Chapter 67 Decision-making

Fat Man, Bodfinger, Telman, Yuri, and Rose arrive together to see Reddy take several of the surrendered garrisons out of the tent. When I entered the big tent, I found that it was full of maps of various sizes, and a half-covered animal skin map with various symbols drawn by Lorist, and the side was full of annotations.

"What are you doing?" Fat Shi leaned over curiously, and couldn't figure out what Lorist was doing after watching it for a long time.

But Bodfinger looked at it carefully for a while before he saw the clue: "This seems to be the troop layout map and the route map of the march?"

Hearing Bodfinger say this, the fat man looked at the label next to him and suddenly realized: "Are you fighting Count Cobilly's idea?"

Lorris nodded, took a small map and circled it, "You see, this is Count Corbilly's sphere of influence. ”

Then he drew another arc outside the circle he had drawn: "This is the northbound route we originally planned, just bypassing his sphere of influence, and it will take twelve to fourteen days based on a journey of sixty or seventy miles a day. However, we were either in the middle of nowhere, or had been swept away by Count Billy's army and had lost our lord's territory, and our convoys could not find a place to resupply, and we were prone to accidents. ”

"But if we change the course and go this way......" Lorist drew a straight line on the map representing the circle of influence of the Earl of Corbilly, "it will only take seven days, and the road will be smooth and easy to replenish." However, this requires a premise, which is to defeat Count Corbilly. ”

"Have you come up with any solutions?" asked Fat Shi.

"Not yet, I'm just looking for some basic information from the garrisons who surrendered. I had a vague idea in my heart, but I didn't know what kind of response Count Corbilly would make, so I wasn't sure how to defeat him. Lorist shook his head, then took a book and placed it on his desk.

"You guys help me think about it, I might not have thought it through alone. Reddy, go get that Kirov chess piece. Lorist said.

Kirov War Chess is a board game invented by Marshal Brin Kirov of the Empire a hundred years ago to imitate war. Lorist feels a bit like chess in his previous life, except that the board resembles a map like Monopoly instead of black and white squares.

"This is the new city of Gerdos, which Count Cobilly is building in imitation of the royal capital. Lorist pointed to the book he had placed on his desk, and then put two chess pieces in the shape of a horse soldier and four pieces in the shape of a sword-wielding soldier on the book: "At present, there are two squadrons of lancers and a garrison brigade stationed in the city of Gerdos, and it is worth noting that one of the squadrons of lancers and the two squadrons in the garrison brigade have just been formed, and their combat effectiveness is not very strong. According to the surrendered garrison, Count Cobilly still has a heavy armor shield guard team with a strength above the black iron level, which is responsible for protecting his safety. ”

Lorist placed another plate on his desk, and placed a cavalry and an infantryman-shaped chess piece on the plate: "This is William Mills Castle, garrisoned by a squadron of lancers and a squadron of garrisons, nearly a thousand people. Confronting them is the so-called aristocratic coalition of more than 4,000 people, and the current battle situation is that the aristocratic coalition army has been defeated and retreated, and is on the defensive. What a bunch of rubbish. ”

After commenting disdainfully on the aristocratic coalition, Lorist put another cup on the table, and then put an infantry-shaped chess piece in the cup: "Here, this is the manor castle of Count Corbilly's original family domain, Berdock Castle, where a garrison squadron is stationed. You see, the city of Gerdos, the castle of William Mills, and the castle of Burdock Manor form a triangle, which is at the opposite angle to each other, and wherever it is attacked, it will be flanked by the other two places. Unless the army is strong, more than several times the army of the Count Cobilly's family, it is possible to pull out the outer William Mills Castle and Burdock Manor Castle and attack the city of Gerdos. ”

