Chapter 66: Capturing and Deal.
'It has been 15 days since I came down the mountains. After doing it, I split my army into five and each General was in charge of a division. Over the course of this 15 days, we have captured 20 fortresses and 3 cities. Karin captured 2 of them and Ou Ki captured the other one. Capturing cities with an army of 10,000 men is extremely hard. I am currently leading Mo Bu's army, since he is not an expert in sieging. While at it, I am waiting for my Generals to arrive.
Our trajectory was set to Artesium, with the objective of capturing the entire county, Lutentia. However, I know that it won't be easy, since the King has already assembled an army over there, the number is approximately, 35,000 men.' During my thoughts, my Generals barged in the tent one by one and knelt in front of me. "Let's hear the report."
"Yes. I have captured 6 fortresses, 5 of them surrended willingly, the onother one had to be sieged. I had to leave 3,000 men behind to guard the fortresses, and I have suffered 500 casualties with the resistance inside those fortresses, so now, I only have 6,500 men that are ready to fight." Yo Tan wa briefed me with her information about her conquests.
I just nodded before I turned my attention to Koku.
"We have captured 7 fortresses, 3 of them surrended as soon as they saw my army. The other 4 gave up on the first day of siege. I have raised two of them to the ground, so there is only 5 operational fortresses. I still left 2,000 men as garrison, but I'm sure that no one will rebel." Koku said.
'Knowing her, she probably massacred every single village around and used the villagers bodies as a way to threaten the fortresses to surrender. She has suffered no casualties, only 200 injured men, so she still has 8,000 men ready to fight. The injured can serve as reserves.' I analyzed. "Good job." I told her.
Right after hearing my praise, her nose began to bleed. Ignoring her, I looked at Ou Ki.
"It is finally my turn, Kokokoko! I have captured 7 fortresses and a city. I had to leave 5,000 men as garrison, and I have lost around 1,000 men." He said.
I nodded and turned to Karin, the only one who didn't kneel like the others.
"I only went for the cities. My second in command is in the area, capturing all the remaining fortresses in those counties. I left 5,000 men as garrison and I lost 1,000." She said.
'I have led Mo Bu's army and didn't use it to capture anything, so it is still fresh with 10,000 troops. In total I have 32,500 soldiers. Sieging a city with 35,000 men with 32,500 is almost impossible. Well, I could just burst through with my strenght, but where is the fun in that? Besides, it is not like the King can stay in the fortress for much long. Other countries such as Zhcted and Asvarre are already preparing their armies to bit a piece of the free pie that is Brune. If he stays in the fortress for long, he will lose his country.' I pondered.
After deciding on my next step, I looked at my kneeling Generals. "The final battle will be on this plains. Our objective is not killing the King but rather capturing him. If the Kingdom of Brune dies, we are next." I told them. 'I am just a man, I cannot defend his country on all fronts. I need soldiers. Right now, the north-west of Brune is under my control. If I marched south, to the capital, then I would lose all of the troops that were set up garrison. After all, I need multiple supply lines to feed my troops. The cities that I have captured are all used as supply lines to cross huge amounts of food to feed my army, if I lose those cities, I will lose my supply line and my army will starve.' I squinted. "The Central army will by led by me. The left army will be led by Karin, Koku will be her Vice General." When I said that, I heard Koku clicking her tongue. "And the right army will be led by Ou Ki with Yo Tan Wa as his Vice General. My Vice General will be Mo Bu." I declared.
"Understood, my King." They said before they got up, minus Karin, and turned to leave, and prepare the armies.
'On the center, I will put 12,500 men and on each flank 8,000 men. The remained 4000 men will be kept as a reserve for something I have planned.'
Next day.
'Sure enough, the entire Brune army was standing in the plain. The King is truly a smart individual. A shame he is facing me.' I grinned while I placed little Shiro on my lap.
"Do you want to do the honors?" I asked her.
After hearing my question, Shiro lifted her little hand. "Start!" She declared.
Following her command, the soldier behind me lifted a flag, this time a true flag, and soon the infantry went in first. Charging in tandem towards our enemy. 'The Brune army apparently also sent their infantry. What a shame, I was expecting them to send their cavalry.
