Raven raised his right hand to signal the marching Crow Mercenary Knights to stop and at the same time ordering:
_ Halt! Units, we're resting here for a while. You're free to relax until further notices, please take your time. Owen, you're in charge of the army when I'm away. Corporal Castor, you're in charge of alert duty, report to Owen and I immediately when there's anything suspicious.
Most soldiers proceeded to move to the grassy plot of land on the side of the road and sat there to rest. They were in the outskirt of a small, unremarkable town. The townspeople were going on with their daily lives, some curiously observing and discussing about the army just appeared outside of their settlement.
Raven and some of the Crow Mercenaries went toward the town, entering an area with white fences around it. Raven ordered his soldiers to stand guard at the entrance of that place while he went inside alone.
It was a small memorial zone, with a marble statue of one of the national heroes, and in front of it was a black obeslisk with inscriptions describing the epic battle happened in this area in the past. It was the statue of General Noah, who was most well known for the deeds of conquering a large part of the continent in a string of Velder's wars of aggression to annex more land for the nation, in one of its expansion spheres.
Raven put a bouquet of flowers under the statue's feet and bowed his head to pay his respects to the late military officer. One tear rolled down his left cheek…The hero was one of Raven's most admired leaders in history. Raven had read every book he could find regarding Noah's exploits in the past, and studying with unusual passion the wisdoms of the military leader in lectures taught at the academy.
So when standing before the statue of his idol, he couldn't help but bursting into tears in awe and shame at the same time. Compared to the accomplishments of the late military leader, he felt his record of services was still insignificant compared to the hero. He remembered one of the quote said by the great hero "I'm afraid the generations yet unborn would resent me for not leaving any enemy and land left for them to conquer".
After mourning for a while, Raven prayed for General Noah to bless him in the expedition campaign he was taking part in, saluted and then left to reunite with his men.
A rebellion had erupted in Bethma, the frontier colony of the nation, unofficially known as "The Periphery" by people living in the core regions of Velder. The situation looked dire and that was the largest uprising in the history of the region. The lizardmen, the native inhabitants of Bethma, had risen against the human settlers at there.
The lizardmen had always believed they were the rightful owners of the region and only reluctantly agreed to accept human colonists because they had no other choice, after they lost battles with humans in the past. Under the peace treaty, they had to share the region with humans, and having to pay annual tributes to the Velder court.
For a long time they felt they had been oppressed and exploited, straining to gather enough to pay the tribute. The tribute was a way for Velder court to remind the confederation of lizardmen tribes of their role as a tributary state, extolling wealth and properties for the treasury of Velder, and at the same time deprived the indigenous creatures from accumulating enough wealth and properties so they would perpetually in short of resources for mounting an uprising.
Even so, or perhaps because of such unequal treaty, the lizardmen managed to rebel anyway, seizing the annual tribute they were supposed to pay for Velder. Now they had broken the peace treaty with the humans and resolved to take back the whole Bethma region, attempting to return it to the state before human forces conquered and colonized it.
The local militia forces had already been beaten and disarmed. One army group was sent there to try to wrest the region back from the hands of the lizardmen, and Raven's Crow Mercenary Knights was sent in as the reinforcement for that counter-insurgency force.
According to the latest progress of the war efforts - the force under Captain Lukas had quickly marched straight to the heart of the region in hope of a quick liberation. Reading the letters from the messengers sent by Lukas, Raven was surprised by the progress Lukas's army had been able to make in such a short amount of time, crushing any pitiful resistances the lizardmen had been able to put up in his way, and was already one third of his way to the rescue of Bethma's main human settlement.
Raven felt Lukas should have waited for him and they would be able to support each other in battle. In a letter sent to the fellow captain he mentioned just that, but Lukas's answer was that he was in a hurry to aid Bethma's human village which had been overrun by the lizardmen.
Raven's army crossed the Liffey river separating between Feita and Bethma by boats. They landed on the riverside of Bethma, behind a fortification complex which including a three-meters-high wooden wall surrounding a medium-sized barrack and a small port on the bank of the river for transporting purposes between two sides of the river. The fortification complex was called Camp Stahlfort.
