165 Episode 165: Third Southern Expedition

Rosais and Lezard both estimate the war will begin in March.

The two countries have begun preparations for the war in two months.

Lezad recruits mercenaries, Rossais trains soldiers.

And diplomatic negotiations.

The scramble for the city-state between Rosais and Lezad has begun.

Lezad tries to catch on economic gains, and Rossi's puts military pressure.

As a result of the fierce diplomatic wars between the two countries, many city-states ran to the Rossais side.

Not because the kingdom of Rosais was justice.

He yielded to the military.

The economic advantage offered by Lezard was more than the military threat of the king of Rosais.

The reason is Lezad's economic downturn.

Lezad has continued to grow in economic and national power in recent years.

This is because he was one of the first to be involved in the distribution of paper and spirits produced by King Rosais.

Paper and distilled liquor have been sold in marine trade and profited.

It is only natural that Lezad would fall economically because of his opposition to the king of Rossais.

The break in gold is the break in the edge.

You don't have to stay with Lezard until you take the risk.

King Rosaiss's way of governing the invading city-state also helped him.

If you surrender early, you will be treated in the autonomous city.

The autonomous city's treatment is total autonomy except for diplomatic and military rights.

In other words, there is no economic pain.

The problem is that you have diplomatic or military power, and your own security becomes suspicious ...

It will be further now.

The security of small countries is suspicious from the start.

Rather than fighting between small nations, it is more likely that military expenditures will be brought under the asylum of a military superpower such as the king of Rossais ...

Can also be considered.

But most importantly, Lezard's response to the parliamentary asylum case.

The incident exposed Lezad to the world of the internal coup and the incompetence of that coup.

The city-state saw Lezad's lack of leadership and switched to King Rhodes, a young king named Almus.

However, Lezard is not one-sided.

Gehenna and Nemes, the major cities except Lezard ... Succeeded in drawing Nemes.

He regarded the kingdom of Rossais as a threat and went with Lezard.

But that's the only success of Lezard.

Gehenna declared active neutrality against the kingdom of Rosais.

Gehenna's pretender, Abraham, is the maternal grandfather of King Arums's concubine, Tetra As.

King Almus can't despise his grandfather.

He determined that it would be much more beneficial to maintain friendly relations with King Rosaiss's country than to oppose him.

However, Gehenna's pretender, Abraham, is a cunning man.

In the north, the Lupus tribe has refused to request reinforcements from the kingdom of Rosais, in preparation for the Aries tribe.

He would have judged that it was safer and tastier to point the stop at the lucky sheep than to hunt the energetic sheep.

From the point of view of Lezard, it can be said that he is unhappy.

Most of the northern Adernian nations circulated in favor of King Rossais.

The kings of Evil, Belvedir and Equus have even stated that they will reinforce.

The kingdoms of King Faldham and Gilbed were the two who showed reluctance.

The two sides feared that the power of King Rossais would increase and its voice could become huge.

But after all, he expressed neutrality.

The Alliance with Gaul cannot be established without the kingdom of Rossais.

Because no territory is involved in the first place, a statement of blame has little effect.

Moreover, they have little to do with the southern Christian state.

With the southern Christian state under the control of King Rossais, there is little direct impact.

This is a late decision.

The only country that blamed the king of Rossais was King Zoldias.

But that's it.

There was no move to military action.

The kingdom of Roselle went through silence.

He is busy with the suppression of civil strife in the north and has no time for the situation on the Adernia Peninsula.

In this way, the two countries have made preparations and have reached March.

I look at the soldiers lined up under the eyes from the castle balcony.

Bartolo, Raimond, Iar and his vassal line up right next to me.

To the left are kings and generals of each country, including Tonino, the king of Domorgar, and Mzio, the Equus.

The only troops gathered were heavy infantry,

30,000 in the kingdom of Rossais alone.

The kingdom of Evil is 2,000.

The kingdom of Belvedir is a thousand.

The kingdom of Domorgar is 2,000.

Five thousand soldiers from colonial cities, autonomous cities, and city-states that stretch between the borders of Lezad.

40,000 in total.

In addition, one hundred hundred cavalry from the king of Rossais. (200 are conscriptions, 1000 are guards)

The Equus cavalry thousand.

Three thousand together with cavalry of each country.

Total, 433,000.

Well, well, it is a thing with all this strength.

"Bartolo, what do you think the enemy forces are?"

"Lezad is a mercenary-reliant country. You can't gather much strength, and mercenaries don't take part in losing battles ... even with Nemes, it's probably around 20,000 at best."

In other words, the force difference is double.

You can win if you hit it head on.

The problem is Alexius, the enemy general ...

No problem with that.

I sent a lot of presents and letters to Alexios.

Lezad suspects Alexius and will not put him on the battlefield.

In a war, winning or losing is almost decided before fighting.

My victory does not shake.

"Let's go. Drop the rezado!"

