The history of humans domesticating wild animals as domestic animals, according to the inference of archaeologists Padrosi and Laman, has been at least 10,000 years. These various livestock play a very important role in our daily lives. From the cows and mules used by farmers on the West Coast to plow the fields, to the long-haired cats held by aristocratic women on the East Coast, today's lives are said to be inseparable from them. It’s not an exaggeration.
Among these many domesticated creatures, if there is any one that is closely connected with war, it is probably horses.
From chariots pulled by horses in the classical era to today's light and heavy cavalry, horses have become the preferred vehicle of mankind with their docile temperament and strong physique - although developed empires like Otolo have now even tamed pride. The Yalong is used as a vehicle, but this country, one of the top three in the western Rigal world, only has a total of more than 20 flying dragons.
Decisive combat power? It is understandable, but their carnivorous nature and huge body destined domestication to require a huge price from the beginning.
The dragon-taming workers in the Otolo Empire are all made up of slaves, and it is said that the vast majority of them would rather dig in a dark mine or row on a battleship than go there, and when they have no choice but to go Choose to commit suicide as soon as possible to avoid being tortured to death by these big guys who like to play with their prey like cats.
It is a mammal, and it is already so difficult for a dragon to get close to people if it is raised since childhood. Trying to tame a hybrid dragon creature or even a cold-blooded dragon lizard is naturally impossible. Many nomadic peoples who border their distribution areas have a history of trying to tame more powerful creatures. However, many shortcomings such as being too large to keep and artificially breeding, and being too ferocious and difficult to tame have resulted in the continued decline of horses. It is the most versatile tool of war and transportation in the Rigal world today.
Ordinary humans can only run at a speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour at most. Considering the extra weight brought by the supplies and equipment carried by the soldiers, plus the rest time, if they can walk this distance in one day, it is enough. It's very efficient.
The Avenella and Silvalier war horses are of the same lineage as the wild horses of the vast Otolo southern plains opposite the Tambur Mountains. Although we often call them mountain war horses when distinguishing grassland war horses, in fact This kind of horse is not bred in the mountains, but is more capable of climbing and carrying loads, and is tall and strong.
The running speed of a typical Avenera war horse for long-distance cruising can reach about 80 kilometers, and their endurance is far beyond that of humans - even second-class agricultural draft horses or slower-running mules can use these With mounts, the entire army can travel much faster than infantry.
——This way of thinking is new, it is different from the past, and it is as unconventional as everything else our Mr. Sage does.
To put it bluntly, although we have emphasized several times that their quality is higher than that of the Confederate Army, the top leaders of the Northern Army truly know what the various actions in this war are for and what kind of war they are fighting. Yes, only a few core people.
Among them, as the core of strategic command, Archduke Leski, who participated in the Otolo-Roan War twenty-one years ago, when it comes to how to effectively deploy and control the entire army, our sage There is no way to compare with him.
But the great thing about Henry is that he is always able to break the inherent thinking pattern. What Archduke Leschi is good at is to act steadily and rationally allocate the resources in his hands to ensure victory, and once he encounters - speaking more broadly - the need When there is a "miracle", the sage can always give the answer quickly and immediately. It was his handiwork to decisively divide the troops and extend the front line to ambush the Otolo heavy infantry. But before using magician apprentices to use magic in batches, he once again stepped out of the inherent thinking mode, and the methods he gave to use various vehicles were also unheard of.
The method of using livestock to travel or pull baggage has existed since before the time of Laman, but Henry's approach is different from the past. We can clearly understand all this with a simple comparison method:
In the past, the way people used cattle, horses and various other livestock, except for direct use in combat, can be summed up as "auxiliary" - this is inevitable, after all, the ratio of livestock to population needs to be taken into consideration. Using them as an auxiliary force in addition to manpower to pull baggage is what most poor countries can do with their best.
The method used by Henry during the Battle of Nella Forest is completely opposite to the culture of Laman and the West Coast. It is the method most familiar to Muna and his group of grassland nomads who are also in the military.