Stahlfort was the forward operation base of the region for in cases when Velder needed to conduct large military activities in the periphery region of the nation - Bethma. It was the foothold in Bethma, beside the garrison in Bethma's human town, guarding the zone which military force could disembark and transporting supplies from the other side of the river.
Raven saluted with Stahlfort's garrison commanding officer - Colonel Sturm, then read out loud the contents of the scroll describing his mission, authorized by the state.
_Colonel, my name is Raven Cronwell, captain of the Crow Mercenary Knights company. In fealty to His Highness and the Velder court, I hereby announce that we are here for the upcoming offensive of reclaiming Bethma, with me as the commanding officer. In the meantime, we need to make use of the facilities and supplies of Stahlfort for our military activities. Please support us with all we need, this is for the king and country.
_I have understood, captain Cronwell. We will certainly helping you with everything we can muster in order for you to success in this war.
Raven shook hand with the colonel with a smile on his face:
_ It's a honour to have a chance to fight alongside you, colonel.
_ No, the honour is all mine. You're from House Cronwell, right? Your father and I were acquaintances and we had cooperated in occasions...
Raven was used to hearing the similar remarks from many different military men across various echelons of the military's command chains saying along that line when he talked with them in the past. Most of the times he felt like a crippling weight was put on his shoulders, urging him to do his best to live up to the reputation of his adoptive father and his House..
Raven also asked the colonel for the latest news from the frontline under Lukas and his men. Sturm answered with most of the things that Raven had known before, from letters sent back and forth between him and Lukas. But it had been nearly a week since the last letter and they were left in the dark regarding the latest progresses…
That night, after having arranged for his soldiers to temporarily staying at Stahlfort itself, Raven met up with his close comrades, whom he appointed in positions of power in his army: the second in command, chief strategist and advisor Owen Felford, and the Camp prefect, logistic and budgeting-superintendent Seris.
They were some of his closest friends who had been with him through ups and downs since they graduated from Velder Military academy and begun their career in the military of the nation. Even though Raven outranked Owen and Seris, he hardly saw them as his subordinates but instead as peers, and in the case of Seris, personally Raven also saw her as…
The next day the upper echelons of Crow Mercenary Knights were summoned by Raven to plan for the next steps of their military activities.
_ I suggest we would march to catch up with Lukas's battlegroup. The day of Bethma liberation isn't far anymore. But we need to be quick, and so I suggest we split into three groups, as going together we can only move at the speed of the slowest units in our army. The cavalry detachment would form the tip of our spear, leading the way and would be expected to be the first to rendezvous with Lukas's men. The infantry would follow and consolidate the progress made by the cavalry, and the supply wagons and their escorts, who are the slowest by the way, would be safe to past through the areas which would be clear of enemies by the time they have managed to reach there.
_ Thank you lieutenant Yves. Anyone having different idea than lieutenant Yves here please speak up.
Raven nodded to Yves and turned to ask the remaining of the officers.
The command staffs discussed between each other for a while, but only Owen spoke:
_ I think it would not be wise to let the supplying convoy group going alone. That would expose it to enemy's ambushes. The supply line is already stretched too long and we can't afford to lose those supplies before the next supplying convoy from the home front could be organized and reaching us, given that the convoy itself could reach us at all.
The command staff looking from Owen to Yves awaiting her answer.
_ So you're suggesting that the army going together instead of splitting them? That will slow us down tremendously, and because of that slowness, we would consume more supplies because of the extended duration of the campaign. Trust me, I have considered that ambushing scenario too, I just don't think the lizardmen would be able to carry out an organized and effective ambush. They're just a bunch of primitive shamanic barbarians who never had formal education in warfare anyway.
Owen immediately replied after Yves finished her last sentence:
_ Yes, I admit not splitting our force will make the travel time longer. But it will be much easier to conserve our army and a safer, more surely to success attempt than a reckless blitz which failing in maintaining the supply line could doom the rest of the army and we could face envelopment and at its best, surviving but being pushed back to this side of river before even having a chance to combat the bulk of the opponent's force. That's what I would do if I was the leader of the lizardmen.
_That's just a possibility. If we're quick we can just crush their headquarter in a decapitation strike and forcing them to surrender and winning before the lizardmen even knew they were fighting. Even if the supply convoy was lost, we could still attempt to live off the land by sending foraging teams to gather and hunting for food, for example when we have reached Bethma's human town we could secure supplies from there. The faster we arrive at Bethma settlement, the sooner the humans there would be in safety… Hey, why are you laughing?!
