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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 43

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 43

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! The rear infantry put down their swords and shields and picked up bows.

On the first day of the war. Thanks to Ilya, who received a request from Ars, bringing in a large number of bows along with war horses from the surrounding territories, the number was enormous.

At one point, the number of archers alone exceeded 10,000.

Madon thought this was for operating mounted archers, but it was the opposite. Gathering war horses was just a ruse to collect bows.

“Keep shooting without rest! I promise a reward to the one who empties their quiver first!”

“Uoooh!”

The soldiers’ morale rose, and they shot arrows recklessly.

Generally, it’s impossible to organize this many archers.

Because arrows would be insufficient anyway. Therefore, it was standard to maintain archers only with soldiers skilled in archery. Only then could limited arrows be consumed effectively.

“Ah, aah…!”

Madon’s army, flanked on both sides.

Julian, realizing they had been tricked, trembled his jaw. 

“General! Arrows are coming! Please take cover quickly!”

Usually, arrows are blocked by shields and their power is reduced, but it’s different when flanked like this.

Even if you block one side, you’ll be hit by arrows from the right.

Thus, Madon’s camp became chaotic due to arrows shot from both sides.

“General! Please take cover…!”

“It’s over.”

“What!?”

“I said it’s over…!”

The moment they gave up both flanks, they were already cornered.

It wasn’t a matter of enduring or not.

Calliper was in a position to just keep shooting arrows like this.

“But their arrows aren’t infinite either! If we just hold out a little longer…!”

“No, it’s close to infinite. After all… We shot that much…!”

The Calliper army had recycled over 60% of the arrows Madon had shot. The quivers given to soldiers weren’t just one, but 4-5 each.

10,000 archers each have that many arrows.

Just like Zhuge Liang obtained arrows from Cao Cao through deception tactics.[1]

Ars made the opponent think things were going according to plan while completing the picture he wanted.

By showing mounted archers, he made the enemy approach. Made the approaching enemy conscious of the cavalry on both flanks. Used that cavalry as arrow catchers to collect a massive amount of arrows.

Julian, falling into the illusion that everything was going according to his plan, sent a detachment of 5,000 including 3,000 cavalry on a flanking maneuver. This created a gap that Ars could exploit tactically.

“Moreover, the soldiers’ ability to execute this tactic… They’re not mere conscripts!”

The Calliper army here consisted of 3,000 Calliper regulars forces  and 20,000 soldiers from Kuravel.

Of course, these wouldn’t have their morale shaken by the flanking operation of the detachment.

Then where did the conscripts go?

They were all under Rutger’s command.

Rutger, following Ars’s instructions, strongly repelled Ushis’s attack from the beginning. This was to make them mistake the forces there for regular troops.

Rutger, who knew Ushis’s tendencies and tactical abilities, perfectly executed Ars’s instructions. Julian mistakenly thought that many regular troops were deployed in the Foldick mountains.

The preliminary work for this was mixing the soldiers’ uniforms.

Before distributing the troops, they completely mixed the uniforms of Kuravel soldiers, Calliper regulars, and conscripts. Then randomly distributed them, making it impossible for Madon to distinguish troops by uniforms.

This means Ars had considered this situation from the very beginning.

“You played me in the palm of your hand! Wade…!!”

Arrows falling incessantly.

Throughout the archer units, archers selected by Eonia were commanding the archers.

Madon’s infantry tried to approach to take out these archer units but were stopped by the infantry formation already in place.

The cavalry that had been heading to the rear rushed in at full speed, but their numbers were too few.

If the 3,000 cavalry pulled out for the detachment were here, they might have been able to break this situation, but what’s not there isn’t there. This meant that Ars had read even Julian’s flanking strategy.

If Julian prepared a flanking strategy to break Ars’s defensive strategy, Ars had prepared tactics to break that strategy.

Ars was one move ahead in the numbers game.

“This will only lead to annihilation. All troops retreat! Everyone retreat!”

At Julian’s retreat signal, Madon’s soldiers lost discipline.

Even in a retreat situation, there should be discipline, but with arrows raining down, there was no leisure for that.

“A gap has formed.”

Since Madon’s forces were already concentrated on both flanks, when the retreat began, a huge space opened up in the center.

Ars shot an arrow with red cloth wrapped around it high into the sky. Eonia, waiting in the center, received this signal and broke through.

“Haaah!”

