Chapter 66: The beginning of the war
In ancient societies with underdeveloped transportation, the logistical pressure of launching a large-scale expedition was quite heavy.
Emperor Saushar wanted to send a huge army of hundreds of thousands to a distant battlefield. With so many soldiers, war horses, war elephants, and pterosaurs having to eat and drink along the way, the cost was naturally astonishing. In order to avoid this expedition Died midway, Emperor Saushar, who was so happy with his success, did not hesitate to collect countless wealth and wealth from the scorched earth that had just experienced the war. supplies, and recruited all the strong men and warriors he could get from the newly captured territory. Throughout the history of the Falmat continent, there has rarely been such a huge military operation - as many people as sand, As much gold as sand, as much grain as sand, eventually formed an unprecedentedly large army, fully demonstrating the majestic heritage of the empire.
Millions of imperial subjects, busy like ants under the whip, patiently pieced together this expedition piece by piece.
However, there are still some technical problems that cannot be solved by wealth, violence and power alone.
Before the advent of railroads, the cost of transporting any bulk cargo over long distances was prohibitively high. If an oxcart or carriage filled with grain travels hundreds of kilometers, the driver and the oxen and horses pulling the cart will eat up all the grain. As for the eagerly awaited frontline troops, they will naturally There is no luck in eating the food in the car. If you are lucky, you can chop the car into pieces and use it as firewood to stew beef. If you are unlucky, you can only drink the northwest wind.
According to the discussion and analysis of experts who study ancient military affairs on Earth, during long-distance expeditions before the advent of railways, if they could not get any supplies along the way, and there were no waterways available for use, and the soldiers could only carry food and grass themselves, then the most they could do was The march lasted nine days. Of course, the army could bring ox-carts and horse-drawn carriages, but the oxen and horses pulling the carts also had to eat. No matter how many ox-carts and horse-drawn carriages you bring to haul grain, you can only go out for twelve to fifteen days. Although taking into account the huge differences around the world, this number is not absolutely correct and is only for reference. But it is obvious that relying on land transportation to conquer an area with difficult supplies is very difficult, and sometimes even completely unrealistic.
Um? And magic? This... If it is some high-level demonic plane that has invented space bags, holding rings, and shrinking objects, and only one magician can easily carry tens of thousands of tons of materials, then the above-mentioned logistics and transportation problems, Nature ceases to exist. But the problem is that although there are some magicians on the Falmat continent, they are only a low-magic plane. The magicians' abilities are limited to rubbing fireballs, shooting lightning, and making some unreliable predictions. They have not tinkered with anything at all. "Space Equipment" is a highly practical magic prop that is essential for home travel.
Therefore, compared with the expensive and limited transportation capacity of vehicles and horses, water transportation became the best choice for the ancient army to maintain logistics transportation. But the problem is that Arnus Hill is not close to the sea, and there is no big river flowing through it. The nearest seaport is about two hundred kilometers away from Arnus Hill, and there are many roads along the way. It is an inaccessible wilderness - which means that relying on water transportation is not advisable.
Under such circumstances, the only way Saushar wanted to keep his army well-fed and drunk before going into battle was to fish in the swamp, prepare food and grass on the spot near the battlefield, and eat wherever they went... So, this The path of this large army turned into a huge zone of destruction. Wherever the army passed, it was like locusts passing through. The food of the residents along the way was eaten up, their houses were requisitioned, and they themselves became coolies accompanying the army. Even so, the food stored along any road is far from enough to consume hundreds of thousands of troops. In order to allow the army to at least have food to plunder on the way, Sochar had to divide his army into several groups and advance until it reached the city of Italica adjacent to the battlefield and then regrouped.
Then, when Emperor Sochar's chariot arrived in Italica, although the citizens in the city did not dare to resist at all, they cautiously opened the city gate and sent representatives to offer property to the emperor and kneel down to beg for mercy. However, in order to meet the army's logistical needs, Sochar still blatantly ordered to "punish the rebels in this city" and issued a massacre order against the city of Italica - the bloodthirsty warriors grinned and rushed into the completely undefended city. The city blocked every city gate, and then used bird hunting to catch all the citizens. Although the frightened citizens are hiding in their homes, minimizing their presence and avoiding getting into trouble. But the murderers still broke in and massacred amidst the screams of the women... Every street, alley, and mansion in the city was bloodbathed. All the men among the citizens were massacred, even the young boys were not spared. Women were plundered and sold into slavery, and the murderers of their relatives became their masters. The trees on the street were quickly filled with all kinds of heads...
Although it looks very barbaric, very bloody, and very inhumane, in fact, this is just a very common scene in the wars of ancient society, and it is also the established practice and law of the ancient army. Until three or four hundred years ago, all countries on earth still did this.
