"A bunch of ingrates..." Watching the
"Huh?" Fatty was stunned for a moment and hurried two steps to catch up and walk alongside Lorist. "Wait, Locke, what exactly are you planning? Winter is still more than a month away, and it'll be another two or three months before Lake White Heron freezes over. There's plenty of time. Why do you say it's tight?"
Lorist stopped and turned to look at Fatty, speaking softly. "Did you really think I would let the caravan wait until Lake White Heron freezes before crossing?"
"What?" Seeing Lorist turn and walk away, Fatty grew anxious. "At least explain yourself!"
"Too many ears around. We'll talk when we get back."
In a side tent next to the main pavilion, Lorist instructed
Although Injelic was a Golden Rank swordsman, in terms of status he was merely Lorist's personal servant. He had surrendered to Lorist out of fear of death and signed a ten-year servitude agreement. Lorist had originally wanted him to become a Family Knight as well, but he had declined, saying he was already old and didn't care for fighting and killing. Besides, his granddaughter Molly had gotten pregnant under Fatty's diligent efforts, and now all he wanted was to wait to hold his great-grandchild.
Advanced in years, Injelic was very open-minded. He felt no shame in being Lorist's servant despite his Golden Rank status, thinking it was actually better and freer. Even Bodfenger and the others treated him with more regard because of his position as Lorist's personal servant, greeting him warmly and respectfully whenever they met. Especially when Lorist wasn't around with the caravan, Injelic enjoyed even more freedom with no one to supervise him. He felt this kind of life was much better.
Several Family Knights summoned by Lorist arrived one after another. Rhodes Wells had drunk a bit too much but was still quite sober. Once everyone had taken their seats, Lorist had Redi serve everyone a cup of tea before explaining why he had called the meeting.
"In fifteen or twenty days, I plan to have the caravan and refugees enter the Duchy of Madras and return to Northland as quickly as possible…"
Everyone in the great tent was shocked.
"Who said anything about taking the Lichdana fortress castle?" Lorist asked in return.
"B-but if we don't take the fortress castle, we won't be able to pass…" Fatty Shi and everyone else in the tent looked at Lorist with bewilderment.
"Heh heh…" Lorist laughed and shook his head. "What on earth are you all thinking? What is our goal? Isn't it simply to bring the caravan and refugees back to Northland? Why would we go and take the Lichdana fortress castle? Occupy the place and raise sheep? Have you all forgotten — we're not trying to conquer the Duchy of Madras. We're just passing through, so we don't need to worry about holding ground. Whether we take that fortress castle or not is completely irrelevant to us."
Lorist pulled over the stand with the map mounted on it. It now held an enlarged map of the Lichdana fortress castle and its surrounding terrain.
Pointing at the map with a thin wooden stick, Lorist said, "Look — right now this fortress castle and the camp on Bread Hill form a pincer, sealing off the five hundred meters of open ground and road between them. If we take Bread Hill, how will the Iron Guard Legion in the fortress react? They'll almost certainly interpret it as a prelude to a full-scale assault. Other than hunkering down in the fortress, they won't dare act rashly."
"Once we've taken Bread Hill, consider this — the fortress has siege crossbows on high ground with a range of three hundred meters, covering the road at the base of the slope. But do we need to use the road? We only need a hundred meters of width through that two-hundred-meter stretch of open ground beside Bread Hill to get the caravan and refugees through. The Iron Guard Legion claims to have the finest defensive capability in the world, but since we're not going to fight a siege battle, if they want to come out and face us, I'd be quite curious to know how their field combat skills actually rank…"
"My lord is absolutely right!" Bodfenger slapped his forehead, the realization dawning on him. "That's exactly it! The caravan and refugees just need to get through. If it were the Second Prince's army, they'd need to take the fortress to push forward and keep their supply lines open. But we're only passing through. We don't need to worry about what's behind us — if there's something blocking the way ahead, we just go around it!"
"It's all that scheming Second Prince's fault — he led us straight into a ditch. He kept insisting that we'd have to capture the fortress castle before the caravan and refugees could enter the Duchy of Madras, and we all followed his line of thinking." Fatty Shi stood up and walked to the map, studying it carefully before breaking into a grin. "Ha! That Grand Duke of Madras treated us like an actual army too, which is why he set up his defenses this way. But if we do as my lord says and bypass the Lichtenana Fortress Castle, then what lies ahead is nothing but flat, open ground."
