102 – The Three Quarters of the World – 4
“Cavalry, charge!”
When Pocca, the commander-in-chief of Petrio’s army, gave the order, hundreds of cavalry began to charge at once. The Leonian military’s response to this was simple.
“Fire!”
Hearing that cry, Leonia’s musketeers began firing in unison. Kwakwakwak! The enemy’s vanguard collapses with a loud sound.
“Oh my…” “
The commander-in-chief of Petrio’s army could not help but be embarrassed. Bows and crossbows cannot inflict this much damage to knights wearing full plate armor. Nevertheless, that weapon, the musket, was steadily reducing the number of knights.
“Fire!”
Once again, the command to fire was followed, and this time the right column started shooting.
-Kwakwauk!
Is it because of the shorter distance? An incomparable number of soldiers fell.
“What kind of weapon is that… !”
Archers cannot kill heavily armed knights. It was a weapon that went against such common sense. Poca felt it. He realized that his battlefield common sense was collapsing.
“But now the distance is closer!”
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Now, in just a little while, our army’s vanguard will be approaching the distance where the enemy’s musketeers will be torn apart. Now the enemy’s musketeers will fall back. Poca, who thought so, shouted.
“Just a little more! Charge a little more! “It won’t be long!”
And the moment Leonia gave the order to retreat to the musketeers at the front…
“Charge!”
Dean de Balboa, the vanguard, led his cavalry at the forefront and began charging.
Dian had two options. One was to place his pikemen at the forefront and block the enemy’s vanguard with a pike formation.
And the other one was to lead the knights and charge and fight a battle of knights against knights.
Of course, safety measures came first. The long spear soldiers were the class that made up the majority of our troops, and our long spear soldiers were excellent at training due to long training, so they were capable of fending off even heavily armed knights. Therefore, it could have been said that it was a common sense commander’s choice to repel with a long spear and counterattack with a musket.
But Dian had greed. Dean de Balboa wanted to be the protagonist of this battle. That’s right, Dian was a port commander, and even though Isabel and Yuria were friendly to Dian, there were many other officers pointing fingers at Dian, calling him a traitor and the port captain. Therefore, even though the princess appointed Dian as the vanguard, Dian’s position could not be considered strong yet.
That’s why Dian chose. Rather than being defensive by repelling them with long spear soldiers, they would rather crush the enemy by showing overwhelming strength in a fight between knights of the same cavalry. And…
-Kwaaang!!!
Knights on both sides began to clash. The sound of metal blocks clashing against metal blocks was no joke. Many knights fell from their horses, rolled on the ground, and were killed by the hooves of running horses. Meanwhile, there was someone who was active alone.
“That…” !”
That was Dean de Balboa. Dian de Balboa, one of only two sword masters in the world, was constantly wiping out enemy knights with his incredible sword skills, and due to the activities of Dian and several of his subordinates, a hole began to form in the center of the enemy knights’ formation. Princess Leonia shouted at this.
“All army, attack!”
The entire army began to advance along the road cleared by Dian. The cavalry of the Russell and Poitiers families followed Diane, followed by regular infantry, and the regular infantry was followed by pikemen. At the very back, musketeers were firing at the place where the enemies were gathered.
The vanguard, Dian de Balboa, and the cavalry under the Balboa family displayed literally insane destructive power, instantly destroying the enemy’s infantry square.
-Kwaaang!!!
One square was literally blown away by the cavalry’s charge. And the knights dug in between the blown squares and stabbed, cut, and trampled the infantry. And then the cavalrymen of other families followed suit and began trampling on the enemy.
The enemy began to rout before the infantry could move forward in earnest. Our troops pursued the fleeing enemy until the end and killed more than half of them. If there had been a forest or river in the middle, there would have been limits to the chase, but since the stage of the rotation was a plain, there was no place to escape. At this, Charles muttered softly.
“There is no way to recover.”
Although we only killed 5,000 enemies, which is half of them, this is actually the same as killing all 10,000 people. Half of his soldiers are dead, and there is no way the rest can fight properly. It’s not just that there are deserters, more than 80% of them will be deserters. The enemy will never gather again.
“Well, it was overwhelming in every way. “It’s a natural result.”
The numbers were the same (10,000 to 10,000), but we were ahead in technology, we were ahead in actual combat experience, and we were ahead in the quality of commanders. There was no element that could have made the enemy win. But…
“The problem is that it starts now.”
I had expected in advance that I would win the battle. But the real problem was not the battle, but the war.
