Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 477: Chapter 78: Review and Re-evaluation_3

So in the end, they still had to take the north shore.

It was just that Sekler used a feint, with the vanguard reaching the south shore first, moving thirty-five kilometers downstream, then crossing back to the north shore via a ford.

That ford was where Alpad’s cavalry unit was to carry out its detour.

…

Time rewound to the previous night, and a groggy Winters was called into the tent by Colonel Jeska, where Bard, Andre, and Mason were also present.

The Colonel announced that he would conduct a war game and review for his centurions.

The five of them sat around a small table, the other four looking eagerly as Colonel Jeska pulled out a palm-sized wooden board, which unfolded into a board twice as large.

Colonel Jeska then took out chess pieces from a faded wooden box to represent the various friendly and enemy units.

Winters idly picked up a chess piece to fiddle with.

He couldn’t identify the material; it looked like stone, and it was cool and comfortable to the touch.

As for the craftsmanship—Winters carefully placed the chess piece back on the board—the craftsmanship was exquisite.

The lines were coherent and uniform, the angles smooth and rounded, the surface finely polished; Winters dared not handle it carelessly.

“Learn something,” Jeska set up the chess pieces and said to a yawning Winters, “You won’t always be centurions.”

Based on the known intelligence:

The Herder alliance practiced encirclement to provoke aid.

Upon learning that the northern encampment had encountered the enemy, Sekler led his troops to provide support, only to be ambushed en route.

On the day of the ambush, Sekler sent word to Alpad to move out ahead of time.

To ensure surprise and to evade Herder detection, Alpad left all his banners at the main camp as a decoy.

He led the main cavalry force first to the south shore, then moved thirty-five kilometers east to cross the river at the ford and circle behind the Herders.

Such a wide-ranging detour enabled the final thunderous blow.

Sekler’s plan was a fierce right hook, the simple yet effective Anvil Hammer Tactic.

If Alpad’s troops successfully circled behind, Sekler’s frontal Herder forces were sure to be defeated.

For Sekler, the greatest challenge was how to move without alerting the enemy or scaring them off.

Colonel Jeska analyzed for the centurions: Initially, Sekler intended to use the northern fort as the anvil; after being ambushed, the plan changed to use the temporary camp as the anvil; and in the end, the main battlefield returned to the northern fort.

With each variation in the enemy’s setup, Sekler also made three adjustments to his own.

The main course was just this one dish; as for Jeska’s troop movements, they could only be considered the appetizer.

“That’s the gist of it,” Colonel Jeska toppled the chess pieces, concluding his review, “and we can’t blame the old man for being angry with us.”

Winters, Bard, Andre, and Mason sat around the table, looking at each other blankly.

If it were not for Colonel Jeska’s review, Winters wouldn’t even have known what else was happening elsewhere.

A centurion received too little intelligence, almost no different from what the soldiers saw.

For Winters, everything within a hundred meters was the entire war.

It was also because of Colonel Jeska’s review that Winters understood why General Sekler was so annoyed with Jeska’s troop.

Sekler had painstakingly planned, first using the northern fort as bait, then himself as bait.

His goal was to “hammer down and shatter both the Red River and Terdun Tribes.”

Jeska’s troop’s torching of Terdun’s old camp, while severely damaging the Terdun Tribe, also caused the Herder alliance forces to be spread thin.

The Terdun Tribe, desperate from the loss of their sacrificial gold statue, attacked the Bridgehead Fortress with frenzy.

So in the end, it was only the Red River Tribe that was crushed between the anvil and hammer.

On the other side, the Terdun Tribe was repelled.

But Jeska’s squadron was too small to achieve annihilation.

While the core of the Fire-worshippers remained intact, they collected their dispersed soldiers and moved close to the main battlefield, allowing the remnants of the Red River Tribe to escape with the Fire-worshippers’ help.

Misfortune is where luck depends, and luck is where disaster lurks.

Realizing that their desperate fight had actually disrupted General Sekler’s plans, the four centurions didn’t know what to feel.

“Making the right decisions in the absence of information is the mark of a great general,” Colonel Jeska fiddled with a chess piece and said indifferently, “It seems none of us are great generals.”

“The opportunity was right in front of us,” Winters was both frustrated and amused as he looked at Bard and Andre, “We couldn’t possibly let it pass, could we?”

Colonel Jeska yawned and began to pack up the chessboard, “I only said that we aren’t great generals. As centurions, you fought well.”

“Anyway, we’re just small-time centurions,” Andre concluded, “When the enemy sticks their neck out, we chop. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s General Seleuc for not informing us.”

“Stop talking about it,” Lieutenant Mason swiftly took on the blame, “It’s all my fault.”

Winters was extremely tired; he curled up in his chair, not wanting to speak. He just wanted to go home as soon as possible, even if it was just back to Wolf Town.

Colonel Jeska finished packing the chessboard and pieces, then took out several maps and handed them to everyone, asking, “How are you doing with your maps?”

“A+,” Winters took the map without even looking up.

“A,” was Bard’s response.

“B,” Andre admitted sheepishly.

Mason scratched his head and said awkwardly, “I was an A+ when I first left the academy, now I don’t know how much I’ve retained.”

The map was a vertical projection map—one of the outcomes of military reform thirty years ago.

More difficult to understand than a forty-five-degree angled top-down map, a vertical projection map is more precise and can carry more information.

[Note: There are no contour lines yet]

Winters recognized at a glance that this was a map of the area around Bianli; he asked the Colonel curiously, “Drawn with a graphite stick? Did you draw this yourself? Did you draw every single one?”

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