Chapter 43: If You’ve Boasted, You Must Also Brag (2)
The reactions of the higher-ups in the tent were clearly divided into two after hearing my answer.
Some, including the general who questioned me, stared at me with meaningful smiles as if they saw an opportunity. Supporters like the Crown Prince and Count Benner looked at me with horror as if they had seen a devil, signaling to me their disbelief.
They didn’t say it out loud, but they seemed to be saying something like,
‘Are you mad? Leading an advanced reconnaissance battalion and doing something as if you had been granted supreme power?’
In this situation, the Crown Prince spoke solemnly, showing his will to punish me if necessary.
“It’s true that I granted discretion to Lieutenant Colonel Yaeger. But detailed explanations seem necessary. If anyone here has questions about the operations he conducted, feel free to ask.”
With the implicit permission of the Crown Prince, a colonel with white hair and a beard inquired sternly,
“Have you forgotten the role of the advance reconnaissance battalion? Engaging directly in combat is a clear violation of military orders and could be punished by death.”
I hid my surprise and fear and responded confidently,
“Together with twenty men, we discovered the enemy’s food supply and morale state. We pretended to be Chekovian supply officers and confiscated and destroyed the enemy’s food supplies from the villages. We estimated that we have successfully plundered about eight days’ worth of their food supplies.”
Information like enemy rations and morale was important for making strategies, but it was hard to obtain them.
This was because the most basic information about the size of an enemy army could be determined by watching them from a high mountain or hilltop as they marched below or stopped to eat.
If we were high up, we could see them marching with their family crest on their flags and all their movements, so it wasn’t hard to guess their weaknesses and strengths.
However, with the exception of military leaders and high-ranking officers, the rations and morale of an army were confidential information, even to allies, unless there was a specific reason they had to be revealed.
This was because if the enemy became aware of the other side’s food situation and morale, it could be an easy hint as to what they were planning to do.
For example, if they had an abundant food supply, they could choose to play both a long and short game, but if they were in a bad food situation, they would be stuck with a short game.
Then the general who was arguing with me snorted when he heard that and said,
“What army doesn’t? This time, thanks to Bruno Territory’s bread and provisions, I’m told you’re only paying about 20% of taxes. Normally, that would have been 30-40%! I don’t know about the rest of your reports, but I can tell you that spying on food isn’t much help. Unless you’re raiding hundreds of supply units with only twenty men in your special unit.”
A few generals agreed with the scoffing general, who belittled my achievements, mentioning the regular contribution of confiscated food supplies to any army’s stock.
The Crown Prince had a serious look on his face, as if he was worried that I was going to be cornered here for using his discretion.
However, I showed him a couple of perfectly forged documents that followed the format they used in Chekovia, making it impossible to disguise their authenticity.
“As soon as we figured that out, the detachment I was leading hastily headed for a village that was in the path of the Chekovia army’s advance unit, and while showing them these forged documents, we impersonated their supply officers and confiscated the village’s food, which we then moved to a less populated area and burned all the carts. If the amount of food we had confiscated is any indication of the size of their army, then our detachment had succeeded in looting roughly eight days’ worth of their food.”
The generals began to chatter in disbelief.
“They must be having a hard time now. Eight days’ worth of food on a horse, and even if we lose one day’s worth, we’ll have to cut back on rations for three days…”
“They’ve been caught off guard, and now that their rations have been reduced during their march, there will be more deserters.”
“They say it’s no longer true that wars should be fought justly, as they were a hundred years ago, but this is going too far. This young man is very clever.”
On the other hand, the Crown Prince was smiling when he heard my report that the enemy had been weakened on their first march, and he urged me on.
“Go ahead and continue your report. You still have more to report, don’t you?”
At that, I bowed my head in acknowledgment before continuing.
“So we succeeded in capturing and destroying the enemy’s food supplies, but that wasn’t enough, so I led a detachment to launch a surprise attack, throwing barrels of oil and fire at their advance scout unit. They’re going to be more vigilant now, not knowing if enemies will show up again. They would increase their scouts, which could hurt their morale and stamina.”
