Road to the Crown

Chapter 303: One day away from Ostrog

7th October 1574

From the moment Hans took a partial command over the army, the way in which the war was conducted rapidly changed.

Previously, with a week all I managed to achieve, was to clean out a tiny place on the map, just so that my forces could advance forward. Right now, the last week was witness to the incredible exploits of this randomly appearing mercenary.

Firstly, still as nothing but a potential advisor, he took all the light carriages from my force and remodelled them from unit support vehicle to raiding one. Ridding it of anything but the absolute essentials like fuel and ammo, just in the first day of their new operations, over three hundred of the enemy cavalry was down. 

Just by pushing a single-vehicle towards the notable villages, my soldiers would cross paths with enemy envoys, gathering the new army for Ostros. A single one didn't amount to much, just a group of ten to fifteen mounted soldiers, out of which a single or two could be actual nobles. A single light carriage was more than enough to catch up to them and cut them down without a fail. And with over twenty of them scouring the entire province, Hans managed to shut Ostros household's capital from the rest of their sizeable lands.

Over the span of the next three days, this mercenary quickly gained in my eyes, bringing him as high in the chain of command as a newcomer like him could ever raise. While I still had to keep him accompanied by at least four of my men, this didn't slow his actions at all.

"So, what is the matter with that 'train' of yours?"

Staring at the strategical map of the area, Hans stamped his finger against black square just behind our new camp. Raising his eyes at the few officers present in the headquarter's tent, he looked over them. Yet, not a single man stepped up to explain this already common piece of information.

"To keep it short, it's a powerful tool for resupplying. The lion share of the ammunition, provisions and other supplies we got, comes from it. That's why we can't go against the enemy yet. We don't want to put ourselves in the exact same situation as the Ostros are in right now."

In order for this outsider to effectively manage the army as he was doing right now, this kind of short talks had to happen on the daily basis. In just a few days, he managed to incorporate the flaws of Tarnowian Strategical Assumptions that could be described as the very first manual for leading the war with this new kind of army, turning it into a beast when compared to what I could do with it previously.

It took us just four more days to completely overcome Ostros province. Although most of their holdings lied to the east and north, with their homeland acting as an exclave, in the current situation it didn't matter at all. Even if their subordinates would attempt to form a new army for their overlord's rescue, just the logistical challenge of achieving this feat gave us more than enough time to cut the snake's head instead.

With the countryside of the province pacified with the light carriages, Hans split my army in half. Taking the veterans, he moved them in a tight circle around the city of Ostrog. Each of the villages they manned received only a handful of soldiers, yet with the frequent patrols of the light carriages, that effectively prevented any attempts of Ostros at breaking through the encirclement. 

Secluded to the single city of theirs, only their impressive food stockpile allowed them to escape the clutches of starving out. Yet, even with their reserve, it was only a matter of time before they would have to turn desperate. But what was important for now, this opened up the entire province to the unrestricted engineering work!

Instead of finishing the war, Hans was not in the hurry. Using the second half of my army to help and protect the workers, this madman boosted the estimated constructing speed of the railroad, bringing those heavy machines right at Ostros Capital's doorstep! Something that was expected to take at least two to three weeks, was actually done with just a single week!

According to the reports, this wasn't the only front that managed to improve. From the moment our positions connected directly by the train with my lands, I learned from the new batch of news that the train works in the north were progressing even faster than my ongoing conquest of the rebels.

This was the one deal that I managed to steal from the capital before going back to fulfil my mission. With how creating a train-line from the western-oriented capital city of Krakow to the main mobilisation point in the east, the city of Minsk, had nothing to do with my mission but everything with the overall war-effort, by creating a train-line between Tarnow and Krakow I won the deal with the senate.

So far, it wasn't the lack of money or materials that slowed all my efforts down. It was the number of people.

With the constant and frequent visits of the head merchant of my semi-autonomous state, my coffers were heavier than ever before. Thanks to the finally appearing sparks of the high commerce, the outdated steam horses were slowly turning into the main source of income for my lands, quickly reaching numbers far greater than what could be achieved with the limited external trade.

If one were to have a general look at the interactive map of the current country, then he would see a growth splurging alongside the train tracks, whenever they lead. Even though civilians still were banned from using the trains for their own interests, they were still more than enough to prove that my household was turning impossible into existing. This fact alone was the water that my starving production commerce thirsted for so damn much.

Yet, what was even more important, was the country's involvement in laying the tracks. 

