431 – The Road to a Dual Empire (2)
Two months later, near the city of Francois Valois.
“Is everyone here? The junior officers and soldiers are in the midst of playing around, but you are such a disgusting Generalissimo that you invite them to sit in the meeting room like this. hehehe, I’m sorry.”
The generals under my command responded to my words with a cheerful smile.
“If I were to be called by His Excellency the Marshal, I would come without hesitation, no matter how delicious the delicacies of mountain and sea food are in front of me.”
“Those who couldn’t attend are probably pounding the ground because they feel sorry for not being able to hear His Excellency’s ingenious strategy with their own ears.”
“It is enough to have fun with a refreshed mind after completing the mission.”
As I heard the reactions of those who responded more cheerfully to the words, which contained their own humor, a smile suddenly appeared on my face.
“Very good. Then, as of the current time, I will disclose the information reported by the scouting party one by one. “Everyone, please take your seats.”
As the generals sat down in their respective seats, I took out the report sent by the scouts and began to read it.
“The enemy commander is Carlos von Chevalier, Marshal of the Republic, and the size of the troops he leads is estimated to be approximately 250,000. In addition, it is said that the knight led about 30,000 people.”
We brought 30,000 knights, so if you add the number of archers, our cavalry strength is superior.
‘You can’t let your guard down against their knights.’
He was severely robbed by the United Kingdom, who were using a strategy of sucking the backbone by interfering in Francois’ disgusting civil war.
Their knights are still the strongest on the continent.
When the generals heard the number ‘30,000’, they sighed deeply and touched their foreheads as if they were in pain.
“The Francois have mobilized as many as 30,000 knights even after going through the same civil war with the United Kingdom. “It seems like there really is a castle obsessed with knights.”
“Couldn’t it be that those guys have a wall that won’t tolerate it if you don’t raise a horse?”
“Ahem ahem, that’s a really uncomfortable thing to say. “Please don’t say that my love of words is a castle, but rather culture.”
When everyone was talking in worry, I smiled and called out to Carol with a wave of my hand.
“Major, bring it to me.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The generals tilted their heads and paid attention to me.
After a while, Carol brought out a fairly large crossbow that, unlike a typical crossbow, had gears and other mechanical mechanisms attached to it with a rope, and placed it in front of me.
At the same time, on the opposite side of the wall, a little away from where I was sitting, a breastplate worn by ordinary knights was placed on a support stand.
“This is a crossbow that was often used by Zenobian crossbowmen, modified from the armory. The power is about…”
After intentionally interrupting my conversation in a tantalizing way, I began to turn the mechanism attached to the top of the crossbow with one hand.
The other generals seemed to feel the value of being able to load a crossbow with one hand, and they all continued to speak with voices filled with admiration.
“It’s amazing that you can load a crossbow with one hand.”
“Your Excellency’s concept has been reproduced exactly in the armory.”
“……As expected, you are amazing.”
I pulled the string of the crossbow and then loaded an arrow that was much sharper and heavier than a regular crossbow arrow.
“See for yourself.”
When I pulled the trigger, the arrow flew towards the armor with a fairly heavy ‘thud’ sound.
As has been proven after several experiments, the crossbow penetrated breastplates of similar strength to those used by François knights.
“It’s roughly like this. What do you think, do you like it?”
When I said this, the generals clapped their hands passionately with their mouths wide open.
“Wow! “You can penetrate that thick breastplate in one go!”
“Your Excellency has created a fearsome weapon! “I was so shocked that my mouth dropped.”
“……François knights are all as good as dead.”
The life of a knight lies in the ‘defense’ and ‘weight’ of the person on the horse and the horse, but if this crossbow is used, their defense will be virtually broken, so the knight’s value will drop by half or more.
The biggest reason to fear knights is that, except for magic, they rarely die from soldiers’ attacks.
If you only need that crossbow, the game is over.
‘I can picture the knight looking embarrassed.’
“The production process for that crossbow is difficult, so they said they would work hard to prepare it, but they have only prepared about 5,000 so far. So, I plan to give it to the archers and have them shoot all at once before they collide with our knights, so that they can use it to kill the momentum of the charging guys.”
“It’s really good. “With just one hit from that, you can kill Francois and all those snail-eating knights!”
Generals and commanders are people whose eyes always turn when they see excellent weapons, so you must understand their current state of excitement.
He was over 60 years old, but he was very excited and ran towards me, asking for my understanding, holding the crossbow as if he was fishing for it, and then turning it around and spitting, admiring and explaining.
There is no chaos as the generals gather around and look at each other.
I really can’t stop you.
‘Even so, I am very fortunate that my officers did not see me doing that.’
