EP.117
At those words, Captain Patton smiled brightly at me and asked for my opinion.
“So, what is our Brigadier General Jaeger thinking? “I believe he is planning a good strategy that will lead our imperial army to victory.”
“I think this is the most likely and efficient operation on this battlefield.”
After saying that, I placed the wooden horses symbolizing the Francois Republic and the Reich Imperial Army in the appropriate positions where the map of the Plain of Crecy was placed.
The archers, crossbowmen, and wizards were placed at the front of the formation, followed by the infantry, followed by the knights.
This type of troop deployment is a formation that focuses on defense, and may seem like a passive operation to fight a large number of enemies with a typical small number of soldiers.
“The arrangement I was thinking of would be like the wooden horses placed here. In the beginning, units capable of long-distance attacks would be placed at the forefront, with infantry and knights waiting in the rear. Then, since we do not attack first, the enemy will have no choice but to come to where our imperial troops are.”
Because their morale is already at a low level due to the excommunication, they have to wait for us to come to achieve a clear victory at a tactical level.
Even if the Reich Empire didn’t use scouts to spread any rumors, they would just say among themselves that the high-ranking members of the Francois Republic army were too scared to attack them.
What if the effect of excommunication is added to that? Surely there will be this level of nonsense going around.
‘In the Hattin Forest, Francois’ 10,000-strong army was massacred because Deus performed a miracle on Brigadier General Jaeger’s brigade. And now, Philippe de Valois, Duke of Valois, has been deposed and cannot even attack because he is afraid that if he is defeated and killed, he will go to hell.’
When the Duke of Valois hears this, he will feel the urge to rip out his hair while swearing at me, but what can he do?
That’s the reality they face, so if you’re in a bad mood, why don’t you rush in and fight and win?
“In addition, the morale of the infantry of the Francois Republic Army is already at its worst, so their upper echelons probably know that the battle itself will be difficult even if the infantry is put forward. So, they will put forward the articles they can put forward with the most confidence first.”
There is only one reason for doing so, or the reason why the Knights of the Republic must be brought to the fore.
In order to restore the morale of the infantry crawling on the ground, the best choice the headquarters of the Francois Republic Army could make.
‘By showing the knights in action, it instills confidence in the infantry that they can win.’
This means that there is a very high probability that Major General Pompadour will make the same choice in the Forest of Hattin, even though he knows full well that he was defeated.
And the other generals all nodded as if they agreed with this opinion.
In particular, I don’t know what Captain Patton was thinking, but he looked at me with a smiling expression and asked in a bright voice, like a child receiving a new toy as a gift.
“So, are you saying we should use the infantry as an anvil and mobilize our knights to flank them? Just like how you struck the side of the archers led by Ludvik.”
Surely, if only they could time it right when they charged and the knights of the Reich Empire could stab their flanks in a wedge formation.
No matter how many knights of the François Republic there are, I can bet you all that they will be defeated with a single blow.
The problem is that, rather than going to the spot first, waiting, and then striking the enemy knights’ sides, waiting in the rear and then striking them at the right time is a feat that is impossible for an ordinary commander to even dare to pull off.
Because the enemy commander, unless he is as stupid as Mr. Mudaguchi of the Dark Independence Army, knows that the flanks are the weakest when the knights charge.
If they knew we were likely to be flanked, they would naturally try to change their course of charge.
So, as Captain Patton said, if you want to properly target the enemy’s flank, you need to reach the point where they form a perfect wedge formation and can no longer change direction.
In other words, considering the distance from our infantry at a distance of 10 to 300 meters, we should aim for a moment of only about 3 minutes and take a long detour to attack the enemy infantry from the rear.
This is a feat that is impossible to imitate even with any level of ability.
However, according to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, our captain in front of me is a man whose ability to handle weapons and cavalry is comparable to that of Lü Bu or Guan Yu.
If we hold out two or three times, we will definitely succeed in defeating the enemy knights.
However, in a battle situation like this, it would seem very unreasonable for the commander of the expeditionary force to lead the knights directly.
However, in battles throughout the Middle Ages and modern times…
In most cases, the commander, the highest officer of the army, supervised and commanded all units from the rear, but it was also relatively common for him to directly command the cavalry, which was the core of the attack.
If you have the ability to stab the side, it could be a very good strategy.
However, if you ask me if there is a reason to take such a risk…
“If Captain Patton were to lead the knights directly, he could easily stab the knights’ flanks. In my opinion, it would be better to use this opportunity to show the miracle of Deus to those who were unable to come to their senses even after receiving the excommunication from the Holy See, by showing them using infantry to block their knights. However, since it is difficult to stop the knights’ charge with infantry alone, I would like you to dismount about 1,000 knights from their horses and place them in the vanguard.”
The answer is that there is no need or value in taking such risks.
Because here, Francois, whose brains are marinated in romance, will definitely attack from the front.
Even if the infantry holds long spears and maintains a tight formation, they will be able to properly block a considerable amount of charges.
Of course, we would create an environment where it would be difficult for them to attack by putting up fences or earthen hills.
In a situation where an enemy knight is targeting our infantry, as mentioned in military science textbooks, the best policy is to strike the enemy’s infantry with our knights.
“Hmm, then the remaining 6,000 knights can just attack the infantry.”
But anyway, the commander of this army is Captain Patton, so it would be a good idea to include a play that can satisfy his mood to some extent and even raise the morale of the allies.
“It may be any other battle, but this battle is a completely open plain where it would be difficult to ambush soldiers. And just before the battle begins, Francois’s army will induce an argument to make his soldiers and nobles believe that our imperial army is a fake. “At that time, I hope you will personally break the morale of the enemy soldiers with a manly speech on horseback.”
At those words, the expressions of the other generals crumpled a little.
It’s not that I don’t understand that reaction, as Captain Patton is a man who treats everyone from generals with stars to individual soldiers in a manly manner with a consistent attitude.
This may be because he is a very rude person with every word he says, so there is a very high possibility that an unimaginable level of profanity will come out even when criticizing the Francois Republic.
However, since you have an overwhelming weapon called the excommunication, you can use vulgar and easily understood swear words that will easily catch the ears of enemy soldiers and break their morale.
If you mix the anxiety and impatience of being dismissed with the anger towards us, even if the first charge fails, you will end up as the commander-in-chief of the enemy army.
They know that the more they charge, the more they lose, but there is a very high possibility that they will do crazy things such as continuing to charge head-on even if the angry knights notice them.
Just like a person who keeps losing at gambling constantly wastes money on gambling, thinking that they will succeed this time if they do it again.
And it would be best if I explained how to handle knights here, but the captain in front of me rose to the rank of captain solely with his skills in handling knights.
If I go into even the most trivial details in front of such a person, there is a high chance that I will only get scolded, so I kept my mouth shut and finished the presentation.
In this way, my presentation overwhelmed the audience, and in the end, according to the strategy I suggested, we decided that during the first argument, Captain Patton would make a personal attack on the enemy with his fiery remarks.
Next, place crossbowmen and soldiers capable of long-distance attacks in the vanguard to kill the knight’s momentum, and then block them with infantry.
The knights of the Reich Empire were able to perfectly establish a plan to crush Francois’ infantry.
See next episode