"You have said many times! The enemy is a large army. Even if you avoid the forest, you should go on a wide road!"

It is the Nemes general who asserts.

He came from Nemes with 10,000 troops.

Nemes' mainstay is the heavy infantry, a Christian colonial city.

But it's not just heavy infantry.

Instead of smaller shields and simpler armor, the spears were larger.

In the world of Almus, it has a form similar to Macedonian phalanx.

However, they are not as lightly dressed as the Macedonian phalanx and their spears are not long.

Somewhere between the Macedonian phalanx and the Greek phalanx.

"It's not necessarily. The narrow road facing the forest is certainly narrow, but it also faces the river. It's a place that doesn't suffer from firewood and water. There is no city state around here. It's reasonable to go this way. ''

The map was pointed to by a Gaul mercenary captain who was hired by Lezard.

He was hired in a hurry instead of Alexios.

What they are struggling with is the path that King Rosais's country will take.

There are many city-states between the kingdom of Rosais and Lezad, but ... most of them are on the side of King Rosais.

The only city-states that support Lezard are the southernmost small states.

From Lezad's perspective, these small states are the only forts.

Therefore, the defense line must be set before this small country group.

Lezad, who is originally weaker in military strength, should hope for the Kagogi battle.

However, if a battle is held in the homeland of Lezad, the kingdom of Rhosais will lose all control of the city-state north of Lezad.

However, the small nations, which are allies of Lezard, cannot accept the Kagogi battle, and the walls are too low to fight in the first place.

So we have to decide in the field.

The question then becomes where the battlefield is.

The initiative is in the attacking kingdom of Rosais.

Therefore, the defender must determine what route the enemy will take.

There is a large river running around here, and the forest spreads across the river.

A wide road west road that bypasses the forest and a relatively narrow road east road that cuts through the forest along the river.

Either way is the advance route that King Rosais's country can choose.

I do not know which of these advance routes to take.

Lowering or raising the line of defense will solve the problem, but ...

It is politically impossible.

You have to choose one.

"Nothing else can happen!"

"No, this is correct."

"Shut up, barbarians!"

"What ?! How many years have you fought in Gaul? Aristocratic Ama-chan !!"

The captain of the mercenary and the generals continue to heat up.

I can't take action as it is.

It is the legislators sent by Lezard who have begun to get impatient.

The result is that things haven't been decided indefinitely, and we have continued to move around.

We can't continue the same mistake.

"So what about this? The captain of the mercenaries, who will lead the Gauls to defend the East Road. The generals will lead Nemes' heavy hoplites to defend the West Road, and will be based at the junction of East Road and West Road. Just set it up and get in touch with each other.

Listening to a proposal from a member of Lezard's legislature, the captain of the mercenaries and the generals looked away.

"I can't help it. Let's go."

"In the end, only Alms knows which way to go."

The army was over.

Whether this operation comes out well or badly ...

No one knows it.

But there were those who could predict.

"No, no ... this is terrible."

Alexius looked at the cloth on the side of Lezard or drawn a map and screamed.

Alexios was suspected of being secret. But there is no evidence.

He was under house arrest.

Originally Alexius would never cross a map with cloths.

However, Lezad's members are not monolithic.

One of the anxious MPs heard Lezad's army and came to Alexius for his opinion.

"After all, is this a ...

"It's a matter of course. This is to say that even free people have a small army, but they will divide it. Should we say that it is a stray race? Is it really a military person who is in charge of the operation? Even a bitey amateur will know that the distribution of troops is bad. "

Good grief……

Alexius shrugged.

"Which is Alexius?"

"I'm like ... yeah ... wide west road. There's nothing wide for a large army advance, and there's no reason to hurry. It's enough to just scratch and go east."

"So what should I do?"

Alexius laughed at the questioning legislator.

Drink tea, put the cup on the desk and answer

"In the first place, the strategy is wrong. In a war, it is advantageous to attack strategically. After all, we have the freedom to choose the battlefield. We have already lost in diplomatic negotiations. It's not enough. You have to attack. "

"But if we push the front any further ... enemy land?"

"Enemy land ... is that true? The city-states did not vow to King Almus, they just succumbed to the military pressure. "

Many city-states are worried.

Isn't King Almus's reign only gentle during the threat of Lezad?

If the advantage is decided, wouldn't the palm be turned over?

I don't know what would happen if the king changed his mind.

If King Almus is a good king, what is the next king?

Can you believe in a prince who has never been born?

Lezad lost his reputation, but that did not mean that the kingdom of Rosais had increased confidence.

What they really want is a military-political balance between the two great powers of King Rosais and Lezad.

Therefore, if the lezard appears a little stronger, it can be expected that there will be no support at all, but that it will be able to teach the terrain and provide food in the background.

"Well, I think it's a political mistake in the first place against the king of Rossais. It's not easy to get rid of it in a war. Well, can Lezad get over this storm?"

Alexios shrugged, as if by others.