The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 316
Liande’s army first took the offensive.
Ars positioned 10,000 troops on the left, 20,000 in the center, and 30,000 on the right, putting strength into the right wing.
This concentration of troops on the right wing was meant to be mindful of the central front.
At that moment, Calvern and Kaien were facing off in the center, engaged in a power struggle.
In such a situation, Ars could have potentially detached troops from the right wing and quickly dispatched them to the center, so from Svenner’s perspective, he had to be wary of these right-wing troops.
Rancia Galeron was silently looking down at the war map.
Next to him, Todolam Dorlen speaks.
“So he’s the first to attack. They said he’s of the Fensillon royal bloodline? Then I understand. He’s the descendant of that cunning snake.”
“….”
“If you’re going to counterattack, it would be best to place me in the left wing. If they fortify their positions and redirect troops around the central battlefield, it’ll become a headache.”
“No.”
Rancia shook his head.
“His purpose is not the center.”
“What?”
“This tactic… It’s a tactic I used before. Don’t you remember?”
“A tactic you used?”
Todolam stared intently at the map and soon widened his eyes.
“Ha, haha! What an interesting fellow! To use this tactic against you, Rancia! So is this just a probing move?”
“Probably.”
“Will you play along?”
“Dancing once wouldn’t be bad.”
Rancia suddenly stood up and issued an order.
He organized a separate force of 10,000 and stationed them in the center.
This was to dispatch them to another battlefield according to the enemy’s movements.
The officers expressed doubts.
Since Liande’s army was focusing its weight on the right side, dispatching troops there seemed like the correct answer at first glance.
However, this was a one-dimensional thought.
Rancia had already pierced through the true intent by looking at Liande’s army’s march route.
Although Ars had centered the weight on the right wing, to make a detour towards the center, they would necessarily need to secure a supply route.
However, to the right of the right wing’s march route, there were steep mountain ranges. This meant it was difficult to secure a supply route.
In contrast, on the left side, there was a plain that was easy to advance through.
Ars used this to quickly change troop deployment.
The 10,000 troops from the right wing quickly moved to the center and merged, and the 10,000 troops from the center moved to the left, making the left wing 20,000 strong.
But Rancia, who had anticipated this, dispatched the 10,000 separate troops stationed in the center to the left battlefield at the right moment, thereby balancing the military strength.
Sophia and Olaf clicked their tongues at that nimble response.
“I thought it was a exquisite move…”
“The response is quick.”
Given the geographical characteristics, if Svenner had positioned troops on the right battlefield in advance, he wouldn’t have been able to follow this movement.
While Liande’s army could move quickly through the plains, Svenner’s army would have had to pass through forests and mountainous areas, so they certainly couldn’t have sent troops to the left battlefield in time.
“Well, of course. This is a tactic Rancia Galeron used during his conquest wars.”
At Ars’ words, Sophia furrows her brow.
“What do you mean? So you knew about it?”
“That’s right.”
“What are you thinking? Why would you do it knowingly…”
Sophia suddenly closed her mouth.
She blinked, looking at the battlefield’s formation.
“Could it be…”
“Oh, you can deduce the intention just from this? You’ve grown quite a bit.”
“Stop saying strange things! Is it true? Are there hidden support troops?”
“Yes. A force of 10,000.”
With that, Sophia and Olaf exchanged glances, suggesting a different story.
Eonia, standing next to Ars, tilts her head, not understanding what’s happening.
“Where are the 10,000 reinforcements coming from?”
“Here.”
Ars pointed to the right battlefield with his command staff.
* * *
Ars, who positioned 10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 troops on the left, center, and right, moved those troops in a domino-like formation, shifting 10,000 to the left.
Thus, it initially became balanced at 20,000, 20,000, and 20,000.
Svenner also quickly dispatched the 10,000 troops it had organized in the center to the left battlefield, balancing the troops at 20,000, 20,000, and 20,000.
Up to this point, it was within the range of Rancia Galeron’s predictions.
The problem was what came after.
Ars moved the troops again, creating a 30,000, 20,000, and 10,000 formation.
As Liande’s army concentrated its strength on the left battlefield, Svenner had no choice but to respond.
“Hmm…”
Rancia continued to press his scouts while observing the movement.
“Are you absolutely sure there are no detected military forces?”
“Yes, sir. No military forces heading to this battlefield have been detected anywhere.”
“How strange.”
As Rancia groaned, Todolam asked, unable to understand.
“What’s strange? The enemy is just moving faster than we expected and shifted 10,000 more troops. Isn’t that all? We should also quickly dispatch 10,000 more troops to the left battlefield.”
Geographically, they might be a step behind, but they could still arrive on time.
So he urged to quickly dispatch additional troops, but Rancia shook his head.
“If additional enemy forces appear from the right battlefield in this current formation, we’ll be in a difficult situation.”
“Well, of course, but the scouts say there are none. Don’t you believe that?”
