Road to the Crown

22nd September 1574

"This isn't good."

Looking at the enemy positions in the distance, I muttered to myself. The inevitable delay that caused my force to take one more additional day to arrive at the scene that initially expected, was just what the Ostros forces needed.

"Sir, should we follow up the original plan?"

Standing at the top of my heavy war-carriage, I continued to observe the fortified positions of the enemy. Given how they set their camp right on the road, I could tell from their lack of preparations against wide flanking that the terrain to both of their sides was untraversable. 

"God, no! They didn't come here to fight us, they came here to sound off our army. Even the spy that we allowed to return to their lands never had the chance to learn about the true extent of what we can do, so it's better if we keep it that way."

Taking a moment to cope up with the surprisingly difficult situation, I shook my head before turning to one of my attendants.

"Go and create a quick sketch of the enemy positions. Also, send a word to the logistic camp to reward the scouts that gave us the information. It seems that we gave those fuckers a bit more time than we could afford."

Hiding back into the carriage, I took a moment to calm myself down before opening the hatch once again and using the helping hand of a random soldier that appeared in the vincity to get down to the ground.

Given how we didn't start the offensive right away, the soldiers instantly jumped to their own tasks of setting the camp and securing the perimeter. Despite the lightly armoured steam carriages being the perfect fir for creating the loose first line of defence around the camp, I didn't dare to expose their existence yet. So far, I hoped that Ostros would believe that my greatest strength lied in those simple logistic carriages. Revealing the fact that my war cars were already outfitted with tracks rather than the wheels would give then enough hints to deduce the real use of those machines of mine.

"Sir, the map is ready and the officers have assembled in the field headquarters, awaiting your arrival."

As I strolled pointlessly through the field, trying to come up with some clever way to hide my ace cards without wasting the lives of my soldiers for that sole reason, one of the soldiers reported to me, announcing the end of my short break. 

Taking a look in the direction where the courier was pointing his hand at, I could see that a huge tent was already erected. Due to the sunny and cloudless weather today, it's sides were pulled upwards, revealing the set of tables and figures littered all over the place, indicating that the officers of mine were already racking their brains off over the way in which we should crack this enemy position.

Yet, only when I actually approached the place, did I realised what kind of disaster it was.

Maybe it was due to the current situation being the absolutely first battle that those troops of mine would participate in, maybe it was the fault of the shortened training regime, or maybe it was derivative of those two and all sorts of other reasons. But seeing how frantically my officers were moving, each of their faces completely white from the stress, I realised that if I didn't step in right now, then they would defeat my entire army before we would actually make fire contact with the enemy.

"Everyone, calm the fuck down."

As strange as it might seem, I was the person with the greatest war experience in the entire camp. While it amounted to surviving a single siege I commanded over, it didn't change the fact that I alone held the burden of sending my people to their deaths on my shoulders.

"Take a look at the map and explain what do you guys see."

Sometimes, just voicing the situation out would give ones some clever ideas on how to cope with his problems. Outside of that, I wanted to make sure that what I saw with my own eyes, was actually the same as what my officers, who never learned about more modern ways of conducting warfare, perceived.

"Right now, we are about two hundred meters away from the range of their cannons. While the road is unobstructed itself, the scouts already confirmed that Ostros set two huge artillery embankments on its side, aimed along with its profile."

Taking a look at the table where servants were turning the simple sketch provided by the scouts into a proper model with figures and markings of the terrain, I could see what part of the enemy positions this officer of mine was speaking about.

"I saw that it's not obstructed by anything, so I can guess the enemy expects us to attract this apparent point. Doing so would only cause us to clog the road with the wreckage of our potential spearhead. Continue."

While this way of attack was the most obvious one, I could tell that the enemy hoped I would fall for that apparent opening in their defences. Given how they learned about my logistical carriages, it was the natural to take precautions against an enemy using them as military force!

"It's not confirmed yet, but it seems that both the far flanks of their positions are naturally covered, disabling the option of just passing by them. Unless we can waste several days to make a detour, we have to go right through their position."

Taking a quick look at the map showing bigger part of the area than just the positions of the two armies, I could quickly see how far we would have to go to reach a point from where we could actually attack. Not only that, but the closest road also leads through the Cherrio's lands directly attached to the Ostros domain! Even though Cheerio didn't have its representation in the Elections, I could be damn sure that doing so would cause those pricks at the senate to claim that I used their help to win, instantly sabotaging the position I hoped to achieve!

