allonlinenovel Chapter 145 Advance on both fronts
Chapter 145 Advance on both fronts
"It's rare that the Midland army in the south actually took the initiative to attack."
Looking at the victory report from the southern battlefield, John was surprised and couldn't help but analyze the pros and cons of this matter for himself.
First of all, the proactive attack by the Southern Army undoubtedly disrupted the strategic planning of the Yoda Army. Although it was a small-scale harassment and only a small number of soldiers were lost, the Yoda people would definitely not let this army go. No one likes flies hanging around them.
However, if you want to kill a fly, you must use a fly swatter that is much larger than the fly. What's more, it is a cavalry unit like the Knights of the White Horse. The Yoda people must send out at least one knight regiment and several infantry regiments to besiege them in order to pin them down.
Correspondingly, the Yoda people must draw troops from other places. The Yoda troops in the south certainly cannot be drawn. It is very likely that the Yoda people can only draw troops from the rear and the north where there is no war. Then the weakly defended north will have almost no one to defend.
"It seems that I, General White Wolf, have to come out to help out." John thought with a weird smile.
In the past two years, John has been busy fighting and building and has no time to care about the battlefield in the north. The Yoda people are also very sensible. After seeing so many fortresses and sending small troops to attack several times without success, they never had any bad intentions again. Perhaps they knew that they did not have the ability to chew this hard bone, or it may be that Emperor Yoda had no interest in the forest territory with deep mountains and old forests and Franche Comte, which had suffered from war before, compared with the southern Midland, which was suitable for crop growth.
But now John has freed up his hands. As each legion has arranged its defense zone, in addition to several permanent legions, John also has a field legion that can be mobilized anywhere, as well as artillery units for attacking cities and strongholds and a navy for maintaining shipping routes. John now urgently needs a war to test the strength of his own army.
"Before that, I should consider domestic affairs first." John thought so, walked to the table, sat down, took out a piece of letter paper and started writing.
In the letter, he first affirmed the decision made by Charles, and handed over the full command of the Black Watch Mercenary Corps during the indigenous uprising to Charles. During this period, he could make his own decisions on the use and deployment of the mercenary corps. At the same time, John also allocated an artillery unit of 50 various artillery pieces and a team of muskets to Charles based on the characteristics of the indigenous army, and incorporated an army stationed in the forest territory into the mercenary corps to expand the scale and accept more employment contracts. At the same time, he let the Crusader Knights go with him to let the church personnel see the strength of the Knights Templar.
A few days later, this 5,000-man mixed army marched towards the mercenary group's headquarters, Saint-Remy. Except for the artillery and musket troops who returned after the war, the other soldiers would be permanently incorporated into the mercenary group. First, John felt that the domestic mercenary groups now did not need a large number of precious gunpowder weapons, and second, such a comprehensive and powerful mercenary group would cause fear and resistance from other nobles. To be honest, John was ready to open another vest mercenary group to expand the business, otherwise the Black Watch mercenary group, which was the only one, would have a greater impact on the entire mercenary market.
Before leaving, John asked them to hold the flag of the Franche-Comté-Hohenzollern family to avoid being accidentally injured by other Midland troops.
After John finished his work with the mercenary group, he immediately rushed back to the Earl's Castle to discuss the plan of attacking Yoda's territory with the generals.
"Sir, I would like to ask you, do you want to plunder Yoda's land and leave, or do you want to incorporate some of Yoda's land into your territory?" After listening to John's request, Hank, the commander of the southern Franche-Comté Legion, asked John after considering it.
"I hope to incorporate some of Yoda's territory into my territory. Recently, due to the indigenous uprising, some grain-producing territories in Midland were destroyed, and part of the grain was requisitioned as military rations. The price of grain has skyrocketed. I need Yoda's plains to reclaim more arable land and strive to solve the food problem in the territory as soon as possible." John answered truthfully.
"If that's the case, sir, I don't think we can defend it just by attacking. The territories near us are all plains except for the forest territory. There are no large towns nearby. It's easy for us to attack, and it's also easy for the enemy to fight back. In my opinion, we should follow Franche-Comté's example and build more fortresses in the newly occupied territories while attacking to provide farmers with a safe environment for agricultural production." Hank added:
"Although the initial cost is high, as time goes by, Yoda's army will be trapped in the human wave tactics of the Southern Midland army and unable to escape. Our fortress can be completed. By then, even if the Yoda people want to, they will not be able to capture their homeland, which has been built into an iron wall. The new territory will become one of the food production areas of the adults, just like Franche-Comté."
"Well, that's a good point. I'll take your opinion into consideration." John did not agree with Hank immediately after listening to him. He still needed to see whether the financial materials in the territory could support Hank's plan before agreeing with him. Otherwise, if John agreed now and it was not implemented for various reasons, it would not only undermine the morale of the generals, but John would also be accused of breaking his promise.
"Simon, if we build a fortress in the enemy's territory, how many fortresses can we build with our current stored resources?" John asked Simon beside him.
After listening to this, Simon took out the list he had prepared long ago and said:
"Sir, we currently have five ore mines that produce stone that can be used to build city walls, including two in the Forest Territory and three in Franche-Comté. If we build a fortress without using warehouse reserves, taking a Franche-Comté village fortress as an example, we can reserve bricks to build about five fortresses of the same size every month. According to reports from various places, our ore reserves can build about 15 to 20 fortresses, which is equivalent to one-third of the territory of Franche-Comté."
"Is it only enough for one third of the earldom?" John fell into deep thought. The Earldom of Franche-Comté is of medium size among the earls of Midland, that is, a standard earldom. John has calculated that if he wants to achieve self-sufficiency in food, he will need at least the grain output of the Earldom of Franche-Comté.
"Forget it, one third is one third. Simon, tell the mine to increase working hours appropriately while ensuring safety, and give miners who are willing to work overtime double the salary per mine car." John ordered Simon.
"As you wish, sir, I think the miners will be very happy to work overtime after hearing your order."
"That's it, I will lead the Franche-Comté Northern Legion and the White Wolf Knights, together with Stephen's gunpowder troops, to attack the Yoda Empire in a week!"
Similar to the situation in Franche-Comté, Charles in Saint-Remy was also very excited when he saw the letter from John about the reinforcements ahead. After two years of hard work, he was finally willing to be promoted.
While the dignitaries of Saint Remy on the city wall were amazed at the huge scale of the Black Watch Mercenary Group, they couldn't help but wish that they could also command such an army, so they returned to their mansions one by one, plotting something.
At this time, the Blackwatch mercenary group has an army of nearly 10,000 people, including infantry, cavalry, archers, musketeers, artillery and other arms, which greatly enhances the combat effectiveness of the mercenary group. If the previous Blackwatch was just a disciplined and cost-effective mercenary group, then now people will believe that the Blackwatch can fight against Yoda's army.
Looking at the neatly lined soldiers in front of him, Charlie shouted with high spirits:
"Brothers, the day has come for Blackwatch to become famous. Listen to my orders, pack your bags, and we will all set out the day after tomorrow to teach those natives a lesson!"