NOVEL NEXT chapter 6
6 – Lurein
Have the Westborne people finally gone mad?
In fact, hiring mercenaries and arming the residents were not intended to seriously engage in the Sujeon battle to underestimate the Westborne people.
What? Didn’t I say I would wipe out the Westborne people last time?
Read it again. I clearly said I would ‘defeat’ the Westborne people. Not wipe them out. It’s true that if the enemy retreats, it can be considered as defeating them, so I didn’t lie.
And originally, weren’t the knights all dead, and we couldn’t even get support from the devotees? Isn’t it more conscienceless to barely gather one mercenary unit and conscripted peasants and say, “Defeat all the Westborne people”? Mother said it out of temporary anger, but she knew well that it was an impossible task.
Anyway, there are several reasons why I didn’t prepare seriously for the Sujeon battle. First of all, siege warfare itself is very difficult.
It is said that you need three times the defending forces for a siege battle to be ‘barely’ possible. In other words, the exchange ratio of defending soldiers to attacking soldiers should be at least 1 to 3.
It’s like picking up people from the fields in China and replacing them with soldiers. Even if the forces led by a viscount-level noble are considered large with about 2,000 soldiers (including devotees, not just direct command troops!), in this area where the system uses peasants as conscripted soldiers, attacking one fortress could lead to the collapse of the entire territory.
Therefore, siege warfare was only conducted when it was believed that “if this fortress is not captured, we cannot wage war” on a kingdom-to-kingdom scale. The main casualties were usually fortresses located on supply routes.
Therefore, we will not directly attack the castle, but instead surround it to prevent the entry of supplies and reinforcements. Starving them until the defenders surrender by opening the castle gates themselves.
However, even if we use such tactics, it doesn’t mean that the attackers have the advantage alone. Do the soldiers of the attacking side not need food? It all comes down to money, money.
So I thought that if those sensible Westberun people wanted to, they would peacefully end it here. Because the siege itself is difficult, and we are serving the Duke Ruren, who we are loyal to as our lord. It is now time to loosen the reins, in other words, my great-grandfather.
That’s why I hired mercenaries to prevent unnecessary actions from Westberun troops during the negotiation process for the peace agreement, such as plundering or pressuring the local residents.
No matter how powerful Westberun may be, I didn’t think they would dare to risk a war just to satisfy their hunger. What kind of confidence do they have anyway?
I never expected these lunatics to surrender or die. What on earth were they thinking?
These idiots, I didn’t expect them to act like this. The Count of Westberun must have had some sort of food poisoning. That’s why you shouldn’t eat food left outside during summer.
The messenger from Westberun, who stood up without even greeting us as if he had said everything he needed to say, left with only the words, “This war you started, be prepared to pay the price.” He went back to his camp.
After the messenger left, the atmosphere in the reception room, where only Silverwood family members remained, became heavy. Everyone was greatly shocked by the audacious move by Westberun.
To discuss countermeasures, I asked Shi Jong-jang.
“…Approximately how many enemies are there?”
“The scout’s report estimates that there are about 900 to 1000 of them…”
The already grim atmosphere seemed to sink even deeper with Shi Jong-jang’s words.
“We only have about 240 mercenaries and 118 conscripted soldiers, totaling around 360…”
Damn it, thanks to my father who took all the conscripts and wasted them, we had less than a hundred capable individuals among the local residents. We even gathered some who were physically unfit.
Compared to our forces, although they are not even three times larger, it still wasn’t ideal. If those guys don’t care about their lives and attack recklessly, we won’t be far from complete annihilation.
“…Eilen. Haven’t the messenger sent by my great-grandfather arrived yet?”
“No, my lord… There hasn’t been any contact.”
“We need to establish communication as soon as possible, no matter how.”
I contacted Duke Hayden, my great-grandfather, asking for his assistance by hiring the “Red Rose” mercenaries.
One could question why I asked for help just now when I’ve had the chance until now. But I have my justification.
First, this war against Westberun was never approved by Duke Ruren, my great-grandfather.
My father, who usually had negative sentiments towards Westberun, repeatedly asked Duke Hayden to attack Westberun, which he believed was destroying the kingdom’s order whenever he had the opportunity. However, due to the position of being the right-hand man of the king, it was a burden to attack Westberun, which the king protected. Eventually, my father’s requests were ignored.
Then, after the incident with “that bucket,” my father took independent action and attacked Westberun without permission. Normally, this would result in revocation of the vassal contract.