Crash! Madon’s soldiers were swept away.

Eonia, who quickly approached where Julian was, began fierce combat with his close aides.

Julian tried to escape using this opportunity but was hit by flying arrows. Thud! Thud! One in the calf, one in the thigh, and he fell.

“Ugh! Damn…!”

Julian, a strategist and not a warrior, had no choice when Eonia finished off his aides and approached.

“I surrender! Treat me as a prisoner of war!”

“Hmph!”

Thud! Eonia kicked Julian’s head, knocking him unconscious, and shouted. “We’ve captured the enemy general! This battle is a complete victory for our great Lord Wade!”

Uoooh!! Cheers rose high over the Setes plains.

The Calliper army led by Ars suffered the loss of 3,000 horses and 5,000 casualties, but killed 10,000 of the enemy’s 25,000 troops and captured 9,000.

The remaining Madon soldiers scattered and fled in defeat.

***

Meanwhile, Madon’s guerrilla unit had made a detour.

Draken, who was commanding that guerrilla unit, narrowed his eyes at the strange atmosphere.

He divided the unit into 600 each and ordered the plundering of the surrounding territories, and personally led the cavalry to attack Twiran, located in the deepest part.

However, there was nothing.

“This is…”

Not a trace of people to be seen.

“Captain. There are many things left to plunder.”

Valuables and food remained intact in the territory.

“Judging by the fact that they didn’t carry out the food, they must have left the territory not too long ago.”

They probably evacuated urgently a few hours before the guerrilla unit departed. Which means…

“Are you saying that bastard Wade was reading Craig’s strategy…?”

Sniff! Sniff! Suddenly, Draken started smelling something. He soon turned his gaze in one direction.

“This way. Follow me!”

“What about the territory? Shouldn’t we destroy it?”

“No time for that! Quickly, follow me!”

The place he arrived at following the scent was the fortress city of Ashton. There, the people from the targeted territories were huddled together, taking refuge. And 2,000 soldiers were encamped in the fortress, holding out.

Most of those 2,000 troops were hastily armed militia wearing only helmets and armor.

“To think they were taking refuge here. Captain. What should we do?”

“What do you mean what should we do? Even if it’s just conscripts guarding it, there’s no way we have the capacity to wage a siege!”

At the same time, reports came in from other guerrilla units.

“A message from Jeremiah’s unit that entered Ribel for plunder! No people were seen in Ribel! They say they’ve plundered the territory and burned everything, so they’re requesting further instructions!”

“They must have evacuated to the nearby military stronghold, Jumelt Gate. It’s probably the same for the other areas.”

They could destroy the city, but they couldn’t kill the core territory residents. It was only half a success.

“But isn’t this fine?” Draken’s aide says.

“They’ve done something stupid. They’re holding out without even taking the food from their territories. There’s no way the fortress has enough food stored to feed all those numbers. It’s clear they won’t even last two days before self-destructing due to food shortages.”

“I suppose so.”

This was just a desperate measure to avoid plunder, not a good method when looking at the overall picture.

“If we just surround the area like this, the situation will improve on its own. Calliper’s troops at Setes intersection will also be annihilated. The surrounding territories are paralyzed, so supplies will be cut off soon.”

A situation smiling upon Madon.

However, Draken shuddered! with an instinctive chill.

“The problem is that Wade probably knew this. If he had read our flanking operation from the start, there was no need to evacuate at such a risky timing. He would have moved the territory’s food supplies in advance and evacuated thoroughly.”

“Couldn’t it be that he just realized it late?”

“If that were the case, there would have been territories that were late in evacuating. The fact that all territories evacuated so nimbly like this means they were told in advance.”

“That’s… Then why? Why did the opponent do such a stupid thing…”

“They wanted as many guerrilla units as possible to be formed. If we had known they had evacuated in advance, we would have reduced the number of guerrilla units or not formed them at all.”

Draken turned his gaze towards the Setes Plains.

“In other words, the enemy wanted our main force to be weakened. To use that moment to devour our main force.”

“Even so, we have about 2,000 more troops! Moreover, after a little time passes, we’ll be in a much more advantageous position!”

“Yes, if we just hold out for today, we’ll be at a great advantage.”

Draken couldn’t shake off his ominous feeling.

‘That bastard Wade must have prepared something that can finish off Julian’s main force in a short time. What on earth could that be?’

