The Blood Knight’s Villains

My Villains Episode 366

61. The Art of War (8)

Prince Ulkar has proven his bravery, leadership, and tactical skills in many wars. Not only has he never suffered a single defeat so far, but he has finally won even in a situation where he is inferior.

As a general with a reputation on the continent beyond the Milanol Kingdom, I thought that Ulkar might have a special secret.

A strategy to deceive the enemy and the sky at the same time, an invincible tactic to pay one-sided exchange rates, or a psychic ability to read the opponent’s mind… something like that.

However, what I realized while rolling under Ulkar lately was that there was no special secret.

At the same time, I also learned that there are very basic parts that must be followed to become a competent general.

In other words, Ulkar was a good commander. So, it was only natural that, among the four main tasks, supply was given top priority.

The appointment of Marshal Landry, who was the second highest in rank after the prince in High Castle, to be in charge of supply, and the de facto commander of Antrum’s army, General McNeil, as deputy chief of staff, was proof that the prince placed great importance on supply.

As a reserve sergeant, I know that it is important to properly feed and clothe the soldiers. This is a fact that everyone realizes when standing on duty at night in the middle of winter, relying only on a stinky field jacket without a bowl or hot pack, or marching with the soles of combat boots dangling without a chocolate bar in the pocket of a gas mask.

However, what Eulkar wanted was more than just being properly fed and properly clothed. He wanted to be ‘very well’ fed and ‘very well’ clothed.

First, he ordered all soldiers to be rationed at least 1 kilo of food per day.

Four of them had to be meat, whether pigs, cows, or sheep; Even beer–even blunted–was to be served every other day.

Weapons and armor were also distributed to poorly armed soldiers.

Short spears and Gambisons were the basics of the basics, and iron helmets and original shields were also aimed at supplying all. He even ordered the provision of chain armor and swords to the soldiers who would act as leaders.

In Ulkar’s eyes, this was not enough, so he ordered horse food, arrows, oil, etc. to be piled up like a mountain in seventeen elements of the city.

Marquis Landry and General McNeil argued that this was nonsense and that the level of supply was impossible. Then our silver prince brought out three chests full of gold and silver and made them shut up.

Of course, having a lot of money does not automatically supply supplies, and the two supply managers had to go on a forced march, sleeping less than three hours a day. It was a bit pitiful to see him whipping the police and harassing the main reward merchants with his eyes darkened.

It was only natural that Marquis Landry and General McNeil took the third and fourth positions respectively in the ranking of ‘The Industrious Slaves of Planter Ulkar’.

Vigilance was what Ulkar valued as much as supply. So, the ‘arrogant’ Sir Lyam, a knight trusted by the prince and a solid commander, became the head of it.

Of course, High Castle was the largest city in the highlands, and thousands of soldiers were mobilized to guard it, so Sir Liam alone couldn’t handle everything. He divided the city into east, west, south, north and center and appointed garrison commanders.

Baron Luyan from Antrum was in charge of the east, and Gilbert, a senior sergeant under Ulkar, was in charge of the north. The south side was entrusted to the ‘Arbecon Captain’, a vassal of the Margrave of Landry and the original garrison leader of High Castle, and the west side, which faced the enemy, was directly supervised by Sir Layam.

At the border, not only soldiers who were divided into 3 shifts, but also magicians were mobilized. There are a total of 37 friendly wizards, and 20 of them are conducting alert operations, so they are investing the majority of their magic power in alert.

It was only natural that the current few wizards were mobilizing and making tricks without even trying.

A spying familiar in the form of a bird or insect（使役魔; Familiar), infiltrate skirmishers with spells such as ‘Camouflage’, ‘Blur’ and ‘Obscure’, or use the ‘Whisper’ spell to send voices urging surrender to the wind… anyway

. I’m doing all sorts of crazy things.

The most efficient way to deal with this was none other than the same wizard. So Prince Ulkar gathered those with excellent search ability, such as those who had mastered the ‘detection’ spell, were sensitive to the flow of mana, or could expand their senses by other means, and entrusted them to Sir Layam.

Sir Liam, like a vicious knight favored by his vicious boss, constantly rolled the twenty wizards assigned to him, so the wizards gathered with spirit from all over the kingdom would wander around the city with zombie-like appearance. Some of them even made their name into the rankings of ‘the blind servants of the ruthless lord Ulkar’.

Reconnaissance, that is, monitoring the enemy’s movements in the forest was as important a task as supplying and guarding.

