Saving What Is Worth Saving (7)

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- - Visigoth Kingdom POV - -

Visigoth's 130,000-strong army was marching towards Voltaire Castle. 　

Duke Fran had ordered his cavalry to march at the same speed, without dividing them.

The scouting party he had sent was returning to the main army, which was marching.

"You're saying Julius has left?" <Duke Fran>

"Yes. When Aquitania's troops met up with him at Voltaire Castle, he led the Iron Cavalry out of the castle." <Scout >

Duke Fran furrowed his brow at the news.

Why had they suddenly left?

It was also strange to hear that a large force had moved from Aquitania.

It meant that he had vacated Aquitania.

An army of this size must be all of their forces and levies at once.

What was his plan?

Duke Fran unfolded the map.

He would have some troops left to defend Aquitania, but this would make it extremely easy for them to attack Aquitania.

Are you saying we should fight at Voltaire Castle?

What exactly is your goal?

It was easy to isolate Voltaire Castle.

If he surrounded it with a 130,000-strong army, the castle would be too low to hold for two days.

Istin, Lucana, Lamp, and the other generals, Valdesca's vassals, and the nobles of Visigoth who had joined the war faced each other.

Duke Fran's face became serious as he began to worry.

"Supreme General, do you want me to organize a pursuit party?" <Master General Lamp>

Lamp posed a question but Fran shook his head.

"No, we will march as planned. The sooner we get to Castle Voltaire, the better." <Duke Fran>

It looked like they were trying to break our morale with a surprise attack or to cut off supplies.

But since they had captured Lunan Castle, there was no supply problem.

It was really foolish for Julius to go cutting off supply with that many troops.

It would only mean that he would have to sacrifice the main force of Voltaire Castle to himself.

Of course, that would never happen.

So the only thing he could think of was a surprise attack.

However, what was completely unexpected was why he was holding out in Voltaire Castle.

Whether it was Voltaire Castle or Aquitania Castle, it didn't matter where the battlefield was because the plan was to isolate and defeat them, but it was frustrating to not understand why he was fighting in that lowly Voltaire Castle.

"I'm not going to give Lunan's army in the Bridget area time to enter the war. Even if reinforcements come, our army has more troops than his, but we don't need to waste our troops on him, so we're going to have a quick battle." <Duke Fran>

According to his information, there are about 50,000 troops in the Bridget area.

Moreover, the moment the entire army arrives, Lunan will lose control of Bridget.

It means that they will be divided on all sides, and all of Lunan and Bridget's territories will be ownerless.

In any case, the overwhelming advantage was Fran's.

Furthermore, he had no intention of allowing Julius to join up with Bridget's reinforcements.

He had prepared a strategy that could be immediately used to finish the battle at Aquitania!

"It's best to surround and destroy them." <Duke Fran<< p>

"Sir, do you still intend to keep the Fourth Army hidden?" <Lucana >

"The moment they retreat to Aquitania, the Fourth Army will be on the move. I don't think they'll stay in Voltaire Castle for long." <Duke Fran>

There was no way to know what kind of strategy he had in mind.

There was nothing in Julius's favor here, whether he was in Voltaire Castle or Aquitania.

Nor was there any terrain over here that was advantageous to him.

Rather, if he wanted to take advantage of the terrain, he should fight in the area around the barrier or in Lunan Castle.

"There is no need to be nervous. We'll keep marching." <Duke Fran>

"Yes, my lord!" <Lucana >

"They'll probably surprise us with 5,000 cavalrymen. Coming in a two-pronged assault. Do not forget to be thoroughly prepared when building our siege camp!" <Duke Fran>

At Duke Fran's command, the advance of Narja's 130,000-strong army continued.

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- - Lunan Remnants POV - -

The structure of the Aquitania army is deformed.

The ratio is very wrong due to the fact that the cavalry comprises a third of their total number.

They specialized in attacking rather than defending.

Moreover, they are not suitable for siege warfare.

It is a unit that is only powerful on the plains, not in sieges.

Even so, rather than training infantry, I forced myself to train a cavalry force of 10,000 because I did not want to be isolated.

In this situation, a siege would be disadvantageous.

It's not just a matter of defending one place at a time.

Even if I return to Aquitania, I will be isolated in the end.

I think I can manage to hold out for a year at the most.

As long as I have enough food to last me a year, I'm confident that the walls of Aquitania will be able to hold out for quite a while, if not longer than Lunan Castle, since their all smaller border walls preventing the enemy's numbers from creating a devastating effect.

With the destruction of Lunan, the dream of unifying the continent would fade into the distance with nothing gained and nothing accomplished.

So the point of this war was exactly 10,000 iron cavalrymen.

Of course, I am not trying to use any great strategy in the current situation.

But since I couldn't just sit back and watch them advance, I was going to make them suffer as much as possible while slowing down their advance.

The more I did so, the more refugees would pass through Voltaire Castle, and the more rumours they would hear.

And in doing so the greater the population of Aquitania and the future Roman nation I would be founding would be.

Visigoth's 130,000-strong army was not without cavalry, albeit they are light cavalry, scouts or skirmishers.

However, Fran had them all marching at the same speed to prevent them from being attacked individually.

In other words, they were moving at the same speed as the regular infantry.

I had the iron cavalry stand by nearby, while Zeff and I climbed a nearby mountain to get a better idea of the enemy's forces.

With an army of 130,000, their advance would naturally be conspicuous.

It was not a scale that could be marched in hiding.

Their formation was complex, with cavalry at the front, behind them, infantry and in the middle, a supply corps and another cavalry corps to protect it.

Just by looking at their marching arrangement, it was clear that they were moving in packs.

The atmosphere was filled with the desire to move as one.

As they had embarked on a war of conquest, they were organized around an infantry force for siege warfare.

There were 110,000 infantry and 20,000 archers and cavalry.

However, moving in herds like that was rather vulnerable to surprise attacks.

The opportunity to destroy them individually doesn't only arise when the enemy moves individually.