Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 243

"How about a combination of fast and slow?" Ronan asked tentatively.

"How could I not have thought of that? It's all thanks to Marquis Rhein for reminding me." Valerian slapped his forehead, looking as if he had just realized something.

Ronan could only respond with a smile. To be honest, this general was shrewd, but his acting was just a bit awkward.

He needed Ronan to remind him to think of that? Don't be ridiculous.

"Then who will stay behind and fight a guerrilla war against the Villars?" Ronan asked.

"This mission is entrusted to you, Marquis of Rhine. We don't need to worry about the navy. I will lead the main force to break into Vena."

"If Villa catches up and attacks me, don't come to my rescue. Just cross the mountain and go into Villa's territory. By the way, Villa has had too much silver in recent years, prices have skyrocketed, and there are many poor people. The harvest has also been bad these past two years. Don't burn or kill. Take those poor people to rob the landlords. As for the specific operations, the Marquis of Rhine can let his staff command them."

Valerian then gave Ronan a few more specific instructions.

Three days later, the southward-bound army arrived in the south. Valyrian lived up to his nickname "The Swift." His army's marching speed was unparalleled, let alone anything else. It should be noted that he was a general of the Northern Legion, while the 30,000 men who marched south this time were drawn from the west and east, not his own troops.

Immediately afterwards, Valyrian led 25,000 men eastward toward Venaya, while Ronan led 5,000 men southwestward to meet the Belials, who had begun to wreak havoc on the land of the Kingdom of Phos.

The Belial also divided their forces: 15,000 remained in the southwest of the Kingdom of Phos, while another 5,000, under the cover of the Mediterranean fleet, went to pursue Valyrian.

This division of forces can be described as a textbook example of how to divide forces.

Five thousand men chasing fifteen thousand men: firstly, their own forces are outnumbered and fast enough to catch up; secondly, the goal is not to overtake and defeat them, but to follow and keep them at bay, preventing the Valyrians from stopping their rampage within the territory of Venaia.

Those who remained in the country, 15,000 against 5,000 in Romania, as the saying goes, the advantage lies with us.

A few days later, the situation changed for Ronan.

“Lord Rhein, there are only 15,000 men on the other side. I think we don’t need to spread out and play guerrilla warfare. Let’s just charge straight through.”

"With our equipment and training, the Villars are nothing but a bunch of pigs."

“Pigs are more difficult to kill. Even if you slaughter 15,000 pigs, you will get tired. But people are different. People are easier to kill.”

"They are currently besieging a bastion, and then connecting it with the two that they previously captured and are currently under renovation, forming a secure defensive line based on these three bastions to ensure their logistics, and then steadily advance."

"This is an open strategy, and we have no choice but to go. They may think it's an opportunity to defeat us, but in reality, that's what we think too."

The staff officers had no intention of waging guerrilla warfare. Coincidentally, the Beliales launched a siege and reinforcement attack, which suited their wishes perfectly.

Ronan looked at Colonel Delos beside him. In name, this colonel was the commander of these five thousand men, while Ronan was just someone who came to coordinate the local area and manage logistics.

"Fight," Delos said with certainty.

“Then let’s fight,” Ronan chimed in.

With the strategy set, it is expected that the battle between 5,000 and 15,000 will officially begin in two days.

Chapter 551 The performance has ended, times have changed again, let's see who collapses first.

The following day, under Delos's command, the five thousand men chose a good location and set up camp.

It must be said that a general's personal style will influence the style of the entire command system under him. Valyrian is known for his rapid marches. His speed is not due to recklessness, but rather to his steadiness, which allows an army to maintain a stable rhythm. The Delos he left behind is also a very steady person, with excellent camp-building skills.

At this moment, the staff officers had just finished discussing tomorrow's battle plan.

There's not much to discuss. The military tactics of this era consisted of two main aspects: extreme rigidity and extreme flexibility. Extreme rigidity refers to the use of musketeers and field artillery; the various states of the Western Continent fought for decades, constantly copying each other, essentially using the same formula in combat. Extreme flexibility refers to mages; different mages had different tactical roles, making their use incredibly flexible, entirely dependent on the commander's skill and adaptability.

This time in particular, among these five thousand people, there are several at the third rank, and even some at the fourth rank.

Why did the Valyrians appoint Ronan, who was in charge of logistics, as the commander of these 5,000 men before they split up their forces? It was because Delos was only a first-tier mage and couldn't command those "lords" at all.

Therefore, the staff officers' operational plans were not particularly special; they were just some formulaic content, with a few minor adjustments based on terrain and troop strength. The rest was not their concern.

Inside the tent, the staff officers looked at the map but started chatting idly.

"Did we overact a bit yesterday?"

"There's no other way. The Belials are too cautious. We can't follow the original plan to fight guerrilla warfare. We can only engage them in a direct confrontation. Our Marquis has no military experience. If we don't call the Belials pigs, he thinks that 5,000 against 15,000 is hopeless. What can we do if he insists on spreading out and fighting guerrilla warfare?"

