Chapter 535: Withdraw? Or fight?
The snow on the sloping roof fell loudly, forming small snowdrifts under the eaves.
After ten days of intermittent heavy snow, the first sunny day after the snow finally arrived in early 1446.
Ice tiles hang from the eaves, shining brightly reflecting the dazzling light of snow and sunlight, and the falling water droplets make deep holes in the snow.
In the vast white snow, a manor stood like a yellow patch on a white cloth, standing in the thick snow.
The roof is covered with the heraldic swallow-tail flags of each family, as well as the unified blue-and-red bull-head emblem of the servants of the country.
The snow-cleared village road was crowded with people. Soldiers, merchants, knights, and monks almost filled this small manor.
The servants of the country who carried spears on their shoulders wore a burqa over their chainmail, but they still couldn't help but shiver while patrolling.
The war horse in the stable exhaled a puff of white steam and shivered, asking the knight to put on a horse blanket with his own coat of arms to prevent him from getting sick.
This is where the church army that is marching eastward is stationed. Fortunately, the civilians in the manor fled before they arrived, so there is no need to spend more effort to drive away the civilians.
As the commander-in-chief of this army, Count Lienne of Marais stood on the steps of the wooden house, reading the letter in his hand with a sad expression.
“...Sir Leiner, the goal given to me by Mr. Racunho is to defend the Brago Basin, not to support the attack.
If troops are sent to support, it may cause the witch to Jeanne's raid, please forgive me for rejecting your plan to ask for help...
But if you need to support me, I am already ready to respond to your return, and I will never let those short-haired bandits step into the cloth. One step to the Lago Basin...
As for Mr. La Cunho you asked about, I'm sorry, but the Shadowless Man discovered that Count Guerinon was secretly working with the Saint-Sun Rebels. His Royal Highness captured him and brought him to justice. He was imprisoned in a dungeon...
At present, several counts and bishops are trying their best to defend them. His Excellency Lacunio returned to Hotam County to mediate for them the day before yesterday...
I have forwarded your letter to Hotam County, it will take about 8-12 days for the reply to arrive in your hands..."
"I will be out of food in ten days, what's the use of receiving another letter then? "Leiner couldn't help but cursed at the letter.
But after finishing the curse, he felt ridiculous again, shook his head with a wry smile, and sighed.
Starting from January 25th, in the near future Under the attack of four thousand troops, the Salvation Bandit Army retreated continuously and gave up an area of about 20 kilometers.
Leinner thought that their footing was unstable, and this tentative attack was successful.
So he immediately sent a letter to the Brago Monastery, saying that the enemy army "was routed thousands of miles away and the door was wide open."
But what they didn’t expect was that half a month had passed from January 27 to February 12, and they had only advanced less than 15 kilometers, averaging 1 kilometer a day.
4,000 old women marching can’t even walk 1 kilometer in a day. They have war horses and carts!
Following repeated reconnaissance and retreating troops, Lianna gradually pieced together the true situation from their mouths.
Although these people each have their own opinions, they can all be summed up as "I encounter elite infantry on the roadside. They are as strong as monsters. They can't defeat them even if they try their best."
In 15 days, the Salvation Army changed from the past. Instead of concentrating on the decisive battle, they broke it into pieces and continued to conduct small-scale ambushes and encounters.
Almost every three or four days, a detachment was ambushed, ranging from dozens to hundreds, or the baggage train was attacked. The knights put out fires everywhere but failed to annihilate a single squadron.
The best result was that Count Marais himself led 900 cavalry on patrol for four days before he successfully captured a squadron and annihilated and captured two fifty-man squadrons.
But the cost was that the rear camp infantry was attacked by surprise, killing and wounding nearly 400 people, and even had their rations burned for several days.
So the soldiers preferred to gather on one main road and just walk slowly.
After the 4,000 church troops walked 15 kilometers, their number dropped from 4,000 to less than 3,000, and they had supplies to support them for another 10 days at most!
The main force led by Leiner did not suffer any loss by taking the King's Road, but it had to retreat every day, which made the march slower and slower. At a distance of 10 miles, they gradually began to be unable to move. Because of insufficient supplies, they had to send a large number of cavalry to transport food and recruit guards farther away.
Leiner asked himself, had he slacked off? Did he not work hard?
He knew that his level was not high, so he asked La Cunho to draw up a plan before setting off, and he strictly implemented it.
He did not look down upon these farmers, and even asked La Cunho to tutor the two military leaders of the Salvation Army in their command style.
Witch Jeanne is good at cavalry warfare and surprise warfare. She often uses streamlined troops to attack the rear with large-scale high-speed maneuvers, disrupting the command and then dividing and annihilating them.
Monster Horn prefers a decisive battle, that is, after making complete preparations, he directly concentrates the main force for a decisive battle with the enemy's main force, and the outcome is determined by one battle.
Both styles have their own advantages and disadvantages, but they are both conventional styles of play in the empire. There is no distinction between good and bad only based on the level of performance.
Leinner was prepared for both tactics, but he had never seen this kind of quagmire-style tactics. This question was beyond the scope.
He executed the plan, and studied the opponent, but what Lianna didn't understand was how it ended up like this.
In one direction, the strength of this group of short-haired bandits from Langsander County was definitely smaller than theirs. As a result, they were beaten to the same level now.
According to common sense, this is just a tentative attack, you can just leave if you can't defeat it.
The problem is that if they want to walk there, they still have to walk for more than ten days!
The supplies have been collected until next year, and all the people have fled. It is unclear whether the supplies can support their return.
The option of retreat has been eliminated by the Salvation Army, so I am afraid they can only continue to attack.
But the demon saint grandson seemed to have foresight. As soon as he had this idea, six squadrons of more than 3,000 infantrymen gathered at the Lape River camp ten miles away.
The only good thing is that in order to ensure that the rear crossing was not lost, the Salvation Army could only dispatch more than 2,700 people from five squadrons and 300 Holy Gun Cavalry.
In terms of the proportion of cavalry and the total number of people, they still have a slight advantage.
Then continue the attack?
Looking at the thousands of soldiers walking in front of him, Lianna bitterly took out a bottle of dwarf liquor from his arms and poured it into his mouth.
The best choice is of course to retreat and try to preserve your strength, but if you run away without fighting, the family's glory will be lost.
Could it be a matter of strength or attitude? He didn't want to be liquidated by the church after the war.
I can only feel a little sorry for these guards.
"Da da da -"
The horse's hooves splashed mud and snow, and a group of reconnaissance cavalry came out from the corner of the road.
Lianna knew that there was new information and quickly greeted it.
"Lord, we found a group of short-haired bandits building pontoons and fortresses on the river bank about 6 miles away from us. What should we do? Do we want to expel them?"
Leiner did not He answered immediately, but took a big sip of dwarf liquor: "No, send the order, and the soldiers from several nearby stations will join forces to fight the bandits early tomorrow morning."
(End of this chapter)