When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 531 Privy Counsel
In the Council Chamber of the Uffizi Palace in Rapid City.

The turbid sunlight of the winter afternoon shone on the ebony table. In this spacious meeting room, fifty or sixty important figures in the current Rapids City sat.

Among them were commanders of various legions, citizen councilors, guild leaders, and major city hall members.

They sat around the oval table or behind the long tables on both sides, each in a group, pretending to be indifferent and spying on the privy monks coming in and out.

Apart from serving tea and water, these privy monks also posted forms and maps on a large wooden board.

Of course the map is accurate, but the locations of the various legions and camps on it are blurred.

But to Sechinger, who was listening, those densely packed markings were still too dazzling.

Isn't it just a war? Why make it so complicated?
The nobles of Northshire also often had to fight with the Norn lords on the other side of the Kara Mountains, and the battles were just a meeting between a few major nobles.

Then they draw a simple map on the ground, and everyone takes turns to go up and insert the dagger. The place where they insert the dagger is their battle zone, and they finish the fight.

In fact, all wars within the current empire are fought in this mode. There will be a military meeting before the battle, and after the tasks are assigned, each side will fight on its own, and each side is responsible for dispatching troops and collecting food.

It was as if the decree also meant that this kind of collective distribution of food, unified planning and coordinated marching of the army was considered an advanced tactic.

This was the first time that Sechinger had seen such a sophisticated plan like the Salvation Army's.

Mitternich saw that Sechinger was puzzled, so he just handed him a cup of hot tea and said, "The Savior Army regards itself as the Third Empire of Aiel and has revived many of Aiel's traditions and mechanisms, such as this military advisory mechanism.

This part of the function belonged to the temporary military council of the Senate during the Aiel Empire period, but Your Majesty made it permanent, forming this more detailed combat style. "

Although there is no clear division at present, the Privy Council is also divided into civil privy councilors and staff privy councilors.

The main role of the Privy Monk of the Staff was to help Horn formulate battle plans and marching routes.

At present, there are not many staff councilors, all of whom are promoted from legion clerks and military chaplains.

As senior attendees from Rapid City and the Salvation Army arrived, special etiquette officers began to loudly maintain order until everyone quieted down.

Horn didn't say much nonsense. After briefly explaining the situation, he gave the task of reporting to several staff officers including Pettier and Bernardo.

According to the simplified staff system introduced by Horn, the formulation of combat plans is divided into five stages: enemy and friendly intelligence collection, campaign objective setting, tactical execution planning, emergency plans and command issuance and coordination.

And now this pre-war meeting is to report the results of the first two stages.

“The total number of enemy troops is currently about 5000-9000. The main force is gathered near Shelley City to besiege the city, and the rest of the light cavalry is looting everywhere. They have already captured three fortresses around Shelley City.

Judging from the current situation, Shelley City will fall by mid-January. Some light cavalry have already arrived outside the Shelley City basin.

Our goals, in order of importance, are to maintain the Nanauan River defense line, advance into the basin area, and restore the rule of Kasha County."

Facing many senior officials and legion commanders, Bernardo was calm and composed, and eloquently explained the current situation one by one.

He even felt intoxicated. It was simply too comfortable. There were no disruptive knights, no slanderous servants, and no stubborn and unreasonable nobles.

Most of his opinions and analyses could be solidified into combat intentions, clearly written on paper, and announced to officers who were willing to obey his orders.

"This operation is divided into three phases. The first phase is to stabilize the defense line of the Nannaoan River. The second phase is to advance the front line to the front of the Blago Basin. The third phase is to recapture the Blago Monastery."

After analysis by several staff councilors and Horn himself, it was absolutely too late to rescue the Blago Monastery.

Instead of going to provide support, it is better to consolidate the defense line of the Nannaoan River first, ensure that it is difficult for the enemy to attack the core areas of the mainland, and then advance westward step by step.

"Then, the next specific battle plan will be explained by Pettier."

After Bernardo bowed and left the podium, Horn called Pettier up.

Unlike Bernardo who likes to analyze the situation and propose the direction of the battle, Pettier is better at breaking down large battles into small tasks.

“We currently have more than 200 kilometers of defense line on the South Nauan River, but we only have seven corps with 7 troops, 3950 combat cavalry and 600 rangers.