Owen truly bursted into laughter near the end of Yves's speech, and some officers also slightly smiling, while Yves's face was reddened because of a mixture of embarrassment and anxious from their attitudes. Seris leered at Owen, and Raven spoke:
_ Owen, if you have anything to say, just say it frankly. This is an urgent planning session and you should be more constructive.
_ Apologize me, I was just feeling hilarious, when she suggested our army to live off the rocky, barren land of this god-forsaken region by foraging…
Raven slightly sighed. Owen was close to him and Raven trusted him very much because of his knowledge in military which was a head above most people of the same age. He was talented and rarely failed Raven. But his flip side was that Owen looked down upon and at times could be uncooperative with people whom he considered inferior to himself. Raven felt hesitated to criticize Owen, partly because as scornful and uncooperative as Owen attitudes could be, he was right most of the times.
Feeling it was time to intervene when Owen and Yves were at each other's throats, Raven knocked a wooden stick on the table repeatedly to gather attentions and spoke:
_ Alright everyone. I think both commander Owen and lieutenant Yves here have demonstrated several noteworthy points. There can, however, be room for compromises here. I think we should still split our forces into three, each comprising of a different unit: cavalry, infantry, convoy and escorts. However the infantry and cavalry forces would need to carry an extra amount of supplies by themselves, enough for them to use in three days. Camp prefect Seris, was that viable for the soldiers to carry extra weights and the supplying convoy be manageable?
_ Let me see… Yes, I think we would be able to manage that. When making rations and preparing grass for the horses, would we use the supplies carried by the convoy or the supplies carried by soldiers?
_ Thank you Seris, we would cook and distribute rations from supplies carried by the convoy. So, back to the main subject, thanks to that the convoy will carry less weight which resulted in boosting their speed, and even in unlikely case we lost the convoy, other units would still have enough supplies to sustain themselves for a while, so at that point, we can still choose to safely reverse course or continuing. Anyway, that's my opinion regarding this problem, anyone who disagrees with me is free to speak up their mind.
Raven looked across the officers who were discussing with enthusiasm for a while. Seeing no one having any different idea than what were already proposed, Raven called for open voting to decide. Raven's plan received the most votes and was adopted.
_ Okay this problem is settled. Next we will decide the next subject regarding…
Raven was interrupted by a soldier running into the room and delivering news:
_ Sir, I have urgent news. Sir Lukas's army was defeated and they were retreating toward Stahlford! His army is just ten kilometers from here, please send reinforcements!
Raven was shocked to the core upon learning about that, but managed to maintain a calm facial expressions and ordered:
_ Get me the whole cavalry unit and half of the infantry, mobilizing the ox carts, we would need them to carry the wounded and the dead!
Stahlfort's gate was opened, Raven wasted no time and moving ahead with Crow Mercenaries cavalry, while the infantry and ox carts going behind.
After having traveled a distance with the messenger soldier showing the way, Raven could see the soldiers of Lukas being harassed by an army of lizardmen many times the human force's size.
The cavalry then shifted into galloping speed, and charged at the flank of the lizardmen. The formation of the lizardmen was broken by that decisive charge from the cavalry which they completely didn't expect. Many laying dead and then they were clearly retreating.
_ Wait, captain, don't pursue them!
Raven looked and saw Lukas was shouting to him. He was out of breath from exhaustion, having some minor wounds on his body but nothing too severe:
_ They will surely ambush you if you pursue them…
After having escorted the remnants of Lukas's army back to Stahlfort, Raven Cronwell and some of his officers talked to Lukas immediately.
_ What is the status of your force, Lukas?
Raven asked. Lukas was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth to answer:
_ Conservative estimation, attrition rate including about fifteen to twenty percents dead, about ten to fifteen percents were captured alive or missing in action, about thirty percents wounded. I have about thirty percents of my troops left fitting for combat at the moment, but some of them need to be issued new weapons.
Crow Mercenaries present there were appalled when learning the horrible fate befalling Lukas's army, and most didn't expect to witness him beaten and having to retreat like that.
_ How was that possible? I thought you was doing very well so far...
