Chapter 309
Chapter 309
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 309
Chapter Title: Training Like the Real Thing, Real Thing Like Training (8)
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Peter Jaeger, watching the scene from a spot a little removed from the 7th Division's infantry, muttered in an admiring tone.
"The 18th Division Commander gave a surprisingly solid order. In that situation, instead of barking the same 'charge forward' as I would have, he went with a defensive command."
Ordering defense instead of attack when the enemy outmatches your own forces is the obvious call any commander would make.
Anyone demanding an aggressive push against a stronger foe might as well be calling for a samurai-style banzai charge.
Any officer with a lick of common sense knows better than to order a charge in that spot.
But the 18th Division Commander was leading troops that had lost two days' worth of supplies to plunder and were teetering on the brink.
Commanders backed into such a corner often issue disastrous orders, turning a bad situation into a catastrophe.
Because making the rational, near-optimal choice in the worst circumstances is no easy feat.
Yet the 18th Division Commander had pulled it off.
Even so, that didn't magically restore his soldiers' depleted stamina.
'Even if the 18th holds firm like an anvil, their exhausted troops will crumble under relentless assault.'
"Battalion commanders and below to the front. Battalion commanders and below to the front. All unit leaders, take point and smash the enemy formations flat. Push with everything you've got."
Peter Jaeger jabbed his baton forward as he issued the order to pulverize the enemy with full force.
The command soon reached the 7th Division infantry locked in a tense standoff.
"It's the Colonel's order! All company and platoon leaders under battalion command, up front! Spears to the vanguard!"
"The Colonel doesn't want this standoff dragging on."
"I'll show you what a full-force push really means! Everyone, prep charge forward!"
At those words, the 7th Division infantry smacked away the enemy spear shafts in unison, creating a brief window to reform while facing straight ahead.
In that gap, each unit's battalion and company commanders grabbed spears from the front-line soldiers and stepped up to lead personally.
The 18th Division's officers, rather than tightening their defense against the enemy attack, ordered a push to blunt the 7th's momentum before their all-out assault.
"Charge forward! Spears up and run!"
"Time to show 'em the 18th ain't some pushover division."
"No time to dress ranks—run! Anyone dragging their feet, I'll have a word after training."
For the 18th Division—outclassed in skill, stamina, and morale by the 7th Guard Division—an aggressive offensive was a poor choice with high odds of backfiring, just as Colonel Jaeger had noted.
But this moment was a rare exception.
Even a unit made entirely of swordmasters can't fully leverage its collective power during a formation shift from dense ranks, leaving it relatively weakened.
The 7th Guard Division boasted a true swordmaster in Peter Jaeger alone; the rest were mere mortals, albeit ones with exceptional mental fortitude and combat adaptability.
That transition naturally sapped their strength compared to normal, and striking hard in the gap would let the 18th seize a far better position than hunkering down on defense.
Thus, the 7th Guard Division found itself pushed back ever so slightly.
Seeing this, the 18th Division soldiers kindled a spark of hope.
"Turns out these 7th Guard bastards ain't invincible? I'll bag the lot of 'em myself."
"Don't miss this opening! Charge without breaking formation!"
"Heavy and fast, like thrusting in bed! Stab! Stab!"
The 7th Division infantry took a slight shock from the 18th's unexpectedly fierce resistance, while the embedded officer supervisors formed a strong impression.
In truth, after their supplies were looted, the 18th had been on strict rations for three straight days, showing clear stamina limits even before the battle kicked off.
Even holding a static defense, their endurance would bottom out soon enough, meaning a breakthrough was inevitable—so they needed a reversal play.
By attacking aggressively during the 7th's reorganization, they'd poked a tiny hole in Peter Jaeger's guard.
It wasn't enough to swing the battle, but it did nudge up his estimation of the 18th a notch.
The moment the 7th Division's reformation wrapped up, their infantry commanders threw themselves into the fray at the front, no holding back.
"Battalion commander's up front! I'll call cadence—3rd Battalion, stab on my mark and pull back together! Stab on one, withdraw on two. Execute!"
"When they thrust, smack those shafts left! Then overhead slash and thrust! Got it? Treat this like the real deal—precise!"
"One-two! One-two! Stragglers get caught even in training. Discipline violation: one-month leave suspension."
With the 7th Division's formation set and the frontal clash underway, the 18th Division soldiers—who hadn't eaten properly for three days—began to yield ground bit by bit.
Their grips tightened desperately on their spears, but their hands were starting to slacken. Weapons that had felt light moments ago now weighed like boulders.
The men panted harder, breaths ragged. The veterans who'd seen long campaigns masked their exhaustion best they could.
But their thoughts converged on one grim note.
'Fuck, this is how I go out.'
The supervisors spotted the soldiers' deteriorating state and tapped the ones on the verge of collapse on the shoulder, ordering them withdrawn.
The formation buckled in seconds, and soon a full quarter of the 18th Division's front-line infantry had dropped from exhaustion or mock-combat "casualties."
The 18th Division Commander received the battlefield report via courier, let out a sigh, and issued new orders.
"Infantry units, keep engaging the 7th Division infantry. 500 horse archers, move out now to tie down the 7th's knights. 18th knights, stand by—20 minutes from now, you'll hit the flank of the 7th infantry fighting ours. Prep up."
To outsiders, it might look brutal: even in a mock battle, ordering infantry to keep fighting and "die" in a hopeless spot.
But objectively, this was no bad plan.
In war, a commander's first job is beating the enemy in front of you. When victory's off the table, next up is whittling down their numbers however you can.
Have your exhausted infantry pin the 7th's legs, then slam them with 500 knights to crack an opening?
The stamina-drained 18th couldn't win an infantry slugfest, but like mutual destruction, they'd take out extra 7th troops.
'Can't beat Colonel Jaeger, but we can at least maximize enemy attrition.'
He judged this his best play—if it were real combat, he'd have done the same.
"Just holding out long against Colonel Jaeger will look great come promotion time. Somehow hang on and land that one solid hit."
Meanwhile, Peter Jaeger sensed something fishy: with his infantry on the ropes, the 18th still hadn't committed their knights.
"Reports say the 18th infantry's crumbling under 7th pressure, but no knights yet. They're plotting something."
Even Peter Jaeger clocked the suspicious inaction amid the infantry collapse, but without mind-reading, he couldn't pinpoint the scheme.
So he rapidly cycled through: 'What's the optimal move?'
Moments later, he'd devised a plan to wrap this up fast and clean, dispatching orders.
"Cavalry archers and knights, charge the enemy's left and right flanks respectively. Grind their infantry to dust. No clue what stratagem the 18th cooked up, but smash the anvil and most schemes crumble—hammer or no."
Peter Jaeger's pick was the timeless hammer-and-anvil: wipe out the 18th's infantry acting as the anvil.
This way, even if their knights—as the hammer—performed brilliantly, they'd swing harmlessly at empty air, inflicting zero damage.