Draining an enemy’s health like this wasn’t something that could be seen because it doesn’t show up in numbers.
A healthy soldier could fight for three hours, but only two hours if he were exhausted.
If our troops were healthy and our enemy’s troops were exhausted, a three-hour battle in a single day would result in a close fight for two hours, but for the remaining hour, our troops would have an overwhelming physical advantage and would be able to push the enemy back.
Considering that warfare in this era relied heavily on hand-to-hand combat and the importance of walking, running, and using one’s body, it was safe to say that just taking away their stamina increases our chances of victory.
Then I concluded my report with a salute to the Crown Prince.
“The fact that I could execute such operations was due to His Highness the Crown Prince entrusting an ordinary officer like Peter Yeger and ensuring maximum discretionary power.”
Expressing my gratitude, the Crown Prince looked at me with touched eyes, and the surrounding nobles who had been blaming me reluctantly held their tongues.
The general who was trying to find fault in me looked at me with disdainful eyes. Just as he was about to speak again, Count Benner, the deputy commander, spoke,
“General Chariot, restrain yourself. Any more criticism oversteps the authority of His Highness the Crown Prince. Even by properly reading the reports, it’s clear that he didn’t overstep anything. Ridiculing him without even reading such reports. Did you really graduate from the General Staff Academy?”
To become a general who could command actual troops, one must graduate from the General Staff Academy, which only about 5% of the academy graduates could enter. For someone who graduated from such an academy, being questioned,
‘Did you really graduate from the General Staff Academy?’
It was one of the highest insults a general could hear.
Now, given my clear and significant achievements, General Chariot’s personnel evaluations would possibly be stained with the label of ‘Incompetent to be a general’, making his future promotions difficult. His face turned pale, and he gawked as if his soul had left him.
Seeing him cornered, the Crown Prince looked satisfied and said,
“Lieutenant Colonel Yaeger, you may return to your seat now.”
As I returned to my seat, the other lieutenant colonels looked back and forth between my face and the medal on my chest, perhaps contemplating the valor they would need to achieve to receive the Silver Knight Sword medal and the courage to argue with a general.
I just quietly took my seat under their gaze.
The Crown Prince, after reading all the provided information, spoke confidently,
“If the scouts are correct, the best place for our allies to fight the enemy is on the Branov Plains, 30 kilometers from here. Therefore, those under my command will move with me to the Branov Plains tomorrow morning.”
As the detachment passed through the Branov Plains on reconnaissance, they realized that it was really an empty plain.
Upon closer inspection, there was a small stream that provided a source of drinking water, but even though the stream was long, it was less than 20 centimeters deep.
It was virtually impossible to have any effect on the battle, and the surrounding area was a complete plain, without even the usual forests.
So if we were to fight there, neither Chekovia’s troops nor Reich’s troops would be able to make an ambush.
It was probably the best tactic when fighting men who were hungry from the lack of food and tired from the extra guard duty.
“On the Branov Plains, our allies will engage with the Chekovia army. We will adopt the most traditional method of combat. Knights against knights and infantry against infantry.”
In dramas and games, we often see spearmen against knights and knights against infantry in enemy infantry formations.
Even if the other generals advised him, it was hard for a Crown Prince who was commanding a large army for the first time to come up with such clever tactics.
So he was going to have to settle for a relatively simple, all-out war.
The other generals seemed satisfied that the Crown Prince, who was new to war, had planned a simple all-out war without overdoing it with advanced strategies such as repeated ambushes and attacks.
Then I nodded and continued to listen to the Crown Prince’s explanation.
“That’s all for today. There will be no more tactical meetings. All commanders above the rank of colonel will now check in with their units and begin their formations. The rest of you may leave now.”
With those words from the Crown Prince, I left the huge barracks that had been built for the meeting.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l