Chapter 1445 - 1354: The Royal Court Moves

If we follow normal thinking, then the heights are definitely something we ought to occupy.

But Horn knows he wants far more than a simple victory; he wants a victory so crushing that he's willing to accept heavier casualties on his own side to completely break the enemy.

Seizing the heights is fine in itself, but it will inevitably push the enemy into a conservative deployment.

Simple logic: when your odds of winning are high, you play aggressively; when they're low, you play conservatively. That makes it harder to lure Serafe out.

Besides, the Royal Court still has those breakthrough tools, the flesh-and-blood Titans and the zombie sea.

Horn does have ways to deal with them, but he can't be facing full-on assaults from three directions.

He needs a situation where Serafe finds it hard to escape, and that means using Holy Grail Heights as the battlefield won't work.

He even needs to flip it around and turn what everyone else sees as advantageous high ground into a trap—find a way to take care of the flesh Titans and zombie sea first, then take the heights.

So the battlefield can't be in front of the heights; it has to shift west. Picking up his spyglass, Horn turns to look at Mud Ditch River, that silver thread stringing pearls together.

Mud Ditch River lives up to its name, full of mud hollows, midstream islets, and little swamps everywhere.

For the heavy flesh-and-blood Titans and the clumsy-moving zombie sea, this kind of terrain is extremely inconvenient.

So a defense anchored on the river becomes a comparatively better option.

Horn doesn't put on any airs about it; he walks everyone through the whole process—he just leaves out the part about encircling and killing Serafe.

Strategy is always a case of "every man has his argument" before the war actually starts; only after the war do you find out whose argument was right.

But Horn is the Saint's Grandson. Whatever he says—so long as it's not completely off the rails—naturally becomes the doctrine.

Following Horn's train of thought, everyone gathers along the cliff edge and looks down toward Mud Ditch River.

"There's just one problem here." Jia Li steps forward, wraps her arms around Horn, and rests her chin on his forehead. "If we fall back to Mud Ditch River, how do we deal with the enemy main force on the heights?"

"Maybe we can lure them down off the mountain?"

"But the vampires have a reserve system. Even if we lure them down and countercharge, the reserves will still block us. Very likely we'll have our retreat cut off and get counter-encircled."

"Then we'll have to find a way to eliminate the enemy reserves?"

"Which means we have to pin down their main force, keep them from running around as they please."

"Pin down the main force—that means we have to cut their line, stop command information from being efficiently transmitted…"

"But the enemy has more troops and reserves. They'll definitely form a deep formation. We have to force that into a broad frontage so we can cut it."

"How do we force it into a broad frontage?"

"By eliminating the reserves…"

"How do we eliminate the reserves?"

"By cutting their line and forcing it into a broad frontage…"

The staff officers look at one another, scratching their heads in unison.

Off to the side, Grand Duke Saranto is almost bursting with laughter. Damn, they're out here trying to custom-order a victory.

After staring at Mud Ditch River for a while, Jeanne subconsciously twists a finger around her long braid as she speaks: "If I were Konyaz and you were defending the river, I'd definitely attack from the south and play a slant-strike tactic."

"Why?" Horn slips out of Jia Li's arms without any fuss and steps up beside Jeanne, who's only slightly taller than he is.

Pointing her riding crop south, Jeanne answers bluntly: "Mud Ditch River and the Maran–Gragu Highway form an acute angle. The farther north you go, the greater the distance."

Maran Town is Horn's designated forward logistics base; all the moon-mercury shells, plasma rounds, lead shot, logistical supplies, and reinforcements come in along that road.

Compared to attacking the north, going in on the south side gives far more options.

You can strike north on a slant, or swing west to cut the supply line.

"So we should mass heavy troops at the southern river mouth?"

"Wrong—exactly the opposite!" Horn shakes his head at once. "We need to station only a small force at the southern river mouth, give the Royal Court hope there. Only that way can we attract and tie down enough of their troops!"

"And because they've occupied the heights, they'll be more relaxed about it, able to send more forces to the south." Jeanne follows up.

