Chapter 255
Chapter 255
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 255
Chapter Title: Battle of Glopino Plains (4)
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Laura von Venner raised the face guard on her helmet from atop her horse and surveyed her surroundings.
In the forest to the right, where the knights had passed, the Imperial Army's infantry reserves were hiding their bodies and moving stealthily toward the enemy infantry's rear, not even breathing loudly.
To the left, Reich Empire infantry were smashing the scattered Warsaw soldiers without mercy, as if determined to leave none alive.
"Reserves! Aren't the reserves going to rotate in? We'll all die like this!"
"Argh, damn it, we're surrendering, you bastards! Why won't you accept our surrender?"
"You crazy Empire pig bastards!"
In this situation, the Warsaw Grand Duchy, with its superior numbers, should naturally have deployed reserves to give the frontline units a brief rest and reorganize them.
Yet the reserve units were merely conserving their strength in the rear, showing no intention of rotating in for the frontline soldiers.
For the Imperial Army, it was a situation they could only be grateful for.
Though not quite on Peter Jaeger's level, Laura possessed the talent to one day become a pillar supporting the Imperial Army. Just by glancing at the infantry units in combat, she could gauge their condition.
If the Warsaw Grand Duchy's army commander wasn't incompetent, he would have ordered the reserves mobilized thirty minutes ago to rotate with the frontline soldiers.
No, unless his head was filled with bread or pork instead of brains, an order for rotation would have been absolutely necessary.
That led to this speculation: The order for rotation had come down, but the reserve division and corps commanders, caught in Peter Jaeger's disruption tactics, distrusted the other generals and commanders.
Even after receiving the commander's orders, the subordinate generals likely defied them with words like this:
"In my view, the frontline soldiers aren't in that much danger yet. Let's wait until the enemy tires more."
Once you've got stars on your shoulder, you can push back once or twice with some justification, making it hard to pin down as outright insubordination. That's how they'd held out until now.
As a result, they'd missed the optimal moment to commit their reserves...
"The Colonel must have induced this exact situation, planning to split the enemy forces with a wedge attack, right?"
Even after watching him for over ten years up close, Laura never grew tired of it. Right here and now, she realized she was once again captivated by Peter Jaeger's brilliance as a commander.
And soon after, her eyes caught a massive cloud of dust rising from the opposite side.
"Colonel von Venner! Colonel von Venner! An enemy knight vanguard of 15,000 is approaching. They're coming straight at us—what are your orders?"
Whether clashing with enemy knights or infantry, a head-on fight was always disadvantageous when friendly numbers were short.
Especially since knight battles, unlike infantry grinding away over time with pikes, could be decided in a single lance charge like a body slam.
Because of that, Laura racked her brains over how to overcome this, but just then, the horse archer unit appeared beside her and began providing cover.
"The horse archers have joined right on time. If they can just slow the enemy vanguard a bit and disrupt their formation, victory will be ours."
"Lieutenant Milton! Break from the line immediately and relay to our horse archers: Concentrate arrows on the enemy vanguard!"
Lieutenant Milton, receiving the order, promptly broke from the formation and galloped off to deliver it to the horse archers.
Confirming this, Laura shouted in a voice loud enough for the entire regiment to hear.
"Our commander is Colonel Jaeger! Has our army ever lost when we followed his orders? Never. Following Colonel Jaeger's commands means defeat is impossible for us! So don't be scared of those worthless trash just because they're slightly more numerous! Understood?!"
In the Reich Empire Army, the name Peter Jaeger meant a brilliant general who, even if it meant squeezing out his own blood, sweat, or life, somehow carved a path to survival for everyone and seized victory from impossible odds.
Thinking of the exemplary commander Jaeger, who always prioritized soldiers' safety and rewards over his own glory and security, the knights felt that facing an enemy just 1.5 times their number head-on was worth a shot.
