When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 553 Military Discussion and Advance

After having a quick working lunch in the conference room, these senior military and political leaders did not even leave the Uffizi Palace and returned to the conference room to continue their military discussions.

The war situation is critical now, and it is obviously not the time to drag on, so the military meeting must be held overnight.

The city of Zhishuiwu was broken, and Hotam County opened its arms.

But the army cannot just go into battle immediately, all matters need to be arranged.

The first things to be solved are the issues of why to fight, what to fight and how to fight.

White beeswax candles were lit on the black iron candlesticks on both sides of the pointed arch window, mixing with the bright fluorescent lamps on the ceiling to illuminate the entire room.

Although it was still dim to Horn, it was already quite bright in the eyes of others.

Different from the previous announcement, except for the cardinals, the only ones left in the conference room were the legion commanders and military officers.

"I have urgently ordered Jieshka to send two more legions to support the detention dock, and ordered the front line of Lujiao Township to suspend the attack and slowly retreat."

Horn, who had changed into a Salvation Army uniform, crossed his hands on the sheepskin map in front of him and said, "Our goal in this battle is to expel the Thousand Valley Church and annihilate the devil's representative, Prince Kongdai. How about it? Let's discuss it."

At the beginning of the meeting, Horn set the tone and answered the question of why the fight was fought.

This is not an ordinary war, but the decisive battle of Qianhe Valley.

If this battle is won, it will mean the victory of the first stage of the Thousand River Valley War, and the people of the Thousand River Valley will initially seize power in the Thousand River Valley.

As for the second stage, it is the battle to establish the country.

But that's too far away, let's not talk about it for now.

What these officers and cardinals have to solve is the problem of how to fight and what to fight.

"I think we should go through the detention dock, go around Prince Condé, and attack him from both sides together with Meliati." Murat was the first to speak.

Many legion commanders and secret party members nodded their heads, and even Jeanne expressed her agreement.

This is the most intuitive tactic. They were originally planning to attack Prince Kongdai together, but were blocked by Lujiao Township and Zhishuiwu.

Now that the detention dock was breached, it was almost a non-issue to bypass the detention dock and carry out the original plan.

But Horn did not comment, but looked at Hakuto, Catherine and others who were frowning on the other side.

"Hakuto, what do you want to say?"

"Your Majesty, I think we should sail south and attack Feiliu Castle."

"why?"

"If we attack Prince Kongdai, victory is victory, defeat is defeat. But if we attack Feiliu Castle, we will win regardless of victory or defeat."

Hakuto's reasoning is simple.

The gate of the Detention Dock was open and had been captured by the Salvation Army. It would only take three to five days to reach Feiliu Castle from the Detention Dock.

From a tactical point of view, the best solution should be to bypass Lujiao Township from the Detention Wharf and cut into Prince Kongdai's rear.

This was also the plan unanimously agreed upon by the Black Snake Bay secret party and the legion commanders - first attack Prince Kongdai and then take Feiliu Castle.

But in Hakuto's opinion, the best strategic solution should be to take down Feiliu Castle first, and then turn around to attack Prince Kongdai.

Because once Feiliu Castle is occupied by the Savior Army, Qianhe Valley’s access to the outside world will be cut off, and Prince Kongdai will no longer have a foothold.

When the time comes, we will fight Prince Kongdai again. If we are defeated, we can retreat calmly. If we win, we can annihilate him in one fell swoop.

If we fight a decisive battle with Prince Condai first and win, that would be fine, but if we lose, it would be like taking the Depot in vain and the nobles' uprising in vain.

Why does the Salvation Army choose to gamble on this probability?
Taking Feiliu Castle determines the overall victory, while Prince Kongdai’s battlefield only determines temporary success or failure.

Moreover, he just didn't believe that when he saw the Savior Army attacking Feiliu Castle, would Prince Kongdai not rush over to intercept them?
"What if Prince Kongdai grits his teeth and annihilates Meliati?" As soon as Hakuto finished speaking, the legion commander immediately raised an objection.

