Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Maxburg Reeducation (1)
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In wars between barons, tactics are needed to win a single battle, but in battles where armies of counts or higher clash, strategies are required to end the war.
Because battles between barons generally conclude after one clash, but when the scale reaches counts or above, victory cannot be decided without multiple large-scale engagements.
However, the strategies of this era are incredibly crude compared to modern ones. In modern terms, they focus solely on operational tactics, the intermediate stage between winning multiple small battles and achieving grand strategy.
Of course, a duke who studies operational tactics is far more frightening than fools like Schwein who simply aim for a reversal in one battle...
Since my objective for this war was clear from the start, I could devise operations and plans far more efficient than his.
But strategy is the process of accumulating small victories from individual battles to sculpt the artwork of the enemy's surrender.
Therefore, if I fail to seize the early momentum, the strategic artwork I've envisioned will crumble.
And so time passed, until the day we had agreed to commence the war finally arrived.
In the meantime, I devised tactics accounting for every variable I could imagine, while the soldiers underwent all manner of training I had designed to steel their resolve.
I meticulously repaired the roads linking Rothringen and our territory to ensure flawless supply of all necessary materials, and through the priests, I periodically preached the true cause of this war.
As a result, according to the commanders' reports, no voices of opposition to this war remained among our territory's soldiers.
Of course, such sentiments undoubtedly still exist somewhere, but the fact that they aren't spreading to others is achievement enough to be encouraging.
Because even cowards grow brave when surrounded only by valiant men.
And at last, I raised the curtain on my first war as a count. At my command, an army of 25,000 infantry, 4,000 men-at-arms, and 500 knights set forth.
First, Brahim and Frost's units took the lead, advancing along Rothringen's coastline to plunder. Next, Baldt—who had the longest route to cover—began his march.
I, taking the path between Frost and Baldt, departed three days after Frost.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Upon leaving the County of Kroitel and entering the Duchy of Maxburg, the landscape was starkly different from our own county.
They seemed to be gradually introducing four-field rotation, as every field was planted with crops, but without proper fertilization, the barley, turnips, wheat, and beans all looked somewhat wilted.
The serfs appeared better fed than those in Windheim from my previous raid, but compared to our territory's serfs, they still looked a bit gaunt... though their faces did have a healthy rosiness to them.
Their farm tools had improved dramatically as well, yet some were still made of wood or stone.
Nevertheless, the fact that they had completely overhauled their farming methods in just a few short years proved that even a decaying empire had its strengths.
At the sight, my adjutant and guard captain, Major Frost, spoke up.
"Enemy or ally alike, it seems everyone is imitating Your Excellency now. Those farm tools over there, and the farming methods—aren't they all Your Excellency's inventions?"
Frost was skirting around the question of whether it didn't anger me that others were stealing my techniques...
In an era without intellectual property rights—where blindly copying superior technology was the key to survival—no, honestly, it didn't anger me at all.
Quite the contrary. As someone versed in history, knowing full well that such transformations typically take decades, I even admired how wisely they had responded.
So I replied to Frost in a nonchalant tone.
"Indeed. These days, whether it's Italica, Franch, Elrain, or even the haughty Romans, they're all following my lead. His Excellency the Duke of Brussels went so far as to plant spies just to absorb my army."
"Is that so..."
"But none of that matters. What matters now is piercing His Excellency the Duke of Maxburg's nose and dragging him to the battlefield of our choosing. And to do that, we'll need tactics similar to those I used when I besieged Helsman Castle."
"Then, will you plunder their food and goods once more, then send all the serfs to Rothringen?"
When subjugating Count Helsman, simply herding the serfs into the castle had been enough to shatter their morale and deplete their supplies.
And that alone had thrown the enemy into massive disarray.
But this time, the opponent was the Duke of Maxburg, and this wasn't some easy siege where we could surround them and then slip away unscathed.
So I needed to employ a strategy even crueler and more efficient to shake them to their core.
"Yes. But the Duke of Maxburg we're facing this time has already cast aside his honor. For a noble who discards honor, only fitting tactics will do. That's why I plan to infiltrate some of our men among them and sow chaos from within."