"Fortunately, the sweeping force consisting of the squadron of lancers and garrisons that had been stationed at Burdock Manor Castle had been wiped out by us. And William Mills Castle sent a garrison squadron to garrison the current Burdock Manor Castle, and another squadron of lancers to participate in the mopping force was also wiped out by us, which has been halved in strength, so there is no need to worry. My idea was to take advantage of the fact that there was only one garrison squadron in the castle of Burdock's manor, and to send troops to enter Count Corbilly's family territory under the guise of a rebel force to carry out sabotage activities, induce Count Corbilly to send troops from Gerdos City, and then take the opportunity to attack the city of Hurdos. As long as he masters the city of Gerdos and the castle of Burdock Manor, Count Cobilly will be gone, and he will not be able to return to the sky. ”

"Your Excellency, this idea of yours is very feasible, why are you hesitating?" asked Bodfinger.

"There is a shortage of troops, and there is also the concern that after the family forces of our northbound convoy face off with the army of Count Corbilly, even if we win, there will be heavy casualties. In that case, not only will we lose control of the situation, but we may also make other people think badly about the team. So I've been thinking about ways to reduce the losses of the family forces. It would be nice to wipe out one more squadron of lancers from Count Cobilly. Lorist smiled wryly and shook his head.

"My lord, I think that with our current family armament, it is obviously stronger than Count Corbilly's army, how can you say that the troops are insufficient?" Rose felt strange.

"We have to take into account the protection of the convoy, and it is impossible to send the whole army. I've calculated, there are only three squadrons of spearmen, one squadron of heavy spearmen, as well as knights and crossbow chariot squads, and one squadron of heavy spearmen and two squadrons of spearmen must be left here in the barracks to be safe. The law enforcement squad has to maintain order in the barracks, and the general battalion guard squadron has to guard the prisoners, and even if they can draw out some people, it will be about 2,000 troops at most. Yuri's light cavalry left a squad to guard the barracks, and the remaining three squads served as scouts for the larger force, and two were the main force to attack the city of Gerdos. ”

"We can only roughly imagine what Count Cobilly should do, if he hears that there is a resistance force of more than 2,000 people in his family territory, then it is very likely that he will send out his whole army, that is to say, the two squadrons of lancers and the garrison brigade in the city of Gerdos will be dispatched, so that his army will have more than 3,000 people. Moreover, he could also order several nobles of the realm who had taken refuge in him to send troops together, easily bringing his total strength to about 5,000 men. That's why I said that if we were to face his army, we would suffer heavy casualties, and even if we were victorious, we would lose a lot. Lorist patiently explained to Rose.

"Alas......" Lorist sighed, "Actually, a few days ago, when Knight Joske said that when he went back to the western mountains to gather those rebel forces to come back and attack the enemy's camp, I still had hope, whether I could take advantage of this opportunity to defeat the sweeping forces and incite these rebel forces to go deep into Count Corbilly's family territory to carry out all kinds of sabotage operations, so that Count Corbilly would take care of one thing and the other, and force him to divide his troops to destroy these rebel forces." At that time, we can gather our forces and annihilate these troops one by one, and let the rebels be our cannon fodder, reducing the losses and casualties of our family's forces. ”

"It's just that I can't imagine that those resistance forces are cowards, and none of them are willing to come to Bo, and as a result, Knight Josk is disheartened and ready to take his men to join us. ”

Lorist introduced the experience of the Choske Knight and his hatred for the Count of Corbilly: "I admire the Joske Knight and wish he would defect to our Norton family. Therefore, I want to destroy Count Corbilly, which is not only to avenge the caravan of our Norton family, but also to fulfill the wish of the Knight of Joske and add a golden level of combat power to the family. So I'm looking at these maps to find a suitable place to lure a squadron of lancers from Earl Kobilly into the trap we have set. As long as we eliminate one more squadron of lancers, then we won't be too damaging in a head-on confrontation. ”

"Knight Josk is also a dedicated man! it's a good thing he's coming to us, and we're going to help with that. Fat Shi was concerned when he heard what happened to Joske: "But Lord Locke, you seem to have overlooked a very important piece of information. ”

"What is the information?" asked Lorlist.