Catherine, who supported Hakuto, objected: "Even if Prince Conte can annihilate Meliati, can he still make Upper River County a foothold? Can Mountain County support his army? Will the knights of Mountain County accept him?"

"I think we should ambush Prince Kongdai by the road after we capture the water retention dock!" "Since we are going to fight, why don't we cut off their food supply?"

"What if our attack on Feiliu Castle fails and Prince Kongdai attacks Rapid City from the rear?"

Afterwards, the legion commanders and cardinals started arguing with each other, and soon their faces became red with anger.

This forced the chief cardinal, Madeleine, who was presiding over the meeting, to shout at the top of his lungs, "Order! Order!"

During the heated arguments and speeches, some people even began to frequently interrupt others or make personal attacks regardless of the rules.

According to the rules of procedure, many people were silenced or expelled from the room to calm down.

The meeting even had to be adjourned for twenty minutes.

The meeting lasted from the beginning of the month to the middle of the month, with proposals being adopted and rejected one after another.

Gradually, everyone's opinions converged, the noise became less and less, and two routes of advance gradually emerged on the map.

The first is to start from Rapids City, go downstream to capture Feiliu Castle, and then turn back to meet Prince Kongdai who came to rescue.

The second plan was to cut off Prince Condai's food supply after capturing the detention dock, and then attack him from both sides together with Meliati.

Everyone was exhausted and thirsty at this point. They stopped talking and turned their eyes to the young Pope who was frowning and tracing the map.

But no matter what the central decision is, the final decision is still made by Horn himself.

In the solemn atmosphere, Horn spoke not about military strategy, but something irrelevant.

"It has been exactly one and a half years since the Holy Father descended from my command in September 1444.

During the initial military meetings, I was often the only one speaking while the other cardinals listened.

Today, not only can everyone speak, but they can also speak meaningfully, which is very different from that time."

In fact, when Horn scanned the field today, he saw many new faces he didn't recognize.

Times have changed. Apart from those old faces, only the dog head on the wall can make him feel a hint of the atmosphere of the old Gulag.

I just don’t know how many familiar faces will be left among the remaining people after this battle?
Horn took a deep breath and said with a burning look: "As for these two routes, they are both good strategies, but I would like to make some minor changes."

Everyone held their breath and listened to Horn's instructions.

"We will go downstream from the Detention Dock and not enter Feiliu Fort. After landing in Suimi Town, we will first attack the camp of Prince Kongdai's Imperial Order Company.

Without the Imperial Order Company's camp, Feiliu Castle's own defense force would be easily defeated, not only by us, but even in the eyes of the rebel nobles.

At present, it is impossible for the Kingdom of Leia to send reinforcements to Feiliu Castle. Feiliu Castle is a piece of fat meat but there is no need to eat it in a hurry. It is enough to send a detachment to join forces with the local nobles to take it over.

If Prince Conde attacks Rapid City, we will go up the river and fight a decisive battle with Prince Conde in the familiar environment of Rapid City.

If Prince Kongdai comes to support Feiliu Fort, we can take advantage of Feiliu Fort's baggage and advantageous terrain to wait for him to tire himself out and fight a decisive battle with Prince Kongdai near the river."

This was not Horn's random talk, but the result of his thinking as well as that of his two staff officers, Bernardo and Pettier.

"Why don't we take Feiliu Castle ourselves?" a legion commander couldn't help but ask.

"When besieging a city, one must leave a gap in the wall" means that when besieging a city, one must leave a gap in the wall for the enemy to escape, but it can also be interpreted as leaving hope for the enemy.

If we take Flying Castle, Prince Condé will give up completely and may even flee to the Gravel Plains." Horn looked at the red route on the map, "But our goal is to annihilate, not expel."

It is better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt ten of them.

Only by wiping out the empire's core armed forces in the Thousand River Valley region can we gain three to five years of peace.

If Prince Kongdai uses the Gravel Plain as a base and continues to invade the south with his remnants, the Thousand River Valley will not be able to recuperate for a long time.

"As long as we don't capture Feiliu Castle, Prince Kongdai will definitely come to take it. Not to mention Lacunio, even the Holy Lord can't stop him. I said so."

(End of this chapter)