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With thick smoke, shrill wails, and blood flowing on the stone streets, the city of Italica fell into a purgatory of destruction
In the lord's palace of Italica City, Emperor Sochar, who was tired from riding his horse, was tasting a bottle of brandy from another world while playing with several exquisite and luxurious gifts - these were originally citizens of Italica City. The money he scraped together to buy his life was still not able to buy his own life after all.
In fact, as a tyrant who loves great achievements and has an impatient personality, Emperor Sochar originally planned to go straight to Arnus Hill to settle accounts with outsiders once he had gathered all his troops. He did not want to do more in Italica. Delay... But the problem is, such a thing is really impossible! !
As mentioned before, the location of the Arnus Hills on the Falmat continent is a "barren wilderness in the center of the civilized world". All around the hills are inaccessible barren lands. There is also a Romanian mountain range between the palace where Sochar previously stayed and the Arnus Hill. Although this mountain range is not steep, it is extremely wide. It would take an ordinary person half a month to walk from one side of the mountain to the other.
There used to be a direct and spacious royal road between the imperial capital and Arnus Hill, but now it was washed away by the torrential floods pouring out of the "gate". The few remaining roads that cross the Romanian mountains have their western exits far away from the Arnus Hills. However, the mountain road that runs from the imperial hinterland at the eastern foot of the mountains and extends over the mountains to the city of Italica has now been It is the one that ends closest to Arnus Hill.
In other words, if Sochar's army wants to go to the Arnus Hills to fight with the outsiders, they must first go to the city of Italica - the other roads are longer and more difficult to walk. Moreover, before arriving at the battlefield, you must set up camp and rest for a period of time, because carrying heavy equipment over the mountains and ridges for so many days is a great drain on the physical strength of the soldiers, horses and war elephants. If you don't take a good rest, It's hard to breathe.
(Just like when many Chinese writers need to conceive of a different world, they always refer to their own motherland to set the setting. They describe the foreign dynasty as "the grassland in the north, the sea in the east, the tropical rain forest in the south, and the desert in the west." In such an environment, American and British writers are also accustomed to writing about other worlds that are very similar to their own hometowns. For example, the continent of Westeros in "A Song of Ice and Fire" is obviously an enlarged version of the island of Great Britain.
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In the same way, the Falmat continent set by the Japanese in "Fantasy Self-Defense Forces" is actually a deformed version of Honshu Island. Mount Arnus is probably the location of Mount Yoshino in the southern part of Yamato, and the location of the imperial capital is equivalent. In Nagoya, Rendel Castle is Gifu where Oda Nobunaga conquered the world, Itarica Castle is equivalent to Nara, Elbe Domain can be compared to Kii Domain, and Kyoto and Lake Biwa are squeezed out by mountains and hills. The empire was essentially similar to the Tokugawa shogunate. The directly administered territories were in the southeast, the Touhou Rabbit Grassland in the northeast, and various "foreign daimyo" in the southwest. )
In short, the hundreds of thousands of troops who crossed the Romanian mountains from the east had to rest in the city of Italica for a period of time before they could regain their ability to attack again. As for the grain consumed during this period, it was not feasible to rely on long-distance transportation over the mountains and ridges from behind. In addition to ordering the noble territories in the west to pay part of the tribute, they could only plunder it on the spot from the city of Italica... Fortunately, during a battle After the massacre, he finally collected enough food from the city to feed the entire army for seven days. And the citizens' corpses don't need to be wasted, they can be fed directly to those dirty pig-headed cannon fodder as feed.
"...By the way, General Bodavin, the Southern Route Army commanded by Dulan, returned to the country last month, right? Where are they now?"
Putting down the wine glass in his hand, Sochar looked at the rough map spread out on the table and asked a general casually.
"...I am reporting to Your Majesty that the 30,000 troops led by the King of Elbe have just passed through the Schulze Forest on the border of Elbe and entered the Tellilia Plains south of the Arnus Hills. However, due to the desolation of the area, there are almost no decent road, so the progress is very slow.”
General Bodavin who was questioned by the emperor quickly replied, "...according to the last letter sent by His Highness Duran, it will take at least eight days for them to reach the vicinity of Arnus Hill and meet the aliens." Make contact with the army of the people.”
"... Very good, let Dulan's Yibeifan army fight with the people from the other world first to see how capable the humans from the other world are!"
Emperor Soshar raised his eyebrows and said calmly, "...As for our side, let's stay put for the time being and let the warriors relax in Italica. I know they have been walking for half a month. The mountain road is already very hard now! ”
"...Yes, thank you for your majesty's tolerance and kindness!" All the generals present, including Podavin, hurriedly bowed to express their thanks.
"...It's nothing. Our next journey is still very long, but we can't let the soldiers get exhausted at the beginning..."
Emperor Soshar waved his hand reservedly, "...This time, I am determined to fight until the end of the earth!"
