CH 355

After the rough cleanup and rescue activities, we gathered the top officers and held a meeting to summarize the battle’s results. The venue is the meeting room of the fleet’s flagship, “Santa Maria.”

This conference will be useful for future research as well as including our military secrets. There is a lot of information that Harold and others in Wessek should not know, and there is no reason to tell them. Since the battle with Guillaume is over, there’s no more criticism that we’re just fleeing back to our fleet as it no longer holds up.

Just because you won doesn’t mean you don’t have to scrutinize the results of your strategy. Not only in the losing battles, but also in the winning battles, I will study properly, improve what I can improve, and make use of what I can make use of next time.

That’s why I started by sharing a common understanding with the top officers.

“Well then… let’s start with the general flow and results,” I said.

“Roger,” Ignatz said. “And so to begin with…”

All materials and information have already been distributed. Various things are also written on the blackboard in front of the meeting room.

If you just follow the flow…

First, the artillery battle at this location. After that, the fleet was divided to commence operations in the Blish Strait and deny supply transportation from the enemy’s home country. On shore, we land on the coast to build defensive positions and interfere with enemy scouts and messengers. In the end, we defeated the enemy army that has attacked with all their strength and cut off their retreat route. Roughly, how do we feel?

There seems to be no particular problem with the first artillery battle. Since the current Caan Cannons have accuracy problems, it is unavoidable that it is a tactic that only hits a handful of its shots. Even if there is nothing that can be improved, there are many things to discuss, such as what was effective and what was inefficient.

“Both the first and second battles, this time the enemy was on a plain with no obstacles, so shooting with the Caan Cannons was effective. However, if the enemy had been encamped in an area with many obstacles, such as a forest, or if they had created defenses against guns, the bombardment will not be as effective. In the future, it will be necessary to consider battlefield settings and guiding the enemy based on these factors”

Mmm, mm. Everyone is listening while thinking seriously. The current Caan Cannon is effective against enemies that are lined up in the plains with no cover and charging in a straight line, but it’s hard to say that it’s effective against enemies that are hiding in forests or running away, or enemies that are widely scattered. If our weapons systems become famous in the future, there is a high possibility that they will shift from dense formations to skirmishers. We have to be able to deal with them.

Even if we have an edge in technology, weapons, and knowledge of modern Earth, that doesn’t mean we’ll keep it forever. In order to do so, we must constantly research and verify, find and compensate for our own shortcomings, and exploit the opponent’s weak points.

Next up is the Blish Strait Blockade Operation… but this one succeeded in sinking 30 ships and capturing 2 ships. At first glance, it seems like a great success and a great achievement, but there is no point in being happy just because it was a great success.

“Wouldn’t it be possible to increase the number of captures if the strait blockade’s strategy was better?”

“In the end, thanks to the enemy’s sequential deployment of their ships, we were able to win with almost no damage, but if the enemy had gathered the full strength of their fleet, it might have been a considerable leverage against us,” Ramor said.

Ooh! They’re all pretty good. It deviates from the ideas of this era’s people. Our officers are clearly excellent. Their perspective and way of thinking are far ahead of their time.

They also discussed transport and escort from the homeland, and the next topic turned to the elimination of enemy scouts, which was left to Armand and Janzicka.

“Why did you use only the elite, Armand and Janzicka?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you have done more damage if you had more men?”

“Then the enemy will notice us,” Armand said. “A small number of elites are preferable to secretly dispose of enemy scouts.”

“Even if we were noticed, it’s better to defeat the enemy by taking them down,” I said.

“No, this was just a clearing operation for the next stage,” Janzicka said. “We should definitely give priority to blocking the enemy without giving them any useful information.”

I wonder what this is… I think it will change depending on the strategy after that. This time, I prioritized defeating the scouts so that the enemy would not know this information. But if it was certain that the enemy would not run away, it might have been possible to prioritize reducing the number of enemies more aggressively and inflicting more significant damage.

After the enemy stopped sending scouts, they shifted to attacking the sentries of the enemy forts and the troops and trains coming from the rear. If this was too much and the enemy abandoned the fort early and ran away, all the later operations would be ruined. I don’t know how I got it right, but I don’t know if it was the best, even though it worked out.

