Chapter 156: Tactical Victory & Strategic Defeat (3)'
On the plains near Reichenstein Castle.
The command tent of the Swiss Expeditionary Force.
Here, division commanders, including me, deputy commanders, and key commanders of the expeditionary force, like His Highness the Crown Prince, were gathered.
Normally, before starting a meeting, to lighten the mood, there would be dad jokes or teasing about the good old days, especially targeting me, the youngest among the generals.
But now, our expeditionary force was trapped in enemy territory, in a situation where annihilation at any moment wouldnt be surprising.
In such a situation, saying the wrong thing to lighten the mood could attract all sorts of curses from those already burdened, so everyone wisely kept silent.
Amid this heavy silence, His Highness the Crown Prince was the first to speak.
I have failed in this expedition. My fault is too great for not anticipating that Count Bern was a double agent, leading us this deep into enemy territory.
Honestly, it was an extremely unfortunate circumstance that His Highness was deceived this time.
Especially considering that Count Bern, who had been feeding valuable Swiss information to the imperial intelligence for years and promised betrayal, was actually preparing to betray the empire, which was an unforeseen issue for anyone.
Therefore, it was understandable if he blamed the intelligence guys for being incompetent, even though he admitted his own mistake.
I have no excuse to offer you. Im truly sorry, truly sorry.
However, the Crown Prince admitted his mistake and bowed his head in front of everyone.
In Korea, where public apologies were a culture, even a president bowing his head was taken very seriously, let alone in the Reich Empire, where class system and authority were firmly established.
Generals, including myself, immediately knelt on one knee to pay respects and prevent the Crown Prince from feeling embarrassed, and His Highness personally helped each of us to stand up.
Then lets discuss the retreat operation now. Anyone who has thoughts on the retreat operation, feel free to speak.
When no one came forward immediately, I quietly raised my hand and spoke.
There is a retreat operation that can efficiently save and return the most troops in this situation.
As I spoke, the attention and gaze of numerous generals were focused on me.
In this desperate situation, I wondered if the best we could do was to save at least His Highness the Crown Prince and return to the Reich Empire? Wasnt that our limit?
If some crazy person suddenly claimed to have the most efficient strategy to save many lives, even I would be dying to know.
Let me start the detailed explanation of the plan. First, we must lead our 50,000-strong army into the Ticino Canton, which the 7th Division has passed through. Thats the only way to survive.
if the Duke wasnt mad, he would have prepared far more troops than us.
After immobilizing them, the plan is to allow one of the six divisions to escape. At that time, we intend to provide horses to all soldiers of the escaping division to enable faster movement. Well use the reserve horses from the knight units and the mules and horses pulling the supply carts.
Firstly, all knights, in principle, receive three or more horses from the empireone they ride and two as reserves.
If the knights generously offer their reserve horses, we could mount up to 10,000 soldiers.
By gathering all the draft animals and pulling various carts, we could mount about half of the soldiers on horses.
Although, honestly, regular infantrymen, unless they were non-commissioned officers or above, could barely manage to walk a horse when seated on a saddle.
Anyway, since the walking speed and endurance of horses and humans were on different levels, even mounting them on draft horses would significantly speed up their movement.
Well engage and immobilize them, then evaluate the situation to continually allow one, two, or three divisions to retreat at the same time. In the end, only one division will remain to secure the retreat path, and well slowly withdraw from the Swiss Confederation.
It might seem like an impossible tactic, but our tactical goal wasnt victory but to buy time for other retreating divisions to escape.
We would be reducing the size of our force gradually while conducting guerrilla warfare and retreating.
And I would like our 7th Division to take on the most critical role in this battle as the rear guard if thats alright?
Upon saying this, the Crown Prince sought agreement from the other generals with his eyes, and as everyone nodded, he placed his hand on my shoulder and said,
Lieutenant General Yeager, you must return alive. You need to live to hold your child, dont you?
Yes, I understand.
And if you havent decided on a name for the child yet, if I return alive, I will personally name that child.
You might think naming a child is trivial, but in the Empire, it is common for a vassals child to be named by their lord.
Unless the parent-to-be betrayed them, it was practically a vow to protect them at all costs.
In other words, even if I died here, my child would be under the protection of the Crown Prince, who was most likely to become the next Emperor, so there was no need to worry about my childs future.
So, even though I felt a real fear and tension about possibly dying this time, and was grateful for the Crown Princes consideration, it brought tears to my eyes.
In such times, keeping up appearances helped maintain everyones morale, and even if I were to die, Id leave behind a dignified image.
I thought I couldnt die before holding Lauras child. Now, with the added curiosity about what name the Crown Prince will choose, it seems I couldnt die even if ordered. So, I will definitely return alive.
And on this night, the Crown Prince, along with the Deputy Commander, his personal guard, and 2,000 knights, took the road passing through Ticino Canton, heading towards the Empire.
