Episode 92. Revolutionary Defense War – Preliminary War (1)
The revolutionary army deployed from the capital Lumière and marched to Alsace-Lorraine, the border area with the Germanic Empire.
In the last war, the king’s army and the imperial army used it as a base and we attacked it, but this time, we defended this area and the empire attacked.
As soon as I arrived, I ordered a defensive line to be established and held a strategy meeting with the major commanders of the revolutionary army.
“What about evacuation of residents?”
We will be defeated in the first battle.
In a situation where we are absolutely outnumbered, it is difficult to prevent it in any way, and naturally, the loss of this area, the front line, is a foregone conclusion.
Therefore, we decided to evacuate the residents of this area.
We will fortify the city and fight, so if there are residents, there is concern about damage, and above all, after we are defeated and withdraw, the remaining residents will become targets for the enemy to commandeer supplies.
For the strategy I have developed, such situations must be minimized.
“It’s relatively smooth. Most of the residents who were reluctant at first agreed after Her Majesty the Queen personally persuaded them…”
My Chief of Staff Werther seemed to be choosing his words for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“Still, there are people who don’t want to leave. Should we force them to be introduced?”
“No, you don’t have to.”
Eris is still traveling to various villages and persuading the residents, but if she forces those who are stubborn enough to endure and force them out of their hometown to save them, she will only end up complaining.
Receiving the support of the public is our greatest strength right now, but rather than
allowing ourselves to be killed like that… “They are the ones who chose to remain, so they should be able to handle what they have to go through.”
It may sound cold, but even if we do this much, it is not our responsibility if those who are left suffer damage in battle or are plundered by the imperial army.
“You’re cool.”
Jerome Morel whistled and tampered with me, but I just ignored it and pointed at the map.
“My prediction is that the enemy’s main force will enter Lorraine toward the Rhineland. “To get to Alsace, you have to cross the river, but 120,000 troops is too many for that.”
Then Louis Desget opened his mouth.
“That is a valid idea, Your Excellency the Marquis. However, Archduke Leopold is a commander who enjoys using tricks. I think it would be a good idea to have some troops to guard the river just in case. Even if only a portion of the overflowing troops are allocated, it will be enough to pose a threat to us.”
“Good opinion, Commander Desget. In that sense, Count Mirbeau.”
“Huh? Me?”
I smiled brightly at Damien, who had a confused look on his face.
“The Confederate army will give you 10,000. Head to Alsace and defend the river.”
“No, how many Confederate troops are there, so what should we do with only 10,000? There are 120,000 enemy troops. How many of them will come?…
” The remaining forces of the Confederate army, under the command of General Gaston, were to assist the main front. So I believe in you. “You’re good at persevering in unfavorable situations.”
“No again? How dare you fight that monster, Archduke Leopold, twice with so few troops. The great Marquis de Lafayette! I have no doubt that Your Excellency’s compassion and insight will never lead me to such a dangerous situation again!”
“I’m sorry, but you better doubt my compassion and insight. “There will be no reversal of the order, Count.”
“That can’t be possible.”
I added with a grin to Damien, who was half in despair.
“If, by any chance, we break through due to sabotage, I will have no choice but to ask the Count of Aquitaine to take special measures for you. Well, I think she’ll be happy.”
Upon hearing my words, Damien’s face crumpled into an odd look, as if he was screaming into the void.
“If you don’t want to be like that, protect the river at all costs. Do you understand?”
“As per your orders….”
“Okay, you can go out in advance.”
Damien left the command barracks with a half-disgusted expression on his face.
He may be such a pathetic person, but if he gets into trouble and puts him in danger, he’s a good guy, so he’ll do something.
How that happens is none of my business.
After a moment of silence in the command barracks, Jerome Morel cleared his throat and spoke.
“…Keuhum khum. Marquis, no, Your Excellency. “If you found my way of speaking a little annoying, I will be more careful in the future.”
“Good, Morel. Even if you don’t, I have prepared a special order for you.”
“Yes yes?”
Jerome Morel was so openly embarrassed that I grinned.
“You’re reacting as if I’m going to eat you, so there’s no need to be so scared. “I am nice to people who do their job well.”
“Is that so…”
Morel forced a smile as the corners of his mouth twitched.
“You know, during the last war, we had almost no proper light cavalry, so we were completely at the mercy of the hussars of the Germanian Empire.”
