So the Medieval Age Has a Split Inheritance System…
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: PalenMisha
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 52 – Sibling Quarrel
I received a report that the Borghardt Kingdom had been defeated by the Carling Empire’s army, led by Wagner. Well, the whole military strength of the Borghardt Kingdom was 7,500, while Wagner alone already had 7,500 men, and that was before being assisted by other dukes and counts. Although those soldiers were weakened by famine, there were still enough of them to repel the enemies.
Actually, it seemed the three brothers, or rather the three fools, of Klaus’ family could mobilize a total of 7,500 soldiers. My 7,500 men consisted of 3,000 slave soldiers, 1,500 standing army, and 3,000 conscripts, but I guess my conscripts were the least trained compared to Wagner’s and Alfred’s. On the other hand, since the training of the slave soldiers was much better than the normal standing army, I felt like they were stronger than the members of Wagner’s standing army.
And so, I sent 3,000 slave soldiers and 1,500 standing army soldiers to invade Wagner’s home base of Klaus duchy, which was centered in Klaus county, but the existence of the fortress that Wagner built in the border area was quite troublesome. It was protected by 1,500 conscripts and 2,000 of Wagner’s standing army.
After I declared war on him, he immediately dispatched a defensive army to this land, and the fact that he still managed to repel the Borghardt Kingdom army despite that showed how hard he tried. The fact that there were defensive soldiers in place meant there was meaning in my early declaration of war.
The fortress was built on top of a mountain and constructed like a Japanese castle. It would take too much to go around it, and there was a risk of our path of retreat being cut off if I tried. It was because of Wagner’s steadfastness that he built a fortress in a position where invaders had no choice but to attack it first.
Moreover…
“Palmer-sama! We are probably within range of enemy cannons in this position as well! Please stand back!”
“No, I will be fine even if I took direct hits from cannons, so if you worried about the headquarters, you can go ahead and return there, Gramilian… Also, we aren’t in range for direct hits at our location. Even if that tall mountain were added into the calculation, they would barely reach here.”
It seemed they had calculated where fired explosive rounds would land, so many of them hit the center of our unit. It was most likely that their cannons were already set up regarding where artillery fire would land the moment the fortress was built. The fact that our headquarters, which was barely within cannon range, didn’t suffer a single hit, should prove that. What was that, the Maginot line?
It seemed they couldn’t mass produce cannon rounds yet, as they switched to attacking with bows, so we resisted using crossbows, but the difference in height also affected the flight distance of the arrows, so our side was at a disadvantage. Especially the slave soldiers on the front, who already looked like hedgehogs with arrows stuck all over their bodies.
But even then, watching those slave soldiers still set up their crossbows and shoot back despite being riddled with arrows showed them worthy of the name Immortal Corps. In addition, the enemy began to get exhausted since they shot using bows. Since we used crossbows, there was no correlation between fatigue and arrow speed. Gradually, the enemy arrows failed to even pierce our slave’s bodies. In that case, we could proceed normally without issue.
We proceeded to the castle walls and hit them with the battering ram to force a breakthrough. Our arrows wouldn’t penetrate their roof and the catapult wouldn’t cause great damage due to the angle of the roof. A huge, iron-wrapped log that hung from the roof was slammed into the castle wall. The slaves who carried the battering ram all had strong physical characteristics.
A huge impact noise resounded once, twice, and thrice, then a hole opened in the castle wall, through which the enemy soldiers could be seen. My slaves immediately threw grenades then quickly entered inside and secured the bridgehead. Ah, that should do it.
The location where Borghardt Kingdom’s army and Carling Empire’s army fought was at the border of Upper Terrence duchy and Lower Terrence duchy, which was separated from Klaus duchy. The freshness of this information was relatively high, so the Carling imperial army couldn’t make it back yet. That was why they dispatched soldiers to protect the fortress, and while they were well-trained, they weren’t enough to block our elite slave soldiers’ invasion.
After a while, the enemy garrison soldiers began to withdraw via the back gate of the castle. Seeing that, I immediately had a bad feeling, so I instructed the next set of slaves not to enter the castle… I think the enemy’s actions meant this castle would collapse.
As the enemy soldiers began to retreat and we were about to pursue them from the flanks, the castle began to crumble. See, I knew it. Exploding the whole castle was something that both Alfred and I were likely to do, but as expected, Wagner learned something after being hit so hard by it.
But well, the people who entered the castle were elite slaves with monstrous endurance and regeneration. Even if the castle collapsed, they would definitely withstand it. In the end, it turned out just as I thought, turning the clash surrounding the castle into a blank slate…
Along with the rumbling of the earth, the mountain surface began to collapse. Hah?
No, wait. I could understand the decision to destroy the castle. It would be troublesome if the castle ended up reused by the enemy, so some of the forts in my territory had such a mechanism as well. But I never thought he would actually break down a mountain to cause a landslide that would likely cause great damage, even to the people of the territory, if done poorly.
It was no longer about accidental detonation, but a trap set because it was necessary to be detonated reliably within a few years, huh? No good, I totally overlooked that.
The ground crumbled. I also had resistance to suffocation and pressure, so I would probably survive even if I got caught in a landslide, but whether the new slaves and the standing army at the back could survive was up to their luck. I guess even the enemy soldiers would likely be affected by this as well.
When I looked up, more earth and sand fell down, and my vision became pitch black.
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