They couldn't voice it in front of Colonel von Venner, but a competitive spirit burned—born as men, they couldn't lose to a woman—which sent morale skyrocketing.
"Long live Colonel Jaeger! Long live the Reich Empire! Long live His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!"
"Fight without shame before Colonel von Venner!"
"It's our turn to show we're no less than the 7th Guard Division! Charge without sparing your lives!"
As the Imperial knights boosted their morale and vowed victory, the northern horse archers finished preparing to loose arrows at the enemy knights.
"Aiming for the knights won't work! Target the horses' flanks! Shoot sideways! They'll die falling off anyway!"
"How well we shoot determines how many Imperial knights survive!"
"Shoot for your comrades! Even if your fingers get cut off! Aim for the horse flanks!"
The attached horse archers knew full well why they targeted the horses' sides instead of the riders.
Knights wore full plate armor, but to cut costs and weight on horse barding, protection focused on the front.
Thus, the sides often had just cloth coverings or thin chain mail at best.
So, compared to full-plate knights bouncing off ten arrows, hitting the warhorses' flanks was far more reliable.
And when one horse died or slowed, the ripple effect could hobble dozens of knights.
Aware of this, the horse archers dreamed here of earning sergeant stripes, while their chieftains burned with ambition for major promotions and knightly titles.
On the other hand, Major General Czechyevski was charging desperately with his 15,000 knights.
"We must win against the enemy knights no matter what! Fight with resolve to die!"
In response to the major general's desperate cry, his subordinate knights replied with vigorous voices.
"Victory to His Highness the Grand Duke of Warsaw! Divine punishment on Peter Jaeger and the Reich Empire!"
"Great Warsaw forever!"
"My brother died because of that bastard Peter Jaeger—I'll have my revenge! Argh, damn it!"
Overall, Warsaw forces were being overwhelmingly pushed back, but these 15,000 knights were a key force that could shift the war's flow at any moment.
The enemy knights charging toward them numbered only about 10,000—fewer than their own.
So they were thinking this:
"If we smash the Reich Empire knights and rout their infantry, we'll be the heroes of this battlefield."
Until moments ago, they'd worried about surviving to return home, but mounting up with lances banished the fear. Seeing fewer enemy knights ahead fueled their thoughts.
However, "Damn it, left flank! Reich Empire horse archers approaching from the left!"
At those words, the briefly uplifting mood among the knights plunged into the gutter.
"Reich Empire, you fucking bastards! Did you have to pull this shit to feel better?"
"This looks kinda tough, doesn't it?"
The major general inwardly unleashed every curse he knew at the madman Peter Jaeger and shouted to his knights.
"Ignore those buzzing flies on the side! No—just ignore them and charge! Getting distracted by them will get us all killed!"
At his command, the Reich Empire horse archers didn't close in but passed in a line, loosing arrows into the Warsaw warhorses' flanks.
The horses neighed loudly in agony, rejecting control, bolting wildly before suddenly collapsing or buckling in place with cracking legs.
"Argh, damn it! Hey, don't step on me!"
"Stepping on allies—what kind of human does that?"
"No, save me!"
"You're the ones blocking the way!"
As leading horses fell, those behind naturally halted their gallop, only to be shoved over by the thousands following.
Once down, man and horse alike became equal meat paste.
Commanding them, the major general gnashed his teeth, seized by the urge to behead that Peter Jaeger bastard, salt him, and turn him into preserved meat.
"Reich Empire bastards, invading our land and tormenting us who lived peacefully..."
If Colonel Jaeger heard, he'd protest: "That's the same nonsense as 'romance if I do it, affair if you do'."
Perhaps uninterested in the major general's complaints, the Reich Empire knights raised their lances, accelerating toward the visible foes.
"Kill even one more!"
"Turn them into fertilizer for the Reich Empire's glory!"
"Long live the Empire! Long live the Imperial Army!"
Like this, the distance between them gradually closed.