So the Medieval Age Has a Split Inheritance System…
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Ai
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 72 – Great Crusade
Time had passed since I killed Wagner. I heard that the pope of the Knut religion was about to declare a crusade against me. Not to mention, the Masia Kingdom, Estoani Kingdom, Lenart Empire, and the Carling Kingdom were going to participate, and the pope himself was taking the helm. In terms of scale, it was supposed to be a great crusade.
The gathering point of the enemy forces was the Estoani duchy, the core duchy of the Estoani Kingdom. It seemed that the three armies of Lenart Empire, Estoani Kingdom, and Masia Kingdom would gather, and considering that the pope would personally lead about 20,000 paladins, the total forces would probably exceed 50,000.
…Well, I couldn’t help but want to retort that he came to the decision way too late. The Lenart Empire’s army was completely beaten by the Schult Principality and the second division of the Deal Kingdom recently, so did they have the leisure to participate in the crusade?
I guess it was impossible for them to declare a crusade right after I got excommunicated. Even though it was a crusade, no feudal lord would participate if it showed little benefit. If there was no profit and the target wasn’t dangerous, many kings and dukes wouldn’t even consider participating.
At the time of the crusade against the Borghardt Kingdom, the Masia Kingdom didn’t participate. The Carling Empire was the main body of the army, and they were fighting against a lustful king, so I guess it was difficult to dispatch a large army against them. For the time being, let’s aim to capture the pope in this war and do our best.
The Carling Empire also deployed thousands of troops, but that was at a level that Duke Jeremias could handle alone. It seemed that the weakening of the Carling Kingdom, which could no longer break through a duke, was a highlight. I even heard that the vassals of the royal brother faction were trying to start a coup d’etat there.
Perhaps I became a target this time because I owned the Dismore and Klaus duchies, both bountiful in land? Or because I was the founder of the Palpal religion, which waged a religious war against the Knut religion? The world’s system designated me as the number one villain in the world, and not only have I been persecuting the Knut religion, I also killed Wagner. There were too many reasons for the crusade.
…It was probably having a hold of the Dismore and Klaus duchies being the major reason. They faced the sea, so I could have utilized aquatic transportation. But, the number of ships that the Deal Kingdom had was still at zero. Moreover, there wasn’t even a concept of a navy. When I thought about the future, though, being able to leave a landlocked nation was a big deal.
According to the spies, the gathering in the Estoani duchy would take place in 25 days. From there, it would take about three days to invade the Estoa duchy of the Deal Kingdom. It seemed I had much time for preparation. It seemed both the pope’s army and the Masia Kingdom’s army were gathering slowly, and it could be seen that the management of 10,000 people was sloppy. The vassals might be marching as they please, so I gave my condolence to the villages along the way.
It was a little pitiful for such armies that reek of medieval times to clash with modern armies equipped with guns and cannons. Although the gun’s lethality was still low, they were easier to use than bows, and they would be able to kill magicians since they outrange magic. It would be troublesome if there were several people with magic abilities like Wagner, but I have assigned upper-class slaves who have increased their resistance as trump cards for each division, so it was hard to imagine that I could lose.
Even if it was a battle between 20,000 and 50,000, only the frontal forces would clash directly. In that case, there would be a difference in projectiles, but even if cannons were spread on their side, it was hard to imagine they could prepare something of higher performance than ours.
Although our side was inferior in quantity, there were many reasons why we couldn’t lose. I seemed to raise so many flags that I might end up losing instead. Once this war was won, the surrounding nations would have their military strength worn down, so I could start conquering them one after another, with the Carling Kingdom as the first.
“It says, ‘It was only because of your luck that you haven’t been judged for your evil deeds until now. But that luck has run out. It is all for the sake of giving you heavenly punishment. God will judge you, while I will give you death’.”1
“Do you have time to laugh over the pope’s declaration of war? If things went badly, 100,000 people might gather on their side, you know?”
“If not limited to the kings, with tons of dukes and counts included, well, it might be able to reach 100,000 people, but it’ll be meaningless. 50,000 and 100,000 are not much different, and as the army got larger, the stupider they would become.”
As I laughed over how bad the pope’s declaration of war was, Linde-san retorted whether things would really be alright, but if the crowd exceeded 100,000, the logistical problems would probably surface all at once. Not only was it hard to carry food for that many soldiers, it was even more difficult to deliver that amount of food every day.
Even in our divisions, it took 150 people in charge of food supply to manage an army of 6,000 people before all of them could finally eat. It was like a soup kitchen and most of the 150 people spent most of their day on the battlefield cooking, but thanks to that, the army’s diet improved considerably.
…I guess I should raze the enemy provisions. When people starved on the battlefield, there was a possibility they fought amongst themselves, so there was no harm in aiming that. The enemy should have distributed their supplies instead of carrying them in the same spot, so the effect of setting one or two of them on fire would be small, but if the war prolonged, it would cause serious damage.
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