Chapter 319: Hateful Strategy
Chapter 319: Hateful Strategy
Chapter 319: Hateful Strategy
Prince William. General Bartel and General Fidessa are seeking an audience with you, sir.
William let out another sigh at the soldiers report.
However, he cant keep sighing forever.
He told the soldier to let them in and erased his troubled expression.
Excuse us, Prince William.
Said the two men entering his tent.
The generals who served under Gordon are now under Williams command.
Both of them are middle-aged. Bartel is a bearded man and Fidessa is a quiet man with a mean gaze. Both of them were the youngest child of a noble house and climbed through the ranks of the Imperial army becoming generals through their own abilities.
Perhaps due to the confidence they carry through their long career, the twos attitude was anything but reverent.
Please give us the order for a full-scale assault, Prince William.
Bartel frankly said that to him with Fidessa looking like that is an obvious course of action.
So William calmly responds.
We will not change our strategy. We are starving them out.
The enemys supply is already running low! Right now is the time to attack!
Exactly. The enemys morale is already declining.
A siege is a test of patience. If you rush to attack them you will only suffer from their counterattack. Have you already forgotten your lesson?
Originally, it was Bartel and Fidessa who pursued Leos army when they were withdrawing to the castle after their defensive line was broken.
The two immediately started to besiege the castle but they cant even take down the branch castle. Thats why William came here with the reinforcements.
Gordon wanted to lead the reinforcements here himself but William persuaded him otherwise and came here instead.
Gordon is the cornerstone of the rebel army. If he is killed, everything will be for nothing.
He proposed that Gordon should convince the generals that are supporting the Emperor to come over to his side. In other words, William left the task of suppressing the army to Gordon. He then personally came out to face Leo himself.
However, no matter how cooperative the generals here are, he is a prince of another country. Both generals were not happy to serve under him. As a result, they opposed Williams plan to switch from a full-scale siege battle to simply encirclement after their failed initial battle.
The situation now is different.
It is the same. The other side is waiting for an opportunity to fight back. If we handle this poorly, we will only be losing more soldiers instead.
It is the commanders job to win the war not to spare the soldiers lives!
We are here to win the war, generals. The complete control of this army was entrusted to me. If you are dissatisfied with that then you can bring it up to Prince Gordon.
His Highness is too busy for this!
Then you have no choice but to obey me do you.
Saying so, William ordered the two generals to leave the tent.
While glaring at him, the two left.
After confirming that no one is around, William let out a big sigh.
William wasnt so optimistic to think that he can smoothly lead another countrys army. However, he is now keenly aware that it was much more difficult than he first thought.
Normally, I would just shut them up with the result though..
If you move poorly, you will get a counterattack.
Eliminating the enemy after cornering them to the point that they can no longer muster up any opposition. This policy alone is something that William is not willing to change.
William was unprecedentedly cautious in this battle.
The cause of this is the power Leo showed him at the Imperial Capital. And the existence in the Imperial Capital that still hasnt moved.
The situation has changed. It is clear that Leo needs reinforcements.
However, there is still no movement from the Imperial Capital.
It definitely is not because they can not move
William gazes at an empty space.
He is looking at the past, the final phase of the rebellion at the Imperial Capital.
There is no mistake that they have the table turned against them when Leo appeared.
However, someone has bought enough time for his arrival. Someone who read that Leo was coming and earned time for him.
It was Leos elder brother, Al.
Are you really still sleeping? Can really I believe that he still hasnt woken up?
It is certainly possible for him to sleep for a long time after being subjected to poison or some kind of magic.
However, William could not take such a thing for granted.
He cant help but think that Al is out there waiting for a chance to strike.
William has struggled to secure one-third of the North for Gordon.
After he was shown the power of Silver, William has encouraged and scolded Gordon who lost his spirit. He then secured a supply route through the Dominion and quickly occupied the eastern side of the North which is easy to reach from the Dominion and set up a base there.
He managed to get them this far. If they can join the Kingdom in a united front, they should be able to occupy the North in its entirety.
