Chapter 124: Jeromes Ascension (3) (1/2)

Chapter 124: Jerofried’s counterattack

He was a savior fro Kobrook Republic

Though Siegfried himself was disappointed that he could not catch Milton, the Kobrook Republic was filled with a new breath of life through this victory Inferior as their position enius of war that was Siegfried could turn the tables

Siegfried more than lived up to that anticipation as he entered the fray

The troops that Siegfried personally commanded from the Northern Front nuether from here and there to form a total of 40,000 soldiers that accompanied him It was a relatively small number compared to the Strabus allied areous position; a frontier that was already on the brink of collapse

Despite this, Siegfried and his 40,000 troops achieved results with flying colors by overpowering the Strabus allied arfried first applied pressure on the Strabus coalition by attacking Bells Castle and Hornie Castle with a force of 10,000 troops respectively Rather than being a full-on attack, thesurveillance on their ene from the castle, they merely retreated and renewed their attack – and such a cycle was repeated

The coalition arfried kept the army had vanished without a trace They could not discern the whereabouts nor objective of the20,000 soldiers

Ultimately, Milton commanded the army to focus on defense and fortification, and the Kobrook Republic’s defensive line found a neind through Siegfried’s strong involvement

If there was anyone who could be labelled as displeased with these developments…

“What humility is this?”

There was nonetheir offensive on Litinque Castle, Marquis Bologna succeeded in escaping through a different path to Milton Though he soh the surround to etaway, he lost a considerable number of men and was personally wounded

He was bedridden until recently after they regathered at Bells Castle; and even then, when he could begin to barely conduct affairs again, the first thing he did was to seek Milton and raise a complaint

“A humility, you say… what na turned beetroot red as he replied roughly

“They barely nu ourselves, frightened by a force of 40,000 that do not have a half-decent position to fall back to? Does this not differ coinal plans?”

To break the Kobrook Republic’s defensive lines, and afterwards attack their granaries and other breadbaskets to apply pressure on the Republics’ food situation: this was their original plan And in actuality, the defensive line was indeed as good as destroyed They were unable to capture Litinque Castle, the one re position of defense for the Republic, but it wasup in flames

Despite this, Milton had ordered all troops to devote the their positions This was because Milton believed that with Siegfried’s entrance, there was a necessity of reh Milton understood Marquis Bologna’s restlessness, he had no intention of shi+fting their new course of action

“In light of the losses we recently suffered in our attack on Litinque Castle, there is a need to reassess our war situation”

This only served to further anger Marquis Bologna

“Was that not your mistake, Marquis? Our army suffered those unspeakable losses because you were drawn in by such an obvious bait!”

Milton was hit with a pang of anger

‘An obvious bait? If it was so obvious, then why didn’t you stop me when you were at the scene as well?’

He wished to pour out the words in his heart

But instead…

“I acknowledge it This is the result ofoil to Marquis Bologna’s fire Milton gave way to hiard than his pride

Bologna was enlivened by Milton’s apology

“Then it is not too late Let us return to being on the offensive, if only to redeem our defeat We still have double thetroops, so at any moment-”

“We cannot”

“Why ever?”

“It is because our troops are insufficient”

“Our troops are insufficient? What on earth do you possibly mean!?”

“We currently retain a total force of approximately 80,000 men”

“As I too adom army forms 50,000, the Florence Principality fordom constitutes 20,000 h troops I tell you – we must march all troops and advance immediately”

Milton took in a deep breath and exhaled

‘You’d be right if we hadn’t suffered those losses at Litinque’

The casualties they incurred in their defeat at Litinque Castle was over 50,000 Of those, 30,000 were affiliated with the Lester Kingdom army, and the other 20,000 were Strabus soldiers

50,000 troops were gone in a single battle

If not for that, it would be possible for thena said But then was then, and now they absolutely could not

“Our total forces may nu our captured territory Are you not aware of this?”

At present, the coalition ar army was distributed as follows

Bells Castle – 20,000 stationed

Hornie Castle – 20,000 stationed

Fortress Lientz – 5,000 stationed

Fortress Belluno – 5,000 stationed

Fortress Brunico – 5,000 stationed

Fortress Merano – 5,000 stationed

Fortress Bolchano – 5,000 stationed

The stationed troops already nu 15,000 were on standby on the wide-stretching plains for the purposes of reconnaissance and guerilla warfare to bolster these positions Thus in reality, all troops were being utilized to solidify their hold on the captured grounds

“We are over concentrating our men on defense There is no need to station such a substantial force to the holds that now forned to defense would no doubt open capacity for attack”

“If we do so and are met with a counteroffensive, we gesting we continue to stay holed up in thisour captured territory I am sure you are aware of how difficult matters will become lest the Kobrook Republic recaptures these points and operates them once more, are you not?”

“Do the enemy appear to have the le defeat, but are we not the ones who are winning at this veryas you say Then what need is there for us to display such impatience?”

“I tell you, it does not sit ith ht before our eyes!”

“In the way of Siegfried joining this frontier with his reinforcee power vacuu the eneround shall suffice to play a significant role in this war”

“Our contributions would be lacking with only that”

“Victory comes before individual contributions in war!! Do you not even know thatI am a petty man who has been blinded by the promise of rewards?”

The atmosphere between them reached a point of no return Milton had tried his uth it, but this was a reaction that was sina convinced that he had seen the lith in their defeat? There was a clear shi+ft in his attitude, with an intention to carry out the war by his own h his collaboration with Milton had brought some positive results, there had been one failure that was all too big Bologna’s current rationale was that Milton should then lay down his authority as a leader for this war and rightfully pass it to hi, but Milton did not think this in the least

Too many cooks spoil the broth; and much the same way, a coreatest foolishness on the battlefield

More than anything, Milton yet possessed a hidden trump card Until the time of its reveal, he had to concentrate on defense and stabilize the battle situation at all costs