Chapter 281
Chapter 281
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 281
[But if we do that, the enemy will undoubtedly push forward even more fiercely. Who exactly is going to stop them!]
"On that point, the Marlon Kingdom forces will execute only a holding action. Likewise, the Haian Kingdom forces will execute a holding action, ruling out any direct attack. Rather than a clumsy amalgamation of our forces, this approach will divide the enemy's attention and slow their advance somewhat. And the core of this operation is a defensive battle."
Jin-cheon, who had only been watching until then, finally spoke, lending weight to Hwi-garam's opinion.
By this point, the dukes and marquises in each crystal orb wore the expressions of men chewing on dung. But even they could not help but be cautious about Jin-cheon's words.
[Even so, we cannot slow the enemy's advance.]
"Correct. However, if we can simply cut off their supply, this war is a winning war. We are staking everything on the defensive battle. We will outflank them and strike their rear when the enemy's strength wanes."
[But there's no way we can hold off a massive army until then.]
"Were you not listening?"
At that quiet question, Marquess Gaun, who had spoken up, fell silent as if struck dumb.
"If we stall for time and interdict their supply, the enemy will inevitably try to force a breakthrough by assaulting the fortress. But with their supply delayed and holding actions hitting them from both sides, unless their commander is a complete fool, he'll have no choice but to divide his forces to some degree. Drawing out as much of that force as possible is what will aid the fortress defense."
[In that case.......]
As Jin-cheon's explanation continued, the commanders inside the crystal orbs could not stop their mouths and eyes from gradually widening.
"Do you get it now? 20,000 from Haian, 10,000 from Marlon, 50,000 from Roselin, plus the Gauri main body of 25,000 — for a total......."
Jin-cheon's sentence trailed off, and the corner of his mouth twisted upward grotesquely. As everyone stared in astonishment, Jin-cheon concluded by stating the nature of the operation with confidence.
"......approximately 105,000 troops are all raiding units."
Refusing all-out battle completely and using over 100,000 troops solely for raids — this operation was, quite literally, a tactic no one would ordinarily conceive. Yet perhaps it was the tactic best suited to the current situation.
Jin-cheon spoke with conviction to the commanders of each nation, who could find no words to reply.
"Believe in Hailon. Gauri's defensive capability is the greatest on the continent."
No one could add anything further in the face of Jin-cheon's certainty.
* * *
Beneath the flag symbolizing the Holy Empire, which fluttered in the sporadic gusts of wind, the soldiers' hands—hands that should have been raising spears and swords—instead held shovels and pickaxes. Off to one side, a column of soldiers lifting and carrying the excavated stones streamed on endlessly, like ants at work.
"Damn it all......."
A man muttered a curse under his breath.
"Careful, you'll be heard."
The man beside him, hefting a dug-up stone, glanced furtively at a knight standing toward the rear and gave a caution. At that, the one who had cursed also, seemingly a little worried, flicked his eyes toward that knight.
Fortunately, the knight under the awning held by his squire was gesturing somewhere else.
"Anyway, those bastards are vicious. They wrecked every single well......."
"Is it just the wells? Didn't you see on the way here? I'm talking about houses and everything else being smashed to pieces and burned."
"Hell, at this rate we'll drop dead before we even get to fight. Running around looking for horse fodder, digging the ground for water......."
Even as they worked, the soldiers' complaints kept spilling out.
"Who's grumbling over there!"
Perhaps their complaints had grown too loud, because the knight watching them suddenly bellowed.
At that single word, the muttering voices that had been buzzing vanished, and only the sounds of iron striking stone and stone striking stone remained.
* * *
"Sir Chien, how goes the progress?"
A calm voice came from behind Sir Chien, who had just shouted at the soldiers.
"Marquis Public, what brings you all the way out here?"
When Saint Public, who had inquired about the work's progress, appeared before his eyes, Chien hastily bent his waist in a bow.
"Heh heh heh, how could I merely pursue my own comfort back in the barracks?"
At his unfailingly benevolent tone, Chien bowed even lower and loudly praised the marquis's actions.
"For you to come out in person and directly commend the labors of mere soldiers, lowly beyond measure—I believe beyond all doubt that the Lord God's glory dwells within you, Saint Public."
"Heh heh heh."
Perhaps because his voice was loud, the soldiers likewise turned around, then hurriedly prostrated themselves against the ground. At the sight of the soldiers' worship, Public raised both hands toward the sky and shouted loudly.
"I, Saint Public, do hereby swear in my name: hundreds of times the sweat you have shed this day shall I draw in blood from the heathen blasphemers!"
"Long live the Holy Empire!"
"Long live!"
At Public's proclamation, Chien was the first to throw both hands upward, shouting as though leading a chant, and behind him, every soldier hoisted shovels and pickaxes aloft, echoing the cry.
"Death to the heathens!"
"Death!"
At Chien's shout, rage surfaced on the soldiers' faces, and soon erupted into madness. Watching the scene, a benevolent smile never left Public's lips.
When Marquis Public entered the command tent, the nobles who had been in the midst of some discussion hurriedly rose and offered their military salutes.
Receiving their courtesies, Public took his seat, and the nobles who had stood cautiously resumed theirs.
"The soldiers' cheers for you, Marquis, carried all the way here."
"Heh heh heh."
