Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Northern Conquest Battle (6)
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When I returned to our battalion positioned at the far left of the left wing, the two battalions I had left behind were already locked in combat with the enemy infantry.
The deputy regiment commander greeted me with a beaming smile even as he directed them.
"Haha, Regiment Commander. You've had it really rough."
Normally, when hearing something like that, a superior would encourage their subordinate by saying they'd suffered even more.
But after leading soldiers numbering less than a single regiment—bearing the division flag granted by the Commander-in-Chief—and charging headlong to crush the enemy, empty words like "You've had it worse" didn't even cross my mind.
That said, the deputy regiment commander must have endured tremendous hardship himself to hold the line with just two battalions until my return.
"Yeah, you've had it really rough too."
As if gauging just how exhausted I, the regiment commander, truly was, the deputy nodded and replied in a bright voice.
"Even so, thanks to you, Regiment Commander, the battle has been a breeze. Your brilliant tactical judgment let us smash about two enemy battalions so far. If you'd failed that charge, with the enemy's momentum still strong, we might all be dead by now. Hahaha."
It was a joke-laced compliment he could afford amid our clear upper hand in the war.
Truth be told, if my charge had failed as he said, two battalions couldn't have held a front meant for a full regiment.
After all, the enemy assaulting us at once was regiment-scale, while our forces were only half that—outnumbered from the start.
Even if I'd stayed back uninjured to hold this position, facing the enemy's elite vanguard infantry, it would've taken considerable time to swing the infantry battle our way.
"By the way, what's the damage on those two battalions so far?"
"With so few numbers, two companies took heavy losses and were pulled back to the main force with the wounded. The rest have likely suffered some casualties too."
In games, ally deaths show up as neat numbers, but reality doesn't work that way.
On-site reports only flag units with heavy losses or those unable to continue fighting, so commanders must gauge damage from rough intel.
In my view, the deputy had held this front well, but both battalions had lost no small number of men.
Otherwise, two full companies— not even a single one—wouldn't have been withdrawn wholesale.
"The soldiers I took on the charge into the enemy lines suffered few losses by catching them off guard. So we'll rotate them in immediately with the two battalions you were commanding. Take the chance to rest a bit yourself."
"Understood. I'll pull back with those lads to the regiment's rear."
With that, the deputy moved off to oversee withdrawing the two battalions.
I headed to the regiment's front to assess our current fight and issue fitting orders.
"Kill the barbarians! Slaughter them all!"
"These savage bastards deserve their faces ground into the dirt!"
"Taste the pike, you barbarian scum! I'll set you right!"
My men delivered a thorough lesson in violence to the uncivilized foes as they shouted.
"Shit, aren't those the mad bastards who just charged like lunatics?"
"Shut your trap, you dog! Can't you see the squad leader next to you has a sword?"
"Uwaaaak! Die! Die!"
Witnessing their comrades being set right before their eyes, the barbarians trembled in terror at our might.
Not quite deserting under fire yet, but their fear made proper combat impossible.
Without some special turn, they couldn't reverse our current victory.
As I sized up the situation, Laura, commanding the infantry battalion beside me, approached and asked.
"Colonel, this reminds me of the fight at Bisochia. When we had them nearly beat, didn't the Chekovian Archduke's army commander flee on horseback? With that Nikolai guy, there's a chance this Ludwig might..."
I shook my head at her words.
Ludwig's predicament was utterly unlike Nikolai's.
For one, Nikolai had a fortress to shelter in if he escaped, but Ludwig had no such stronghold waiting at home.
Bound by the loose tribal lord-vassal ties of a tribal nation, if Ludwig lost here, the chieftains he'd granted land and tribesmen to would cut him loose.
Then, per barbarian custom—kill the chief and surrender when outnumbered for survival—they might even slaughter Ludwig and his family to throw themselves on our mercy.
Knowing this well, he'd seek any path to victory rather than flee, fighting to the death.
"He absolutely can't flee like Nikolai. That would doom him and his whole family to a miserable end. So as long as there's a chance to turn it around, he'll..."
Mid-sentence, his likely ploy flashed in my mind.
"Right, those half-farmer, half-lumberjack barbarians will fall back on their most effective tactic of old."
Laura nodded, her face convinced.
"Makes sense. As commander of a massive sixty-thousand-strong army, he won't give up easily. So you think he'll unleash his horse archers in a volley, then spot an opening and lead a charge from the front himself?"
"Exactly. Though Major Venner has probably prepared for it already. With the infantry clash stabilized, we can't just let our knights sit idle, can we?"
Truth be told, the knights had already done their part by smashing the barbarian infantry before I led the foot soldiers in.
But since they'd come for this grueling war, better to give them another stage to rack up merits.
Besides, having read the enemy's play, I couldn't pass up a shot at even greater glory just because I commanded the left wing.
"Major Laura, take twenty knights under your command and request action permission from the Commander-in-Chief."
"Yes, sir. What should I say?"
"Find out which unit—excluding the front lines—has taken the heaviest hits in the Imperial Army so far, and say you want to support them against the enemy's likely final all-out push there."
She whipped out a pen from somewhere and jotted down my words.
"Also, ask if you can take command of any knight units in disarray from losing leaders to enemy horse archers and join them to the relief force."
If the Commander-in-Chief weren't Count Venner, even lost knights wouldn't be handed over lightly to a mere colonel heading to aid a battered ally.
Such moves could slight the brigade or division commanders those units belonged to, despite the Imperial Army's meritocracy.
Usually, authority for that came from staff generals or higher.
But I had elevated on-site discretion, and with Count Venner slightly bending rules, I could lead those knights.
"Yes, sir. Colonel."
With that, Laura swiftly led about twenty knights toward Count Venner's position.
About forty minutes later, she returned with a letter of reply and what looked like orders on a scroll.
"As you proposed, Colonel, the Commander-in-Chief has authorized independent action for two knight battalions under the 24th Regiment, and granted authority to command volunteers from retreating knight units due to command losses nearby."
Thrilled it was going to plan, I asked.
"Good. So which part of the Imperial corps has weakened most from heavy casualties?"
"The right wing near the 12th Division, sir. Its 7th Regiment took major losses and fell back."
"Hand command here back to the deputy regiment commander. We'll lead the knights to the right wing, gathering retreating ones along the way."