Episode 157 Krafte War – Battle of Bahua (3)
“Fuck you! Deliver a message to Damien de Mirbeau! “Tell them to stop chasing immediately and remain on the defensive!”
“Oh, I understand, Your Excellency the Marquis!”
I bit my molars as I watched Chief of Staff Werther quickly giving instructions to the messengers.
The powerful blessing given by Eris through the use of multiple sacred power amplification crystals granted the entire army protection from bullets like the Revolutionary Guard.
It is truly an amazing power, and I expected that it would be possible to overpower even the Krafte army.
In fact, it was quite effective against their skirmishers who had attacked Damien de Mirbeau in the first battle, so I believed it would work against them as well.
Even that underestimated the great king too much.
According to reports, there was no precedent for the Krafte army to deploy a large number of light infantry other than the skirmishers, the Shutchen, in an all-out war.
So, since they had Shutchen, they mistakenly thought that they would not train a large number of light infantry and only use them as auxiliary troops for ambushes.
“…It’s not like they didn’t train light infantry.”
It was not that there were few light infantry, but that their line infantry could even perform the role of light infantry.
Soon, the revolutionary army’s line infantry retreated and the light infantry was seen exchanging fire with the enemy line infantry.
In terms of time, the order was given before the messenger I sent arrived.
Is it Mirbo? Or is it Dabi’s mantra? Either way, it’s good to be able to judge the situation quickly. It was the right decision to entrust them with the vanguard.
“What is the enemy artillery situation?”
“I can’t check because the smoke is so bad! However, judging from the number of landings and the frequency of enemy artillery fire, it is clear that significant damage was inflicted!”
Certainly, while gunfire rings out incessantly from our camp, only sporadic gunfire rings out from the enemy’s camp, and even that is blocked by the Eris Wall.
It is unclear whether the artillery unit actually suffered serious damage or was just moving to avoid anti-artillery fire.
However, just moving the towed artillery to avoid artillery fire would require a great deal of effort and the enemy artillery would quickly become exhausted, so the purpose was more than achieved anyway.
We actually suffered damage in the initial infantry battle that we expected, but instead we inflicted heavy damage on the enemy’s artillery.
At that time, a messenger came riding on horseback.
“messenger! “This is a report from Lumière, His Excellency the Marquis de Lafayette!”
Lumiere. There was some news I was waiting for.
“Oh yeah. “Where is the Iberian Brotherhood’s army?”
Karok and Shandra will arrive with 50,000 troops from the Brotherhood of Iberica.
The reinforcements they sent deliberately requested that they join a little later. To strike in the late stages of a battle and use it as a card that will change the tide of battle.
As long as we have a lot more troops, if we keep the situation the same, we will be able to turn things around with Shandra’s arrival.
“We will arrive in about 6 hours, Your Excellency the Marquis! But I have another report!”
“Another report?”
The messenger handed me the letter and I frowned as soon as I saw the seal of the House of Aquitaine.
If this report was sent by Christine to me in a hurry while the battle was in full swing, it wouldn’t be good news.
“…under.”
As soon as I broke the seal and checked the contents, I placed my hand on my forehead.
“What’s going on, Your Excellency the Marquis?”
I laughed and handed the letter to Chief of Staff Werther, who had a worried face.
“Reinforcements from the Germanian Empire are coming toward Lorraine? The imperial family may not have the same interests as the Kingdom of Krafte, so why-”
“It wasn’t sent by the empire. “It was sent by the feudal lords.”
Damn, I should have thought of this in advance.
The Kingdom of Krafte is the center of the anti-imperialist faction within the Germanian Empire.
There was a possibility that the feudal lords who did not waste their power by being uncooperative in the empire’s war would instead support Krafte’s war here and try to receive the beans from Krafte, who would surely become the next emperor.
So far, I’ve been going moderately, but it looks like Krafte is going to win, so I’m going to give it a shot.
“The commander is Count Albert von Wittelsbach? “Isn’t this person pro-emperor and participated in the last war?”
I twitched the corner of my mouth.
Count Albert von Wittelsbach.