Thinking about that time still sends a chill down my spine.
Messengers and all were blocked, so I rushed to save Damien without knowing any information, but had to negotiate a tug-of-war with Archduke Leopold based solely on intuition and prediction.
Having to ignore the light cavalry who are eagerly waiting to hunt us the moment we are routed or retreating is an experience I don’t want to repeat.
“But this time it’s different.”
Pursuit cavalry.
This is a light cavalry unit raised by formalizing the carbine armament that Raphael Balian used to catch and hunt the Duke of Orléans’ knights.
The Duke of Orléans’ knights were the weakest among the Frangian knights, and it was possible to catch them because they were ambushed by light infantry and firing from all directions, but when dealing with light cavalry, that would be effective enough.
I grinned.
“Morel. “Let’s give a blow to the Hussars, their pride.”
“Eh. “Your Excellency, are you going too?”
“Then are they just guarding the command barracks?”
Morel was shocked, but I’m the type of person who can relax only when I see it with my own eyes.
We need to see for ourselves how effective the light cavalry we worked hard to develop will be against them before we can make future plans.
* * *
Hussars.
The best light cavalry in the entire central continent and the pride of the Germanian Empire, skilled in chasing down and annihilating the remnants of the skirmishers.
This time, as always, they took the lead as scouts ahead of the advance of the main Germanian Imperial Army.
“What is this, the light cavalry?”
A young German cavalry officer wearing a stylish hussar uniform narrowed his eyes and looked at the cavalry approaching from afar.
“What should we do, company commander?”
-A hussar who is still alive after the age of 30 is a coward.
These are men who consider it a virtue to be so reckless and fearless that such words circulate.
“What can I do? What can I do?” “How dare the Franzian hillbillies stand against us?”
The company commander immediately drew his saber, and the company’s subordinates also drew their swords and led their horses accordingly.
“Huh, they’re not even running away?”
“At least you have the qualifications to call yourself a cavalryman!”
Unlike in the last war, the hussars charged with even greater spirit as they saw the enemy cavalry rushing towards them.
The small, nimble horses unique to the light cavalry accelerated quickly and the distance narrowed in an instant.
And-
“Huh?”
“Wait a minute, those bastards, use those guns-”
The hussars who were charging with their swords were belatedly embarrassed when they saw the Franzian pursuit cavalry approaching quickly with carbines on their horses, but the gallop of the warhorses, which had accelerated to their full potential, was not something that could be stopped in an instant. .
Gunshots rang out all at once, and along with the sound of the wind tearing, the sound of bullets digging into the skin of humans and war horses erupted from all over the place.
“You cowardly bastards-”
“Ahhhh!”
In an instant, several people were shot, fell off their horses, and rolled on the ground with their warhorses caught in the corpses of their fallen fellow horses.
“Ugh….”
While the hussars, who had assumed that a fight between light cavalry would only be fought bravely with sabers, were taken aback, the pursuing cavalry with carbines on their backs charged all at once with sabers drawn.
“For Franzia!”
“Long live the Holy Queen!”
“Damn it, come to your senses! Fight back!”
A group of cavalrymen and horsemen were tangled together.
Those who collide head-on and get tangled up and fall down, and the warhorse that continues to run, dragging its owner, who has fallen after being hit by a sword, hanging from the saddle.
Amidst the sound of clashing swords and the mournful cries of injured war horses, the Hussar company commander looked around and cursed while fighting frantically.
“Fuck this, everything is going to fall apart.”
Originally, their numbers were similar, but the volley of fire they received while galloping at full speed was fatal to the large cavalrymen.
“Haha, this is Jerome Morel! “Come on, come on!”
Meanwhile, a grumpy man wearing a stylish Frangian cavalry uniform shouted loudly and swung his sword wildly, slaughtering his men.
“Are you fighting with your mouth? Wow!”
The Husar who charged at Morel swung his sword, but Morel lightly struck his sword away with his bluish sword and pierced the panicked Husar’s stomach.
“horsepower…!”
These words were uttered without my knowledge by the company commander, who was taken aback by the fact that there was a strong enough man capable of handling magical powers mixed in with a light cavalry unit that was just a reconnaissance unit.
But his cry very well caught Morel’s attention.
“Oh, are you the commander? Come on! “You are mine!”
“A retreat in profits is a retreat!”
