Episode 177 Krafte War – City of Fire (8)
“Charge!”
“Glory to Krafte!”
The huge city of Bahua was in chaos as the line infantry fought in close combat while screaming and shouting.
“For your majesty!”
“Ugh, stop it!”
The revolutionary army, exhausted from the long street fighting, was unable to withstand close combat with the Krafte army, which had been trained through intensive training, and was continuously being pushed back to the center.
The 4th line of defense was almost collapsed.
bang!
With a tremendous noise, the pile of obstacles blocking the street in the city collapsed.
“What is it?”
The moment when Krafte is taken aback by an unexpected noise. Huge green-skinned orcs poured out of the dust heap.
“Oh Orc?! “Where did it come from?”
“Don’t panic! Equip your back-line troop formation! “Don’t let the enemy dig in-”
The excellent officers of the Krafte army still ordered a quick response, but rather than the disorganized army fighting in close combat and forming a formation, it was better for the Orcs, who were running across the ground making a thudding sound, to storm in on them. It was faster.
“Ugh!”
The Krafte army, which was firing bayonets to kill humans, was hit by an Orc’s club with all the momentum it had raced through, and flew through the air screaming.
“I’m dying… Huh?”
The moment the Krafte army, floundering and flying through the air, landed next to the Krafte army that was grappling with the revolutionary army at the front, the momentum that had been pushing until then was immediately reversed.
“Ooooooooo-!”
“Wow, why are the orcs here?”
“Kill!”
“The flank is under attack! Defend your flanks!”
“Who are you talking about defending!”
“Which unit is currently in charge of the flanks?”
“Damn it, don’t panic! If you panic, your ranks will only spread further-”
The shouts that suddenly erupted from all over the place in the cramped city only added to the confusion of the soldiers-
“Al-ardho-”
“Akbar!”
As the battle cries of the giant one-eyed orc Karok, orcs, responded in unison and echoed throughout the city, even the great Krafte army could not avoid feeling chilled.
The Krafte army, which is said to be the strongest army by human standards, is extremely inferior to the Orcs, who have strong muscles that do not work well with bayonets and whose physique and strength cannot be compared to the close combat capabilities of the Krafte army.
“Aaaah-!”
Every time the Orcs’ clubs and axes were swung, Krafte soldiers flew through the air like pieces of wood.
“Ugh- stop it!”
“Yes, you tried to stop it!”
“Don’t back down! “Even if we can’t fight them individually, we can fight them if we form a dense formation!”
Krafte’s officer corps tried to somehow manage to hold on to the unit, but-
“This is an opportunity to counterattack! “Charge the revolutionary army!”
“Long live the revolution!”
“Help your allies!”
As soon as the crisis was over, the revolutionary army began to counterattack under the orders of Nicolas Ney and Louis Desget, who quickly recovered their troops, and even this reached its limit.
“What kind of nonsense is this, surrounding a station during a city street battle!”
As they were surrounded and attacked from front and back by revolutionary forces and orcs, there was nothing more they could do, no matter how great the Krafte army or the competent officer corps were.
All that remains is to fight against evil and violence and eventually collapse.
* * *
The sad news was quickly conveyed to the Maharaja and generals of the Krafte army command center.
“A diversionary attack? how?”
Even King Charles II could not contain his surprise.
“I’m sorry, but it hasn’t been confirmed! “There was a secret passage that we couldn’t identify…”
“There is a secret passage in the middle of the city that can divert thousands of orcs without our troops knowing, but we didn’t notice it?”
The great king let out a laugh, but what had already happened had already happened.
“The army that attacked through the west and north gates was flanked by orcs and cut off. “I don’t know how that’s possible in a street battle, but looking at the situation, it seems like there was a hidden advance route between the west gate and the north gate.”
General Gerhard said grimly.
“The West Gate and North Gate areas were where the offensive was carried out most effectively. “The southern and eastern gates are commanded by Damien de Mirbeau, and considering that the offensive was sluggish, with the magician confirmed in the last battle attacking the densely packed units with magic, it would be difficult if those areas collapsed as well.”
