CH 237

Chapter 237 - The True Meaning of the Water Attack

A short time later, Prytanis returned.

“Lord Alfred, I have finished talking to the prisoners.”

I wonder they said.

“Yes, we are in no condition to fight. We hope that Alfredo will be lenient, they said. I was surprised that Gyurippos surrendered.”

I think he has the ability to compete with Charles.

“Is Gyurippos a confidant of Dorius?”

Plytanis nodded strongly.

“Yes, my father’s best friend since he was young and more than just his right-hand man. It seems that Gyurippos has been driven into a corner to the point of putting the lives of his men above his own.”

Was he entrusted to pack up because he was his trusted confidant?

Prytanis seems shocked.

“For now, let’s wait for Sir Rossi. I’m sure he’s busy disarming the weapon and arranging surveillance.”

“I’m glad he didn’t put up any futile resistance.”

“Well…you wouldn’t be that stupid. If he wanted to resist, he would have used more effective means.”

Prytanis’ face turned grim at my words.

“Lord Alfred, don’t tell me you’re going to kill the prisoners?”

We will not do that.

It is not an effective means.

I laughed.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

Prytanis seemed relieved by my words.

A short time later, Charles returned.

I stopped him with a hand as he was about to report.

“Good work, by the way, do you think we will have enough food for the troops?”

Charles looked reluctant.

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“As one would expect, the consumption of 1.5 times as much is not what we had planned for. It would be unreasonable to ask the rear to suddenly increase the ration by one and a half times.”

That’s true.

Arranging for rations is often neglected.

If you think it is easy and anyone can do it, you are not qualified to be a commander.

It is such a difficult and important job that even Napoleon himself had to direct his own transportation plans.

This is the type of person who excelled as a front-line commander, but ruined himself leading a large army.

It is a job that requires a lot of planning.

It cannot be transported by train or ship.

Even if they could, even the famous Great Moltke’s rail transport had a series of troubles, and the supply to Paris was delayed.

For some reason, the actual situation was not known…

With the current situation of greatly inferior transport capacity, it is not possible to suddenly increase transport volume by a factor of 1.5.

We need to collect rations, arrange for wagons, and transport them.

There is no surplus of wagons.

First of all, collecting wagons will be a hard task.

Even so, the company has added beastmen to its ranks.

If I let the supply plan fail here, I would trip over my own feet.

In ancient China, there were stories of people being buried alive for this reason.

“By the way, what did prisoners say?”

“They said they would follow orders as long as they were not to attack his old master.”

I nodded quietly.

“Then have all the prisoners build defensive encampments. Meals must be reduced throughout, but… Three meals are not possible for the prisoners. Let’s give them one meal.”

Prytanis was surprised.

“Are you serious?”

“Instead, tell them that we will release them once the defensive encampments have been built. We will not attack until we reach Dorius’ castle.”

Charles looked surprised indeed.

“My lord, are you going to return the prisoners to the enemy without a second thought?”

“Yes. If we force them to eat, there will be a shortage of food. And the beastmen could rise up. Nevertheless, it would be bad to just let them go.”

Prytanis seemed surprised.

“What on earth do you have in mind?”

I open my mouth in a strong tone.

“This is a clear order. Please make arrangements to do so.”

Charles bowed and went out to carry out my instructions.

Prytanis seemed confused, unable to keep up with the understanding.

“Lord Alfred, could you please explain this to me?”

“I’ll explain why when the prisoners are released. I think it makes sense in theory.”

Prytanis seemed to realize that I had nothing more to say.

I held my head in my hands.

I like Prytanis.

But, that doesn’t mean I’m going to change my strategy.

Of course, I won’t change what I said that I’ll accept them if they abandon their human supremacy rule.

I apologized to the soldiers for cutting back on the amount of food they eat to temporarily conserve rations.

I told them that I would make it up to them and managed to get them to be patient.

It is better to be honest than to play a trick.

The prisoners who heard my instructions were silently building defensive encampments.

I gave the prisoners only one meal, as promised.

It seems that they are avoiding getting desperate just in time with the word that they will be released if they build the defensive encampments.

On the second day, the construction of the defensive encampments was completed.

As promised, we released the prisoners in the direction of the castle.

Charles and Prytanis, who were watching this next to me, looked at me.

“As promised, I’ll explain. First of all, this surrender was the action of Gyurippos under the instructions of Dorius.”

The word “instructions” made both of them taken aback.

Charles folded his arms.

“What was he going to make them do by surrendering?”

“First of all, if they can defeat them in a normal military action, there’s no problem. But he doesn’t know what I would do. If they are forced into a situation where it is impossible to continue the battle, surrender with as many men as possible. In other words, they’ll attack our rations.”

“Did he not consider any possibility that you would not consider unacceptable?”

I shrugged.

“I had scattered papers in the town of Dorius encouraging people to surrender. You don’t think they would refuse to surrender because of that, do you? Even if it would cause them to consume a great deal more food.”

Prytanis shook his head.

“That’s why it’s Gyurippos. At worst, he was prepared to be killed. Even if he survived, he would still carry the stigma of a traitor, and yet he still tried to help my father…”

""

It is a very beautiful story.

That said, I am not going to let it fulfill its intent.

“You probably think of me as an idealist. There is no such young man who places the highest priority on supplies. Even if I have to push myself a little too hard, I will pursue my ideals. That’s what they would think. Besides, if victory is at hand and they are elated, they will readily accept it.”

Charles shrugged.

“When I first met you, I thought you were an idealist, too. But I guess that speculation came up empty. It’s a strange thing to say, but it was a brilliant reverse move. What are you going to do now?”

I shrugged.

“If I’m right, this is the end of this war.”

Prytanis seemed surprised.

“Why? I think the number of troops has increased drastically.”

“What will happen to the food supply with the increased number of troops? And… they won’t let them into the castle at first.”

“Food will be tough, but…”

I shook my head.

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“What do you think I did the flooding for? The castle will be flooded and the food will be ruined. The sewage system in the castle would overflow, and contaminated food would be inedible. Almost everyone in the castle would have a stomachache and diarrhea that would not stop. And if the waste disposal system could not keep up, there would be a plague. Even if they get desperate and charge at us, we have the defensive encampments built for them.”

Charles and Prytanis looked at each other.

Charles shrugged.

“Such a nefarious scheme… And, I suppose the reason they are not allowed to enter the place is to protect the remaining decent food.”

“But ostensibly, the Prophet faction would say, “Those who surrender are not human”, or something to that effect.”

Charles chuckled.

“I guess they can’t tell them not to come because they’ll have less food…”

“The only people who can give a good reason for refusing are the prophet faction. I am sure they would say so even if they didn’t want to. It’s what they would usually say, after all. They killed the former prisoners of the Prophet’s faction who were freed in the previous battle, but they would not kill them this time. That kind of thing will not go through. If that were to happen, the prestige of the prophetic faction would be shattered. Some people don’t want to abandon their comrades-in-arms. Rumors will spread that they are talking big, but in the end, they are only thinking of themselves. Internal strife will start within the castle.”

As we were talking about this, the prisoners of war who had been released in front of the castle was not allowed to enter the castle.

Let us in! I can hear those kinds of sad screams all the way here.

There seems to be a struggle… but I don’t know the details.

As Charles directs, a winged tribe’s scout is checking the situation at the castle gate with far-sighted magic.

Let’s wait for their report.

We can’t let our guard down yet, but there is no way to reverse the situation from here.

I looked at Prytanis and saw that he was slumped over.

“The next time the enemy surrenders, the battle will be over.”

Prytanis simply nodded emphatically.