“…I can’t believe it. Do not deploy troops. If the left battlefield becomes disadvantageous, abandon the position and retreat.”
“Huh…!”
At first glance, it seemed like a frightened action, which made the officers discontented, but when they heard the report that came out two hours later, they were startled.
“Urgent report! Enemy forces have appeared on the central front! They are attacking our position by combining their existing military strength!”
“Hmm, as expected, they were here.”
Ars’ plan was to seemingly concentrate troops on the left side while using 10,000 troops borrowed from the center to attack the right position, but this did not work on the cautious Rancia.
“This is impossible… How could 10,000 troops arrive here without being detected by intelligence!”
Rancia speaks to the trembling officers.
“This is enemy territory. They naturally have the geographical advantage. Everyone, reconstruct the intelligence network!”
Rancia easily maintains the defense.
But Ars’ true strategy was just beginning.
Two days later, Svenner’s military camp became noisy.
“Report! The enemy forces have vanished! They suddenly disappeared!”
“The enemy’s main camp is also empty!”
Liande’s army had disappeared without a trace.
All that was left where they were stationed were hastily created decoys.
They had used these to disrupt the enemy’s intelligence until dawn.
“Where on earth did the enemy forces disappear to?”
Wrinkles formed on Rancia’s forehead.
“We are currently collecting information!”
He wanted to reprimand the intelligence agents out of frustration, but he couldn’t. After all, the order to reconstruct the intelligence network had come from Rancia himself.
‘Could this be what he’s aiming for?’
Ars had vanished while Svenner’s forces were reconstructing their intelligence network, which is why the intelligence couldn’t be properly gathered.
Since it was crucial to determine where those troops had gone, Rancia had no choice but to suspend his plans and invest more personnel in intelligence gathering.
Soon, dozens of intelligence reports came to him.
“Report! Enemy troops are advancing south! It seems their target is our Svenner homeland!”
“Urgent report! Enemy troops are advancing north! It seems their target is the central battlefield!”
Reports were coming from all directions.
Rancia thought most of these were deceptions and that only one could be true. He also believed Ars’ real purpose was to ambush them with hidden troops if they dispersed their forces.
“Do you think I’ll fall for such a shallow trick…!”
Dispersing troops would make logistics difficult and increase military fatigue.
Rancia, judging that simply holding out would be advantageous, began to focus more on information gathering and held his position.
* * *
I returned to Grancel’s residence and immediately headed to my room.
“Ah… I’m tired.”
As soon as I lay down on the bed to take a short nap, the children launched a sudden attack.
“Dad, let’s play!”
“Ugh… Can’t Dad rest for a bit?”
“No!”
Perhaps because I’m not home often, the children were pushing me persistently.
As I helplessly played with the children, Duke Hellian appeared with a loud noise.
He seemed bewildered after hearing the war progress.
“Ars! What on earth is going on!? You’ve disbanded all the troops!”
“I’ve only temporarily disbanded them. It’s currently farming season, so even basic work will be helpful.”
“That may be true, but…! If the enemy advances now, we’ll lose our territory helplessly!”
“That’s the key point. The enemy probably won’t move. They’ll think we’re setting up an ambush. They’ll likely be harassing the intelligence squad trying to find that ambush.”
The enemy would be tense seeing our troops reported from all directions, thinking it was a military movement, but our actual troops were moving to scheduled farmlands or fortress construction sites.
They planned to perform work there for about 6 days before returning to their positions.
Those 6 days would be the time the enemy would realize they were deceived and begin advancing.
Duke Hellian shook his head in disbelief.
“The enemy’s expression when they realize this will be worth seeing.”
“That is indeed the purpose.”
“Psychological warfare…”
“Yes, stimulating the enemy commander by giving them shame. Even if it doesn’t work, from our perspective, we’ve done valuable farming work during this war.”
“What if the enemy chooses to advance?”
“We were planning to give up this position and create a new front line. Honestly, I wasn’t very happy with our current position.”
When I spoke about the new front line configuration, Duke Hellian nodded.
“It will indeed be easier to defend. Originally, we established this position out of stubbornness to not lose even a bit of territory, but strategically speaking…”
As I continued talking to Duke Hellian without playing, Ryuna jumped on my face with her body in frustration.
“Whoop…! Anyway, I’ll leave the additional details to you.”
“Yes, return quickly. From what I see, it seems you designed this operation just to take a break.”
“Surely not.”
Well, the vacation was sweet anyway.
The children, now hungry, went to find their mother, so I could also take a nap.
‘Rancia Galeron…’
He was an extremely cautious general.
That’s why this deception operation could succeed, but it was still just a deception operation and hadn’t brought the upper hand.
‘I know how to attack now.’
The advantage of cautious generals is that they don’t fall into traps, but their weakness is also clear.
By being too careful, they miss opportunities. Just like now.
‘This incident will be the starting point of the attack. Shall I properly cast the bait?’
As I thought about this with my eyes closed, sleep began to overtake me.
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