From Guillaume’s arrival at the fort until he attacks Harold’s castle… Our strategy is to wait for the Frasian Army deployed on the plain to split into the siege force and the main force, then attack from the coastal position to divide the two. If the two are separated, destroy them individually.

“What about the defensive positions and gun units?” I asked.

“The defensive position was certainly effective, but it was also a little dangerous. Luckily, we didn’t take any damage, but if there were more enemy cavalry, we might have been overrun.”

“The gun corps is also effective, but it is dangerous to rely too much on the shooting speed, effective range, and attack power of each shot.”

I guess that’s right. As a flintlock musket, the current gun has reached its perfection. Or rather, there is no way to make any further improvements in my memory from my previous life. As a flintlock type, it is perfection to the extent that it can be said to be the ultimate.

But it’s slow to load and has low accuracy. I make up for the lack of accuracy by lining up a large number of people and firing all at once, but there is a limit to that as well. There’s low power, to begin with. With the current enemy equipment, if you hit it well, you can penetrate it, but if you happen to hit them at an angle, it will deflect.

Effective range, rapid-fire performance, penetration power, accuracy… it’s not good to be too overconfident and not improve our guns.

“As far as the artillery unit that was deployed in the castle was concerned, the battle was easy, just shooting the enemy from the battlements. The defensive positions may have been concerned if they were broken through, but being able to fire unilaterally from the castle’s solid protection was an excellent advantage.”

“I see……”

Unlike the defensive positions where they wanted to block their approach, the gun units were able to demonstrate great effectiveness on the ramparts, where the enemy would not be able to break through immediately even if they managed to get close enough to try. How to use and where to use the gun units is also a problem, and in the field, it would have been difficult for the gun units to get into close range, but if the castle was used as a shield, even our guns as they are now would have shown considerable power.

“The element of luck was too strong in the second half of the strategy. Even if we didn’t make it this time, we shouldn’t use it too much for future maneuvers.”

That second half was hiding the galleons in the shadow of the castle. Then we placed the recruits from the Caan Knights Nation to block the enemy’s retreat.

Had the enemy carefully surveyed their surroundings in this battle before entering into conflict, they would have spotted the defensive positions on the coast and the Galleon fleet, which was easily found with a short run around. This time, it just happened that the enemy had arrived and started fighting right away, so they couldn’t find it.

With such a strategy of leaving it to luck and the enemy’s inadequacies, you will eventually fail and suffer severe damage. I know what they’re saying.

I thought I was lucky if I wasn’t found, and I was glad that they realized that and didn’t want to count on luck moving forward.

Then, in order to cut off the enemy’s retreat, I placed recruits in the forest and entrusted them to Armand and the others. This is because I thought it would be difficult to cut off the enemy’s retreat with only the elite who had dealt with the scouts. But if they were just lying low in a nearby forest, so if the enemy were to investigate the forest for some reason, there is a possibility that the battle would have started in the forest before here, in the plains.

I arranged them so that they could be hidden as much as possible, but it would have been quite dangerous if the enemy were advancing while thoroughly investigating the surroundings. You can’t say that most of the enemy scouts had already been dealt with, or that it’s good because they weren’t found in the end.

“Armand, how did you find the Caan Knights Nation recruits’ performance?”

“Sire… To be frank, I can’t say anything,” Armand said. “We managed to maintain an advantage against Guillaume’s defeated soldiers, who were so weak and their morale was already shaking. I suppose the most important thing was that before they were soldiers of the Caan Knights Nation, they were soldiers in the Free Cities and Polsky, but… they should be re-trained from scratch.”

“Is that so……?”

Even though they were called recruits, the majority of them were originally soldiers in that area. That’s why I thought I could use it a little, but according to Armand, it seems that it is completely lacking in proficiency. The soldiers I didn’t bring this time have been trained in the Knighthood and Knights Nation, but apparently, the quality isn’t as high as I thought.

It’s true that it’s fine to train them from now on, but it seems like it’s better not to rely on the immediacy of absorbing soldiers from other places.

