So the Medieval Age Has a Split Inheritance System…
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 50 – Kingdom’s Scale
Duke Agnes and Count Joachim’s combined army was about 3,000 men but they were scattered by the Estoani royal army — even Count Joachim was taken prisoner. I didn’t care if he died as it was, so I wouldn’t be up for negotiation.
For the time being, I hired 3 mercenary groups; totaling 2,000 men, 3,000 conscripts, 3,000 slave soldiers, and 1,500 men from the standing army. A combined amount of 9,500 soldiers. As I led an army on a scale of nearly 10,000 men, it really made me realize that I was now a king. It felt really good to see myself at the head of the army all the time when the soldiers lined up on the road.
That said, out of the 1,500 men from the standing army, 500 were recruits, so they weren’t drilled enough yet. They might be strong individually, but they weren’t used to cooperating with each other yet. Even among the slave soldiers, only 1,000 veterans were worthy of being a part of the immortal corps while the remaining 2,000 had yet to reach that level of inhumanity.
However, the entirety of the slave soldiers were called the immortal corps — and Baron Wright, the commander of the corps, had successfully acquired resistance to firearms, so the head of the corps wouldn’t get crushed easily. The number of methods available to kill veteran slaves was seriously getting low, so I had to keep a tight hold of their reins.
As the mercenary corps serving as the vanguard of the Estoani Kingdom’s army charged ahead, the slave soldiers fired a salvo1 of shots at them. They were just single-shot guns, but their firepower was quite decent. The problem was that they were as fragile as the cannons, so if anyone but the slaves used them, they might die when they exploded. Well, it used gunpowder after all, so it couldn’t be helped.
Once the guns exploded, I believed their only use left was as blunt weapons. I could have attached a bayonet to it, but I decided not to since it would be dangerous if the blade ricocheted off. Rather than having them wield half-assed knives, it was better to just give them a proper spear.
The enemy seemed so surprised by the existence of the guns that they stopped advancing. Well, I guess it was natural to cease marching upon encountering an unknown. Perhaps the reason they didn’t immediately try to flee was because of their high level of awareness and expertise as a mercenary group? At that moment though, the former mercenary group which now served as my cavalry unit in the standing army, rushed over to trample them.
Cornelia’s older brother Hans, who led the charge, had strong physical characteristics in addition to a high level of swordsmanship and high combat force, so he was perfect to lead the run to raise morale. Once my territory expanded, he was also a count candidate. He was still my in-law after all. Recently, he seemed to have begun sending money to his family’s house, showing that he was a fine young man.
I guess I would be distributing the counties within Estoa duchy to Wright, Hans, and Gramilian. Among the 5 counties there, 3 would be entrusted to my vassals while the rest would be under my direct control. As for Agnes-kun, I would grant him Reuter county as promised, and make him a count. Since he seemed to have no desire to betray me in the end, I guess he really felt it was important to inherit his family name and territory.
Though, because of the famine that occurred this year, there was nothing to gain from Estoa duchy… but Estoani Kingdom did send aid to Estoa duchy, so it was better than taking a territory from the Carling Empire. Since the mercenary units of Estoani Kingdom received quite a devastating blow and began to retreat, the conscripts led by Gramilian started to pursue them for achievement. Hey, it seems I didn’t need to do anything here?
Thanks to my competent subordinates, I had it easy since I didn’t have to give detailed instructions. The ex-slaves’ company and platoon leaders were increasing in number, so it was no longer a problem to find human resources… I wondered if the armies of Deal Kingdom would be organized by classes eventually? The problem was that there weren’t enough people to lead the battalion class, but that could be resolved in time.2
Some of Estoani Kingdom’s elite forces began to counterattack, but our veteran slaves could perform zombie-like attacks, so they were also considered an essential elite force. If there was an enemy general who wielded a huge ax, our elite slaves were people who could continue to fight even if their heads were blown away by enemy attack. There were even some who could cling onto the enemy generals in that state. What horror.
Facing slave soldiers who kept crawling forward no matter how many times they were crushed, the enemy general was overwhelmed in no time and had his throat pierced with a dagger. I began to pity them since really, what the heck was that? Also, the slave who managed to land the killing blow rejoiced that he would be released from slavery. I already left the management of slave soldiers to Wright so I wouldn’t complain, but it seemed one only needed to kill an enemy general to be released from slavery.
…Anyway, the battle ended when the strong-looking enemy general, who commanded their central army, was killed and their troops were scattered. On our end, about 200 died and 600 were injured. On the other hand, since the enemy soldiers were hunted down as they retreated, I guess about 2,000 of them died?
The cavalry played an active part in chasing the enemy, but it seemed that there were some idiots who fired their guns, spooking their horses, causing them to fall and be seriously injured. But well, our army sure was powerful. Even without using complicated tactics, I think we could fight a kingdom-class army of 10,000 upfront.
With this, the fight here ended, and the war with the Estoani Kingdom ended with unconditional peace. We received slaves in the name of reparations from the Holy Lenart Empire, and peace was also established with that side. The war against Estoani Kingdom would likely continue if I attacked, so this was appropriate. If possible, I wanted to conclude the wars before the Carling Empire made its move, so I prioritized efficiency.
By the way, the war with Wagner, who was also being attacked by the Borghardt Kingdom, still continued. Just before making peace with the Holy Lenart Empire, I declared war on the Carling Empire using my justification to Klaus duchy. So even after I made peace with the Holy Lenart Empire, peace with Wagner didn’t happen.
Apparently, the Carling Empire, or rather, Wagner seemed to be struggling against the Borghardt Kingdom, so I would be using the chance to gain some more territory. I would be troubled if the Borghardt Kingdom expanded further, so it also served that purpose.
The Borghardt Kingdom was already in control of 6 duchies, which could be seen as having twice the amount of national power of our Deal Kingdom. We would soon be sharing borders with each other, so I’d like to consider invading them but… it was hard for me to have enemies in all directions.
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