Episode 147

The next day, at the command barracks of the Reich Empire’s 7th Division.

In the currently empty barracks, I slammed my fist on the innocent desk and exclaimed.

“Damn it! Why did we have to fall for a double agent’s trickery like this? I thought at most we’d only face about 4,000 until we joined forces with His Highness the Crown Prince!”

Of course, 9,000 against 8,000 was a much better situation than what we had faced in the Hattin Forest.

The fact that Count Bern, who had been communicating with the Reich Empire for years and gained our trust, was actually a double agent meant that our entire strategy had evaporated into thin air.

In the worst-case scenario, our Imperial Army could be annihilated at the hands of those Swiss bastards.

But just as in life, neither bad things happen nor do good things continue forever.

“If I had chosen an easier path for the march, our 7th Division might have been annihilated by now. Count Ticino probably would have set up a solid defense near the Lindenhorf Hills and prepared a separate unit to attack us from behind.”

If that had happened, our division would have suffered near-annihilation or complete destruction.

However, we somehow managed to avoid that fate and were now facing them at the Jungfrau Plains. If our army won here, when all the forces gathered under His Highness the Crown Prince, the morale of the Swiss soldiers would plummet to the ground.

As I calmed myself and sat down, the officers who had entered the barracks and been watching me cautiously asked with concerned expressions.

“Lieutenant General, are you feeling a bit better now?”

“Of course, I’m not fine. I feel utterly twisted inside. But dying of anger here would make Count Ticino extremely happy, so I can’t die even if I want to. So, before I die, I’ll crush all those damned Swiss bandits first.”

“We feel the same. We are determined to avenge their attempt to corner our 7th Division.”

The officers, while saying this, all gritted their teeth, thinking of those evil Swiss bastards.

I unfolded the map of the Jungfrau Plains drawn by a scout and placed wooden markers representing the Imperial Army on it, then said,

“Count Ticino’s army has 9,000, and our 7th Division has 8,000 soldiers, so there isn’t much difference in numbers. The chances are very high that we will engage in a frontal battle with the Swiss.”

And then, a very conventional battle would follow.

Thus, the crossbowmen and mages would lead, firing arrows and spells at the enemy to gradually reduce their numbers.

Both armies would endure each other’s long-range attacks with grit and slowly approach each other.

As they would get closer, the mages and crossbowmen would retreat to the rear to attack the enemy with indirect fire.

Finally, there would be a melee battle between the infantry with spears and swords.

“As the battle becomes increasingly chaotic, like sinking into mud, those with the strongest infantry capabilities in Europa will make every effort to damage our front-line infantry in order to gain the upper hand.”

When people focus intensely on one thing, they might not notice even if someone would call them or something big happens around them.

They would become very vulnerable to attacks from knights or archers coming from directions other than the front, where they were focused on the infantry battle.

This was because both the defensive and offensive power of the infantry formation were concentrated at the front.

If knights exploited this gap to pierce the infantry’s side, it could collapse the formation like cutting tofu with a kitchen knife, albeit slightly exaggerated.

“However, it will be difficult to significantly damage the Swiss infantry, which is mainly composed of highly trained mercenaries, by simply attacking their flanks. Therefore, we will maneuver our archers and knights to the enemy’s rear to attack their crossbowmen and mages.”

The reason for this was that even though the Swiss infantry were powerful, only soldiers armed with polearms like halberds or long spears could deal significant damage to knights in a head-on confrontation.

This was because, even when combined, crossbowmen and mages did not have the defensive capability to stop hundreds of kilograms of steel.

Additionally, since both knights and archers would use hit-and-run tactics, the Swiss troops, no matter how agile, wouldn’t be able to seek support in time.

The archers and knights would effectively cut off the enemy’s long-range support without suffering significant damage, instilling fear in the Swiss infantry of being attacked from behind.

“Lieutenant General, since the enemy has more numbers, they will surely ambush using their soldiers in the forest. We need a countermeasure.”

Indeed, they were the ones who secretly entered the forest last time and raided our camp.

Although they had suffered significant damage due to my thorough preparations.

As the saying goes, “A criminal always returns to the scene of the crime,” and “A thief never changes his ways,” the Swiss bastards would likely ambush using their soldiers in the forest agaim.

Acknowledging the officer who made the suggestion, he, thinking it an opportunity to impress me, spoke fervently.

“So, how about we allocate some troops to watch the forest next to us? I think assigning about two battalions would be enough to prevent being attacked on the flank in an unprotected state.”

Allocating troops to prevent a surprise attack on our infantry at a critical moment, as that officer had suggested, seemed like a very good strategy.

Unless we hadn’t predicted the enemy’s arrival.

If we expected the ambush troops to stab us in the flank, we must thoroughly defend it.

But in such a situation, wasn’t it better to feign vulnerability and trap them rather than split our infantry?

“Sure, that’s a good strategy. But I have a slightly better idea.”

“What strategy is that?”

“For them to gain the upper hand in the ambush, they would have to strike right near our division, wouldn’t they?”

That was inevitable, as the commanders of our unit, including myself, were not fools and would prepare for any unexpected ambush.

We always had scouts or messengers around to detect whether the enemy was approaching.

There was no reason to risk being detected and increase the distance by starting from a forest far from the 7th Division and moving across an open plain.

“So, it’s as if we already know where they will come from, right?”

“That’s right.”

Then, pointing towards the forest with my command stick, I said,

“So we will show the enemy an unprotected flank to strangely allure them. We’ll continuously send scouting units to the forest on our flank to monitor the movements of those idiotic Swiss scums. And then, at that moment…!”

I would have already moved the mages towards the forest adjacent to our unit.

“I plan to launch fireballs and flaming arrows to burn the enemy soldiers along with the forest when they enter.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be like burning dry wood, so it wouldn’t be like Zhuge Liang’s Battle of Red Cliffs, where all the Swiss soldiers burned to death.

At least the leaves and trees would emit a tremendous amount of smoke, and those who came for a surprise attack would have to flee to avoid suffocation.

The Swiss infantry, blinded by the sudden smoke, would suspect that they had been swept up in a fire.

Then, naturally, the enemy would panic due to the unexpected situation and the innate fear of fire.

“Our soldiers, already aware of the impending fire and smoke, will shout to the confused and panicked enemy soldiers, ‘The Reich Empire bastards have ambushed the flank of the Swiss Confederation army!’”

Of course, we had no actual intention of splitting our forces to ambush the Swiss soldiers through the forest path.

In the smoke-blurred, chaotic situation, it would take them a long time to realize that we did not actually lay an ambush.

“Then the enemy would fall into confusion, and we would not miss the opportunity and increase our momentum to launch an all-out attack and slaughter the enemy infantry.”