The atmosphere in the tent erupted with excitement — so there was another way to do this. All this time they had been sitting around feeling trapped, and it was entirely their own fault for never having thought of this.
If they captured Bread Hill, the caravan and refugees could set out immediately. What was currently known was that a full battalion of Iron Guard Legion soldiers was stationed on Bread Hill, with a large camp established at its base. According to intelligence gathered, the camp held nearly seven to eight thousand Iron Guard troops, and their role was simply to rotate shifts with the soldiers garrisoned on the hill.
From a terrain standpoint, Bread Hill was poorly suited for holding troops, because there was no water source on top. If they seized the camp below, they would effectively seal off the path down the hill, and within two to three days the battalion stationed on top would collapse from dehydration without a fight — either surrendering to them or making a desperate suicide charge down at the camp…
So the real linchpin was the camp at the base of Bread Hill. Everyone could see: if they attacked head-on, they would have to brave crossbow fire and other ranged attacks from Bread Hill while charging forward, first seizing the positions on the hill before they could even reach the camp behind it. And capturing those positions on Bread Hill would be no easy task, because the camp behind could continuously funnel reinforcements to the front lines. A frontal assault was therefore not a good option — they couldn't afford the casualties.
"Everyone remembers the fishing method I mentioned, right? Actually, my purpose was never about catching fish — it was about using those small fishing boats to build a pontoon bridge, letting the Family Knights cross Egret Lake under cover of night, then following this small path to launch a sneak attack on the camp behind Bread Hill. Once we take the camp, we'll have succeeded halfway."
"After that, we follow this blocked road from Lichtenana Fortress Castle northward to Vanaders City, taking the enemy completely by surprise and seizing the city — though even if we can't take it, it doesn't matter. The real target is Siss Castle along this main road leading to the Seedeagle Province. As long as we occupy that castle, we can pin the Grand Duke of Madras's Haishan Legion inside his own stronghold. Those two provinces outside will then be free for us to come and go as we please."
When Lorist finished laying out his strategy, everyone grew buzzing with excitement. This was a plan with an enormous chance of success — as long as the operation proceeded smoothly, the Duchy of Madras would become an open highway for the caravan and refugees heading north.
"The first key to this battle is the secret crossing of Egret Lake. The second key is speed — using speed to crush slowness. We must decide the outcome of the battle before the enemy even has time to react. As long as we hold the initiative in our hands, we can fight however we want." Lorist reminded everyone of the critical points of the strategy.
Fatty Shi did some quick calculations. "My lord, our forces may not be enough. The Iron Guard Legion has twenty-eight thousand troops total — eighteen thousand stationed at the Lichtenana Fortress Castle and ten thousand at Bread Hill. Our caravan forces only number a little over twenty thousand. Even if we capture the Bread Hill camp, we still need to escort the caravan and refugees through the border, guard against the Iron Guard Legion sallying from the fortress — we don't have the spare troops to take Vanaders City…"
"No problem. Next I'll reorganize the army, expand the family's armed forces, and can also borrow troops from the Second Prince." Lorist signaled for everyone to stop discussing. "Everyone quiet down. Next we need to reorganize the existing caravan forces. First, all squad formations will be standardized — a full squad has one hundred men. Five squads make one company, five companies make one battalion, five battalions form a regiment, and five regiments will form a legion.
The scout light cavalry currently has more than one battalion. Yuri, you're in charge — see how many companies you can form. I'll have
Yuri stood up and said, "Yes, my lord. Understood."
"The key to this battle plan still lies with you, Yuri. Your burden is heavy — you must have your scout light cavalry screen the entire battlefield so the enemy won't know what's happening. They need to be rendered blind and deaf," Lorist said.
"My lord, rest assured. Our scout light cavalry will not let you down." Yuri thumped his chest in guarantee.
Lorist nodded and waved for him to sit down. Then he turned to Terman and asked, "Your knight order currently has more than one company?"
"My lord, including squires, servants, and grooms, we're approaching two companies," Terman replied.
