133 – Battle of Waine Plains (6)

During the seven-day break, I met commanders and soldiers at all levels during the day and encouraged their morale.

Also, through the shorts at night, I deliberately focused on spreading the conflict between knights and nobles higher than barons, such as Valtrand Frost and Biermann, and how Colonel Samuel was discriminated against and persecuted under my command.

Among the nobles under Akitel who know this, there must be some fools who think that this will affect the outcome of the war…

Then, as scheduled, they marched leisurely for three days to the plains of Waine, and reached the plains near the river they had foreseen.

After arriving, I ordered the adjutant next to me.

“Tell the soldiers to encamp here. After setting up camp, the company commanders of each company should step up and make sure that the officers of the sergeant or higher are familiar with the tactics.”

Having said that, the contents of the tactics taught to the sergeants are really simple.

At most, in a battle conducted in units of each battalion, when the leader of the platoon or company to which one belongs is killed, who should take command?

In normal times, company commanders would have done this kind of training voluntarily, but now the variable called the matchlock is included.

Especially in a situation where visibility is restricted due to the gunpowder smoke coming out of the matchlock, if the spearmen or gunmen escape even a little slowly… they will be shot by mistake.

“Yes, I understand. I will immediately order company commanders to train them thoroughly.”

“I believe. And now that I’m on the battlefield, I’ll have to go see Duke Architel.”

Hearing that, the adjutant nodded, gestured to one of the soldiers, and spoke.

“His Excellency is going to meet Duke Akitel. Tell the Frost Battalion that His Excellency is leaving.”

“Yes, adjutant.”

**

Upon arriving with an escort near Count Akitel’s encampment, a knight greeted him politely and then asked:

“Are you Mr. Kreuttel?”

“That’s right. Before starting the war, I want to see His Highness, Duke Akitel.”

At that, the knight looked at me and asked in a gruff voice.

“All right. follow me However, only about 5 escorts can come in. Would that be okay?”

Seeing that the escort is limited to only 5 people, it must be an intention to kill my spirit in the first place.

However, I don’t have to be afraid of those who can’t touch me before the war even starts.

“good night. Lieutenant Colonel Frost, and Lieutenant Mark. Take 3 soldiers and follow me. Come and drink the wine that Duke Akitel gives you.”

After that, I looked inside Duke Architel’s camp.

Wooden fences made of trees with pointed ends, tents and bonfires installed at appropriate intervals, various weapons and carts.

In addition, in the middle of the camp, several flags symbolizing the craftsmanship of each unit were planted, and all soldiers were holding iron armor and weapons.

As long as even the low-ranking soldiers are given iron armor and proper weapons, knights and other elite soldiers must be getting better equipment and support.

After walking for about 10 minutes, I saw a tent with flags depicting an eagle holding a grape, symbolizing Duke Architel, planted around it.

The knight who was guiding me approached the tent and asked in a loud voice.

“His Highness, Duke Architel, and Count Ciel von Kreuttel have arrived. May I let you in?”

“Let me in.”

After that, I ignored the knight next to me and went right into the tent.

Inside the tent stood an old man in his 70s with an impressive white beard and a man in his 20s who looked stupid, fully dressed in armor with his family crest engraved on it.

A man in his 70s must be the Duke of Architel, and a man in his 20s… Are you a son?

While I was immersed in such thoughts, Duke Architel held out his hand to me and said,

“I am the duke of Architel, Jean von Architel. And the guy next to him is Winnie von Hellsman, the bastard of Earl Hellsman.”

“I am Ciel von Kreuttel, Count of Kreuttel.”

After the introduction, I took Duke Architel’s outstretched hand…

The duke squeezed my hand so hard that I thought it was about to be crushed.

I felt quite a bit of pain, but I squeezed my hands as hard as I could because if I lost here, I would lose in a fight.

After a minute of hand-to-hand combat, the Duke said while stroking his white beard.

“As expected, he seems like the guy who defeated the Maxburg chinjugi. It is very strong.”

No, in this medieval Europian world, not in modern Korea, I think the guy in his 70s wearing armor and riding a horse is the greatest guy…

I thought so, but I put my doubts aside and said it.

“It is an honor, Your Highness.”

“No, I came here thinking that this war was the last… To be able to face a strong and wise young man like you… A blessing from Deus.”

The content of what I said seemed to be openly belittling me, even if anyone heard it, but in the eyes, expression, and voice of the duke, I could feel the respect and vigilance toward a real rival.

