flstandardbreds Chapter 288 Sit-In War
Chapter 288 Sit-In War
“I didn’t expect there would be an unexpected gain.”
As John watched the Behelet in his hand turn into ashes, the number of Behelet recovered in his system increased from 6 to 7.
It must be said that sometimes John deliberately sent people to look for the apostles and found nothing, but when John focused his attention elsewhere, the apostles appeared out of nowhere again.
John speculated that the apostles might have been in contact with each other, so as soon as one apostle saw John's large-scale army, he would immediately pass the information to other apostles and ask them to evacuate.
However, the most important thing for John at the moment is not this, but the reconstruction of the rear.
With the recovery of the border mountains, the Southwest Governorate obtained the only barrier to stop the attack of the Lana army. As long as John cooperates with the navy to defend this place, the people in the rear can produce and live safely, thus providing food, military pay and weapons and equipment for the front-line troops.
But since the Lana people had previously looted the villages and towns near the mountains in the Southwestern Governorate, John needed to first restore the population of these abandoned settlements and allow them to continue living on this land, which would take at least about half a year.
As for the population, John still has a way. The system has detected that there are about 10,000 vacant people here. Even if all of them are the most ordinary farmers, it will only cost John about 1,000 gold coins.
But the most expensive part of the reconstruction work is the construction. The Rana people's unrestrained plundering has turned many places into wasteland. If you want to rebuild a large number of habitable settlements in a short period of time, in addition to a large amount of materials, you also need a lot of manpower. Although the 10,000 people in the system seem a lot, they are too few if they are scattered along the mountain range.
When John came to this point, he thought of the Lana captives. It would be a good idea to make them perform labor under the supervision of soldiers. However, considering the risk of the other side picking up tools to rebel, John decided to let them do heavy physical work such as carrying wood first. This way, they would not need tools and could consume a lot of their physical strength in a short period of time.
While John was busy preparing for the large-scale infrastructure, a dozen miles away on the southern foot of the mountain range, a group of General Lana were looking at the map on the table and conducting war simulations.
"The Mitlan people have now occupied the entire border mountain range. There are three options open to them. The first is to concentrate their forces and attack the capital Leon. The second is to join the Mitlan navy to the west and occupy important strongholds on the western coast under the naval bombardment. The third option, which is what they are doing now, is to stay in the mountains and wait for the Mitlan army to arrive before launching an attack."
After listening to the report from the adjutant next to him, General Schneider shook his head and said:
"The first two are unlikely to work. If the enemy wanted to attack, the best time would have been after we cleared the valley a few days ago. Now that our troops have gathered, the enemy has realized that it's too late to attack."
General Schneider coughed a few times and then said:
“The failure in Border Mountains made me realize that our army is still far behind the enemy.”
"First of all, the Midland army is now able to launch night attacks with the cooperation of spies, and our soldiers generally cannot see clearly in the dark, which leads to unrest."
"Secondly, the Midland army has a large number of artillery, otherwise it would not have been possible to capture all the fortresses in such a short time."
"The third point, and the most important one, is that once some of our soldiers lost their officers' command or suffered a defeat, they immediately turned into bandits. After getting separated, they did not think about joining the army, but actually started to rob villages on a large scale!"
"At present, all we can do is to fight a silent war with the enemy, consolidate our defense line, and wait for reinforcements from the nobles in the rear."
After this was said, the generals began to discuss it, and some young generals asked:
"My Lord, isn't it a bit irresponsible to say that we can't defeat the Midland army without launching a few probing attacks on them?"
"Yes, we have to fight a battle first and see what happens."
Hearing these questions, General Schneider could not help but shout:
"True or false, aren't those Midland mercenaries helping us explore the land enough?"
As he spoke, General Schneider took out several letters. The generals took them and looked at them. They were all letters sent by the leaders of the Midland Mercenary Group who worked for Lana. Almost all the leaders of the mercenary groups expressed their unwillingness to intervene in this war. Even though some of the hiring fees had reached three times the normal price, these people who originally valued money more than anything else still refused.
"Even the mercenaries are unwilling to participate. It seems that the opponent is indeed quite skilled."
The generals were surprised. Some of these mercenaries had participated in the Hundred Years War in Midland and Yoda, where the war was much more brutal than here. However, these mercenaries did not dare to earn the commission for what they thought was a low-intensity war. This was enough to show that the general on the other side was a very difficult character.
Seeing that everyone's eagerness to start a war gradually subsided, General Schneider began to introduce the main general of the opposing Midland army.
"John Hohenzollern is the main general of the Midland army and the governor of the Southwest Governorate. He joined the army in 1444 as the second son of a noble family. Because of his meritorious service in the Battle of Balden, he was appointed as the governor of the Forest Governorate by the king. Later, he participated in various battles on Yuda and was named a count by the king. Now he has become one of the few capable generals in Midland."
"This man is very good at siege warfare, and he pays special attention to the military application of artillery. No matter what kind of castle it is, it will be conquered within a few days by him."
"At the same time, he also likes to restrict the actions of enemy troops by building fortresses. According to existing intelligence, the biggest expense in his territory is the construction and maintenance costs of various fortress buildings."
At this point, General Schneider glanced at everyone. Seeing the generals' transformation from being high-spirited to being unhappy, Schneider couldn't help but sigh. Although the generals who had not experienced large-scale wars between countries for many years were still courageous, their military level was still far behind those of the big countries.
"But even if we are facing such a difficult or terrifying enemy, we must have the determination to win. Since they want to waste time with us, we should do the same as them and consolidate our defenses. The general on the opposite side is as young as you, so he will definitely be eager for greater results. As long as he launches a full-scale attack, that will be the best time for us to turn the tide of the battle."