Frost, hearing this, looked at me with an expression half-curious, half-awed, and asked:
"How exactly, Your Excellency?"
"I'll mix in some assassins, some criminals who love stirring up riots, and a few ambitious careerists eyeing their chance. The method... well, you can look forward to it. Bring the village headman."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Shortly after, my soldiers brought the headman representing the village.
The moment he laid eyes on me, he dropped to his knees and began begging for his life as if his very soul depended on it.
"Your Excellency, please, just spare our lives! If you do, we'll become your loyal serfs. Take eighty percent of our harvest, turn every man here into your soldier—just please, spare our lives..."
If I had any intention of occupying this place, I would have reassured them gently, as I did in the County of Helsman, and shown them a path to survival.
But I had no such plans. To carry out my scheme, I needed to play the role of a ruthless lord.
So I dismounted and lightly slashed the kneeling headman's cheek to instill terror.
Thinking I meant to slaughter them all, he ignored the blood trickling from his face and kept pleading.
"How could lowly serfs like us dare raise a banner against Your Excellency... Just spare our lives, and we'll offer absolute loyalty... Your Excellency."
"How am I to know that? And won't my soldiers want to plunder you and rape your women?"
At those words, real fear gripped him, and cold sweat poured down like rain.
Of course, I was only saying that—permitting plunder accompanied by rape or slaughter outside of dire straits or guaranteed victory would be utter madness, and I had no intention of it.
Besides, committing such acts would prick even my conscience.
But for now, it was time to threaten the headman to the utmost.
So I signaled one of the soldiers before me—a fool blinded by ambition who had pulled dangerous stunts before.
He licked his lips with an ecstatic expression, as if he'd hit the jackpot, and spoke.
"Your Excellency the Count, you mean we can really do it this time?"
"It depends on whether he accepts my next proposal."
"I see..."
Even if the wars of this era fused plunder, rape, and massacre into one, granting the victors extreme pleasure...
As a standing army that needed the people's respect, men like that were utterly useless.
I leaned down and whispered into the headman's ear, his forehead pressed fully to the dirt.
"Very well. How many are left in your village?"
"About two hundred... All the men fit for soldiering have already been conscripted..."
In that case, attaching about twenty soldiers to slip them into the castle should do, with just two real assassins and agents as the key players.
"Do you truly want to live? Even if it means betraying the Duke of Maxburg?"
"Does it need saying?"
"Good. Then I'll spare you. But you must betray those Maxburg scum."
Hope of survival lit up the headman's face.
I looked at him and said:
"You'll disguise yourselves as villagers alongside the twenty men I designate. In return for your cooperation, I'll give you three hundred gold coins and enough food for the trip to Rothringen. That's about two weeks on foot, so I'll provide three weeks' worth. Gather your villagers and the elderly and depart immediately."
Though their food was confiscated, three hundred gold was more than enough to buy ample supplies.
And sure enough, the headman—who had worn the face of death just moments ago—now beamed with relief at survival and joy at the windfall.
Next, he sprang up and loaded the elderly onto mules, hooked up carts with food, and set off for Rothringen.
Once the villagers had all vanished, we pressed on, persuading headmen in the same manner.
This slowed our pace considerably, but there was, of course, good reason for advancing this way.
First, to safely infiltrate agents into the ducal capital of Rothringen for total devastation. Second, to lure the Duke of Maxburg—seeing our plundering advance—hastily to the battlefield we desired.
Especially against Maxburg, unable to divide into companies, we could leverage our ability to split into company units and move at least four times faster...
We could perfectly execute the tactic our one-and-only heroic ancestor loved most: luring the enemy onto advantageous ground.
By now, we'd sown enough chaos to justify infiltrating agents into Rothringen, so I ordered a change in directives for the soldiers.
"Whole army, from now on, do not send serfs to Rothringen. Do not seize their food or property—leave them the bare minimum and burn the rest. Make haste to the plains near Rothringen!"
The faster we outpaced the enemy, the more time we'd have to survey, prepare, and fortify the battlefield before they arrived.