“Is there anything else?”

“Fortunately, this time we have hardly engaged in direct combat other than the troops that blocked the retreat route in the forest. However, it will not be so easy to fight without damage to us in the future. We will need a system and structure to treat wounded soldiers and provide logistical support, won’t we?”

""

“Indeed we do… Let’s consider that later.”

Come to think of it, yes. We’ve had very little damage so far. That’s why the treatment, containment, and recovery of wounded soldiers have been neglected. But that may not always be the case. We can’t just leave the precious soldiers we’ve trained and the people who could have been rescued left on the battlefield to die.

“But aren’t you treating the survivors of enemy soldiers?”

I asked what I was wondering about. Even if there is no damage here, the enemy’s wounded soldiers should be collected and treated.

“So far most of the people who have opposed our army have died except for those who surrendered…”

“Oh…, ah~…”

I see……. Those who were taken prisoner weren’t seriously injured, and those who weren’t taken prisoner were mostly minced meat… There is no need for treatment or a system like that…

“Then, let’s finish this meeting. Please continue your investigation, research, and considerations. If you notice anything or have any thoughts afterward, it doesn’t matter whether it is a report or a research paper, so please submit it to me.”

“”””Yes!”””””

Various reports such as damages, battle results, and costs were finished, and the meeting ended. It goes without saying that war costs money. Most of it is taken out from home, so the cost is not ridiculous. Even if in the future I can govern and recover it from the Blish Isles, I can’t do it without something that precedes me now.

Fortunately, our income is large and stable, and the compensation for the previous war has been paid, so the funds are somehow circulating freely. But if this is a normal small lord, it’s a horrifying amount. I was reminded that the country would start to go downhill if you keep going to war.

Gachari.

I opened the door to my room on the Santa Maria…

Pakin.

And then I closed it.

“Hold! Why’d you close the door!?”

Even though I took the time to close the door, it opened from the other side and Mikoto stuck her head out.

“Hurry inside! Other people will see us!”

“Hold! Hold!”

When Mikoto pulls my hand and makes me enter the room, there is…

“Uufu~hn. Well? Are you excited?” Mikoto gloats as she emphasizes her chest and wiggles her hips.

“I’d prefer being the receiver than the doer in a situation like this, but I’d do anything for you, Flora,” Claudia said, proudly folding her arms for some reason.

“It’s so shameful~~!” Alexandra said while she was still joining in.

“It is a little embarrassing,” Louisa said, her face red and fidgety.

“Well, Miss Flora, there are many to choose from,” Katharina said. “However… you know who you’re supposed to choose first, don’t you?”

Katharina is scary… I don’t know what she is asking me to choose, but her face clearly says to choose her first. Her eyes are so intense and serious that I can see the words “Serious” coming off her.

“No.., um…, first of all, I don’t understand what’s going on?”

For some reason, everyone in my room… is wearing a swimsuit. Don’t these people like swimsuits too much? Isn’t it a swimsuit every time something happens?

“Since you haven’t taken a bath in a long time, we have prepared a bath for you in the Santa Maria. So please decide who’ll be the first to wash your back, Miss Flora.”

“I see… wait, huh!? Did you make a bath in the Santa Maria!?”

It was too natural to say it, so I almost ignored it, but is it possible to build a bath in a galleon ship? How in the world…?

“If you’ll pardon us. Even though it’s called a bath, it’s not something you’d find in a mansion… It’s just a simple bathtub filled with hot water…”

“Ah… is that so?”

Apparently, it wasn’t what I imagined. That’s right. What was I doing It’s funny when you hear the word “bath” and imagine a huge bathtub with a washing area. I think I was pretty poisoned too. If you imagine my bath as a commoner in my previous life, I wouldn’t have been so surprised.

“Well then, it seems that you have prepared everything… Shall we all go in?”

“Then I’ll wash Flora’s back!”

""

“No, this is my turn.”

“Aren’t you being sneaky and running amok?”

“Flora hasn’t decided yet.”

“Can I come later?”

Hmmm… Even though I took the time to say that we should all join in with a good feeling, in the end, it would turn out like this… Well, this seems to be just like us.