Lukas sighed when Raven asked, slowly poured for himself a glass of wine, then drank it all at once. Then suddenly he threw the glass at the ground and breaking it, then spat:
_ The wicked lizards, accursed scalies, sons of a…
Lukas cursed to vent his anxieties, making people around there felt sorry for him. After having done swearing, he began to tell the story:
_We marched as fast as we could. The lizards only put up piecemeal resistances thus far, and we won every encounter. We began to underestimate them. Finally a sizable army of lizards appeared, armed with weapons they confiscated from our garrisons at Bethma. After a brief skirmish they ran and we pursued them. But then I heard the soldier alerted that the supplying wagons were ambushed. We hurried to turn back and rushing to their aid. But the previously fleeing army of lizard then also turned back and charged right at the rear of my army which at that time already turned its back at them, they fought with such efficiency that I could only suspect the lizards had anticipated that very situation.
Lukas grabbed the wine bottle and drank directly from it. One of his subordinate ran to get a new empty glass for him. Then he continued:
_It was chaos, I ordered a portion of my troops to stand the ground and holding back the lizards, while the rest would attempt to save the supplying wagons… When we managed to reach the wagons we were supposed to save, we had already lost more than half of them. The lizardmen there fled right when we arrived. We pursued them, but was ambushed again by more lizards, they hid and rapidly throwing javelins at my troops from two sides of the road, then quickly dispersed into the surroundings. I was terrified and didn't dare to pursue them, fearing that we would be ambushed again. We had a shortage of supplies since that.
Owen made an unnatural ahem sounding sound.
_ That night, after having setup the tents, we rested. But holy moly, they secretly infiltrated our positions, slit the throats of many the sentries who didn't see them coming. We were only alerted after corpses of the killed being found by the troops changing night watch session, and the assassins had blended into the darkness of the night and got away. Things only went further downhill from there...
After having heard the whole process of Lukas's force being thinned bit by bit because of the dodgy lizardmen, until they were forced to retreat, out of supplies, encircled and nearly annihilated, Raven felt worried. Owen Felford was right, again…
Apparently the lizardmen previously had caught all of the messengers sent by Lukas calling for help, that explained of the gap in time when contact with him was lost.
With Lukas's army a spent force, it felt to Crow Mercenaries Knights to shoulder the bulk of the burden of taking back Bethma. The odds were against them. And the enemies were far more intelligent and cunning than most had expected. They had sported a human level of intelligence when conducting warfare. It was genius level when compared to the average lizardmen even.
The day after Lukas intended to retreat back to Velder and abandoning the mission altogether. He also tried to convince Raven to retreat with him.
_ No no, we will stay and fight.
Raven firmly declined. Lukas continued:
_ It is already lost, we simply don't have enough force. Have you seen my case? Moreover Winter is near. It will be extremely difficult to receive reinforcements and supplies from Velder if we were bogged down. Wait until Spring and we would be back with overwhelming force and would also be easier to receive reinforcements.
Raven explained their situations:
_ We simply can't wait. If we retreat, there is a high chance that Stahlfort will subsequently be wiped out by the rebels and we will lose the last foothold in Bethma. So at that point if they defended from this side of the river, it would form a highly dangerous and easily defensible natural barrier, which would be extremely costly in terms of volume of blood shed needed just to cross it and securing a beachhead for landing forces.
_ What's so precious about this periphery region anyway? This expedition is already very costly and maintaining this dangerous region under Velder is even more costly itself, a deficit spending which central government needs to shell out mountains of ED to balance the budget... Who knows, maybe when we're back, I will appeal to the king to abandon Stahlfort and we would all go back to the fatherland. Overexpansion and deficit spending on military and security is very unhealthy for nations.
_ You have a point. However I say Bethma is worth given another chance. When it became developed in the future, we would see much more money flowing to our coffer and in the long term it would pay for the cost we had invested.
_ Then tell me captain, how would you turn this remote region into some place which can turn a profit? We already demanded heavy annual tributes from the lizards, however we couldn't tax the human settlers too much otherwise many wouldn't be able to make a living or running businesses over there. And choking the lizardmen like what we have done would give them incentives to rebel again, and continue this vicious cycle.