So Ulkar sent close to a thousand men to this reconnaissance mission.

Half of them, five hundred, were a typical skirmish of light infantry under the direct command of Prince Ulkar and Margrave Landry. The captain was Harold, the commander of the prince, and Grania, the ‘Shield Maiden’, was the commander of the unit.

It turned out that Grania was the leader among the mercenaries recruited by Prince Ulkar in South Harbor. It wasn’t like that from the beginning, but it is said that he naturally became a leg because he served under Ulkar for the past half year and was recognized for his major and ability.

Then, most of the mercenaries from South Harbor were transferred under Ulkar’s direct control, and it was said that Grania also took on a similar role as an intermediate commander.

Anyway, the scouting party led by Harold and Grania conducted reconnaissance in a very traditional way. It was mainly a method of sending agile soldiers under cover of night to observe the enemy camp and capturing enemy skirmishers or deserters to obtain information. It was natural to attach several wizards to assist with the mission, as the enemies did.

However, Prince Ulkar formed an additional cavalry force and used it for reconnaissance, as if the castle was not filled to this extent.

This was not an ordinary reconnaissance, but a power reconnaissance combined with check, so the unit was composed of heavy cavalry rather than light cavalry.

The servants led by them, centered around one hundred and fifty knights gathered from the entire army. In addition to two hundred auxiliaries and one hundred and fifty guardsmen from Ulkar, he formed a heavy cavalry force of five hundred men.

The captain was Sir Ankir, the second knight of the prince, and Lord Daileshid of Odenlock took charge of the squad. In addition, Sir Ecbert, an old knight from Abiden called ‘Bronze with an Axe’, and Seto, a cavalry officer from Antrum, assisted with the command.

Sir Ankir was a cunning and resourceful knight who did not match his rough and tyrannical appearance. It was very well suited for power reconnaissance missions that required quick decisions at that time.

Their mission was to keep an eye on the enemy from a distance and check their approach.

The distance from the forest where the great army of the empire resided to the High Castle was literally a short distance, but there were obstacles that could not be ignored.

One was ‘Asag’, a vast wetland extending northwest to the north of High Castle.

Asag is otherwise called the ‘sick land’ or ‘the land of the dead’. From the outside, it looked like a muddy marsh, but deep inside it was a terrible land full of poisonous lakes, living swamps, huge drakes, and corrupted spirits.

It was never a place that could be used as a maneuvering route for a large army, but if the enemy passed through this place and passed High Castle, it would be a disaster.

To prepare for this, four beacon towers (峰慘臺) were installed along the border of the marsh, but Ulkar thought that these were not enough, so he ordered heavy cavalry to periodically patrol the area around Asa.

Another obstacle was a valley that started northwest of High Castle and passed south.

It was still mid-February, so the water in the valley was dry, but it was not an easy terrain to pass through because of the steep slope and dizzy feet.

However, compared to Asag, this side was the least suitable for attacking High Castle, so power reconnaissance was also mainly conducted along this valley.

Lord Ankir led his troops and ran through the valley, sometimes crossing it. Still, the enemy seldom showed a reaction.

Since it was a heavy cavalry with many knights, it was a menacing force, but even so, it was only five hundred. In the eyes of the 15,000 troops, it would look like a mouth-watering prey, but the enemies continued to prepare for a siege in the forest and did not budge.

Well, I can roughly guess what they are thinking. Putting aside the trivial battles and destroying the castle from the front, that would mean the game is over.

Prince Ulkar and Lord Ankir know this as well as I do, but they didn’t stop scouting for power.

Prince Ulkar himself took on the last task, leaving Marquis Landry to supply supplies, Sir Raiam to be on guard, Sir Ankir and Commander Harold to reconnoiter.

The final task was training.

Ulkar said that the training ground built near the fortress was too narrow, so he built a temporary training ground between the inner and outer walls. Thanks to this, it was possible to train more than 1,500 soldiers at the same time.

Daily operations, including security, had to be carried out at the same time, so the actual training time for each soldier was only four or five hours a day. However, Ulkar and his officers and sergeants rolled the soldiers until they tasted sweet in the not-so-long time.

It’s obvious, but it’s never easy to train that many soldiers. This is especially true if more than half of the troops are conscripts from serfdom.

That’s also true, serfs are people who have no chance of receiving lifelong education. Maybe that’s why, no matter how well I explained, there were too many people who couldn’t understand the words or understand the commands. I had to add a little bit of exaggeration and teach it like a kindergartener. This means that everything should be very easy and simple.

