219 – Breg River Surprise Battle (2)
“A messenger is asking to come in. Count Hansa, what will you do?”
Count Hansa quickly nodded his head as if he was waiting for a messenger to arrive.
“Come in and tell me to report the results of the reconnaissance!”
He seemed impetuous enough to be considered inappropriate for a noble as high as an earl, and even as a commander leading a large army of over 15,000 people…
No one pointed out the count’s behavior or thought it was strange.
Because even though this army looked like a healthy army of 15,000 on the outside, if you look closer, it was extremely sloppy.
This is because we had to quickly occupy the Barony of Maurer and the Barony of Cologne and quickly disband or take any action.
As soon as the messenger came in and understood the atmosphere well, he made a report in front of Count Hansa and other nobles in the barracks.
“Baron Maurer now has 5,000 troops stationed across the Breg River.”
At the mention of 5,000, the nobles around the count began to murmur.
“Viscount Lübeck, it is better than a siege, but won’t we be at a disadvantage when crossing the river? “I think this is going to cause a lot of damage…”
“But we have no other options. Didn’t the Duke of Rosenheim also strictly order you to hurry and take over the two baronies of Maurer and Cologne? “Resupply by war merchants is not enough.”
“Supplies are looted locally…”
“Allowing looting would help solve the food problem to some extent. However, we cannot rely on such unstable methods for our entire supply.”
Count Hansa hit the desk in frustration.
“Quiet! “The messenger’s report hasn’t been completed yet!”
Whether we end up arguing or debating, talking without proper information is meaningless.
So everyone suppressed their emotions and kept quiet.
“It is true that we have gathered 5,000 troops, but 1,000 of them are women. Additionally, out of the 4,000 people, about half appear to be carrying farming tools instead of proper weapons.”
Count Hansa was quite shocked by the news that a single baron had gathered over 5,000 troops.
Already while crossing the river, the troops he leads become helpless. If he fortifies the other side of the river and blocks it with elite troops, there will be enormous casualties to his troops.
However, if 1,000 of the 5,000 soldiers are women, and the other half are weak without even proper weapons…
There may be some sacrifices, but it is a battle worth fighting.
If you think about it, just because Baron Maurer said he would come out and fight instead of staying in the castle and fighting, he was able to avoid the worst situation, so he was almost grateful to Baron Maurer right now.
“Thank you for your hard work, messenger. “Here, I give you five silver coins.”
“It is an honor, Count.”
When the messenger withdrew, the Count was delighted, laughing with a mixture of bravado and joy.
“hahahaha, I was wary for no reason because I heard that Baron Maurer was the former leader of the once powerful Whitebeard Mercenary Corps! I guess my pin phone kanji is also old. “How dare you be scared by someone like that!”
Viscount Lübeck was flattered by those words.
“Isn’t it true that great armies always collapse due to unexpected events? So, handling every minor issue carefully is a quality that only a great general can have.”
“Wow, the flattery is too harsh.”
“After you achieve great victory in this war, my words will no longer be flattery.”
A lord who pretends to be humble to a flattering subordinate, and a viscount who recognizes the lord’s feelings and responds with a more sophisticated form of flattery.
It was quite a beautiful appearance of the master and servant.
After a while, the Count took out a map and placed wooden horses symbolizing allies and enemies.
“We will move forward according to this strategy. “Everyone, please concentrate and listen.”
Everyone fell silent at those words and focused their eyes on the map.
“My guess is that Dalton fool must have brought all the power he could muster right now.”
It is very difficult for even a very wealthy baron to recruit more than 4,000 troops.
Moreover, Baron Maurer is one of the poorer territories among baronies.
So, when judged by common sense, it was thought that the troops brought by Dalton had only been scraped together from the number of men that could be conscripted from the Barony of Maurer.
“Count, isn’t it possible that support may have come from the Barony of Cologne?”
Count Hansa chuckled.
“It makes sense, but unless Baron Cologne is a fool, he would have heard that we were coming with a large army. So, I will stay in the castle and wait for reinforcements led by Margrave Estel to arrive while the Barony of Maurer is being sacked.”
Martin, who became the Baron of Cologne, is now preparing to take a detour and attack them without their knowledge…
An ordinary noble would have chosen to stay in the castle and wait for reinforcements to arrive, as Count Hansa said.
