Henry's strategy was very effective, but local tactical advantages could not change the huge gap in troops. In the past, scholars from the Laman Empire used this sentence pattern when recording wars: "They won every battle, but lost the entire war." This sentence pattern was so classic that it was extremely difficult for cultural heritage to pass on. The literature of the West Coast countries that were greatly influenced by them is still used today, but what it uses in just one sentence is the consideration of the huge complexity and many factors of war.
To an outsider, or someone who considers themselves an expert, the above statement may seem silly and contradictory.
Because if you think about it according to inertial thinking, how can you win every battle and lose the entire war? But people who would come to this conclusion have obviously made many important mistakes.
Their way of thinking is limited to confrontational games such as chessboards. In such a black and white world, defeating the opponent is the only consideration. Therefore, winning every battle naturally means complete victory. But reality is more complicated. War in reality is never an end but just a means. It is an extension of politics or interests. Whether it is for power, territory, minerals or business, war is to achieve a certain purpose. initiated and usually used as a last resort.
And since this definition is further expanded, unlike the simple victory and defeat in chess games, "losing" and "winning" in reality naturally have more complex definitions.
If we take the Oto Luo Luan War more than 20 years ago as an example: the Luo An people tried their best to fight with weak forces and achieved many glorious victories, but no war can avoid death. The Luoan people, who were at an overwhelming disadvantage in terms of military strength, did not know how to preserve their strength in battle after battle and desperately pursued victory. The final result was that when the Otolo people's army approached the city, they, who were famous for their cavalry, could only Rely entirely on infantry and archers to go out and meet the enemy.
This is one of the ways in which failure to consider the long term and preserve strength, leading to excessive consumption and losing the war itself, is one of them. In addition, there is also a war whose purpose is to seize a certain commercial town, but in the end the opponent is pressed hard and leaves no room for the opponent. As a result, the opponent burns it down in despair. This is also a "failure" in terms of purpose. situation.
When we look at war, we cannot just have a simple chessboard-style black-and-white thinking of victory and defeat. Going all the way to the black end often does not lead to a good outcome. Henry and Leschi knew this well, but so did the inexperienced Edward and the Northland nobles under his command. They understood the consequences of excessive pursuit of victory in every game, and sometimes retreated in order to achieve their true goals. One step leads to a brighter future.
But unfortunately, this approach cannot be accepted by everyone. The lack of an effective military control system caused the Northern Army to lose more troops during the evacuation process, and even some senior military officials questioned whether the retreat was wise. , if you fight desperately, you may lose less military power.
Fortunately, Ashbourne II had high-pressure iron-blooded methods and royal power, and Edward had overwhelming popularity. Therefore, with His Highness the Prince's firm trust in Henry and Archduke Leschi, the entire army could still be efficient. proceed according to plan.
And this comes back to our original question.
Henry's strategy cannot change the disparity in the strength of the two sides. It may make many people with a keen sense of smell notice the huge war potential of organized magic in the future, but in the current situation, this is just a bigger threat. It's just part of the strategic plan.
What does the Northern Army need?
This is not a correct question. The real question should be: What does Avenella need?
If we just wanted a false peace under the rule of a great power, we should not have started this war in the first place. However, surrendering to Otolo may bring temporary peace and prosperity. Putting aside the country's face problems, due to the inequality between the citizens and the sovereign state, the internal backlog of conflicts will also be a huge potential risk. And as a vassal country, if anything happens to Otolo, they will inevitably be implicated and even become a victim or scapegoat.
Edward's desperate pursuit of sovereignty and equality are related to tangible interests. A country without a voice is like a statusless slave and cannot even control its own destiny. But the conflict in the way of thinking eventually led to the outbreak of war. We will not go into details on this point. The war is already underway, so the question we need to ask is: What does Avenella need now and in the future?
The wounds caused by war need to be healed, and the country needs labor for development, which means they must do everything possible to minimize the damage. Whether they are the enemy or our own side, they are all Avenella people. When they fight on the land of Avenella, the collateral damage to their own domestic affairs and people must be minimized.
We have mentioned before that a tragic victory is undesirable, but in fact, a normal victory achieved through a large-scale frontal decisive battle is also undesirable.
The number of casualties in the war that lasted from April to now has greatly exceeded original expectations. If it goes further than this, their victory will become meaningless.
This is a difficult problem. It is already difficult enough just to win normally, but now it also needs to reduce casualties on both sides.
The Northern Army's operations must be meticulous and strictly implement the plan to be successful, and they cannot allow any extraneous matters. There is nothing wrong with the saying that wealth is gained through danger, and it has been applied to the current situation. However, one factor that is seriously affected by the Northern Army's deviant plan is the error tolerance issue we have been mentioning.
Even though the great east coast empire of Padrosi, whose application of engineering was associated with the dwarfs, produced precision clocks with hundreds or thousands of parts, it was still inevitable that the time would need to be readjusted after a period of time. And this is just a simple machine that moves forward in one direction and displays time. If humans, who have complex thoughts and individual differences, are given other overly complex missions, the chance of making mistakes in a certain link will naturally increase accordingly. Increase.
This is the reason why the combination of spear and shield has always been the choice of infantry. One of them only needs to be thrust forward, and the other only needs to be picked up and protected in front of oneself. This is precisely because they are extremely simple to make and use. Armed a large number of troops. Simplicity means fewer mistakes, both in equipment selection and strategic maneuvering.
To reduce casualties, military command must be cautious. The purpose that needs to be carried out is too complex, and the requirements for the soldiers themselves are naturally higher. This is also the biggest problem faced by our Mr. Sage: the only ones in the Northern Army who can be regarded as professional soldiers are the knights and sergeants. But they are few in number. The veterans and reliable commanders cultivated since the Battle of Ecasta were all lost in the previous conflict with the Otolo hoplites, and the remaining militiamen and Roans who were temporarily recruited, despite their commendable courage, failed. Most people are illiterate.