But this will make no difference. Those are my soldiers. And things went according to my prediction, as soon as the infantry clashed, my infantry pushed them back, completely breaking their formation. It doesn't mean that we have already won, however, we have the advantage. Now, what will you do? King of Brune.'
The King of Brune's response was to send another wave of infantry. In the first wave, both send 2,500 men. Now, he have joined another 2,500, so my troops are fighting 5,000 againts 2,500. Turning to my aid, I looked at him. "Begin."
Nodding, my aid lifted a red colored flag. After the signal, my infantry unit placed their shields down, creating a shield wall. Stopping the enemy infantry's advance, soon after, an archer unit, that was in the distance, rained down arrows on the enemy.
'Brune hates archers. They think that they are cowards, so their armies contain a small amount of archers, while my army is the complete opposite. One of the tribes that I captured was specialized on archery. But that is not the scariest thing yet.' I petted Shiro. "Send in the cavalry."
My aid suddenly lifted a green flag, and soon, the trumpets were heard. My cavalry went out, however, instead of charging into the infantry, they avoided them and pulled out their bows before they rained down arrows on them. This is something that even I was amazed when first I saw it. On one of the mountains the rulling tribe created warriors that shot arrows from horseback, unfortunately, I only have 2,000 of these and they are quite precious. Sure enough, in 30 minutes, the Brune infantry was decimated.
When I felt the ground shake, I turned to see my left army and saw elephants destroying the enemy's lines.
"Huff." I facepalmed. 'My campaign had to be postponed for a month, because that crazy woman wanted to bring elephants with her. On the north of the mountain range, there is a flat area that is not ruled by any Kingdom, so elephants live in that area. And so live the tribes that can use them in war. Karin fell in love with the animal's capabilities of destruction, so she sacrificed 3,000 men to subjugate that tribe, just thinking about it gives me a massive migraine.'
Soon enough, the Brune soldiers managed to defeat the animals, destroying their army formation completely. They are just a big opponents, if you target the ones riding on top of them, you can defeat them easily, however, it is too late. The left army is surrounded by Karin's soldiers, the elephants are not the main show, they are just a diversion. A diversion that she used to move her army without being noticed, completely surrounding her enemy.
I looked at my right, and saw a bloodbath. Ou ki is master at defence. He only attacks when he is 100% sure that he is going to win. The Brune's right flank is throwing men at Ou Ki's formations, in hopes of breaking through, and like a meat grinder, soldier after soldier fall down, while Ou Ki's army doesn't even move back for a single inch.
Then, I looked at the King. "What is it going to be, King of Brune? You are on a check position. Are you going to turn the tables? Or are you going to retreat with what you have left, and abandon the soldiers in combat?" I questioned myself.
After a few seconds, I saw that the King choose to charge with the rest of his army. What he didn't have in archers, he compensated in cavalry. "Ohh, he is trying to break through the army. Truth being told, if he managed to get my head, he could win."
"Nii, you want to go, don't you?" Shiro asked.
"Fufufufufu. I wonder what you mean, my cute little sister?" I inquired.
"Don't hide it. You want to be down there, fighting." She said.
"You're right. I want. But there is no need for me to be there, after all, Mo Bu is there." I pointed at him.
As soon as the King broke through our infantry, he clashed with Mo Bu's cavalry, and his cavarly completely anihilated the King's. Soon enough, Mo Bu was dueling with the King.
"It is only a matter of time before the King is captured." I commented.
(You know you wanted to be in there too.) Nyar said.
'Fufufufu. These type of opponents are not worth my descent into the battlefield. I'm saving myself for the Vanadis. I cannot wait.'
(Be careful. The Vanadis are terribly strong, they are at least Ultimate Class in strength. This world is different from the anime.)
'This just means that they are worthy opponents. I can leave all of the small fries to my Generals. However, when it comes to strong opponents I have to lead.' While my mind was distracted, I heard the sound of cheers. "So, it has ended. The Brune army was completely defeated on both flanks."
I turned to my tent. "Wake me up when they clean up the battlefield."
Soon enough, Shiro entered in my tent and joined me in my nap.
5 hours later.
A soldier was giving me the final report of the battlefield.
