143 – Battle of the Abe River (1)
While everyone else was stretching out and resting, I took a step and went to see Captain Dalton.
“Captain Dalton, do you have time?”
Dalton looked towards me, yawned widely, and spoke in an irritated voice.
“I’m dying of exhaustion because of you. Can’t I get some rest? Since I became an Auror, I haven’t had a single sore throat. “But now, my stomach is sore and I feel like I’m going to collapse. I’m dying.”
Since I didn’t tell you to heal your mouth and get out of the way right away, I think I’m telling you not to talk for a long time but to keep it as short and concise as possible.
Let me put it bluntly, why are you turning it around like that?
‘Have I reached menopause?’
Even though I thought so, I said with a shy smile on my face.
“I will tell you as quickly and concisely as possible. “I’m exhausted and want to touch Lucia and Karin’s breasts, but I don’t have the strength to do so.”
“Perverted bastard.”
“Aren’t all men like that?”
“That’s right, the reason we risk our lives and cut ourselves is because we’re making a fuss so we can touch a pretty girl’s breasts and have s*x with her. So, what is the plan?”
I took out a copy of Baron Custer’s map from my pocket and showed it to Dalton.
“We need to deal the final blow to Baron Maurer at the Ave River, 20 kilometers from here.”
Dalton instantly changed his posture and sat upright, his eyes shining, and he looked intently into my eyes.
“Any army is weakest when it is crossing a river. While crossing the river, you can’t attack or defend anything, so it’s like the army is divided. I think your intention is to first attack ‘those who cross the river’. “Please be specific.”
As he said, the military of the 21st century Earth, which freely uses all kinds of modern machinery and automobiles from ancient times, also has its combat power drastically reduced when it ‘crosses the river’.
Even if you build several temporary bridges called pontoon bridges to cross the river, your strength will be weakened because you will be divided into those who can cross the river and those who cannot.
Soldiers who cross the river bare-handed with overflowing spirit end up having to cross water that goes up to their calves if it is shallow, or up to their chest if it is deep…
‘In this situation, the army cannot demonstrate proper organizational and combat power.’
So, the enemy crossing the river has no choice but to become weak.
“Here is my operation plan. “Isn’t the road the Baron is using now to go to Villa Hora Castle via the middle reaches of the Ave River?”
“That’s right. After crossing the middle part of the river, we only need to march for 2-3 more days to arrive there. On the other hand, if you go around this river, it will take at least two more weeks.”
“Yes, so the enemy has no choice but to cross this river. “They must be under the illusion that Baron Custer is still guarding the castle.”
Even if Baron Maurer finds out that ‘Baron Custer’ has already been captured, nothing is too bad for us.
It is virtually impossible to capture Villa Hora Castle, where 2,500 soldiers are stationed, with only 6,000 troops.
The enemy commander will also know this and ‘retreat’ to reduce unnecessary sacrifices.
No, our troops will not be defeated, but it could be a huge loss to our Whitebeard mercenaries.
‘Because the opportunity to achieve the feat of annihilating 2,000 people with 600 people is lost.’
Dalton listened to me and raised a question.
“But those bastards hit us in the back really hard today, right? And then, will those bastards continue to move in a hurry towards Villa Hora Castle? If it were me, I would slow down the march and strengthen my guard. Then our next surprise attack is bound to be difficult.”
I snorted at those words.
“We will strengthen the perimeter and reconnaissance, but they will never be able to slow down their march.”
“You know Martin well, right? There is a 99.9% Chance that the equator will move based on common sense. In that respect, my words are more common sense.”
As Dalton said, war is fought based on common sense.
Do not plunder the people carelessly, do not starve the soldiers, do not march unnecessarily, do not force a small number of enemies to attack the large number of enemies, etc…
99.9% Of such judgments and orders are based on common sense, and in rare cases, there are crazy idiot commanders like Pappenheim who give orders to self-destruct without any basis.
From noble mtl dot com
Sometimes, an ingenious strategy that no one expected comes up with a brilliant move that catches the enemy off guard.
So Dalton is right to think with common sense, but the reason they have no choice but to follow my intentions is…
“When we were attacking Fortress Seriz, didn’t we attack the castle guarded by 250 men with 500 men because of that bastard Pappenheim? Why? Wasn’t it because of Pappenheim’s orders?”
When Dalton heard those words, his eyes widened once again.
