340 – Attack on Veneta Castle (7)
Inside Veneta’s castle a month later
Militia members Fior and Gabriel are performing inspection and guard duties at Veneta Castle.
“Ha, f*ck. Reich bastards, they never tire. “How can this sh*t continue day and night?”
“…… That’s right. It’s already been a month. “During the day, we mobilize our troops and climb up the walls to fight, and at night, we shoot damned stones and fire arrows.”
“If this is the case, shouldn’t His Royal Highness, Duke Veneta, just open the gates and surrender? “I can’t find the answer anyway, so in the end, we’re the only ones who keep searching.”
A few days or even a few weeks ago, if someone said something like this, a soldier standing guard along with him would step in and stop him, saying what would he do if other people passing by heard it?
Complaints This is because there was an actual case in which a person was beheaded after voicing their complaints and a high-ranking person around them heard about it.
However, their morale has dropped to a low level, and they have been fighting a fierce battle day and night without being able to sleep properly since a month ago.
As the soldiers were losing their attachment to life due to accumulated mental and physical fatigue, their thoughts changed like this.
‘Anyway, you will be caught by a high-ranking member of our army and die for violating military law. However, you will die while fighting in the castle, but if you are in the castle, everyone will die.’
As they went around inspecting the area with torches in hand, they saw the terrible scene unfolding before their eyes.
Because the houses and buildings inside the castle could not accommodate all the militia and citizens who had taken refuge in the surrounding area, simple tents were set up to provide protection from the wind and rain.
Due to the lack of tents, some people slept stretched out on the street with just a piece of blanket.
Arrows, magic, and boulders were flying towards these people, and sometimes the sound of heads or torsos being broken and screams were heard, but surprisingly, there were many people who were sleeping well without waking up.
For the past month, the imperial army has been bombarding us with attacks even at night, and as the saying goes, humans are animals of adaptation, so we have simply adapted to the current terrible situation.
Of course, even though the war was so severe that people dying was common, those who lost their ‘family’ wailed.
“Fine, fine! Please open your eyes! Please please. “I promised my mom that if only the bad imperial troops over there would leave, she would make me some delicious spaghetti…”
It was a scene that had become all too familiar to both the militiamen standing guard and the people who were lying here sleeping as if they were dead.
So no one sympathized with the person who was wailing because he lost his family right before his eyes.
Most of the people here have lost family members to direct hits, whether arrows or catapult bullets, from the imperial army right in front of their eyes, so they know the pain well.
Human morality is an incompetent value that cannot exert any power when mental and physical fatigue reaches its extreme.
“Miss, lady. Is she the only one who lost her family here? If you want to cry, tell her to hide in the corner, put a towel in her mouth and cry quietly. “f*ck, here you wake people up by wailing over something as common as a rock hitting your foot, you crazy b*tch.”
Rather than making a moral judgment about empathizing with the pain of others and comforting them, it was more important to somehow get some sleep now and gain the strength to live tomorrow.
The fortunate thing among the misfortunes for these people was that there was enough food inside the castle, so they did not starve to the point of going hungry.
Humans have a terrible instinct to survive by eating each other when food is scarce.
On the other hand, two militiamen patrolling the border muttered when they saw this.
“f*ck, what should we do? They at least give us food, but the situation is like this. They say this life is better even if you roll in a field of sh*t, but don’t we have to desert if we want to survive? “The night guard was set up very roughly, so let’s just change shifts and run away!”
“Fjord, you crazy bastard. “Even if you stand guard like an asshole, don’t you know that if you get caught deserting, your head will be cut off?”
“Think about it carefully, there are only two options. Are you going to die trapped here? Are you going to surrender to the imperial army and find a way to survive? It’s night time now, so they don’t climb the castle walls, but only attack from a distance. Therefore, only the minimum number of guards are guarded. They confirmed that there were no guards at watchtower 3 on the eastern wall and the two watchtowers on the left and right. If you run scared, you can even desert. “I knew it well because I saw the landmark without the platoon leader knowing.”
As they say, Duke Veneta and other nobles of the principality realized that the imperial army only used long-range weapons such as catapults and ballistas at night.
