Road to the Crown

Chapter 261: Conflict at the barricades

30th July 1574

Maybe it was thanks to the noise in the surrounding starting to die down along with the battle, but as soon as I said my sentence, the people that just so happened to be around in this exact moment instantly tuned in to the conversation.

"Those are some heavy accusations. Do you have anything to prove them?"

Even before the commander of the entire army could respond to my charges in any way or form, Jan already appeared by my side. While his response could be taken as the lack of trust in my previous words, a single look at his face was enough to tell me that he was ready to get back to fighting at a moment's notice.

"He was one of the escorts of the Ostros envoys when they first visited me in my lands, initially asking and then attempting to threaten me into selling my lands to them. I was ready for them to snap and start fighting with my men back then, so I made sure to remember their faces. If not for the long time that passed ever since then, I would have missed this point!"

With my rifle still pointed at the commander's guts, I calmly waited at his reaction. In the end, I didn't really have any ingrained hate for the people working for my enemies. Like someone said in a certain business - it's all just a business. People staking their chances in order to achieve something, while others like the noble in front of me simply had to earn their keep.

But as much as I didn't really care about that man himself, it was his actions that were of huge importance for me. As long as I could foil Ostros likely plan to sacrifice their already exhausted force for turning my powerbase into a land of ruin, I wouldn't even care if that commander would get away scot-free!

"While the battle might be already won, the fighting isn't over yet. With how protective you are of your lands, don't you think we should focus on wrapping this up first, before throwing those baseless accusations of yours?"

Rather than directly replying to my words, the commander brough his hand up and pointed at the fleeing reminders of the Ostros army. The intent behind his gesture was clear, yet I wasn't going to let him sweep me into his thinking.

"First, second, third army soldiers! Gather on me!"

Despite how only a certain portion of those groups was capable of riding on the horseback, in just a few, tense moments after I shouted my order, more than two hundred people appeared beside me. Maybe thanks to the officers actually guiding them, or maybe due to their own keen sense of observation, I didn't even need to tell them about the current situation for this makeshift group to instantly pick on their arms, ready to start the carnage at the moment notice.

"Get to the city. Order the trainees to slaughter every single enemy that managed to get inside. On the other hand, if even a single soldier from this so-called army attempts to enter"

As I finally reached the second part of the order, I made a stop like usual, directing my sight from my loyal troops to the face of the commander.

"... slaughter without mercy."

In one instant, those brave soldiers of mine saluted to signal that they received an order before hitting the sides of their horses and riding towards the makeshift blockade that the initial defenders of this place set in the short window of time they had before they were attacked by the initial wave of Ostros troops.

"Now, what will be your order, I wonder?"

This entire order of mine was aimed only at sending the message to the commander in front of me. Now, if he were to order this mixed army, filled with bloodlust remaining from the battle, to station themselves in my own land, then everyone would instantly know that my claims that he was an Ostros spy were perfectly on the spot.

"Chase after the escaping traitors. Don't even dare to approach the city."

Seeing this covert enemy of mine gritting his teeth as he gave that order was the greatest sight that I could see so far. Yet rather than following the rest of the army, I turned my head to the governor, gesturing at him to get a bit closer.

"I will get to the city, to assess the damage and make sure that my wife is safe. Can you keep an eye on this bastard while I will be away?"

Leaving this place, or rather, the entire army without any form of oversight could very well spell the doom for me. Even if its commander would have to refrain from directly going against the city, be it by letting the soldiers loose in its proximity or by raiding the villages nearby just for the sake of killing the families of my workers, I was sure that he would find a way to do harm to my city. That's why despite how much I hoped I could have my greatest protector by my side to ensure the complete safety of the city, 

"It's okay. While using your word alone might pose a challenge to take him down from the commanding position, especially with how you were recently considered to be a traitor, I don't think leaving him to his own devices would be reasonable either. Take your time in the city, and when you are done, get back to the main army. I will make sure he won't be able to randomly disappear from the army during your absence."

Rather than pulling out the rest of my troops from the entire army, I simply passed an order to one of the remaining officers from the fourth and fifth armies that were capable of joining the mobile army. Even though Governor had his own troops mixed in this detachment, I didn't want to completely abandon him to his own devices, especially with how powerful my men could be at close distance combat with their rifles. 

Tickling Helga's sides once again with the hells of my shoes, I prompted her to move towards the barricade. Passing through the opening in the ramparts created by the survivors from the troops stationed within the city, I could hear the Ostros spy, still pretending to be your normal commander, passing the orders to the entire army. Looking to the back, I confirmed that they really started moving away from the direct proximity of the built-up zone, and only then did I dare to actually pay attention to the state of the city.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't that bad. Despite how the local forces of mine had to come up with both the plan for the defence of this place and enact it with their own hands, the industrialization level of this place allowed them to progress rather quickly. Just by taking apart certain parts of the rails that were used to direct the carts from the main line to the specific buildings was enough to create the basis for the blockade, stopping anyone from passing through the opening between two separate buildings. 

At this point, I couldn't help but thank in my heart to all the efforts that all the workers in this place put to develop this place during my absence. If the attack were to happen back when the area was still relatively open and sparsely occupied with buildings, I could tell that the scale of the devastation would be on a whole different level!

"Sir, eight army, first group officer, reports for the duty!"

The system of becoming an officer in my army was fairly simple. When one was trained to be a regular soldier, as long as he obtained the recommendation from his current superior, he could stay behind rather than advancing as the proper soldier, so that after going through the process once again, he could become the head of his own group or the training officer. How far one could advance in the ranks, depended solely on how well he did during the training, with the upper limit of three courses per head.

"What is the scale of the loses?"

A moderate setback was inevitable. Using the prototrain tracks as the backbone for the makeshift fortifications would make them most likely unusable in their initial tasks, forcing the workers to melt them back before the tracks could be repaired. But as long as the damage was limited to this kind of problems, fixing it all would take a few days at most!

"The smelting area is perfectly fine, the wood factory received some damage due to the stray bullets destroying some of the machinery, various small business and housing got attacked by the enemies that managed to slip by our defence line. While it's not precise, the development officers think it will take a week or two to fix everything back at a normal pace, or about three days if we focus all our workforce at the rebuilding alone."

Just from how concise this man's report was, I could see that he was either pretty talented or already went through the maximal number of the training courses. Taking a single look around myself, I could confirm that form what I could see, this report of his didn't stray away far from the reality, as it could happen in any other army of that time, more focused at pleasing the commander rather than giving him the proper information.

"Pass the news to the officers for me. Focus half of our forces at rebuilding, the rest needs to work as usual. Increase everyone's pay by twenty out of a hundred, and hasten the recruitment effort. In a month from now, I want to have five more armies ready to march. As for me, I will be going back to the mansion now. I hope I will find at least a few groups, protecting my wife there!"