industrial lord

Chapter 136 Take the initiative
The number of enemies is large and the advantage is great, Frederick can't help feeling a little nervous.

After all, he had never commanded a real war in his previous life. It was one thing to watch TV and movies and play games, but another to personally decide the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Frederick calmed down and asked, "How does the staff judge the enemy's actions?"

During this period of time, Franz Jr. led his staff to repeatedly study the enemy's actions and his own countermeasures. With a solid mind, he used a wooden pole to draw a circle in the north, east, and south directions of Wessen, and said: "We will initially It is judged that the enemy will attack from these three directions first, mainly with mountain mercenaries, and the purpose is to disperse and mobilize our troops."

"Roth's army in the north will attack Lingen City, which is only [-] kilometers away from Wessenburg City. The road is almost flat and there is no danger to defend. It should be able to scare the commander."

"There is another possibility for them to arrive at Wessenburg City by boat, but it is unlikely, but it is not ruled out that they will disembark where no one is there."

"The goal of the army led by Eichstätt in the east is the city of Langnar in the south. There are many mountains there, and the marching speed should not be very fast. It is judged that they will start early."

"Reese in the south will attack Heim City in the southwest. They may only besiege the city, and if necessary, they will go north to Howson City to shadow the enemy's main force."

"The main force of the enemy will aggressively attack the city of Howson after our army is dispersed, and occupy it in the shortest possible time. After that, the gate of the territory will be opened, and we can go directly to the city of Wessenburg."

Frederick nodded, agreeing with his statement.

No matter when a war is fought, it is all about logistics. The enemy's offensive route is closely related to roads and water sources, and from this, the marching route of large troops can be judged.

Although the geographical scope of this war is very small, it is not a problem to go over mountains and mountains, but the attacking side must attack the city, and the siege equipment cannot go over the mountain.

Franz Jr. continued: "The traditional siege tactics of mountain mercenaries is to first attack the villages around the city, drive the peasants into the city to consume food, and at the same time plunder the food on the spot to replenish themselves, and then conduct siege warfare."

At this moment, Frederick suddenly asked, "What about the start time?"

The answer was old Franz, who had fought countless times.

"The letter of war will be sent first." He replied, "The time is usually noon, which means that the war of honor will be waged under the gaze of the God of Light."

Frederick narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "In other words, the enemy's envoy will arrive early?"

"That's right." Old Franz replied, "Generally, the envoy will arrive one day in advance, and make an appointment to see you the next day."

There was a sneer on Frederick's face, he looked at the sand table and studied it quietly for a long time, and then asked, "Is it possible for someone of them to act in advance before the letter of war is delivered?"

"You don't need to advance too much. It's the night when the envoy arrives in Wessenburg. It's best in the middle of the night, and it's even better in the evening."

Everyone in the map room looked at me and I looked at you, not knowing what the commander wanted to do.

At this time, a staff officer said: "This is no problem, as long as someone instigates a few words, there will always be a bold person who is willing to vote."

Frederick took a wooden pole from the shelf under the sand table, clicked on a village among the mountains on the southern edge of the territory, and said, "We can infiltrate the leader of the territory here, and we can let some people come here to do a job." Tickets, we will launch a counterattack as soon as we catch someone!"

"There are too many enemies. We can't wait for them to swarm up. We must take the initiative to attack and concentrate our efforts to defeat them one by one."

He then clicked on Rothburg in the north, and the wooden pole crossed along the river. After stopping in the city of Wessenburg, he said: "Rothland's army can go by water or land. There are too many variables. Get rid of them first."

"There are swamps on both sides of this few kilometers of river, which cut off the land passages along both sides of the river. If we can pass through, we can avoid the enemy and reach the bottom of Rothburg. At that time, we will give priority to destroying the enemy. If we move quickly, we can capture it. castle."

Fighting is not just about people arriving, but also pack horses and vehicles to transport supplies. It is good to transport them by ship, but there are very few night flights nowadays, and they will run aground or hit the rocks if they are not careful.

Although it is no problem to take the current main road, there are many villages and small towns along the way, and it is easy to be spotted when thousands of people pass by.

Everyone did not deny Frederick's plan to launch an active attack in the first place. Multi-line combat is a taboo, and it is best to deal with the enemy in one direction first.

Old Franz frowned and said, "This swamp is very deep near the river, but it's very shallow on the right bank of the mountain. It's just that there are too many blood-sucking slimes in it. I don't recommend going there."

"When I was young, our two families planned to build a road along the foot of the mountain. It is much closer to the river than the current road."

