Academy Genius Commander

37 – Personality before the war (1)

And the preparation period of one and a half years passed in an instant, and the war with Czechia began on July 30th, 222nd year of the imperial calendar.

As planned, the crown prince personally led 40,000 troops in 5 divisions and entered the Bruno estate to occupy Visochia.

In line with that, the officials of the estate and I treated the crown prince and the nobles with the utmost respect, and even managed to please the high-ranking people without any problems.

Now that the banquet to pray for the victory of the war is over and the nobles are all resting, the prince ordered me to come to his room.

I went to the door where the prince was waiting as quickly as possible and knocked on the door.

“His Highness the Crown Prince, this is Major Peter Yeager. May I come in?”

“Come in.”

After receiving permission from the prince, I carefully opened the door as quietly as possible and spoke.

“Then excuse me, Your Highness.”

As soon as I entered the room, I knelt down on one knee and bowed my head in accordance with the imperial etiquette.

“Major Peter Jaeger is meeting His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“We have a lot to share, so stand up and keep your heads up.”

“I understand, Your Highness.”

When he looked up and looked at the prince, he could see various emotions on his face.

Unlike the last meeting, when they only showed goodwill towards me, now they feel the pressure of having to command 40,000 soldiers themselves, the anxiety of defeat and the anticipation of victory.

It is an emotion that all commanders who go to war must experience, regardless of whether they are in a high or low position.

“Major Jaeger, before we talk about the war. I’m asking Count Benner out of curiosity, but does Lieutenant Laura do a good job as an adjutant?”

In fact, Count Benner would have been meeting Laura by now, and he would be resolving the accumulated ambivalence since the father and daughter met after a year.

Count Benner will hear from Laura whether we build a friendly relationship with each other, whether we are doing well as lieutenants, and will report to the crown prince at any time later information limited to private parts.

Even before that, in the interim, the Count or others would have informed us whether or not the two of us were in a mutually beneficial relationship.

So there would be no need for the prince to ask me this question.

Asking questions like this probably means you want to start off on a good note before getting into a serious conversation.

“Since he is a talented person who graduated from the academy at the top of his class, he has been performing his duties well with almost no mistakes from the first day he was appointed as an adjutant. In particular, despite having no experience in commanding even a platoon, I happened to be in charge of a company-level training, and even then, the other company commanders conducted the training perfectly to the point of admiration.”

“Although Count Benner has been boasting to the point that saliva jumped from his mouth when he started talking about his daughter, I never thought that he would be that competent in the army, not just in the academy.”

“It’s just that I have a lot of interest in strategy, tactical operation theory, or military theory. When I have a little time, I get a little embarrassed because they ask me about military science. At such times, I feel like I am not her boss, but rather a military science professor at the academy.”

Hearing such non-complaining complaints, the prince tapped me on the shoulder and said,

“I’m acting as a competent lieutenant, so I’ll accept that much.”

So we chatted for a while about Laura, who came in as my lieutenant.

After the conversation had matured to some extent, the prince changed his expression completely and looked at me with serious eyes and asked.

“I’d like to hear more, but let’s move on to a full-scale conversation. The first thing to ask is that I gave you this territory and told you to prepare to invade Czechia. How was the preparation?”

In terms of Korea, it is a question of a crown prince who has more power than a general with 4 stars or the Minister of National Defense.

An ordinary commander might not be able to answer properly because of his nervousness, but I have thoroughly prepared everything.

So, I answered in a confident voice.

“Biscuit made from a mixture of salted turnips, beans, wheat, and barley was enough to feed 40,000 people for three months, and luxury items such as salted meat and cheese were secured enough for the entire army to consume for about a month. It is. In addition, accommodations, inns, and roads to the manor have been perfectly maintained so that merchants who pass through here on the way do not have any inconvenience when staying.”

The prince heard that and said with a shocked expression.

“It is beyond my expectations. To prepare such a large quantity of preserved food in a territory where there were only about 3,000 serfs. It’s really surprising even Deus. Then, in the worst case, have you prepared for the military supply merchants not to come?”

“In that case, I am prepared to pay the serfs of my estate a proper allowance and bring them the food they have.”

“You prepared more thoroughly than I thought. great. Then I will give you the first mission of this operation.”

When I heard that, I was deeply embarrassed.

Because I thought that what I had to do now was to move to Czechia with the army led by the crown prince tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

However, since the other side is the crown prince, who is higher than 4 stars, there is no objection except for an order to die openly.

So, according to etiquette, I lowered my posture and prepared to receive orders.

“As commander-in-chief of this war and crown prince of the Empire, I give orders to Major Peter Yeager. Currently, our forces will fight against the Czech Republic’s army in the province of Visochia, but they have not properly secured topographic information of the enemy’s territory, Visochia. Therefore, Major Yeager, immediately lead the battalion and carry out a reconnaissance mission three days ahead of the main unit so that we can obtain detailed information and report regularly.”

Normally, leading only one battalion into enemy territory is the same as openly protesting to kill me.

In the current situation, leading a battalion to reconnoiter around a potential battlefield is not a very dangerous mission.

Because if the Reich Empire’s army of over 40,000 was advancing from a distance of about 3 days from the Jaeger Battalion.

The enemy will also gather soldiers from all over Czechia, including Visochia, to prepare for the battle that will take place here.

If that happens, it will be difficult to station enough soldiers to deal with our battalion of over 500 people everywhere in the vicinity.

This is because if we don’t bother revealing our location by being openly blank in the enemy camp or moving too slowly, we will not be in great danger as long as we move at a certain distance from the main base.

So, under the premise of staying alert, the role of the advance reconnaissance battalion can be said to be a good mission to achieve achievements relatively safely.

Still, since I’m going to war, it’s natural to grab the opportunity to make achievements as much as possible when it comes.

“I will obey your orders, Your Highness. However, I would like to know how much discretion is given to the operation of the unit.”

The prince replied with a smile as if he had expected me to ask such a question.

“Battle-to-battal combat is prohibited unless attacked first. The massacre or killing of civilians is also prohibited. Instead, small skirmishes, looting, sabotage, and sabotage may be conducted at the discretion of the Incident Commander, if deemed necessary. However, since it was an act of discretion, you alone will be responsible for it.”

This is a very reasonable instruction.

Because what if the battalion that preceded the reconnaissance was fighting the enemy battalion for a long time and its location was discovered?

If the allies don’t come, they can be annihilated by being hit by the nearby military units, and even if they don’t, if they get help from the prince’s main body that comes after them.

Because of the loss of soldiers and the delay in the arrival of the main unit to the battlefield, there could be a situation where you have to fight in an unfavorable place.

“I understand, Your Highness. So, when can we go out?”

“Make sure to have it ready so that we can go out as soon as we finish breakfast tomorrow. I wish you no luck.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Saying that, I quietly bowed and left the room where the prince was staying.

There are so many ways to harass the Czech Republic army while avoiding civilian massacres, war crimes, and battalion-level engagements.

How can I get my Czech friends to rave with profanity when they receive my cute gift?

Then I went to the expeditionary force supply department and borrowed about 20 uniforms from the Czech Republic army, muttering.

“I will give you my teaching that war is like this.”