"You've gone too far. It was our Marquis who planned the surprise attack on Rhine."

"Strategy is strategy, and tactics are tactics."

"Sigh, we've made such big promises. If we fail, we're doomed."

"It is precisely because we are the ones who take the blame after the failure that our Marquis can act without any scruples. Isn't this what we agreed upon from the beginning?"

The staff officers looked at each other and fell silent.

Yesterday's remarks were pre-arranged. The use of unprofessional language and the arrogant attitude of underestimating the enemy were all part of their plan. This was so that if they lost, Ronan could easily shift the blame to them, and Ronan would have no qualms about doing so.

"As long as we win, nothing will happen."

"really."

"We have basically mastered the conventional tactics of this new army of the Villars. We can win. The only variable is their magician."

“These bastards, this time we’ll show them what a new army is all about.”

While some of the advisors may have put on an act yesterday, it's impossible to say they lacked confidence in winning.

Meanwhile, Ronan was flying in the sky with Delos, conducting reconnaissance from afar.

Ronan wasn't even an amateur in his original timeline, and in this world he was an absolute novice. He didn't offer any opinions and completely accepted Delos's commands.

After completing their reconnaissance, the two returned to camp.

"Can we defeat them?" Ronan asked.

Delos replied, "If the few mages mentioned in the previous intelligence are indeed their entire force this time, defeating them shouldn't be a problem. However, even if we win, it won't solve the problem. The Belia army is large, and their naval capabilities are superior to ours. They can't stop them from deploying troops, and we are already fighting on two fronts. Most of our forces are on the northern front, which is under great pressure. Even if we win this time, we'll probably still only be able to fight a guerrilla war while retreating. To be honest, the southwest isn't very suitable for guerrilla warfare either. Although there are some mountains, Aquitaine is a basin."

“I’ll do my best,” Ronan said, without a trace of worry on his face.

“The Marquis seems to have a good outlook,” Delos said with a hint of a sigh.

“No, that’s not it.” Ronan shook his head in denial. “The Emperor of the Empire must be in a hurry right now, and so is Villa. Neither side can afford to delay. It’s not that they lack supplies, but they are afraid that the situation might change.”

At the same time, inside the camp.

The mage musketeers were maintaining their equipment: a powerful, specially made musket, three ordinary grenades, and a military knife—all three items meant to deal with ordinary cannon fodder.

A magic revolver, a magic-piercing axe, and a magic-piercing bomb—these three items are used to deal with other mage musketeers. Nowadays, the mage musketeers of several major countries are equipped with magic-resistant armor. A direct shot with the magic revolver cannot incapacitate them. The only way is to first use the magic-piercing bomb to remove some of their defenses, then use the magic-piercing axe to break through their armor, and finally use the magic revolver to shoot them in the face to incapacitate them.

Ordinary musketeers were also maintaining their muskets.

Although the muskets they used were mediocre, a novice mage's magic defense membrane couldn't withstand more than a few hits, and even that kind of magic-resistant armor would crack after being hit a few times.

The square formation of these ordinary musketeers was like a mobile fortress; their firepower was not meant to kill the enemy's mage musketeers, but to hold them off.

As for pikemen, they have been completely phased out in less than ten years. Under the threat of firepower from new grenades and field artillery, this type of soldier is no longer even fit to be cannon fodder and cannot play any role on the battlefield.

Compared to them, the ordinary artillerymen were more nervous. In the past, they didn't have to be nervous, but now it's different, now there's the air force.

What was once a single-person flying machine that could only be used by a full-rank mage has been upgraded in less than ten years. It has been transformed into a flying weapon that can be operated by two novice mages, one in charge of the flight system and the other in charge of the weapon system, with the ability to lift cups and drop bombs.

These flying weapons don't have powerful firepower, and their goal isn't to kill, but to drop bombs, which are aimed at artillery.

At times like this, all we can do is hope that our air force will perform well.

In the entire military camp, only a few third-level and two fourth-level soldiers had it relatively easy.

They don't need to go to the front lines; remote support is sufficient.

Of course, it's impossible to say there's absolutely no danger.

Dozens of kilometers away, the Belials had suspended their siege of the bastion, preparing to wait and regroup for tomorrow's battle.

They were confident about this battle, after all, they had 15,000 men, while the bastion had less than 2,000 men, and only a little over 5,000 came to support them. Their forces outnumbered the enemy by two to one, giving them a clear advantage.

However, it's impossible not to be nervous at all, after all, this is someone else's home ground, and the equipment of the Kingdom of Fas is better than theirs.

A day passed in the blink of an eye.

The battle began the next morning.

Villa left 3,000 troops to defend against any defenders who might come out of the fortress, while the rest of the troops rushed directly toward the 5,000 reinforcements led by Ronan.

