Chapter 224
Chapter 224
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 224
Chapter Title: Siege of the Capital Oslo (1)
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Reich Empire Army Command Headquarters Tent.
"Cheers to those Stockholm morons who got their heads smashed in and the Warsaw barbarians!"
"Sergeant, if you chug booze like that, you're gonna be in big trouble. Have a bite of this meat first."
"Hurrah for Bauerman Platoon!"
Outside the tent, the junior officers and soldiers were celebrating their victory in the war, eating and drinking as much as they wanted.
But inside the tent, instead of eating or drinking, we were stuck working non-stop despite our great victory in the war, per Field Marshal Keitel's orders. We couldn't even rest.
Desperate gazes pleading to be freed from this hellish situation—where we'd won the war and crushed the enemy but still couldn't relax—were all focused on me, the deputy commander.
The field marshal spoke to all the assembled officers in a cool, measured voice.
"We've won the war, but there's far too much to handle now. In a situation like this, decisions must be made without a moment's delay. Don't you agree?"
There wasn't a single false word in what Field Marshal Keitel said.
His instructions were always rooted firmly in principle, so rebelling against them would only earn you a long, logical, and utterly reasonable rebuttal.
A mere deputy commander like me couldn't dare say something like, "Can't we take a break just for today?" to him.
"I'm not summoning you all like this because I don't want to give you a rest after our victory. I want to rest too. But as the empire's commander, I have to set our future course and move forward. So, everyone, just finish what needs doing and rest easy."
Of course, if the work wasn't done, we had to finish it before resting.
Otherwise, who knew what backlash might hit us later.
"You all know this about me. I'm Gerhard von Keitel—if the work's done, I won't touch you."
Usually, people who say that kind of thing nitpick even after all the work's finished.
But Field Marshal Keitel? Once the job was done, he'd buy you beer and meat, encouraging you to rest more.
In other words, no matter what we did, we couldn't find any excuse to escape the "work" he laid out for us...
"Alright then, let's hurry up and finish so we can rest. First, let's discuss our strategy going forward. In a normal situation, we'd move to peace negotiations here... But before that, what do you all think? Those in favor of entering negotiations as is, raise your hands."
At his words, almost every officer except me raised their hands.
"Major General Battenburg of the 23rd Division here. We've won a great victory, but further supply support will be difficult. Shouldn't we pretend to show mercy to the enemy and enter negotiations?"
"No need to worry about supplies, Major General. With this victory, our expeditionary force has secured a safe supply line. Just the provisions from the northern and imperial northeastern port cities will sustain operations for over half a year."
"Then, Field Marshal, are you considering further offensives?"
"If it had been a moderate victory, I would've turned back. But Lieutenant General Jaeger's performance exceeded my expectations. It's making me a bit greedy. And isn't the Sweden Kingdom striking the Stockholm Kingdom from the north right now? If our two nations' armies joined forces at a time like this..."
The field marshal trailed off, but everyone present thought the same thing.
'Attacking in coordination from south and north would overwhelm the Stockholm Kingdom forces. They'd gain far more territory and interests with less effort than usual.'
And I fully agreed.
No—after this decisive victory, I wanted to go all out while we were at it.
If someone asked how all out, I'd say like someone possessed by the god of impulse, emptying their paycheck account.
"Field Marshal, if we advance further, how far can you support our supplies? And how much?"
"Tell me first how far you want to go."
"To the Stockholm Kingdom's capital, Oslo. That's my plan."
At those words, the officers' shocked gazes zeroed in on me, and even Field Marshal Keitel looked at me with wide-eyed surprise, as if he hadn't considered it.
But instead of asking what drug I'd taken to come up with such a crazy idea, he answered my question seriously.
"Roughly 200 km from here—so about 15 days' march. Extending the supply line shouldn't be an issue. There are several good harbors near Oslo perfect for docking ships. If you secure them properly, you could stay a year or two. In theory, that is."
This solved the biggest constraint I saw for my plan: supplies.
"As deputy commander of this expeditionary force, I formally propose: Besiege the capital Oslo and threaten the Stockholm king. Wouldn't it be best to negotiate from a position of overwhelming strategic superiority?"
"It seems feasible in the current situation. But there's a catch—what do you think it is?"
"Are you worried about reinforcements from northern Stockholm or other regions?"
Indeed, when the capital itself was under attack—not some outlying area—the Stockholm Kingdom would conscript every soldier they could from across the realm to intercept us.
Because if they failed, the worst case would leave their king, his family, and all the nobles as my prisoners.
I wouldn't have dared suggest this under normal circumstances.
"The Stockholm Kingdom is fighting a two-front war against Sweden and the Reich Empire right now, scraping together every soldier they have to hold the lines."
"Otherwise, a kingdom with a smaller population than ours couldn't have mobilized over 150,000 troops. As you say, they scraped the bottom of their souls to stop us."
"In that state, gathering more soldiers is tough. Even if we besiege the capital, they can't field more troops than us for battle. It'll turn into a siege."
For the record, I had zero intention of assaulting the capital directly.
Every kingdom builds their capital walls insanely sturdy—attacking head-on would just shatter us.
But reinforcements would take forever to arrive, so we could at least instill endless terror in those trapped inside during that time.
"We'll besiege the capital directly and harass the walls en route with arrows, magic, catapults, ballistae, and other siege weapons. We'll also execute the captured Ishtaven subordinates—the traitors—via breaking wheel, per northern customs."
"The nobles trapped inside the walls will shit themselves in fear."
"Once the siege is set, we'll cut off all information. And we'll occasionally parade Stockholm prisoners to erode their morale."
The poor citizens trapped in the capital, unable to return home, would weep with joy if our Stockholm POWs sang nostalgic homeland songs for them.
Plus, once besieged, from the king down to the soldiers, they'd be rationed food and starve...
With no supply issues on our end, we could sneak drinks and grilled meat past the field marshal now and then.
Because while we'd be feasting happily, for residents of a place rarely attacked in Stockholm history, it'd be unimaginable stress and a perfect morale-crusher.
"Ideally, I'd spark a civilian uprising, but that'd take 6 months to a year of siege. So, we'll just plant deep fear of the Reich Empire in their hearts and call it done."
At those words, some of the officers burst into loud applause.
Then Field Marshal Keitel doused it with cold water.
"But what if your plan goes awry?"
Normally, I'd deny it and list reasons why not—but now, I didn't even need to.
Even if sudden enemy reinforcements forced us to lift the siege midway, the mere fact we'd reached the capital held massive political and strategic weight.
"The biggest point of this operation is showing the enemy they're cornered enough for their capital to be threatened. Just marching more troops to besiege it achieves that success."
And so, my proposed operation passed smoothly. Field Marshal Keitel would stay near the Osby Plains as supreme commander, handling rear support and overall army command.
I was entrusted with 85,000 troops to besiege the capital Oslo as deputy commander.