The best knight of the empire who was defeated by me in the last war with the empire.
He is coming here leading an army of anti-imperialist princes.
“Either he wanted to make up for the loss of confidence from losing to me, or he thought that since the emperor didn’t seem to have an answer, he should change his line. … Or maybe both.”
“What would you like to do?”
In response to Werther’s question, I muttered with a bitter smile.
“There’s nothing we can do.”
I quickly took out a piece of paper, scrawled the order, signed it, and handed it to the messenger.
“Go to the Iberica Brotherhood army that is coming this way and deliver it to Shandra.”
“I accept the orders of His Excellency, the old Marquis of Lafayette!”
Now that we have completely depleted our army for the decisive battle with Krafte, there is nothing in the area of Lorraine except for a few defenders.
No matter how important the decisive battle with Krafte is, we cannot give up the key bases that are the core of northern Franzia’s defense.
It makes me sad to use reinforcements like this when I was expecting them to arrive at the right time, but I have no choice but to send them.
I turned my gaze again and looked at the light infantry fighting at the front line, slowing down the advance of the Krafte infantry.
Although the light infantry is outnumbered, they are still able to hold off thanks to Eris’s protection.
…But Eris’s crystals will be depleted quickly, and the light infantry alone cannot fight the line infantry in an all-out war.
When the light infantry eventually reaches its limit in numbers, we will have to deal with them with the line infantry. Can we stop those monstrous line infantry with our infantry?
We’ve hit the enemy’s artillery, so so far it’s 1:1.
If we can’t somehow create a variable here.
“…What about Gaston and Morel?”
* * *
“The losses of His Majesty’s artillery are serious. “There were about 20% casualties, and more than 30% of the cannons were damaged by hits or needed repair.”
“This is really difficult. “Artillery is the most essential branch that completes the symphony of the battlefield, but it was hit so hard from the very beginning.”
“This is the first time, Your Majesty, that our military has experienced the irregular tactic of blocking our troops’ artillery fire while only firing artillery fire.”
As the king and his advisors were leisurely talking, a messenger came rushing over.
“Your Majesty’s front line is depleted of ammunition! “More than 20% has already been consumed!”
“Hmm…”
Charles II replied, massaging his chin with his hand.
“It is indeed different from the imperial army.”
The Krafte Army is essentially an army based on the basic premise of absolute qualitative superiority. Therefore, even though there are a lot of troops, they do not prepare enough ammunition.
The Krafte army boasts a fundamentally superior accuracy rate, so each shot has a different value, but in most cases, they destroy the enemy with overwhelming discipline even before they can use up all their ammunition.
From Krafte’s perspective, which operates a large standing army compared to the size of the country, it does not have enough money to prepare sufficient ammunition and has never felt the need to do so.
However, they do not collapse easily and are even showing signs of ignoring fire thanks to the Saint Queen’s protection.
“This battle may test our military’s capabilities to the limit, Your Majesty.”
“Hahahaha….”
After hearing the words of his advisor, the Great King burst out into a soft laugh.
“Well, wouldn’t this be a victory worth praising?”
The Great King raised his staff, then slammed it on the floor, looked down at the strategy map, and opened his mouth.
“Our army’s artillery losses are heavy, but their Saint Queen will not be able to repeat miracles like that forever.”
When the Shutzens were driven out with the light infantry that had received the miracle, the great king was a little surprised, but they were also completely unprepared for the mountain warfare waged by the line infantry.
Right now, the light infantry is receiving the Saint Queen’s protection, giving the line infantry time to reorganize, but if they do not have the doctrine and training to respond, even if they fight again, the outcome will not change.
“Once the Saint Queen’s power is exhausted, the infantry battle will definitely return to our victory.”
The damage from artillery is serious, but paradoxically, since they focus their artillery on anti-artillery fire, the damage they can inflict on the infantry is limited.
In the end, as long as it has an overwhelming advantage in infantry warfare, it is Krafte that becomes more and more advantageous.
“so.”
If the most powerful card remains in the hands of a desperate enemy, he will eventually have no choice but to take it out.
The Great King twitched the corner of his mouth and laughed.
