137 – Escalation (9)
But Neustyria’s resistance was futile.
The culprit who murdered his father was not clearly identified, and if you think rationally, there was no reason why Rotaring would kill the Duke of Anjou, who was in the midst of surrender negotiations. The Duke of Anjou, who agreed, refused to unite with Neustria.
Of course, the advice of the Duke of Aquitan, with whom he was personally acquainted, and the servile nature of the Duke of Anjou himself played a part in that decision.
The army of the Duke of Provence is unable to move forward any further due to Rotaring’s solid defense and the Rotaringpa nobles stabbing in from behind, and the Duke of Anjou refuses to project any more external forces and locks himself in the manor. Since she was strengthening her internal stability, Neustria literally had to fight alone against Rotaring.
“As expected, it’s much better to learn in practice like this.”
And the fight against Neustria gave Rotaring’s officers and reserve officers great benefits and valuable experience in actual combat.
At the military academy in Dijon, which was established not too long ago, not a single student who should have been studying at the moment went to school, because everyone went out to live practical training sites where they could learn and experience more than they learned at school.
Students to learn defensive warfare are in Provence in the south, students to learn offensive warfare are in Neustria in the northwest, and students to learn replenishment are receiving very realistic, no, real education and learning knowledge everywhere. Of course, the military research of generals is also parallel.
“Looks like you intend to hold out until the end…”
“What should I do?”
“How can I do it, I want to die, but of course I have to do that.”
Neustria, whose arms sales and funding were a large part of its capabilities, could not hold out any longer.
The power was lost in the middle of the civil war, and even after going through several wars, it was almost impossible to stop Rotaring’s army, which had recovered after a long period of rest.
Even so, the Duke of Neustria did not surrender at all, which left a deep impression on Lotharing’s nobles and soldiers.
Some paid homage, admiring the bravery and tenacity of their enemy duke, some gave their tongues to the duke who was futilely resisting, and some paid tribute to their lord who pushed the duke so far to the brink by an assassination case. I had a feeling of astonishment and fear.
Of course, even though they each had different emotions, they all had to do the same thing. That means you have to defeat the enemy who resists.
“Let go of the cannon.”
“Yes, sir.”
General Arras, who hastily returned to active duty due to the war after spending a comfortable old age as the principal of the military academy, is making good use of the new weapon, the cannon. He liked it so much that he made all his tactics centered around cannons, to the extent that it could be said that cannons were used by a group of troops rather than by the army.
Thanks to that, the defense of Neustria became meaningless beyond futility. This is because the existence of the wall, which occupied a large axis in medieval defense tactics, became useless. The key to defense is to block the production and supply of siege weapons by the enemy while holding a siege in the castle, and to hold out until the supply runs out, but Neustria can’t do any of that.
If you can match the launch angle, you can fire cannonballs as soon as you meet them, destroying the walls without having time to prepare for a response, and supplies will continue to be supplied by using the merchant’s trade route built in Caroling over 1-2 years. It’s going on.
Even if they managed to cut off the Rotaring’s supply line, numerous preserved foods such as biscuits and pemmicans were meaningless because they allowed the army to survive for a long time without supply, and then supplies quickly went to other routes. Duke Neustria was frustrated, literally feeling like he was punching a rock with his bare hands, but he never surrendered.
Because I can’t even negotiate with an unscrupulous illegitimate son who kills his father and accuses him of the culprit.
Kwaaang!!
“Kuheuuu the the sound that shakes the whole body every time I hear it. I like it very much.”
“Is that so? I don’t like it because it’s too loud. I keep hearing beeping in my ears, but it doesn’t get better at all.”
Duke Neustria’s castle collapses like a sandcastle from a cannon, like other castles that have confronted the Rotaring army.
The soldiers of Rotaring show various reactions to the roar and power of the cannon, but they all feel the same emotion.
With that cannon, all existing castles would be as useless as the stone walls of the town.
“Attack everyone!! Dig through that gap as usual!!”
“Wowaaa!!”
When the common soldiers, who play the role of non-commissioned officer, a newly created military rank due to Claude’s military reform, declare a loud charge, the soldiers respond and charge with their weapons.
Of course, the Neustrian army did not stand still and resisted by using the collapsed walls and city as barricades, but their resistance was quickly burned away by the Molotov cocktails thrown by the grenadiers.
[Doesn’t surrender until the end and resists by using the collapsed walls as obstacles? Hmm… Yes, there was something just right.]
After seeing that Neustria would resist to the end even if it meant using citizens as shields, Claude adopted a Molotov cocktail that was very useful in such an environment.
From nob le mtl dot com
Making glass belongs to the very difficult side, but since the purpose was to break it in the first place, regardless of the presence of air bubbles or impurities, it was not a big problem as it just needed to be properly shaped.
The rugged, impure glass bottle was filled with oil, tree sap, honey, and beet sugar, and then the opening was sealed with an oiled cloth to make a Molotov cocktail. It showed excellent performance in narrow city.
Enemy forces gathered in a narrow place were hit by the sticky flames of oil, tree sap, and honey, and the entire battle line was burnt and collapsed. As much as that, rumors spread that the King of Rotaling liked to deal with the terrible fire of hell and take people’s lives with it, and Claude’s notoriety increased even more.
Of course, Molotov cocktails were very expensive as each material was material, and because of that, there were at least 5 Molotov cocktails per division, but since they were only used in places that were difficult to penetrate by any means, there were few problems with them.
“…Is this the end? It’s futile.”
“You know that’s a deception? If you’re going to collapse like that, why don’t you give me the duke’s head?”
With the Duke of Neustria not surrendering and being killed by Lotharing’s soldiers, the Neustrian front is finally over.
The nobles who agreed with the Duke of Neustria until the end did not surrender until the end and were all stabbed to death or burned to death.
And that mujuji will be returned as a reward to the numerous soldiers and nobles who have made contributions in this war.
…………
‘…Why?? Just surrender.’
I really don’t understand.
It’s understandable that Ji killed his father because he wanted to become a duke, and pointed me to the culprit. But what are you going to do if you become a duke and die like this? Do you have to live for a while?
Whew, that’s it. How can an ordinary person know the thoughts of a madman?
‘Well… But the results aren’t too bad.’
Because Neustria continued to hold out without surrendering, the numerous nobles there evaporated.
Of course, some nobles did not participate in the madness and just coolly surrendered to me, but even taking that into account, it is undeniable that lands without owners in Neustria sprang up.
It would be great if those unclaimed lands were to be distributed to the soldiers who had built the ball, and then made into my vassal and incorporated into the kingdom of Rotaring.
At least Caroling and Rotharing have a huge difference in weight class, so it will be easier for me to rule if I balance them as much as possible.
[I ask the noble one who wears two crowns and rules the two kingdoms. Please allow me to manage the minor nobles near Akitan.]
I realized after hearing the request of the Duke of Aquitan that had flown in not too long ago.
Because my image is so bad that it is quite difficult to rule directly under the Carolingian Kingdom, it is better to follow the method that Duke Aquitan taught me.
Distributing the lands without owners to the meritorious subjects, making them nobles, then incorporating them into the kingdom of Rotaring to make them my direct vassals, and making the lands that already have owners roughly beat a nearby large noble to manage them on their own.
If you follow this solution, you can solve the weight class problem, which was a chronic problem in the Rotaring Kingdom, and at the same time, the need to manage the image of numerous nobles disappears.
Of course, it will be difficult for large nobles to gain strength and deal with them, but dealing with a small number of huge nobles is better than dealing with a large number of small and medium nobles, so it will be okay.