The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 311
The enemy army moves noisily while deploying their troops.
My adjutant Ash, observing the enemy’s 20,000 troops, speaks.
“So, all of this is just a decoy?”
“Probably.”
This is the strategy of Seong Dong-gyeok.
Using 20,000 troops as a decoy to conceal the movement of another separate unit.
“Then, shouldn’t we be wary of that separate unit?”
“There’s no need to be led around. At most, they’re aiming for the military supply warehouse. We can afford to give that up.”
Although losing all the food would be painful, it can ultimately be restored.
More importantly, we have the reliable ally of the Ellan Kingdom. The sea route is already established, so we can receive food from there if necessary.
“So, it would be more advantageous to devour these 20,000 troops used as bait. We’ll just give up the military supplies.”
“Indeed.”
Even so, he would have noticed that I would make such a choice.
‘In that case, the opponent would choose between two options.’
Either set a trap for the 20,000 troops used as bait, or increase the scale of the separate unit.
I decided to strike the 20,000 troops first before the opponent’s separate unit could fully move, to investigate this.
Anton, in charge of the vanguard, clears his throat and shouts.
“Do not forgive these bastards for violating our territory with their dirty feet! Charge!”
On the left, Anton, and on the right, Elena, each leading 3,000 troops, struck the enemy’s flanks.
Up to this point, everything went smoothly. The enemy was startled by their breakthrough and began to waver.
How to move the troops from here.
For me, watching the choice of Rancia Galeron, the legendary general of Fensillon, their movements were spine-chilling.
“What is this…?”
The enemy troop movements were far from my expectations.
Instead of maintaining their formation, they were just letting things flow.
As we were currently penetrating, the enemy’s damage continued to accumulate.
“Is the enemy commander a fool? Doing nothing and just watching?”
Ash mocked extensively.
“Can our main force also go in now?”
“…”
“Ars?”
“Immediately issue a retreat order! Tell Sophia in the rear to stop moving!”
“What? Why? Things are going well.”
“This is what the opponent intended!”
Making us see the battle situation favorably.
This was the trap Rancia had set. Through this, he was trying to dig into my heart.
* * *
Meanwhile, Rancia Galeron, commanding the 20,000 Svenner troops, was blankly observing the situation.
The Svenner officers were fidgeting.
“Sir! The enemy’s momentum is unusual! We must devise a strategy to minimize the army’s confusion!”
“…”
“General!”
Since Rancia was like a sudden guest from the Svenner army’s perspective, the Svenner officers could not contain their frustration with Rancia’s attitude of just watching.
Despite continuously offering advice, Rancia was just blankly watching the situation.
Then, when Anton and Elena had gone deeper, he speaks.
“What do you think is the most important element in war?”
“Pardon?”
“Let me rephrase. What do you think is necessary to win a battle?”
“W-we need soldiers.”
“That’s right. There are soldiers, and officers leading those soldiers, and a general giving orders to those officers.”
Rancia emphasized the importance of officers.
“No matter how excellent a general is, it’s meaningless if the officers are incompetent. Just like you guys right now.”
“…!?”
“Well, don’t worry. The groundwork is already complete. It’s time to start.”
As soon as those words ended, movement occurred among the troops. These were elite troops hidden by Rancia’s prior instructions.
These elite troops moved, targeting Anton and Elena who had penetrated deeply.
Their movement was insidious and meticulous.
Because Anton and Elena had charged in with such momentum, they were eventually surrounded.
“Target the enemy officers. Ars Elaine, cut off their limbs!”
This was the reason for moving the army during winter. Before the great war in spring, eliminate the capable enemy officers.
For this, they used 20,000 troops as bait and even sacrificed the 1-million separate unit as a consumable.
A net of encirclement tightening around the officers’ throats.
Anton, who quickly received Ars’ retreat order, suffered only the loss of a few officers. But Elena, who had charged in boldly, was different.
“Ugh!”
“Lady Elena! Retreat quickly! Kak!”
Elena was trapped in a dilemma.
To retreat, she needed to turn the army around, but she had gone too deep, and the elite troops hidden in the enemy camp had disrupted her by cutting her off.
Moreover, the Svenner soldiers who attacked her were of considerable skill.
They pursued Elena with mechanical coordination.
Her subordinate officers were desperately protecting her, but their numbers were continuously decreasing.
‘If this continues…!’
Judging that she might be captured, Elena brandished her spear with a desperate resolve.
A declaration of will that she would die before being captured alive.
The enemy officers also raised their spirits and steeled their resolve.
At that moment. With a rough sound of ‘Kwang!’, Ash’s special forces broke through the formation.
“Lady Elena! Escape while I create an escape route!”
Elena managed to escape through the gap Ash created, but all of her subordinate officers were hunted down.
Although the troop casualties were much higher on the Svenner army’s side, Ars’ side had lost their officers.
Ars made a bitter expression at the damage and pointed to the enemy camp, shouting.
“Quickly reorganize the formation!”
Ars’ troops, which had already broken through, quickly finished reorganizing and pushed in with the main force.
