Chapter 39: Before The War: Inner Reflection (3)
Meanwhile, those who had become our prisoners in the blink of an eye now understood their impending fate and pleaded for mercy, fear lacing their eyes. And a corporal among them, seemingly the most senior, spoke earnestly.
“Please spare us. We don’t know who you are, but we are just mere soldiers. We didn’t come to fight against the Reich Empire willingly. We are just powerless peasants dragged here. Have mercy and spare our lives.”
Here and in Korea, unless someone willingly applied to become a non-commissioned officer or an officer, no sane person wanted to become a soldier. In Korea, unique circumstances and battles were rare, but soldiers in this world had to face real combat in worse conditions.
“These are not my concerns. But if you answer my questions accurately, all three of you can return safely.”
I threw a rope of hope at them, and they asked with more hope in their voices than before.
“Is that true? Will you really spare us?”
“That depends on how sincerely you answer. If any one of you talks nonsense, you will all die.”
Soon after, I was satisfied with the information they had given, but to extract more ungiven information, I gave a command that could convince them further.
“Good information. Lieutenant Laura, release their binds as promised.”
“Commander, even so, there is a risk that the scouts may flee. To release their binds is…”
“Even if we let them go, they can’t escape from here. There are more than twenty of us here, and we are all surrounding the three of them. How can they escape?”
Laura, conceding to my point, released their binds.
The Chekovia scouts, now puffed with the hope of survival, knelt with tears, thanking profusely.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for sparing our lives.”
“We will never speak of meeting you.”
“We will forget we ever met you.”
They were so moved just by being unbound, without even the assurance of being released.
I asked them my last few questions.
“How is the morale of the soldiers, and how is the food provided? Do you know any strategies they are using? Do they often stay near villages? Tell me in as much detail as you know.”
Even a corporal in the modern Korean army would receive quite detailed operation instructions in real combat situations. Capturing soldiers could yield useful information, but the educational level of the soldiers in this era was quite low. They might not be stupid, but without knowing how to utilize it, the strategy they knew was just about ‘who is the enemy, and you attack’, which was almost meaningless.
I asked just in case, but the most important things were the enemy’s morale and their food situation.
“The morale of the soldiers is always the same. Everyone just honestly wants to go home as soon as possible, regardless of the war. Only higher-ups know about the strategies. We common soldiers don’t know anything except that the Reich Empire is the enemy. However, the higher-ups seem to care about us quite a bit, as we get good food. We even occasionally get stews with real meat, not that damned salted meat, and fresh cheese.”
I already had thought of a good way to torment the enemies using only 20 of my men, but the clueless scouts kept talking, maybe because of their desire to live.
“They also don’t let us, over 50,000 soldiers, stay in the village or even near it.”
Moreover, that foolish man provided all the information I wanted to know except about the enemy’s strategies. I would like to spare them, but if our existence is revealed in the worst case, my detachment would be annihilated.
“Then…”
I raised my hand to stop him from talking further.
“I have enough information. As promised, you can leave now. Don’t look back and leave with your men.”
At this, the man, who had been obediently answering my questions, bowed repeatedly in joy, thinking he would really live, and tried to escape with his subordinates.
At that moment, I signaled to kill them the moment they turned their backs.
I felt a bit sorry for the scouts who obediently provided the information, but I valued the life of one of my soldiers more than thousands of them. The moment they let their guards down, thinking they were safe, my men, including Laura, drew their swords and struck them down instantly.
“So, now we will collect the maps they left and check the enemy’s location and scale. Get ready quickly.”
The next day, I headed to the hill where the deceased scout said the enemy was located with 20 detachment members. There were about 50,000 Chekovia soldiers, knights, and various sizes of wagons moving around.
The most striking thing was that despite the army walking in formation, wagons filled with various foods were continuously joining and leaving.
As the scout said, the Chekovia army must be confiscating as much food as possible from nearby villages. Otherwise, there was no reason for the wagons to come and go like that.
After confirming the approximate number, location, and marching speed of the Chekovia army, I ordered,
“The detachment will now quickly return the way we came and move to a village near the starting point. We will implement new plans to torment them! Hurry!”
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