This question may seem trivial, but as we have mentioned in the past about the spread of knowledge, the same is true for military orders.
The number of the Northern Army was more than half less than that of the Southern Allied Army, but it still numbered several thousand people, and the vast majority of them were illiterate peasant refugees. The only way to communicate with them is through oral communication. We all know the principle of three people becoming a tiger. The difference in understanding ability caused by oral communication is likely to eventually convey the order to the grassroots and the original model is very different, and other Efficiency is far beyond the convenience of a piece of paper that can be passed back and forth, especially when there is a shortage of manpower.
Of course, if the Northern Army still had the standardized and effective officer and non-commissioned officer system as before, this would not be a problem. However, the entire army has been repeatedly disorganized, and now it takes a long time to go to the militiamen one by one to explain what they should do. There is no limit to what you can do in terms of manpower and time.
In the final analysis, they are just amateur militiamen, not to mention they don't know tactics and strategies. If they were replaced by a North Avenella noble who was already quite close to the people, it would be very difficult to communicate with them in ordinary ways.
Social status and cultural origin determine their ability to understand. Even if they also speak Avenella, the more formal and standardized language of the northern nobles will appear obscure and difficult to understand in the ears of farmers. You must understand their slang, their cultural background, and understand what words should be said and what metaphors should be used so that they can understand what you mean. In layman's terms, you have to be "local". And here, it is our Mr. Sage's turn to take action. .
He quickly made the militiamen understand his thoughts with a tone of voice and a smooth dialect that even had a local accent that made Edward wonder if he was a fake Avenella. The militiamen do not understand tactical planning and do not understand what it means to walk 200 meters east and then turn west 500 meters, but they are familiar with this land and know that 200 meters to the east is John Smith's home, and 500 meters away is where farmer's farm.
The way Henry communicated with the militiamen opened their eyes to Edward and the others. It was better to tell something that both parties knew than to forcefully explain something that they had never been exposed to. But even though they knew all this, if they did not have the knowledge reserves of the sage level, They can only look forward to it and sigh.
It's hard to figure out how important Henry's role was in this battle, even though he was not the one who actually led the army. Without Edward, the northern army would have been difficult to form, and if the northern nobles were as bad as the southern nobles If so, they would still be powerless even with Edward and Henry around. We can only say that this period of history and this war was inevitable due to a series of accidental factors, and the fate of hundreds of thousands or millions of people is in the hands of these few key people at this moment.
Things have come to a most critical moment.
Long-term preparation, patience, and steady planning have reached this final step.
Summarizing the words expounded by the founder and executor of the entire plan, Henry Meyer himself, on that day, this civil war that lasted for more than three months finally came to an end.
"Front-on conflict is undesirable. Our military strength is far inferior to that of the Southern Allied Forces. Even if we win by chance and fail to retain enough strength to face potential dangers later, this country will not have any future." Henry pointed out that day. Looking at the map of the Nella Forest area that was a lot dirty due to the evacuations, it said: "Unfortunately, although Avenella is known as a mountainous country, there are many long Nella Forest Corridor areas that connect the north and the south. It's plains and forests. Even the undulating terrain is just a stream of hills, and there are no solid passes that we can hold on to with our weak troops."
"But we are not completely at a disadvantage. Retreating to the vicinity of the Dordogne means that we can finally get some supplies. The flat terrain and the trails extending in all directions in the Nella Forest area make it difficult to hold on. Let's open up our minds. If you think about it, it is also a point that can be exploited." Henry said this, and all the senior officials of the Northern Army around him listened carefully.
"The victory of the Southern Allied Forces relied on the huge impact of consecutive victories. They are too tight strings. Once they exceed their critical value, they will collapse on their own. The problem we are currently facing is that we do not have enough troops to To achieve all this," Henry said, and everyone else nodded in agreement, Prince Edward then added: "And even with enough troops, we must try to avoid more casualties."
"But there is no castle in this world that cannot be defeated. Everyone has their own weaknesses." Henry said this, then turned to look at Edward: "Is the raven coming?"
Edward nodded in response: "Well, the emergency horses and mules have arrived nearby and are waiting for us to pick them up."
Henry walked back to the map, stretched out his finger, crossed the area where the armies of both sides were marked with wooden markers, and pointed at somewhere in the distance.
"Then this is it."
The paths extending in all directions on both sides of the Nella Forest are twisted and winding, but just like you can always find the trunk by following the root system of a tree, of course they all lead to a common end point.
"All the Southern Allied Forces needed to forcefully form a group was an opportunity. The farmers further south still sided with Ashbern II because their hometown had not yet been involved in the war. , and what we need to do is to stop them from being able to stay out of it.”
"As cruel as it sounds, we have to drag these people into this muddy water."
Henry said so, and on July 12th, the Northern Army went against their conventional thinking and faced an enemy twice their size. They also made the decision to divide their troops.
A part of the elite generals, led by the remaining outstanding officers of the Northern Army, brought with them militiamen who were mountain people who knew how to ride horses, riding on various vehicles urgently transferred from the Dordogne, like an isosceles triangle. They generally spread out from both sides, avoiding the sharp edge of the Southern Allied Forces in the Nella Forest Corridor area in the center, and pointed the tip of the sword directly at the political center where the Southern troops had been mobilized.
At the same time, under the covert operation of our treacherous and cunning Mr. Sage, some farmers from the south were selected, and with lines they had practiced many times, they began to quietly approach the chaotic Southern Allied Forces.
A little rumor is like a pebble thrown into the pond.
The ripples teased the tight strings again and again.
