29 – Crown Prince vs Northern Grand Duke – 13
On the other hand, the army of Grand Duke Cronor.
“We must withdraw our troops right now.”
Emilia von Cronor, who was the protagonist of the battle at the River Imor, had a rare opinion with her father, Carl von Cronor.
“What do you mean, Emilia?”
Carol asked that, and Emilia answered.
“Our allies are now in an extremely unfavorable situation.”
Carl von Cronor frowned at a sudden word. If someone else had said such a thing, Archduke Cronor would have already whipped and beaten him. However, since Emilia had won over Diane de Balboa, and was the main player in the victory in the last battle, even Carol couldn’t touch her easily. To be honest, Carol was too vague to even hit Emilia, so she wanted it to just go away, but Emilia didn’t bend her opinion.
“What do you mean by unfavorable situation?”
“Our forces are besieging Crotea Castle with 3,000 troops and defending Seizu Castle with 10,000 troops.”
“It is.”
“But if you look at the map here, you’ll see that the enemy’s main base is located very close to Tallinn Castle and Crotea Castle.”
“Sounds stupid. Isn’t the sea blocking them?”
“It is enough to cross the sea. Charles Jean Rochepole. If it were that man, he would requisition all the merchant ships anchored in the harbor and invade the Crotea Peninsula. And after joining forces with the Crotea defenders to destroy the siege forces, they will try to cut off our supply routes from the rear.”
Emilia’s analysis was an accurate one. It was exactly the same as the plan devised by Charles Jean Rochepole. That would be the case, because that was the most effective way to win from the position of the crown prince.
“Emilia. I acknowledge your performance in the last battle.”
“Then retreat… ”
“But, do your best to talk bullsh*t that undermines the morale of your allies! Our forces won a great victory at the Battle of the Imor River. With the battle won, a city or two should of course be in our hands! What is victory for if you only win battles and don’t take castles and cities? Isn’t it an empty victory without gain? Emilia! At some point, she started talking about the goddess, and it turned out to be a bitch saying funny things! Get off now! Don’t even show your face in the tent until I call you again! Otherwise, I will kill you!”
Emilia von Kronor.
A person with the strongest military force in the work and the highest level of military leadership.
However, the current Emilia was helpless. It was because she was neither a monarch nor a general, but merely the daughter of a grand duke.
‘I need power, power… ‘
In order to freely unfold the will of the Goddess of War, she needs her own power. To do that…
‘The Grand Duke is in the way.’
Her own father was Emilia, who thought it was a hindrance to spreading the name of the goddess of war in the world.
—–
The next day, the Crown Prince headed for Says Castle with 12,000 troops, and at the same time, Charles Jean Rochepole also crossed the sea with 3,000 troops.
From the north, the crown prince marches toward Seizu Castle, and from the south, Charles marches toward Crotea Castle. It was an operation to defend Crotea Castle, which was on the verge of passing by advancing from the north and south at the same time.
On the other hand, Grand Duke Kronor’s operation was the exact opposite. By besieging Crotea Castle with 3,000 soldiers, he planned to drop Crotea Castle and block the enemy at Sayizu Castle to prevent the Crown Prince’s army from advancing forward.
As a result, both Says Castle and Crotea Castle were obtained. That was Grand Duke Cronor’s strategy.
However, Charles Jean Rochepole thought that the strategy of Archduke Cronor was not very high level. Archduke Cronor may have been a useful figure in his own way as a tactician, but as a strategist he was not.
It is because he did not notice himself that he was in a disadvantageous situation. At this rate, Archduke Cronor would only see losses without seeing any gains.
There were many qualities of a general. There were tactical qualities and strategic qualities. Tactics is a microscopic view of war, and strategy is a macroscopic view of war.
It’s hard to say this, but it’s easy to make an analogy. Tactics is how to win a battle, and strategy is how to use it to your advantage after winning a battle.
In that respect, Grand Duke Kronor knew how to win a battle, but he did not know how to use the victory to benefit. So now it was an irrational number and it was a horse.
“I need to teach Grand Duke Kronor a lesson.”