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——In Soshar's view, in addition to punishing the aliens entrenched on the Arnus hills, this majestic western expedition also has a more grand and magnificent blueprint, which is to use his troops to sweep away the enemy. Each country in the western part of the Ermat continent nominally submitted to the empire, but in fact they were unruly. The unruly and basically independent separatist forces re-established the empire's supreme authority on the continent, letting everyone on the entire continent understand that the empire's hegemony has not been weakened by the civil war. The empire's territory is still connected to the sky, and everything where the sun is All lands in Lin will surrender to the empire!
And Saushar also believes that he will be able to achieve the above goals. After all, he now has such a mighty and huge army under his command. Countless soldiers and horses fill the roads and fields along the way, stretching all the way. To the distant horizon, you can crush everything in your path just by stepping on it. As long as the world's largest military machine is allowed to run at full speed, there will be no opponent on the Falmat continent who can fight it!
As the first stop on the journey, in the eyes of the arrogant Emperor Soshar, the unscrupulous outsiders on the Arnus Hill were just a small dessert at the front of a sumptuous meal and the first to be killed. It's just a majestic chicken... However, judging from the current harvest, it seems that the aliens coming from the other side of the "door" do have a lot of good things worth coveting, and they are not the kind of paupers who lack oil and water...
While Sochar was thinking this, he raised the wine glass on the table and took another sip of the brandy that the merchants in Italica bought from the outsiders - I have to admit, this novel spirit is It really suited Soshar's taste and made him addicted to it.
Unfortunately, there are not many brandies seized from the city. There are only a dozen bottles in total. They should be drunk in a few days at most... But it doesn't matter. When this battle is over, you can go to Mount Arnus. When the aliens on the hill asked for wine, no matter how much they asked for, they had to give them as much as they wanted.
Of course, other good things owned by people from other worlds are also worth searching for, such as those luscious candies that are as crystal clear as gems, colorful silks that are indescribably beautiful and smooth, and mirrors, perfumes and jewelry that women like - look Seeing a large box full of extremely bright and gorgeous otherworldly jewelry that he had plundered from the city of Italica, Soshar felt that his original treasure trove would pale in comparison to it.
(Although they are actually some worthless zircon, crystal glass and aluminum alloy jewelry, the indigenous people in the fantasy world would not recognize them. If only in terms of visual effects, those zircon hairpins in modern society cost tens of yuan a handful. Clip, may be more gorgeous than the red gold hairpin in ancient society)
It can be seen from this that these guys from another world are really quite wealthy. After defeating them, you have to blackmail them hard!
While Soshar was thinking about what he should ask for from the outsiders as compensation and tribute after his victory in the crusade against Arnus Hill, he also remembered a rumor he had just found out: It is said that there are some hateful headhunting rabbits. , and also took advantage of the chaotic period of the empire's civil war to escape somehow. When I arrived at Arnus Hill, I hooked up with people from another world... Well, the army that went out this time was so strong that we had to reckon with old and new grudges. While conquering people from other worlds, we also had to make those who refused to behave The female rabbits who are female slaves completely surrender to their crotches...
However, just when Emperor Soshar was so complacent and fanciful, he never imagined that he would never have the chance to see Arnus Hill again - because, some guys hundreds of kilometers away, After verifying his whereabouts, he was directly sentenced to death:
"...It has been confirmed that Sochar's chariot has entered the city of Italica? Very good, let's let the floating fleet carry the entire urban management team out!"
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PS: I watched the Korean movie "Pandora" about the nuclear disaster, and I was deeply moved, but the ending was still too bright. It is seriously illogical for politicians to be moved under such irresponsible circumstances, so I conceived a short dark story, which may be written after the book is completed:
In order to develop the economy, a tropical island country built a nuclear power plant. Because it lacked money and technology, it could only let foreign companies build and operate it. As a result, in order to keep costs down, foreigners hired amateur temporary workers to make do, deceived everyone, engaged in all kinds of corruption and false reports. In the end, an accident occurred after a typhoon, and they shirk responsibility from each other. The government, bent on controlling public opinion and media, left the rescue mission to foreign companies. Foreign companies did not want to be cheated and sat back and did nothing, just paying lip service. In the end, amidst the noise, the nuclear disaster continued to escalate, and the whole country became a radiation zone. Government officials had already fled. Most of the people listened to the government's lies and waited to die at home. Only a few people escaped. After coordination, the United Nations decided to let Russia throw away one A hydrogen bomb eliminates radiation. Then, as soon as the few surviving refugees landed, they received a hydrogen bomb bill from Russia. Since the island country officials swallowed up overseas assets and fled, the cost of the hydrogen bomb had to be spread on each refugee, and each person owed a debt of 10,000. U.S. dollars, and those who cannot afford the money will be sent directly to Siberia for labor camps...