Jia Li frowns in thought for a moment. "So the southern line is best commanded by a battlefield general who's firm enough, someone who can fight from a disadvantage and handle heavy pressure…"

As soon as she mentions a general good at slogging under pressure, one name pops into Horn's head.

Far away at another designated battlefield, Dass suddenly shivers for no reason.

"We can set the command post at Chu Nan Pass in the north. There's a height of about a hundred meters there, high enough to overlook the whole situation."

"That's too far north, way too far. You won't be able to see the southern battlefield."

"Then the southern line will just have to hold first. Once the main force shifts south and we've taken Holy Grail Heights, we move the command post…"

With that, a rough operational plan comes together.

First defend Mud Ditch River, using a small force on the southern line to draw in the Royal Court's main body and the flesh Titans. Once enough of their main force has been attracted, send the northern troops across the river.

Cavalry will be responsible for cutting the battlefield; infantry will push the line forward and force it into a broad frontage.

The Holy Alliance main force will storm up the heights at once, drive off the enemy reserves, then wheel south to clamp down on the enemy troops attacking the southern line.

In boxing terms, this is like the Royal Court and the Holy Alliance, two southpaws, throwing left hooks at the same time and seeing whose right hand can take more punishment and whose left hand is faster and harder.

Just as the staff officers are happily discussing, a barely audible "pfft" of a suppressed laugh slips out.

Jia Li's expression darkens in an instant. "What brilliant insight does Grand Duke Saranto have to share?"

Saranto, who'd been chuckling under his breath, snaps into fighting posture the moment he sees this she-devil Jia Li: "Your Highness Jia Li, I just thought of a joke."

"What joke?"

"A husband and wife buy a lottery ticket; before the drawing even happens, they get into a fight about how to spend the money and end up divorcing."

Grand Duke Saranto's meaning couldn't be clearer—and frankly, it makes a lot of sense.

The war hasn't even started, and they're already custom-planning the war, custom-planning the victory?

Bear in mind, the situation on a battlefield shifts constantly. Most of the time you can only lay out a rough plan, then improvise.

But the Holy Alliance's plan has already been laid all the way into the mid-stage of the campaign. They've even assigned who's supposed to do what and planned out how the enemy will move.

Take the simplest example: what if the Royal Court doesn't attack the southern line—doesn't that blow the whole plan up?

Or what if the Royal Court moves too fast and the Holy Alliance can't gather enough troops in time—then what?

Dig a little deeper: what if the Royal Court doesn't attack along this route at all?

Or what if the Royal Court just chickens out, heads straight north, and runs—then what?

Isn't this all just busywork?

"Who are you calling a joke?" Bernardo's face clouds. "This is just the main plan. There are backup plans one, two, three, and four…"

"Enough." Horn presses Bernardo back. "Grand Duke Saranto isn't entirely wrong. Holy Grail Heights is only an alternate battlefield; fighting may not even happen here. But that doesn't mean this is useless.

Ninety percent of the plans staff officers draw up may end up scrapped, but as long as ten percent proves useful, that ten percent can bring victory.

Even if the enemy doesn't act per our script, we can still use our earlier plans as reference and adjust them in real time. That's the truly important part.

Grand Duke Saranto, don't you agree?"

Saranto dutifully bows his head and admits fault; whether he means it is another question, and Jia Li's tightly furrowed brows make it clear what she thinks.

Leaving the heights, Horn hands the rough plan off to his staff to flesh out. He mounts his horse, ready to ride to the next site.

But just then, in the setting sun, a loyal Messenger comes running up. "Your Majesty, urgent report."

Horn takes the report, scans it once, and passes it to Jeanne with an unchanged expression, stretching lazily. "Looks like we won't be needing that last alternate battlefield after all."

Jeanne lowers her head to read, then breaks into a smile. She deliberately raises her voice as she recites the contents: "Front-line reports: Royal Court forces are moving—the vanguard's target is Low Terrace City!"