Of course, most of the knights, officers and sergeants chose a much easier and quicker way than refining their language to make it easier to understand. it was beaten

If they couldn’t understand their speech, they would kick their ears, if their movements were slow, their butts would be kicked, and if they disobeyed orders, they would beat them to the brink of death or kill them altogether.

It was quite shocking to me, but no one questioned it. Even Ulkar, who is called ‘the great warrior of all the weak’, was the same. The prince, saying that he was establishing military rules, clearly presented the regulations related to beatings and executions, but did not stop these acts themselves.

It was difficult to understand, but it was a bit like that for no reason. I ‘m just a two

-eyed fella

in a one-eyed village . I just closed one eye, convinced with a feeling of ‘Ah, that’s how the medieval army was originally.’

Anyway, the training went smoothly. It seemed like the common sense he had as Kim Seung-soo would be shattered when he saw the soldiers getting faster and faster every time they were slapped.

Meanwhile, Ulkar wasn’t just training soldiers. It was none other than officers and sergeants that he dealt with more intensely.

Several times a day, the prince summoned the officers and sergeants of the entire army to conduct mock battles using maps and horses.

In a word, it was a ‘war game’, but at first glance, it looked quite fun. It was like a board game.

On the map drawn with a grid, move the words engraved with letters such as ‘250 infantry, 100 archers’ or ’10 knights, 40 cavalry’. The distance a horse can move is limited depending on the unit’s mobility and the environment. When the words of the enemy and the ally collide, a discussion begins, and considering the combat power of the unit and the situation on the battlefield, the victory or defeat is determined and the amount of damage is calculated.

All participants take turns as the commander-in-chief of the mock battle, that is, the game player. Thanks to this, from lords and high-ranking commanders to low-level officers and noncommissioned officers, I was able to freely express my opinions. no i had to give it up If you move your horse like a double body, you have to explain why.

Thanks to this, those with high ranks fought in mock battles to preserve their prestige, while those with low ranks gritted their teeth to show their superiors their abilities. The method was interesting, and as competition began to develop, the educational effect was great. It was because it was impossible to win a mock battle without familiarizing yourself with the power of the enemy and allies, as well as the surrounding terrain.

By the time a week had passed since the mock battle, even a single sergeant had memorized the main enemy commanders and their tendencies.

In addition, Ulkar continued to explain his commanding intentions during the mock battle. He persuaded the audience with the words, ‘If it were me, I would have acted like this in this situation’ and the tactical logic that followed

.

In other words, Prince Ulkar was transplanting his fighting style as a commander-in-chief to all officers and noncommissioned officers. Only then can the entire army move as one body.

I’m not an officer or a sergeant, so I didn’t participate in the mock battle, but since I’m a knight of Ulkar, I listened carefully to what he said.

…But I don’t know if this kind of effort is really useful. I am saying this because my role in this war does not seem to be commanding on the battlefield.

“-lily. Phoenix Master.”

“…Ah, X-two.”

Gollman, who came to visit me on the day I was sleeping soundly, trembled, perhaps because I had unconsciously spat out thick curse words.

However, after a while, Gollman snatched the blanket from me with a determined face.

“The sun will rise soon sir! The prince will find it!”

“…Five minutes and five more minutes…

“Come on, sir! If you keep doing this, I will carry you all the way to the castle tower!”

“Oh, sir.”

The human Alam Goleman, whom I personally appointed, was not usually persistent even if he was persistent. In the end, I had no choice but to raise my upper body while grunting.

“…I’ll follow you.”

I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve felt this kind of stiffness since I got Phoenix’s body.

To make me tired with resilience comparable to that of trolls with 31 health points. Also Ulkarya. Aspiring to be the king of slaughter is vivid.

“…wasn’t it okay?”

“Three assassins came in last night, but we caught them all.”

“Who were they targeting?”

“One is Marquis Marquis and two are princes.”

“Um, that’s right.”

“Don’t waste your time pretending to be worried. Get up quickly. You have to go quickly.”

naughty bastard.

But what Goleman said was true.

I didn’t have time to wander around to fulfill all my duties as the head of High Castle’s central garrison, the vanguard of the heavy cavalry for power reconnaissance, and the swordsmanship instructor for the noncommissioned officers.

…Ah, it’s war, it’s nabal, and I just want to jump out.