Chapter 1427 - 1338: Six Days

Chapter 1427: Chapter 1338: Six Days

Unlike the Empire or the Royal Court, the Holy Alliance Army officers’ quality is relatively high with a minimum lower limit.

Their military level allows for pre-battle calculations and simulations, rather than aimless disputes.

If someone else saw the venue of the Holy Alliance military meeting, they might think several shareholders of a small company were miserably calculating profits and sharing dividends.

As the Deputy Chief of Staff, Bernardo spread the map flat on a shabby table supported by uneven legs.

"The Winter Embrace River Valley is a slightly northeast-tilted valley, with a total road length of about 140 kilometers.

Overall, it is fan-shaped, with hills on both sides nearly impassable, making wide flank encirclement and envelopment impossible..."

At this, Jeanne couldn’t help but click her tongue; she’s proficient at large-scale maneuvers and envelopment, yet got thwarted by Serafe.

"The fan-shaped plain tightens gradually towards the northeast, narrows at the Hot Intestine Path, and extends northward.

Inside the Winter Embrace River Valley, the Winter Embrace River runs along the northern hills, with only a few streams, while the southern plain has two major tributaries.

They are the Peda River and Boos River. Because the Royal Court army holds the initial advantage, they are sure to set up defenses along the river and burn the bridges.

Our goal is to continuously break through their blockade, quickly build pontoon bridges, and intercept Serafe’s twenty thousand clan troops before they enter the Hot Intestine Path."

"How is the situation with the other armies? What is our forced march speed? Give me a figure." Horn asked Bernardo.

"35 kilometers per day."

"What is the approximate width of the two tributaries?"

"Peda River is narrowest at 150 meters, widest at 180 meters; Boos River is narrowest at 120 meters, widest at 160 meters.

With our existing engineering corps and recruited laborers, a 120-meter wide river channel requires approximately 8 hours, and a 180-meter wide river channel requires about 12 hours."

The mathematical proficiency of the battle commanders present was not bad; they quickly calculated the passage speed.

"About half a day, meaning the slowest is half a day to build, half a day to cross?" Dass looked around, confirming.

During a march, it certainly won’t be sixty thousand men crowded together, but rather front and back with several routes, each building pontoon bridges.

The Holy Alliance Army is highly acclimated to mules, purchasing tens of thousands of mules annually from Norn Falan, with North County thriving on mule breeding.

Thus, during a march, the Holy Alliance Army carries large quantities of items like sheepskin bladders and wooden bridge components, building pontoon bridges when encountering rivers.

The Holy Alliance even has specialized engineering soldiers and engineering officers dedicated to opening roads when meeting mountains and building bridges when encountering water.

Under such circumstances, at least ensuring the arrival of troops does not exceed the pontoon bridge limit, meaning soldiers don’t pile up on the shore, ensuring the march speed is hardly affected.

Therefore, for these high-ranking officers of the Holy Alliance, they are more concerned about other issues.

"Serafe will definitely leave troops on the shore to intercept, which imposes high demands on the Vanguard Corps’ pontoon bridge siting and attack.

Fortunately, this time we are the aggressors, so we can choose to commence actions during the daytime."

After analyzing the specific situation, Bernardo stood aside, waiting for the high-ranking officers to speak.

And naturally, the senior officers wouldn’t speak casually, all touching their chins in thought, until Dass spoke first after a moment: "The Winter Embrace River Valley is 140 kilometers long, Hot Intestine Path is 20 kilometers from the exit, meaning we need to intercept the Royal Court army at the 120-kilometer mark.

This means we can arrive in three and a half days at 35 kilometers per day, adding bridge construction and hindrance elimination time, totals five and a half days.

If we consider troop assembly and rest after arrival, it’s roughly six days."

This date received recognition from most officers present, with everyone nodding in agreement.

Six days are equivalent to the clan army only needing to ensure a daily march of over 20 kilometers to escape.

In normal circumstances, the clan army exceeding a daily march of 20 kilometers is easily doable.

However, the issue is, previously, to escape the pursuit of the Holy Alliance Army, they abandoned much of their supplies but retained exorbitant amounts of gold, silver, jewels, and other spoils.

Considering the time spent gathering supplies and laying out intercept lines, whether they can complete a daily 20-kilometer march truly poses a question mark.