"When El was interrogating the surrendered garrisons the night before, I heard from one of the garrisons that they had received news of the occupation of the barracks in the western mountains, and that the bastard who commanded the army had sent a few lancers back to report to the Earl of Corbilly, and then ordered the troops to pack up the camp, and the young men who had taken them prisoner back and attacked the barracks. It took four days to ride horses from the western mountains to the city of Gerdos, which means that today, Count Corbilly received the news that the barracks had been occupied, and that the sweeping forces were going to turn around and recapture the barracks. Lord Locke, what you ignore is how Count Corbilly will react when he gets the news. Shi Fatzi said.

"Huh?" Lorlist's eyes lit up: "If I were Count Corbilly, after getting this news, plus the weather was bad for the past two days and it had been snowing, then I would definitely be worried about the situation of the sweeping troops." I'll send reinforcements right away, and the quickest to arrive is my squadron of lancers. It will take three to four days to ride from the city of Gerdos to the barracks, that is to say, after three or four days, at most, five days, the reinforcements sent by Count Corbilly will arrive, and we will have a good chance. ”

"Yes, and besides, aren't the families of the Choske knights still in the western mountains? we should go and fetch them back with great fanfare, and by the way, spread the word among the rebels there that we have successfully annihilated the mopping forces, and even if the rebels don't believe it, they will send people to check on them. And we invited them to watch us fight to eliminate the reinforcements sent by Count Corbilly, and after eliminating this reinforcement, we can say that Count Corbilly has not many troops left, and it is just this opportunity to go to his family territory to grab a hand, believing that those resistance forces will be unwilling to be defeated. When these rebels have turned Earl Cockbilly's family territory into a pot of porridge, then we can fish in the muddy waters and occupy the Burdock Manor Castle first. If Count Corbilly gathers a large army, we will gather the rebels to confront him, and then secretly send out the elite to attack the city of Gerdos. Shi Fatzi added another fire.

"Okay, that's it. Lorist clenched his fists excitedly: "Without further ado, Reddy, you go and invite the Joske knight over." ”

After ordering Reddy, Lorist looked at Fat Smith, Yuri, Telman, Bodfinger and Rose, and suddenly felt very strange: "By the way, why are you here together, is there something wrong?"

Only then did everyone remember the original intention of looking for Lorist, and Shi Fatzi said to Lorist with a wry smile: "My lord, your new troop establishment is very good, the only omission is that our war horses are not enough, and these people are about to fight in order to grab war horses." ”

Shi Fatzi said that the original convoy only had more than 700 war horses, and there were dozens more in the castle of the Viscount of Mestre, plus more than 2,000 horses obtained from the annihilation of the sweeping troops, which added up to less than 3,000 horses. According to the establishment of Lloris, at least 4,000 war horses are needed, not counting the mounts needed by the general battalion guards and law enforcement squads. Now Telman, Yuri, Bodfinger and Rose are arguing over the allocation of mounts, so they have to ask Lorist to make a decision.

Lorist laughed: "Whatever the quarrel, we should be wronged first, and in four or five days, won't someone send a horse to the door?" ”

Lorist refers to the reinforcements that defeated Count Corbilly, and a number of horses have been brought in. Because the lancers are all one man and two horses, they have extremely strong mobility.

Josk came in with Reddy, and when he heard that there was a shortage of horses, he said, "My lord, if you are willing to trade weapons and equipment with those rebel forces in the western mountains, you can also exchange them for many war horses, estimated to be five or six hundred." ”

Loris nodded, "It's fine, but I'll leave it to you." ”

Then I introduced the strategy I had just set and Joske.

Josk was surprised and delighted: "My lord, are you ready to deal with Count Corbilly?" ”

"Yes. Lorist said: "Since so many of his troops have been wiped out, we will simply uproot him, so as to save us trouble later." ”

"My lord, I would like to serve you......" Josk bowed deeply.