60 – Pig Hunt (1)

Karl von Clausewitz, who is called the progenitor of the history of Western warfare, in his book On War, cites three things necessary to win a war.

Destroys the enemy’s combat power, preventing them from fighting any more.

Occupy enemy territories where you can support soldiers.

It destroys the enemy’s will to fight, preventing them from going to war.

Clausewitz says that wars are usually fought after 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd in that order, and the war ends…

Rather than conducting a battle to destroy combat power or an occupation war to occupy an enemy’s territory, consuming the enemy’s will to fight is the best way to shed the least amount of ‘friend’s blood’.

Because soldiers with a strong will to fight are so strong that they sometimes win even in extreme situations such as the Battle of Jinju, Battle of Haengju, and Battle of Myeongnyang.

However, generals and soldiers who have lost the will to fight or who have a weaker fight than the opponent sometimes lose even if they fight with a few dozen, just like the example of the battle I just mentioned.

Therefore, in all wars, ‘justice’ is created to strengthen the will of the allies and to destroy the will of the enemy.

In order to make that justification, I deliberately openly proclaimed the numerous causes that could be the reason for the destruction of the ‘master-servant relationship’, and tried to cut down not only the will of the enemy forces but also the idiots who tried to intervene in the ‘civil war’…

I never thought that they would commit such a thing, because thanks to them, our army leveled up to become an ‘army that protects the ideal of chivalry’.

After beating Schwein, I returned to the mansion and explained this to Balt and Chris.

“So, according to the original plan, I tried to break the morale of the count’s army by giving every reason to break the master-servant relationship, excluding ‘those who might support the count’. That idiot over there touched ‘Ella’ and used that as a reason to challenge her to a duel.”

“You are amazing. You may not have intended it, but it would have been the best move in that situation. Thanks to this, the ‘pig’ we are going to overthrow will now be branded as an ‘unscrupulous man who even tried to steal the woman of his subordinate’. If he’s so incompetent and he’s done that… no one will want to entrust his life to him.”

“Chris, you say yes, but you are too cold. Ella is the only ‘woman’ His Excellency loves. If you are a vassal who serves His Excellency, shouldn’t you be more angry? I feel like my stomach has been turned upside down ever since I heard this anecdote…”

Upon hearing that, Chris replied in a calm voice.

“His Excellency said that now we should put all emotions aside and devise a strategy. I am also His Excellency’s vassal… I cannot forgive Schwein for doing such a thing.”

“then…!”

I appreciate Balt’s anger for me, but now, as Chris said, it’s time to cool off completely and have a cool talk.

And in conclusion, the child was beaten by Ella until he became a cutlet himself without even touching a finger…

Even so, Chris, who is still a ‘vassal’ but has no proper title or title, talking in a line similar to Balt… it could be an act that destroys the hierarchy, so I should stop it.

“Stop, stop. Now is the time to devise a strategy. Cool off, Balt and Chris.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

I put my right hand on her chin, raised my face, met her eyes, and pretended to cut her neck.

“Bald is clearly a knight who has been granted a fiefdom. Chris Belladora, just because you’ve become my vassal, don’t mistake him for being on the same level as him. If you do that on the battlefield, I’ll cut your throat according to military law. Even if you don’t have any military experience, do you know about the crime of ‘blasphemy’?”

Hearing that, Chris began to tremble, moving his eyes from side to side, as if he thought that I could really cut his throat in front of him.

Then, he bowed his head deeply toward Balt and apologized.

“Forgive me for my thoughtless remark, Lord Balt.”

Balt replied with a satisfied expression, as if he was satisfied that Chris had bowed down to him first.

“Be careful next time. No matter how much you have been living a wandering life and have no military experience, you say you didn’t know, but isn’t that the case now?”

“Yes, Sir Balt.”

To lighten the slightly awkward atmosphere, I clapped my hands to get their attention and resumed the conversation.

“Bald, I told the bards of the royal capital to spread this story throughout the county of Nantes, but how far has it progressed?”

“I gave 4 gold coins each and bought 100 minstrels and sent them to Nantes. By the time the ‘war’ begins, it will be widespread.”

“Perfect, can you give me some details? You said you wrote poetry, so I gave you a gold coin.”

“Let me hear you.”

After saying that, Balt stood up, cleared his throat a few times, and started reciting a poem as if singing a song.

