Road to the Crown

22nd September 1574

I would love to say that with the take over of the embankments, the battle was basically over. Sadly, that was not the case.

Just as the heavy war-carriages were about to begin their slow crawl towards the now safe opening, a single light carriage returned from the frontlines, instantly blocking their advance. The next moment, an officer whose name I couldn't even recall jumped out of the vehicle, spriting his way towards the headquarters.

"Sir! Urgent report!"

Falling on his knee the moment he arrived before my face, proving that he already had some military experience prior to joining my forces as no regime in my forces declared any need for such useless and unpractical formalities. 

"Speak."

Given how his entire uniform was completely covered in the smoke, earth and blood, I could tell that this man participated in the fight at the very front of the formation. Given that, his news were bound to be from the very first line of the battle! 

Yet, even with that, the fact that he blocked the advance of my heavy war-carriages, even if his news would prove to be essential to winning this battle, he would have to be punished. If this kind of gross discipline breach were to go unpunished, who could even imagine how would my soldiers start acting?

After all, the army was supposed to listen to the orders, not report every single thing and take actions themselves! The size of this man's punishment now only depended on how really important the news he brought was!

"The embankments that we saw and expected are not the only one! When we managed to create a hole in the lines of the enemy, I managed to see that about a hundred meters behind them, there is at least two or maybe even three more lines of the fortifications, all manned by artillery crew!"

In this one moment, I realised just what kind of disaster this single officer managed to prevent from realising! 

The first line of defences that were aimed at stopping anything that would dare to set foot on the road, was destroyed. This fact was confirmed by the scouts, lookouts and the calculated outcome of the long bombardment that lasted through the entire first phase of the battle. This was also the reason why I dared to push my machines forward, hoping to use them as the mobile fortress that would support the advance of my troops, while gnawing away at any enemy who would dare to set his head away from the fortifications.

But if this plan were to come to the fruition, then the second line of enemy embankments would made a short work of my war carriages, successfully achieving their target of blocking the road! 

Unless I would find a way to push the light carriages over the first and every single next embankment, then I would have no other choice but to take over those places one by one, with a costly push of the infantry devoid of any heavy support!

"Pull the heavy carriages back. You…"

Giving the first and most important order, I took a look at the officer that brought the report.

"For now, you will remain here. From one side, the news that you brought might be crucial to the outcome of the battle, but from the other side, you broke the disciplinary regime, preventing my orders form being executed… I will need to find a way to treat you justly, so it's better if you will just remain here. Men, bring him some water and tend to his wounds!"

Pushing the matter of this officer away from my head as soon as two nearby servants jumped at him and helped the man to walk to the back of the tent, I took a look at the situation, trying to imagine how it really looked like.

"Send the messenger to both wings of our attack. They are to make sure the first line of defences is cleared out, but once the enemy starts retreating, they are to do the same. Make them use the steep walls of the embankments as the cover, those who won't fit are to go back on the light carriages."

The new outline of the enemy fortification that I quickly created on the model by shifting several pieces around, gave away what kind of tactic they were most likely about to use. Rather than trying to win the battle itself, they just wanted to turn it into a war of attrition, retreating to the next line of defence whenever the last one would be breached!

But as great as this could work against the standard army, used to the grand battles that would resolve the conflict in the first place, this kind of approach was pretty useless against my own force!

"Once the carriages go back, send two of them to the Lwow at the max speed. They are to contact the train station and request a huge delivery of the artillery ammunition. This won't be a quick battle, so we need to be prepared to fight it for as long as it will be necessary!"

If Ostros wanted me to kill my own army in the set of prolonged fights for one position after the another, I would do exactly the opposite. While I was pretty sure that even as I was thinking about the countermeasures to their approach, the reserve forces of my enemies were busying themselves with digging new embankments and trenches, it didn't really matter in the long term. 

Given how at least the first three obstacles were made with just the embankments alone, with the trenches serving as nothing more but a way to slow the advance of the footmen, then the true battle wouldn't be about the number of people that either side could throw into the melting pot. It would be all about who would run out of their artillery first!

But what actually worried me to no end, was how closely this kind of tactic resembled the worst type of conflict that Europe ever saw. Worst, in terms of the military casualties and the length of the war.

Trench war.

What was supposed to be a swift conquest performed by Germans, turned out to be a prolonged battle, nearly a year-long, over an unimportant city of Verdun. And I couldn't allow to repeat the mistakes made by the commanders of both sides back in what used to be my past. 

With the orders given, my soldiers executed them surprisingly swiftly. As soon as the orders arrived at the front of the battlefield, I could see my forces instantly turning around and retreating to the line of the embankments, as if the devil himself was chasing them from the other side.

This kind of quick reaction was quickly explained, with how the last units that were the first to advance, suffered front he first salvo of the enemy second line!

Once the dust and smoke cleared out enough, I could finally see what the officer was talking about. With my soldiers lying down on the top part of the embankments, as about half of them was working tirelessly to turn the nearest trench into loose earth that they used to create a simple ramp for their friends to comfortably stand on, there was only about a hundred meters of relatively free space, before the next line of enemy fortifications emerged from the ground!

Given how many cannons they wasted on their first front, I would normally assume that every next frontline they would defend would severely lack the proper artillery support, yet, the reality once again decided to show me its bottom instead of its cute face.

"Sir, the battle has stalled!"

At this point, I was too focused on trying to figure out whether my plan would work out or not, to actually get annoyed at one of the assistants reporting something that I saw with my own eyes.

"It will all boil down to who will be able to keep their artillery going… Bring me one of the logistic and one of the artillery officers at once!"

I wasn't a military expert. If I wanted to know if the plan that was slowly taking root in my mind was feasible, then I had to consult those who were better versed in the topic than me. Rather than pretending to be the ace of everything, relying on the experts in their respective field was always more efficient!

"On your order, sir!"

Just a few moments later, two men reported to my position, this time properly saluting with two fingers to their temples.

"The first question goes to you. If our tanks were to position themselves behind the cover of the embankments that we control right now, will you guys be able to shoot at the next line of Ostros defence?"

That was the main point that my entire plan relied upon. Given how relatively short the distance between two armies was, the better quality of my own artillery and guns didn't play the role anymore. Kudos or the enemy general for figuring out a way to make my greatest advantage useless. But what if we were to use my cannons in the way the mortars worked?

"Sir… That would require an extensive groundwork, as the cannons cannot be raised at a high enough angle… But yes, it will take some time but we can get into the position to shoot safely at the enemy."

Nodding in response to the satisfactory report of the artillery officer, I turned my head to the soldier responsible for the entire logistic of my camp.

"How long will our artillery ammunition last?"