According to the story, he is the Grand Duke of Cronor, whose life will soon be over, but isn’t it said that learning continues until he dies? I thought it wouldn’t be bad if I gave you one last lesson.
Charles, who thought so, was able to cross the sea and reach the Crotea Peninsula. On the peninsula of Crotea, several small castles were lined up around Crotea Castle, the largest castle in the peninsula. Indeed, even Cronor’s army could not besiege all these small castles with only 3,000 troops, so Charles could move relatively freely within the Crotea peninsula.
Charles’ army of 3,000 entered a small castle called Coromo Castle. Charles, who recovered the fatigue of the soldiers due to the journey through rest, left Coromo Castle on the next day, July 25, 1501, and marched toward Crotea Castle, which was besieged by the Grand Duke’s detachment.
Crotea Castle, owned by Dian de Balboa, was a castle with high defense in its own way. The north side of the castle is a natural fortress with a cliff, the east side faces the sea, and a large moat is dug in the west and south sides, making it difficult to attack.
That’s why the attacking force couldn’t attack easily, and they only sucked their fingers and hoped that the food in the castle would run out.
And there were not many food reserves in the castle. only for a few months at most.
Of course, the real problem was not how much food was left. Since food was scarce, he was worried that the defenders might assume that they were abandoned and surrender.
So, Charles immediately ran towards the castle of Crotea. And at 11:30 a.m. on July 25, Charles Jean Rochepole attempted to attack the Kronor army from behind.
However, the Kronor army’s scouts were not idle either, so when Charles’s army came closer by about 2 kilometers, they noticed the presence of Balboa’s army.
The general who led the detached corps of Kronor’s army was quite surprised by the sudden appearance of the enemy from the rear.
“Where on earth did the enemy suddenly appear… ! Grand Duke Cronor, who is guarding the front, is alive and well!”
It was hard to anticipate that they had come across rough seas. That would also be true, since the Kronor Army was a northern power, so the intelligence network did not reach the central part, and he did not even predict that he would ignore Says Castle in the front and come to the rescue of Crotea Castle in the rear. Isn’t that a strategy that is somewhat out of step with the common sense of strategy?
However, Charles was not bound by the standard. Whether it was good or bad, it was just a word that people coined for convenience. Whichever way you go, you just have to win. That was Charles’s values.
The moment Charles was about to give the order to attack, Paul and Hugo summoned all the commanders of Balboa’s army.
It was against the rules for a general commander, not a general commander, to summon all the commanders of the Balboa Army. However, Charles responded to the summons, thinking that it would be the fate of the stone that rolled over.
A strange scene was staged in which a lower person summoned a higher person. Charles responded to the summons of Paul and Hugo, and all the other commanders also responded to the summons.
Charles went to the tent beforehand, hoping to have a private conversation with the commanders, and was tapping his desk with his fingers when Paul and Hugo appeared.
“Paul, Hugo. What happened so that the general commander even called up?”
“I heard that you are going to give an attack order to the enemy.”
“Is that so?”
“That will never happen!”
Whew. I thought so. If it’s not something to tackle, there’s no reason to issue a summons order. I’m sure I’ll try to fight again here.
“Why not? 3,000 allies, 3,000 enemies. It’s an equal fight, so I should win.”
“Not the same three thousand! Our forces suffered a lot from heavy infantry and heavy cavalry in the previous battle on Imor! Because of this, most of the remaining soldiers are light infantry and archers! It is absurd to lead an army out of proportion and fight an equal number of enemies!”
There is a point. It has a point, but it’s not a story worth listening to. That would be the case, because Charles also ordered the advance even though he knew all of that.
“I’m sorry, but the attack order is a matter that has been decided. I will not accept any disagreement. Tonight, we do battle with the enemy.”
“What crazy! A loach appears and leads Balboa to destruction!”
After shouting that, Paul and Hugo each drew their swords.
“Rather than ruining Balboa’s army because of you, I’ll kill you right here and replace the commander! everyone! Hit!”
When Paul signaled, Paul, Hugo, and several escorting soldiers all rushed towards Charles.