The people here also thought that Baron Cologne would have done that.
“Let’s continue the story. From the information given by the messenger, it seems that there will be no further battle in the Barony of Maurer as long as the Baron Maurer stationed on this river is defeated. Therefore, our army will do its best to deal with the army on the other side of this river. “Do you have any objections?”
Everyone answered in unison.
“Nothing.”
“Okay, then let’s make a raft to use when crossing the river. Although the river is only about 5 to 6 meters wide, using a raft will help reduce our troops’ sacrifices even a little.”
You can cross the river bare-handed, but you can save the time it takes to cross the river by putting soldiers on a raft and moving them all at once.
Saving crossing time means reducing the time exposed to the enemy’s indiscriminate attacks, so even if it takes time to build a raft, it is better to use this method to reduce ‘sacrifice’.
“Then we are about to end the meeting. Is there anything you would like to suggest?”
If you say something like this when you’ve just finished talking about it, it’s a signal to end it.
One of the barons intervened without notice and started talking.
“This is Baron Salz. As Count Hansa knows well, the morale of the soldiers is very low right now.”
However, because the points made were very valid, the count again signaled everyone to sit down.
“In normal times, we lead an army of about 6,000 soldiers. This time, we succeeded in gathering a large army of 15,000 men by stealing all the family’s treasury.”
“This is a conversation between us, so tell me anything.”
“However, because they hire mercenaries at random, they are not only paid to the minimum, but the regular soldiers of each noble are not given war allowances, and the serf soldiers are full of dissatisfaction because they are not receiving even the minimum compensation.”
No matter how much the nobles confiscated all their assets and raised a large army, this happened because there were limits.
“Meanwhile, the minimum mercenary salary is 2.4 Times the normal amount. Because there is a civil war, the price of mercenaries has gone up. Knowing this, the morale of the regular army and serfs plummeted.”
As the story got longer, Count Hansa also sounded a little angry.
“The explanation is too long.”
“But even during this time, mercenaries continue to say things like, ‘I participated in the civil war, but the allowance is too low, so raise the hiring fee.’ So, the only way to get rid of all these complaints is to allow a full-scale plunder once we defeat Baron Maurer.”
When Count Hansa heard those words, he held his forehead.
There is nothing better than giving permission for full-scale looting to raise morale…
‘Nothing is left where they sweep away.’
From Noble mtl dot com
And the soldiers who started plundering did not obey orders until the plundering was over.
In the meantime, there were countless armies that were ambushed and wiped out.
The Count held his head for a moment and thought about it, but he had no choice but to come to this conclusion.
“It is also the duty of a noble to repay the hard work of the mercenaries, regular soldiers, and serfs who fight for me. Therefore, if we occupy the Barony of Maurer this time, we will permit full-scale plunder.”
Even the viscounts and barons could not hide their excited expressions at those words.
This is because he thought he could make a lot of money by using this opportunity to send soldiers to capture a large number of serfs from the Barony of Maurer and sell them as slaves.
Oh, of course, when he finds a girl he likes, he puts her in her bedroom.
And the Count also thought the same thing.
Why? Anyway, I thought it was best to share the looting with each other.
“But full-scale plunder must be carried out only under my orders. So, I will attach two conditions to the full-scale looting.”
The Count spread his two fingers.
“Comprehensive plunder is permitted only in the Barony of Maurer, and will be permitted after we win a major victory against Baron Maurer and occupy the entire Barony. If you violate this prerequisite, I will decapitate you according to military law. “Spread this order throughout the entire army.”
No matter how dissatisfied the mercenaries or conscripted serfs may be, these are acceptable conditions.
In any case, it is possible to make plenty of money and pleasure through full-scale plunder, rape, and slave trading.
If you plunder a territory that has not been properly occupied, you are likely to die, so what good is pleasure and money if you die?
“I will follow your orders!”
“Viscount Lübeck, how long will it take to build a raft?”
“Four days is enough.”
“I’ll give it a week.”
“Yes, Count.”
Count Hansa now stood up.
“So that each person can convey my orders clearly to the soldiers under his command and carry them out.”
Meanwhile, at this time, Martin…
“I wonder how much the captain can deceive that Count Hansa…”
I was worried inwardly, so I took a big detour and marched to attack the enemy.