castle.
From noble mtl dot com
In the end, it seems that there is no choice but to take advantage of the greatest weakness of the militia made up of citizens: the fact that they have families to protect.
In normal cases, it seems that the militia will fight to the death to protect the lives of their families, but that is because they are afraid that their wives and children will be injured and killed as the enemies openly ‘plunder’ and ‘massacre’ them.
What if you fight for the city and all you have to do is die, and if you surrender instead, the lives and property of your wife and children are protected?
Then, there will be no reason for the militia to fight, and if they are made aware of this fact, when the fear of death comes, those children will not be able to withstand and will become agitated.
“Gather general and field officers to the command barracks. “I will announce the siege policy in the next hour.”
**
Reich Imperial Army command barracks.
Even before I entered and opened my mouth, the imperial commanders were already debating what policy I would use.
“Director Laura, aren’t you going to try to go over the castle wall head-on during this siege?”
“I think if you were our captain, wouldn’t you pretend to attack head on and then dig a tunnel under the castle wall? “You either dig a tunnel to get under the castle wall and open the castle gate, or you try to destroy the castle wall by burning the trees that support the tunnel.”
“…… Or perhaps he has already planted a spy to open the castle gate?”
Except for one officer who said they would attack the castle in a standard way, Laura and the others seem to be expecting me to come up with some special plan.
Right now, no matter how much I look around the castle walls and think about it, I can’t see any other sharp move that could effectively take over the castle.
“Attention.”
Everyone’s eyes and attention turned to me with every word I said.
“I am not preparing any special strategies for this attack on Veneta Castle. Therefore, our troops will attack the castle head-on starting tomorrow when the battering ram is completed.”
Hearing those words, the officers’ expressions darkened as they were disappointed that there was no special strategy and expected that thousands or tens of thousands of troops would have to die to overcome a wall that was over 6 meters high.
At other times, they might have made you understand, saying, ‘It’s for the sake of the empire, so it can’t be helped,’ or they might have scolded you for being passive in the face of war.
As someone who well understands the ineffective loss of life during siege warfare, I did not feel the need to criticize or appease them.
So, it would be better to just remain silent and explain the upcoming events and the strategy I had in mind.
“Currently, this commander believes that the enemy is afraid of our troops.”
“But the morale of the enemies I just saw seemed very high. The discipline of the citizen soldiers was very poor, but their spirit made them look like the most elite unit.”
“It’s just that I forgot my fear to some extent and got excited because I was next to the castle wall. Just looking at the stance they hold their spears in and the state of their armor, they are a weak, ragtag group of people. Without any exaggeration, most of the civilian soldiers are at a level worse than that of private soldiers in the Imperial Army. Isn’t that right, Major General Anastasia?”
Anya listened to me and answered without hesitation.
“As the commander said, through training at the training center and within the unit, new recruits of the Imperial Army can form a phalanx immediately at the command of the company commander, no matter how hectic the situation may be. However, when the knights and archers began to charge, those militiamen were unable to form a proper square even though the company commander ordered them to do so. Therefore, it was breached too easily.”
Those words gave the officers confidence.
“The walls may be high, but if the soldiers guarding them are idiots, that’s a different story.”
“If an idiot holds a rare sword, isn’t it just like an iron bar?”
“I didn’t know because I’ve never dealt with the militia directly, but aren’t they just a scarecrow who is just wasting food if they can’t even form a square?”
Still, since he is standing holding a spear, it may be a cordon that is slightly better than a wooden fence.
The fact that the value of one soldier is compared to a few thorns made of immovable wood proves that the militia has little use.
“When I led the archers and charged, I could not find anyone who even pretended to extend their spears properly towards the archers. When other soldiers around them died, they were busy running away without any intention of resisting. Based on that fact, if a siege breaks out and we see our troops dying on the walls, it is expected that the morale of the enemy will plummet.”
I find this attitude of the militia pathetic, but I do not despise it.
Because imperial soldiers received systematic training, and many of them had no wives or children to support them, even if they died, they did not have to worry about their remaining families.
Most of the militiamen here have old parents and wives and children, so if they are left behind, their wives will become prostitutes who sell their bodies, and their children will become orphans and have no choice but to live a miserable life in the back alleys.
So, if surrender is the way to save the lives of oneself and one’s wife and children rather than just dying while fighting, these are the people who would choose that.
“Therefore, our troops will fight head-on to lower the enemy’s morale as much as possible in a short period of time. Everyone, prepare for battle.”