“At the funeral of your most majestic majesty, a lustful man lusted after a beautiful woman. Her name was Ella, the woman of the rising and undefeated hero, Baron Creutel. I defeated him and fought with honor. It looks like a legendary knight…”

The poems sung by bards are so immature that I’ve never heard them properly, but according to the Balts, they sing them as loudly as possible in taverns, right?

With lyrics overflowing with middle school two, and singing with a voice that feels like cheese, just thinking about it makes time and space cringe.

But unfortunately, if I don’t do this, I can’t help it because it’s not irritating and doesn’t stay in my ears…

After hearing this poem, Chris spoke with his eyes shining as if he was moved.

“Lord Balt had a knack for writing poetry. You told me that you didn’t learn to write well… I think you wrote better than poets who have lived only by writing.”

“hahahaha, well, since His Excellency the Baron provided such a wonderful anecdote… And rather than those guys whose heads are full of ink, I have no choice but to be better, having traveled the battlefield and enjoyed romance with countless women… Is there a difference?”

Looking at what Chris said, I admired the well-written poem, but he seems to be flattering me for saying ‘If you don’t get along well with Balt, you’ll be sentenced to death’…

Still, it’s comfortable for me to get along well, so it’s very good.

“Okay, this is enough. I’ll give Balt 2 more gold coins when he returns to the territory. Perfect poetry!”

And in order to cool my head for a while, and to improve the relationship between Balt and Chris, I first praised Balt without limit.

If I compliment you first, Chris will say, ‘You’ve got that side!’ and in a way that strikes a match.

After praising Balt for about 5 minutes, Chris asked again in a serious voice if he thought this was enough.

“Your Excellency, now we are going to have a war… Where do you think you are? I guess I’ll have to avoid places where there are villages and places where I have to cross rivers… Considering the speed of marching on the day the war starts… Saint Gallo is a decent place. This is our friendly territory. Then, considering Schwein’s reputation…”

“Considering the count’s character, rape and looting would undoubtedly follow. If it were that guy, he would devour all the village girls. chris.”

Hearing that, Chris seemed to have feelings that he felt ‘as a woman’, but he quietly got angry.

Such a thing, of course, shouldn’t happen, and besides, allowing ‘an army that has no qualms about plundering because it has already lost its honor’ to be able to plunder is a disqualification as a ‘general commanding the war’.

Schwein must have been shouting ‘If you win here, do what you want to do!’, and compared to other territories, he would have allowed unlimited plunder and rape of Kreutel, which flows with milk and honey…

Then the enemies will change their will to plunder into a will to war and attack like mad.

The number of people is already low, but the morale of the enemy goes up?

The moment that happens, the sacrifice of allied troops will increase exponentially.

And I dare not let that bastard of Nantes plunder my estates and serfs… Still, I can’t forget those days when I lived happily with the serfs in Windheim.

So I pulled out the knife from my waist, slashed it on the desk, and said.

“No way! The allies march as quickly as possible and engage in a giant battle with the enemies in the enemy territory ‘Sternheim Plain’!! With a big victory in one shot, I will break the morale of the enemy who remains even by a drop and bring down the castle of Nantes!”

After hearing that, Chris and Balt sat down, stretched out their right arms, bent them, and bowed their heads, expressing that they would follow my orders unconditionally.

And Chris looked at me and asked.

“I believe that His Excellency, looking at the stories and records of the war so far, will come up with a ‘strategy to win in this situation’… but what will you do?”

“that’s…”

After explaining it for such a long time, the two applauded and agreed.

“Your Excellency is a genius…”

“Following the Second Coming of the Master was the best choice in my life.”

Listening to the compliments of the two of them, I waved my hand and said.

“Just go in and get some rest. Oh, Chris, organize the strategies you’ve written down so far and bring them in tomorrow. I will go back to the estate and have the clerks copy the rest.”

The strategy for victory, the match where everything is staked will begin from now on…

**

Then we went back to the manor and introduced Chris to my vassals.

Of course, now that Chris hasn’t verified his abilities, I’m sure that if I introduce him as a ‘woman’, he’ll only think of me as ‘His Excellency’s concubine’…

Everything about Chris, except for the fact that she was a woman.

After that, I immediately started a meeting with the knights about how many knights and soldiers to recruit.

At the end of all the meetings, sure enough, my father, the ancestor Baron of Creutel, whom I deliberately excluded from the meeting…

Viscount Paul von Kreuttel entered the conference hall wearing his armor and carrying his sword.

