46 – The Old Army and the New Army
As the situation had become favorable, Crown Prince Hasse was told to send out an order to all of the vassals in surrounding prefectures, so they could accompany him on his road through Shara prefecture and to the royal capital.
Most of the lords of Shara prefecture, including House Antoini, rejected this on the ground that they would not allow themselves to be invaded. That was fine. There would be a fight, and through it, Shara prefecture would be united as one.
The number of guardsmen had increased a lot.
In fact, there were too many to be contained in the Red Bear and White Eagle units, so an additional Black Dog unit was established.
Dorvo, a military man who was born in Brantal prefecture was assigned the post of captain of the Black Dog unit. The man was a lycanthrope and had operated a dojo for spearmanship. After that, he had joined the White Eagle unit and mastered the trident before anyone else had.
“All of you are not my soldiers. You are the soldiers of he who will be king. I am but your commander. Carve that into your hearts as we go into battle.”
“OOO!”
The voices rang. I really did love the battlefield. Though, I could no longer allow myself to be at the front lines.
“We will make a bloodbath for those who dare defy the crown prince! You will be rewarded for your bravery!”
“OOOO!”
Perhaps they were well aware of our strength, because the Shara side had abandoned their small fortresses and all gathered together with House Antoini’s main army. They likely realized that they would be individually crushed unless they came together.
Among our enemies, there were reinforcements from other prefectures as well. Or at least, that was the only explanation that could be made for their numbers. We had eight thousand, the enemy had six thousand and five hundred. They must have brought in a lot of men.
But you could also call them a mixed army. It should be easy to break any semblance of order within them.
Though, I wouldn’t do it immediately.
Even with superior numbers, we would face them head-on.
And while the two armies looked threateningly at one another, I sent out letters to the opposing lords, filled with promises of how I would repay them if they turned traitor.
Especially to House Antoini’s most trusted and other smaller and more isolated lords.
As far as I was concerned, it made no difference whether they did or now. My purpose for doing this was to cause suspicion and cast doubts. If these soldiers had to sleep with the notion that their allies could betray them, well, they would naturally, grow weaker.
“Lord Alsrod, it is rare for you to not attack immediately.”
Raviara said questioningly.
“Are you saying that I tend to be impatient?”
“At least, you usually wouldn’t take your time attacking an enemy who was under siege?”
“As we wait here, other units are being sent to attack. So there is no problem. Besides, the enemy will not wait for much longer.”
“Ah, that is right. There will be an attack from the sea as well.”
That was right. The eight thousand men were only for the land invasion.
Solstis Nistonia would attack Tohbie, which was House Antoini’s naval base.
Once Tohbie had fallen, they would travel up north and be able to attack House Antoini’s castle.
It was pretty much unthinkable for the Nistonia fleet to lose when it came to naval warfare, and so the fall of Tohbie was all but certain.
Once that happened, the Antoini family would have to return to their castle.
Of course, they would not be able to pull off a large scale retreat with such a large army opposing them.
I would have to hit them once from the front and make them retreat.
And then hit them again.
The two armies continued to stare menacingly at each other until the message came that Tohbie had fallen.
I immediately gathered together my generals and held a meeting.
“Now the enemy has no choice but to attack. They will probably charge into us. First, you will send your archers to the castle and focus your attacks on the enemy. After that, send in the elite units with spears. As I believe that the enemy is equal to us in terms of power and number of soldiers, there is no way that we can lose.”
Generally speaking, the side with more soldiers are considered to be stronger.
However, if you raised each individual soldiers ability through training and superior weapons, you can get much more out of the same number of men.
And if you can continue winning with inferior numbers, then the enemy will start to fear you.
–This is an easy battle. There is no element that could cause you to lose.
Oda Nobunaga’s said.
To be completely honest, I had no intention of suffering through any hardships before arriving at the royal capital. The real problems would start once I arrived. Even my enemies would probably start to think about allying and attacking me once I reached it.