A noble deliberately flattered him, but Public simply laughed. Still, Public's action had been exquisitely well-timed.
The reason lay in the way the battle's character had begun to unfold in an unexpected direction ever since the initial contact after crossing the border.
Rather than directly challenging the main body, the enemy had repeatedly struck their scouts and immediately fled, and at times, in rugged terrain, they had unfailingly fallen into ambushes.
Up to this point, Public and his staff officers had indeed anticipated it.
The problem was what followed.
Two separate attacks had been launched on the supply units.
Interdicting supply lines is, of course, fundamental in war. But the two assaults on the supply units possessed something extraordinarily tenacious.
Originally, a large army accompanied by its basic supply unit is the standard, yet the textbook rule is that supplementary resupply must be adjusted to match consumption. For that reason, the Holy Empire side had likewise organized the supply unit with an escort force numbering up to 5,000.
Beyond that, the personnel dedicated solely to transporting the supplies also reached 5,000, meaning that, in practical terms, a force of ten thousand had been struck twice to the point of near-annihilation.
To annihilate a force of that magnitude would require at minimum a force of 15,000, approaching 20,000 troops. And according to the Holy Empire's own intelligence assessment, Roselin's remaining strength maxed out at 50,000.
With the allied armies not yet gathered, what did recklessly dividing one's forces signify......?
The reason became evident before long.
Indeed, it was impossible not to know.
When they passed the frontier and advanced into the interior, the plains that spread before them had turned completely black. At the time they had passed it by without much thought, but upon realizing the blackened fields stretched on without end, only then did they grasp Roselin's intent.
Even the mountains had been transformed as if each one had become a lump of charcoal.
In one word: it was a thorough denial of local supply.
The villages they occasionally stopped at had been destroyed until only their traces could be discerned. The rivers flowing through those villages had been deliberately overturned.
Worse, a foul stench wafted from the water—not something a human being could drink. As for the crops that could have been harvested in a few months, their condition was beyond all description.
With that state of affairs continuing, even Public had no choice but to make a hard decision. He sent word to the home country to drastically increase the troop strength escorting the supply units.
An escort force of 20,000.
The supply units were likewise expanded to 10,000.
A total force of 30,000 now had to move. This in itself signaled that the Holy Empire too meant to advance slowly. But with the immediate shortage of hay to feed the horses, the situation made the high command sufficiently desperate.
Nor was that all.
A crisis of drinking water inevitably erupted. What supply unit in the world carts around heaps of water to drink?
In the end, the soldiers' thirst steadily worsened, and potable water was increasingly placed under strict control. Marching without a sliver of shade to shelter from the scorching sun, and with even their drinking water insufficient—inevitably, morale suffered direct damage.
Grasping this, Public himself had stepped forward and completely deflected all the accusations against his troops straight toward the Roselin army.
Because the nobles had surmised this fact, their praise for his actions truly wasn't born merely of sycophancy.
"Water is coming out of the well!"
A young knight strode into the command tent looking delighted and shouted to Public and the assembled nobles, who were holding a strategy meeting.
"Oh! You have worked hard, Sir Chien."
"Everything is thanks to the Lord God and to you, Marquis."
At Public's praise, Chien prostrated himself with a delighted expression and praised the marquis. The surrounding nobles, too, believing their greatest worry—water—had been resolved, each offered their congratulations.
But their cordial, harmonious mood did not last long. A commotion arose outside the tent.
"What is going on!"
When one of the nobles, whose mood had ostensibly been soured, shouted loudly toward the outside, a knight burst in from outside, his face twisted, and snapped a military salute.
"Several soldiers who took part in the detail evaded surveillance and drank straight from the well water......."
At the knight's answer, which trailed off, the nobles' faces—bright only a moment before—hardened rigidly.
"Out with it!"
"All of them collapsed with stomach cramps."
The knight's response, forced out by the noble's urging, reduced the labors of Saint Public—who had personally gone out to the work site to encourage the men—to bubbles of foam.
A short while later, a wizard entered behind him.
"Judging by the condition of the soldiers who suffered the cramps, it appears plant-based poison had already been introduced into the well before it was collapsed."
"Those vicious bastards!"
"Mmm."
The nobles were simultaneously indignant and, at the now-worsened situation, each let out a heavy sigh.
Marquis Public, who had been watching in silence, spoke quietly.
"How much water can purification magic render clean?"
Whatever the case, water was of supreme importance in the current situation.
"Purifying the well itself to completion is too much. However, purifying roughly enough volume to sustain us for a day or two is possible. Only, even that would mean roughly half our current magical power cannot be employed for other purposes for two days."
"Nothing to be done, then."
Marquis Public, who until now had shown only a benevolent guise, furrowed his brow and shook his head.
"Now we cannot even trust wells. The Magic Corps shall purify every drop of water it can; the commanders of each remaining unit shall impose maximum controls over water consumption. Adjutant, where is the nearest river?"
"Three to four days from here lies the Sineo River. No matter what low tricks the Roselin swine resort to, they will not be able to do anything about a continuously flowing river."
"Given our current water supply levels, four days is easily sustainable."
"It is."
The mood among the nobles revived.
Up until now, pulling tricks on wells and small streams may have been possible, but a river is different. By what means could they possibly contaminate an endlessly flowing river?