The enemy's army is about twice as large as ours, the defense line is this long, and the enemy's main combat force is cavalry, while ours is infantry.

Therefore, the enemy can launch more surprise attacks and break through to cut off our supply lines. There is no future in simply defending.

Instead, we should take the initiative to attack the enemy before they completely invade the Nanuan River Basin. The first step is to burn most of the Nanuan River crossings, leaving only the most important ones, build temporary bastions, and have rangers patrol along the river continuously.

The second step is to take advantage of the enemy’s difficulty in obtaining supplies and continuously mobilize the enemy forces.

Through our advantages of high mobility and rapid supply, we constantly harass and eliminate small units, forcing the enemy to split up, and then concentrate on annihilating one part.

After repeated attacks, when the enemy's strength is reduced to a certain extent, we will be able to launch a counterattack targeting Shelley City.

For the specific combat direction, you can look at the combat map behind me..."

This battle map was basically hand-drawn by Pettier. Since he came from a family of grocers, he had been transporting goods with his father since he was a child.

In order to avoid tax and reduce cargo transportation losses, Pettier developed a good habit of drawing maps, and the more accurate the better.

This skill was originally just an auxiliary skill, or even just a hobby, but I didn't expect it to play such a big role here.

"I have a question." Rudilo, commander of the Black Hat Third Army, raised his hand.

"Please say."

Rudilo coughed and stood up. "Lacunio's church army is mainly composed of cavalry. We are infantry. How can we outrun them?"

"It's very simple. First, we have the Nanauan River, so we can quickly dispatch troops by shipping. Second, we have the home advantage and can build supply points along the marching route in advance."

Picking up a small wooden stick, Pettier pointed to a road on the woodcut map behind him.

“For example, this road, from here to here, if you march normally, it will take about five to seven days, but if you build supply points at these two locations, you can get there in four days.

Our heroic infantry marched very quickly, with almost no problems with falling behind or deserting, and the normal marching speed was about 20 kilometers per day.

After changing into standard military uniforms and shoes and socks, as long as the supply of military rations along the way can be guaranteed, the Guards Corps can achieve a marching speed of 30-35 kilometers per day during a forced march.

The enemy cavalry found it difficult to abandon their baggage and their marching speed was slightly slower than ours. Tactically, the cavalry was faster, but strategically, we were definitely faster.

Not just the infantry, even our cavalry is faster than theirs.

I have calculated that as long as we can build the temporary fortresses and supply points on the map on time, our message transmission speed will be about one day faster than theirs."

Pettier talked about the battle plan, but Horn was not worried at all that the plan would be leaked.

The specific combat details are all in their minds. What they see is a static map, but in the eyes of Horn and Pettier, the map is dynamic.

What does it matter if we know the general battle plan? The flaws and weaknesses of the church army cannot be changed, and neither can the terrain and system.

Based on these two facts that cannot be changed in a short period of time, as long as the Holy Father does not cause any trouble, the various legions can win without any outstanding performance.

However, this is the first time that the staff system has been put into practice. Horn carefully observed the legion commanders and Rapid City councilors, most of whom looked disdainful and hesitant.

Before any actual results could be achieved, Horn would need to carry out the order himself.

"I invited you all here. Do you understand what I mean?" After Pettier stepped down, Horn stood on the podium and looked around.

"We will fight the battles, but you will have to do the work of building camps, transporting soldiers, and constructing supply points."

The merchants and ship owners immediately began to whisper to each other as if they were alone, after all, this was a huge project.

Although Shengsun would not get anything for free, for this kind of work, going bankrupt is a small matter, but it would not be worth it if it cost you your life.

Instead, it was the Stonemasons Guild of Rapid City who could not wait to inquire about the specific plans. Compared with their counterparts in Jeanne d'Arc, their lives were much more difficult.

"Everyone, this is not my war, it's a war for all of us."

After Horn's clear words, the discussion finally died down. He cleared his throat and said, "That's all I have to say. Do you still have any questions?"

The leaders of the citizens of Rapid City looked at each other, and in the end no one raised their hands.

Horn clapped his hands in satisfaction: "Let's do it."

(End of this chapter)