chapter 121
121 – Coronation – 4
A situation where enemy knights and friendly long spear soldiers are dying at a similar rate.
Originally, it was a situation where our troops should have the advantage, but the problem was that the number of enemy troops was too large.
Philip de Swadia did not spare his dying knights and continued to send them in, and the number of friendly troops continued to decrease.
“The enemy had too much time to prepare for this fight. “It was a defeat to underestimate that point.”
The enemies had time and money to raise knights, and overwhelming manpower. It was a defeat for Leonia who underestimated that.
Leonia ordered her officers to prepare for a retreat and at the same time sent a messenger to the nobles under her command to ask if there was anyone willing to take charge of the last room. The last line refers to the role of blocking the enemy who pursues the very back of the retreating line.
You have to repel the enemies that are chasing you with the determination to kill you, so naturally you have to be prepared to take a huge amount of damage. Moreover, since Philippe de Swadia’s army was relatively intact, it was a dangerous task that might even require annihilation. There wouldn’t be many nobles who would be willing to do something like this.
As proof, the messenger sent to Balboa came back and said:
“Lord Balboa says that because he has been fighting at the front line, the damage has accumulated and it is difficult for him to take charge of the last line!”
Leonia sighed at the messenger’s words. Because it was something he had predicted to some extent.
“What about the Heron family and the Russell family?”
Soon the messenger sent to Salome and Yuria also returned. Both messengers answered that it was impossible.
“Are there nothing but cowards in our military?”
Leonia could not control her anger and threw the sword she was holding on the floor. At the moment when he was thinking that he would have no choice but to take charge of the last line himself, someone stepped forward holding the sword that Leonia had thrown. That’s it…
“Your Majesty, if the monarch is disheveled, the soldiers will also be disheveled.”
“Count Rochepol… “
It was Charles. Charles took the sword and handed it to Leonia, who held her sword by its handle. And Charles said:
“I will take charge of the last line. “I saved my soldiers for times like this.”
“You?”
Not only Leonia but other nobles also looked puzzled at those words. This is because Charles was a cunning man, and it was said that he was inferior to other nobles in handling his troops. This was because Charles was not able to do much with military force in the war to occupy the Taspilia Peninsula.
However, it was not that Charles did not have the talent to lead the military, so he was not active. He was afraid that he would be evaluated as removing a stone from a rolling stone, so he had no choice but to not step forward to maintain good relations with other generals. But now it’s different. Since no one is stepping forward, there will be no major problems even if Charles steps forward. No, he’s probably relieved that he doesn’t have to take on an awkward role like everyone else.
But Leonia, who did not want to lose Charles, kept her mouth shut for a moment. If I had the same heart, I wanted to spare Charles from this most dangerous role. However, Charles said he was doing it on his own, but if Leonia had left it out arbitrarily, it was obvious that people would say that she was favoring the nobles, and from Leonia’s point of view, she needed a justification to prevent Charles from taking the last position.
In that situation, Charles said.
“Your Highness, only I can do it.”
“… “
If Charles said so, it would be correct. While everyone predicted victory, only Charle predicted defeat. In such a situation, there could not have been a general as prepared as Charles.
“Your Highness, this is the best.”
Leonia had no choice but to respond to Charles’ repeated persuasion.
“I leave the last line to Charles Jean Rochepol! “To protect our troops’ retreat route.”
“Yes!”
Leonia was worried about Charles. I wouldn’t have been particularly worried if other nobles were in charge of the last line. She just thought that since it was an opportunity to make a big contribution, it would not be strange if she sacrificed her life, and that even if she died, she would just leave the family name to the successor.
But I was afraid of Charles dying. To begin with, Charles had no successor and he was not skilled in swordsmanship to defend himself. No, maybe all of this was just an excuse. Leonia just didn’t want Charles, the simple person she cherished, to take on such a dangerous task.
That’s why Leonia made sure to get the minimum amount of insurance.
“Georg Adele, Taiki Lopes.”
Although these two were commoners, they had recently become knights and were extremely talented.