If you had seen it, it would have been difficult to find dignity in the commander’s eyes as he looked at the new weapon.
I opened my mouth because I had to end the event to praise the new weapon and explain the operation.
“So, after the archers kill the Francois knights with this crossbow, our knights are planning to rush in and trample on them.”
Then, I immediately started moving the wooden horses that symbolized the friendly infantry and the enemy infantry.
The gathered generals quickly returned to their seats and began to listen to my words.
“Then we will now do infantry warfare like this. First, our infantry will form a formation to the side and fight the enemy infantry head-on.”
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Laura raised one hand and objected.
“Your Excellency, isn’t the morale of François and his infantry low as they have been suffering defeat after defeat? So, why don’t we try to break through the center even if it’s a little too much in the beginning?”
If you succeed in breaking through the center and dividing the enemy army in half, it is an attractive operation that allows you to unilaterally pound the enemy infantry from then on…
“It makes sense, but Marshal Bonn will not agree with that opinion. This is because the friendly forces have no experience as they have not fought in actual combat for the past four years, while the enemy forces are veterans who have continued to fight small and large-scale wars dozens of times a year. So, strictly speaking, our troops who have only received training are at a slightly disadvantage in terms of combat power.”
“Is that so?”
“Furthermore, according to the report of the scouts, the nobles of the Francois Republic wanted to educate the soldiers. She was told that when the Imperial Princess of the Cafe returned, the vengeful Crown Princess would carry out a brutal massacre, which she had brainwashed. So it appears that morale will be higher than we thought.”
No matter how low the morale of soldiers is, if you immediately put a knife to their throat and threaten to kill them, they will gain momentum that they did not have before and become soldiers fighting desperately to survive.
This is common sense that has been proven in countless wars.
‘In fact, we are doing our best to distribute food and preserve the lives of the people, using the mercy of the Imperial Princess Cafe and her love for the people.’
Still, there is no business in the face of propaganda and fabrication… So there is nothing we can do.
I moved the wooden horse that symbolized our army’s infantry.
A form in which the horses of the right wing of the friendly infantry cover the sides and rear of the enemy infantry, and the remaining horses block the enemy’s attack.
“This is the most standard method, but the infantry on the right wing attacks the enemy while the left and center forces block the enemy’s attack. I will give instructions to the rest according to the situation on the battlefield, so that each person can move according to the role of the unit under his or her command.”
With those words, all the generals stood up at once, saluted me, and left the barracks.
At the conference hall where everyone had left, I sat down and sighed.
“Damn you! “It’s like public sentiment swayed by propaganda and fabrications.”
The other territories that the empire has occupied so far have been able to be converted into imperial subjects by somehow suppressing them with the empire’s overwhelming force.
“That was possible because the dissatisfied forces could be suppressed with the national power of the empire, but the situation is different this time.”
And then I hit the desk.
“Of course, since we are distributing food to people suffering from hunger due to a long war, that alone can make people turn to our side to some extent. This alone is not enough. “Isn’t there a more effective way?”
While I was thinking alone for quite a long time, a strategy that could turn this situation around suddenly occurred to me.
“I never thought there was a way like this…”
In that way, I was able to set up a plan to make Francois completely part of the empire.
On my way back to my personal barracks to go to bed with a lighter heart.
I could see Friedrich with a company commander over there.
Friedrich was waving his hands, and the company commander was smiling sincerely.
“Ensign Jaeger, this company commander has very high expectations for your performance.”
“… My father was great, but I wasn’t that great.”
“This company commander has high expectations of all platoon commanders, and this is especially true of you. “Didn’t you graduate at the top of the academy and earn all the badges that can be earned at the academy?”
I only got average grades at the academy.
Our Friedrich has excellent grades, probably because he inherited his ability to study from his mother.
Her swordsmanship and weapon handling skills have never left her at the top of the academy.
In addition, he won the championship at least once in various competitions held within the Academy to recognize his ‘ability’.
The company commander then whispered softly into Friedrich’s ear.
“This company commander’s first promotion review is early next year, hmm.”
I was a bit surprised to see the company commander giving the maximum burden without exceeding the limit.
But I didn’t really have any intention of burying it.
Whose son is this?
There was no way Friedrich would collapse under that much pressure.
No, just looking at his performance at the Academy, he is a son who will undoubtedly leave his name in history as a better commander than me if the timing is right. It will take care of itself.
I walked towards those two, cleared my throat, and said.
“Isn’t it time to sleep? Go ahead and get some sleep. “Why are you talking so much?”
The company commander froze as soon as he saw me.
“Loyalty! Yes, I understand. Dismissal!”
Then he took Friedrich and returned to his barracks in an instant.
“……Cute things.”