It was judged that if we continued to maintain a combat readiness posture, such as placing many soldiers on the castle walls, the fatigue of the soldiers who had to fight during the day would only increase.
So, in case the enemy might try to cross the castle walls at night, it has been a while since we deployed the minimum number of security personnel to keep an eye on them.
In fact, a militiaman named Fior was planning to drag Gabriel into the alley 15 meters ahead, gag him, and kill him if he did not follow his advice…
“After guard duty is over, I have to go to the eastern wall to hand over the goods. Let’s desert then, for f*ck’s sake. My family couldn’t evacuate here anyway. “It’s in the land occupied by the imperial army.”
“Good thought, Gabriel.”
“But the f*ck, did you bring a rope? Unless there is a bastard who wants to desert.”
“Ha, this body has already been tied tightly with a knot so it won’t break. “I’m trying to desert with my hometown friend of 20 years.”
“If I return alive, my brother will buy sausages.”
“Take it, three glasses of dark beer.”
After having such a friendly conversation, the two finished handing over the border and walked quickly to watchtower number 3, pretending not to know much about the topography of the eastern wall.
There was no one on the castle wall, with all kinds of arrows, stones, and magic flying around, except for the few guards, who lowered the rope from watchtower 3 and moved as fast as possible.
After coming down the castle wall and going about 300 meters further, we came near the imperial troops belonging to the night attack team and immediately put down our weapons and shouted.
“Surrender! “I surrender!”
“Please just save our lives, we will reveal all the information we know!”
The officer looked at them and sighed.
“There is no need for that, just go to the POW camp. I need to first determine whether you guys are suspicious or not. “I’m so tired right now.”
In fact, Fjord was a crazy guy who thought that he would get his share of desertion.
He smiled brightly and took out from his pocket a map of the castle’s interior, which was only distributed to officers, especially company commanders and above.
“This is a diagram of the castle’s internal structure. This map can only be viewed by officers, especially captains and above.”
The officer who heard that thought it was a matter beyond his control, and immediately sent the deserters to the intelligence unit along with the map.
After a very quick analysis, it turned out that all the information was true.
And the information they brought was immediately reported to Peter Yeager.
**
Imperial Commander’s Barracks.
I don’t know why, but I couldn’t sleep, so I was preparing to secretly take a walk or do a nighttime inspection while being careful not to wake up Charlotte.
Well, the only thing I need to do to prepare for going out at night in a military camp with strict security is to change into the military uniform I wear when going out…
Suddenly, the sound of metal clanking was heard from outside.
“Captain, boss. “Excuse me, but may I give you a report?”
If he came to wake me up at night, it must be a very urgent or important report.
If it were daytime right now, I would have come right in and reported first without worrying about what was going on…
It’s not me, but among generals who are highly regarded on the battlefield, it’s common for them to spend hot nights with their exclusive maids.
In other words, if you open the door carelessly and go in, you could end up seeing the naked body of a nobleman’s concubine. In the worst case, there have been cases where people were beheaded for lese majeste, so we have no choice but to be careful.
“Tell me.”
The officer who came inside spoke out of breath.
“Fjord, Venetian militiamen called Gabriel deserted with a map detailing the interior of Venetian Castle. “The intelligence department quickly analyzed it and determined it was genuine.”
Detailed maps of military facilities from the past to the 21st century are treated as top secret.
So, getting this map is a very good thing for our troops, but starting tomorrow when they notice the loss of the map, the defense posture of the damn castle wall will become even stronger.
Should I be happy about this, or should I rot my head…
“Furthermore, according to their reports, as recently investigated by the intelligence unit, only a minimum number of security personnel are deployed on the walls at night. In particular, it is said that the fortress is only placing guards on some of the watchtowers, and letting the remaining troops rest for the daytime battle.”
As soon as I heard those words, these words came to mind.
‘When moving an army, it must be as fast as the wind, when not advancing, it must be quiet like a forest, when attacking the enemy, it must be hot and fierce like fire, and when defending, it must be heavy like a mountain.’
What our imperial army must take now is movement as fast as the wind and attacks as fierce as fire.
If you have made a decision, today is market day, and it is natural to make a decision right away.
“Wake up the soldiers! “Our imperial army will launch an all-out attack from now on!”