EP.334
When I was a professor at the Imperial Army Staff College, I said this during lectures about once a week.
‘Avoid siege warfare as much as possible. No matter how numerically and qualitatively superior your allies are and your enemies are the opposite, if it is a battle that can be avoided, avoid it at all costs.’
The old school professors who heard this cursed at me, saying I lacked courage and lacked courage, but from that time until now when I had to take down Veneta Castle, my belief has not changed.
Seeing the Venetian soldiers standing tightly on top of the castle wall, which is over 6 meters high, makes me want to just pack my bags and go back.
“Wow, f*ck. It’s extremely high and long, and it’s the worst. “If you try to take down a castle like this without a proper plan, countless soldiers will die.”
The fact that I had to attack such a huge castle made me worried and I thought I would just give up and go back, but at this time, I heard someone from above the castle wall criticizing me and the imperial army.
“Reich Imperial Army, you filthy bastards who are no bigger than pigs! “This castle is like the Cheolong Fortress that could not be dropped even when the pagan army that burned the entire continent came 300 years ago!”
“Isn’t it unfair that the price is rising? But you can’t do anything?! “Can’t we just pack our bags and go home quietly?”
“Peter Jaeger you son of a bitch! If you return quietly now, I will allow you to return with your life preserved! Go straight home and suck on the breasts of your favorite wives like they are babies! wah wah!”
It is absurd to see the weak creatures who had been massacred to death by our imperial troops in the Brito Plain, so excited that their morale was soaring as soon as they gained the huge shield called the castle wall.
Of course, taking a castle is extremely difficult and requires a lot of sacrifice, but to see these idiots wandering around after losing half of their troops in a battle on the plain… it feels so insignificant.
However, this provocation seems to have worked well for Anya, as she pointed her finger at the castle wall and said,
“They brought 250,000 men, but they were destroyed by an imperial army of less than 150,000, and more than half of the troops were lost. They are barking dirty, hiding behind the walls! To put it bluntly, you also really like women and want to take a concubine, but you can’t do it because you don’t have the money, ability, or energy! Besides, we all know that your wife’s face is as ugly as a pizza that has been stepped on by a horse’s hoof. I know that people talk nonsense because they are jealous. If you’re jealous, how about honestly saying that you’re jealous? “But that won’t make your wife’s face look pretty.”
Anya rarely uses such harsh words in front of me, but she was the chieftain of the White Wolf tribe in the northern region where barbarians lived, and has now risen to the rank of major general, commanding the archers.
Unlike Laura, she did not receive any education as a noblewoman, so I once heard that when she gets angry, her mouth becomes foul-mouthed.
When I actually heard it, it was really no joke. It made me feel sorry for the guys on the castle wall.
Moreover, Anya who is saying this is, objectively speaking, a beautiful woman who is not criticized for her appearance even when she is often criticized by enemy commanders, so the power of those words is more than a thousand times… As I was so surprised,
I was a former archer and a member of the Staff College. Lieutenant Colonel Kisev, who graduated from and became a staff member at the headquarters, quietly approached me and spoke.
“If Director Kergit is properly angry, this is nothing.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes, sir.”
As I was chatting behind the scenes with the lieutenant colonel, cheers rose up among the soldiers.
“Long live Director Kergit! “Those damn bastards can’t say anything because they are being beaten with the inexplicable fact that their wife is ugly.”
“As expected, she is called the goddess of battlefield along with Laura.”
“Beneta bastards, just try to climb over the wall. “I will check whether the director’s words are correct or not by looking at the women’s faces in person!”
While listening to that story, I once again thought about ways to capture that castle.
In the end, it seems that there will be no choice but to exploit the greatest weakness of a militia made up of citizens: the fact that they have families to protect.
In normal cases, it seems like the militia will fight to the death to protect the lives of their families, but that is because they are afraid that their wives and children will be hurt and killed as the enemies openly ‘plunder’ and ‘massacre’ them.
What if you fight for the city and all you have to do is die, but if you surrender instead, the lives and property of your wife and children are protected?