“Baron Maurer’s superiors, the commander-in-chief or the corps commander, must have given an order to urgently save Villa Hora Castle. Just one surprise attack can’t slow them down, right? “If you break the military orders of a high-ranking person, even you, the Baron, will not be able to avoid severe punishment.”
In the Japanese Invasion of Korea, even Won Gyun thought that the naval battle of Chilcheonryang, which destroyed the Joseon navy, would never be possible, so he continued to challenge King Seonjo.
When King Seonjo threatened, ‘If you don’t march, you will be executed for violating military orders,’ he had no choice but to march with seven thousand ships and destroy all but 13 ships of the Joseon navy.
Ah, of course, I am by no means defending the bastard who bluffed that he would actively destroy the Japanese when he became the commander of the three provinces’ naval forces when he blew away Admiral Yi Sun-sin, but…
The commander knew what consequences the orders of the higher above would bring, but in order to protect himself, his territory, and his vassals.
‘There are times when he has to let go of himself and his vassals, serfs, and mercenaries even though he knows they are going to die.’
“So he has no choice but to choose the fastest route to Villa Hora Castle anyway.”
Dalton listened to me and nodded his head in agreement.
“Okay, let’s say they cross the river like you said. So how do you plan on defeating them? “Are you going to make a surprise attack mid-way and lose your strength?”
Although it is an attractive strategy, there is no guarantee that it will work a second or third time.
In addition, unless the opponent is a Pappenheim-level idiot, we will strengthen our guard and do our best to prevent them from conducting surprise attacks and guerrilla operations.
It’s so hard to hit the back of an enemy army with weak alertness and escape, but then they surprise us again when they are anticipating our attack and are on guard?
‘I’m not even Lupine, so why take such a risk?’
“The enemy will be on high alert. So why do we bother to put our heads into the enemy’s mouth? “I think it would be best to just do it this way.”
I pointed with my finger at the point where the road the Baron uses meets the river.
“It will take approximately 4 to 5 days for Baron Maurer to get here. The distance would be about 80km.”
Next, I pointed with my finger at a place about 4 to 5 kilometers above where the river and the road meet.
“We should rest here for a bit, then quickly march to this point and build a dam to block the flow of water to some extent.”
“To stop the water, doesn’t it have to be completely blocked? And the Abe River is wide and deep, so I doubt whether a dam can be built.”
“If we squeeze in the magicians and mobilize the kids, anything can be done. “It takes a long time for wizards to use earth magic to create walls, but isn’t it quite big and strong?”
The walls of defense facilities such as Seriz Fortress and Villa Hora Castle were not built by ‘piling up stones,’ but by directly creating stone walls using ‘soil magic.’
In the case of dams and houses, in this fantasy world, other than the flimsy houses where the serfs live, all the houses built with money are built using the wizard’s magic.
‘So the speed of construction itself is surprisingly faster than in Korea, which is overflowing with heavy equipment.’
“The reason they don’t completely block the water is because, if they had any idea, they would look at things like ‘the depth of the water or the speed of the water’ before crossing the river, and if the river dries up, they would consider it suspicious.”
“If the river water has decreased to a certain extent, doesn’t that mean it will end up being considered a bit strange?”
“Yes, unless Baron Maurer is crazy about marching and is tricking the depth of the river at this time.”
Even local natives only know the approximate depth of the river, but they do not know the exact depth, so if you adjust it to a state where the water is slightly flowing, they will not really know.
Dalton also smiled and laughed, as if he had read my intention.
“You brat, are you going to burst the dam while half of them are crossing the river?”
“Yes, if we use magic to burst the dam, a huge amount of water will flood them. What if we take advantage of that opportunity and attack them? “I will collapse without being able to use my hands or feet.”
According to information, the depth of the river to be crossed is about 40cm. This is a level that ordinary soldiers can somehow cross, but if we release the water we trapped above all at once…?
A huge amount of water will pour down and sweep away everyone, whether they are auror-using knights, wizards, or soldiers.
“How are you? Are you okay?”
Dalton grinned at those words.
“Let’s do it now, bastard.”
“I knew you would say this, the future Baron is very generous.”
“Young man, ever since he turned down Estelle’s offer to give him Baron Pappenheim, I thought he was really crazy. I’m really lucky because he’s a crazy guy who benefits me generously. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“Me too.”
And on the other hand, in Baron Maurer’s camp…