And he came close to me and said.

“Ciel von Kreuttel! How could you have thought of subduing His Excellency, Count of Nantes, without saying a single word to me!!!”

“I had to. Doesn’t your father already know what your Excellency, no, the Schweiner did to our family?”

“Yeah, but…”

I used this opportunity to calmly and coldly recited the facts to remove ‘their hesitation’.

“We didn’t send a single soldier to fight alone with the two barons, and the battle with Count Helsman was originally nothing more than a love affair to get the lady of Count Gent. Of course, there too 50 knights were killed because they broke away from the vanguard during a lance charge. Then, I had my father removed from the position of ‘Guardian’ in disgrace for a ridiculous reason.”

“Right… you did…”

“Maybe I could have endured it somehow. Because if we cancel the vassal relationship, ‘Maxburg’ and ‘Franchi’ might take advantage of that gap and attack. To put it bluntly, maybe I’d rather be under the garbage than die.”

Having said that, there is a much better chance of surviving commanding 1000 men alone than being under the rubbish commanding 10,000 men. What am I going to do?

It’s just ‘bullshit’ to silence the people here and the viscount.

“But it is. At the funeral of the Emperor, who is the representative of the divine Deus, the damn pig surprisingly tried to lay his hands on Ella, the woman I love the most. He’s not even a pig. So, as a knight who already knows honor, I canceled the ‘master-servant relationship’ and applied for a duel to set an example as a flag that suggests the way forward for them. I’ll be honest. We are already done.”

Hearing those words, the viscount’s expression of despair was evident, and the blood drained from his face, turning white.

In order to put an extra blow in there, at least to prevent the viscount from doing crazy things to resist this subjugation, if that happens, I will have to confine or kill the viscount myself…

In order to prevent that tragedy, I declared more calmly.

“If it wasn’t my father who stopped me right now, no one, even Ella, could have saved me. However, since you are my father who believed in me completely, and you were a respected ‘earlier baron’ to them, I will pass on the troubles so far… but there is nothing next. What would you like to do?”

And as soon as I said that, I signaled to the two knights around me and ordered the viscount to enter the room.

Then, when the two grabbed the viscount’s arm and tried to take him into the room, the viscount shook them off with superhuman strength and shouted out.

“Then, what will the barons who serve Ciel von Creutel do? If you truly obtain the title of count! What are you going to do with them?”

“If you interfere, I will kill you. If you do not interfere, you will be able to serve me. And like them, they will be richer than before.”

Hearing those words, the Viscount looked around at the armor of the powerful knights in our territory, such as Jack, Balt, Helmut, Weiss, and Biermann.

Their armor was not the dull, silvery armor I was wearing when I first reincarnated in this territory.

As if to prove that he was able to afford it, all of his armor sparkled in silver, and in the middle he engraved his family crest using ‘gold and various dyes’.

Considering that armor like this is barely worn by ‘poor barons’ in other territories to maintain dignity, the viscount can tell what kind of ‘wealth I guaranteed them’ is.

And the viscount sighed as if he had given up on everything, and then spoke confidently.

“It is my duty to rid the Countess of Nantes of his ignorance, who has already given up on the knightly path. This is my last duty as a guardian, and my last loyalty to the late Countess of Nantes. Also, it is my duty to appease his comrades-in-arms and good vassals and make them ‘one Nantes’… Let’s go together. Ciel.”

If the viscount goes with them, the will to fight of the barons who move hundreds to thousands of troops as an independent unit can further decrease, and some of them can not come out at all.

That way, I won’t lose my soldiers and the patriarchs who will be the backbone of this fief in the future.

However, because of the attitude I’ve already shown, I can’t entrust the soldiers…

So I smiled at the viscount and held out my hand.

“I can’t even attach a single soldier to my father…”

The viscount took my hand and said.

“All I have to do is appease the barons anyway, and watch the end of the count of Nantes. And as a father, I want to watch my great son go to war for the first and maybe the last time. let me be by your side Let’s have a drink together at night and talk about things we couldn’t.”

There was no more hesitation in those eyes.

Only, pure concern for his children… If you add up your previous life, you can only feel the father’s love that you feel for the first time in decades.

So, unlike before, I spoke with sincerity.

“I will show you more than my father expected. All troops, then we will go out in 3 months. Prepare as directed.”