“The Marquis de Lafayette will compete in cavalry battles.”
* * *
The hilly area on both sides of the wide plain where the infantry of the Revolutionary Army and the Krafte Army are facing each other.
The sound of horses’ hooves and gunfire echoed continuously along the gentle slope.
While the Chasseurs and Hussars were running through the hills chasing after each other, Prince Henry, who was in command of the Krafte army’s cavalry, was busy looking at the operation map and directing the army.
“The deployment of light infantry to points A1 A2 A3 has been completed, Your Highness!”
“Okay, good job.”
Prince Heinrich nodded slightly.
A cavalry battle that took place after the first battle in Alsace.
The revolutionary army believed in the superiority of the cuirassier cavalry and pursued Krafte’s cavalry, but was ambushed by the light infantry and suffered serious losses.
They would have never thought of conducting a long-term reconnaissance war to understand the terrain and then ambushing the enemy in their own territory.
…To be precise, Krafte-kun led us to think that way.
The battlefield here in Bahua is different from Alsace.
The Krafte army had just advanced, and of course there was no time to scout the terrain in advance.
however.
Justin von Wittenfeld had secured a significant number of informants within the revolutionary army.
Many of them may not even know that they are Krafte’s informants, but if a sufficient number of insignificant information is collected over a long period of time and the information of key sources is combined, it is reconstructed into a sufficiently meaningful form.
Thanks to this, the map in Prince Heinrich’s hand not only depicted the nearby terrain in detail, but also organized the ambush points according to the plan planned by the Great King into A1~4.
Although they already had topographical information from the time of the first cavalry battle, they continued for several days to convince the revolutionary army that they had grasped the terrain during the engagement.
What Prince Heinrich will do in this battle is to distract them with the hussars, distract them with a check battle, and in the meantime move the light infantry to the ambush point.
As a revolutionary army, it would be impossible to imagine that the Krafte army, which had just entered the battlefield, would once again launch an ambush without fully understanding its terrain.
This is especially true in a sense of crisis where the infantry is outnumbered on the battlefield and they have to do something with their strongest card, the cavalry.
A sense of crisis narrows your horizons, and impatience makes you see a good bait thrown at you as an opportunity to turn the tables with difficulty.
-Ordered by Charles II, the Great King of the Kingdom of Krafte and Margrave of the Empire. If the Kingdom of Revolutionary Franzia wins the war against the Kingdom of Krafte, the next King of Krafte will ensure that the Kingdom of Revolutionary Francia will participate as an ally in the event of a war with the Abyss Corporation within the next 30 years.
Prince Heinrich narrowed his brows as he recalled his great king’s orders.
This is nonsense.
No matter how you look at it, the Great King, who treats him as a subordinate and successor rather than a nephew, is closer to a tyrant than a saint.
However, who would dare criticize the words of the undefeated great king who elevated Krafte, which was just a feudal lord, into a power comparable to the imperial emperor?
Even if it is an absurd order from a capricious and eccentric old man, it must be followed if it is the order of the greatest king.
Prince Heinrich’s face became cold.
If you cannot stop the Great King’s whims, you must not be defeated.
If that happens, Krafte’s respected great king will remain as an undefeated legend, and he will become the next emperor of the great Germanian Empire and King of Krafte, and he will be able to become a great monarch, succeeding Charles II.
Prince Heinrich clenched his sweaty fists from tension.
“…Give it to General Leberecht. “Let’s throw some bait.”
“As the old Highness commanded!”
If they can properly capture their strongest hidden card cavalry, this battle will end in Krafte’s victory.
* * *
Hilly area.
Captain Jose Vachet was waiting on a hill in the hilly area.
Just as he had done in the previous battle, he was on his horse, looking down at the Chasseurs and the enemy hussars moving away while engaged in a gunfight.
As the fighting continued and sporadic gunshots were heard continuously, Jose Vachet slowly closed his eyes.
-Damned Krafte bastards.
The words he had in mind filled my heart with sweetness.
“Captain Vachet! This is an order from the headquarters! Enemy cuirassiers appear! “Detour to the north-northwest and strike the flank!”
