Academy Genius Commander

81 – Eradication of Thoner tribe (10)

“Archers, keep shooting arrows while retreating! The foot soldiers hold their spears or pitchforks properly, keep them in check, and walk backwards!”

“f*ck, the sturgeon pigs ran into the back and made a mess, so how can you keep going backwards?”

“Chief Janus, there is nowhere to retreat. What should I do? Other units are in the same situation now!”

As they retreated like that, the barbarian infantry’s plan to slowly cut us down with arrows was in vain, I could tell from their condition that they could no longer move backwards.

If you miss this period, you will be exposed to arrow attacks one-sidedly again.

“Their infantrymen are ragtag. The crossbowmen and wizards belonging to the 1st battalion and the battalion directly under their control, attack the barbarians who only imitate infantry in front of them! Shoot 3 rounds per crossbowman and fall back!”

Barbarian infantrymen, no, they were recruited casually and became infantrymen overnight, and now they intuit that a full-scale hand-to-hand combat will take place and begin to tremble with fear.

Seeing this, my soldiers became more energetic and said sarcastically in mocking voices.

“Die here and become food for your favorite wild animals! do you like that?”

“Just as I enslaved the people of our empire, I will enslave your family as slaves in the empire! Don’t worry and die in peace!”

“The enemies of Corporal Martius. I won’t miss it. I’ll tear them all up and make them pretty.”

As soon as the mockery was over, the crossbowmen who had finished loading and the mages who had finished chanting attacked the unfortunate barbarian foot soldiers.

Enemy foot soldiers who didn’t even wear proper armor were knocked down with each arrow hit, let alone magic.

When about 300 wizards and crossbowmen inflicted more than a hundred serious injuries or deaths with just the first shot, the barbarians groaned and screamed incomprehensibly.

“Captain Laura, leave one company here to protect me, and slaughter Chief Thönes and the other henchmen with Major Marco and Major Chenis.”

“But if I take that many troops, there will be too few soldiers to protect the colonel.”

Certainly, if the enemy was in perfect condition, he would not have thought to use this tactic recklessly.

However, their archers can’t count the casualties, but they must have died in a considerable number, so they wouldn’t dare to attack my base.

However, as Laura said, in war, it often happens that a commander’s neck is blown and the battle is over due to a little carelessness.

“I will stand behind you fighting in the vanguard and come out to support you when deemed necessary. So, if I am attacked, you will protect me.”

“I see, Colonel.”

After answering that, Laura quickly drew the sword from her waist and ran out, commanding.

“The battalion directly under the command of the regimental commander, follow me, commander Laura von Benner! Let’s go to condemn the evil barbarians!”

Having said that, as a woman, Laura, as she had learned from me, followed my orders and stood in the vanguard.

After hearing her order, the soldiers of the battalion under my direct control grabbed their spears with a strong spirit that they could never lose, and followed her vigorously.

“The 1st Company, Captain Laura, stood in the forefront. I bet the guys with two balls don’t want to be left behind, right?”

“Second Company! The guy who cares for himself here today, apart from the military law, will make me live for a week with a sign that reads, “I’m a nerd who is weaker than a woman.” Fight to the death!”

“3rd Company, do your best to destroy the enemy. Those who fall behind will never be forgiven!”

When I saw this, I often wondered why Jeanne d’Arc’s troops were able to win in stories dealing with the Hundred Years War between France and England.

‘Since women are commanders and spearheads, I fought to the death so as not to hear that the French aristocrats and soldiers, who had a culture that valued masculine courage, were not even as good as women.’

I could understand to some extent what you were saying.

To put it bluntly, soldiers live on their rank and pride, but if they are inferior to women in their combat capability, they will have an embarrassing history that will follow them until they die.

“Push on the spear!”

“Those bastards are so weak! After pushing with a long spear, the flat-bottoms run right out and break their heads!”

“A barbarian who hasn’t even picked a single head, I’ll make him say he’s dead tomorrow!”

Usually, a confrontation takes place between infantrymen holding long spears, but perhaps because Captain Laura was in the vanguard, the morale rose and the soldiers unilaterally pushed the barbarian infantry.

“Kill that woman! Then the tribal chief will bestow a beauty!”

“The chieftain of Thoner said he would appoint the man who killed that woman as chief and reward him generously!”

“I mean, don’t be pushed by a woman!”

The barbarians were frightened by the tremendous momentum of our infantry and began to retreat at great speed.

By now, Thoner would have realized that he couldn’t beat us in an infantry battle.

In addition, you would think that I had focused all my efforts on the front for victory, so you would use cavalry to break through the rear and cut my throat, aiming for a come-from-behind victory?

“I will put the regimental flags and flags here to make you believe that I am still here. I leave one platoon here, and the rest follow me to support the deputy commander. Hurry up.”

