Ch.626Full-Scale War

“They’re transporting infantry with wooden carts?”

When the messenger from the mobile siege unit delivered this report, Orhan realized his first strategy had failed.

The Eastern-style siege strategy aimed to create local numerical superiority by exploiting mobility differences. But now the fundamental premise—the difference in mobility—had been drastically reduced.

While carts couldn’t possibly match cavalry speed, they would be fast enough to deploy reinforcements while the existing defenders held the wall. And that’s exactly what happened.

‘They’ve already adapted… faster than expected. I didn’t think the Imperials would come up with such an idea, given how conventional their cavalry tactics are.’

The concept of dismantling cavalry units—useless in defensive warfare—and repurposing them for transport.

It was an exceedingly simple method, but not one the Imperials would typically conceive, fixated as they were on the notion that cavalry existed solely for grand charges.

‘Is this Haschal’s doing? That child always transported slaves by cart.’

Orhan correctly identified who had devised this tactic. Though in truth, it was mere coincidence—the Haschal he knew and the current Haschal were entirely different people.

“The primary strategy has failed… and Ludwig shows no intention of engaging in a full-scale battle. What shall we do, Kagan? At this rate, our soldiers and warhorses will begin starving before long.”

Giran Glar, the war commander of the Black Banner Army, calmly reported their deteriorating position.

As Ludwig had surmised, the Aishan supply capacity was insufficient to sustain tens of thousands of troops without plundering. While they still had stockpiled supplies for now, a prolonged conflict would likely make it difficult to maintain their forces.

This wasn’t due to Orhan’s incompetence but a fundamental limitation of Ka’har civilization itself.

Their culture worshipped the warrior class to an abnormal degree. They despised the notion of men wielding farming tools instead of weapons, believing agriculture was work for slaves. This mindset prevented the development of large-scale agriculture.

Even for Orhan, who had unified the steppes, changing the Ka’har way of thinking that had persisted for centuries was impossible.

“It’s not a problem.”

However, Orhan smiled, dismissing Glar’s concerns. His expression resembled a carnivore baring its teeth rather than a true smile.

“They will either die in battle before starving, or become victors and fill their bellies with the enemy’s provisions.”

“You mean…!”

Glar, understanding his lord’s meaning, flashed a similar smile.

“Yes. It’s time to end this lukewarm battle of nerves.”

Orhan had never considered a prolonged conflict. He knew well that the longer they dragged this out, the more disadvantageous their position would become.

‘The mobile siege strategy failed? So what? It was a strategy that anticipated Ludwig’s response from the beginning.’

What surprised Orhan was that the Imperial response came faster than expected and through unusual means—not the fact that they had responded at all.

“They have a clear view of us from above. So they must also know that we’ve dispatched sixteen thousand troops to various sections of the wall. And that they would need to deploy over ten thousand elite soldiers to counter them.”

Sending over ten thousand enemy troops to different sections of the wall—that was Orhan’s true aim. He did have another contingency plan, but that was merely a precaution in case of defeat.

In conventional warfare, where numerical strength directly correlates with military power, this strategy might be considered a foolish mistake. But times had changed, and traditional tactics had become outdated theoretical exercises.

Heroes who could single-handedly slaughter thousands of troops had begun to transform the nature of warfare, and Orhan, as the strongest hero of the Ka’har, understood this more clearly than anyone.

“The smaller the scale of engagement, the greater the influence of the powerful. Once our forces are reduced to around twenty thousand each, this war becomes a battle of heroes, not soldiers. The heroes of the Empire and the heroes of the steppes will determine the outcome.”

If the enemy had numbered forty thousand, defeating all the Empire’s heroes might still leave him exhausted and vulnerable to the remaining forces. But with only twenty thousand enemies, taking down their hero-class fighters would be sufficient.

After the clash between twenty-eight thousand Imperial troops and twenty-three thousand steppe warriors, the remaining forces would number less than eight thousand. That much could be overwhelmed with the strength remaining after defeating the hero-class fighters.

