Ch.222Rotating Punishment War (2)

“…Lorenzo.”

“I have nothing to say.”

Meanwhile, Lorenzo, who had designed all of this according to the late Emperor’s will, is prostrating himself before Maximilian, the newly enthroned Emperor.

This is not a mere figure of speech.

His knees and forehead are touching the floor.

Such a posture would be tantamount to declaring oneself not just a slave but livestock, regardless of how much submission is demanded, but Lorenzo doesn’t seem to care about that at all.

After all, he truly has no right to speak even if he were treated as livestock.

“I’d like nothing more than to kill you right away… but for now, I’ll tolerate you for the greater good.”

Using his lord’s life as a bargaining chip was bad enough, but he even modified parts of the palace structure to increase the efficiency of his operation. From any perspective, he could be seen as a traitor, yet the Emperor decides not to punish Lorenzo.

The Empire desperately needs Lorenzo’s help right now.

If he were to suddenly disappear after serving as the Empire’s chancellor since the late Emperor’s reign, managing reforms and administration, it would create significant difficulties in conducting the war against Lotharing.

“Get up now. And work until you die to atone for your sins.”

“I am grateful for Your Majesty’s mercy.”

Above all, what influenced the Emperor’s judgment most was Lorenzo’s own attitude.

Having mingled with countless nobles since childhood, the Emperor became adept at reading others’ emotions, and in his eyes, Lorenzo was sincerely apologizing and feeling immense guilt for not having stopped the late Emperor.

Following the late Emperor’s orders too faithfully became a major problem, but aside from that, there wasn’t much issue with Lorenzo himself.

“…Well, let’s get to the point. All the military reforms so far were a joint creation between the late Emperor and you, and His late Majesty entrusted the future to you before returning to God’s side. Lorenzo, how far can you see?”

“What do you mean by ‘how far’…?”

“Can we truly defeat the Kingdom of Lotharing, and if we win, how much can we demand? That’s what I mean.”

“…We can win.”

“We can win, you say… How splendid. It’s exactly what all my subjects say, but your words lack their blind faith.”

With those words, the Emperor slumps down into a prepared chair, and Lorenzo, watching this, feels it’s terribly disrespectful but similar to an exhausted tenant farmer sitting down after a hard day’s work.

“Huff… Yes, tell me in detail, how do we win?”

“There are various conditions, but the most important one is… we must fight the Lotharing army only on rainy days.”

“…Rain?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The fire-spewing weapons used by the Kingdom of Lotharing cannot function properly on rainy days.”

“Is that speculation or certainty?”

“It’s certainty. Lotharing’s weapons… these ‘firearms’ as they’re called, according to our research and intelligence, only work by burning something called gunpowder, and as you can see from the word ‘burning,’ it won’t ignite when damp. So if we engage the Lotharing army on a rainy day… well, you can imagine the rest.”

To be precise, it’s not burning but igniting and exploding, but Lorenzo, who has never seen actual gunpowder, makes this assessment.

Of course, his judgment isn’t wrong.

Regardless of the process, he has reached the absolutely correct conclusion that gunpowder doesn’t work when it absorbs moisture.

“…I’ve heard much about Lotharing’s weapons.”

The Emperor recalls what he knows about Lotharing’s weapons.

Cannons that can capture fortresses in an instant, shrapnel shells that spew metal fragments and tear people to pieces, hand cannons that render battle formations useless, fire bombs that eliminate the option of fighting in formation—Lotharing’s weapons are specialized solely for killing enemies.

Why make swords and armor splendid? To display national power to opponents and induce surrender.

But Lotharing’s weapons have none of that.

While the goal of obtaining surrender remains the same, the process is completely opposite.

They only induce surrender by displaying cruelty and instilling fear in their opponents, nothing more.

To be able to render such cruel weapons useless—that truly deserves to be called a decisive discovery.

“Being a prince of a neighboring country meant I had to hear various information whether I liked it or not. To be able to render such weapons useless is truly excellent.”

“…You think rain alone won’t solve the problem.”

