474: Chapter 72, Enemy’s Trace Appears_3 474: Chapter 72, Enemy’s Trace Appears_3 Marshal Hodge communicated with Earl Hudson, this time the Expeditionary Army will serve as the vanguard to attract the attention of the Orc Army.
However, as agreed, it is still the Duchy’s Army ultimately responsible for the decisive battle with the Bimon Army Corps.
Based on the march speed of the Expeditionary Army, they are currently about one hundred and fifty miles away from Dapes City.
Next, it depends on whether the Orcs will fall for the trick!”
Count Martins spoke solemnly, as if everything was under control.
Unfortunately, everyone in the room was a seasoned politician, and they saw through his implication immediately.
It sounds great to constrain the march speed to 30 miles/day, but in reality, that’s the fastest speed the army can go.
The Expeditionary Army is responsible for attracting the attention of the Orcs.
In other words, the Expeditionary Army is currently closest to Dapes City.
Count Martins had no choice but to dance around the language.
As a Minister of Defense of the Duchy, he can’t blatantly say that their army’s performance was subpar.
Even if it’s a fact, it must be concealed.
Otherwise, if this gets out, it will cause unrest, creating even more problems.
Moreover, the slow march of the main army is largely due to the drag of the newly formed corps, the main corps are actually not bad.
“Count Martins, these main armies have just been replenished.
Can they hold back the Bimon Cavalry?”
Chancellor Helcheg asked worriedly.
It’s not that the Duchy’s performance is lacking, it’s mainly because the previous major battles have caused too many losses to the elite, resulting in a lack of follow-up strength.
If the main forces hadn’t suffered such heavy losses and spent a lot of time replenishing in the rear, the city of Dapes wouldn’t have been surrounded so easily.
“Chancellor, I think the current problem is not how to tie down the Bimon Cavalry, but how to intercept the Orc reinforcements.
A single Bimon Cavalry Regiment, along with a bunch of cannon fodder troops, trying to besiege Dapes City, I don’t think a normal Commander could even think of that.
This is clearly a bait set out to deliberately attract our main army for decisive battle, and unfortunately, the Duchy can’t refuse.
What we’re competing for now is patience and speed.
Whoever makes a mistake first due to impatience is likely to be eliminated.
The Warhammer Kingdom is a good example.
They tried to preserve their strength in the previous battles, and now it’s time to pay the price.
The Expeditionary Army of the Orc Empire has already destabilized their rear.
Despite having hundreds of thousands of troops, they are still led by the nose by the enemy.
The situation of the Duchy is dire, but we still have reinforcements.
The vanguard of the Human Alliance has set off and will arrive by next spring.
What I need now is time.
In any kind of battle, everything revolves around buying time.”
Not directly answering sometimes means denying.
Facts are facts and won’t shift according to personal will.
Count Martins, who is familiar with the Duchy’s Army, knows very well that the key to holding back the Bimon Cavalry lies not in his own Cavalry’s performance, but in whether the enemy cooperates.
Both are highly mobile units, the Bimon Cavalry can go wherever they want if they want to.
The only Knight Corps that can confront them directly are too few in numbers.
Moreover, these units belong to different clans, it’s uncertain how much strength they could exert through temporary cooperation.
If they can’t be certain on the tactical level, they will have to rely on strategic victories to compensate.
Their core task is to delay and lift the siege of Dapes, the outcomes of one or two battles are not the key.
…
Unknowingly becoming the vanguard of the entire army, Hudson continued his march as usual.
The army is converging on Dapes City from all directions, no matter how the Orcs choose, they can only attack in one direction.
Take advantage of the weak, Hudson believed that with his reputation, he would most likely not be the unlucky one.
“Send an order, the scout horses will expand the scouting range by ten miles, and the heavy infantry will be divided into three groups to take turns serving as the leading force.”
Experience comes from practice, Hudson, while confident, still didn’t dare to fully trust the Commander on the other side to be smart.
What if they encountered a sluggish general, who deliberately chose the one with the largest reputation to establish their might, then the Expeditionary Army would be the primary target.
Instances like this have occurred repeatedly in history.
Many single-minded commanders often produced surprising war records, mainly because the opposing commander underestimated the human heart.
While war is about manipulating people, but they would need to possess it first.
If encountered with a single-minded opponent, they would directly crush them regardless of any false pretenses.
As soon as the command was issued, the Gryphon Cavalry assigned to monitor the movement of the Bimon Cavalry landed in front of Hudson.
“Your Excellency, the Bimon Army Corps of the Orcs has moved.
Their departure direction is exactly opposite to our location.”
Upon hearing the news, Hudson’s first reaction was that a chance for victory had appeared.
But considering the distance between the two sides, he had to suppress this tempting idea.
Even the closest Orcs are at least one hundred and forty miles away from the Expeditionary Army.
If they rushed all the way, whether they could seize the chance was not certain, but they would definitely wear out themselves first.
In the battlefield, the efficiency of the troops is the key.
To take advantage of the opportunity to raid the Bimon Cavalry when they’re out, the best choice would be the Cavalry.
Unfortunately, the Cavalry Corps of the Expeditionary Army has just completed expansion, it is not yet a real army, but can only be considered as elite mounted infantry.
There are differences between cavalry operations and infantry operations.
How much combat strength the Cavalry Corps possesses, Hudson did not know for sure.
With an unfamiliar Cavalry Corps, attacking the camp of hundreds of thousands of Orcs, Hudson was not crazy enough to do that.
This war opportunity should be left to the Moxi People.
The marching army definitely won’t reach there in time, but the army in the city might.
Breaking the threat may be challenging, but to take small advantages and boost morale, that could still be managed.
It seemed that Hudson had an idea, he suddenly ordered: “Put more barricades on the roads behind the main army, especially dig more pits on the main road to trap the horses.
Leave scout horses along the way to be on the alert.
Once the traces of the Orc Army are found, immediately light the beacon.”