“Tell all troops: the time has come to determine the fate of the steppes. Take up your weapons and prepare for death.”

“Yes, sir!”

Glar saluted Orhan, then left the tent to relay the Kagan’s orders to the waiting officers—orders to prepare for an all-out offensive.

An hour later, twenty-three thousand steppe warriors marched toward the center of the Wall of Berengaria.

======[ Haschal ]======

“Orhan will mobilize all his remaining forces for a decisive battle. Or rather, he has no other option. Unless food rains down from the sky, he cannot maintain an army of tens of thousands for long.”

Indeed, just as he said.

I looked down at the tens of thousands of enemy troops surging toward the wall like clouds, recalling Ludwig’s words. He had warned us to prepare for a total offensive within days.

And that’s exactly what happened. The Ka’har launched their all-out attack just three days after Ludwig made that prediction.

“Advance! Move forward without stopping, kill without hesitation! Teach those Western cowards hiding behind stone walls the power of the steppes!”

“For the glory of Aishan—!”

“The conqueror of the great plains, the Kagan of the heavens, Aishan-Gioro Orhan is with us!”

Eighteen thousand White Banner troops, about three thousand Blue Banner troops, and two thousand royal guards—all the forces from the enemy headquarters were charging forward with shouts that seemed to shake the steppes.

Instead of riding horses as the Ka’har were known for, they marched on two legs, holding round shields above their heads to block the rain of arrows.

Behind them advanced their siege engines. Catapults, siege towers, and mobile ladders.

The siege towers were particularly impressive. Wooden towers tens of meters tall slowly approaching—it felt like wooden apartment buildings were moving toward us.

I couldn’t even guess how much timber went into building those.

‘This is ridiculous. Weren’t you supposed to be nomadic horsemen?’

[Even the steppes have trees, you know.]

…That’s not the issue here. As nomadic horsemen, they should be charging in on horseback, not bringing such siege engines. I couldn’t help but laugh.

Though made of wood, the siege towers were covered with water-soaked leather, making them impervious to fire arrows. We’d need magic to burn them down…

Unfortunately, that was impossible. All the magical forces Ludwig had mobilized were tied up in other tasks, so we couldn’t waste even a speck of mana. The same applied to me.

‘At this rate, even if we defeat Orhan, our losses will be severe…’

[Set aside unnecessary worries. When we can’t even be certain of victory against Orhan, can you afford to worry about troop casualties?]

…That’s true.

I spat out the cigarette I’d been smoking over the wall and stretched my body. The scales of my winter armor clinked with a metallic sound.

The black iron scales damaged in the previous battle had been replaced with steel, so the defensive capability wasn’t as good as before, but it was better than nothing.

When fighting in armor, higher defense was always beneficial.

—-

– BOOM!

The battle that would determine the East’s future began with the thunderous roar of catapults from both sides.

The Ka’har catapults, which had been flinging corpses during the psychological warfare phase, now launched massive boulders as the real battle commenced.

Each time a stone projectile struck the wall in its arcing trajectory, thunder-like sounds shook the ground beneath our feet. Despite the tremendous impact, Berengaria’s walls showed no visible damage, though I suspected this wouldn’t last.

No matter how incredibly sturdy, they were still walls made of cut stone. With continued impacts, they would eventually begin to crumble. Unless they were built from Orhan’s body, that is.

Moreover, I could clearly see the morale of our troops dropping with each catapult strike against the wall.

The soldiers of the 3rd Corps who had experienced the Battle of Ainfeld merely furrowed their brows, but the 2nd Corps, with its high proportion of new recruits, was visibly trembling with faces turned pale blue.

“Do not fear! Berenger’s protection will not crumble under such attacks! Has not the history of hundreds of years proven this?”

Knights in command positions shouted encouragement to the legion soldiers from various locations.

“Don’t kneel! How dare Karl Las’s soldiers consider kneeling before the enemy! Anyone showing such disgrace will be personally kicked off the wall by me!”

Some were issuing threats rather than encouragement.