Julian Craig wasn’t just some run-of-the-mill general lying on the roadside, so how could he decide the battle in such a short time?

‘Whether that guy’s method worked or not. That’s what’s most important right now.’

With nothing left to plunder, the guerrilla units could only wait for that news.

“We’ll surround this place for the time being. Tell the guerrilla units that have finished plundering the territories as well. Tell them to surround the fortresses where the territory residents have taken refuge!”

“Yes sir!”

Only 3 hours after surrounding the fortress.

As darkness fell with the setting sun, a unit approached their side.

It was Ilya Anfei’s guerrilla unit, numbering 1,000.

Following Ars’s instructions to guide the evacuation of the Territory’s people, Ilya targeted Draken, the core of the guerrilla unit.

“Listen, Madon’s guerrillas! Your main force in the Setes Plains has been annihilated! Your movements are nothing but futile struggles, so if you value your lives, surrender immediately!”

“Bullshit!”

Draken’s adjutant shouted angrily.

“Do you think such bluster will work?”

“Hmph, you think it’s bluster? Being a guerrilla unit, your information seems slow. Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. After all, the main force that was supposed to give you information has all been wiped out. No choice then. In that case, I’ll take those worthless lives of yours. Unit, prepare for battle!”

Ilya’s unit assumes battle formation.

“Captain Draken! Please give the order to charge! We’ll slaughter them all!”

“…”

Draken sensed that Ilya’s words were not mere bluster.

‘Has Julian really been defeated? In just a few hours…!’

If so, as Ilya said, the guerrilla units inside Calliper territory were nothing more than dead chess pieces. Surrendering would be the wisest course of action.

“Captain, it’s certainly bluster. If it were true, they wouldn’t be trying to engage us in battle, would they?”

“…!”

That was true too. If Calliper’s main force, having annihilated Madon’s army, was closing in on the guerrilla unit, they could force a surrender without even fighting.

Yet Ilya was insisting on battle.

“Could it be…”

At that moment, Draken imagined the worst-case scenario. A situation where not just this Setes intersection, but all other battlefields could be lost.

‘If he has thought that far ahead, He is truly terrifying. Wade!’

Grip! He clutched his greatsword.

“Is there really nothing I can do anymore? Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

As he, a pureblood beast-kin, showed his anger, it was like a fierce beast roaring.

“The most infuriating thing is ending without being able to do anything! Prepare for battle! Kill them all!”

Both units entered the night field as the sun set.

Ilya’s unit outnumbered Draken’s by 400, but Draken’s unit was entirely cavalry.

Normally, cavalry would have the advantage, but due to the difficulty of commanding cavalry in a night battle, the forces were nearly evenly matched.

“Raise your shields and extend your spears! Don’t fear the cavalry! If we stop their initial charge, we can wipe them out!”

Ilya, known as the cavalry mixer in the game, used effective troop placement to withstand the cavalry’s charge and guide them into a melee.

“Khahah! Not bad, you Calliper scraps! Uraaah!”

Kwadeuk! Draken slaughters a Calliper soldier with his greatsword. He spotted Ilya and charged at her.

“Die!”

“You’re the one who should die.”

As Draken’s horse charged in,

Ilya ran straight towards the horse instead.

“What…!?”

“Haah!”

Kang! Deflecting Draken’s greatsword with her spear shaft, Ilya slid along the ground and Slice! cut off the horse’s legs with the sword in her left hand.

“Kugh!”

Kwaka! Somehow managing to break his fall, Draken righted himself.

He put the struggling, legless horse out of its misery before facing Ilya.

“A female mercenary using the Chester-style. …Guderain once told me about this. He said a disciple with the potential to surpass him had appeared. And that it was even a woman.”

“You know my master?”

“Of course. Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen his face though. What a shame. To think I have to kill my friend’s beloved disciple with my own hands.”

“I feel the same. To think I have to cut down my master’s dear friend.”

“Khah! Your spirit is admirable! Come at me!”

Their weapons clash violently.

After a long battle of nearly 400 exchanges, Ilya subdues and captures Draken alive, annihilating Draken’s unit which was the core of the guerrilla force.

 

Footnotes:

1] Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao are famous historical figures that are deeply involved with the military culture of the Chinese.


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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

Score 9.2
Status: Completed Type: Author: Released: 2022 Native Language: Korean
I ended up possessing Ars Elaine, a supporting character in the game. Struggling to prevent my death, I pave my way.

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