If my wife weren’t the daughter whom Duke Hayden cherishes so much, my father would have died dozens of times at the hands of the duke. (Unfortunately, he died at the hands of someone else, so it doesn’t hold any meaning.)
Second, our house and my great-grandfather’s have never been on good terms.
You might think that Duke Ruren cherishes his daughter too much? That is the problem.
My father and mother had what we call a “love marriage,” which is extremely rare in this era. My mother fell head over heels for my father when she saw him win the tournament hosted by Duke Hayden.
The problem was that in the eyes of the duke, my father was nowhere near eligible to marry his daughter.
You might have seen in clichéd American movies where dads aim double-barreled shotguns at their daughters’ boyfriends. No matter what, there are often cases where fathers don’t like their daughters’ boyfriends or husbands, regardless of political status or wealth. Duke Hayden, the father of Ruren, was exactly one of those cases.
Actually, it’s not just a matter of dislike. Hayden resented my father, Leon.
First of all, his personality is extreme. Except when dealing with his own daughter, my great-grandfather has always been cold and cautious. But looking at how our father started a war over a missing bucket, he had such a hot-blooded temperament that I couldn’t even try to like him.
If my daughter gets married to such a guy, at first they might pretend to like each other, but eventually, according to the customs of that era, he would probably beat her if she made even a slight mistake, subjecting her to pain and tears. (In a way, it seems that my great-grandfather can see people well. In fact, because of my father, my mother sheds tears.)
Even his status didn’t appeal to me. My father was originally a viscount from a small town called Siberna. He must have been crazy about the idea of his daughter marrying into the gentry.
So my great-grandfather opposed my mother and father’s marriage vehemently, but there are no parents who can win against their children. Although it pained my mother, who would rather die than see her daughter suffer, she protested by saying, “If you don’t want to see me die, please allow the marriage!” Reluctantly, he surrendered.
The current Silverwood Marquisate was created in order to prevent my great-grandfather from falling in rank from a viscount to a viscountess due to my sister’s marriage into high nobility. It wasn’t because my father was handsome that he was granted the marquis title; it was because of my mother’s tears.
In fact, around this time, the Duke Lurein gained the nickname “Right-hand Man of the King.” It was because my great-grandfather needed to show loyalty to the king and not make any trouble when granting my father the marquis title. (Still, the king also took good care of Duke Lurein, so it became a mutually beneficial situation.)
Anyway, that’s why the duke takes good care of my mother with all his heart, but since he has a hatred-filled relationship with my father, except for gathering together once a year during holidays, our family and the duke’s family didn’t interact much.
Because of these various difficulties, I tried to ask the duke for help, but now it’s not a situation where I can demand such things, so I sent a message asking for assistance…
Why is there still no response? Great-grandfather. It seems you don’t understand the urgency, but if you don’t help us right now, your daughter and grandchildren will die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“First, we need to do what we can right now. Order the villagers to quickly bring food and necessities into the fortress, Lord Marquis.”
Master Gerard, as if advising me to calm down, said. Master’s words are correct. We need to do what we can immediately.
“Understood, sir. Open the gate immediately and let the residents in. And how much of the harvested wheat has been brought into the fortress?”
“Most of it has been brought in, but there are still some…”
“Make every effort to move them as quickly as possible, and if necessary, just burn them. It’s better than surrendering them to the enemy.”
“I will do as you say.”
“Master, please call Satria. We need to deploy troops on the castle walls.”
“Understood.”
The war has begun, and the train that has already started running cannot be stopped.
To survive, we must give everything we have.
**
In front of the Silverwood Marquisate, the camp of the Kamusin mercenaries.
The Kamusins adjusted their helmets with their characteristic smiling masks.
“The Bergolins are our enemies who took away our homeland, but they were people we learned a lot from.”
Their leader, Karoi, murmured quietly.
“With the tactics and siege weapons we learned from them, we were able to plunder and move around in Slevania, and now we can make use of them here in Yurmania. It’s not an exaggeration to call ourselves masters. Don’t you think?”
The Kamusins laughed cheerfully as if they had heard an amusing joke.
“We’ve given them enough time, but they haven’t surrendered yet. They have no more excuses. I’m going to make use of what we experienced from the Bergolins from now on.”
Karoi patted the wheel of the siege weapon beside him and commanded the Kamusins.
“Kill anyone bigger than this wheel.”
The siege engine was launched, and the battle began.