With any available livestock scrambled from the Dordogne and other nearby locations via raven liaison, plus any soldiers who knew how to ride, Henry's plan created or improved upon "strategic mobility." Concept, livestock is no longer an auxiliary to the army responsible for alleviating the pressure on logistics, but a direct means of transportation for marching. The entire army marched on horseback, and even the infantry dismounted to fight after riding to the corresponding location.
The northern army was divided into three groups. Two highly mobile forces equipped with a large number of horses and other vehicles were led by Muna and a Luoan veteran who was over forty years old. They used the trails extending in all directions on both sides of the Nela Forest Corridor to maneuver quickly. They went into battle lightly, carrying only necessary supplies and weapons and equipment, and moved forward separately from both sides to avoid too many people and horses interfering with each other.
Henry's plan had very little room for error, and although he managed to spell out what the farmers of Avenella should do in a way they could understand, the plan itself was still an adventure. It involves numerous uncertain factors, and even though they split up their forces on the same day they received the livestock during the evacuation, the reaction time they had was still so short.
This is a death race in which the future of Avenella and tens of thousands of lives are at stake. The two forces led by Munna and others as the vanguard must reach the defensive gap before the Northern Army is defeated by the Confederate Army. The southern base camp - just a detour and side attack is not enough. The Northern Army has fewer soldiers and horses than the Confederate Army. Although Ashbern II is headstrong, he is not an idiot. Once this army appears in their The fact that the rear and the front are just decoys is naturally exposed.
At that time, as long as Ahibon II ordered the entire army to raid, the army of only more than 3,000 people blocking Dordogne would be completely wiped out.
It is not an exaggeration to say that he sacrificed the near for the distant, but in order to preserve enough strength to cope with the future, Henry's strategy for the Northern Army was never to achieve its goal through military confrontation.
As we said before, humans are creatures with complex thoughts and individual differences. Thoughts determine our delicate and rich emotions, which are different from those of elves and other races. This emotion and this kind of thinking can be used to make weapons, and this invisible weapon is far more powerful than actual swords, guns and halberds.
The conflicts between nobles and civilians within the Confederate Army, and even between nobles and nobles, are as obvious as the unobstructed view of the city on a sunny day. Henry had said before that what he needed to do for the Confederate militiamen was to make them no longer stay aloof - these militiamen who left their homes to fight in other places far away were cowardly and indifferent. When Ashbern II They did not speak when the houses of the villagers in the Nela Forest Corridor were burned, killed, and looted, because this was not their hometown.
But this kind of hell-like situation will still touch them, but people who have been used to submissiveness for a lifetime will choose to swallow it unless they are pushed to the bottom line under pressure.
"It's okay, it's okay. Our hometown is far away, and this kind of thing will never happen." They comforted themselves with such words, but the uneasiness in their hearts grew day by day.
The nobles of the Confederate Army did not know all this, and even if they knew it, they would not take it seriously. Because even the lives of farmers are dispensable to them, so who cares about the mood of farmers?
Ashbern II did not understand the war, and so did the other nobles of the Confederate Army. Even Edward and the others knew very little about this situation. This is a Laman thing with a history far older than theirs. Those guys who have been scheming on the east coast for thousands of years have developed a whole set of psychological manipulation tactics that can even win the war without any blood.
Henry plays espionage.
He was like the most outstanding puppet master. At the same time, he used both hands to manipulate the invisible threads to cut the entire Northern Army into parts. Everything was arranged at the perfect time, leaving no room for doubt: the Northern Army was retreating with all its heart. , the information within the Confederate Army was blocked, and the farmers had no idea where their opponents were going; they mobilized their horses and divided them into three groups, leaving only a part of the troops to cooperate with the fog to launch fierce resistance in the front, while the remaining cavalry rushed thousands of miles, aiming directly at the Confederate Army's main road. rear.
At the same time, taking advantage of the chaos in management, some southern militiamen with good excuses quietly sneaked into the Confederate army camp. When morale was low after the bitter battle, they spread rumors.
Henry is playing psychological warfare.
Even the slightest rumors can cause trouble on a daily basis, not to mention that the farmers who have experienced a long pursuit and have not had enough rest and are hungry are now feeling more and more homesick.