By winning the deal, I received basically all the non-essential workers from the lands through which my train would pass. Nearly free from charge and used to work, those crowds of people were instantly turning any amount of supplies and materials into the finished piece of the iron road. As soon as the carriages would appear with the logs, train tracks and shovels, by the time the metal road would allow the construction train filled with more tracks to arrive, a bridge would be already spanning over the river, waiting to be connected to the rest of the network. 

For the very first time since I appeared in this time and world, it was the output and transportation that stalled the progress of construction. I even considered setting up even more smelters, yet that would quickly lead to depleting the ore reserves, didn't really increase the output all that much. Given the situation, even though the war was still officially raging, some of the workers were already dedicating their time for preparing the old mines into their new form of usage, along with connecting it to the network by adding a small industrial train station nearby.

And all of that was already happening on the lands officially belonging to Ostros before we even could defeat them!

"Okay then, we are officially a day away from winning the war. Tomorrow, we could basically eradicate Ostrog from the maps with the endless supplies flowing directly towards our cannons. So, I think it's about time we start negotiating."

Dropping a bomb like never before, Hans instantly stole the attention of the entire crowd gathered in the main hall of some random inn. Raising his cup as he looked at the surprised faces of the crowd, he calmly took a sip as if the suddenly tense situation didn't bother him at all.

"Come on, don't tell me you did all of that to raze Ostrog? I know that you hate Ostros, but right now, we are holding all the chips. They have the knife on their throat, and as long as we can secure our interests here, then in a few years time, our power will be way too great for them to ever challenge. Why bleed our forces down and cut the throat of this thriving city? In two years, just by banning them from using the trains, they will sell us the city before moving to another country!"

Looking at the man, I realised one aspect of Polish history that I knew from my time. Never in my past, did a major Polish household just disappear from existence like that. Even those who rebelled against the crown, later on, would often be spared and capable of rebuilding their power down the line. Essentially, a major household could only disappear over the ages, as the effects of losing the edge over the others and slowly being chipped away from the importance. Yet, what I was currently set on, meant the complete end of the entire Ostros family as the members of the Commonwealth!

Right now, I realised that I was on the crossroads. I could either take Hans's advice and follow the route that this country would originally go. Doing so would mean that all of my efforts, all of my innovations, would only prolong the time that would be left for the commonwealth. Even back in my original history, when the golden age was over, it was the lack of reforms and nearly oligarchic system of power that turned this country from the richest in the world, to barely a shadow of what it was. In the end, all the united nations of the commonwealth would suffer the occupations of three giants, putting all of them at the sideways of the history for all the times that were about to come.

On the other hand, pushing forth would mean going against golden freedom, the current sparking idea that the nobles adopted, greatly limiting the power of the entire estate in the process. I never realised this before, but the fate of the entire country depended on my single decision right now. Either I would take the easy way and condemn the place by giving a huge precedent for the later abuses of the privileges, or I would stomp on the Ostros, giving an example of what would happen to anyone not putting the nation's interests at the pedestal. 

"We can't back down. We are going to eradicate the Ostros before they will have any chance of rebuilding their power and fighting us back. We can't leave such a huge hole in our defences, right in the hinterlands of the country, just as a huge war is burning down our borders."

This few sentences of mine were a statement. It wasn't a question, nor a proposition. It was a simple order deciding the course of our future actions. This time, even if in the short term, the tactical decision of Hans could bring us more benefits, I couldn't sacrifice the long term strategical outcome of this solution. 

Raising my own cup with the freshly supplied Tarnowian beer of mine, I looked through the golden liquid at the faces of the crowd, before raising the glass to my lips and downing all of its content all at once.

"So, one day away from the Ostrog we are. I wonder if anyone will ever recall the battle that is about to come."

To my surprise, Hans managed to come to terms with the new reality rather quickly. Raising his own glass, he accepted my toast, downing his own portion as well.

"I highly doubt it."

Just as I answered his guess, the rest of the crowd repeated our toasts, gulping down their won drinks. 

I had no doubt this moment would never be written in the chronicles. No one is interested in the exploits of the army fighting during the civil war. All that people want to know is that it happened, it ended and move on to more interesting moments in history, not those detailing how brothers spilt each other's blood.

Little would the historians of the future know, that the day that awaited us beyond the next rising of the sun, would decide the course of the history of not only the Commonwealth as a whole but most likely all the nations it would ever interact with!