N-M #538 - Retreat? Or fight?
#538 - Retreat? Or fight?
The snow on the sloping roof rustled and fell, piling up into small snowdrifts under the eaves.
After ten days of intermittent heavy snow, the beginning of 1446 finally welcomed the first sunny day after the snowfall.
Icicles hung from the eaves, shimmering and reflecting the dazzling snow and sunlight, and falling water droplets made deep holes in the snow.
Amidst the vast expanse of white snow, a manor stood like a yellow patch on a white cloth, nestled in the thick snow.
The rooftops were adorned with the swallowtail flags bearing the coats of arms of various families, as well as the unified blue flags with red bull's head emblems of the territorial retainers.
The village roads, cleared of snow, teemed with people; soldiers, merchants, knights, and monks nearly filled the small manor.
Territorial retainers, bearing long spears on their shoulders, wore robes over their chainmail, yet still couldn't help but shiver as they patrolled.
Warhorses in the stables exhaled white vapor, shivering and prompting knights to replace their blankets with ones bearing their family crests to prevent illness.
This was the base for the church army advancing eastward. Fortunately, the civilians within the manor had fled before their arrival, so there was no need to bother driving them away.
As the commander of this army, Count Lyner of Maleb stood on the steps of the wooden house, reading the letter in his hand with a worried expression.
"…Lord Lyner, Lord Lacunio's goal for me is to defend the Blago Basin, not to support an offensive.
If I send troops to support you, it may lead to an attack by the witch, Jeanne. Please forgive me for refusing your request for reinforcements…
However, if you need to be received, I am ready to receive you back and will never let those short-haired rebel soldiers step into the Blago Basin…
As for your question about Lord Lacunio, I regret to inform you that the Shadow Men discovered that Count Gairinon was secretly involved with the Holy Sun Army. His Highness the Prince arrested him and imprisoned him in the dungeon…
Currently, several counts and bishops are doing their best to defend him. Lord Lacunio returned to Hotam County the other day to mediate for them…
I have forwarded your letter to Hotam County, and a reply should reach your hands in about 8-12 days…"
"I'll be out of food in ten days, what use will a letter be then?" Lyner couldn't help but curse at the letter.
But after cursing, he felt absurd, shook his head with a wry smile, and sighed deeply.
Starting on January 25th, under the attack of nearly four thousand troops, those Salvation rebel soldiers were indeed repeatedly defeated, giving up about 20 kilometers of territory at once.
Lyner thought it was because they had not established a firm foothold and this tentative attack had succeeded.
So he immediately sent a letter to Blago Monastery, saying that the enemy was "collapsing for thousands of miles, and the door was wide open."
But unexpectedly, from January 27th to February 12th, half a month had passed, and they had only advanced less than 15 kilometers, averaging 1 kilometer per day.
Even 4,000 grandmothers wouldn't march only 1 kilometer a day, and they had warhorses and carts!
With each reconnaissance and the return of fleeing soldiers, Lyner gradually pieced together the true situation from their mouths.
Although these people had different opinions, they could all be summarized as "encountering elite infantry by the roadside, as strong as monsters, impossible to defeat even with all our strength."
In the span of 15 days, the Salvation Army changed its past habit of concentrated decisive battles, instead breaking into smaller units and constantly carrying out small-scale ambushes and skirmishes.
Almost every three or four days, a detachment was ambushed, ranging from dozens to hundreds, or supply convoys were attacked. The knights rushed around to put out fires, but they didn't manage to wipe out even one company.
The best result was when Count Maleb himself led 900 iron cavalry on patrol for four days and successfully caught a company, annihilating and capturing two fifty-man squads.
But the price was an attack on the rear camp infantry, resulting in nearly 400 casualties, and even the burning of several days' worth of military rations.
So the soldiers preferred to concentrate on one main road, dragging themselves along.
After 4,000 church soldiers walked 15 kilometers, their number was forcibly reduced from 4,000 to less than 3,000, and their supplies could only last for another 10 days at most!
Lyner led the main force along the King's Road with no losses, but he had to collect fleeing soldiers every day, which slowed down the march.
At a distance of 10 li (approximately 5 kilometers), they gradually began to be unable to move because the supplies were not enough, and a large number of cavalry had to be sent to transport food and recruit guards from further away.
Lyner asked himself, had he been negligent? Had he not worked hard?
He knew that his level was not high, so before departure, he had Lacunio draft a plan, and he strictly implemented it.
He did not underestimate these farmers, and even specifically asked Lacunio to tutor him on the command styles of the two military leaders of the Salvation Army.
The witch Jeanne was good at cavalry warfare and raids, often using streamlined forces to move at high speed over a wide area to attack the rear, disrupting command and then annihilating them separately.
The fiend Horn tended to engage in decisive battles, that is, after making full preparations, directly concentrating the main force to fight the enemy's main force, determining victory or defeat in one battle.
These two styles each had their advantages and disadvantages, but they were both conventional tactics in the empire. There was only a difference in the level of performance, and no distinction between good and bad.
Lyner had made preparations for both of these tactics, but he had never seen this kind of quagmire-like fighting style. This question was beyond the syllabus.
He executed the plan, he studied the opponent, but what Lyner didn't understand was how it had become like this.
In one direction, the troop strength of this group of Langsand County's short-haired rebel soldiers was definitely less than theirs, but now, after fighting like this, they had managed to equalize the number of troops.
According to common sense, this was just a tentative attack, and they could just leave if they couldn't win.
The problem was that if they wanted to leave, they still had to walk for more than ten days!
The supplies had been requisitioned until next year, the people had all run away, and it was questionable whether the supplies could support their return.
The option of retreat had been extinguished by the Salvation Army, and they probably had to continue the attack.
But that fiend Holy Sun seemed to be omniscient. As soon as he had this idea, six companies of more than 3,000 infantry gathered at the Lapper River camp ten miles away.
The only fortunate thing was that, in order to ensure that the rear crossing was not lost, the Salvation Army would at most send five companies of 2,700 people with three hundred Holy Gun cavalry.
In terms of the proportion of cavalry and the total number of people, they still had a slight advantage.
So, should they continue to attack?
Looking at the thousands of soldiers walking in front of him, Lyner bitterly took out a bottle of dwarven liquor from his pocket and poured it into his mouth.
The best choice was of course to retreat and preserve as much strength as possible, but if he ran away without fighting at this point, the family's glory would be completely gone.
Whether he could do it was a matter of ability, whether he wanted to do it was a matter of attitude, and he didn't want to be liquidated by the church after the war.
He could only feel a little sorry for these guards.
"Da da da—"
A team of reconnaissance light cavalry emerged from the corner of the road, splashing mud and snow.
Lyner knew that there was new information and quickly went up to meet them.
"Lord, we found a group of short-haired rebel soldiers building pontoon bridges and fortresses on the riverbank about 6 li (approximately 3 kilometers) away from us. What should we do? Should we drive them away?"
Lyner did not answer immediately, but took a big gulp of dwarven liquor: "No need, pass the order down, the soldiers from several nearby garrisons will join forces and have a decisive battle with the rebel soldiers early tomorrow morning."