A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1018 - General Karstly’s Plan - Part 4

1018: General Karstly’s Plan – Part 4

1018: General Karstly’s Plan – Part 4

“T-then what do we do?” Yadish said.

“Do we send the chariots after them?

On this long flat plane, they will be able to secure a few lives, surely.”

“No, Yadish.

Defeat has been handed to us.

We must accept that fact and move ahead calmly.

What is lost can not always be wrestled back merely through will,” General Khan said.

“Lord Blackwell will no doubt secure the outpost that he so wished for.

That is what we have yielded to him.”

“T-then what?” Yadish said.

“Then nothing,” General Khan replied.

“This is not a war for the Lonely Mountain.

This is war for the entire region.

We move ahead.

We have lost a few men here.

They scratched their victory, but it has only given them slight advantage.

With the will of the Gods, we shall make up for it.

Confined passageways are never the optimal terrain for making use of large numbers.

But our battlefield will not be so narrow.

It will be the wide plains around our captured castles.

There, we will show our might, and there, we will achieve victory, with the fullest force of our army at hand.”

…

…

The exhausted men marched through the night, and by dawn the next day, they finally set their eyes on the isolated mountain that the Verna called the Lonely Mountain, with all the forests that surrounded it.

On the very edge of that forest, the line of men finally began to draw to a halt.

“General… Are we not going to take residence inside?

The men long for the opportunity to set up camp,” Colonel Gordry said.

He’d taken to speaking on behalf of the Blackthorn men, and his own lack of sleep had made him bold.

After the viciousness of their battle with the Verna to make it through the mountain passageways as they had, the men’s exhaustion was at its highest.

“You wish to make camp there, on a bed of nails?” Karstly asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You are welcome to.

I suppose the Blackthorn men are braver even than they’ve already been given credit for.”

“Bravery?” Gordry said.

“I do not think it to be brave to be setting up camp in a forest we know to be viable.”

“Ah,” Karstly said.

“It seems you’re labouring under a mistaken impression.

We’re talking past each other.

That is my problem, forgive me, Colonel.

This forest is not unmanned, if that is the impression that you’ve gotten.”

“…It’s not?” Gordry said, having to pause before he made his reply.

“Why would they station men here, so far from the frontlines?

They’ve castles for that very purpose.”

“Because they knew we would come,” Karstly replied.

“And then why did we attack and aim for here, if we knew what would happen?” Gordry asked, his own exhaustion had made him bold, but Karstly tolerated it with all the patience of a man that had been resting for weeks.

“Because we knew we could best them,” Karstly replied.

“Inform the men, Colonel Gordry.

They’ve one last task to perform before they make camp for the night.

They’re going to need to storm a mountain fort.”

The Colonel was stunned in place by the brutality of that order.

It was certainly not the sort of thing he would have expected upon meeting Karstly for the first time.

He seemed a mild-mannered man.

Youthful, and charming.

More like a fairy tale prince than a fighter.

But beyond that mask, there lay a devil.

He saw no issue with his order.

To storm a mountain fort on no sleep, just after they’d already done battle?

That seemed madness.

“How many men, General?” Colonel Gordry asked carefully, fighting to keep his cool.

“I would wager five thousand, but perhaps it might be as much as seven,” General Karstly replied.

“Blackwell warned that we should expect as much as ten, but after fighting with Khan, I have reason to believe that it ought to be lower.”

“…Five thousand fortified men at minimum?” Gordry said.

Traditional strategy told that you ought to fight with twice as many men, at least, as any fortification that you intended to besiege.

To do it with the same numbers, with men that were both depleted from battle and sleep deprived… That was recklessness.

“The doubt in your eyes begins to irritate me, Colonel,” Karstly said, his patience finally wearing out.

His retainers took a step forward, as if to remove Gordry from the General’s company.

“Do you still doubt my ability?”

“N-no,” Gordry said, stumbling on his words.

Something about the charming young General suddenly seemed so frightfully devilish.

“Then do as I bid, Colonel,” the General pressed.

“Before noon comes, you will have secured another major victory for your men, and I will have achieved the mission that was assigned.

Our aims are aligned, are they not?”

“They are,” Colonel Gordry said.

“Then deliver my will to the men, and allow them a half hour to eat.

Then, we shall begin,” Karstly said.

“…Very well,” came the reply, as the Colonel dipped his head and began to leave.

Karstly watched him go, along with a handful of his retainers.

“Awfully obedient for a Blackthorn,” one of the men commented.

“That is exactly what the Blackthorns are – obedient.

Indeed, they’re ruthless hounds, but if you get a proper handle on them, they’re as obedient as they come.

I can not complain about that service,” Karstly replied.

“All according to plan, General?” The man pressed.

“All according to plan,” Karstly replied in agreement.

It was not only victory that he was building.

It was unity.

The opportunity to push his men could not come quickly enough for him.

Strategically, Karstly knew more than one way in which he could have allowed his men the night of rest that they so wished for, but purposefully, he’d avoided those methods.

Not simply because of the boons that a swift victory would offer for their army, and for Lord Blackwell himself, but because of the stress that it would place on his men.