"At that time, the old men and we saw a deer chased by wolves into the swamp on the top of the mountain, and it fell down without taking a single shot. It was covered with red blood-sucking slimes in a few breaths. "

"Those slimes are only the size of a small fingernail at the beginning, and they are the size of a fist when they are full."

Frederick shuddered when he heard it, and could only say: "Then I have to give up and go there."

Old Franz thought for a moment, pointed to a long and narrow lake at the roughly midpoint of the straight line between Wessenburg and Rothburg, and said, "There used to be a road between the mountains here, and it was no problem for a horse-drawn carriage."

"It's just that the earthquake mountain collapsed 30 years ago and blocked a small river. The valley became a lake. It's quite deep, about 100 meters wide."

"The gentlemen thought about building a stone bridge there, but because of endless disputes about who paid for it, it was not completed in the end, so they changed to the current road."

"We can build a pontoon bridge, with wooden planks fixed on the empty wine barrels, and connected together, it can pass the current carriage."

After hearing this, Frederick immediately said: "Okay, let's do this! Send people to walk this road tomorrow, and let the Executive Yuan organize the preparation of materials for the pontoon bridge."

He then pointed his wooden pole at the Eichstadt collar in the east and asked: "The army here needs to walk a long mountain road after setting off. We can carry out an ambush on the way. Can the two main regiments capture Rothberg?" Another ambush, can the time catch up?"

After discussing with the staff for a few minutes, Franz Jr. replied: "If the first battle can be over before sunrise, the soldiers can arrive at the mountain pass in light carriages at noon."

"If we can find a way to slow down their marching speed on the road, we can take cover calmly."

Frederick was still very familiar with the road to Eichstedt. He used to be a frequent guest, and he was often hugged and played by his elder sister.

He said: "Then set up some roadblocks to let them spend time and strive for an ambush. If it doesn't work, they will attack the camp at night."

"Count Eichstadt's castle is not easy to take down."

The mountain where the castle is located is higher and steeper than that of Frederick's house, and the mountain road will take a long time to walk, so it is not easy to sneak attack.

At this time, a staff officer said: "The whetstone in Heijiabao can pretend to be mountain mercenaries to trick the city gate into opening."

Frederick shook his head and said, "It's hard, Eichstatt has a lot of eyes, I'm afraid he won't let the mercenaries get close at that time."

Little Franz thought for a while, and said, "If it's not possible, let's put it away first. It's not like Rotenberg. If we don't occupy Nuremberg, those people will most likely snatch it."

Frederick could only nod his head, and then asked, "Next is Risling. Is there any way to eat them?"

After the first two battles, the enemy should have received the news, and it was impossible for them not to respond.

Franz Jr. replied: "At this moment, Rees's army should be besieging the city of Heim. We can cooperate from inside to outside."

Frederick nodded.

Franz Jr. continued: "At that time, the main force of the enemy will definitely storm the city of Howson, and the pressure will be great."

Howson City is surrounded by a lake on one side and mountains on the other. It happened to be stuck on the main road entering Wessen Land in the northwest direction, and the enemy army could not detour.

Frederick thought for a long time, and finally said: "Hausen City must be defended, and I will ask Professor Manuai and the others to help."

At this moment, old Franz said, "I'll go to Howson City."

Frederick nodded. Old Franz had fought for the Wesson family for many years and was well-known in the territory. Having him in charge could stabilize the hearts of the people.

Then Frederick drew a large circle in the southwest of the sand table, and said at the same time: "After the main force has freed up, go around behind them from the road leading from the Land of Ries to the Land of Ansbach, surround them, and destroy them."

"I have a request. This war is different from the past. It is not just a rout, but a siege war. It is necessary to physically destroy the enemy. We must kill all the enemies in front of us and scare potential enemies. Only in the future will we be safe. .”

Everyone in the map room felt a trace of fear. The current war is mainly about defeating the war. Except for the nobles who can exchange ransom, those miscellaneous soldiers don't care, just run away.

Especially those staff officers who used to be mercenary officers. After they were defeated in the past, they just needed to run faster than others. At worst, they threw away their weapons and armor.

It's all right now, this little master wants to surround people and cut them slowly like wheat.

But right now, this is the only way to go. There are too many enemies. If the routs are left alone, they will form a large army again.

Frederick estimated the time, and then said: "Basically, this battle is fought like this. Everyone, go and have a drink that you can order, get some sleep, and start making detailed plans tomorrow morning."

Everyone present was stunned. They thought that Frederick's active attack plan was just one of several plans, and later they would discuss plans such as dividing troops and defending to the death. They didn't expect that the original version was actually the final version.

Before anyone else could say anything, Frederick yawned, turned and left the map room.

(End of this chapter)