Attaching three platoons to one battalion does not mean much.

But if the high-ranking person on the battlefield is confident that I knew this crisis was coming and I have a solution like this.

Even if subordinate officers and soldiers do not understand what the reason is, their morale will rise.

In addition, I have a record of overcoming crises with ingenious strategies and making numerous achievements, so the soldiers who already know that fact will trust me more and their morale will rise rapidly.

“Everyone, move quickly.”

That’s how I entrusted the flag symbolizing the regimental commander, let the remaining platoon commander ride the horse, and moved to support the deputy commander.

“Deputy Regimental Captain, Deputy Regimental Captain. How is the current situation?”

When asked, he replied with a sigh.

“Because they were badly hit by arrows and magic a while ago, they didn’t attack, and they continued to shoot arrows, so the soldiers and officers are physically and mentally exhausted.”

“Is that so? Then, what about the unit that was annihilated by a single action?”

“Not yet.”

After hearing a satisfactory answer from the deputy regiment commander, I glanced at the number of archers shooting arrows around the battalion.

That number is about 100.

Considering the damage that Thoenness took in the middle, it must have been that when we switched to infantry combat, we focused our archers here with the intention of penetrating the rear.

Otherwise, there would be no way so many cavalry archers were roaming around this place until now.

“I will tell you the situation of the war. The rest of our infantry is now smoothly destroying the enemy’s central army, and unless there is a special incident, we will achieve an overwhelming victory in this war.”

“Is that true?”

“Since Captain Laura is in the lead, our soldiers are fighting to the death. But aren’t they idiots with their heads rotten too? In order to aim for a last chance of reversal, we will mobilize all the cavalry in the rear battalion here and try to break through. So move the mage and crossbowmen to the back and prepare to turn.”

“Yes, I understand. Colonel.”

When he answered, the situation and orders of the current battle were simultaneously conveyed to the entire battalion.

Wizards and crossbowmen naturally fell into the back of the battalion.

“Enemy cavalry are approaching! That number looks like twice as many as before! They’re rushing here all at once!”

Also, the predictions were correct.

“Forward to the entire regiment. Crossbowmen reload without turning back, wizards start chanting, and foot soldiers pretend not to notice and just look forward and walk. Then they will aim for our back and try to charge. When I send a signal, they all turn around and form formation, and the crossbowmen and wizards shoot forward with all their might.”

That’s how gradually the sound of their horses’ hooves rang the ground, and when I heard the barbarians shouting something.

“Now! Reverse the entire battalion! Deputy Regiment Commander, I will entrust you with future command. Regimental leader vanguard! The regimental commander is in the vanguard!”

Normally, I wouldn’t want to be at the forefront of a regimental commander, but to face over 200 cavalry with 800 infantrymen.

You and I will be engulfed in overwhelming fear, so I, who commands the regiment, must show that I am ready to die like them.

It’s because you can take courage and move according to the plan without panic.

That’s how I borrowed the long spear of the soldier next to me and stood shoulder to shoulder with the spearmen.

200 cavalry charged us, but countless arrows and magic flew towards them.

Besides, because of their slow hands, the wizards and crossbowmen fired arrows and magic at a merciless speed, probably thinking that life would end there if they heard that I, the commander of the regiment, had died.

“Charge, charge! We have to break through that damn formation!”

“Aww!”

“How do you break through that, this damn Luke!”

Enemy cavalry were quickly reduced by magic and arrows like ice melting in the hot sun.

When the cavalrymen charging in front of me arrived, the number was reduced to about 50.

I spoke in a loud voice in front of the spearmen.

“They use swords, not spears or lances! flatulence! If they approach among the spearmen, hit their heads!”

Then, in order not to be pushed back by the approaching cavalrymen, I clutched at the spear firmly planted in the ground and glared at the enemy cavalrymen.

After a while, a heavy feeling was transmitted from the spear to my hand, and the cavalryman in front of me who rushed at me died instantly.

Then the bandits jumped out from among the spearmen and began to crush the heads of the barbarians who had not been made good by the dead, regardless of whether they had fallen from their horses or were still on their horses.

The enemy cavalry were all dead except for a few who managed to retreat.

After an hour had passed, the other commanders, including Captain Laura, brought the head of the Thoner tribal leader to announce victory, and the day’s battle ended.

After that, our regiment roamed the territories of the Thoner tribe for a month, devastating their villages.

Tribal warriors and barbarian women, children, and those who surrendered who had lost their heads were taken prisoner and taken away.

After returning, I drew up an operational plan based on the lessons learned from the war and submitted it to the corps commander.

‘Operation for Permanent Stabilization and Incorporation of the Northern Region’

Perhaps in the next eight months or so, all of the Northern Army will come out and occupy Ludvik and this peninsula.