Still, as the Great King was staring at the map, General Leberecht watched him and opened his mouth.
“The troops who were isolated after being flanked by the Orcs would be in serious danger considering the response of the revolutionary army, Your Majesty. Here, you must destroy additional reinforcements to defeat the orcs and save your allies.”
Still, the Great King, who had been staring at the map for a while, shook his head.
“No, salvation is impossible.”
“Haha, Your Majesty! If that happens, the troops isolated at the North and West Gates will not be able to avoid annihilation!”
Despite the opposition of the generals, the great king pointed his hand at the map.
“Look at the defense lines of the West Gate and North Gate that the enemy has laid out. “As you move into the city, the gap between the two continues to narrow.”
When we first entered, the distance between the defense lines spread out between the two gates was obviously far.
The defense lines were built in clever overlapping ways as they gradually went in, but the streets of the city may not necessarily be evenly organized, so no one was suspicious.
However, compared to the fact that the defense lines of the South Gate and East Gate are still completely separated, it looks clearly suspicious.
The problem was that from the beginning, the idea of breaking through something like that and hitting the side in a street fight was impossible.
“It may have been intentional that the defense lines at the West Gate and North Gate were breached relatively easily. “It must have been to draw in our troops and attack them through their secret detour.”
“What your Majesty said is correct. But then, shouldn’t we even rescue our allies who have fallen into the enemy’s trap?”
“Saving them won’t win the battle. “The fact that the Orcs were able to bypass means that other units could be deployed along the same route.”
The Great King stared at the map and then opened his mouth again.
“Given the structure of the defense line, there is no guarantee that they will not target the flanks of our troops attacking the Orcs. “No, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Marquis de Lafayette even planned to draw out our last reserve force and annihilate it.”
In the end, the generals of the Krafte army could no longer express their differences.
After a period of silence, General Gerhard cautiously opened his mouth.
“Your Majesty the Great King, if this happens, the attacking troops at the North Gate and West Gate will in fact suffer a huge blow, and failure of the offensive is inevitable. “What are you going to do?”
The Great King answered as he slowly reached out for the flag on the map.
“If you fall into a trap and rush to make up for it, you will end up being dragged along by the enemy’s intentions.”
* * *
Headquarters of the final defense line of the Revolutionary Army in the center of Bahua.
“General Nicolae and Commander Louis Desget’s troops are annihilating the enemies together with the Iberica Army!”
“Oooh…!”
Entering the close combat, I was glaring at the map while the staff, whose faces were the color of dirt, were sighing at the report of huge casualties.
“Fortunately, this worked, Your Excellency the Marquis. However, shouldn’t the reserve unit to support Karok’s orcs have been dispatched in advance?”
I shook my head after listening to Chief of Staff Alexandre Werther.
“No, it is not too late to dispatch after that is confirmed. “There is a high risk that the Great King will not come out that way.”
In addition, most of the staff suggested that since the Krafte army would not collapse immediately even if its flanks were exposed to Karok’s Orcs, a reserve force should be dispatched in advance to help the Orcs in case the enemy tried to rescue them.
However, I ignored all the suggestions of my staff and finally assigned it to the central headquarters.
“The Great King is the leader on the battlefield. “Just because you’ve been caught by my tactics doesn’t give you the option to respond to them.”
“Uh… um. Is that so.”
Alexandre Werther also has a skeptical look on his face, and in fact, from a military perspective, annihilating the enemy forces at the West and North Gates by exploiting the enemy’s weak points, which were difficult to find here, will be an effective way to expand the war effort.
However, the opponent is a great king, and he enjoys using tactics that outsmart him.
Even judging from what the Great King has shown so far, he doesn’t care about the loss of troops.
“So please bear with me for a moment. “Now we don’t have any reserve force.”
Now, all that is left in my hands is, at most, the Revolutionary Guards and the elite soldiers of the gas tank and cuirassier cavalry prepared to cover them.
Horses are cavalry units, but in urban battles like this, they are virtually no different from foot knights, so this is a card that must be used carefully.
And a moment later, a messenger came running.
