Chapter 26 – Departure
Departure
The day of departure finally dawned.
The two legions gathered in front of the Adriatic Castle, the capital of the empire, were conducting a departure ceremony and listening to the emperor’s speech of encouragement above the castle gate.
Until yesterday, the military discipline was in shambles, but Juno, who could not show himself like that in front of the emperor, summoned all the commanders at dawn, woke up all the soldiers, and rushed to them to establish the minimum discipline, and that was at least a little bit possible. Perhaps because it was effective, the two legions did not appear disheveled in front of the emperor.
Juno wore an awkward uniform and stood at the front of the corps with Prinz, listening to the emperor’s speech about his campaign with one ear and listening to it through the other, checking his physical condition once again.
When I circulated the mana inside his body, I felt that not only did his body feel refreshed, but all of his muscles were filled with strength. As his body overflowed with energy, even his head felt refreshed, and he thought it was the effect of being held on Catherine’s breast all night, so Juno once again expressed his gratitude to his teacher.
All expedition events ended with the emperor coming down the castle gate and presenting the commander-in-chief’s standard to the crown prince, and the two corps began their march west.
“Yuno, you go first and stay with the 1st Army. You will lead the 10th and 11th Corps as planned and cut off the enemy supply to the fortress while we attack Fort Streve, and be on the lookout for any possible enemy support. Dao”
Prinz planned to first join the 1st, 4th and 5th Corps through spatial movement, integrate the three corps into the 1st Army, and then attack Fort Streve at the same time as Juno’s 2nd Army crossed the border.
“Yes. I will do my best, brother.”
“I hope that Prince Kent will assist Juno well.”
Haha, don’t worry, Your Highness! The Wind Rage Army under my command is the best elite on the Eastern Front! Moreover, I brought the Wind Force Knights with me, so I promise there will never be an enemy coming from the south!”
After shaking hands with Kent Windrage, Prinz disappeared through space, telling Yuno to send a message once a day even if nothing happened.
“Now! Let’s go. Your Highness the Third Prince! I promise you that you will win this war if you just trust this uncle. Haha.”
Yuno looked at his uncle, who was making loud noises, with a slightly untrustworthy look.
In this war, Juno’s maternal uncle, Kent Windrage, served as the commander of the 11th Corps and was in charge of the southern part of this attack. As Yuno decided to concurrently serve as the commander of the 10th Corps and move with the 10th Corps, a separate person was needed to take charge of the 11th Corps, and Kent was selected for that position.
In the past, Windrage of Kent was really just a meager person, but it has been said that the Duke of Windrage’s rigorous training over the past six years has made him a much better person, and Duke Windrage, who was worried about Yuno, who was his first contestant, is his eldest son. It was decisive that 10 senior knights of the Wind Force Knights were sent along with 5,000 soldiers.
The Duke of Windrage advised limiting Kent’s position to a thousand seals regardless of the troops he sent, but he found it difficult to do so realistically.
There was no guarantee that appointing other noble sons as commanders of the corps would make them better than Kent, and it was obvious that Kent would rebel if the son of an unscrupulous earl or marquis was appointed as the commander of the corps. Yuno decided that if his abilities were similar, it would be better for his maternal uncle, Kent, to command it, so he appointed Kent as commander of the 11th Corps, but he could not shake off the feeling of coldness in his heart.
Although Kent, the corps commander, was anxious, the 5,000 Windrage army he brought with him boasted a similar level of armament and discipline as the regular army of the empire, so Yuno decided to trust the soldiers, not the commander, and even during the march, the 11th Army The Wind Rage Army maintained strict military discipline that was incomparable to that of the 10th Army.
Moreover, Yuno was somewhat at ease when he saw that the existing Cheoninjangs, who were appointed as commanders, were comforting and assisting the young novice commanders who were appointed as Cheonjangjang.
The 11th Corps felt relieved to some extent, but the problem was the 10th Corps he commanded.
Yuno, who marched to the Tesseito border and trained the 10th Corps under his command, was able to train the 10th Corps, which had been a complete mess since it was a private soldier, to the point where it could be called an imperial army.
For the past month, Juno stayed up all night studying military science, marched during the day, and trained legionnaires in the evening.
Of course, at first, the legionnaires were very dissatisfied with marching during the day and training before dinner, but when Juno, the corps commander, deputy commander, and prince, rolled around on the dirt with them, the voices of dissatisfaction quickly subsided.
