I Became the Master of the Empress

56 – Episode 56

A towering stone building on the territory of the semi-grand duchy power.

A fortress built with a deep moat and solid-looking stones.

Fort Huntington is a historic fortress that was the first to be attacked whenever the Grand Duchy was invaded for centuries.

If you can somehow protect this place, it is a fortress that can block the supply of the Grand Duchy in the future, so it is always the place to target first when the Grand Duchy invades.

Martin, looking at the fortress from afar, is lost in thought.

‘I told you to attack moderately first and then retreat, right?’

There were two orders issued by Agrippa, the commander-in-chief of the Grand Duchy.

One, attack Fort Huntington, and two, when enemy reinforcements presumed to be hiding in the forest are seen, an order is to use mercenaries as shields and retreat while preserving new soldiers as much as possible.

It is definitely a dense forest where cavalrymen can hide.

‘If the siege begins and everyone focuses on that area and then cavalry suddenly attacks the rear, there would be no worse situation than that.’

I feel dizzy imagining the siege troops and wizards in the rear being slaughtered by the knights.

‘Then what do we talk about?’

The last confirmed enemy strength was 2,500.

With 9,000 troops, that small fortress will be easily captured.

However, the three men sent to the enemy fortress were not contacted.

‘If there is no contact from not one or two, but about five to seven people, then it must be assumed that there is something unusual going on in Fort Huntington and that something is being done to hide it.’

With that thought in mind, I look at the map and terrain and begin to place my soldiers one by one.

It would be a good idea to set up camp here.

When I see the order to be defeated here.

Probably the commander-in-chief and the archduke are planning to annihilate the enemies all at once.

With that in mind, place many spearmen around the wizard and siege weapons.

Do not suffer as much loss as possible, intentionally lose in battle.

I felt a little offended by the two who seemed to look down on me a little.

Generals exist to fight and win against the enemy in war.

No matter how ordered the Grand Duke is, there is no general in the Grand Duchy who would be happy about his own defeat.

War, victory, and honor.

As Martin, who reveres that, he cannot help but feel dissatisfied with his orders.

“Then, shall we try to inflict some damage to the enemies during the chase?”

Thinking like that, I look closely at the camp arrangement in preparation for a retreat.

‘Well, I told you to lose anyway, didn’t I tell you not to counterattack when retreating?’

How many battles have there been where you attacked to gain victory when the enemy retreated and then retreated after suffering heavy losses?

With that in mind, I post various signs and words on the map.

“This might be a little salty?”

***

“hehehe, there are quite a few enemies concentrated there.”

The general smiles as he sees the troops surrounding the fortress.

The number of troops outside is around 10,000.

However, by moving metallurgical mercenaries and troops to this fortress, we have gathered quite a large number of troops.

We tried to thoroughly isolate the inside and outside of the fortress, fearing that it might escape through Sejak.

Even when food was supplied from outside, wagons were not allowed inside the fortress and they were thoroughly separated in various ways…

The enemy will think that there are about 3,000 of us guarding this place.

However, the number of troops here reaches 15,000.

It is laughable that they are stretching out without realizing that they have lost the numerical superiority that they must have in a siege.

“General. What should I do?”

Let the adjutant step forward and ask the general.

He smiles wryly.

“First, block appropriately. “The moment they run out of stamina during the siege… We will disturb the rear with cavalry and launch an offensive.”

The adjutant nods his head as if he understood what the general said.

“Today… They will return to this earth as corpses.”

The general smiled in satisfaction at those words.

“Am, a thief who covets other people’s land. “Isn’t it obvious?”

-Boo!. Boom!

At that moment, a horn sounds beyond the castle walls.

Soldiers advancing while escorting siege weapons to the sound.

And the flame magic flies towards the castle wall.

“Wizard! Cast the barrier!”

When the centurion on the scene shouted, a transparent membrane began to surround the castle wall.

And…

-Boom!

Large fireworks begin to explode in the air.

“Crossbow, archer! Everyone, let’s go!”

With those words, arrows start to rain.

***

From Noble mtl dot com

Martin saw the enemy’s defense.

Hmm, it’s a defensive magic.

This is a magic that reduces damage and is good for long-term battles.

Of course, there is a way to destroy the enemy’s magic by using stronger magic, but this puts a burden on the wizards.

‘Now is not the time. To properly inflict damage, you have to consider the magicians’ stamina.’

When checking the final intelligence.

We confirmed that the number of enemy wizards is less than half of ours, and the enemy commander’s actions are extremely realistic.

Since offensive magic consumes more stamina than defensive magic, it can be seen as textbook behavior for the enemy commander to move like that.

After looking at the battle situation like that, I gently look at the forest.