If someone spreads among the army at this time: "The northern army, which has been showing no signs of being in sight, is actually dividing its troops to attack the hometowns of the southerners." With such words, even if they are under strong pressure, the farmers will not flee directly. Similar words Concepts will also be deeply rooted in their hearts and will never go away.
The best lie is to tell the truth. These rumors spread by Henry's southern militia actually captured the gap between the militia and the nobles within the Confederate Army as an entry point - they There is no need to worry that this incident will expose one's own maneuverability, because the repeated defeats of the Northern Army in front have already raised the arrogance of these southern nobles to full strength. These people, who already have a condescending attitude towards the peasants, must pass on the message through subordinate maids. If there are peasants who really go to their lords to confirm the news, the result is likely to only lead to more intense internal conflicts. .
This is one-way transparency on the battlefield.
All kinds of rumors and minor conflicts within the Southern Allied Army have never escaped the attention of our wise man.
And just as he expected, when some southern farmers couldn't help but run to try to confirm the news from their lords, they received either indifference or cold words to ridicule their ignorance and stupidity.
The fog came and dissipated, and people began to notice that the fog seemed to have spirituality and could be summoned by opponents. The fact that the Northern Army had supernatural powers to help caused an expected panic in this era where magic had not yet become overly popular. Henry's flexible and unflinching arrangement made Asheborn II and other senior leaders of the Southern Army avoid the act of firing arrows at the mist after realizing that it was the work of magic.
After the commotion became obvious, the nobles of the Confederate Army woke up belatedly. They shouted loudly in Shivariya to try to maintain order: "This is just magic, this is just a strategy, they are human beings too." Can be killed!"
They shouted like this, but how could the militiamen who had never seen the world know all this - those were ghost soldiers in the fog, they must not be real! Because if they are living people, then why do all the arrows shot into the fog come up empty?
Like other psychological factors, traditional superstition is also one of the invisible weapons Henry can use.
"That's the ghost of the ancestors siding with Prince Edward. He is the king that Avenella deserves!"
Combined with the rumors he had heard before about what the prince was doing in the north, and comparing it with what Ahiberne II was doing that was terrible, Henry combined all the factors that he had investigated from the beginning, allowed them to ferment and even secretly promoted, A big net was cast.
And this is just his first step.
Although the two troops sent by the Northern Army were headed to the south, the arduous task they shouldered was not to attack the farmers' hometowns - all they needed to achieve this was rumors. If they really attacked, I'm afraid it would be On the contrary, it will really push the farmers to the opposite side.
These two cavalrymen were precise meat cleavers, and the final point they headed to under Henry's instructions was where it all started.
In the final analysis, the militia of the Southern Allied Forces was formed under the pressure of the nobles. Those rumors and superstitious legends were tactics used against them. And the real force is aimed at the base camp of the nobles of the Southern Allied Forces, which has a gap in defense——
On July 25, 192 in the Avenela calendar, thousands of troops invaded from the northern horizon. They marched straight in and directly attacked a large number of noble mansions that had gaps in defense.
What these menacing and frightening Northern Army soldiers did was simply ask the wives and daughters of a large number of southern nobles to write a handwritten letter with their family crest, and then confirm it and send it out.
They left as quickly as they came, and all they took away were the flags and crests of each family. Except for a small amount of supplies, no one was hurt.
This was nicknamed "the most failed robbery" by later historians. It seemed like a meaningless strategic maneuver that was just a waste of time. In fact, the impact was far more profound than any apparent damage.
"Everyone has something they cherish."
"This weakness is common to all humans."
Standing at the entrance of the Nella Forest in Dordogne, which can be seen with the naked eye, Henry said this, and then handed the letter in his hand back to Edward.
"It's time to launch a full-scale counterattack."
He turned back and looked at the rising sun behind him. It had been 10 days since Mistfield launched its counterattack on the 21st. This was the last day of July.
The Northern Army caused a 10-day obstruction to the Confederate Army with minimal damage. They bought enough time for the Dordogne side to organize a force of thousands of people again.
Another unit, carrying a large number of tokens from southern noble families, also drove straight into the deserted Nella Forest Corridor area, aiming directly at the rear of the coalition forces.
everything.
It’s a foregone conclusion. m.