Jose Vachet slowly opened his eyes, looked at his adjutant’s face, and gave an order.
“March forward.”
“ancient!”
Among the cuirassiers who followed him, few were his old men. Because many of them fell victim to the ambush.
-You went through hardships. Just rest for now. There will be interrogation and surveillance as part of the procedure, but if there are no particular problems, you will be able to continue serving as the commander of the cuirassier.
That’s what the Marquis de Lafayette said when he was liberated by the whim of Krafte’s warmongering king and returned to the garrison together.
-…Is there no disciplinary action?
-Why do you want me to discipline you?
Jose Vachet, along with his men, drove horses and began to move along the ridge of the hilly area.
-I am an incompetent bastard. He was swayed by petty emotions, lost many of his subordinates, and was humiliatingly taken prisoner. Why do you show mercy to someone like me, Your Excellency the Marquis?
What were you thinking when you said that?
-Is it because you saw me cutting my brother? So are you being lenient on compassion?
Did you resent him for not being able to make the drone story public? No, it was closer to expressing my self-loathing to him.
The noble nobleman, who thought it would be better to show his anger and get him discharged dishonorably, glanced at him and smiled back.
-If you are an officer in the cuirassier, you are a high-quality person. It would be a shame to immediately throw him out just because he was swayed once, lest there be serious grounds for disqualification. If you’re going to kick me out right away for making a mistake, there’s no general left in my command.
“Check for enemies ahead!”
-And I was even more pathetic at your age. … So I just want to give it one more chance.
The Marquis de Lafayette thought it was nonsense, since he would have already won the civil war at a similar age, but was comforted by the sincere look on his face.
“The streets are getting closer!”
Baschet ran ahead, drew his cavalry sword, and shouted.
“Prepare to charge!”
“Prepare to charge!”
Bashe and his men were flanked by him while engaged in combat with our troops, so they panicked and rushed at the panicked enemy.
“For Franzia!”
“Long live the revolution!”
The sword, with its full-throttle momentum, tore through the weak magic barrier and cut the enemy cavalry in half without even a breastplate.
While blood was splashing, Jose Vachet moved ceaselessly with his cold head.
What came to mind was not a desire for revenge, but the last conversation we had before leaving.
-His Excellency the Marquis. Can we win against that great king? I don’t want to lose to a guy like that who wants to create a sea of blood just for his own satisfaction…
“The enemies are running away!”
Jose Vachet paused for a moment and then shouted.
“Chase!”
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, he pursues fiercely and cuts down enemies.
-Well, honestly, it’s difficult to answer with confidence.
By the time I was running, covered in blood.
Krafte’s light infantry came out from between the trees and bushes and aimed their guns.
“That enemy ambush!”
The adjutant’s warning shout loud enough for everyone to hear only agitates the allies.
-At least I will prevent you from suffering the same humiliation.
And the very next moment.
Chasseurs rushed in from both sides of the ambushed light infantry.
“Uh huh?”
While Krafte’s light infantry was panicking, Jerome Morel, who led the light cavalry and jumped in at the front, shouted loudly.
“It’s obvious that this is the place to ambush! “What kind of idiot would suffer the same thing twice!”
“Ugh!”
While the Chasseurs, led by the general, were brutally slaughtering the light infantry.
“charge! Leave the infantry to the light cavalry and crush the enemy cuirassier cavalry!”
The Franzian cuirassiers turned around and attempted to charge their allies who were about to be ambushed, but instead ran into the Krafte cuirassiers who were panicking and struggling.
“For Franzia!”
When the trusted light infantry’s ambush was counter-ambushed, Krafte’s cuirassiers, not even wearing armor, were no match for the Frangian cuirassiers.
“Uh, uh…”
José Vachet’s knife was thrust into the neck of the adjutant, who had stopped mid-sentence and was looking at the scene blankly in confusion.
“Captain Bar Bashe?”
Jose Vachet looked at his adjutant with cold eyes and declared.
“I’m sorry. You are being arrested on charges of collusion with the Krafte army and treason to the state.”
