When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1082 Adaptability, the Path to Victory

“I don’t ask you to march 40 miles every day. I’m not a demon.”

"But what does it mean that you're getting slower and slower?"

"If we traveled 40 li on the first day, 30 li on the second day, will we travel 20 li on the third day?"

"As your instructor, I really have to give you a good dressing down, really!"

Holding a cork stick, Michelle's face was as stern as a bronze statue, a stark contrast to her cowardice in front of Horn.

Before him stood the Longbow Fortress Guards, their faces expressionless.

The Saint Alliance's discarded saucer-shaped helmets, discarded half-body breastplates, discarded inferior military boots, and military swords were all neatly worn on their bodies.

Under the autumn sun, the silvery reflection shimmered.

They were panting heavily, sweat dripping from their foreheads onto their beards, walking mechanically, with even a hint of sorrow hidden in the corners of their eyes.

They had never marched like this before; the furthest they had ever gone was to attack knightly castles or monasteries within a fifty-mile radius.

On this trip, Lady Joan of Arc, who was originally kind and cheerful, changed her attitude without warning, insisting that they reach the border of Dovershire in three days.

This was simply an impossible task; in the past, they would have mutinied long ago.

But are they really planning a mutiny? Not really.

The days were indeed tough and tiring; I was whipped and scolded, and I was filled with resentment.

But when they set up camp at night, they not only had plenty of bread, but also sausages and jam, and the chaplains would come to comfort, heal, and bless them.

The arrangement was perfect. This Instructor Michel was just right. He couldn't cause a mutiny, but he was also too frustrated to not do so.

In the morning it's Mr. Michel, at noon it's Michel of the ditch, in the afternoon it's Michel the beast, and at dinner it's His Excellency the great Instructor Michel.

This wasn't Jeanne or Michelle deliberately torturing them; it was simply a part of the Holy Alliance's military system that they had to experience.

One of the key indicators of the Holy Alliance's military tactics is marching speed.

In the past imperial military system, there was an upper limit to the marching speed of the army.

Even if the upper limit is broken through by forced march, it will still cause a significant decline in combat effectiveness and a problem that cannot be recovered for a long time.

But the Holy Alliance was different: more officers, more chaplains, a monetized procurement and logistics system, fully equipped orderlies, and mule-drawn transport...

This allows the Holy Alliance's marching speed to exceed that of normal Imperial infantry by 20% to 30%, and even faster.

Marching is not a simple matter; it cannot be accomplished by simply walking.

How should a marching formation move? How to maintain morale? How can an individual soldier maintain combat effectiveness?

These are all things that require adaptation and practice, which is why Jeanne said it wasn't a waste of time.

After a hellish march, on the fifth day at noon, Jeanne and her party finally arrived at Hayaku, a town on the border of the County of De Vries.

Piastu was quite efficient; around the next day, more than a thousand soldiers from Owen arrived.

Apart from the more than 500 mercenaries, the rest were mostly armed farmers and armed civilians recruited from various places.

The combat capability may be a bit weak, but security and confidentiality are guaranteed.

Remaining in place, Jeanne spent three days reorganizing the more than 1,000 soldiers into two second-line regiments and deploying their weapons, before setting off again on September 15.

Upon entering the territory of Waterwheel County, Jeanne raised the banner of the Wonne City mercenaries.

They first traveled north along the river by boat, then disembarked and headed towards Chanzi Town.

However, halfway there, new military intelligence arrived from Owen City.

This forced Jeanne, who had originally gone to investigate the enemy's situation in the vicinity, to rein in her horse and hastily return.

"Leia's vanguard has already been deployed to Skolston? Who is the commanding general? How many troops does it have?"

Riding on a reddish-brown warhorse, Jeanne galloped into the courtyard of a church on the side of the street, and asked urgently before even dismounting.

Bradak, who was sitting on a wooden box surrounded by Michelle and others, immediately stood up, put his hand on his chest and bowed, saying, "We will arrive in two days. The commander is Kennard Maborra, and the troops number between three and six thousand."

The message was delivered to Jeanne by Fran, who only mentioned that there were several hundred knights and a few barons and counts, roughly estimated to be five or six thousand.