Then, there will be no reason for the militia to fight, and if they are made aware of this fact, when the fear of death comes, those children will not be able to endure and will become agitated.
“Gather the general and non-commissioned officers to the command barracks. “I will announce the siege policy in the next hour.”
**
Reich Imperial Army command barracks.
Even before I entered and opened my mouth, the imperial commanders were already debating what policy I would use.
“Director Laura, aren’t you going to try to go over the castle wall head-on during this siege?”
“I think our captain wouldn’t pretend to attack head on and then dig a tunnel under the castle wall? “You either dig a tunnel to get under the castle wall and open the castle gate, or you try to destroy the castle wall by burning the trees that support the tunnel.”
“…Or maybe he’s already planted a spy to open the castle gate?”
Except for one officer who said they would attack the castle in a standard way, Laura and the others seem to be expecting me to come up with some special plan.
Right now, no matter how much I look around the castle walls and think about it, I can’t see any other sharp move that could effectively take over the castle.
“fist.”
Everyone’s eyes and attention turned to me with every word I said.
“I am not preparing any special strategies for this attack on Beneta Castle. Therefore, our troops will attack the castle head-on starting tomorrow when the battering ram is completed.”
At those words, the officers’ expressions darkened as they were disappointed that there was no special strategy and expected that tens of thousands of troops would have to die to overcome a wall that was over 6 meters high.
In other cases, they might have made them understand by saying, ‘It’s for the sake of the empire, so it can’t be helped,’ or they might have scolded them for being passive in the face of war.
As someone who well understands the ineffective loss of life during siege warfare, I did not feel the need to criticize or appease them.
So, it would be better to just remain silent and explain the upcoming events and the strategy I had in mind.
“Currently, this commander believes that the enemies are afraid of our troops.”
“But the morale of the enemies I just saw seemed very high. The discipline of the citizen soldiers was very poor, but their spirit made them look like the most elite unit.”
“It’s just that they forgot their fear to some extent and got excited because they were next to the castle wall. Just looking at the stance they hold their spears in and the state of their armor, they are a weak, ragtag group of people. Without any exaggeration, most of the civilian soldiers are at a level worse than that of private soldiers in the Imperial Army. Isn’t that right, Major General Anastasia?”
Anya listened to me and answered without hesitation.
“As the commander said, through training at the training center and within the unit, new recruits of the Imperial Army are able to form a phalanx immediately at the command of the company commander, no matter how hectic the situation may be. However, when the knights and archers began to charge, those militiamen were unable to form a proper square even though the company commander ordered them to do so. Therefore, it was breached too easily.”
Those words gave the officers confidence.
“The walls may be high, but if the soldiers guarding them are idiots, that’s a different story.”
“If an idiot holds a rare and famous sword, isn’t it just like an iron bar?”
“I didn’t know because I’ve never dealt with the militia directly, but if you can’t even create a square, aren’t you just a scarecrow who just eats away at the food?”
However, since he is still holding a spear, it may be a cordon that is slightly better than a wooden fence.
The fact that the value of a single soldier is compared to a few thorns made of immovable wood proves that the militia is of little use.
“When I led the archers and charged, I couldn’t find anyone who even pretended to extend their spears properly towards the archers. When other soldiers around them died, they were busy running away without any intention of resisting. Considering that fact, if a siege occurs and we see our troops dying on the walls, it is expected that the enemy’s morale will plummet.”
Although I find this attitude of the militia pathetic, I do not despise it.
This is because imperial soldiers received systematic training and often did not have children or wives to support them, so even if they died, they did not have to worry about their remaining families.
Most of the militia here have old parents and wives and children, so if they are left behind, their wives will become prostitutes who sell their bodies, and their children will become orphans and have no choice but to live a miserable life in the back alleys.
Therefore, if surrender is the way to save the lives of themselves and their wives and children, rather than just dying fighting to the death, these are the people who will choose that.
“Therefore, our troops will fight head-on to lower the enemy’s morale as much as possible in a short period of time. Everyone prepare for battle.”
A word from the author (author review)
Your comments and likes give strength to the author.
See next episode