Juno, who received advice from Liechtenauer to win the hearts of the soldiers, ate with the legionnaires and listened to their complaints, and even stood at the forefront during training, rolling around with them without using up mana, or making inspections and standing guard. He won the hearts of the legionnaires by giving them the alcohol and snacks he brought.
Of course, there was a requirement to drink alcohol while on guard duty, but when would soldier who were country bumpkins living in the countryside ever drink high-quality alcohol bestowed by the royal family?
The legionnaires received the alcohol given by Juno with trembling hands and were so depressed that they did not even think about drinking it carelessly.
At dinner, he even spent his own money to distribute high-quality meals to the legionaries, so when the march began, the voices criticizing Juno gradually changed to voices praising him, and the 10th Legion gradually became an imperial legion under Juno’s leadership. It became stronger.
However, there were also side effects that Yuno had not thought of.
“What on earth was your Highness the Third Prince thinking? How helpful it would be to spend time with those idiots! You’re demoting us to manager!! That’s ridiculous.”
“If we assist you well, we will lead you to victory… But… It’s a shame.”
“That’s right! I should have known about the drinking party we had prepared from the first day.”
“E~ing! Is it all about being a master? In a large-scale war, the commander’s ability is important, not the individual combat power of the soldiers…”
“It may be because he was not raised by a royal family. It would have been very different if His Highness Heinrich had come…”
“Uh huh!! Watch your mouth!! Are we the only ones here?”
“That’s what they say!! Seriously man… I’d rather have a drink”
They were noble children who were dissatisfied with Yuno’s neglect. Seeing them busy drinking and flirting with prostitutes brought from the capital every day, Yuno finally drew his sword.
It had been about fifteen days since we marched. After raiding their drinking establishments, Juno stripped them of their command and left it to the best of his private soldiers.
At first, even though they were the best officers, they were originally soldiers of each noble’s private army, so they were afraid that they would be disadvantaged when they returned to their hometown, but Yuno promised that in that case, he would personally take them out, so they swore loyalty to Yuno and began to use the children of the nobles as their lieutenants. I did it.
Even though they are children of nobles, they are now ordinary people without titles. Strictly speaking, this was possible because they had the same status as commoners.
Because of this, the dissatisfaction of the noble children was raised to the heavens, but Yuno was ignoring it.
Regardless of the complaints of the nobles, the march continued, and the 2nd Army of the Tesseito Expeditionary Force of the Balkan Empire was able to reach the end of the Zeno Plain in the western part of the empire after continuing the march for about a month.
“Uncle, please take good care of the southern theater. Don’t forget to maintain communication at all times, and when you spot an enemy, don’t engage in combat. Please let me know before taking action.”
Haha, Your Highness Yuno. Don’t worry. You just need to trust this uncle. Haha.”
The second expeditionary force led by Yuno split into two after almost reaching the border. The 10th Corps led by Yuno began marching west of Streve, and the 11th Corps led by Kent began marching south. At the same time, a magic message was sent to the 1st Army led by Prinz.
“Hmm! Yuno has just crossed the border. Commander of the 1st Corps! Are the soldiers ready?”
“Yes, Your Highness. All soldiers of the 1.4.5 Corps are ready.”
“4th Corps Commander! Is there any problem with the supply? If you cross the border, it is Tesseito territory! Be careful not to have even a single grain of wheat disrupted in the supply!”
“Currently, we have enough food to feed the entire 1st Army for half a year, and we will also take care to maintain supply routes without any problems!”
“5th Corps Commander! You were in charge of the siege weapons, right? How much of the production process was completed?”
“Currently, it is about 90 percent complete, and assembly is being carried out upon arrival at Streve, as it is easier to move and conceal, so we are keeping it that way.”
“Good! We’ll send out troops too! Expedition 1st corps. We’ll cross the border at midnight today and arrive at Streve within 24 hours!”
“I will follow your orders, Your Majesty!”
Early that morning, the first expeditionary force led by Prinz also crossed the Tesseito border, and finally Yuno’s first battle. The Battle of Bloody Fortress Streve has begun.
*Imperial army advance route. 1.4.5 Corps marches from the current garrison. 10th Corps western theater, 11th Corps southern theater.
Red dot: Streb Fortress