So until I reached the royal capital, every other lord was ultimately only looking after their own interests. It was not until I arrived there and got close to the king, that they would be united in wanting to be rid of me.
But there was no one who could beat me when it came to defeating enemies in my path.
–That is true. Well, show them the strength of your troops.
“Once the enemy draws back, we will go in and crush them. I will make a gift of three counties to any who can bring the head an enemy lord.”
The generals answered with high spirits.
And just as I had anticipated, the enemy attacked head-on.
They seemed desperate to make us retreat.
–The enemy is not fighting adequately as a group. Generals are taking command independently, they are all moving without order. Such a thing puts them in an impossible situation.
Oda Nobunaga was not amused. But he was right.
The enemy’s army was old. And so, they would lose to something new.
Raviara was now in the opposing castle on elevated ground and shouting ‘Fire at all troops!’
At the same time, she lowered the red flag.
The arrows flew far and decreased the number of enemies that was rushing forward.
This occurred about three times, then the spearman charged forward.
The long, three-pronged spears destroyed the brains of the enemy as they crashed into each other.
Even if they were wearing heavy helmets, the helmets themselves would be crushed and they would fall on the spot.
Once the momentum of the enemy had been stifled, it was our side that had superior numbers, giving the advantage wholly to us.
The fight had turned very one-sided now.
“Kelara is deliberately targeting the troops of smaller lords.”
If those fell back, then all of the others would be in a hurry to follow suit. No orders would matter then.
Noen Raud and Meisel Ujie’s troops were also pushing the enemy forces back at a good rate.
“Now, would any be able to take the commanding general’s head?”
–It is very unlikely for the commanding general to die on the battlefield. I would not get my hopes up too high.
Thank you for that information.
Ultimately, the enemy troops led my House Antoini were completely routed and they returned to the castle.
However, it was really not something that they could defend, and so they abandoned that as well and fled to a neighboring prefecture to the south.
And so I drove away the remaining opposing forces within the Shara prefecture and united it.
46 – The Old Army and the New Army
As the situation had become favorable, Crown Prince Hasse was told to send out an order to all of the vassals in surrounding prefectures, so they could accompany him on his road through Shara prefecture and to the royal capital.
Most of the lords of Shara prefecture, including House Antoini, rejected this on the ground that they would not allow themselves to be invaded. That was fine. There would be a fight, and through it, Shara prefecture would be united as one.
The number of guardsmen had increased a lot.
In fact, there were too many to be contained in the Red Bear and White Eagle units, so an additional Black Dog unit was established.
Dorvo, a military man who was born in Brantal prefecture was assigned the post of captain of the Black Dog unit. The man was a lycanthrope and had operated a dojo for spearmanship. After that, he had joined the White Eagle unit and mastered the trident before anyone else had.
“All of you are not my soldiers. You are the soldiers of he who will be king. I am but your commander. Carve that into your hearts as we go into battle.”
“OOO!”
The voices rang. I really did love the battlefield. Though, I could no longer allow myself to be at the front lines.
“We will make a bloodbath for those who dare defy the crown prince! You will be rewarded for your bravery!”
“OOOO!”
Perhaps they were well aware of our strength, because the Shara side had abandoned their small fortresses and all gathered together with House Antoini’s main army. They likely realized that they would be individually crushed unless they came together.
Among our enemies, there were reinforcements from other prefectures as well. Or at least, that was the only explanation that could be made for their numbers. We had eight thousand, the enemy had six thousand and five hundred. They must have brought in a lot of men.
But you could also call them a mixed army. It should be easy to break any semblance of order within them.
Though, I wouldn’t do it immediately.
Even with superior numbers, we would face them head-on.
And while the two armies looked threateningly at one another, I sent out letters to the opposing lords, filled with promises of how I would repay them if they turned traitor.
Especially to House Antoini’s most trusted and other smaller and more isolated lords.