If that happens, the armies of the Dominion and the United Kingdom can march into the North, and from there they can march south to the Imperial Capital or assist the Kingdoms invasion in the west. Their options will only expand.
However, the enemy is not stupid either.
Eventually, the Empire will also form an alliance with the Sokal empire. If that happens, the Eastern Border Defense Force will march North.
Compared to the army that was sent to face the Kingdoms army, Leos army is on a smaller scale. After all, everything will be fine as long as he can buy time.
And that still hasnt changed.
Being besieged without any prospect of reinforcements is a bad idea but if you know that the strongest army of the Empire will come as long as you hold out, such a thing is not bad at all.
It would be nice if the Emperor ran out of patience and personally came out though.
If the Emperor came out the United Kingdom would send in its military in earnest.
Right now they are only in a cooperative relationship but if the Emperor comes out it will become a full-scale war.
After all, if they can defeat the Emperor, they can win this war.
The candidates for the Empires throne will resist but such resistance will be insignificant.
Therefore, the Emperor chose not to appear. Originally, this was a situation for the Brave to appear but Wiliam bet on the side that the Brave will not come out.
During the rebellion at the Imperial Capital, the Brave was on standby with his army.
However, he did not make it in time. It might be due to the army that they sent to stall him but the Braves movement was simply too slow.
Why is that?
It was because theres discord among his army.
The Brave house has three branch houses. One of them went against the Brave and delayed him. Because of that, the Braves movement was slowed down in a situation where timing is essential.
Due to the information he received, William determined that the Brave will not appear.
The alliance with the Sokal empire still hasnt yet been finalized and neither the Emperor nor the Brave will come out.
He had enough information to conclude that there will be no enemy reinforcements.
However, is it okay for him to judge the situation like that only from the information available to him?
The enemy may have laid a trap for him somewhere.
You Villain.
William mutters at the figure of Al he cant grasp.
It is exactly because he cant grasp his figure that he is worrying like this.
How good would it be if he can just come out?
When William thought so.
A report suddenly came in.
Urgent report! Smokes have been spotted at our rear supply base! It appears to be an enemys assault, sir!!
What!?
The supply base was set up personally by William.
It is clear that the enemy will target their supply. Thats why he hid it in a place that the enemy shouldnt be able to discover. Still, they found it.
William was terrified.
There has been no movement from Leos side. Moreover, even if it is Leo, he cant command an outside army when his castle is being surrounded.
In other words, this is not Leos work.
Damn it!
He can see the figure of Al grinning at him.
He knows that there is a possibility that it might be a trap but if he left things as it is, their supply will be destroyed.
If they lose their supply base and their supply route is cut off, Williams army will be isolated.
Given that he is in an unstable position where he has to lead the army of a different country, losing the supply might lead to a mutiny.
When he thought that far, Bartel rushed into his tent.
Prince William! Our supply is being targeted!
I heard the report. I am thinking right now.
We have no time to be so carefree like that! Please lead the Dragon Knights there immediately!
.is that a request?
Of course!
William nodded when he managed to drag out what he wanted the general to say.
Even if this is a trap, the blame will not lie with William.
Then I will entrust the command of this place to General Bartel. Please try to be flexible.
Yes, sir! Please leave this place to me!
Just to be safe, I will leave some of the Dragon Knights here with you. They will concentrate on monitoring the sky. They are my direct subordinates. You may not give them any order, is that clear?
..Understood.
After he made sure of that, William left the tent.
With this, they can not attack the castle with the Dragon Knights. After all, that would go against his order.
If he ends up using only the ground troops to attack then there is nothing he can do. Weeding them out is necessary. If they suffer from the enemy counterattack then those generals should shut up a little bit.
The problem here is whether the attack on their supply base is a diversion or not.
Such a hateful strategy. Even if you realize that it is a trap, you have no choice but to deal with it.
It is a strategy that only a person who thoroughly knows how to rile up others can come up with.
so you finally came out. Arnold.
William muttered as if he was convinced.
While worrying that he might already be dancing on the palm of Als hand.