The company commander shouted at the few remaining hussars and kicked his horse’s butt to avoid Morel, who was trying to approach him.
But-
“Why?”
The company commander and hussars turned their backs and tried to run away, but when they saw another group of light cavalry charging in front of them, they let out a dazed sound filled with despair.
Before a full-scale engagement takes place, the role of the light cavalry is reconnaissance.
It is common sense to split them into companies and spread them out loosely, but there is another light cavalry unit this close?
Before their minds could come to the right conclusion, the light cavalry that was galloping from the front aimed their carbines.
“100 million!”
“Ahh!”
A gunshot rang out and nearly half of those who remained fell from their horses.
“Damn it…”
The company commander glared at the charging men with bloodshot eyes and noticed that at the head of them was a man wearing the fancy uniform of a high-ranking officer.
The decision was quick. Anyway, Morel and the light cavalry are chasing you from behind.
“Hussar! Do you see the guy over there who is propagating that I am the commander? Follow me! “Let’s go and take our companions with us!”
“Jawohl!”
Even in a desperate situation, the hussars, who were corpses except for their bravery, rushed after the company commander.
However, the company commander rushed to close range and was astonished when he recognized the man in the fancy uniform.
“That’s great. “It’s an assault on this situation.”
A man with an overly famous emblem and a black rose brooch on his chest.
“The Marquis of La Lafayette?”
Before he could come to his senses, the Marquis’ sword flashed blue as if it were made of light.
The sword that the company commander swung with all his might was cut in two in vain by the Marquis’ sword.
The company commander slowly turned his head and looked at the Marquis slaughtering his men past him and muttered in despair.
“Why the fuck is a guy like that in the scouting party…”
He fell from his horse, blood spurting out, without being able to finish his sentence.
* * *
The main camp of the Germanian Imperial Army.
Archduke Leopold was listening to Duke Henry’s report with his arrogance frowning.
“20% of the hussars were killed. In a reconnaissance battle? To the enemy light cavalry?”
“I apologize, Your Majesty the Archduke. “We misjudged the strength of the enemy’s light cavalry, and because this was a tactic we had never seen before, transmission between units was delayed.”
“Ugh…”
Archduke Leopold placed a hand on his throbbing forehead.
Hussars in charge of scouting missions are divided into companies and spread out over a relatively wide area to perform reconnaissance missions.
Therefore, it is natural that even if a battle occurs on one side, other units cannot receive the information in a timely manner.
Even so, this is like.
“…I don’t think they raised the French light cavalry to use it as a reconnaissance force?”
“Yes, if you look at the carbines that are difficult to carry, the gun emplacements with narrow spacing that are not effective for reconnaissance, and each unit being commanded by high-class soldiers who have mastered magical powers…”
Duke Heinrich swallowed dryly and answered.
“It seems that the purpose of the creation of the light cavalry they operate is not reconnaissance, but hunting for our light cavalry.”
“under. Did you say that the name of their light cavalry was Chasseurs a cheval? It meant chase cavalry or hunting cavalry. Appropriately put.
The Archduke smiled bitterly.
Now that we have to order carbines from the home country, it will take a year to supply and train them, and at least in this war, the superiority of the light cavalry, which was the pride of the imperial army, is completely in vain.
“…Change the reconnaissance organization of the hussars to battalion units and tell them to absolutely avoid engagement with enemy light cavalry.”
“I will do so, Your Highness.”
Archduke Leopold looked down at the strategy map with a serious face.
Just in the last war, the hussars were used for skirmishing and reconnaissance, and the battle was fought comfortably. But in the very next war, they came up with an organization to precisely attack that?
“Their power is truly amazing.”
When Francia sacrificed all of her proud knights in the civil war and devastated the country, the empire laughed at them and looked down on them.
However, they inflicted a bitter defeat on an empire that was caught off guard, believing that it would be nothing without knights, and overcame the damage from the civil war to come this far.
The Archduke felt a premonition that was close to certainty.
This is the final battlefield where the Germanian Empire can overwhelm them.
“We can’t rely on reconnaissance, so rather than relying on technique, we will collapse them with a thorough all-out war, even if it means making sacrifices.”
The Archduke muttered as he glared at the defense line that Lafayette had built across Alsace and Lorraine on the map.
“…They must be taken down here and now. For the sake of the empire.”