The outnumbered Kingdom of Fas did not intend to defend itself and launched a surprise attack, aiming at the enemy's command post.

Let's see who breaks down first.

Chapter 552 First Encounter, The Hook is Taken; A Great Victory is Also a Pyrrhic Victory

Villa's leading forward formation braved the artillery fire and advanced at an unprecedented speed, with no retreat and no dodging.

More importantly, this formation did not suffer many casualties.

This situation was expected.

This is a type of magic, a divine spell within the Heavenly Oath Magic, providing a wide-range, multi-unit buff that enhances speed, strength, defense, and constitution in all aspects. The buff level isn't high, but that small increase is deadly.

However, the magic of the Heavenly Oath must have a "limitation". The person who is given the buff by this magic must keep moving forward. Once they stop for more than a very short time, the buff will disappear.

Furthermore, this magic cannot be used repeatedly or multiple times within a certain period of time.

The Kingdom of Fas and the Kingdom of Bilia fought back and forth dozens of times over the decades, and border friction never stopped. Why did the southern front suddenly fall?

The main factor, of course, was that no one expected Villa to launch such a large-scale attack from both sea and land, deploying so many troops.

The secondary factor was that no one expected there to be such a magician.

The defenders were initially prepared to give Villa a head-on blow, but they did not expect that such a square formation would break through their front line and shatter their formation.

Although they became aware of the magic along the way and deduced its general limitations through observation, it was already too late to make up for it.

After that, they could only switch to defense and send a request for help to the capital city's central government.

At this moment, although Ronan's side was prepared, they didn't really have any good solutions, and the attacked formation could only hold out for the time being.

This formation can only advance, not retreat. So why doesn't the attacked formation disperse and let it pass? It can't stop, after all.

The answer is that once the square formation is dispersed, it is essentially useless in the short term. Moreover, if it is released, it will definitely advance towards the main camp. It is better for the attacked square formation to withstand the attack and for the surrounding square formations to come and encircle it. Even if this square formation has buffs, it cannot withstand the encirclement.

"Very good, they've taken the bait."

Villa's commander saw the battle situation ahead through his binoculars and a smile appeared on his lips.

This buff formation was originally a bait. It consisted of 1,500 people who attracted the attention of the enemy's three formations of 3,000 people. The enemy still had 2,000 people in two formations.

With the remaining 13,000-plus men on our side, who are currently locked in a tense standoff at the front, we can take this opportunity to deploy and completely encircle the enemy.

"Very good, they've taken the bait."

Delos said the same thing.

The enemy has 15,000 men, while we only have 5,000. If we want to attack their main camp, the enemy's "strength" must be reduced.

Otherwise, rushing in would be suicide.

In the distance, the commander of Villa saw that the remaining two thousand men on Fass' side had begun to launch a fierce attack regardless of their formation. "Heh, so that's their idea. They're gambling. Let's gamble on who's faster. That Marquis of Rhine is in the enemy's ranks."

Commander Villa did not intend to retract his order and withdraw his troops, but instead continued to deploy them.

He was looking forward to the scene of Ronan abandoning the army and fleeing.

At this point, the situation had turned into a race.

If Villa completes the encirclement first, then it will win.

If Phos is the first to reach the central camp of Villa, then Phos has won.

"Fool, third-rate general."

Delos was filled with disdain upon seeing Villa's reaction.

It's a very simple principle. For example, if a rich person gambles with a poor person, even if the rich person has a higher probability of winning, he has already lost from the moment he is willing to gamble.

Delos figured that if he had 15,000 men and his opponent had 5,000, he would play as rigidly as possible, playing like a turtle, so rigid that his opponent wouldn't have the slightest chance.

"Perhaps it's because I'm more attractive?" Ronan asked with a smile.

"Ha, do you think the other side can catch you?" Delos laughed.

Ronan, a fifth-tier mage, can fly. Without a sixth-tier or even seventh-tier mage, capturing Ronan is simply impossible.

“What I mean is, if he beats me, it would be a great achievement,” Ronan explained.

“If that’s what he thinks, then he’s not even a third-rate general. He’s making such a foolish decision for such a hollow title,” Delos said. “If I were him, I wouldn’t waste time here. I would go straight north to the western coast, burning, killing, and looting along the way. Once I got to the west, I would have the navy cooperate along the coast to destroy the trading ports of the Kingdom of Phos.”

"I didn't expect you to be so radical," Ronan teased.

Delos put on his helmet. "Strategically, we can be as aggressive as possible; tactically, we can be as stable as possible. In a war between great powers, the primary objective is naturally to eliminate the opponent's war potential. Excuse me, Marquis, I must go. Remember my champagne."

De Los Lema then turned around and prepared to go to the rear to board a small, individual combat aircraft.

Two thousand men are too few. He will personally lead sixteen fighter jets that only upright mages can control to cover his small bombers and special mage airborne troops, creating an opening for the two thousand-man assault team to rush towards the enemy's main camp.