Due to Leia's internal system of granting fiefdoms, an earl might be a lone commander, while a knight might have a dozen or so squires, making it difficult to determine the exact number. "Who is this Kennard?"

"The Thorn Gardener, a former border knight who had left the monastic life, had previously fought against ogres, centaurs, and vampires on the border."

"They must not have any outstanding achievements or defeats, otherwise they wouldn't be so unknown, and even we wouldn't know about them," Bradak replied immediately.

What kind of soldiers did he bring with him?

"I don't know about the other vassal armies, but the more than 800 border knights he brought with him are all battle-hardened soldiers and should not be underestimated."

Jeanne dusted off the wooden crate, took out a map, laid it flat on the crate, and leaned on the edge of the crate to ponder.

If she's going to fight, her main strategic objective on this trip is to find the enemy's weaknesses and deliver a crushing blow.

Firstly, it would instill confidence in the Piastov father and son, giving them leverage.
Secondly, it caused Putzillo to make a strategic miscalculation, making him suspicious and giving Longbow Castle more time to recover.

As for training troops, those were just things that happened incidentally.

However, Putzillo was clearly quite cautious, and actually led five or six thousand men on the same route, enduring losses to prevent the possibility of being attacked from multiple directions.

If Jeanne's subordinates were all retired veterans of the Holy Alliance, then this battle could be fought head-on. But currently, her subordinates are just a bunch of scoundrels...

Let the first and second infantry regiments and cavalry regiments fight against an equal number of Leias, and Jeanne will be confident of victory.

But if they could bring along the newly trained 3rd Infantry Regiment and over a thousand troops from Owen City to cover their tracks and lure the enemy, then it would be hard to say.

In particular, the Leia forces outnumbered their own by two to one and even held fortified cities, so they still had to fight in open battle.

"Let's have a military council." A small stool was brought over, and Jeanne sat at the head of the table. "Summon all the corps commanders."

Soon, the six corps commanders and the accompanying chaplains arrived one after another. After listening to Jeanne's analysis of the situation, they also began to speak in a chaotic manner.

They kept talking back and forth, making Bradak's ears itch.

"Haven't we defeated the Border Knights? Why not emulate the Battle of Little Muddy Ditch and take advantage of the high ground on the western hillside of Shovel Town..."

"Otherwise, I think we should emulate Lord Galar's rainy night attack. Please take a look..."

"This Shuilun County is incredibly dry in early autumn, even hotter than the Nanhejian region. What kind of attack could it possibly be on a rainy night?"

"Then I think we should just back out..."

“I have a plan. We’ll put bottled lightning in a box, set up a small trap, and write ‘To Kennard Maborah’ on the box. When he opens the box, we’ll blow him up!”

"Do you think Kennard is like you, opening the box without asking anyone to check it?"

"Then you should tell me!"

The Fifth Army commander from Waterwheel County confidently declared, "We're going upstream from Fort Skolston. I know of a poison that can kill with just a drop."

We'll plant poison upstream of Fort Skolston. Many innocent people will die, but it will crush them…”

"Wait a minute." Jeanne suddenly interrupted the chaotic chatter. "What did you just say?"

"Sir, just give me five tons of poison..."

“I wasn’t asking you.” Jeanne glanced at the chaplain who had just disagreed with Rainy Night’s opinion. “You just said that Waterwheel County is dry in the fall?”

"To be precise, it's only the foot of the mountain that's dry and hot, while the river and lakesides are cool and shady."

"Isn't Shuilun County located in the far north? I remember it should be exceptionally cool, with temperatures similar to our Thousand River Valley Mountain County."

The pastor naturally answered honestly: "It is said that there is magma under those hills in the west, and the geothermal heat is radiating out, which heats up the cold wind from the north."

However, the soil there is very poor; crops cannot grow, and even horses cannot be raised there, only sheep.

"Take me to see." Jeanne pondered for a moment, then picked up the cavalry half-cloak from the coat hook, grabbed the priest, and rode away.

The remaining corps commanders were left looking at each other, some returning to arrange campsites, others staying in the courtyard to continue their discussions.

Jeanne did not return to the courtyard until evening.

This time, she smiled and, as soon as she dismounted, shouted to the corps commanders, "I know how to fight this battle!"

　P.S. There will be two more chapters later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)