However, since I had no intention of getting drunk on such knightly games, I spoke in a firm voice to avoid pointless puns as much as possible.

“thank you. As a way of accepting Your Highness’ favor, I would like to have a private time to discuss this battle over drinks together once the war is over.”

“great. Let me prepare some delicious wine and meat. Architel’s wine is the best in Europe, so look forward to it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a threatening atmosphere began to spread between us, and I looked the Duke right in the eyes and said,

“Originally, I wanted to have a good drink with Her Highness after we win and negotiate the end of the war, but… Didn’t Your Highness bring Count Hellsman’s bastard and tell him to return the county in case we lose this war?”

“I was just saying something very obvious. It means that Count Hellsman’s family will hand over the territory to the rightful lord… What’s the problem?”

No, you’re thinking of killing the bastard standing next to you or turning him into a puppet after you eat Earl Helsman on the pretext of returning the territory.

If you do that, if you hand over some reparations to the French emperor and the nobles, you can gulp one county without being checked by other nobles.

Also, the bastard of Count Hellsman next to the Duke must have gained strength from hearing that, glared at me in a loud voice and said,

“Yes! I am the rightful Earl of Hellsman, so I have the right to reclaim the County of Hellsman and rebuild my family. And Deus will prove that it is justified in this war!”

It’s not 100% worth killing, so it will be used as a puppet, but as long as Duke Architel uses that bastard as a justification for recapturing Count Helsmann…

By using that bastard, you can set more severe conditions for Duke Architel as a reward if you lose the war.

We need to amend the terms of war, and take large amounts of enemy territory.

So I turned the subject of the negotiations to the foolish bastard in front of me and spoke politely.

“If we win, of course, I, Ciel von Kreuttel, will be justified. In other words, the conditions we propose are justified.”

“The Count will never win, but of course he will.”

“then… The condition we demand is the cession of half of the Duchy of Akitel. Shouldn’t this be a fair condition for each other? Also, since this war is a fair duel, I would like to insert a clause that prohibits declaring war in the name of reclaiming territory that has been stolen from each other in the future.”

Hellsman’s bastard, Winnie von Hellsman, must have thought that the duke, who possessed a lot of elite knights, could not lose, and smiled at the duke.

“His Highness the Duke will win for me anyway, so why worry?”

The duke looked at him for a moment with a look on his face asking what kind of treaty you were trying to sign, but soon let go.

I’m sure it’s because he thinks it’s a matter of winning anyway, even if that bastard does something stupid here.

Again, no, the condition is a bit… the moment you say this. He must have thought that rumors among the soldiers that Duke Hellsman was worried about defeat would sap morale.

And when the power of the matchlock is not taken into account, I also think that the duke with twice as many knights as us will win.

“As expected, Count Hellsman’s son’s spirit! good night. Then see you on the battlefield tomorrow, Count Kreuttel.”

“good. Then put your seal on this contract here. I have already taken it.”

After that, the duke stamped without a word.

With this, all preparations for starting the war were completed.

**

Normally, before starting a war, the soldiers would gather together and start quarreling with each other…

Since the purpose of starting a war with each other was to actively defend each other’s safety, there is no justification to demoralize the enemy even if they quarrel.

So there’s no need to force the soldiers to review and change formation again for a speech that doesn’t have much effect.

And now I stand behind the spearmen’s square like the matchlock regiment.

Even so, I have no intention of commanding the regiment.

I came only to check the firepower of the matchlock regiment, and to give you a rough guide on which direction to move in response to the enemy infantry’s response.

After a while, a flag with a black eagle appeared in the distance.

Then, the spearmen aimed their spears at the enemy, and I and the matchlock regiment advanced toward the enemy in close formation.

After advancing, me and the arquebusiers set up the pavis we had brought to cover us while the ranged fire was being fired.

After setting up, the soldiers crouched behind their shields, holding their preloaded matchlocks in one hand.

As soon as they hid themselves, both the enemy and the ally began firing long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows at each other with tremendous force.

Arrows and stones hit the pavis we set up, sometimes our armor, and some of them started to get injured or die from being hit by gaps in the armor.

After about 10 or 15 minutes like that, I heard shouting from among the soldiers.

“Rise up! 70 meters! There is an enemy 70 meters away!!”

At the same time, the soldiers rose from behind Pavis and aimed their matchlocks at the enemy.

And… I pulled the trigger.