Temporarily not finding words to answer, Raven looked to Owen for help, signaling him to answer on his behalf. Owen then spoke:
_ Yes, keeping this region may not even turn a big profit by itself, especially since the mining activities already ceased and magic stone rush was over. But not all profits came directly from production activities occurred in this region. For example, it served as a road to connect the main trading hub between Elder region and the eastern part of the nation, between Western Lurensia and Eastern Lurensia. Have you considered the loss of profits from simply not able to travel between the west and the east, beside the trading activities, enormous economic and financial profits from it, including taxes on merchants, it may affect, dare I say, the very integrity of this nation...
Owen lowered his voice into a whisper:
_ Imagine if you can't control Bethma, then we wouldn't be able to travel to the Western part of the continent on foot, and in that case, would embolden the lords controlling the lands of anything to the west of Bethma, allowing them a much more easier time to break away from Velder's grips, and it would make it much harder to deter or suppress a secession movement from anyone controlling the land to the West of Bethma. Grasped it?
_ Very well. Then we will humbly leaving the stage to make place for you to play patriotic heroes... Good luck and farewell.
Lukas shook his head and spoke sarcastically. Raven simply answered dryly:
_ No captain, I order you to stay here.
_ Captain, according to the chain of command, I am the one in charge of this offensive.
_ Not anymore I'm afraid, that was an agreement between you and me, back then you have superior quantity of troops. But now I have more troops than you, I will take charge of this offensive. And with that, I order you and your troops to stay here and support my war efforts until further notices.
Raven stepped out to the yard of the camp, then walking around to observe the situations. He could see many wounded soldiers had to stay outside of the infirmaries because the inside was crowded. Even the living quarters couldn't provide enough beds for the wounded and the sick. Right now Stahlfort was occupied by three different forces: The place's garrison, Lukas's men and Raven's men, and it simply wasn't designed to accommodate for the concentration of forces of that size.
The morale of Lukas's army was very low after the costly and unexpected defeat, and it even started to affect the other soldiers who were not originated from that army. The mentality of defeatism was spreading over time from soldier to soldier, only exacerbated thanks to rumors that they would abandon this campaign and packing to go back home. Lukas was locking himself in his private quarter and drinking himself into a stupor, trying to forget his angers and griefs, the act itself affected the morale in a negative way. Last night there was even about a dozen of men who tried to desert, they were caught and incarcerated.
Realizing he should act before too late, Raven decided to give a speech before executing any further military activities. He summoned his own soldiers and after a very reluctant captain Lukas agreed, Lukas's soldiers as well, to hear out what Raven had to offer.
When they had gathered, Raven Cronwell requested them to be silent, then he raised his voice and began to speak:
_ My fellow comrades, proud and brave soldiers of our great nation. As you have already known, we're here today to crush the rebellion of the lizardmen race, we're coming to the rescue of our compatriots and bringing back the territory for our fatherland, for the king and country. However, as you have also known, we was dealt a heavy blown. Many lives were lost to the vicious barbarians, we were temporarily pushed back to the bank of this river. But don't panic, everything is not yet lost! You must understand fighting a hundred battles does not mean winning a hundred times…
Raven glanced at the direction of Lukas's men when speaking:
_ I know among you, there are people who harbor thoughts that we could always retreat to the east, as we still have a lot of territory left, the majority of population also living in our core homeland, there would be enough bread to sustain all of us. They believe Bethma is a desert, not worth shedding Velder blood for. Such naïve people. You must know, everything has its cost. Our sacrifices here will be repaid appropriately and we will be remembered, this much I can assure you…
Raven raised his voice and continued with increasing passions:
_ To retreat further east would mean to undo the efforts and wasting the blood shed by our forefathers. And the mentality of easily giving up and accepting retreating to the east, away from the conflict, is very dangerous. The further we keep the enemies away from our homeland, our people, the safer they will be. In this situation, to retreat further only mean to waste ourselves and our fatherland. No, we cannot allow it to happen! Because of that, I request of you, keep carry on fighting, as if there was no more land, no more Velder beyond this Liffey river!
Raven pointed at the direction of the billowing river, the natural barrier separating Feita and Bethma. The noises of the flowing water, waves after waves hitting at the banks of the rivers, were drowned in the deafening cheers of the soldiers who had determined to do their best to give their lives for something greater than oneself.
(To be continued).