“messenger! This is a report from His Excellency Count Damien de Mirbeau! The enemy’s general offensive has begun at the South Gate! “This is a qualitatively different offensive than before and we have confirmed the flag of the Krafte Royal Guard!”
While Werther and the staff looked at me with shocked faces, I let out a small sigh of relief.
“…also.”
“And indeed, His Excellency the Marquis de Lafayette. “You are amazing.”
“I never would have thought that he would abandon his allies who were on the verge of annihilation and instead attack the defense line that had not been pushed back much so far…”
“Because he is good at reading weaknesses.”
In fact, the south and west gates of Damien de Mirbeau are more precarious than the north and south gates of Louis Desget.
Being pushed out less means that it may look like you are holding on well, but conversely, it means that you have been ordered to hold on to your position even if it means taking losses.
This is because the southern and eastern defense lines are far away, so bypassing the Orcs is impossible due to the structure.
Thanks to this, even Eris was out there and was working hard to keep Mirbo’s army from being pushed back by constantly treating the wounded soldiers in the background.
“Okay, we’re sending in the Revolutionary Guard and Gaston’s troops. “Tell Her Majesty that she no longer has to worry about concealment and that she protect her troops in the battle lines.”
“All right!”
Although it is the Krafte Army’s royal guard that has been cherished and cherished for a long time, it will not recover from the losses suffered due to the artillery bombardment.
The Revolutionary Guard will be able to deal with them in any way, and Damien, who is assisted by Giselle Davy, is the best commander in the Revolutionary Army when it comes to defensive battles.
Gaston will be in charge of the force, so we can win this.
I breathed a small sigh of relief as I watched the messengers and staff who had received my orders move about busily.
Now I don’t even have any reserves on hand.
The battle has now completely passed to the generals and front-line soldiers.
After waiting anxiously for a while, I finally grabbed the sword at my waist.
“I’ll leave it to Werther’s command.”
“Your Excellency the Marquis?”
“I am also quite a fighting knight. “In an all-out war like this, we can’t afford to waste even a single bit of our strength.”
“Queen Queen, Her Majesty is not in a position to say that she does not care.”
“Well, that’s right. But it’s not my nature to sit still and wait for the outcome of a battle-”
But before I could finish speaking, the messenger came running out in a huff and announced.
“That messenger!”
“hmm?”
“The provincial east gate defense line collapses! “The Krafte army is coming this way!”
“what?”
What does this mean? I heard the gun attack was at the South Gate?
“Count Wittelsbach and the Imperial Knights are breaking through from the vanguard! “It looks like all of the Krafte army’s reserves have been sent here!”
Holy shit.
Have you been lured by the name of the Krafte Royal Guard?
Damien de Mirbeau That fool…!
No, no. Even Giselle Darby was there, so the fact that she was caught meant that it looked like an all-out offensive.
At least it is true that they launched an onslaught while taking losses.
That great king deceived us even at the cost of the lives of his soldiers.
…Is the problem on my part for being so relieved that I read his intentions correctly that I didn’t consider that possibility?
“If this continues, the headquarters will be attacked!”
“Hahaha….”
The troops isolated at the west and north gates were abandoned.
The Krafte Royal Guard was stationed at the South Gate and an all-out offensive was launched with tattered troops, fooling them into thinking it was the main attack, but the key breakthrough actually came from the East Gate.
“It’s a beheading operation…”
No matter how many Krafte forces are sacrificed, if they collapse the headquarters, they can somehow win.
As expected, the great king does not suffer until the very end.
“If we pour all of our main forces into the East Gate, the South Gate’s offensive will eventually be defeated. “Report this situation to Gaston and Mirbeau.”
“All right!”
“The headquarters is a key area that leads to all defense lines and also manages supplies. If this place is taken away, you will lose the battle! “What will you do, Your Excellency the Marquis?”
I looked at Alexandre Werther, who was unusually pale and embarrassed, and answered simply,
“What can I do? What can I do?” Reinforcements will be sent from the south soon.”
I drew my sword.
“We need to gather all the forces we have and try to stick with it. Isn’t a beheading operation ultimately only possible if you can cut off the head?”