However, after hearing Lorenzo’s plan, the Emperor, far from being impressed, shakes his head from side to side and speaks sarcastically, contrary to his words.

Because there’s a major problem with Lorenzo’s plan.

“If Lotharing can’t use their firearms, it certainly gives us an advantage. But does the Imperial army become stronger just because Lotharing can’t use their firearms?”

“…”

“Moreover, fighting only when it rains? The Lotharing army is renowned for its rigorous training from the lowest to the highest ranks—doing something like that would be quite a spectacle.”

Rain imposes significant penalties not only on the Lotharing army but also on the Imperial forces.

The handles of swords, spears, and bows, as well as bowstrings, become slippery with water; adhesives soften and bows break; the ground turns to mud, making it difficult to maintain balance.

Falling raindrops obscure vision, and even slight angles prevent arrowheads, spearheads, and sword blades from properly penetrating enemy bodies.

Under such adverse conditions, individual soldier capabilities become prominent, but as mentioned earlier, the Imperial army, lacking systematic training, can hardly be expected to excel.

Of course, there are knights, standing armies raised by each lord, and hired mercenaries, but conversely, this means everyone else lacks the qualities of a proper soldier.

To have such unqualified soldiers fight on a rainy battlefield—honestly, one should worry more about them becoming corpses blocking friendly paths.

Yet limiting combat to only high-quality soldiers would mean voluntarily giving up numerical advantage.

“I apologize for my presumption. My limited military knowledge led me to an erroneous judgment.”

“No, just discovering that moisture is their weakness is excellent. Rather than fighting in the rain, perhaps we should fight right after it stops, or in humid wetlands or near rivers?”

The Emperor says this and points to a map of Lotharing spread out on the desk.

Though certainly less accurate than those used in the Kingdom of Lotharing, it still records all important geographical information like plains and rivers without omission.

For example, the river that divides the plains between Linerant and Dijon, where the Imperial army has entered.

“If it doesn’t rain continuously, this would be a good place for an engagement.”

The Emperor is extremely satisfied with his chosen location.

There’s a river, the plains make it easy for large armies to move, and since it’s right on the way to Dijon, Lotharing will have to do everything possible to prevent the Imperial army from crossing this river safely.

……….

“Ugh, why is there so much oil? How much did all this cost??”

“Stop chatting and move quickly! The Imperial army is right at our doorstep!”

“Yes, sir!”

The officials of the Kingdom of Lotharing accepted Claude’s proposal for fire tactics. Not simply because it was the opinion of an absolute ruler, but because even to them, the fire tactics seemed highly convincing.

Above all, it’s autumn now.

With many fallen leaves making forest fires easy to start, the plan is simple: spray oil at regular intervals throughout the forest to help ignition, and then any enemy troops entering the forest will be surrounded by a ring of fire and burn to death.

Of course, the enemy numbers are too great to kill them all this way, but that’s not important.

What matters is being able to defeat the enemy without suffering losses.

No soldier in this world would pass up an opportunity to kill enemies without taking casualties.

“Oil spraying complete!”

They sprayed oil in places where fire would have difficulty catching to make it spread more easily, and also in places where fire would spread well to other areas to make the flames grow faster.

Now all that remains is to wait for the Imperial army to enter the forest.

Once the Imperial army enters the forest, fire arrows will be shot to ignite the fallen leaves, and the fire will travel along the oil, instantly transforming into a massive inferno that will burn all the Imperial troops inside to death.

The Lotharing army’s job is to surround the forest to prevent them from escaping and watch as they burn alive.

“They’re coming now. We’ve finished everything, so let’s get back quickly! We can’t arouse suspicion, so hurry!”

“Yes, sir!”

The key here is undoubtedly deception.

If the Imperial army notices something suspicious and doesn’t enter the forest, it would be disastrous.

They need to show that there are no Lotharing troops in this forest while simultaneously demonstrating that crossing the river would result in heavy losses due to their fortifications.

If the Imperial army ignores the forest and attempts to cross the river directly… well, it would have been wasted effort, but that wouldn’t be bad either.

With their thorough fortifications, it would be extremely easy to kill Imperial troops attempting to cross.