"No, we can't make any detours. As terrible as it is, we have to go right through them. What are the estimated forces of the enemy?"

So far, I put this question for later, as in the current defensive setup, it didn't really matter whether they had two hundred men or five hundred. Their entire position relied on the amassing artillery and protecting this thin passable bit of terrain with it!

"The scouts reported that they have two proper banners of lancers and four companies of footmen, one of which is of the foreign hire."

This one sentence managed to stop me from frantically looking for the solution of what seemed like an impossible battle. With Banner referring to about as many men as complain just that it was used in cavalry units, the report meant that Ostross gathered about three thousand men in this place!

Even with their immense wealth, I honestly doubted that they could gather much more, especially with two extremely expensive banners of horsemen!

"What are their positions?"

Instantly putting all my attention to the nearly finished model of the battle positions, I could answer this question myself.

"Two companies are manning the embankments on the sides of the road, two more are stationed behind the choke point. The cavalry is all amassed on their right-wing in reserve. But sir, there is still an important element of this plan, that's not reflected by the model!"

Just as I was about to push all the idle thoughts of mine aside and order my troops to go with the initial plan, after all, the officer's words managed to stop me from doing so.

"Speak."

In this very moment, I felt as if I held the key to the future in my hand. The fate of the entire country and the direction in which it would go depended all from the single decision I had to make soon!

"Stretching for over a hundred meters there is a set of intervening trenches. Even if we somehow manage to push through the range of artillery, our troops will have a hard time passing through those, all the while I can tell the enemy won't stop shooting."

Hearing this information, at first, I could feel my heart nearly stopping from the fright of what would happen if I recklessly ordered the attack. But just as I was about to enter the state of deep thinking, I recalled a scene from the Cry of Duty series.

"How thick are those trenches?"

Raising my eyes at the officer that so far, managed to answer all of my questions, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins due to how important the answer to that question was.

"About a meter wide and as long as half of each embankment."

Hearing those words, I could feel the corners of my lips climbing up. Just to make sure I wouldn't make another mistake, I moved out of the tent to eyeball the height of the embankments in the first place. Seeing that they were about two to three meters high, I realised that this battle would actually be easier than I could ever dream it to be!

"Rally the troops. In the first wave, bring our cannons just close enough to keep them safe from the enemy artillery. Make them focus only the positions aimed at stopping the advance through the road and prepare the heavy war carriages to attack at moment notice. On the other hand, stuff as many footmen into each of the light carriages. Once the enemy focuses on our artillery, they will attack the embankments in the straight line!"

Saying those words, I could see the faces of my officers whitening down, as the weight of those words suddenly made them think that I was sending our troops for the certain death.

"Sir, but the trenches…"

"Don't worry about them. The soldiers are to move out of the carriages only after those won't be able to climb at the embankments themselves! The basic carriage staff will clear the front of the embankments with their reaper guns, then the footmen will use the same embankments as the cover while clearing the rest of the garrison!"

The scene that I remembered, was pretty simple. When the Russians were taking part in the urban fighting against the Germans, there was this one moment when the player would move through the trench as it started to apparently crumble. As it appeared, enemy tanks, way heavier than my carriages, could just ride over the trench, without even noticing that it was there in the first place! With how the back of my carriages was mounted with the reaper guns as well, they could be used to suppress the potential attack from the troops hidden in the trenches, while my soldiers would take over the embankments with ease!

With my order now given, the entire camp stirred into action. In just a few moments, the carriages that were initially covered with all sorts of cloth and tents to hide them away were revealed to the world as more and more soldiers were stuffing themselves inside. 

Following my order to the letter, it only took a moment before nearly all of the carriages had a pile of useless furniture that was inside for the crew convenience sake in the first place lying beside them!

"Sir, the heavy carriages are ready!"

"Sir, the artillery is ready to advance!"

"Sir, we can't fit any more foot units inside, but outside of that, the light carriages are ready!"

One by one, the different divisions of my army reported, putting the last few pieces of the puzzle together. 

Raising my head to the skies, I took a deep breath. From the commotion I just saw at the enemy positions, they were clearly conscious of our preparations, making sure they were ready themselves. But rather than worrying about this, I slowly exhaled the air while watching the skies in order to calm my throat and lungs down.

"Attack."

Dropping my head down, I waved my hand towards the observers, finally initiating my offensive against those pesky Ostros!