Lorist thought for a moment and said, "Your knight order's structure is different from the other family armed forces. You can organize it as you see fit. One knight with two squires, one servant, and one groom — that arrangement stays the same. For a battalion's composition, follow this model: a five-hundred-man company of Silver Knights can take a thousand squires into battle, which is more than enough for charges. The servants and grooms handle logistics and baggage."
"Yes, my lord."
"Berg, your heavy armored lance cavalry — you have two and a half battalions now?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, excluding logistics personnel, there should be two battalions. If we reorganize according to the formation you just described, we can form two additional squadrons. Our original squad size was one hundred and twenty men," Berg answered.
"In that case, hand over the Iron Armored Lance Cavalry to Ross. All logistics personnel return to the main camp. Ross, expand the Iron Armored Lance Cavalry to three battalions, totaling seven thousand five hundred men. You have five days to complete this. The Iron Armored Lance Cavalry will be the main assault force this time."
Rod Wells was visibly excited. He stood up and gave a solemn salute. "My lord, please be at ease. I will certainly complete the task."
"Falaya, your current spearmen - four battalions, around ten thousand men?" Lorist looked towards Falaya.
"Eleven thousand three hundred and fifty-eight men, my lord," Falaya reported a very precise number.
"The five battalions at full strength are twelve thousand five hundred. Complete it within five days."
"Understood, my lord," Falaya and Berg answered in unison.
"Oh, right. All the units mentioned just now will be equipped with the White Lion Corps' standard gear. Good equipment doesn't need to be transported back to the family territory. Equip what can be used as soon as possible; it will also reduce casualties among our family's armed forces. As for the replaced equipment, hand it over to Falaya and Malek. You two are responsible for conscripting twenty-five thousand soldiers from the refugees to form a garrison corps. Temporarily divide it into two divisions. The First Division will have Falaya as its division commander, concurrently serving as the corps commander. The Second Division will have Malek as its division commander, concurrently serving as the deputy corps commander. Complete the formation within fifteen days."
"The recruitment of personnel will follow standard procedure: prioritize young and able-bodied refugees with families. Your main tasks are to maintain order in the caravan and provide security patrols during the refugees' northward journey. Do you understand?" Lorist looked at Falaya and Malek as he spoke.
"Understood, my lord."
"As you command, my lord." Falaya and Malek rose to their feet.
Lorist then turned to Dolews. "How is your chariot corps currently faring, Dolews?"
Dolews quickly snapped to attention and saluted. "My lord, the chariot corps currently numbers six hundred and twenty-seven. Besides the original twelve chariot ballistae, we recently captured twenty-seven city-defence ballistae, all of which I've had modified for use on the chariots. However, these ballistae are quite cumbersome—not as agile or convenient as the twelve originals—and they have a slower rate of fire, requiring more crew."
"Among the White Lion Corps' equipment, there are also seventy-eight intact siege ballistae. You can take them for modification onto your chariots and, while you're at it, expand the chariot corps into a full battalion."
The only real difference between a siege ballista and a city-defence ballista was an additional mechanism that allowed the weapon to be angled sharply upward, facilitating the launch of bolts from below the walls up to the ramparts. A White Lion Corps chariot battalion was officially composed of two hundred and forty units, but due to heavy losses during the civil war and a lack of replacements, the fact that seventy-eight intact siege ballista chariots remained was considered extremely fortunate.
Dolews was overjoyed. His biggest headache had always been the shortage of ballistae, which prevented his chariot corps from being expanded. Now, that problem was solved.
"How many people in the main camp's engineering corps know how to build boats?" Lorist asked Fatty Shi.
Fatty Shi looked troubled. "I'd estimate one or two thousand know carpentry, but I have no idea how many actually know shipbuilding."
"That's fine. We're only building small boats, which shouldn't be too difficult. Just have those carpenters nail wood into a long box shape. If you're worried about leaks, scrape a thick layer of green clay paste on the inside. We're using them temporarily for fishing and building pontoon bridges—they don't need to be durable or aesthetically pleasing. Oh, and Shrade, you also need to organize the families of the caravan guards and the women among the refugees to weave fishing nets. If we're going to put on a performance, it has to be convincing from start to finish, to avoid arousing the enemy's suspicion and strengthening their patrols along the lakeshore." Lorist reassured Fatty Shi.
"Understood. Tomorrow, I'll have people start cutting timber to make the small boats and weaving the fishing nets," Fatty Shi said.
...