Chapter 26: Starting a War (1)
Ella was sitting in the rebels' barracks.
According to the report sent by Dust, two days ago, the Duke of Aquitaine sent troops in the name of rescuing the captured nobles and had left Paris and rushed towards this side. This means that Ella's first phase deployment has been successful, and the next is the formal decisive battle.
Alfred and Caroling were at the side of Ella. The two of them had no good relationship and looked at each other provocatively. Below them, there were the leader of the rebel army, Gibert and Aztland leader Awutmok. Both of them were staring at Ella with all concentration, waiting for Ella's instructions. And further down, there were two Almani's candidates, who were the oldest Mainz candidates and the oldest.
The young Bohemia King, the candidate of Mainz, had strongly opposed the re-electing of the consul. When he found that Caroling was still outside the city, he naturally turned against him on the spot. After a difficult struggle, the Bohemia King chose the latter between the Duke of Aquitaine and the Earl of France. Although he was neither convinced, Caroling was originally the consul, and the Duke of Aquitaine usurped power and seized the throne at a meeting where he voted against it.
The manifesto to denounce the Duke of Fargata was drafted by these two candidates.
In addition to these two, there were also the son of the Duke of Normandy who came to support, the witch doctor Sivadon, the alchemist Ravi brought from Sweden, and the rest of the Aztland warriors. Amy was always standing behind Ella, but because of her injuries, she placed a seat next to Ella. As for the other captured nobles, although many of them were willing to turn against Caroling, they were unpredictable after all, and the military secrets were not suitable for leaking them, so they did not let them come.
"The report says that the Duke of Aquitaine's troops are more than 10,000. However, they marched very slowly. It may take four to five days to get here." Ella briefly introduced the situation, and then looked at Amy, "Amy, let's explain the current situation of our army."
Amy coughed on the chair and picked up a stack of paper from the chair:
"The composition of our army is very complicated: the knights and escorts brought by Alfred, a total of 95 people; the soldiers brought by the Duke of Normandy, except for the transport team, could fight 220 people; the cavalry of the King of Bohemia, eight people; the knights selected by Mainz, eight people; the army of the other nobles is still treated as prisoners because they are untrustworthy, so our regular army is currently 412 people; in addition, there are two hundred sword clans of the other two hundred sword clans.
Swordsmen, they cannot resist the front line like regular troops, but as long as they can rush into the enemy formation, they can be used as combat power. Finally, the rebels spontaneously organized by peasants from several nearby villages. After sending the elderly, weak, sick and disabled back, the remaining number was around 1,500. With the support of the Duke of Normandy, 300 of them had already obtained basic weapons, and the remaining more than 1,200 could only fight with scythes and other agricultural tools. That's it."
"So, we can mobilize about two thousand soldiers. The enemy is five times more powerful than me." Ella concluded, "And, this time the enemy has super strong recovery ability, and can basically do something similar to resurrection. Although we successfully transferred them from the strong fortress, the form is still very serious."
Although Ella said "very serious", the people present were not worried. After all, the situation is much better now than when the Duke of Aquitaine first captured Paris. They looked at Ella and believed that the young Swedish king must have a way to deal with it.
"So, my first order is," Ella cleared her throat and looked at Jibel present, "Jibear, I want you to disarm a thousand people within two days today and tomorrow!"
"Disarmament? Why?" Gibel almost jumped out of his chair. The number of enemy troops was five times that of here, and Ella's first military order actually reduced the number of troops by half!
"In this way, the enemy will be ten times more powerful than us." The candidate of Mainz who was listening frowned, "Then how can we fight this battle?"
"The number of people is not the key. Our army has 1,200 people without weapons. Even if we add the 1,000 people to be cut, it is impossible to compete with the enemy on the front battlefield." Ella said, "Considering the enemy's abnormal physical recovery ability, there is only one strategy we can adopt - movement! Move continuously!"
"Sport?" Alfred asked in confusion.
"Almost all the nobles nearby were in my hands. With them as a threat, from the Duke of Normandy to the south, there was a large area of land for our army to enter and exit safely. I would constantly mobilize our army in this vast combat space. Once our army moved, the enemy would definitely follow us; once the enemy moved, the weak parts would be exposed; once the weak parts were exposed, our army could hit the forces and encircle them!"
Everyone was silent, and those who had led troops to fight were considering the feasibility of this plan.
"Even if that's the case, there's no need to cut the army halfway, right?" Jibel muttered.
"This is for food and grass considerations. This kind of combat method puts great pressure on logistics. If the troops can be streamlined, it is better to streamline them as much as possible. The number of people is smaller and it is less likely to be exposed."
"This way of combat," Awutmok pondered below, "there is a high requirement for intelligence."
"Yes, this is another reason why I want to repatriate these villagers." Ella said. "Although they don't fight head-on, they can still deliver information to us as villagers after returning to the village. If the Duke of Aquitaine wants to catch the strong men in the village, it would be even better - we can successfully invade the enemy's army."
"So that's how it is!" Jibel suddenly realized, "I'll explain to the soldiers now!"
"Awutmok, I'm very happy that you can notice the intelligence matters." Ella looked at him, "In addition to these repatriated villagers, our army must also have special intelligence personnel. Last time in Molai, you didn't do a good job in intelligence. Do you have the confidence to take over again this time?"
"Leave it to me!" Awutmok patted his chest, "I have already let my Aztran warriors learn to ride horses. With this thing, it will be much more convenient to pass on intelligence."
"Very good. Your cavalry, villagers in the village, and Dust's intelligence network, intelligence should not be a problem. Wait for you to connect with Jibel and confirm the secret code for sending intelligence."
After saying this, Ella glanced at everyone again:
"In addition, we need to consider the problem of the enemy. The potion that can be resurrected once is not terrible. What is terrible is the high morale it brings to the army because it can be resurrected once. If this problem is not solved, even if we attack the weak parts of the enemy, it will fail - Ravi, how many potions did you make? "
"Just tell me." Because he was not tall enough, Ravi tried hard to lift a box over his head so that Ella could see, "There are only twenty bottles."
“Not much, but it’s enough.”
Ella nodded:
Chapter completed!