'Out of the 35,000 Brune soldiers, 10,000 have died and 15,000 were captured, the other 10,000 retreated back to Artesium. Probably getting ready for a siege. I have lost around 5,000 men out of my 32,500, and 2,700 were injured.' I had my hand on my chin. "Huff." I turned to the King of Brune. "You know, now that you have lost, the Brune Kingdom will stop existing."
"I still have an heir that can take over the throne." He answered.
"You also know that this isn't enough. An heir is not going to solve your current problems. You are being invaded from three sides, soon enough, the capital will be sieged and pillaged." I shrugged.
"Roland is still alive. As long as the hero of the country still stands, Brune will prevail." He declared.
"Fufufufu. What they say again, desperate situations demands desperare measures, right? You are placing the life of a country on top of a single man's shoulders." I shook my head. "You know this could all have been avoided. If you guys didn't built a fortress on my mountains, and when I took that fortress, so that you guys stopped harassing my people, you guys dared to send an army to subjugate us." I said. 'I would have come down the mountains to fight them anyways. Even if they didn't built that fortress 200 years ago.'
"That is not an excuse to what you did. You pillaged and destroyed everything in your sight." He snarled.
"That is how warfare works. The winner decides it all. However, I want to end the resentment between the people of Brune and the mountain people." I said.
"What is it that you are planning?"
"I will keep the lands I have conquered until now, and you will offer my sister the title of Duke, rulling the area that we have conquered." I suggested.
"You want me to give you those lands?! Never!" He exclaimed
"That is not it. I will still be the king of the mountains, and the lands that I have conquered, will still belong to Brune. However, they will be ruled by my sister, instead of the previous Duke that ruled there. In exchange, we will support the Kingdom of Brune in their current conflict." I improved my deal.
The King stayed silent for a few seconds, considering his options and weighting the consequences. While he did that, a female appeared behind me and gave me a letter. I opened it and read its contents. "Asvarre is putting up an army to invade Brune. If they do, there is nothing that can stop them."
"Tch. I want you to promise me something." He said.
I turned to him. "What?"
"I want you to promise that you won't harm the people from Brune, and that you won't invade the nobles near your sister's lands." He said.
"Hmm. I cannot promise such thing. What if the nobles around my sister's lands attack her? Then, she has the right to defend herself and pay them back the full price." I said.
"If your sister gets attacked by a noble, then you have the right of defend her. However, you are not allowed to invade other noble´s lands under any circumstances. Any conflict between you and a noble will be solved in the capital. If you can promise me that, then I don't mind give your sister the title of Duke and entrust her those lands." He said.
I nodded. "Very well I promise it.". I said to him. 'I will take my time to slowly get stronger, and when the King gets sick, no one will stop my expansion.' After the King also nodded, I stated the terms of our contract. "The territory that we have captured will belong to my sister, we will stay pay taxes to the Crown of Brune, though. The defense of those lands will be entrusted to the mountain's King. With this, the war between Brune and the mountain's people will end here."
"This will bring our cultures together, and bring our two nations together." He said with a slight smile as he proposed a handshake.
I shook the hand of the King. "To the future of our people."
'This King is quite easy to manipulate. I talked about how we suffered from their hands first, and how we want to bring our cultures together, and he bought it. He just gave my sister the lands we have captured, this is the same thing as giving us the lands. He will have no authority on those lands, and the true rulers will be me and my cute sister. If the King didn't accept this terms, both nations would perish. I barely have around 25,000 men ready to fight. Half of what I started. There is no way that I can go south and take the capital. It would consume way too much manpower and I wouldn't be able to hold it. It would just fall on my enemy's hands. I would be quite pissed if what I have built over a year just dissipated like this.'
"I will deal with the Asvarrians trying to invade Brune." I told him.
"Are you going to attack them first?" He asked.
I shook my head. "I will wait. I don't have the men to launch an offensive."
He nodded.
"I will give you the captives I have captured, all of them. They should number around 20,000 men. It should be enough to deal with the crisis on the south, and it should also keep Zhcted in check." I said.
He nodded again, like that, I left the tent.
(So, now you control the north-west of Brune. What are you going to do?) Nyar asked.
'Now I will slowly bring stability to those lands, and spread my influence through the north of Brune. Soon enough the entirety of the north of Brune will be in my hands, and after that, the entire country. The next stop is world domination.'
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