Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Chapter 404: Chapter 170: The Surefire Strategy – Blitzkrieg

Although the war with the Green Dragon had stretched on for more than half a year, the final decisive battle came far more swiftly than Su Li had anticipated.

The reports from Knight Orstein indicated that the decisive battle could commence as early as tomorrow morning.

Su Li was truly furious with the blasphemous Grand Duke of Sulande Province; had it not been for his unscrupulous political maneuvers, which leaked intelligence about the Hesse Territory to the Green Dragon, the decisive battle would not have been so hasty.

But with the situation as it was and the decisive battle about to erupt, he refrained from complaining or blaming others.

After Marshal Orstein reported the advancing of the monster forces, Su Li asked, ”Regarding tomorrow’s decisive battle, what are your plans? The Green Dragon’s legion covers the mountains and plains, and their numbers might be nearly tenfold ours. What strategy do we have to ensure victory?”

The Sun Goddess is the goddess of strategy and war, the patron of officers and tacticians, believed by those who rely on the art of command and the science of warfare, so her followers only engage when they are assured that their strategies and tactics have been analyzed meticulously and that both controllable and uncontrollable factors favor them.

If it were Redema or Yurik’s followers, faced with a decisive battle, they would simply charge in with their troops.

But clearly, the knights of the territory would devise strategies before battle to secure overwhelming advantages for their side, as a mere 5,000 troops managing to rout tens of thousands is an extraordinarily difficult feat.

As the saying goes, surround if ten to one, attack if five to one; the monsters’ advantage in troop numbers must be neutralized by our tactical advantage.

Marshal Orstein, being the center of attention, stood up immediately and solemnly declared, ”For this decisive battle, we will continue to employ a defensive-offensive strategy.”

Before others could frown in doubt, he resolutely walked to the sand table and explained to everyone, ”However, this defensive-offensive strategy is not passive defense. We will defend the castle, but not engage in mere defense!”

Defend the castle but not engage in mere defense?

What does this mean?

Everyone’s gaze fixed on the sand table pointed out by Orstein’s baton; this sand table, made of sand, clay, wood, and bamboo sticks, was meticulously crafted to scale, representing the hills, rivers, cities, fortresses, and routes around Heisen Castle.

By commanding with this sand table, the officers and tacticians faithful to the Sun Goddess could accurately apply tactical deployments to every square meter of the battlefield.

At the center of the sand table, the imposing castle and the imposing walls formed a solid defensive line, overlooking the vast plain to the east, while green arrows representing the Green Dragon’s fang filled the east, south, and north directions.

Meanwhile, the shimmering models representing the Knight Legion gathered within the castle, their sharp blades pointing skyward, shields faintly gleaming, and they held high their banners, looking majestic, as if ready to leap from the castle at any moment and pierce through the models representing the monsters.

The Knight Legion was inherently born for offense; passive defense was not only against their nature but would also greatly restrict their combat capabilities.

Thus, Su Li understood Orstein’s desire for active offense, yet he couldn’t quite grasp the essence of this tactical deployment—what does it mean to defend the castle but not engage in mere defense?

”My Marshal, what does this tactic mean? Does it imply that we fight a field battle with the Green Dragon’s fang while backed against the city walls?”

A mere few thousand troops would likely be overwhelmed by the monsters; as the saying goes, five times the enemy’s numbers allows for proactive offensives, using numerical superiority to crush the enemy.

Relying on walls for passive defense means a squadron’s phalanx would face the encirclement of five or six monster squadrons, essentially pitting one squadron against a legion. The overwhelming numerical advantage could easily allow the monsters to tear this legion’s soldiers apart.

Orstein decisively shook his head and pointed the command rod at the castle gates, saying, ”We are indeed engaging the monsters in a field battle, but not backed against the walls; we are backed against the castle gates!”

In truth, Orstein’s aptitude far exceeded that of the others; even Su Li found himself in a semi-understanding state.

This Divine Chosen Level knight’s understanding of military tactics surpassed that of ordinary people, reaching a realm where mastery lies within the heart.

Others, except for Hilude, who stood calmly with arms folded to the side, with Tiberus and Constantine seemingly inspired, were all baffled.

Seeing this, Orstein didn’t play mysterious and straightforwardly stated, ”Based on my experiences traveling across every corner of the old world during my time in the Flame Sun Knight Order, learning and consulting with each human nation about their tactics and strategies, what I’ve learned and summarized is: when defending a city, the more gates the better, they should be open rather than closed. With many open gates, as soon as a battle opportunity arises, we should strike decisively, using it as a tactical diversion, allowing us to wear out the enemy while remaining leisurely ourselves.”

”This means that when defending a city, the more gates, the better, and they should not be tightly closed. Instead, the gates should be wide open. Once an opportunity for battle is grasped, we should decisively attack, using fierce assaults to create a situation where we outnumber our opponents locally and with strong forces defeating the weak, crushing an enemy detachment in one swift move. This way, the enemy can only resort to passive defense while our main forces can calmly choose attack points, repeatedly destroying segments of the enemy army, ultimately shifting the balance, leading to the enemy’s inevitable defeat.”

The core of this tactic is that it’s better to disable one joint than injure ten fingers.

The Cavalry Legion, with its superior combat power and mobility, once identifying a weaker enemy force, can initiate a proactive attack, thereby creating a local situation where they outnumber the opponent, relying on the knights’ formidable combat strength and excellent equipment, and at a minimal cost, completely annihilate this weaker enemy force.