“Yes.”
“I will give each of you 1,000 soldiers. “Let’s follow Charles Jean Rochepol and make a contribution.”
“Yes!”
“Keep in mind. Count Rochepol is a very important person to our allies, and we must protect him even at the cost of our own lives.”
“Yes!”
This was a very important mission for Georg Adel and Taiki Lopes. As commoners, they didn’t have much of a chance to make a big contribution, but if it was a special mission like this, they might have caught Leonia’s eye.
So, 3,000 troops of the Rochepol family and 2,000 troops of Taiki Lopez and Georg Adele. A total of 5,000 troops began to gather.
—–
“So, they are Taiki Lopes and Georg Adele.”
“Yes.”
“Yep!”
Taiki Lopez was a knight with a sharp and quiet appearance. He always carried his musket on his back and had shortswords and daggers here and there on his body. He was dressed more like a thief than a knight.
Georg Adel was the exact opposite of Taiki López. He held a large spear over 2 meters long, but his actual height seemed to be around 160. He was quite short and, despite being in his thirties, his hair was somewhat bald. However, he was an atmosphere maker who created a powerful atmosphere by repeating his name loudly no matter what.
Charles knew these two well. That’s because they were talented people who would be responsible for the latter half of Princess Leonia’s life. In the game, both appear to have decent abilities. In particular, Georg Adele, who was short and bald, showed quite a bit of political power and military command despite his appearance.
“Mr. Georg.”
“Yep! “Just give me the order!”
“I will give you 500 infantry. Your role is bait. “Your role is to run away, pretending to be a routed unit, and lead the enemy to our ambush site.”
“Yep! “Just leave it to me!”
It was a difficult and dangerous role, so he might have said no, but he answered vigorously. This must be his own way of living.
“Mr. Taiki.”
“Yes.”
“I understand that he was originally a rifle officer. You must have great experience in commanding musket units. I will give you a musketeer, so go to the ambush site first, and when Mr. Georg draws the enemy, Mr. Tyche, shoot.”
“Yes.”
Soon after the friendly forces finished deploying their troops, the Leonian Army began to officially issue retreat orders.
There are two types of retreat. There was either breaking and running away haphazardly or an orderly retreat.
If you retreat in an orderly manner, the enemy cannot follow you carelessly. But this case was different. Our army did not only have elite soldiers, but there were also quite a few new soldiers, so we could not hope for an orderly retreat, and the ranks of the soldiers began to become disorganized as soldiers who tried to retreat in line with Wu and soldiers who tried to run away were mixed in.
“The cowards are turning their backs! Chase!”
Philippe de Swadia followed him.
Our soldiers who were running away began to scatter haphazardly into the forest. And the Swadia knights got off their horses and ran through the forest, chasing after their allies.
In the meantime, the enemies visible to the Swadia knights.
“Oh! “There are a large number of remnants of the defeated army!”
It was a decoy unit of 500 people led by Georg Adel. Georg Adel’s unit pretended to be lost in the forest, walking back and forth, waiting for the enemy to discover their allies.
And Georg Adel, who made eye contact with the enemy, immediately began running away to his death. The Swadia knights began to get excited when they saw the enemy running away like a cat.
“Over there! “The enemy is running away!”
“Supply and demand are running away! Five hundred supply and demand run away!”
“Chase!”
The knights started chasing after Georg, and Georg ran away. Soon the knights cornered Georg, and the moment Georg entered a dead end.
“Heo-eok, heo-eok…” Gotcha you bastards.”
“I guess we’re the ones who caught it?”
“What? What kind of point is that… “
-Kwakwauk!
At that moment, thunder was heard from all directions. The knights knew very well what that sound was.
‘Musket?’
That’s right. Muskets were fired from the bushes all around.
More than half of the knights were instantly killed by the musketeers, and taking advantage of the gap, the lively soldiers who were hiding began to rush in with swords and shields.
“All-army attack!”
“Waaa!!!”
It was only then that the knights realized. The fact that they fell into a trap.