Knowing that Rancia was targeting the officers, he tried to push in with force.
Rancia raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
“Not bad, as expected of a descendant of Almein. It seems military talent runs in the blood.”
Rancia, who had sent praise towards Ars, began to retreat his troops without hesitation.
Although the Svenner army suffered a visible defeat, losing an additional 2,000 troops during the pursuit, Rancia was still smiling.
“You must know that this battle is just a prelude?”
As he said, these 20,000 troops were originally just a decoy.
Ars had a frustrated expression.
Whatever the case, he had been thinking that defeating enemy troops would be beneficial, but the enemy had been conducting operations while accepting troop losses from the beginning.
The 20,000 decoy troops, and the covert separate unit.
Their purpose was hunting officers.
“I’ve been completely played…”
To track the enemy’s separate unit’s movements, Ars gave troops to capable officers for pursuit.
Sophia, Lysithea, Lucretia, Ilya, Gaspar, and others.
They were busily moving to protect military supply warehouses and civilian homes, but what the enemy was truly targeting was their lives.
* * *
The Svenner side’s separate unit was moving skillfully.
They were moving as if targeting civilian homes and military supply warehouses, luring the pursuing troops.
Originally, moving like this in enemy territory required a fierce determination to sacrifice one’s life.
Sophia, who had not anticipated that the Svenner army would conduct such a suicide special operation, was quickly deploying her separate unit to defend her position.
Sophia shrugged at the smooth situation.
At that moment, a messenger arrives from Ars.
“Urgent report! The lord commands all troops to stop moving and be cautious of enemy ambushes!”
“Be cautious of ambushes?”
Sophia furrowed her brow.
A separate unit entering enemy territory setting up an ambush? Not only is the possibility of success low, but even if successful, the chances of returning alive would be minimal.
The core of a separate unit is mobility.
If they sacrifice that mobility and remain in one place, their location becomes easy to identify, making it simple to construct an encirclement.
“Why would they take such a risk…?”
“The lord says the enemy’s purpose is to reduce the number of our officers.”
“Hunting officers…?”
Sophia had been skeptical until then, but soon a report came in.
“Reporting! The village of Diran, which the enemy was planning to attack, is safe!”
“Could it really be…!”
Subsequently, reports of battles due to enemy ambushes continued to arrive.
Svenner was moving as if even sacrificing all the troops of their separate unit would be worth it if they could eliminate one more officer.
While using soldiers as consumables, the officers leading the separate unit managed to escape nimbly.
Sophia swallowed hard at that vicious strategy.
“I’ve never heard of such a strategy.”
This had struck their Achilles’ heel.
They had distributed capable officers evenly across each unit to respond smoothly to the separate unit.
“I’ll organize a rear guard immediately! Hurry and move!”
“Yes!”
Sophia had intended to move directly to drive out the enemy troops, but it was already too late.
Ilya was accepting resignation about life, looking at the opponent blocking her path.
“Master…”
“The time has come. Mercenary Ilya Anfei, I’ll take your fleeting life.”
Ilya had fallen into an ambush and her retreat was cut off.
Moreover, the ambush troops weren’t just Guderian.
The legendary general, Todolam Dorlen, resurrected by the mother goddess and the guardian god of the Erebonia Kingdom, was also present.
Todolam left Guderian to deal with Ilya and began hunting other officers.
“Haha, I’ll personally execute Rancia’s officer hunting strategy. Not bad.”
His overwhelming martial prowess rapidly reduced the number of officers.
This further closed Ilya’s escape routes.
Fortunately, reinforcements were available.
“I knew I smelled Guderian’s stench…!”
Gaspar, who was moving nearby, abandoned his operational area and came to support Ilya.
Gaspar’s move to support Ilya was, in that sense, a way to disrupt the enemy’s operations.
If Gaspar had simply stayed in his operational area, he too would have been caught by the ambush troops.
However, that didn’t mean the situation was good.
Todolam Dorlen attacked Gaspar’s unit, declaring a good prey had appeared.
“Uhaha! You’ve walked into the trap with your own feet!”
“Krgh!?”
Todolam’s martial prowess rivaled Anton’s.
For Gaspar, just enduring was challenging.
He had no room to help Ilya.
Lysithea’s cavalry of 300 troops, who first received the main unit’s messenger, arrived as reinforcements in this moment of life and death for both Gaspar and Ilya.
“Gaspar!”
“Haa! Haa! Thank you… If you were just a bit late, I would definitely have died.”
Gaspar was covered in wounds and drenched in blood.
Lysithea swallowed hard, looking at Todolam who had done this to him.
Todolam put away his weapon with a bitter expression.
“I don’t want to engage in a cavalry battle.”
He reorganized his troops and formed a battle formation.
The intention was to buy time until Guderian completely annihilated Ilya’s unit.
Then he turned to where Ilya and Guderian were engaged in a fierce battle.
Gaspar and Lysithea tried to launch a total offensive to save Ilya, but the battle behind them was already heading towards Ilya’s defeat.
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