‘Should we just burn the whole place down?’

If so, it would be a way to block cavalry attacks and take control of the fortress…

Martin sighs at the thought that he might be broken by Agrippa just because he won.

“Phew… It’s my palja. “I can’t even win on my own.”

What can we do? He is a general and must obey the commander-in-chief’s orders.

I click my tongue as I watch the soldiers fall one by one from the arrows and burning oil pouring down from the castle walls and trying to somehow break through or climb up the walls.

“He’s about the same age as my son…”

“What do you mean?”

Martin speaks in a bitter voice at the adjutant’s words.

“That’s the soldier who just burned to death. “I think he’s about as old as my son.”

The adjutant speaks as if he feels sorry for those words.

“Aren’t you a mercenary? “Don’t be too upset.”

“That’s true, but. “They are the same people, so they can’t help but feel heartbroken.”

Watching this, Martin touches his chin and gets lost in his thoughts.

‘It’s almost time for the cavalry to move?’

It has already been deployed to war three times in three shifts.

I think that since the soldiers will be quite tired, I will move the cavalry slowly.

“From now on, the enemy will use cavalry. “Tell the wizards to stop using magic and move to the base.”

***

The general who was watching the situation opens his mouth.

“It looks like the enemies are pretty tired?”

“It’s only natural since we’ve been attacking for over four hours already.”

He continued speaking as if it was natural to see that.

“It looks like they will attack in 3 shifts, but we are blocking them in 6 shifts, so they will be more tired.”

The general ponders those words.

“Get up to attack the cavalry in two hours, no, an hour.”

The adjutant nodded his head as if he understood those words and twirled his hand, and the soldier next to him began to raise the flags on the flagpole.

And I look at the battlefield.

The general speaks as he sees the siege truck already on fire and the ladder truck engulfed in hot flames.

“What a pity…”

The adjutant answers those words.

“What do you mean?”

The general speaks while looking at the dying body.

“I am a soldier who lives for war, but it is truly unfortunate that so many young people die.”

“They are just enemies.”

“They are also citizens of the empire. “He is an ordinary imperial citizen like me who will die depending on the decisions of those above him.”

Perhaps soon the enemies besieging this fortress will be annihilated.

Even if you are lucky and survive, you may be conscripted and brought back.

“This is why I hate Ryan guys. “You fools who worship war without even knowing how cruel it is…”

That bitter voice rings hollowly.

***

The scene of such a cruel war.

A report is sent to Martin.

“General! “A cavalry team rushed out from the eastern forest.”

This is a situation that was already expected, so Martin responds calmly.

“Fend off the enemy with the spearmen stationed in the rear.”

But then the adjutant looks towards the forest to the east and says:

“Ah… This is a big deal.”

Martin feels puzzled by the deputy’s trembling voice.

‘Why? ‘You probably already knew that the cavalry was hiding, right?’

Looking east like that, I saw an unusual number of cavalry.

How? Aren’t there about 3,000 enemies?

Considering that the current offensive is well prevented, I thought there were at least 2,000 people deployed on the castle walls.

Martin, who expected an attack of about 1,000 cavalry, turned white.

‘It all happened. ‘I can’t believe there were so many troops hiding.’

“Retreat… You must retreat.”

When the deputy came forward and spoke, Martin bit his lip.

An unexpected number.

His plan to attack them in reverse was of no value in the face of so many cavalry forces.

In war, superiority in numbers is always important.

-Wow!

There is a sudden shout and the gate of the fortress goes up, and soldiers start rushing out.

Enemies that appear to be full of energy are flocking towards the anti-aircraft force, which is tired from suffering from a siege for quite some time.

-Ugh!

-Sa… Save me!

What happened? How can there be this many enemies?

By any chance… Was that what you were hiding?

Martin closes his eyes for a moment as he sees the soldiers coming out endlessly.

“Retreat!, Order a retreat! “Order each commander to retreat to the retreat point!”

At those words, his lieutenant blows his horn loudly.

-Boo! Buuu~! Boo!

At the clear signal of retreat, the soldiers and commander panicked and tried to run away.

Martin shouts, chewing his lips as he looks at the cavalry charging towards the rear as if not giving them any chance to retreat.

Martin shouts, riding on his horse holding a spear.

“Knights form a wedge formation! And all infantry follow me! “I will prepare a path of retreat.”

“Damn it!”

At Martin’s horse, the knights hurriedly get on their horses.

“Everyone follow me!”

Martin, who saw the knights’ preparations coming to an end, stands at the end of the wedge and speaks.

“For you to return home safely today! “Fight with all your might!”

Like that, he charges towards the enemy’s cavalry.