The Taspilia know, the Arcadians know, and the Swadians know that the army of the Taspilia peninsula is weak. This is a fact that the whole world knows. Nevertheless, there was a great reason why the Taspilia Peninsula had not allowed invasion by foreign enemies until now. And soon everyone would know why.
Without celebrating her victory, Princess Leonia immediately led her soldiers and began to fell the castles of the Petrine Republic one by one. Since the Petrine Republic was a country focused on commerce, its roads were quite well maintained, and these roads greatly helped the friendly army advance.
“It’s a shame that the road that was built for business ended up being used for invasion.”
However, it was good news for our troops. Our forces began to destroy the castles and cities in the northern part of the Petrine Republic by road. Although there were no wizards, it was possible because there were eight siege cannons.
After three of the five cities in the north were dropped, the soldiers’ physical strength began to reach its limits. Some soldiers began to fall behind because they could not keep up with the march and battle, and the remaining soldiers did not look very good. Accordingly, the Empress stationed her army in a city named Calleus and gave her soldiers a rest.
“A report to the entire army! Any type of aggressive behavior such as looting, arson, robbery, assault on citizens, or being aggressive towards locals is strictly prohibited! Anyone who violates even one of these will be severely punished for the pride of Leonia von Arcadia, so know that!”
Leonia strictly prohibited her soldiers from looting and arson. In fact, plunder was natural for the soldiers of this period, and the Petrine Republic was one of the five wealthiest countries in the world, so many soldiers were somewhat disappointed, but Leonia’s attitude was firm.
And when this fact became known, the citizens of the Petrine Republic cheered and chanted Leonia von Arcadia’s name several times.
—–
There is a saying in Taspilia that goes like this. [If you can sell it, sell your wife and children. Instead, it is more expensive than it should be.]
Of course, if you actually sell your wife and children, you will be subject to both national and religious laws and will be hung on the gallows, but in any case, this proverb deals with the temperament of the Taspilians.
They consider money more important than their hometown or sense of duty to the country. They live to make money, and the only time they spend money is when they think they can make more money. So that…
“Waaa~!”
“The greatest genius of the Arcadian Empire! “Welcome His Highness, Triumphal General Arcadia von Leonia!”
When the friendly forces entered Calleus, the civilians did not reject or envy the friendly troops, but welcomed and welcomed them.
Why?
The soldiers would have accumulated fatigue and stress due to the war, and such soldiers would try to relieve their stress by spending money in the city in any way, such as gambling or meeting women.
Furthermore, since Leonia strictly prohibited looting and arson, the soldiers would not be able to commit violent acts.
For the Taspilians, even the invaders who occupied their country were nothing more than business partners. Furthermore…
“Are you an invader again?”
“Last time they invaded from the Kingdom of Swadia, and this time they invaded from the Arcadia Empire.”
“I’ll be leaving soon again this time.”
The Taspilians were confident. I am confident that the invaders will leave soon. That’s because other countries have tried to attack Taspilia several times, but each time, the Taspilia people have driven out the invaders. I had no doubt that it would happen this time too.
Anyway, it wasn’t a bad story from the allies’ point of view that the Taspilians welcomed their conquerors.
Then one day, a knight was brought to a military trial. The reason was because they raped a local woman.
The soldier was an officer under Dian de Balboa, and regardless of his personality, he seemed to have been an outstanding knight.
“Your Majesty, Sir Dian de Balboa has issued a plea for the life of the knight who was recently captured. “He will be severely punished, including confiscating his family property and beating him, so it seems he is asking for his life to be spared.”
Charles said so, but Leonia answered firmly.
“No. I definitely would have put my pride on the line and said I would punish him. “Tell them that you respect the Balboa family’s autonomy, but military law takes precedence.”
“Yes.”
In the first place, Charles didn’t even have any expectations. Leonia was a monarch who always kept her oaths. This was not a particularly political calculation on her part, but rather her pride in herself. Therefore, it never breaks.
Soon, Leonia personally shot her knight with a musket, and from then on, her soldiers are said to have never committed a crime within the city of Caleus.
“If even a knight is shot to death, ordinary soldiers will just fly away.”
“At a time when even wealthy people are flying away, idiots like us should never go against military law.”
Leonia’s actions once again corrected military discipline. And…
“Lord Rochepol, diplomatic documents have arrived from the Principality of Flos and the Castle of Lydia.”
At that moment, Charles sighed.
“It’s coming.”
The reason why other countries have not invaded the Taspilia peninsula until now, even though its military is weak. The reason was scheduled to unfold from now on.