"Is this worthwhile?" Jeska asked, "We might only get the result of capturing seven or eight thousand clan troops, but the time wasted and crises encountered are not insignificant."

The ordinary accompanying corps commanders were bewildered, while the battle commanders and staff kept nodding.

Jeska’s question arises from the fact that those present were of high level, thus skipping the logic process.

That is, if we pursue them, without timely interception of the enemy army at Hot Intestine Path, we either continue the chase or withdraw.

The former may result in an enemy ambush at the Hot Intestine Path exit.

The latter wastes a lot of time, equating to many troops being trapped in the valley, unable to function effectively for a while.

This readily offers the Royal Palace army an opportunity to act.

André looked around: "Otherwise, send a partial army to meet at the valley entrance? Like dispatching two cavalry battle regiments to circle around?"

"No." Horn shook his head, "Firstly, the cavalry battle regiment can’t hold the ground, secondly, the enemy will deploy massive troops at the valley mouth, preventing cavalry encirclement."

Although cavalry being surrounded by infantry sounds illogical tactically, at a large strategic scale, it genuinely might happen.

Dass cautiously countered: "Your Grace, although Serafe is crucial, with the siege of Wood Ruler City at a critical juncture, they shouldn’t have deployed too many troops to back Serafe, right?"

"No, they absolutely will."

"But..."

"Trust the judgement of the General Staff Office." Petier interjected coldly, "We have information channels you don’t."

Jeanne coughed, "Please trust me, and trust Your Grace as well."

Horn possesses Cheka, maintaining contact with deep-sea spies, perhaps information theft occurred again.

Since Horn said so, with Petier and Jeanne guaranteeing, it’s at least proven not to be a personal one-sided decision; several battle commanders no longer opposed.

"The enemy is only twenty thousand, we have sixty thousand, it’s our advantage." Horn lightly tapped the table, "They can’t deploy a dense line of defense by the river; we can execute a human wave assault leveraging numerical superiority.

Additionally, pay attention, when our pursuit becomes increasingly urgent, the enemy might suddenly abandon their spoils.

At this time, their march speed will drastically increase, so our army also must perform forced marches when necessary."

"Six days is a bit tight indeed." André rubbed his temples, "Feels less feasible than intercepting at the valley mouth prematurely?"

"Six days... well... what do you frontline battle commanders and corps commanders think?" Horn asked the mid-level officers nearby.

They exchanged glances but spoke with babble.

Most claimed it was feasible, but considering Horn’s presence, actual opinions might be half and half.

With numerous conflicted officers and staff staring in disdain at Mira, a few shot grudging looks.

Tap-tapping the table to signal silence, Horn looked around: "Still, let’s pursue them within the valley."

This view was clearly relatively aggressive, yet Holy Alliance officers didn’t oppose; only some battle commanders noticed something was amiss.

Upon confirming the pursuit target, they discussed execution methods.

After pondering for a long time, Dass abruptly spoke: "Why not dispatch cavalry to parallel-uncover the north side mountain path?"

Horn paused: "That’s indeed a good idea; let’s do it, dispatch cavalry for parallel pursuit, cross Winter Embrace River if necessary, and harass the Royal Court army, Jeanne will lead."

"Alright."

With Dass’s initiation, they quickly developed a basic plan, with staff immediately delving into the details.

Post-meeting, the officers left one after another; at this moment, Horn called out: "Temporarily remove Mira’s military position, assign to staff, and the battle commander role will go to Deputy Warlord Grush."

"Understood!"

"Mira." Horn halted Mira, "Stay for a moment."

When everyone left, doors shutting, the imagined scenario among other officers of Mira being reprimanded didn’t come to pass.

Horn stood up, brushing footprints off Mira: "You were wronged this time."

Mira however smiled: "It’s just a foot, post-war declassification of archives, Victor will come seeking my apology; see how I’ll squeeze him hard."

"Hahaha." Horn first paused, then chuckled lightly pointing at Mira, "You... you..."

After a few chuckles, Mira’s demeanor suddenly turned serious: "Your Grace, upon entering Winter Embrace River Valley, what are the odds of victory?"

Horn paced a moment, raising five fingers: "Five chances of victory!"