As far as I was concerned, it made no difference whether they did or now. My purpose for doing this was to cause suspicion and cast doubts. If these soldiers had to sleep with the notion that their allies could betray them, well, they would naturally, grow weaker.
“Lord Alsrod, it is rare for you to not attack immediately.”
Raviara said questioningly.
“Are you saying that I tend to be impatient?”
“At least, you usually wouldn’t take your time attacking an enemy who was under siege?”
“As we wait here, other units are being sent to attack. So there is no problem. Besides, the enemy will not wait for much longer.”
“Ah, that is right. There will be an attack from the sea as well.”
That was right. The eight thousand men were only for the land invasion.
Solstis Nistonia would attack Tohbie, which was House Antoini’s naval base.
Once Tohbie had fallen, they would travel up north and be able to attack House Antoini’s castle.
It was pretty much unthinkable for the Nistonia fleet to lose when it came to naval warfare, and so the fall of Tohbie was all but certain.
Once that happened, the Antoini family would have to return to their castle.
Of course, they would not be able to pull off a large scale retreat with such a large army opposing them.
I would have to hit them once from the front and make them retreat.
And then hit them again.
The two armies continued to stare menacingly at each other until the message came that Tohbie had fallen.
I immediately gathered together my generals and held a meeting.
“Now the enemy has no choice but to attack. They will probably charge into us. First, you will send your archers to the castle and focus your attacks on the enemy. After that, send in the elite units with spears. As I believe that the enemy is equal to us in terms of power and number of soldiers, there is no way that we can lose.”
Generally speaking, the side with more soldiers are considered to be stronger.
However, if you raised each individual soldiers ability through training and superior weapons, you can get much more out of the same number of men.
And if you can continue winning with inferior numbers, then the enemy will start to fear you.
–This is an easy battle. There is no element that could cause you to lose.
Oda Nobunaga’s said.
To be completely honest, I had no intention of suffering through any hardships before arriving at the royal capital. The real problems would start once I arrived. Even my enemies would probably start to think about allying and attacking me once I reached it.
So until I reached the royal capital, every other lord was ultimately only looking after their own interests. It was not until I arrived there and got close to the king, that they would be united in wanting to be rid of me.
But there was no one who could beat me when it came to defeating enemies in my path.
–That is true. Well, show them the strength of your troops.
“Once the enemy draws back, we will go in and crush them. I will make a gift of three counties to any who can bring the head an enemy lord.”
The generals answered with high spirits.
And just as I had anticipated, the enemy attacked head-on.
They seemed desperate to make us retreat.
–The enemy is not fighting adequately as a group. Generals are taking command independently, they are all moving without order. Such a thing puts them in an impossible situation.
Oda Nobunaga was not amused. But he was right.
The enemy’s army was old. And so, they would lose to something new.
Raviara was now in the opposing castle on elevated ground and shouting ‘Fire at all troops!’
At the same time, she lowered the red flag.
The arrows flew far and decreased the number of enemies that was rushing forward.
This occurred about three times, then the spearman charged forward.
The long, three-pronged spears destroyed the brains of the enemy as they crashed into each other.
Even if they were wearing heavy helmets, the helmets themselves would be crushed and they would fall on the spot.
Once the momentum of the enemy had been stifled, it was our side that had superior numbers, giving the advantage wholly to us.
The fight had turned very one-sided now.
“Kelara is deliberately targeting the troops of smaller lords.”
If those fell back, then all of the others would be in a hurry to follow suit. No orders would matter then.
Noen Raud and Meisel Ujie’s troops were also pushing the enemy forces back at a good rate.
“Now, would any be able to take the commanding general’s head?”
–It is very unlikely for the commanding general to die on the battlefield. I would not get my hopes up too high.
Thank you for that information.
Ultimately, the enemy troops led my House Antoini were completely routed and they returned to the castle.
However, it was really not something that they could defend, and so they abandoned that as well and fled to a neighboring prefecture to the south.
And so I drove away the remaining opposing forces within the Shara prefecture and united it.
